Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[gondrin]

texting your boss that you won't follow the rules really is a fast way to get fired.

I just waiting for the reply of "I didn't get suspended, I quit first." type nonsense.

[Breccia]

So of course, Stormy Daniels was back on the stand, being cross-examined by Team Trump.

It was a bloodbath. Don't mess with an adult entertainer, they can fuck you harder than you can.

Legal experts say lawyer grilling Stormy Daniels "made it worse" for Trump

As former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance commented, the defense interrogation of Daniels was a “master class in how not to do” a cross examination.

For one, Daniels, an adult film star whose $130,000 hush payment is at the heart of the case, could not possibly know whether Trump engaged in a conspiracy to falsify business records in order to evade campaign finance laws.

But Necheles didn’t get around to pointing that out until nearly the end of her more than two hours of cross examination. Instead, she leaned into what analysts referred to as an almost archaic, pre-#MeToo “nutty and slutty” attack, suggesting that Daniels was a promiscuous and prolific fabulist.

“You have a lot of experience making phony stories about sex,” Necheles said at one point. At another, she was quizzing Daniels on her claim that Trump never provided her dinner at their alleged 2006 encounter.

What Necheles should have done, in the view of her critics, is just stick to what Daniels couldn’t know – the alleged conspiracy, after the claimed incident, that prosecutors claim amounts to nearly three dozen felonies – instead of re-litigating an evening of bad sex that the defendant denies ever happened.

MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin said Daniels performed better under the defense team’s constant stream of attack – she quickly rebutted the accusation she’s a grifter for selling merchandise by pointing the finger back at a man selling his own Bible – than she did on her first day of testimony, when even the judge thought she went too far in describing her alleged encounter with Trump.

"Stormy Daniels is the rare witness who's better on cross-examination than she is on direct," Rubin commented. "She really held her ground.”

That has much to do with Daniels’ ability to respond under pressure, but the defense enabled it, choosing, for example, to interrogate her about her claimed reaction to seeing Trump in his underwear, which she had previously described as a shock and surprise.

"The most that Susan Necheles did was say that it was incredulous to her that Stormy Daniels, having acted in 150 to 200 pornography movies, would be scared or surprised to come out of the bathroom and find Donald Trump on the bed for her," Rubin said. "Daniels had a nice retort to that, which is to say, 'Look, if it had been my husband, I see my husband naked all the time, but to open that bathroom door and to find Donald Trump lying on the bed for me at 60 years old, more than twice my age, and much larger than me, yeah, that was surprising.’”

The judge has had a few things to say, too, specifically about Daniels' testimony earlier:

But for the life of me, I don’t know why Ms. Necheles didn’t object.

Necheles actually did move for a mistrial over the issue she didn't object over. And I believe her lack of objection helped lead to the motion being denied.

And let's throw in George Conway, why not.

“My takeaway was that the continued cross-examination of Stormy Daniels was a complete disaster and fiasco for the defense,” Conway said during a panel appearance on CNN, adding, “It just went on and on, and … they didn’t have anything on her.”

“I think what happened was they had a day off — and Necheles is a very good lawyer by reputation,” he said. “I can even tell just by the way she conducted herself, she knows how to cross-examine a witness and knows how to ask questions.”

But, he added, “her client is a narcissistic sociopath … who is obsessed with proving the lie that he didn’t have anything to do with Stormy Daniels.”

And Conway has a point. Trump, or Team Trump, doesn't seem to realize the issue isn't if Trump had sex with a porn star who wasn't his wife. By refusing to testify, he's admitted that. They need to keep him out of jail for the illegal payments, and Trump isn't letting them. Instead, he's pushing them to a strategy that cannot succeed.

Conway said it should not matter for the defense whether the affair actually happened, characterizing the current approach as “counterproductive.” He also suggested the interrogation was “just garbage” and “embarrassing.”

“By keeping your cross simple and short, you can control the witness. But the longer you go, the more the witness can pop off at you,” he said. “And this woman is way smarter than Necheles’s client.”

And of course, Trump has already proven that.

If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!

Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!

These are both Trump social media posts. Obviously, the second one didn't age well. The first actually caused laughter in the courtroom when it was introduced into evidence. Because, of course, Trump had hired Cohen for decades, including for the situation for which Trump is now on trial, which Trump defended in that earlier tweet.

Oh, and this one:

Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between these two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement or NDA

That's Trump admitting he knew about the payments. Which, yep, destroys his defense. Trump is a horrible client.

As expected, FOX News leapt to Trump's defense in a reasonable, logical, objective way, pointing out specific case history and other evidence.

Just kidding. They panicked and gave me my CNN point back.

Fox News host Laura Ingraham is upset that an insult against Donald Trump, “orange turd,” has been repeatedly mentioned in trial coverage, despite the fact that Trump’s own legal team entered the phrase into evidence during his hush-money trial.

“You notice that Anderson Cooper really seemed to relish saying orange turd?” Ingraham said Thursday night, referring to the CNN anchor. “How many times did he say it? Well, we didn’t have the drinking game going but we might as well have. Again, humiliation of Trump, the only goal here.”

Trump walked out of the courtroom and started repeatedly lying as per usual. MSNBC, at least, cut away to point out that he was lying as per usual.

Trump began railing against Justice Juan Merchan's gag order, which he claimed prevented him from "saying anything about anybody," and was insisting legal experts widely agree Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case is a "scam" when MSNBC's Chris Jansing cut the feed.

"This is a frequent complaint of Donald Trump, that the trial is a scam," Jansing said. "He blames it on people that -- all of those things are completely untrue."

After all that, Trump left the courtroom and...just read it.

So [Biden] lies and he lies about everything, including his golf game, because he can't hit a ball. He can't hit a ball 100 yards, lies about everything.

Trump, of course, has famously been called out for cheating at golf plenty of times. Also, hitting a golf ball is not mandatory to run the world's largest economy. Breaking economic laws, by contrast, is a bad sign.

But it's not like anyone else had a good day, either.

1) The gag order says Trump "making or directing others to make public statements about any juror and about any reasonably foreseeable witness’ participation"

Habba may have broken that.

On May 7, after Daniels testified about an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006, Habba appeared on Hannity—where she was described in a Fox News chyron as Trump's legal spokesperson—and seemed to attack Daniels' credibility.

"When you have inconsistencies with any witness, it speaks volumes," Habba said. "When you pick people who are not credible, it speaks volumes."

Yes, this pre-dates Daniels completely destroying Team Trump's cross.

2) Steve Bannon loses appeal and is going to jail.

Bannon claims his lawyers told him he didn't need to comply. He has lost back-to-back appeals on this and is basically out of options. He's going to prison.

3) Donnie Dum-Dum Jr. is now begging for as little as $1 from cultists still on FB for some reason.

"It's what our lawyers are worth," he didn't say but could have.

[Dontrike]

How old is Trump? He's so old he'd edit twitter posts by having someone print them and he'd edit them by hand.

Giving evidence for the prosecution Ms Westerhout, who was eventually fired by Mr Trump, recounted her tasks as her boss prepared to enter office in 2016 and during his time in the White House.

Mr Trump's top aide, Dan Scavino also had access to the @realDonaldTrump account, she said, but added that when he was absent, Ms Westerhout would occasionally help craft a tweet.

Ms Westerhout, whose desk sat directly outside the Oval Office while Trump was president, said he would sometimes have her print out draft tweets for him to edit by hand.

Though he was an avid Twitter user, Mr Trump preferred to summon her and dictate his posts, she said.

Ms Westerhout said she would have to take notes, quickly type up the draft, and print it out for him.

Occasionally Mr Trump would have more edits. She told the court she soon learned what made a "signature" Trump tweet.

"My recollection is there are certain words he liked to capitalise. Words like 'country'. He liked to use exclamation points," she said.

"It is my understanding that he liked to use the Oxford comma," she added.

Mr Trump appeared to watch her closely as she gave evidence, leaning back in his chair as she spoke.

He did not use a computer or have an email address, to the best of her knowledge.

She also said that her former boss liked to do much of his work in a dining room, away from the actual Oval Office.

"He wanted to keep the Resolute Desk very pristine," she said of the famous wooden desk that presidents sit behind

[Edge-]

Was 50/50 on posting this here or in the Biden thread, but this seems a bit more fitting.

Anyways, remember that time Biden and Democrats secured a ton of additional funding for the IRS to focus on increased audits and enforcement on high-income individuals? Well not only is it still working, but you know exactly where this is going - https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/11/p...ort/index.html

Former President Donald Trump could owe more than $100 million in taxes as a result of a yearslong Internal Revenue Service inquiry into claims of huge losses on his Chicago skyscraper, The New York Times and ProPublica reported Saturday.

The news organizations reported Trump claimed massive financial losses twice — first on his 2008 tax return, when he said the building, then mired in debt, was “worthless,” and again after 2010, when he had shifted its ownership into a new partnership also controlled by Trump.

The 2008 claim resulted in Trump reporting losses as high as $651 million for the year, and there is no indication it drew an IRS challenge, the outlets reported. Then, Trump’s lawyers enabled further claims of losses in 2010 by shifting the Chicago tower into another partnership, “DJT Holdings LLC,” The Times and ProPublica reported.

In the years that followed, other Trump businesses, including golf courses, would be shifted into that same partnership — which his lawyers used as the basis to claim more tax-reducing losses from the Chicago tower. That move sparked the IRS inquiry. Those losses added up to $168 million over the next decade, the report said.

The outlets calculated the revision sought by the IRS could result in a tax bill of more than $100 million.

The only public mention of the IRS audit into Trump’s Chicago tower loss claims came in a December 2022 congressional report that The Times and ProPublica reported made an unexplained reference to the section of tax law at issue in the case. That mention, the outlets reported, confirmed the audit was still underway.

“This matter was settled years ago, only to be brought back to life once my father ran for office. We are confident in our position, which is supported by opinion letters from various tax experts, including the former general counsel of the IRS,” Trump’s son Eric Trump, the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, told The Times and ProPublica in a statement.

Gosh, how much more money has Donald stole, cheated, or defrauded folks out of?

[Benggaul]

Gosh, how much more money has Donald stole, cheated, or defrauded folks out of?

Considering he started with a "modest $1 million loan" (that, it turns out, was quite actually quite a bit more than a million) I'd have to say...pretty much anything above that amount.

[Dontrike]

Was 50/50 on posting this here or in the Biden thread, but this seems a bit more fitting.

Anyways, remember that time Biden and Democrats secured a ton of additional funding for the IRS to focus on increased audits and enforcement on high-income individuals? Well not only is it still working, but you know exactly where this is going - https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/11/p...ort/index.html



Gosh, how much more money has Donald stole, cheated, or defrauded folks out of?

I'm guessing he owes at least $500 million, considering decades of dodging taxes, various loop holes that weren't used right, and various tax fraud.

[postman1782]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1hbt_IFG89o

Late great Hannibal Lecter again?

[Surfd]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1hbt_IFG89o

Late great Hannibal Lecter again?

His brain is straight up mush. Like, seriously, the dementia is setting in hard.

[s_bushido]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1hbt_IFG89o

Late great Hannibal Lecter again?

Surely there's context for this beyond "he saw the movie the night before and briefly got tired of whining about how unfair everyone is to him." Surely...

[draynay]

Surely there's context for this beyond "he saw the movie the night before and briefly got tired of whining about how unfair everyone is to him." Surely...

More like he slept through it and woke up just before the end.

[Breccia]

Late great Hannibal Lecter again?

Honestly, this is actually better than the part of the rally where he, once again falsely, claimed wind power was killing whales. He offered no data because none exists.

Incidentally, does anyone know the part of any book or any movie where Hannibal Lecter dies? Anyone?

"Maybe Trump was talking about the actor who played him?"

Okay. Which one died?

"Uh...Gaspard Ulliel?"

The French guy? He never used the line Trump quoted.

So I'll admit it's possible that Trump was joking...about cannibalism for some reason...and that somehow this joke isn't obvious to us because every single video that exists doesn't show Trump saying this was a joke. I'll admit it's possible. At what point did he think Hannibal Lecter was dead? Trump was quoting the wrong movie and the character has, best of my knowledge, never died in canon. Even if Trump is a closet fan fiction reader -- I mean, we know he prefers stories where he wins the election, let's not rule that out -- surely he didn't accidentally refer to an uncredited work in place of the canon story in front of a half-filled crowd.

[DarkTZeratul]

Honestly, this is actually better than the part of the rally where he, once again falsely, claimed wind power was killing whales. He offered no data because none exists.

Incidentally, does anyone know the part of any book or any movie where Hannibal Lecter dies? Anyone?

I'm more curious to know why he said "Hannibal Lector, congratulations."

[Breccia]

I'm more curious to know why he said "Hannibal Lector, congratulations."

The only way that works is a joke. Not even Trump endorses actual cannibalism, let alone murder of rich people.

Just so we're clear, barring any part of the video we haven't seen, I don't think he's joking, and I don't think he's a cannibal. Either he's literally developmentally challenged (still not contradicted by any poster here) or he referenced a movie and got every single important detail wrong, nobody told hi, and his crowd cheered what they know is a failure of a human being because it's all they have left.

"That sounds like a joke."

No. Jokes are funny.

[Kaleredar]

Honestly, this is actually better than the part of the rally where he, once again falsely, claimed wind power was killing whales. He offered no data because none exists.

Incidentally, does anyone know the part of any book or any movie where Hannibal Lecter dies? Anyone?

"Maybe Trump was talking about the actor who played him?"

Okay. Which one died?

"Uh...Gaspard Ulliel?"

The French guy? He never used the line Trump quoted.

So I'll admit it's possible that Trump was joking...about cannibalism for some reason...and that somehow this joke isn't obvious to us because every single video that exists doesn't show Trump saying this was a joke. I'll admit it's possible. At what point did he think Hannibal Lecter was dead? Trump was quoting the wrong movie and the character has, best of my knowledge, never died in canon. Even if Trump is a closet fan fiction reader -- I mean, we know he prefers stories where he wins the election, let's not rule that out -- surely he didn't accidentally refer to an uncredited work in place of the canon story in front of a half-filled crowd.

The great part about “conservative’s ‘totally legitimate’ concerns about green energy killing wildlife” like their supposed worry about windmills killing birds is that fossil fuels and other pollutants they’re happy to ignore or even actively promote kill way way waaaay more wildlife.

[DarkTZeratul]

The only way that works is a joke

A joke has a setup and a punchline. This was just a non-sequitor. Joking or not, what was he even congratulating Hannibal Lector for?

[Breccia]

A joke has a setup and a punchline. This was just a non-sequitor. Joking or not, what was he even congratulating Hannibal Lector for?

See, that's why I'm not 100% sure the video wasn't snipped. What we saw makes the opposite of sense, like literal negative sense. Nonsequitors are closer to 0.This isn't even saying Hitler made the trains run on time, this is just bonkers. I'm not yet ruling out that we're missing either the attempted setup and attempted punchline of what was supposed to be a joke. But I'm not holding my breath. Very few jokes involve idolizing cannibals who murder people.

[Belize]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1hbt_IFG89o

Late great Hannibal Lecter again?

The syphilis induced dementia is really starting to show

[Mayhem]

Incidentally, does anyone know the part of any book or any movie where Hannibal Lecter dies? Anyone?

I think he died in the series. Though I find it hard to believe Trump can confuse Sir. Anthony Hopkins with Mads Mikkelsen.

[Drutt]

I think he died in the series.

Neither the character nor the actor are dead. Just another Trump brain melt.

[uuuhname]

minus all context Trump is one of the funniest people to ever live. just a riot trying to figure out how his brain works.