Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Smitzelplix]

Looks like CPAC is gearing up to be another super spreader event.

CPAC hosts booed for asking attendees to wear masks

[Felya]

Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me.

You just can't make this shit up. I mean...what in the holy fuck...?

Using the American flag as underwear...

[gondrin]

Using the American flag as underwear...

Someone should ask the people attending how they like the US flag desecrated like this.

[Shadowferal]

Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me.
You just can't make this shit up. I mean...what in the holy fuck...?

Golden statue of Trump at CPAC ridiculed online

Despite the praise from attendees, social media users argued that the statue showed some conservatives' unhealthy obsession with Trump, with one Twitter user jokingly writing, "I asked CPAC if they were afraid of offending God with a golden Trump statue and they said 'Trump is God.'"

In the Old Testament story, the Golden Calf was worshipped by the Israelites in the absence of Moses as he went up to Mount Sinai. In the Bible, God punished those who worshipped the golden structure instead of him, destroying the calf and killing about 3,000 people.

Al Cardenas, former chairman of the American Conservative Union (ACU), tagged the organization in a Twitter post sharing the video Friday morning, writing, "Its come down to this. Worshiping the Golden Impeached."

[Edge-]

Someone should ask the people attending how they like the US flag desecrated like this.

It's patriotism. Haven't you seen all the US flag hats, shirts, pants, dresses, underwear, jackets, fanny packs, and other shit they wear?

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Man, the more I think about all this shit...

Remember that time Democrats kept wearing all their Obama/Biden gear and flying flags and having cutouts of them for years and years after they were in office?
Remember that time Democrats brought out golden idols of Obama/Biden for people to pose with?
Remember that time Democrats proudly proclaimed a cultish devotion to one man, win or lose, and committed to following that man well after he left office?

Neither do it. The Republican party is unironically a cult, and once more we see that the bent of US conservatism for the past half century+ has been a straight path being an idol worshiping cult.

See: The previous cult-like devotion to Saint Reagan, now replaced by an actual cult devotion to Dear Leader, Our Lord And Savior, God Trump.

[cubby]

Ask questions, don’t like the answers, that’s politics in a nutshell I guess. But I think there’s enough discussion at the margins to not close up the shop with “but my opponent is arguing so disingenuously!!!11”

We can go around the pivot; from was the vote totals correct, to was it fair, to what it means to concede and whine for years after, to whine and inspire violence. The troubling thing about real slippery slopes is it’s a slope. And certain *passionate* individuals will always claim all context is whaboutism and all history deflects from the point (you’ll perhaps note no defense offered in the posts responding to my response to you, just pivots)

Literally, if all responses ignore context and just jab at some point they think is the big idea, I wonder why they try. Seriously. Respond to the allegations, don’t just dismiss and go on with what you wanted to say. Pretend that the phone call with Georgia was just a 12 second clip on its own. Ignore the plain law on employees of the IRS releasing an individuals tax return. Ignore, perhaps intentionally, my distinction on criminal tax complaints from merely “Trump pays a little more on previous tax returns” result of tax inquiry. He skates on 99% of what we know now, and everybody’s betting there’s some more hidden stuff that will come out and be criminal. That’s the plain truth.

This is the face of the modern Trumpkin. "Both sides" where one candidate concedes the day after and the other insights Insurrection. Where one candidate listens to the unanimous opinion of the United States' Intelligence Agencies and the other commits felony voter fraud in Georgia. The Trumpkin gets called out for their blatant lies and mistruths, and they ignore the facts and reality that show them to be wrong, and plow on ahead with "both sides" arguments.

These people will the be the 2020's battleground. And there is almost no hope of defeating them, because they can only hear their own voice.

(you're wrong about the GA, the IRS tax data dump - just fyi, in case you drop back into the real world, where facts matter)

[gondrin]

It's patriotism. Haven't you seen all the US flag hats, shirts, pants, dresses, underwear, jackets, fanny packs, and other shit they wear?

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Man, the more I think about all this shit...

Remember that time Democrats kept wearing all their Obama/Biden gear and flying flags and having cutouts of them for years and years after they were in office?
Remember that time Democrats brought out golden idols of Obama/Biden for people to pose with?
Remember that time Democrats proudly proclaimed a cultish devotion to one man, win or lose, and committed to following that man well after he left office?

Neither do it. The Republican party is unironically a cult, and once more we see that the bent of US conservatism for the past half century+ has been a straight path being an idol worshiping cult.

See: The previous cult-like devotion to Saint Reagan, now replaced by an actual cult devotion to Dear Leader, Our Lord And Savior, God Trump.

Would that be the 'member berries or Pepperidge Farm?

[cubby]

Using the American flag as underwear...

Their hypocrisy literally knows no bounds. If a picture of Obama had included an american flag underwear people would be storming the Capita-...oh, wait.

- - - Updated - - -

Golden statue of Trump at CPAC ridiculed online

Despite the praise from attendees, social media users argued that the statue showed some conservatives' unhealthy obsession with Trump, with one Twitter user jokingly writing, "I asked CPAC if they were afraid of offending God with a golden Trump statue and they said 'Trump is God.'"

In the Old Testament story, the Golden Calf was worshipped by the Israelites in the absence of Moses as he went up to Mount Sinai. In the Bible, God punished those who worshipped the golden structure instead of him, destroying the calf and killing about 3,000 people.

Al Cardenas, former chairman of the American Conservative Union (ACU), tagged the organization in a Twitter post sharing the video Friday morning, writing, "Its come down to this. Worshiping the Golden Impeached."

I like that - Golden Impeached.

But in all seriousness, this is truly frightening.

[Howel]

Guys, clearly it is not a golden idol, it is merely representing Trump as king Midas; because everything he touches becomes gold, and it is why the democrats stole the election, because they knew his second term would cement the golden era of the US, and people would acknowledge that the GOP was the only good party.

Oh and don't go read the actual story of king Midas, that'll just muddy the metaphor with pesky facts.

[Felya]

Guys, clearly it is not a golden idol, it is merely representing Trump as king Midas; because everything he touches becomes gold, and it is why the democrats stole the election, because they knew his second term would cement the golden era of the US, and people would acknowledge that the GOP was the only good party.

Oh and don't go read the actual story of king Midas, that'll just muddy the metaphor with pesky facts.

Isn’t that a Gorgon?

[tehdang]

This is the face of the modern Trumpkin. "Both sides" where one candidate concedes the day after and the other insights Insurrection. Where one candidate listens to the unanimous opinion of the United States' Intelligence Agencies and the other commits felony voter fraud in Georgia. The Trumpkin gets called out for their blatant lies and mistruths, and they ignore the facts and reality that show them to be wrong, and plow on ahead with "both sides" arguments.

These people will the be the 2020's battleground. And there is almost no hope of defeating them, because they can only hear their own voice.

(you're wrong about the GA, the IRS tax data dump - just fyi, in case you drop back into the real world, where facts matter)

I’m sure context and history will always be both sides as long as it has partisan implications. You see how much good will I got stating that impeachment was the appropriate remedy and looking at *gasp* nuance in the questions that original poster asked. I don’t go expecting long debates from the-debate-is-over crowd or people comparing the rioters to every Republican Trump voter. Politics is brute force and triumphalism to them and they deserve to be politically ignorant about what’s really going on around them.

I know the forces keeping partisanship alive in the debate aren’t necessarily frozen in today’s state, so I’ll continue to read as I can for anything interesting. You’re gonna get out what you put into your posts.

[PosPosPos]

I’m sure context and history will always be both sides as long as it has partisan implications. You see how much good will I got stating that impeachment was the appropriate remedy and looking at *gasp* nuance in the questions that original poster asked. I don’t go expecting long debates from the-debate-is-over crowd or people comparing the rioters to every Republican Trump voter. Politics is brute force and triumphalism to them and they deserve to be politically ignorant about what’s really going on around them.

I know the forces keeping partisanship alive in the debate aren’t necessarily frozen in today’s state, so I’ll continue to read as I can for anything interesting. You’re gonna get out what you put into your posts.

You didn't need to string along a barely-understandable word salad just to say you are a bad faith actor who can't be bothered to debate, just saying.

[Howel]

Isn’t that a Gorgon?

That would likely be more apt

[cubby]

I’m sure context and history will always be both sides as long as it has partisan implications. You see how much good will I got stating that impeachment was the appropriate remedy and looking at *gasp* nuance in the questions that original poster asked. I don’t go expecting long debates from the-debate-is-over crowd or people comparing the rioters to every Republican Trump voter. Politics is brute force and triumphalism to them and they deserve to be politically ignorant about what’s really going on around them.

I know the forces keeping partisanship alive in the debate aren’t necessarily frozen in today’s state, so I’ll continue to read as I can for anything interesting. You’re gonna get out what you put into your posts.

Nothing you've said above actually means anything - you're just spewing "both sides" when objectively that's never been the case, and hiding your bad faith in words you almost literally don't understand. You shouldn't expect anyone debating with you because so far, you haven't made any debatable points. So far, you're just spewing the Trumpkin lines, with the usual dismissal of objective fact and reality.

You're the guy saying "but Hitler was a good painter".

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Journalist Tim O'Brien, who's seen Trump's taxes, thinks Trump's accountant will now flip in D.A. inquiry.
Interesting take on the tax and financial information. Document review incoming!

[Breccia]

Document review incoming!

There are three options here.

1) Tim O'Brein is lying, trolling, or otherwise making shit up.
2) Tim O'Brein is overstating things.

Let's talk about

3) Trump's accountant is fucked.

We've heard from Cohen over a year now that agrees with this line of thinking.

Donald Trump’s financial records are the Rosetta Stone for understanding the depth of his corruption and crimes. The more it is unraveled, the more he will unravel. It’s the reason he’s fought so hard to keep it under wraps.

Flipping a middleman working your way up to the kingpin is pretty standard mob prosecution stuff. It's a little too late to refuse Trump's orders, but the accountant/accountants/firm that handled things are 100% in the cross-hairs, and have no realistic means of blocking subpoenas.

I hate to be the "only the guilty take the fifth" crowd, but Trump fought really hard on this one, including blocking his underlings from cooperating with valid law enforcement information requests. I think there's crimes in there, and worse, I think these accountants know they're on the hook, too.

Did Trump pay the accountaints enough toohoohooheeheeheeheeHAHAHAHAHA sorry.

Do these people owe Trump enough loyalty to not just lose their job, but also go to jail poor? The accountants profited from filing illegal taxes, true, but they're not the ones saving seven/eight/nine zero's in taxes. The AG isn't really all that interested in the accountant. They're interested in the information the accountant has. If the acountant draws the line and plays obstruction, the AG's opinion is no longer the relevant feature.

And, if it turns out this accountant is of the comically illegal mob style that destroyed all records and they have nothing to turn over, god help them. Trump is under audit, as everyone here knows even if they pretend otherwise for the purpose of trolling. You don't destroy evidence that would help your client in the middle of an ongoing audit...unless the evidence is proof of guilt, of course. But even if it was a mistake and Trump's innocent, that's the accountant version of being disbarred.

"Your Honor, and Mr. IRS, my client has pressing, legal reasons not to pay all those taxes he didn't pay."
"I'd love to see evidence of those."
"Um...you'll have to take my word for it."
"We really don't. No evidence, no withholding, that'll be $1.3 billion dollars."
"Do you take checks?"
"Not from your client, no."

And we all know how Trump protects his minions: he gives them nice, soft clothes so when they go under the bus, they don't pop the tires. This Weisselberg guy--

Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.

What the fuck, Racist Trump Quote from 1991, get out of here! I'm trying to talk about Trump's accountant.

Weisselberg is listed as Trump's accountant, but he's worked for the Trump family since the seventies. And...nobody else? He also has a chair or something of the Trump Org but only since 2017. He could have been a long-time criminal here, but relevant in this case, he likely has no other clients he could sell out in exchange for his freedom. And also, he's old enough to die in prisoni from even a moderate sentence, while a light one will "only" take all his money and what few good years he has left.

If Weisselberg is innocent and never cheated on Trump's taxes, I'll be surprised the Trumps kept him to be honest...but, if he's innocent, I'm sure the upcoming investigation will figure that out. But again, Trump blocked any form of investigation to nearly hyperbolic levels (which in the end failed).

I'm not going to rule out a journalist overstating things for ratings. I will, however, say I don't think it's the most likely option in this case.

[YUPPIE]

maybe it's not quite understated, but does anyone find it ironic of all places in America, New York despises Trump the most considering he was born there and became an icon through there?

[Breccia]

does anyone find it ironic

No.

Trump profited from NY business, but routinely underpaid NY people, opened a sham university in NYC, refused to rent to African-Americans in NYC, and did not pay NY taxes. He's viewed as a charlatain, corrput, and mob-compliant, and he has been for decades.

It's not ironic when people you've shat on and mistreated hate you.

The real question is, why more people don't view him the same way. He has done very little good for very few people who aren't himself, he lies all the time about everything, and of course directly attacked democracy.

[Omega10]

maybe it's not quite understated, but does anyone find it ironic of all places in America, New York despises Trump the most considering he was born there and became an icon through there?

I think that this has more to do with Wall Street being located in New York. The New York government has a lot more expertise in dealing with white collar crime than any other state, and by far.

Read all the details of what Breccia and Cubby talk about in what it requires to take down someone like Trump. It is a long tedious confusing process where all the i's have to be dotted and all the t's crossed. Very non-trivial. In this case, the political overtones add a layer of complexity on top of everything else.

[cubby]

maybe it's not quite understated, but does anyone find it ironic of all places in America, New York despises Trump the most considering he was born there and became an icon through there?

The people who know him best hate him the most? Possibly ironic, but really, anyone paying attention to the last 20 years, will despise Trump for the person he is.

[Ayirasi]

The people who know him best hate him the most? Possibly ironic, but really, anyone paying attention to the last 20 years, will despise Trump for the person he is.

I remember being too young to understand why the TV was trying to make me care about some dickbag getting a divorce or going bankrupt, and why Robin Leach was fawning over their tacky gold fetish.