Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Kaleredar]

average voter logic'
" man i hate joe brandon for inflation"
" im going to vote trump so we can stop getting cheap labor from china and southeast asia and make everything union made in america with large tarriffss on foreign imports and somehow reduce the prices of everything while also getting rid of the deficit by removing the income tax and adding a 23% sales tax"


i understand wanting to decouple with china on national security grounds its 1 issue where he did change the overton window for the positive ( until recently when jeff yass gave him a huge cash infusion) but your avg voter legitimiately thinks those things are consistent with stopping inflation lol

The problem with Trump’s “problem” with China is that it’s entirely a matter of economic dick-waving, and has nothing to do with actual security concerns, government actions of China, or overall global geopolitics.


And with Trump all China would have to do is say a nice thing about him and rent a floor of his building somewhere and suddenly he’s singing their praises.

[Edge-]

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile...-get-involved/

A federal watchdog group has sued former President Donald Trump, asking that the FBI and the Department of Justice investigate whether he knowingly and criminally made “material false statements” about a $50 million loan which “may have never existed at all.”

“The actions taken by Mr. Trump to misrepresent his loan obligations go well-beyond actions by other government employees who have fallen afoul of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a) in recent years. His reporting of a non-existent loan dwarfs portrayals by other government employees, who have been prosecuted for failing to disclose far lesser amounts of their debt obligations,” Noah Bookbinder, president of the watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, wrote in the nascent complaint.

According to CREW, Trump may have made false statements by reporting over $50 million owed to Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC as a liability on at least nine public financial disclosure reports. Those reports were submitted to the Federal Election Commission as well as the Office of Government Ethics. This allegedly occurred from 2015 to 2023 and, as Bookbinder noted, “even though the loan appears to have never existed.”

“It is not clear why Mr. Trump would report a non-existent loan, but the law must be vigorously enforced against office holders and candidates who flout the disclosure process through repeated false statements. Failure to do so not only renders the system meaningless, but, more importantly, undermines the work of ethics officials who must ensure that financial disclosures are accurate so that potential conflicts of interest that present national security risks can be brought to light,” Bookbinder said.

These alleged discrepancies appear likely to be part of a tax avoidance scheme known as “debt parking” or, as the watchdog group claimed, Trump is attempting to hide “hidden debt” from someone — or something — else. Thursday’s lawsuit was first reported by the Daily Beast,

CREW is not alleging outright that Trump engaged in a tax scam but the formal complaint nonetheless asks both the head of the FBI Christopher Wray — who Trump appointed to run the FBI in 2017 after the ex-president fired James Comey — and the head of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Unit Corey Amundson to probe the complex goings-on behind several of Trump’s public financial disclosures reports.

The now-defunct online news outlet The Messenger first reported in January that the existence of the mystery $50 million debt was detailed by Trump’s court-appointed monitor Barbara Jones — a former federal judge herself — inside of a footnote contained in a letter she sent to the judge presiding over Trump’s civil fraud case in New York, Justice Arthur Engoron.

Ruh roh.

Donald may have done a lot more of the financial fraud over the past 8 years. Including during the time he was POTUS, apparently. May have. Probably did based on other available evidence and behavior.

[Shadowferal]

Trump's not leaving the courtroom scene anytime soon, unless it's in prison orange.

[Breccia]

“It is not clear why Mr. Trump would report a non-existent loan"

I have a theory, one based on factual evidence. The loan is to himself. He could deduct the interest -- hold onto that, we'll come back for it -- and could loophole his way out of certain legal issues. You know how when you go bankrupt, people with secured loans are paid off first? I think Trump could have engineered a load to himself with a building as collateral, so if he declared bankruptcy a seventh time, he would be forced by the court to pay himself back first.

If that sounds fishy, bear in mind, he's done this kind of legal bullshit in Chicago. He defaulted on a loan, sued the bank, got a lot of the loan forgiven, and didn't take the value of the forgiveness as income on his taxes.

Bear in mind, we already know Trump owns Chicago Unit Acquisitions LLC and we've known that for years.

Here’s where things get really complicated. The creditor on the second loan was a company called Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC. Elsewhere in the disclosure report, Trump noted that he owned Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC. So in other words, one of his companies was apparently lending money to another one of his companies. Since the value of the debt was listed at over $50 million, it would make sense if Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC, the creditor on the liability, was in turn worth more than $50 million. But instead, Trump listed the value of the asset at just $1,001 to $15,000. Every year since, the president has recorded the value on his financial disclosures as nothing at all. “There should be an offsetting entry somewhere,” said Harvard real estate professor Richard Peiser. “I can’t explain that.”

Trump offered a partial explanation in a 2016 interview with the New York Times. “Mr. Trump said he bought this particular loan back from a group of banks several years ago,” the newspaper wrote. “Instead of retiring it, he decided to keep it outstanding, and he pays interest on it to himself.”

But financial disclosure reports show no income for Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC, suggesting Trump does not actually pay interest on the loan to himself. And in the same interview with the New York Times, Trump offered a perplexing explanation of why he lists no value for the LLC. “We don’t assess any value to it because we don’t care,” he said. “I have the mortgage. That is all there is. Very simple. I am the bank.”

If Trump were like other banks, however, he would theoretically list the loan as an asset. There are other inconsistencies. Documents filed in the United Kingdom last year show that Trump also loaned about $200 million to two of his overseas golf resorts, but those debts—unlike the Chicago loan—have never showed up on Trump’s financial disclosure reports. Determined to unravel the riddle, Forbes spent months digging into all of this in 2018, reaching out to more than 200 people and interviewing over 50. Ultimately, none of them could provide a definitive answer.

Some clever, witty, and handsome asshole posted the loan in 2016 at prime plus five percent. Trump could, at any time, demand he pay himself back, and dance around declaring the income while taking tax deductions for the interest he pays himself.

We knew about it in 2016. Almost half the country voted for him anyway.

We knew about it in 2020. Almost half the country voted for him anyway.

Yes, this should be a crime. A loan that has no official legal record should not have any official legal meaning. If I met up with Skroe in person and he agreed to loan me $10 verbally, if I don't pay him back, with no record of the loan existing, he's out of luck. If I agreed here, where there was a written record, he'd have a much better shot. Bare minimum, Trump should be forced to show the contract he signed to himself with the terms of the loan he's now put on federal forms for three federal elections, probably his taxes too. If no such contract exists, then yes, it should be whatever form of perjury lying on fiscal disclosure forms is, tax evasion, and most importantly, the fictional loan would be unenforceable when either Carroll or NYState takes the building from him.

[rayvio]

Trump's not leaving the courtroom scene anytime soon, unless it's in prison orange.

the danger of that is that it's his skin tone, so may traumatised people

[Benggaul]

Well they finally managed to select a jury...but not without setbacks.

Trump juror quits over fear of being outed after Fox News host says she should scare Trump

By the end of Tuesday, seven jurors had been selected to determine whether Donald Trump should be the first president ever convicted of a crime. By Thursday morning, when the Manhattan trial resumed, there were just six.

According to Judge Juan Merchan, the juror was excused after later expressing doubt that she could remain fair and impartial. In particular, she said that friends and family had already reached out to ask if she was serving on the jury.

Those calls came after numerous media outlets reported potentially identifying biographical information about the woman, including her job and the neighborhood she called home. Fox News Jesse Watters highlighted the juror's details while reading through public pool notes about the selected members. "This nurse scares me if I'm Trump," Watters said.

Other outlets including NBC News, CNN, CBS News, and ABC News also publicized details about the juror, including additional identifying information.

Watters has alleged without evidence that "liberal activists" are lying to get on the jury, a claim that Trump himself has repeated on Truth Social, potentially violating a gag order.

Jury selection is continuing Thursday. Trump is facing charges that he falsified business records to cover up a hush payment and affair with Stormy Daniels to unlawfully influence the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty.

Judge Merchan implored journalists to be more careful going forward, asking that they exercise "common sense" before reporting jurors' biographical information, NBC News reported.

"Jurors are real people with families, lives, and jobs," tweeted former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti. "If one juror came forward and vocally expressed concern about her safety, that concern is likely in the mind of the *other* jurors. Their safety must be ensured in order for our legal system to work."

No surprise at all that the media can't be trusted to not fuck this up. Doubly unsurprising is that FOX is pushing conspiracy theories that get amplified by Trump and the rest of the MAGA dumpster cult.

And the coup de grace is Watters claiming the left are lying to get on the jury--so of course we know what this means: MAGA cultists are lying to get on the jury, because every accusation is an admission.

In any case, fuck the MSM for not using "common sense" and likely giving Trump yet another series of lifelines to get out of the consequences for his actions.

[postman1782]

12 jurors selected, think they need the 6 alternates still.

[Edge-]

And the coup de grace is Watters claiming the left are lying to get on the jury--so of course we know what this means: MAGA cultists are lying to get on the jury, because every accusation is an admission.

Honestly the fact that he's still hosting O'Reilly's old spot is an indictment on just how shallow the talent bench has become at Fox, and also how dangerous their hosts continue to be.

It'd be wonderful if she could anonymously sue the pants off of him and the show for putting her in danger by making shit up about her like her being a secret liberal activist.

[Breccia]

Hey remember this?



Well, now take a look at this:



Yes, that's FOX News *ding* *ding* *ding* *ding*

"Whoa whoa whoa! Why are you giving yourself that many CNN points? That's one video."

So as you can see, Trump left court today with a big pile of paper and said

These are all stories over the last few days from legal experts...But all of these are stories from legal experts saying how this is not a case. ‘The case is ridiculous.’ There’s another one, ‘The case is ridiculous, Trump indictment, it’s missing fraud, there is no fraud.'

"Well that's certainly a handful of paper. There must be many stories in there."

No, watch the video. There are headlines in there. Each "story" is a source, a headline, and a picture of Trump. But take a look, do you see anything written under the picture?

"Which picture?"

Any.

"...well the first one. But after that, he keeps everything clumped together, he holds it so you can't see anything under the picture, and more than half the time they're not facing the camera."

Almost as if he's hiding something, huh? Notice anything else?

"Um, they're all paper clipped in the middle of the top side, which is not where you paper clip anything you actually want to read. The pages won't turn and you can't see the top half of the page. So, nobody read those printouts. For all we know, every page after the first is blank."

Correct. If you see the end of Trump's...let's say "statements", he gets near the end and says "I'd like to read that". He hasn't even read the headlines and there's fewer than 20. Anything else you notice?

"All the shown parts are exactly the same format. Headline/logo of source, headline in the same font, picture exactly the same dimensions."

Correct. What would cause that?

"If they all came from the same social media source which force-aligns pictures. Are these all from Truth Social?"

That'd be my guess. If anyone recognizes that template, please let me know what it's from.

And even "from the last few days" he was only able to get that many padded stories. From what you can see, the National Review is the plurality, he shows one FOX News logo and names two more (that's four dings, one for the video and one for each headline in the pile). Also, speaking of "from the last few days" did you catch him mention Rolling Stone?

"Yes, they said they don't like Bragg's chances."

Well, Trump said that, yes. Want to see the article?

"...this is from March 30. This is not 'from the last few days'."

Well yes, and more yes. March 30, 2023. It was published after the grand jury indicted. By the way, how many lawyers were quoted in that article?

"Uh...two. Two whole lawyers. And one of them says:"

Given that Alvin Bragg is a former federal prosecutor in one of the most prestigious, if not the most prestigious, U.S. attorney’s offices in the country, and given what we know — that he had backed off of this prosecution for a couple of years before reapproaching it — that he has to have a fairly high level of confidence that they can make their case if they’re going to return an indictment.

"I don't think Trump read the article."

Trump is still trying to win this case outside of the courtroom, because he can't win inside the courtroom. He's using sleight of hand, stage magic, and as per usual, outright lying.

- - - Updated - - -

I’m sitting here for days now, from morning til night, in that freezing room, freezing, everybody was freezing in there

Man, don't you hate it when the courtroom is so cold, you can't sleep?

[Edge-]

Man, don't you hate it when the courtroom is so cold, you can't sleep?

Y'all, is it stereotypically masculine to complain how cold it is when coats exist? He can put on some long johns or a onesie underneath his suit if he's so chilly.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/19/marke...edium=referral

Trump Media, the parent company of the former president’s Truth Social, alerted Nasdaq Inc. on Thursday of what the company suspects is illegal activity driving down the price of its shares.

In a letter to the exchange, Devin Nunes, the CEO of Trump Media (DJT), laid out what he believes could be deemed “naked” short selling.

Naked short selling involves someone selling shares they don’t own or have not borrowed. They will often then try to buy shares at a reduced price to cover themselves. This practice is generally illegal. Whereas legitimate short sellers, people who seek to benefit from declines in the value of a company’s shares, borrow the shares before selling.

The letter was made public Friday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Nunes also noted in the letter that shares of the company were on a list the Nasdaq maintains that’s “indicative of unlawful trading activity.”

“This is particularly troubling given that “naked” short selling often entails sophisticated market participants profiting at the expense of retail investors,” he said.

How would Devin Nunes even know this? He's an agriculture major with experience in farming and government, not being a tech executive or stock trader.

Anyways, enjoy the latest copium for, "Our company can't be this worthless, have you ignored our fundamentals!?"

[Rasulis]

Anyways, enjoy the latest copium for, "Our company can't be this worthless, have you ignored our fundamentals!?"

Ultimately, no stock can escape the company's fundamentals. The next quarterly report will burst the current bubble which is already stalling.

[Breccia]

How would Devin Nunes even know this?

I like how his evidence of a crime is "something Trump owned lost value" and literally nothing else.

- - - Updated - - -

Once again, it's time for Guess the Speaker!

We must unite in our effort to establish a society where equality is the everyday experience of every American.

Together, we must nourish and safeguard the seeds of liberty. Because, when successful, America blossoms into a magnificent place where everyone can practice their beliefs, share new ideas, and express individualism — this is when we are our best.

The speaker...is Melania Trump. Said it on FOX News *ding* and everything.

"Isn't Trump's whole thing that he's a racist and a bigot?"

Yes, but he's also losing voters. Melania has likely been recruited to lie about Trump's message to bring people back. Trump does not want equality, he wants to be richer than everyone, that's the opposite of equality. But Melania is a desperate housewife and Trump is hemhorraging suburban female votes.

Bear in mind, we've heard the Party of Trump say "we need to stop dividing the country" before, and it always means "so just do whatever Trump says, or we'll start hurting and killing people again". The Party of Trump does not do compromise, just look at Speaker Greene vs. Speaker Johnson.

- - - Updated - - -

If they take away my presidential immunity, they take away crooked Joe Biden’s presidential immunity.

-- Donald Trump

No 'they' don't, I never had it. That's one of the many reasons I don't commit crimes, in office or otherwise.

-- Biden should totally say this

Trump is not "losing" his immunity. FOX News *ding* completes his ALL-CAPS posting monologue on the topic.

"Without presidential immunity, it would be impossible for a president to properly function, putting the United States of America in great and everlasting danger!" he posted, in all capital letters.

Trump said that without immunity from prosecution, the presidency "will lose its power and prestige, and under some leaders, have no power at all."

"The Presidency will be consumed by the other Branches of Government. That is not what our founders wanted!" he wrote.

In another post, Trump argued that if a president does not have immunity, "the Opposing Party, during his/her term in Office, can extort and blackmail the President by saying that, ‘if you don’t give us everything we want, we will Indict you for things you did while in Office,’ even if everything done was totally Legal and Appropriate."

"That would be the end of the Presidency, and our Country, as we know it, and is just one of the many Traps there would be for a President without Presidential Immunity," Trump posted.

Pointing to his presidential predecessors, and 2020 and 2024 opponent Biden, Trump said: "Obama, Bush, and soon, Crooked Joe Biden, would all be in BIG TROUBLE."

"If a President doesn’t have IMMUNITY, he/she will be nothing more than a ‘Ceremonial’ President, rarely having the courage to do what has to be done for our Country," Trump continued, calling for the protection of presidential immunity. "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

Trump added that if immunity is not granted to a president, "every president that leaves office will be immediately indicted by the opposing party."

"Without complete immunity, a president of the United States would not be able to properly function," he said again.

"Does he know about checks and balances?"

He knows most of his checks don't balance, so probably.

"Does he know we had this whole thing in 1776-1783 about not having an absolute ruler whose word was unchallengeable law?"

Oddly enough, he seems to insinuate he's a new founding father (yes, that's a Purge reference) but he thinks he's on the side of unchallengeable law, who the Founding Fathers fought against.

"Has he heard about Nixon?"

I doubt it, Nixon resigned rather than face charges, Trump is doing the opposite.

"Is he saying he would be brought up on charges for things that are completely legal?"

He's saying that about his many felonies now, so, yes.

"How do you charge someone without a crime happening?"

He's making shit up. It would be impossible to blackmail Trump about that time he signed the 2018 budget, as a random example. Trump knows full well what he did was a problem and is trying to muddy the waters as SCOTUS finds a loophole for him. Again, I keep saying this, SCOTUS will rule that Trump is somehow not subject to consequences for his crimes, but will find a way to say that that doesn't give blanket/massive immunity for Biden to commit crimes. They're looking for other options to keep Trump from going to jail for leading a violent terrorist insurrection.

"Another late-night tantrum?"

No.

Trump posted about the issue on his Truth Social platform while he sat in a New York City courtroom for day four of his criminal trial stemming from charges brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

"He's on trial for a felony and he's tweeting in court?"

Well, not tweeting, but yes.

[D Luniz]

So the DJT media group stock has been slowly gaining over the last 48 hours, and their response is "our stock is being manipulated!!"

Seems like they were hoping to get rich shorting it, but the cult (and maybe some people with more market sense) are making it rise, and will ruin their whole plan.

Christ I wish understood the market better to know

[Breccia]

So the DJT media group stock has been slowly gaining over the last 48 hours, and their response is "our stock is being manipulated!!"

It's the other way around, actually. They've given instructions to stockholders on how to keep their stocks from being borrowed to short sell, halting the downwards slide...for a day.

If that sounds like price manipulation, it is. However, telling people not to sell your stock isn't illegal. It's just holding the price a little longer while you wait for your time limit to expire so you can dump your stocks and leave everyone else with nothing.

[Canpinter]

So did anyone have "man sets himself on fire" on their trump case bingo card?

[Breccia]

So did anyone have "man sets himself on fire" on their trump case bingo card?

...no, it can't possibly.

(checks news)

[D Luniz]

So did anyone have "man sets himself on fire" on their trump case bingo card?

He threw a bunch of pamphlets before he lit himself, so at the least we'll get a reason soon enough.

[Edge-]

He threw a bunch of pamphlets before he lit himself, so at the least we'll get a reason soon enough.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/n...ire-trump.html

An eyewitness, who declined to be identified, said that the man threw pamphlets into the air before he lit himself on fire. The man, who was wearing jeans and dark gray T-shirt, fell to the ground. He was in an area of the park that was cordoned off for supporters of Mr. Trump.

Some of the pamphlets referenced former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Al Gore and the lawyer David Boies, who represented Mr. Gore in the 2000 presidential election recount.

Everything about this is weird as shit, and I'm ready for it to be really stupid.

Edit: At least this time no law enforcement told him to stop immolating while pointing their guns at him, apparently.

[Breccia]

He threw a bunch of pamphlets before he lit himself, so at the least we'll get a reason soon enough.

Indeed, it's possible he went to where all the cameras were because of the cameras, not Trump.

[Myradin]

Edit: At least this time no law enforcement told him to stop immolating while pointing their guns at him, apparently.

I'm sorry....what?