Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Felya]

Legal Eagle has good analysis, but its flaw is that it is too logical, and too grounded in precedent and history.

Good point... not enough out of the box thinking... What if Trump eliminates January 20th? Change it to be January 19 1/2?

[Breccia]

A surprising new poll shows Trump and Biden are basically neck and neck, with Trump ahead by one percent!

"Woohoo! MAGA!"

In Texas!

"Oh, fuck y'all."

Among voters from their respective parties, Biden has a slight edge. Ninety percent of Democrats said they would vote for the former vice president in November, while 87 percent of Republicans said they plan to cast their ballots for Trump.

In another positive sign for Biden, independents said they favor him over Trump, 45 percent to 36 percent, according to the Quinnipiac poll.

Texas voters are largely split on who would do a better job responding to the coronavirus pandemic. Forty-seven percent chose Biden, while 45 percent chose Trump. That’s still within the poll’s margin of error, however.

"Too tight to tell in Texas,” said Tim Malloy, a polling analyst at Quinnipiac University. “As the country confronts chaos and COVID-19, perhaps one of the most important states of all is a toss-up.”

So to recap -- it's Texas, to re-cowboy hat: Trump has put Texas in play. Republican Presidential candidates won Texas every year since 1980, and 1976 was a special case -- Nixon. Hmm. Why did I bring that up, I wonder? If the GOP is forced to pull back and defend Texas, they'll have to give up time and effort that was aimed at other locations. And I think that poll pre-dated the state's governor saying "No troops Mr. Trump, we're fine". Although it is after the hurricane (by years) and after the failure of the Wall (ongoing).

And before I hit "Submit" another story: the White House perimeter has been pushed back another half block.

By troops in military uniform federal law enforcement who won't identify which branch they're in (suggesting they're airport guards or ICE being repurposed, like I "repurposed" that Pure Leaf Green Tea bottle when the next rest stop was 67 miles away) and their nameplates have been scratched off.





There might be some military in there, I can't tell. The mixed "uniforms" make it hard.

Not only is this yet more evidence Trump hid in his bunker (brave people don't typically need more space), but hey, at least he finally has his Wall.

[solinari6]

What if Trump sees the writing on the wall, and says "Screw you guys, I'm going home" and flies home to Russia? Is it too late to put Pence on the ballot for president? Or would they need to do a write-in for Pence?

[Stormspark]

I think anyone that knowingly votes for Trump after this should be held liable for everything he does.

[Felya]

Oh and since we used to hear so much about betting odds... here is why that stopped:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/03/bide...g-markets.html

As recently as last week, Trump was favored to win on both platforms. Biden's chances have risen to 50%-43% on Smarkets and 53%-46% on PredictIt.

Spokespeople for both companies confirmed that trading volume has risen to levels unseen since March, when the U.S. began shutting down major portions of its economy to halt the spread of the coronavirus.

[Thekri]

Good point... not enough out of the box thinking... What if Trump eliminates January 20th? Change it to be January 19 1/2?

I mean... you laugh, but Julius Caesar did pretty much exactly that in 46 BC. He had the Consulship for a year, but he was also the Pontifex Maximus that controlled the Roman Calendar, so he added 2 full months in addition to the Leap month that was supposed to happen that year, for a year with a total of 445 days in it. Which amusingly enough, still stands in any modern Calendar, 46 BC officially has 15 months and 445 days. All of which count as one year of Caesar's consulship.

[Thekri]

There might be some military in there, I can't tell. The mixed "uniforms" make it hard.

Not only is this yet more evidence Trump hid in his bunker (brave people don't typically need more space), but hey, at least he finally has his Wall.

If there is any military in there that is EXTREMELY illegal. Like immediately Court Martial and jailed level illegal. You are very strictly not allowed to do shit like this out of official uniform ESPECIALLY in the US.

But those look like other law enforcement agencies getting repurposed by Barr after governors gave him the middle finger when he asked for the national guard.

[Elegiac]

Is this them trying to bring things back around to Trump being a war time president, only with protests and such, instead of the coronavirus?

Also seems Trump has completed his "annual" physical! We just don't know when.

What, comparing police action against your own citizens to a war? That's not suspect at all.

I do wonder what these cravens will do if people actually do start fighting back against police.

[Edge-]

If there is any military in there that is EXTREMELY illegal. Like immediately Court Martial and jailed level illegal. You are very strictly not allowed to do shit like this out of official uniform ESPECIALLY in the US.

But those look like other law enforcement agencies getting repurposed by Barr after governors gave him the middle finger when he asked for the national guard.

We've seen military police deployed IIRC, plus national guard in DC.

But the fact that any law enforcement are hiding their identities and refusing to say who they are is terrifying on its face. This is straight up authoritarian behavior right here.

And it's all on the Republican party, writ large.

[Felya]

I mean... you laugh, but Julius Caesar did pretty much exactly that in 46 BC. He had the Consulship for a year, but he was also the Pontifex Maximus that controlled the Roman Calendar, so he added 2 full months in addition to the Leap month that was supposed to happen that year, for a year with a total of 445 days in it. Which amusingly enough, still stands in any modern Calendar, 46 BC officially has 15 months and 445 days. All of which count as one year of Caesar's consulship.

Did not know that... I should jokingly reply to your posts more often. Thank you!

[beanman12345]

Oh and since we used to hear so much about betting odds... here is why that stopped:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/03/bide...g-markets.html

Looks like that habitual gambler theo simp ban evader might lose his house over this after all.

[Pannonian]

I mean... you laugh, but Julius Caesar did pretty much exactly that in 46 BC. He had the Consulship for a year, but he was also the Pontifex Maximus that controlled the Roman Calendar, so he added 2 full months in addition to the Leap month that was supposed to happen that year, for a year with a total of 445 days in it. Which amusingly enough, still stands in any modern Calendar, 46 BC officially has 15 months and 445 days. All of which count as one year of Caesar's consulship.

Yeah, but he didn't do it to win any political power, but he corrected the roman calendar who depended on manual added days at this time and got muddled up every few years. In essence he curbed his own political power by this move, as the additional 5 days he had to sprinkle around (after making 12 months a 30 days - copying the egyptian calendar) were fixed as opposed to on the whim of the pontifex maximus.

So for all of Caesars faults, and his ultimate goal in this (as in most everything) was probably self-promotion, in THIS instance he massively helped everyone by creating a calendar that was no longer subject to political shennanigans.

Just to add - the roman calendar was out of sync at this time (which, funny enough was Caesar fault as he hadn't checked it in a decade which would have been his job), that's why the 4 months were added, to have winter in, well winter again; which is also the reason why Bibulus didn't watch out for his "winter"-crossing, when it effect is was only september.

[Breccia]

What if Trump sees the writing on the wall, and says "Screw you guys, I'm going home" and flies home to Russia?

We've discussed over and over the idea if Trump would make up an excuse and at least give up on the election -- possibly saying something like "these Democrat Fake Media attacks aren't fair to my family whom I profess to love, so I'm quitting even though I could totes win ugaiz" -- as soon as he realizes he's not going to win. Trump hates losing, and loves his image. He can't lose if he doesn't compete.

Obviously, nobody here would buy that excuse. Even the rabid fanbase. They might pretend, of course, but you can't go from screaming "Fight back, Mr. Bigly! You tweet with all your might and you'll show them!" to "These attacks are unfair, he made the right call, he would have left earlier but he was doing more for everyone than anyone ever" without stomping on the clutch. And we'll see the smoke coming out of their ears.

Another option? Fake a heart attack. Or have a heart attack. It can't be that hard, he's 300 by now and barely gets out of his bunker to get any exercise. It'd be much easier to shift gears to "oh, well if he's sick and/or dying it makes sense" although it would fly in the face of "healthiest person to ever run" if he either falls ill or pretends to fall ill before completing his only term. Also, I can't think of a time that's ever happened. Has any US President gotten too sick to continue, without actually dying?

If we asked around, however, I'd bet that the consensus is, once he makes it to the debates, that's no longer an option. One, once he gets his shit pushed in on national live TV three more times, saying "I could still win but I don't want to" will ring even more hollow than the empty rooms in Mar-a-Lago. Two, the logistics of replacing him at that stage of the game would be monstrous -- unPresidented I believe, and I doubt you can just say "Pence, you got this!" and hobble to the exit on your bone spurs. Even if he could, Pence has the Charisma of a half-orc barbarian with two ex-wives, a cold sore, kicks puppies and it snowed yesterday. People literally forget he's in the room. Actually, I can't wait to see him debate whichever woman Biden picks for VP. Can you imagine if Pence's wife isn't in the room?

But September 29 is a long way away. Basically, four months. Will things get so bad, in four months, that even intentionally deluded, narcissistic Trump thinks he can't win, to the point of making a no-return move of dropping out? Honestly, I hope not. Simply put, that means Trump's damage to America would be far worse than we're seeing right now: Great Depression-level unemployment, a negative GDP rate that could literally be "half of it", protests in the streets, riots in the streets (they're not the same thing), martial law basically being threatened, flanked by literal plagues of locusts and the COVID-19 outbreak. And that's just the last few months. For Trump to drop out, I suspect his polls would have to drop through his otherwise unbreakable base, which is cracking but not crumbling.

Oh, and unrelated: McEnemy was asked if Trump still had confidence in Esper. She refused to answer. The experienced (not talented) liar and distractor went with “With regard to whether the president has confidence, I would say if he loses confidence in Secretary Esper, I'm sure you all will be the first to know.” Which is what I would say, if I knew I was out of the loop to make telling lies easier.

- - - Updated - - -

Looks like that habitual gambler theo simp ban evader might lose his house over this after all.

There's a joke in here about "the house always wins" but it doesn't make sense to use it when Trump literally bankrupted three casinos in one day.

[Thekri]

Yeah, but he didn't do it to win any political power, but he corrected the roman calendar who depended on manual added days at this time and got muddled up every few years. In essence he curbed his own political power by this move, as the additional 5 days he had to sprinkle around (after making 12 months a 30 days - copying the egyptian calendar) were fixed as opposed to on the whim of the pontifex maximus.

So for all of Caesars faults, and his ultimate goal was in this (as in most everything) was self-promoting, in THIS instance he massively helped everyone by creating a calendar that was no longer subject to political shenanigans.

Well yes, and overall it was a very positive move, as it gave the western world a 365 1/4 calendar for the first time (He blatantly stole the Egyptian Calendar, renamed everything, and claimed he invented it), but the main goal was to give him an extra 3 months in that particular consulship to consolidate power. So I mean it worked out, sort of. I mean he did completely destroy their entire system of government and ushered in several centuries of absolute monarchs of various stages of mental stability. But the 365 1/4 day calendar is nice to have.

[Breccia]

Is this them trying to bring things back around to Trump being a war time president, only with protests and such, instead of the coronavirus?

On these forums, many of us have called those "militia" members who dress in ill-fitting non-uniforms and demand their rights to weapons of war and invading state capitals (why wasn't the military called then?) basically cowards who want to play dress-up war without actually being in one.

(points at Trump)

And that's why they follow him. But it's difficult to call yourself a wartime leader against a hoax, isn't it? Even though he did draft meat packers into increasingly unsafe worksites to do so.

[Pannonian]

Well yes, and overall it was a very positive move, as it gave the western world a 365 1/4 calendar for the first time (He blatantly stole the Egyptian Calendar, renamed everything, and claimed he invented it), but the main goal was to give him an extra 3 months in that particular consulship to consolidate power. So I mean it worked out, sort of. I mean he did completely destroy their entire system of government and ushered in several centuries of absolute monarchs of various stages of mental stability. But the 365 1/4 day calendar is nice to have.

Maybe my timeline is mixed up, but wasn't he at this point already appointed dictator for 10 years?

And he still had one improvement, the egyptian calendar had only 360 days. These fixed extra days were his own (or more to say sosigenes) invention. Though of course he had to fuck it up with february - romans and their superstition...

[Breccia]

Maybe my timeline is mixed up, but wasn't he at this point already appointed dictator for 10 years?

Sixteen years.

[wunksta]

It was bad in Austin, the cops are shooting people in the faces and heads with the rubber bullets, causing a head injury to one kid and exposing his brain matter.

[TigTone]

It was bad in Austin, the cops are shooting people in the faces and heads with the rubber bullets, causing a head injury to one kid and exposing his brain matter.

Can you say multi million dollar lawsuit?

[Edge-]

Can you say multi million dollar lawsuit?

No, I can't. Because I can say, "Broad protection from legal consequences from their actions while 'carrying out their duties', and deeply corrupt law enforcement agencies that do everything they can to protect their own and prevent them from being held accountable."