Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Xyonai]

The pendulum swung too far towards LBG equality and popularity that they know they can't rely on that being a winning issue so they are going hard for the T and just whisper the LBG part -- some more loudly than others.

They still hate the gays -- but they know it's not a winning issue anymore to attack head on.

Exactly. Trans people are just the newest marginalized minority group that they can still publicly shit on and get broad appeal for their policies and when that passes they'll find some other group of 'others' to push and legislate against to score those sweet Virtue Signaling brownie points with their bigoted base.

Though more likely they'll just do what they're doing now with CRT and Florida's 'Don't say Gay' bill. Sure they can't just outright and say Black and Gay People suck anymore, but they can clutch their pearls about 'The Evils of CRT' or 'Parents need to have a say in what their childrens learn!' and meet the same ends by pushing against the education context and history.

[Endus]

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-...cted-rcna14248

Who knew trans athletes were such a major issue for the US their participation in sports is now a presidential campaign tentpole.

Seriously, Republicans are the most boring of pointlessly hateful bigots around.

Imagine making a campaign promise to ban, say, Jewish athletes from competing.

This shit's no different. It's just empty sadism, combined with a minority they think they can get away with hurting. That's it. That's the whole postion for shitting on transgender athletes. Everything else is obfuscation and shitty non-science used to try and "justify" their sadism.

Good news for them, that's already happened. Men can't participate in competitive women's sports, though trans athletes can.

Weird that they never seem to mention the male trans athletes competing against other men. You'd think that if this wasn't a transparently bigoted attack on a marginalized community that they'd be even handed with this.

There is no identifiable advantage. The few cases where someone claimed it was "unfair", there were non-transgender competitors who were winning the competitions. Like, there was a case of a young track star who filed a lawsuit against two transgender girls who'd joined the team, claiming it was unfair, because she lost a competition to them. What they DON'T like talking about is that at the next meet, after the lawsuit, the girl complaining beat them both. There was no "unfair advantage". Just a bigoted girl trying to protect her privilege and not giving a shit who she hurt in the process.

There's also this weirdo argument that male competitors will claim to be transgender just to enter the girl's competition and thus "win", because, y'know, men. There are literally zero examples of this actually happening, and given that you have to live as the gender you identify with for months if not years before it's legally accepted, nobody's gonna do it just for a stupid-ass medal that nobody will give a shit about in two years' time.

See also the bullshit about victimizing girls in bathrooms.

It's all weirdo kink bullshit from the transphobic bigots.

[DarkTZeratul]

Even Mr. Strom states that he came up with the quote himself - not Voltaire:

https://nationalvanguard.org/2017/01...-didnt-say-it/

I feel dirty just having clicked on that link.

[Breccia]

Pence's Chief of Staff, Marc Short, willingly testifies to Jan 6th committee.

He's also willingly turned over documents. Short was known to be with Pence on Jan 6th, and also, a meeting of interest Jan 4th. It is possible that Short's testimony would allow Pence to "testify" without testifying. Short's word under oath could be taken as fact, without Pence having to set himself up for a lynch mob. Um, again.

Unrelated: the US and Iran are looking at re-starting the Iran Nuclear Deal, or perhaps a replacement more favorable to Iran to make up for the damage Trump willingly caused. I doubt Iran would voluntarily enter a deal that was worse for them.

- - - Updated - - -

WaPo reports that some of the documents the National Archives turned over to the Jan 6th panel, were official documents Trump tore up by hand.

Which were then taped back together, because you're not allowed to do that.

White House records management officials during the Trump Administration recovered and taped together some of the torn-up records. These were turned over to the National Archives at the end of the Trump Administration, along with a number of torn-up records that had not been reconstructed by the White House. The Presidential Records Act requires that all records created by presidents be turned over to the National Archives at the end of their administrations.

Oops.

Leaving aside any charges this could potentially bring (Sharpie not included), if Trump wanted them destroyed so badly he did it himself, they were either (a) damning evidence against Trump, or more likely (b) things Trump didn't like, but saw anyway, so he can no longer plead ignorance.

Also:

Trump admits he knows he's going to be arrested.

UPDATE: Georgia offers to lend a hand.

The district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, asked the FBI on Sunday to assess security at her courthouse, in response to comments by former President Donald Trump taking aim at prosecutors investigating his business dealings and conduct after the 2020 election.

"Security concerns were escalated this weekend by the rhetoric of former President Trump at a public event in Conroe, Texas," wrote Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in a letter to the highest ranking FBI official in Atlanta.

Trump, who is at the center of at least two criminal investigations, told a rally of thousands of supporters on Saturday that "if these radical, vicious, racist prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal, I hope we are going to have in this country the biggest protests we have ever had, in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta and elsewhere."

Willis cited that and other comments from the rally in her request to Special Agent in Charge J.C. Hacker.

"I am asking that you immediately conduct a risk assessment of the Fulton County Courthouse and Government Center, and that you provide protective resources to include intelligence and federal agents," Willis wrote.

If Trump is found to have made threats against the person investigating the threats he made against another person, that grand jury is going to have a lot to talk about. Remember, Trump didn't say "do anything illegal". He said "do anything wrong or illegal". He cannot hide behind "I was just asking them to do their job". And Trump has a history of having rallies turn into violent mobs that kill people.

[DarkTZeratul]

Leaving aside any charges this could potentially bring (Sharpie not included), if Trump wanted them destroyed so badly he did it himself, they were either (a) damning evidence against Trump, or more likely (b) things Trump didn't like, but saw anyway, so he can no longer plead ignorance.

Nah, we actually know the answer to this one. It's (c) Trump's habit is to tear up any and all documents he's "done with," no matter how many times his aides told him he wasn't allowed to do that.

[Breccia]

Robert LaMay, shown here being called a "celebrity" by Ingraham, resigned October 18 over the vaccination requirement for police officers. His last radio call was for the governor to kiss his ass.

He has died of COVID. Wait, that's the tactful response by his former boss. Here it is on FOX News. There, that's better.

[Elegiac]

Robert LaMay, shown here being called a "celebrity" by Ingraham, resigned October 18 over the vaccination requirement for police officers. His last radio call was for the governor to kiss his ass.

And then COVID was like "it'll be the last time people hear you breathe normally, too".

Too soon?

[Breccia]

Too soon?

No.

He made himself an anti-vaxxer hero. He intentionally chose to put himself in that position. The second his test was positive, it was fair game. I'd rather he have lived, I'm guessing so would he, but he put himself in the situation where (a) he could far more easily become ill, infirm, or dead, and (b) he made that decision loudly and publicly. He brought it on himself and he did it on purpose. "Too soon" is reserved for actual tragedies, not people clawing their way off the lifeboat and back on the Titanic.

[Zaydin]

So apparently Trump ordered Giuliani to try and get DHS to seize voting machines in swing states he lost.

DHS said no, stating they did not have the authority to do what Trump wanted and no one wanted to go to jail for him. The second half wasn’t in the report but I suspect it weighed on their mind when they told Ghouliani to fuck off.

DHS was the third department to refuse to get involved in Trumps coup attempt after the DoJ and the DoD refused to get involved.

[Breccia]

Trump's support is slipping.

As a TN district race heads to primaries, Trump throws his massive, waddling weight behind Morgan Ortagus for the seat. Ortagus was Pompeo's spokesperson for a while, and a FOX News member before that.

Morgan was fantastic in her role working with Secretary Mike Pompeo at the U.S. State Department and understands the threats posed by China, Russia, Iran and others, and will be tough, not just roll over like the Democrats and RINOs. She serves in the U.S. Navy Reserves and will fight for our Military. She won’t bow to the Woke Mob or the Leftist LameStream Media. Morgan Ortagus will have my Complete and Total Endorsement if she decides to run!

Some of you may have picked up the key word. "If". Of the several Republicans running, Ortagus is none of them. The current frontrunner is Rob Starbuck.

"Surely Ortagus has the support of her native Tennessee?"

No, because she's from Florida. She moved to Nashville to...(checks news)...work in a venture capital private equity firm operating in the health care industry that's run by one of Trump's rich friends.

"What else might have swayed Trump's pick?"



"Who cares what she looks like? She's married."

He's Trump.

"Oh, right. Well, obviously the rest of the GOP flocked to Trump's side instantly."

Nope.

I endorsed Robby Starbuck months ago and I stand by my endorsement. He is the best candidate in the country right now. The MAGA movement needs him in Congress!

-- Rep. Cawthorn

"Okay, but that's just an endorsement. I can't help but notice he didn't say 'Trump is wrong' there."

Nope. Trump has this completely wrong. Robby Starbuck is the correct pick for Tennessee’s 5th district and Tennesseans have his back.

-- Candace Owens

"...okay, but still, it's not like Greene said anything."

Actually she did. She also endorsed Starbuck.

"Was this all before or af--"

After, yes.

Trump's endorsements are starting to slip. Besides endorsing someone who isn't even runnig, Trump is also pushing a losing candidate against the Governor of Georgia -- yeah, guess why. The issue isn't that Trump is endorsing people, the issue is that Trump's endorsements are no longer holding his fat obese weight.

According to this NBC poll, 56% of Republicans consider themselves supporters of the party, while 36% consider themselves supporters of Trump. The fact that Trump can't get out into the public eye as easily without Twitter, the fact that he's seemingly fueled only by petty vendettas, and of course the fact that he's a fat whining orange loser all help this, no doubt.

The Republican Party had multiple opportunities to ditch Trump before it cost them the White House and Senate. Now, they might actually be eyeing the chance to ditch Trump so they can take it back. The problem with this approach, of course, is Trump refusing to be ditched. We've already discussed what a third-party run might look like. Now we have to consider flat-out sabotage.

[Machismo]

Trump's support is slipping.

As a TN district race heads to primaries, Trump throws his massive, waddling weight behind Morgan Ortagus for the seat. Ortagus was Pompeo's spokesperson for a while, and a FOX News member before that.



Some of you may have picked up the key word. "If". Of the several Republicans running, Ortagus is none of them. The current frontrunner is Rob Starbuck.

"Surely Ortagus has the support of her native Tennessee?"

No, because she's from Florida. She moved to Nashville to...(checks news)...work in a venture capital private equity firm operating in the health care industry that's run by one of Trump's rich friends.

"What else might have swayed Trump's pick?"



"Who cares what she looks like? She's married."

He's Trump.

"Oh, right. Well, obviously the rest of the GOP flocked to Trump's side instantly."

Nope.


-- Rep. Cawthorn

"Okay, but that's just an endorsement. I can't help but notice he didn't say 'Trump is wrong' there."


-- Candace Owens

"...okay, but still, it's not like Greene said anything."

Actually she did. She also endorsed Starbuck.

"Was this all before or af--"

After, yes.

Trump's endorsements are starting to slip. Besides endorsing someone who isn't even runnig, Trump is also pushing a losing candidate against the Governor of Georgia -- yeah, guess why. The issue isn't that Trump is endorsing people, the issue is that Trump's endorsements are no longer holding his fat obese weight.

According to this NBC poll, 56% of Republicans consider themselves supporters of the party, while 36% consider themselves supporters of Trump. The fact that Trump can't get out into the public eye as easily without Twitter, the fact that he's seemingly fueled only by petty vendettas, and of course the fact that he's a fat whining orange loser all help this, no doubt.

The Republican Party had multiple opportunities to ditch Trump before it cost them the White House and Senate. Now, they might actually be eyeing the chance to ditch Trump so they can take it back. The problem with this approach, of course, is Trump refusing to be ditched. We've already discussed what a third-party run might look like. Now we have to consider flat-out sabotage.

This is what most of s thought they'd do... try and distance themselves from the cancer that is Trump.

Fuck them all. Every single one of those shitbags is a Trumpster, and will always be a Trumpster. Even Skroe foretold this when he said the GOP would embrace DeSantis. He said he was just like Trump, but actually competent... making him even more dangerous.

[Breccia]

A few other developments today, surprisingly enough not involving Brady.

1) McEnemy has turned over text messages to the Jan 6th panel. I said before, McEnemy might be a paid liar, but she had zero ability to make or change policy. As such, being dragged to prison for something she had no part of, and could not have stopped if she tried, doesn't seem worth it at all. I've also seen no hint that she's running for office, as such, "going against Trump" by following the law as required won't get her chased down and murdered by Trump's violent rabid fanbase.

2) Just a few weeks after Jan 6th, Trump paid Meadows a million dollars. Slightly more accurately, his PAC gave it to Meadows' nonprofit. Meadows would be stupid to disclose this...except he had to, FEC rules.

If a million doesn't sound like that much, first of all yes it does you don't have a million dollars you liar, second of all Trump's PAC only gave out $1.35 million in his last six months of office. Trump was very likely buying Meadows' compliance and silence.

3) Trump, lashing out like a man who knows he's going to jail, called the prosecutors...racists. Yeah, I missed that earlier.

If these radical, vicious, racist prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal, I hope we are going to have in this country the biggest protests we have ever had in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta and elsewhere, because our country and our elections are corrupt. They're corrupt.

"They're corrupt" is, again, the blanket statement used by (a) people who committed crimes and want to deflect by baselessly accusing the people who want to investigate their crimes and (b) Blizzard in every expansion from MoP to Legion.

As a reminder, there is a difference between "these people have evidence of crimes done by a white person" and "they are going after someone because they are white".

4) We've talked about why Trump would tear up documents. MSNBC writes an article on the topic. In other words, we're not the only ones torn HARDEE HAR HAR between "Trump does that to everything" and "he was intentionally destroying evidence".

Oh, and as a reminder, Pelosi ripped up that speech notes that one time? Yeah, some Republicans called that out as illegal. I expect them to say the same about Trump. No I don't, but they would if they weren't hypocrites.

5) If you think my citing the Washington Examiner to quote McConnell saying Trump shouldn't pardon the murderous insurrectionists was a deliberate, vindictive choice, you're right.

My view is I would not be in favor of shortening any of the sentences for any other people who pleaded guilty to crimes.

What we saw here on Jan. 6 was an effort to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another, which had never happened before in our country.

6) Apparently, Team Trump has a court date Feb 17th to stop those NY subpoena's against Trump's family. Trump has no legal basis, of course. But funny story, there don't appear to be a lot of other court dates in the last 3 years where Trump tried to stop the investigation. Only when it landed on his own doorstep, did it cross a line.

Trump allies, take note.

If, as I suspect, this challenge is laughed out of court, I suspect they just won't comply anyhow. Then we'll see how serious NYState is.

7) Cawthorn sues NC to stop them from removing his name from the 2022 ballot. We discussed this possibility earlier: Cawthorn is an insurrectionist, so unless he claims to be 150 years old and pardoned by Johnson, he could be prevented from running for federal office.

Cawthorn is claiming his First Amendment rights are being violated. The First Amendment does not cover violent acts, of course.

[Poopymonster]

Reminder, if they get Cawthorne excluded in 2022 Trump’ll be facing a rough road in 2024 when he can only run in 49 states.

What do you m....does th...mmm..hehehehe..very interdesting....
Any other states have similar laws on the books? Be interesting if the Ole One Eye gets booted from the ticket in NC and D-Tiddy can't run in multiple states.
If that happens, any other states gonna pass similar laws? I'd preemptively start the motions for it now. "What do you have against it? Do you want unamerican traitors and terrorists to be in Congress? Why do you hate Freedom?"

[PhaelixWW]

What do you m....does th...mmm..hehehehe..very interdesting....
Any other states have similar laws on the books? Be interesting if the Ole One Eye gets booted from the ticket in NC and D-Tiddy can't run in multiple states.
If that happens, any other states gonna pass similar laws? I'd preemptively start the motions for it now. "What do you have against it? Do you want unamerican traitors and terrorists to be in Congress? Why do you hate Freedom?"

It has nothing to do with a state law. The challenge to Cawthorn is being brought on the basis of the 14th Amendment.

Section 3

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

It's not likely to go anywhere, though.

[DarkTZeratul]

It has nothing to do with a state law. The challenge to Cawthorn is being brought on the basis of the 14th Amendment.

It's not likely to go anywhere, though.

Actually, in this case, it is due to state law. Specifically, when a challenge is made to a candidate's eligibility, North Carolina requires the candidate to prove they are eligible rather than the challenger to prove they are not.

[gondrin]

If a million doesn't sound like that much, first of all yes it does you don't have a million dollars you liar, second of all Trump's PAC only gave out $1.35 million in his last six months of office. Trump was very likely buying Meadows' compliance and silence.

There is a person, who shall not be named, that once said "I received a small loan of a million dollars.", so according to some people, it doesn't sound like much. I wonder who that person was.

[PhaelixWW]

Actually, in this case, it is due to state law. Specifically, when a challenge is made to a candidate's eligibility, North Carolina requires the candidate to prove they are eligible rather than the challenger to prove they are not.

You're right; I stand corrected.

- - - Updated - - -

President is one of those offices… if North Carolina says Cawthorne is disqualified then they’d have to rule Trump is as well.

Presuming they actually rule that Cawthorn is ineligible. Which is unlikely.

[Breccia]

The NYTimes reports that Trump's order to seize voting machines is now in the docket with everything else.

[Santti]

So, realistically, what do you think will happen to Trump?

Prison time?
Fines?
Denied from running in Presidential elections?

Nothing at all?

My guess that I pulled from my ass, is that basically nothing will happen to Trump. A slap on the wrist, at worst. He's not going to run, but not because he is denied. He just chooses not to. He might claim he is going to, but only to milk whatever donations he can from announcing that. And claim bone spurs or whatever, when the time comes to actually do something about it.

[Xyonai]

So, realistically, what do you think will happen to Trump?

Prison time?
Fines?
Denied from running in Presidential elections?

Nothing at all?

Even in debt he's still rich and connected enough to drag proceedings out until the day he dies unless some really big names turn on him.