All Things Trump: Is it over yet?

[Tero]

Best coverup ever! Better than Nixon.

[Tero]

And why hasn't Trump called Pete Buttigieg with a nick name, such as Pete Butt Cheek, yet?

[Tero]

[Brian Peacock]

Look Tero. Isn't it about time you moved on and just accepted that Trump is the most popular president since John Adams and he won the popular vote by the biggest margin since Reagan?!?

[Tero]

Yeahbut, your popular guy is an asshole.

[Brian Peacock]

[Joe]

So, I'm reading the Mueller report and came across footnote 112 on page 27 of Volume II.

Comey 1/7/17 Memorandum, at 1-2; Comey I 1/15/17 302, at 3. Comey's briefing included the Steele reporting's unverified allegation that the Russians had compromising tapes of the President involving conduct when he was a private citizen during a 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe Pageant. During the 2016 presidential campaign, a similar claim may have reached candidate Trump. On October 30, 20 I 6, Michael Cohen received a text from Russian businessman Giorgi Rtskhiladze that said, "Stopped flow of tapes from Russia but not sure if there 's anything else. Just so you know .... " 10/30/16 Text Message , Rtskhiladze to Cohen. Rtskhiladze said "tapes" referred to compromising tapes of Trump rumored to be held by persons associated with the Russian real estate conglomerate Crocus Group, which had helped host the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant in Russia . Rtskhiladze 4/4/1 8 302 , at 12. Cohen said he spoke to Trump about the issue after receiving the texts from Rtskhiladze. Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 13. Rtskhiladze said he was told the tapes were fake, but he did not communicate that to Cohen . Rtskhiladze 5/10/18 302, at 7.

"stopped the flow"

[JimC]

A golden flow indeed...

[Forty Two]

trump best coverup.jpg
Best coverup ever! Better than Nixon.

Coverup of what? A lawful business deal prior to the election?

You had a business deal in Russia!

Yeah, so does Apple, Starbucks, Pfizer, Boeing.... Pepsi, Procter&Gamble, McDonald's, Mondelez International, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Cargill, Alcoa, General Electric....Morgan Stanley....Krispy Kreme, Forever 21, Crate & Barrel....

Yes, but your business deal fell through. You don't even have a business deal with Russia!

That's true. I don't.

So, you should be impeached!

For being elected President, and having once participated in a Miss Universe contest in Russia, and having contemplated a construction project there! Treasonous!

Are those companies above traitors to the United States, too? Are they dealing with an enemy state for financial gain?

No, all those companies are there mainly because of the "reset" of the US-Russian relationship in 2009-2014. That's when any suggestion that Russia was a problem was laughable. By 2016, we all knew that Russia was a bigger threat to our way of life than the Soviet Union was in Cold War.

[BarnettNewman]

Just wondering where any of those CEOs were elected POTUS? Can you provide a list?

[Forty Two]

Just wondering where any of those CEOs were elected POTUS? Can you provide a list?

One is running. Howard Schultz, running as a Democrat.

Look - if it's perfectly legal and respectable to open stores and businesses, and enter real estate deals, in Russia, then why would it be a disqualifying activity for a Presidential candidate? If it's treasonous for a Presidential candidate to have done business in Russia, then then it's treasonous to be doing it now.

Why isn't it illegal to do business with Russia? Why are American construction companies allowed to cut deals in Russia to construct buildings? Why are American stores allowed to building locations, buy stuff, sell stuff, and operate in Russia?

If there is something wrong with it, what's wrong with it? If there isn't something wrong with it, what makes it wrong for the CEO or other officer of such a company to run for President?

[Tero]

[Brian Peacock]

trump best coverup.jpg
Best coverup ever! Better than Nixon.

Coverup of what? A lawful business deal prior to the election?

Which he denied and lied about consistently during the election, and after.

[BarnettNewman]

Just wondering where any of those CEOs were elected POTUS? Can you provide a list?

One is running. Howard Schultz, running as a Democrat.

Look - if it's perfectly legal and respectable to open stores and businesses, and enter real estate deals, in Russia, then why would it be a disqualifying activity for a Presidential candidate? If it's treasonous for a Presidential candidate to have done business in Russia, then then it's treasonous to be doing it now.

Why isn't it illegal to do business with Russia? Why are American construction companies allowed to cut deals in Russia to construct buildings? Why are American stores allowed to building locations, buy stuff, sell stuff, and operate in Russia?

If there is something wrong with it, what's wrong with it? If there isn't something wrong with it, what makes it wrong for the CEO or other officer of such a company to run for President?

I don’t have an issue as long as you declare potential conflicts of interest and, I don’t know, provide the odd tax return and financial statements. The real issue here is that the US clearly has a President that doesn’t seem to think there is an issue with mixing personal business with his elected office.

ETA and Schultz is not a sitting President so let’s cross that bridge when we get to it.

[Seabass]

Hard-right Tea Party guy and former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh is disgusted with Trump:

If Congress takes the easy way out, it will give license to future presidents.
https://thebulwark.com/politics-or-prin ... st-decide/
Third, the above ties into the elephant in the room. Congress needs to investigate the very unsettling question of why then-candidate Trump and his campaign team, knowing that Russia was interfering in the election to help him, did nothing to stop it, did not alert authorities, and, as is made clear in the report, actually welcomed and encouraged this interference from a foreign adversary. The report details disturbing behavior here which, though not criminal, is troubling and damaging to America. Congress must investigate this and tie it in with the counterintelligence investigation of President Trump’s personal and business ties with Russia.

Fourth, upon carrying out its Constitutional obligations of oversight, it is up to Congress—not Bill Barr and not Robert Mueller—to determine if Donald Trump is fit to be president and whether or not any of his behavior rises to the level of impeachment. Mueller actually alludes to this authority in his report: “The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the President’s corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our Constitutional system of checks and balances and the principles that no person is above the law.”

That sure sounds like an impeachment referral.

___________________________________________________________________________________________


Ex-Republican, Iraq veteran, and columnist for the conservative National Review, David French is disgusted by Trump:

The Mueller Report Should Shock Our Conscience
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/t ... onscience/
I’ve finished reading the entire Mueller report, and I must confess that even as a longtime, quite open critic of Donald Trump, I was surprised at the sheer scope, scale, and brazenness of the lies, falsehoods, and misdirections detailed by the Special Counsel’s Office. We’ve become accustomed to Trump making up his own facts on matters great and small, but to see the extent to which his virus infected his entire political operation is sobering. And the idea that anyone is treating this report as “win” for Trump, given the sheer extent of deceptions exposed (among other things), demonstrates that the bar for his conduct has sunk so low that anything other than outright criminality is too often brushed aside as relatively meaningless.

______________________________________________________________________________________________


The Ruskies are very happy with Trump!

Kremlin-controlled hosts say brighter days are coming for everyday Russians, now that President Trump is cleared to give them their spoils of the information war.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-s ... it-for-you
Willfully ignoring Mueller’s conclusions, Russian government officials appeared greatly encouraged by the lack of further indictments stemming from the investigation. Parroting President Trump’s narrative, state-media outlet RT on Thursday posted the link to Mueller’s report, prefaced by: “SPOILER ALERT: No ‘collusion’” “Collusion” has no legal definition and is not a federal crime—therefore, the Mueller report did not make a determination on “collusion.”

Unburdened by the facts, Russian state-TV hosts and experts were happy to repeat Trump’s mantra—“No collusion, no obstruction”—throughout the investigation.
...

This line of thinking wasn’t limited to communications taking place behind the scenes. In recent years, Russian state media has made a habit out of boasting about the Kremlin’s successful influence operation, brazenly asserting “Trump is ours,” mocking the American intelligence community for sleeping “while Russia elected a new U.S. president,” and joking that U.S. lawmakers traveled to Russia “to make deals with our hackers so they can rig the midterms in favor of Trump’s team.” In line with Trump’s “locker-room talk” explanations, the Kremlin’s mouthpieces have consistently claimed these statements are meant only as jokes or sarcasm. In reality, they represent a thinly veiled pride at the reach and success of Russia’s ongoing info-ops against the U.S. Experts say a coordinated online disinformation campaign targeting 2020 elections is already underway, using techniques developed and refined by the Kremlin during the U.S. presidential elections in 2016.

Evgeny Popov, the host of 60 Minutes, the most popular state TV program in Russia as of 2018, is defiant about the findings in the Mueller report. Popov tells me: “Soon, we will help you elect Trump once again. Just like the last time. Get ready!”