Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[shimerra]

If I had to bet he probably got the information from some industrial process, where they likely used water. (Effective medium to transfer heat, pluss water wont damage the product much).

You think way to much of the man who told his followers to drink bleach and horse dewormer as COVID treatments and when hearing that UV rays kill virus/bacteria wondered if we shouldn't be looking into how to get the light inside our bodies to fight COVID.

Oh and also tried to sell steak at Sharper Image. He's yanking nonsense out of his ass and it's far more likely that the process you described existing is coincidence and not what he was actually basing his ramblings off of.

[Breccia]

So Trump told an Iowa rally Dec 13 that

"Gasoline prices are now $5, $6, $7 and even $8 a gallon," Trump said, adding that gasoline prices were "down to $1.87 a gallon" during his presidency.

As expected, this got immediately fact-checked.
a) the national average hit $5.06, the highest, June 2022. Russia invaded Ukraine Feb 2022. At the time Trump said this, it was $3.14
b) there are databases for that kind of thing. The one PolitiFact used found one gas station over $7, a crossroads in the desert. Of the 150,000 stations in their list, 1,000 were charging $5 or more. 99.2% of all gas stations are selling gas below $5 and, therefore, Trump's statement is 99.2% false.
c) the most expensive state, California, is $4.46 and that's down too.
d) yes, gas prices were lower in the midst of Trump's COVID-19 pandemic. If Trump wants to take credit for low gas prices during the pandemic, he has to admit causing it. Or, he has to eat every single negative economic factor that happened in 2020 and also 2021.

Actually @Kokolums why don't you decide? You seem like an honest, genuine poster, and you're clearly active in this thread. Does Trump get credit for low gas prices, but also, credit for all the negative economic effects in 2020 as well? Or is it unfair to blame Trump for all the COVID issues in 2020 and, therefore, also unfair for Trump to take credit for those gas prices?

Either way, $8 is just a flat-out lie. Trump did not see that, because it is not happening.

"Okay, but why bring this up now? It's a month later."

So last night--

"Oh, fuck."

Trump was interviewed by Lou Dobbs on MyPillowTV and, yep, repeated the same claim. Except, in the month that followed, gas prices kept dropping. Because Biden is making them drop.

"Hey, you can't just declare it was Biden that made gas prices drop!"

Actually, Trump did, by blaming him for high prices. If it's Biden's fault gas prices were $8/gallon, again he lied but that was the claim, then therefore it's Biden's admin that got the gas prices lower. Sorry. I don't make the rules. I just see to it they're followed.

According to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average gas price in the country was $3.078 a gallon as of Tuesday, January 9.

"GasBuddy finds not one single station in our database of ~150,000 gas stations at $8 per gallon," De Haan wrote on X. "Meanwhile, over 50% of gas stations have gasoline priced at $2.89/gal or less today," he added in a later post.

(GasBuddy is the same database PolitiFact uses)

- - - Updated - - -

According to the NYTimes rolling tracker, Trump's lawyers are pressing the case that Trump has absolute immunity in all cases -- he has to be successfully impeached first, then tried and convicted.

Immediately upon this happening, an important legal figure asked if, say, the President could order SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival, and be immune to prosecution.

That legal mind is...the presiding judge. And Trump's lawyers said yes, Trump would be immune, he'd need to be impeached first, even in that hypothetical case.

Since then, the judge has basically said "well that means we only need to look at absolute immunity because, if he has that, no other details are important". Which, to me, sounds like he's saying "this case is over and I've decided the result already".

Bear in mind, Trump via lawyers has said under oath that, yes, Biden could assassinate him...and get away with it.

"Well surely Democrats would impeach Biden over murdering Trump."

Yes, they would, but Trump is saying that, if they protected Biden instead, Biden would be immune from murder charges. Remember, Trump is not President -- some of y'all need reminding -- so Trump is saying, under oath, that because he wasn't impeached successfully at the time, he can't be charged with it later. So, Biden could have Trump murdered and just needs to skate until Jan 20th, 2025. Even if the House/Senate goes 99% red he could step down and be forever immune to prosecution.

Trump said so. Under oath.

Now I admit, it is possible that I'm misreading some of these legal arguments -- Team Trump could be claiming that Trump has double jeopardy protection because he was unsuccessfully impeached. It doesn't read that way to me, but I'll admit I could be wrong.

Another issue that was raised: why Trump is appealing the "absolute immunity" issue now, he hasn't been convicted yet. We all know the answer is "stalling".

Team Trump is also claiming that allowing Presidents to be charged with crimes they commit in office would "open Pandora's box" and listed Obama's drone strikes...which were done as Commander in Chief, and while a horrible result, would be protected as WH actions. So, yes, Team Trump is claiming "everything done by the current WH resident is a WH action no matter what it is, such as defaming the woman he raped".

All of this...in twenty minutes. I don't know how long this case can possibly last.

[Endus]

So was Hillary at the beginning of 2016, people thought there was no chance Trump won. Same in 2012 with Romney, Rasmussen was predicting a 370 point Romney win in 2012, and they got smoked.

Biden has barely started campaigning, and from the speeches he has given, he is shitting ALL OVER TRUMP up and down the street.

Meanwhile, Trump gave a speech in Iowa, saying for the people that got killed in Perry High School to get over it. Then he stupidly said that you can't put magnets in water, they stop working.

I don't know how you can say this shit with a straight face.

Honestly, if Biden takes anything from the past week or so, it's that he shouldn't have held back from calling Trump a "sick fuck" on national television. He stopped himself, but everyone knew what he meant and there was titter of laughter in the crowd, but just go on and say it, dude. It's true. And this is a serious enough circumstance that cussing is appropriate.

It humanizes Biden and if it pushes Biden to that point, people will take notice. Every media site will cover it; they're covering him not saying it out loud. The only negatives would be prudesters who'll clutch pearls over a dirty word, and I'd venture they 90% vote for Trump anyway, so fuck 'em.

[zorkuus]

If I had to bet he probably got the information from some industrial process, where they likely used water. (Effective medium to transfer heat, pluss water wont damage the product much).

If I had to bet, I'd say he doesn't get information from anywhere. Shit just comes out of his mouth without thinking.

[Veggie50]

So Trump told an Iowa rally Dec 13 that



As expected, this got immediately fact-checked.
a) the national average hit $5.06, the highest, June 2022. Russia invaded Ukraine Feb 2022. At the time Trump said this, it was $3.14
b) there are databases for that kind of thing. The one PolitiFact used found one gas station over $7, a crossroads in the desert. Of the 150,000 stations in their list, 1,000 were charging $5 or more. 99.2% of all gas stations are selling gas below $5 and, therefore, Trump's statement is 99.2% false.
c) the most expensive state, California, is $4.46 and that's down too.
d) yes, gas prices were lower in the midst of Trump's COVID-19 pandemic. If Trump wants to take credit for low gas prices during the pandemic, he has to admit causing it. Or, he has to eat every single negative economic factor that happened in 2020 and also 2021.

Actually @Kokolums why don't you decide? You seem like an honest, genuine poster, and you're clearly active in this thread. Does Trump get credit for low gas prices, but also, credit for all the negative economic effects in 2020 as well? Or is it unfair to blame Trump for all the COVID issues in 2020 and, therefore, also unfair for Trump to take credit for those gas prices?

Either way, $8 is just a flat-out lie. Trump did not see that, because it is not happening.

"Okay, but why bring this up now? It's a month later."

So last night--

"Oh, fuck."

Trump was interviewed by Lou Dobbs on MyPillowTV and, yep, repeated the same claim. Except, in the month that followed, gas prices kept dropping. Because Biden is making them drop.

"Hey, you can't just declare it was Biden that made gas prices drop!"

Actually, Trump did, by blaming him for high prices. If it's Biden's fault gas prices were $8/gallon, again he lied but that was the claim, then therefore it's Biden's admin that got the gas prices lower. Sorry. I don't make the rules. I just see to it they're followed.



(GasBuddy is the same database PolitiFact uses)

- - - Updated - - -

According to the NYTimes rolling tracker, Trump's lawyers are pressing the case that Trump has absolute immunity in all cases -- he has to be successfully impeached first, then tried and convicted.

Immediately upon this happening, an important legal figure asked if, say, the President could order SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival, and be immune to prosecution.

That legal mind is...the presiding judge. And Trump's lawyers said yes, Trump would be immune, he'd need to be impeached first, even in that hypothetical case.

Since then, the judge has basically said "well that means we only need to look at absolute immunity because, if he has that, no other details are important". Which, to me, sounds like he's saying "this case is over and I've decided the result already".

Bear in mind, Trump via lawyers has said under oath that, yes, Biden could assassinate him...and get away with it.

"Well surely Democrats would impeach Biden over murdering Trump."

Yes, they would, but Trump is saying that, if they protected Biden instead, Biden would be immune from murder charges. Remember, Trump is not President -- some of y'all need reminding -- so Trump is saying, under oath, that because he wasn't impeached successfully at the time, he can't be charged with it later. So, Biden could have Trump murdered and just needs to skate until Jan 20th, 2025. Even if the House/Senate goes 99% red he could step down and be forever immune to prosecution.

Trump said so. Under oath.

Now I admit, it is possible that I'm misreading some of these legal arguments -- Team Trump could be claiming that Trump has double jeopardy protection because he was unsuccessfully impeached. It doesn't read that way to me, but I'll admit I could be wrong.

Another issue that was raised: why Trump is appealing the "absolute immunity" issue now, he hasn't been convicted yet. We all know the answer is "stalling".

Team Trump is also claiming that allowing Presidents to be charged with crimes they commit in office would "open Pandora's box" and listed Obama's drone strikes...which were done as Commander in Chief, and while a horrible result, would be protected as WH actions. So, yes, Team Trump is claiming "everything done by the current WH resident is a WH action no matter what it is, such as defaming the woman he raped".

All of this...in twenty minutes. I don't know how long this case can possibly last.

Also… Trumps impeachments were not unsuccesfull… He was very much impeached by the majority.

They just then did not proceed to remove him from office.

[Edge-]

there has been a witch hunt on trump for nine years

Boy, why didn't he stop it in the four years he was supposed to be draining the swamp? Did he ever drain the swamp? It doesn't seem like he drained the swamp.

Also, he's as much a victim of a witch hunt as Al Capone was.

which has made trump completely and totally immune to criticism.

Unsure if you're aware, but that's been the case since around 2015 when the Republicans started forming the cult around him.

the American people have tuned out and are now committed to voting trump back in.

He was also gonna win 2020. I'm not ruling out that he has a serious chance of winning, but y'all don't talk politics correctly because y'all don't follow politics regularly.

hell, the state of new york is practically turning purple, which is about 15 years early.

I can't help but feel like this is one of those, "I've only just started paying attention to politics and had no idea there are actually Republicans in New York state!" things, because they've always been there. It's not really notably more purple than years prior.

the democrats are running the absolute worst campaign possible this cycle. they are handing trump the white house.

Unsure if I should risk asking "why" or not...

- - - Updated - - -

Had to do it.

Honestly never thought we'd see the Donald x Juggalo crossover. I look forward to seeing them at his next insurrection. The Faygo gonna be flowin.

[gondrin]

none of it matters anymore.

there has been a witch hunt on trump for nine years, which has made trump completely and totally immune to criticism. the American people have tuned out and are now committed to voting trump back in. hell, the state of new york is practically turning purple, which is about 15 years early. the democrats are running the absolute worst campaign possible this cycle. they are handing trump the white house.

Trump is so thin skinned that any criticism that people even think of lobbying his way, he shits his Depends and goes on a 4 hour Truth Social rant about it. The best way to get Trump all upset is to literally criticize him.

- - - Updated - - -

Boy, why didn't he stop it in the four years he was supposed to be draining the swamp? Did he ever drain the swamp? It doesn't seem like he drained the swamp.

The only thing that Trump did with the swamp is somehow make it even smell worse.

[Edge-]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/08/polit...ash/index.html

Former President Donald Trump predicted the US economy would “crash,” saying he hoped it would do so within the next year – before he would assume the Oval Office should he win a second term in November.

“When there’s a crash, I hope it’s going to be during this next 12 months because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. The one president – I just don’t want to be Herbert Hoover,” Trump said in an interview that aired Monday on the right-wing platform Lindell TV.

Former president Donald Trump, actively hoping the US economy will crash, hurting hundreds of millions of Americans. Just because he thinks it will mean he doesn't go down like Herbert Hoover, I guess assuming another Great Depression is on the way and he really doesn't want to have to be president during that because it would make him look bad and would be a lot of work.

Republicans: Cheerleading on the downfall of America and the harming of American citizens if they think it will help their political careers.

[Myradin]

Republicans: Cheerleading on the downfall of America and the harming of American citizens if they think it will help their political careers.

Their own policies have been shown to be a failure time and time again. Instead of improving them or taking a different stance, they just hope the other side fails too.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/08/polit...ash/index.html



Former president Donald Trump, actively hoping the US economy will crash, hurting hundreds of millions of Americans. Just because he thinks it will mean he doesn't go down like Herbert Hoover, I guess assuming another Great Depression is on the way and he really doesn't want to have to be president during that because it would make him look bad and would be a lot of work.

Republicans: Cheerleading on the downfall of America and the harming of American citizens if they think it will help their political careers.

Does he not realize that, if the economy did crash like the Great Depression in the next 12 months, it wouldn't magically fix itself once he's sworn in (if elected)?

[Captain N]

Does he not realize that, if the economy did crash like the Great Depression in the next 12 months, it wouldn't magically fix itself once he's sworn in (if elected)?

Doesn't matter. He can convince a bunch of single brain cell morons that it was the Democrats in Congress that are keeping him from saving the country. This just leads into those very same muppets going on violent shooting sprees because now they're the ones who are actually being affected by a bad political move...instead of enjoying someone else suffering.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Doesn't matter. He can convince a bunch of single brain cell morons that it was the Democrats in Congress that are keeping him from saving the country. This just leads into those very same muppets going on violent shooting sprees because now they're the ones who are actually being affected by a bad political move...instead of enjoying someone else suffering.

I just mean he's still going to have to do all that terrible work that he very much wants to avoid.

[Captain N]

I just mean he's still going to have to do all that terrible work that he very much wants to avoid.

He won't have to do any work at all. He'll just go on lying and promising that the issue will be fixed "in two weeks" just like the repealing of Obamacare. Remember it's not the work load he wants -- it's the title to get the worship from all his little cult lemmings. They'll eat it up, keep on blaming Democrats for their poor lot in life (that's going to get a whole lot worse considering how "efficient" the GOP House has been thus far), and people are going to end up getting hurt.

[Edge-]

Afederal judge on Tuesday blocked Donald Trump's attorneys from suggesting or implying to a jury that the former president did not sexually abuse writer E. Jean Carroll, when the case heads to a second trial early next week.

In May 2023, Carroll won a $5 million verdict after a federal jury unanimously found that Trump sexually abused her in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s — and then defamed her by falsely denying it.

Senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan previously ruled that judgment established Trump's liability on another defamation lawsuit Carroll filed against Trump over his remarks to reporters during his presidency.

On Tuesday, Kaplan laid out the ground rules for the second trial, which is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, Jan. 16.

Trump's attorneys have been forbidden from denying the sexual abuse claims to the second jury, casting aspersions on Carroll's lawyers, bringing up the financing of her litigation, or raising the topic of her romantic history. The former president and his lawyers have repeatedly argued that Carroll's allegations amount to a vendetta, executed by an attorney for prominent Democratic figures and bankrolled by a liberal billionaire.

Some of these topics, like Silicon Valley entrepreneur Reid Hoffman's financial ties to the litigation, were also kept from the jury in the first trial as irrelevant. Trump himself attacked Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan during a deposition, but a judge also decided that her political affiliations had no bearing on whether Trump sexually abused Carroll and then defamed her in lying about it.

"Mr. Trump does not explain how Ms. Carroll's choice of counsel, or her counsel's other professional or personal activities, 'independently contributed to' or ameliorated any impact of Mr. Trump's defamatory
statements on her reputation," wrote Judge Kaplan, who is not related to the lawyer who shares his surname.

It really is getting hard to keep track of all the various civil and criminal trials Donald is the defendant in, but here's the E. Jean Carroll Defamation Civil Suit Part Deux: Electric Boogaloo update from this week - https://themessenger.com/politics/tr...g-sexual-abuse

[Gorsameth]

Does he not realize that, if the economy did crash like the Great Depression in the next 12 months, it wouldn't magically fix itself once he's sworn in (if elected)?

Who would he care about fixing it? If he were to win he can't run for a 3e term anyway.

The whole point is that the economy is probably the #1 indicator for who will win an election, the incumbent or the challenger.
Good economy = Biden gets re-elected, bad economy = people grab for anything different, Trump wins.

- - - Updated - - -

It really is getting hard to keep track of all the various civil and criminal trials Donald is the defendant in, but here's the E. Jean Carroll Defamation Civil Suit Part Deux: Electric Boogaloo update from this week - https://themessenger.com/politics/tr...g-sexual-abuse

100% chance this gets broken at some point.

[Odinfrost]

Who would he care about fixing it? If he were to win he can't run for a 3e term anyway.

The whole point is that the economy is probably the #1 indicator for who will win an election, the incumbent or the challenger.
Good economy = Biden gets re-elected, bad economy = people grab for anything different, Trump wins.

- - - Updated - - -

100% chance this gets broken at some point.

Not going to look, but I'm 76% sure it already has in some capacity.

[Attackrabbit]

Who would he care about fixing it? If he were to win he can't run for a 3e term anyway.

I was under the impression that if there is a gap inbetween the two 4 year terms then he can do a 3rd, its's just 3 consecutive terms that aren't allowed

[Benggaul]

I was under the impression that if there is a gap inbetween the two 4 year terms then he can do a 3rd, its's just 3 consecutive terms that aren't allowed

No. Under the 22nd Amendment it's 2 terms period. Doesn't matter if consecutive or not.

[Breccia]

So the immunity appeal is apparently done with arguments and the appeals judges are now deciding. Here's what seems to have happened:

1) Team Trump is pressing for very broad immunity, because Trump is very fat.
2) But Team Trump is also pressing that basically every action in the WH is a WH action, and therefore, Trump is immune.
3) As I cited before, yes, Team Trump said this includes sending Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival.
4) Prosecution immediately said "Um, Trump just said he could send Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival."
5) Prosecution also said that this court could rule on the factors of this specific case and leave the scope of immunity alone. They very relevantly pointed out that the factors in this case were "the WH resident had just lost the election and was taking actions to remain in power anyhow", which is a big deal: if the WH can take criminal actions to remain in power and there is no recourse for that, then Biden can declare himself king for 1,000 years and murder everyone who disagrees.
6) The prosecution, like Team Trump, also said they want a ruling now, not after Trump is found guilty.
7) All three judges have raised questions with Team Trump's position.
8) Trump showed up to...a courtroom that didn't allow cameras, for some reason...then held a conference in the hotel that scraped his name off the building for...some reason.

“We had a very momentous day in terms of what was learned,” Trump told reporters. He repeated his claims there had been “tremendous” voter fraud in the 2020 election and reiterated his argument that he was immune from prosecution. “I think it’s very unfair when a political opponent is prosecuted,” he said.

Trump appeared briefly at the Waldorf Astoria hotel, formerly the Trump hotel. By his side was one of his lawyers, John F. Lauro, who said, “We can’t have a country where every four years there’s a cycle of political recrimination.”

"Why did you quote those two and not the rest?"

You already know the answer.

"It's the opening of Pandora's box," he said at a hotel that he used to own near the courthouse. He did not respond when asked whether he would tell his supporters not to resort to violence.

Trump made a more pointed threat prior to the hearing, saying he might prosecute Biden, a Democrat, if he defeats him in the Nov. 5 presidential election.

"If I don't get immunity then crooked Joe Biden doesn't get immunity," Trump said in a video posted to social media. "Joe would be ripe for indictment."

So, yep, Trump threatened to do something that would be unfair.

"He was just saying, if Biden committed a crime."

Hmm. Which crime?

"Uh..."

Take your time, filter back through Trump's statements. Find and quote the crime Trump says Biden committed.

[Edge-]

Hmm. Which crime?

Insurrection, clearly. Just ask the Missouri Secretary of State about it. He thinks he should be able to violate his states Constitution, which he seems ignorant of, because the Constitutions in other states are different and have different rules and that's just not fair to him because he's just learning all of this.

And he said that Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott have accused Joe of insurrection. He's still processing requests to clarify what the "insurrection" actually was, he's got really, really long loading and buffering times.

So in about 5 months maybe he'll have finished processing and be able to give us an answer. I just hope he can hold his breath for 5 months.