"Trump doesn’t want to run for president again, because he lost the last time, and he’s looking around, and he’s afraid he’ll lose again."
His niece originally said he wouldn't run again because he's afraid of losing. He's obviously coping with the losses by his endorsed candidates by insisting the elections were all rigged. In fact, except for the racism, Trump has little to say except to whine that the 2020 race was "stolen" from him.
I've never seen a more pathetic old crook, finally about to face the music after getting away with his crimes literally all his life.
Interesting that "Sympathy for the Devil" finds itself here. He's wealthy, but probably not nearly as he claims. Trump is a grifter who uses the leniency shown to white collar criminals to get away with it. He's not an intelligent man, otherwise he could use his brain to make himself rich instead of bragging about money he doesn't have and ripping off people.
I read that too. And that Trump has frittered away a huge chunk of the wealth he inherited. Ironically, due to the fact that he, the "businessman" so many people wished would "run America like a business," Trump's presidency was rife with wasteful spending, a $3 trillion increase in the national debt, a border wall that's literally collapsing, and the egregious mismanagement of covid. He removed crucial protections to federal lands and waterways, removed many animals from the list of endangered species, awarded mining and drilling contracts on federal and traditional tribal lands. Smash and grab is Trump's motto. It's merely greed. Trump has learned that debt means nothing so long as one can use other people's money.
yes. but every time I see any of those man-in-the-street interviews with TFF's supporters, one of the first things they mention is that he's a "successful businessman." so none of this information is getting to anywhere it'll actually count. this horrifying fact informs just about everything the "other party" does.
a quick example: a book comes out today with the title "The Most Dangerous Man in America." the big picture on the front dust cover is of Joe Biden.
I think the appropriate response to the Orange Blowhard's demand for a new election is to say, sure, November 2024. Feel free to campaign to be your party's nominee. But be aware, while your violent racist MAGA horde still loves you, the overwhelming majority hates you and is tired of your bullshit. So go for it Sparky, run again. And be humiliated once more.
And he has been quoted recently as acknowledging that he brings a whole segment of the population to a place of "rage." "I don't understand it, but it's rage."
As if bringing a whole segment of the population to a place of rage is a positive. The man, his violent horde and the party he leads are a cancer on the country and should be dealt with as such.
There must be an “ectomy” or “ostomy” to excise this disease. Medical science has come so far in dealing with every viral and bacterial infection thrown humanity’s way. Please Dr. Frankenstein. Remove this monster from our midst.
Actually, he was not stating it as a matter of pride for being able to generate rage. He was surprised by it, like he was surprised at the reaction to having Kanye and Fuentes dining with him and complimenting them, which we know his base nods their little bobble heads in agreement with that one. But I certainly agree with you, it is not a positive and he and his party are a cancer on the country and should be treated always accordingly.
Surprised by it? Do you honestly think he's that clueless? I don't. Trump has one skill - he knows how to provoke people and uses the news media successfully to do it.
Father Time and the local morticians will be dealing with many of them soon enough, and Covid will be accelerating the process for many others. We may have to hold on until most of them are gone..... The younger generations are not as hateful as the current one (not to the same extent at least), and eventually the arc of the universe will again point toward justice.....
Excellent. You're absolutely correct that he will never say anything in public that could get him charged with sedition - he was schooled in the dark art of dodging culpability too well by Roy Cohn to make that mistake. Rather I think he's angling for what's being called "Stochastic Terrorism" - the evil version of "wink, wink; nudge nudge" - to drum up some 1/6 style anti-government violence. The changes in policy that appear to be happening in Iran and China as a result of widespread protests must really be tweaking what's left of his rotted brain.
It may be my contempt for this carbon-based lifeform, but I have to disagree that Trump is "pretty good at reading the electorate." I think that he is a one-trick pony and that has resonated unfortunately with too many. I don't think he has an instinct other than self-promotion. I believe he ran for office solely for the publicity and his statements on the campaign trail were consistent with the crap he put out as the "man about town" in NYC and on The Apprentice. He's always been that way; but he found that he could be himself running for President and people liked (or worse, were amused by) what he said, apparently, because they were dumb enough to vote for him which proved to DJT that they "loved him" and that he was a "winner." I don't think he could change what he is, which is not a political sage. He's trapped. He is a self-promoter and nothing more. As long as anyone attends his Third Reich revival show, he's hooked. IMHO, if he had an ounce of political savvy and really could read the overall electorate, he could have tempered his nonsense during the 2020 campaign and been re-elected, particularly in light of the advantage that the incumbent has. I remember fearing that he would back off, but all he did (thankfully) was drone on. He's trapped with who he is. Unfortunately for us, and thanks to the Gutless Old Party, the country is sucked into his vortex.
Let’s focus on this. A former President of the United States — and someone often predicted to be the Republican nominee in two years — “truthed” this blithering idiocy yesterday:
“So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great Founders did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”
A former President of the United States — and someone often predicted to be the Republican nominee in two years — declared his belief that the Constitution could be thrown out in order to benefit him personally. This has never happened before in U.S.history. It’s as huge a story as American politics has produced. Front page banner headline, right? Well, let’s just see how The New York Times — the nation’s “newspaper of record” that sets the agenda for much of American journalism with “All the News That’s Fit to Print” — sounded the alarm.
Not a mention of it on the entire front page. Not a mention of it in the entire newspaper. NOT A MENTION OF IT ON THE ENTIRE FUCKING WEBSITE.
Compared to the depths of my contempt for this once great and now despicable institution, the Marianas Trench is a sidewalk crack.
Agreed. Months ago, I quit looking at the NYT. I think that it has decided that its future lies in moving rightward to appeal to more "moderates" who might buy the overpriced drivel that it puts out. If I wanted to hear from the likes of Douthat and Stephens, I'd just go to Fox for free and skip the pricey NYT subscription.
I cancelled my subscription last summer. They're an awful newspaper. And nobody skewers it better than media critic Dan Froomkin. I also dumped the Washington Post.
Yes, Froomkin is my voice out there. I agree with everything he says. Eric Boehlert, who died in an accident this year, was the other savage eviscerator of the evisceration-worthy.
Looked at another way - TFG was denied a banner headline on the front page of the New York Times. After all, someone once said that any kind of publicity is good publicity. That applies to tfg if it applies to anyone....
Also, I just looked at the article linked by SoTiredofWinning and it's in the Politics section, not Front Page news. Updated this morning 12/5.
I've been seeing a lot of comments of 'how come he's not in jail yet?" or "Come on, Merrick Garland, get this bastard behind bars!"
I'm getting very tired of reading that and not commenting on it, but here goes-for anyone to become a target of a federal investigation is a massive amount of money and time, as well as resources to find the crime and the criminal in the mix.
Most of the time the time line is 2 years from crime being investigated and indictment. Sometimes it's longer, depending on the crime, and the criminal. The more sensitive crimes take a lot longer than usual because one has to find the loci of the crime to begin with.
Donald Trump is an ex-President of vast notoriety, who has been extremely prominent in the past for his big flapping mouth and his fans of adoring Magats.
It takes time to develop an ironclad, waterproof and solidly buttressed case against the man-and anyone who wants to rush this to the point where he gets off yet once again, is clearly not going to be happy when it happens.
Law and Order is a TV show. Real life criminal cases take months, if not years to develop and prosecute.
I would rather have Trump convicted on solid grounds that can't be over turned on appeal because you know what he's good at: delaying legal actions.
Don't think Garland is not acutely aware of this. He knows this, and that is why he is proceeding so very carefully and making sure he wins.
Trump is not going to win this. I can guarantee it. I know from personal experience that the feds do not fuck around when it comes to their work, and god help him if he even dares to say anything that gets them pissed off, because you don't want a pissed off fed in front of you. They tend to make sure you never get away from them again.
So stop with the whining about the time line. It's coming down to the last few furlongs and the horses are going around the last stretch. Just hold your breath and get the popcorn ready.
Could be why Garland added Jack Smith to his team as "Special Counsel". To make doubly sure, triply sure, that there is no bias in the Justice Department's work, for Trump's lawyers to exploit.
You are right, of course-Trump is totally panicked because the only people he really matters to right now are the ones who are investigating his particular penchant of stealing items from the US government.
They're the ones who have the power of life free or life in federal prison and there's not a whole lot he can do to stop them from putting him there right now.
He can't really stop it from happening, but distracting people from the dire situation keeps him 'relevant' and in the spotlight-however, he doesn't realize that should the tide turn, and he become the subject of an criminal indictment, he is going to have to keep silent or else blow his chances of being acquitted of espionage. Right now the odds are not good for him.
He can't plead insanity either-because there is no way for him to plead to something that we all know is part and parcel of his being-he's acting like he always has, and it looks like his desperate bid to stay in the news might just harden a jury against him.
His lawyers are probably pulling their hair out because they know how it looks to other people and you can well imagine what would happen should a grand jury indict him..I don't envy them because of all the people to be, you don't want to be the person who tells Donald Trump he has to shut the fuck up or else.
I just hope that the bearer of bad news has a ketchup proof suit. They're going to need it.
Mary, you're right that the Orange Dumpster SHOULD keep quiet when he's indicted, but I think that's impossible for him. He hasn't shut up since 2020 and I see no reason for him to stop when he's charged with whatever the DoJ decides will get a conviction. He will whine and cry that he's being persecuted and that he's being treated "unfairly". The only way for us to be free of his constant complaining is to have him locked up far, far away.
Trump is already being investigated for it. Trump is always running his mouth and he told 30,000 lies in office. This time he did not urge a violent overthrow.
I agree that it is seditious. But Lucian brought up another aspect that I did not think about. Perhaps we should err toward tolerating seditious speech, because suppressing speech, even seditious speech, poses a danger to democracy. We should draw a bright line between seditious speech and seditious actions, though, and punish actions .
Recent history shows several leaders who lost elections (usually officiated by the UN or Jimmy Carters election monitors) staged rallies and stirred their base for a year or so, until time and boredom finished them. A candidate for President of Mexico (2006) set up a booth across from parliament and made loud noises entertaining the public until the free meals ended and the police threatened fines for being a public nuisance. Mr. Trump is first and last a loud agitator, stoking whatever fear lights up the night. He knows that the best of it is over. He's like an aging pro wrestler seeking glory and rent money. There is danger, America has a considerable number of aging men who dread the coming darkness. In the 1890's cities stopped allowing veterans of the War of Northern Aggression to parade and hold conventions, too many heroes got sick or died and the medical costs were too much for municipalities. The Trump crowed could rise one last time but it will be more a farce than a serious threat.
Finally, AG Garland can stop Mr. Trump with a dozen federal indictments.
Bolsonaro’s followers are still camped out around the military barracks in Brasilia, demanding the military stage a coup to re-install him as President even though he lost the election. Meanwhile, Bolsonaro is holed up in his residence in the Palácio da Alvorada.
I don’t disagree with Lucian’s astute analysis at all, but I would add this: *Rump doesn’t have many useful talents, but his PR sense is pretty good. He’s quite experienced at manipulating the media so the spotlight is always on him. Saying or doing something outrageous comes naturally to him, and he knows the media will grab the shiny object he presents and run with it. As they did with his deliberately public dinner with known White supremacists and anti-Semites. We can’t know whether he knew Fuentes was coming with Kanye or that the number of people at the table would be more than just the two of them. What *Rump wanted to do by being very open about it was to verify his White supremacist and anti-Semitic bonafides to his MAGA cult as he suspected they needed some red meat thrown their way. He got the publicity he wanted, but it began to get out of control. Normally he doesn’t care much about criticism. He just doubles-down, whines, and makes himself the victim. But this time it was more serious. The incident got legs, and wasn’t going away. So he did what he has done so often: he changed the subject. Do some new outrageous bit, wave the new shiny object in front of the media, and they’ll forget the previous outrage and dive right for the new one. So now he demands to be installed dictator by wiping away the Constitution and all the institutions that are derived from it so as to heal his still festering grievance over having lost the 2020 election. That’s pretty outrageous. Of course he’s demanding another coup by implication, but I think all of us who are paying attention knew that was inevitable. The only surprise is that he has gotten so heavy-handed so soon. I agree totally that he’s fearful and desperate. His usual legal shenanigans aren’t working for him the way they have so often in the past. His support is drifting away, slowly at this moment, he really doesn’t want to run again and risk losing, and the prosecutors are knocking on the Mar-a-Lago gates. The pressure on him is enormous, so once again he’s whining about his self-granted entitlement to be president, which he believes would make him immune. What he obviously doesn’t understand is that the best way to make all his troubles go away is for him to go away, far away, and never be heard from again. What a fantastic celebration we could have were that to come true. Chill the Champagne, cases of it.
I still think that as charges are filed and the indictments pile up, the Orange Dumpster will bolt for some place with no extradition treaty with the U.S. He would never be able to withstand the trial(s) and the ultimate conviction(s) that would put him in prison. I don't know what country would take him and I really don't care, just as long as he's gone.
That's if the magistrate who handles the initial booking doesn't take away his passports and requires him to have an ankle monitor on him 24/7 as well as having his Secret Service people report his whereabouts every single day.
I don't think anyone wants to have the duty of having him as a fugitive from justice, even the ones who don't have extradition treaties with us.
Donald Trump would suck them dry because he's never paid for anything in his life. However if he decided to go to North Korea or Russia we could let them have him. I'm sure that it would not impress his fans here if he should skip out on his very substantial bail that would be in place...
Mary, I don't think having his passport(s) taken and wearing an ankle monitor would stop him. Assuming his flight crew is willing to violate U.S. law, his 757 would take him anywhere he wants to go. He would impose himself on any country he could get to with promises of great wealth and then skip out when they try to send him back to us. Confiscating his jet, or disabling it, might be one way to keep him here, although his mega-rich friends would probably step in to help him out. Much as I'd like to see him in an orange jumpsuit, I don't think he could tolerate the mere thought of going to prison. That's why I think he'll run.
Stan, as much as I agree with most of your ideas, there are huge strings attached to his fleeing the country, and most of them will do with any trade/diplomatic deals the US has with them. Except for rogue states like Libya, N. Korea and Russia, any country that does take him in and allows him to stay is going to risk a huge amount of US trade/diplomatic missions. If they don't want to lose those, they'll refuse him refuge and deny him permission to enter-and if he enters, they can confiscate the plane and send him back in their own plane and in handcuffs.
A lot of money would be at stake, and Donald Trump isn't worth that kind of money. As for his rich friends, they can waste their money all they like, but they know it's wasted the minute they send it to him, and they know they'll never see it again. I wouldn't dare touch a fugitive from justice because there are federal charges that attach to that, too.
No 757 jet can land at any airport in the world unless it's a flight with the proper credentials and does not manage to crash enroute due to the lack of an approved flight plan. He and everyone else on board would be arrested.
When you're rich and famous, people think you can just cut and run, but people like Trump are actually hindered substantially from fleeing. Realistically, nobody among his self-serving "friends" would risk a prison term just to "help out" someone like Trump.
Trump is not at risk of going to prison over the documents case unless there is evidence showing he had nefarious plans to use them. He could go to prison in NY for his financial crimes, however.
He is in danger of being charged and indicted for stealing government documents, and espionage is a very wide label.
Whether or not he is ever charged in NY is at most a chimera-subject to changing people. Alvin Bragg has done nothing and without him, nothing happens.
Hoping DOJ confiscates his passport(s) before he hightails it out of town. If he isn’t going to serve time in prison, let Mar-A-Lago be his forever home. He can sit and eat all of his big macs and fries by himself, with two ankle monitors attached to him. He won’t be able to make a move, even in the bathroom, without the government knowing about it. Oh, and no visitors other than his immediate family. I say let’s drive him insane until he won’t want to exist anymore.
I wish I could remember where I read it, but should Trump be put in prison he will lose his Secret Service protection. Instead, any prison he lands in will put him in protective custody.
Generally, passports are not confiscated unless formal charges are filed. Regardless of whether he's out on bail or inside a cell, his passports would be confiscated. However, rich white guys don't go to jail for nonviolent crimes.
noel casler, who had worked closely with trump and knows his whims and weaknesses, has held the view that rather than face shame and loss of face trump will flee.
just earlier today casler said trump will have feelers out and if he senses an indictment he will flee, likely to saudi arabia or russia.
someone else said trump will make a legit sounding trip to a normal sounding destination such as one of his two properties in indonesia, then with the help of confederate ss agents will slip away on a private jet.
I don't know if those agents who guard him would jeopardize their jobs for him. Remember, aiding and abetting a federal defendant to escape is a federal crime and they'd do time for it, as well as lose their jobs and lives. I don't think I'd want to risk it all for some scum like Trump, unless they went with him. Even then I'm not convinced they'd do it.
Trump's never liked traveling, which is why he has holed up at Mar A Lago and not flown off to parts unknown, nor has he ever taken vacations in foreign countries. He won't leave the US, although I suspect Melania and her parents will fly back to Slovenia with Trump's money when he lands in prison.
Unfortunately, any news about trump only boosts ratings for the networks, so anything he spews on social media or at his “rallies” is gold. Like the lonely little man-child who never received love from his biological parents, he is desperate for attention to salve his fragile ego, so he throws tantrums to get people to notice him as even negative publicity is better than no publicity at all. To be forgotten or ignored again or to be regarded as a failure would crush him more than going to prison as he would no longer be in the limelight on center stage…only his death would rid us of his malignancy once and for all, just like Rush Limbaugh.
There was an episode of Star Trek original series where they drove out some malevolent force by laughing at it. One of the lesser episodes, but that could be used here. And ridicule. Like, what is Trump drinking or smoking.
It was the “Day of the Dove” episode where Michael Ansara portrayed a Klingon (Kang). The Klingons and crew of the Enterprise fought each other until they figure out some entity was controlling them. Laughing at it caused it to weaken and leave the Enterprise. I think the only thing that will finally stop trump and his ranting is his death as he’s not going away on his own, no matter what. He was denied love and attention as a child by his biological parents and this is the only substitute he has, by manipulating peoples’ emotions through social media. Like Rush Limbaugh, he finds he has the spotlight and all the attention he craves, as well as fame and money and power, but once he’s dead, he’ll be forgotten even by his rabid supporters…
One of my favorite episodes. "Piece of the Action," another one, was just plain fun. I gotta stop now, otherwise the list will be as long as Mr. Truscott's article!
Here is a Possibility, a fairy tale; if shared, only 4 people could contradict or confirm:
When Trump and Putin met without Trump's note taker or translator, Putin told Trump that he and Xi had agreed that Xi could have all of the Pacific from 100 miles west of Midway island; Putin will take all of Europe including the UK, plus Iceland; and, Trump may have all of the Americas from 200 miles from the North to 200 miles from the South Poles. While engaged in securing their territories, they will jointly isolate India, the middle east, and Africa, to bring about widespread famine resulting in massive civil mayhem, then deal with later.
What is your guess? The odds? Is Ukraine the first move? N Korea the scare card?
Well framed. I always wished, once Trump let the crazy show, that he would have a corner cell at Sandstone Prison. That would have at least slowed the bandwagon. The whole thing is a lost cause now, alas, because of all the crazies-in-waiting who agree with him. That this human being manqué was elected POTUS was surely a harbinger of worse to come. And it is here. With no religious component, I believe end times are now.
"Trump doesn’t want to run for president again, because he lost the last time, and he’s looking around, and he’s afraid he’ll lose again."
His niece originally said he wouldn't run again because he's afraid of losing. He's obviously coping with the losses by his endorsed candidates by insisting the elections were all rigged. In fact, except for the racism, Trump has little to say except to whine that the 2020 race was "stolen" from him.
I've never seen a more pathetic old crook, finally about to face the music after getting away with his crimes literally all his life.
He is a phony man of wealth, and an inept crook.
Reeks of failure.
The operative word bring “reek!” Odious little man.
"I'm a man of phoney wealth and bad taste." Sorry Mick.
Interesting that "Sympathy for the Devil" finds itself here. He's wealthy, but probably not nearly as he claims. Trump is a grifter who uses the leniency shown to white collar criminals to get away with it. He's not an intelligent man, otherwise he could use his brain to make himself rich instead of bragging about money he doesn't have and ripping off people.
I remember reading that if he had just put the money he inherited in a managed mutual fund he'd actually be a billionaire many times over.
I read that too. And that Trump has frittered away a huge chunk of the wealth he inherited. Ironically, due to the fact that he, the "businessman" so many people wished would "run America like a business," Trump's presidency was rife with wasteful spending, a $3 trillion increase in the national debt, a border wall that's literally collapsing, and the egregious mismanagement of covid. He removed crucial protections to federal lands and waterways, removed many animals from the list of endangered species, awarded mining and drilling contracts on federal and traditional tribal lands. Smash and grab is Trump's motto. It's merely greed. Trump has learned that debt means nothing so long as one can use other people's money.
yes. but every time I see any of those man-in-the-street interviews with TFF's supporters, one of the first things they mention is that he's a "successful businessman." so none of this information is getting to anywhere it'll actually count. this horrifying fact informs just about everything the "other party" does.
a quick example: a book comes out today with the title "The Most Dangerous Man in America." the big picture on the front dust cover is of Joe Biden.
Especially he included the money he stole from the other Heirs.
I wonder if he has watched the Madoff documentary….
I think he's still operating under the assumption that bad shit will never happen to him.
I read a great quote this morning. Trump shot the Constitution on 5th Avenue and he will get away with it!
My friend and former colleague Dennis Aftergut wrote that:
https://www.thebulwark.com/trump-stands-in-the-middle-of-fifth-avenue-and-shoots-the-constitution/
Brilliant! Sadly, Trump continues to get support from gaslit Americans.
Not sure gaslighting is all. Lots of these people are very angry, VERY!!
Good Friend!
I think the appropriate response to the Orange Blowhard's demand for a new election is to say, sure, November 2024. Feel free to campaign to be your party's nominee. But be aware, while your violent racist MAGA horde still loves you, the overwhelming majority hates you and is tired of your bullshit. So go for it Sparky, run again. And be humiliated once more.
And he has been quoted recently as acknowledging that he brings a whole segment of the population to a place of "rage." "I don't understand it, but it's rage."
As if bringing a whole segment of the population to a place of rage is a positive. The man, his violent horde and the party he leads are a cancer on the country and should be dealt with as such.
There must be an “ectomy” or “ostomy” to excise this disease. Medical science has come so far in dealing with every viral and bacterial infection thrown humanity’s way. Please Dr. Frankenstein. Remove this monster from our midst.
Actually, he was not stating it as a matter of pride for being able to generate rage. He was surprised by it, like he was surprised at the reaction to having Kanye and Fuentes dining with him and complimenting them, which we know his base nods their little bobble heads in agreement with that one. But I certainly agree with you, it is not a positive and he and his party are a cancer on the country and should be treated always accordingly.
Surprised by it? Do you honestly think he's that clueless? I don't. Trump has one skill - he knows how to provoke people and uses the news media successfully to do it.
Father Time and the local morticians will be dealing with many of them soon enough, and Covid will be accelerating the process for many others. We may have to hold on until most of them are gone..... The younger generations are not as hateful as the current one (not to the same extent at least), and eventually the arc of the universe will again point toward justice.....
Recently quoted that he has 125,000,000 followers by the fourth attendee at the recent Mar A Lago dinner.
Do we believe that? That's awfully close to half the entire country.
Most of that 125 million are bots.
Excellent. You're absolutely correct that he will never say anything in public that could get him charged with sedition - he was schooled in the dark art of dodging culpability too well by Roy Cohn to make that mistake. Rather I think he's angling for what's being called "Stochastic Terrorism" - the evil version of "wink, wink; nudge nudge" - to drum up some 1/6 style anti-government violence. The changes in policy that appear to be happening in Iran and China as a result of widespread protests must really be tweaking what's left of his rotted brain.
Exactly! Charles Manson never killed anyone, but he incited others to murder.
May Donny wind up behind bars the same way Charlie did!
It may be my contempt for this carbon-based lifeform, but I have to disagree that Trump is "pretty good at reading the electorate." I think that he is a one-trick pony and that has resonated unfortunately with too many. I don't think he has an instinct other than self-promotion. I believe he ran for office solely for the publicity and his statements on the campaign trail were consistent with the crap he put out as the "man about town" in NYC and on The Apprentice. He's always been that way; but he found that he could be himself running for President and people liked (or worse, were amused by) what he said, apparently, because they were dumb enough to vote for him which proved to DJT that they "loved him" and that he was a "winner." I don't think he could change what he is, which is not a political sage. He's trapped. He is a self-promoter and nothing more. As long as anyone attends his Third Reich revival show, he's hooked. IMHO, if he had an ounce of political savvy and really could read the overall electorate, he could have tempered his nonsense during the 2020 campaign and been re-elected, particularly in light of the advantage that the incumbent has. I remember fearing that he would back off, but all he did (thankfully) was drone on. He's trapped with who he is. Unfortunately for us, and thanks to the Gutless Old Party, the country is sucked into his vortex.
Fortunately, ego Trumps intelligence!
Let’s focus on this. A former President of the United States — and someone often predicted to be the Republican nominee in two years — “truthed” this blithering idiocy yesterday:
“So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great Founders did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”
A former President of the United States — and someone often predicted to be the Republican nominee in two years — declared his belief that the Constitution could be thrown out in order to benefit him personally. This has never happened before in U.S.history. It’s as huge a story as American politics has produced. Front page banner headline, right? Well, let’s just see how The New York Times — the nation’s “newspaper of record” that sets the agenda for much of American journalism with “All the News That’s Fit to Print” — sounded the alarm.
Not a mention of it on the entire front page. Not a mention of it in the entire newspaper. NOT A MENTION OF IT ON THE ENTIRE FUCKING WEBSITE.
Compared to the depths of my contempt for this once great and now despicable institution, the Marianas Trench is a sidewalk crack.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/04/us/politics/trump-constitution-republicans.html
Agreed. Months ago, I quit looking at the NYT. I think that it has decided that its future lies in moving rightward to appeal to more "moderates" who might buy the overpriced drivel that it puts out. If I wanted to hear from the likes of Douthat and Stephens, I'd just go to Fox for free and skip the pricey NYT subscription.
I cancelled my subscription last summer. They're an awful newspaper. And nobody skewers it better than media critic Dan Froomkin. I also dumped the Washington Post.
Yes, Froomkin is my voice out there. I agree with everything he says. Eric Boehlert, who died in an accident this year, was the other savage eviscerator of the evisceration-worthy.
Me too! I also dropped the Post!
Looked at another way - TFG was denied a banner headline on the front page of the New York Times. After all, someone once said that any kind of publicity is good publicity. That applies to tfg if it applies to anyone....
Also, I just looked at the article linked by SoTiredofWinning and it's in the Politics section, not Front Page news. Updated this morning 12/5.
It was on the “front page“ of the website when I posted it 
Downgraded overnight. Furthermore, as of today, tfg is once again backpedaling on his call for suspending the Constitution.
Every Trump moronic pronouncement on the Grey Lady's front page?
No, just ones where a presidential candidate shits on the Constitution.
You’re too kind. More like: He took a dump on the Constitution.
i think maybe that"s what PS meant.
he had a typo hitting a "p" instead of an "h"
24,406 Likes within 3 hours of posting his tantrum. I cringe to think what that number is now.
As you point out so well, we've way got bigger problems than the quivering "Prisoner of Mar a Lago".
"Prisoner of Mar a Lago" sounds like a great Doonesbury series, maybe with Rudy as the drunken gardener.
Give Rudy a cigarette and holder, he could be Duke.
I've been seeing a lot of comments of 'how come he's not in jail yet?" or "Come on, Merrick Garland, get this bastard behind bars!"
I'm getting very tired of reading that and not commenting on it, but here goes-for anyone to become a target of a federal investigation is a massive amount of money and time, as well as resources to find the crime and the criminal in the mix.
Most of the time the time line is 2 years from crime being investigated and indictment. Sometimes it's longer, depending on the crime, and the criminal. The more sensitive crimes take a lot longer than usual because one has to find the loci of the crime to begin with.
Donald Trump is an ex-President of vast notoriety, who has been extremely prominent in the past for his big flapping mouth and his fans of adoring Magats.
It takes time to develop an ironclad, waterproof and solidly buttressed case against the man-and anyone who wants to rush this to the point where he gets off yet once again, is clearly not going to be happy when it happens.
Law and Order is a TV show. Real life criminal cases take months, if not years to develop and prosecute.
I would rather have Trump convicted on solid grounds that can't be over turned on appeal because you know what he's good at: delaying legal actions.
Don't think Garland is not acutely aware of this. He knows this, and that is why he is proceeding so very carefully and making sure he wins.
Trump is not going to win this. I can guarantee it. I know from personal experience that the feds do not fuck around when it comes to their work, and god help him if he even dares to say anything that gets them pissed off, because you don't want a pissed off fed in front of you. They tend to make sure you never get away from them again.
So stop with the whining about the time line. It's coming down to the last few furlongs and the horses are going around the last stretch. Just hold your breath and get the popcorn ready.
Showtime's almost here.
Could be why Garland added Jack Smith to his team as "Special Counsel". To make doubly sure, triply sure, that there is no bias in the Justice Department's work, for Trump's lawyers to exploit.
I have yet to see a picture of Jack Smith that isn't scary. Especially so with the beard and Chief Prosecutor of War Crimes for the Hague robes.
Even the innocuousness of his name seems ominous.
He makes me nervous about killing too many lantern flies.
I agree with you. For some reason he looks like a hit man from the Russians, not that he's evil, but he's one scary dude to me.
But of course he loves puppies and hates insurrectionists like Donald Trump. That's a plus for us and the country.
wholly concur
You are right, of course-Trump is totally panicked because the only people he really matters to right now are the ones who are investigating his particular penchant of stealing items from the US government.
They're the ones who have the power of life free or life in federal prison and there's not a whole lot he can do to stop them from putting him there right now.
He can't really stop it from happening, but distracting people from the dire situation keeps him 'relevant' and in the spotlight-however, he doesn't realize that should the tide turn, and he become the subject of an criminal indictment, he is going to have to keep silent or else blow his chances of being acquitted of espionage. Right now the odds are not good for him.
He can't plead insanity either-because there is no way for him to plead to something that we all know is part and parcel of his being-he's acting like he always has, and it looks like his desperate bid to stay in the news might just harden a jury against him.
His lawyers are probably pulling their hair out because they know how it looks to other people and you can well imagine what would happen should a grand jury indict him..I don't envy them because of all the people to be, you don't want to be the person who tells Donald Trump he has to shut the fuck up or else.
I just hope that the bearer of bad news has a ketchup proof suit. They're going to need it.
Mary, you're right that the Orange Dumpster SHOULD keep quiet when he's indicted, but I think that's impossible for him. He hasn't shut up since 2020 and I see no reason for him to stop when he's charged with whatever the DoJ decides will get a conviction. He will whine and cry that he's being persecuted and that he's being treated "unfairly". The only way for us to be free of his constant complaining is to have him locked up far, far away.
Like on Mars?
Elba, the island where Napoleon was confined
Like on St. Helena the place where he died-he never did get away from it. Elba he escaped from with help.
That sounds more like it.
I think this is seditious. I could be wrong, but this goes beyond free speech. 😡‼️
LOL no it doesn't. We don't prosecute people for their words, but for their actions.
Words that incite rebellion are seditious. Like shouting fire in a crowded theatre.
True.
Shouting fire in a crowded theater is not the appropriate idiom here.
The point is that words can constitute sedition, but he has not yet advocated violence to overthrow the government.
He’s advocating doing away with our constitutional processes and making him ruler. I think most people would think that is sedition
But violently? Does it meet the definition of sedition under the statute? We still have the First Amendment....
But what if their words are to urge the violent overthrow of the government ? Even free speech has its limits.
Trump is already being investigated for it. Trump is always running his mouth and he told 30,000 lies in office. This time he did not urge a violent overthrow.
I agree that it is seditious. But Lucian brought up another aspect that I did not think about. Perhaps we should err toward tolerating seditious speech, because suppressing speech, even seditious speech, poses a danger to democracy. We should draw a bright line between seditious speech and seditious actions, though, and punish actions .
Recent history shows several leaders who lost elections (usually officiated by the UN or Jimmy Carters election monitors) staged rallies and stirred their base for a year or so, until time and boredom finished them. A candidate for President of Mexico (2006) set up a booth across from parliament and made loud noises entertaining the public until the free meals ended and the police threatened fines for being a public nuisance. Mr. Trump is first and last a loud agitator, stoking whatever fear lights up the night. He knows that the best of it is over. He's like an aging pro wrestler seeking glory and rent money. There is danger, America has a considerable number of aging men who dread the coming darkness. In the 1890's cities stopped allowing veterans of the War of Northern Aggression to parade and hold conventions, too many heroes got sick or died and the medical costs were too much for municipalities. The Trump crowed could rise one last time but it will be more a farce than a serious threat.
Finally, AG Garland can stop Mr. Trump with a dozen federal indictments.
Bolsonaro’s followers are still camped out around the military barracks in Brasilia, demanding the military stage a coup to re-install him as President even though he lost the election. Meanwhile, Bolsonaro is holed up in his residence in the Palácio da Alvorada.
I don’t disagree with Lucian’s astute analysis at all, but I would add this: *Rump doesn’t have many useful talents, but his PR sense is pretty good. He’s quite experienced at manipulating the media so the spotlight is always on him. Saying or doing something outrageous comes naturally to him, and he knows the media will grab the shiny object he presents and run with it. As they did with his deliberately public dinner with known White supremacists and anti-Semites. We can’t know whether he knew Fuentes was coming with Kanye or that the number of people at the table would be more than just the two of them. What *Rump wanted to do by being very open about it was to verify his White supremacist and anti-Semitic bonafides to his MAGA cult as he suspected they needed some red meat thrown their way. He got the publicity he wanted, but it began to get out of control. Normally he doesn’t care much about criticism. He just doubles-down, whines, and makes himself the victim. But this time it was more serious. The incident got legs, and wasn’t going away. So he did what he has done so often: he changed the subject. Do some new outrageous bit, wave the new shiny object in front of the media, and they’ll forget the previous outrage and dive right for the new one. So now he demands to be installed dictator by wiping away the Constitution and all the institutions that are derived from it so as to heal his still festering grievance over having lost the 2020 election. That’s pretty outrageous. Of course he’s demanding another coup by implication, but I think all of us who are paying attention knew that was inevitable. The only surprise is that he has gotten so heavy-handed so soon. I agree totally that he’s fearful and desperate. His usual legal shenanigans aren’t working for him the way they have so often in the past. His support is drifting away, slowly at this moment, he really doesn’t want to run again and risk losing, and the prosecutors are knocking on the Mar-a-Lago gates. The pressure on him is enormous, so once again he’s whining about his self-granted entitlement to be president, which he believes would make him immune. What he obviously doesn’t understand is that the best way to make all his troubles go away is for him to go away, far away, and never be heard from again. What a fantastic celebration we could have were that to come true. Chill the Champagne, cases of it.
I still think that as charges are filed and the indictments pile up, the Orange Dumpster will bolt for some place with no extradition treaty with the U.S. He would never be able to withstand the trial(s) and the ultimate conviction(s) that would put him in prison. I don't know what country would take him and I really don't care, just as long as he's gone.
That's if the magistrate who handles the initial booking doesn't take away his passports and requires him to have an ankle monitor on him 24/7 as well as having his Secret Service people report his whereabouts every single day.
I don't think anyone wants to have the duty of having him as a fugitive from justice, even the ones who don't have extradition treaties with us.
Donald Trump would suck them dry because he's never paid for anything in his life. However if he decided to go to North Korea or Russia we could let them have him. I'm sure that it would not impress his fans here if he should skip out on his very substantial bail that would be in place...
Mary, I don't think having his passport(s) taken and wearing an ankle monitor would stop him. Assuming his flight crew is willing to violate U.S. law, his 757 would take him anywhere he wants to go. He would impose himself on any country he could get to with promises of great wealth and then skip out when they try to send him back to us. Confiscating his jet, or disabling it, might be one way to keep him here, although his mega-rich friends would probably step in to help him out. Much as I'd like to see him in an orange jumpsuit, I don't think he could tolerate the mere thought of going to prison. That's why I think he'll run.
Stan, as much as I agree with most of your ideas, there are huge strings attached to his fleeing the country, and most of them will do with any trade/diplomatic deals the US has with them. Except for rogue states like Libya, N. Korea and Russia, any country that does take him in and allows him to stay is going to risk a huge amount of US trade/diplomatic missions. If they don't want to lose those, they'll refuse him refuge and deny him permission to enter-and if he enters, they can confiscate the plane and send him back in their own plane and in handcuffs.
A lot of money would be at stake, and Donald Trump isn't worth that kind of money. As for his rich friends, they can waste their money all they like, but they know it's wasted the minute they send it to him, and they know they'll never see it again. I wouldn't dare touch a fugitive from justice because there are federal charges that attach to that, too.
Donald Trump can run, but he can't hide.
No 757 jet can land at any airport in the world unless it's a flight with the proper credentials and does not manage to crash enroute due to the lack of an approved flight plan. He and everyone else on board would be arrested.
When you're rich and famous, people think you can just cut and run, but people like Trump are actually hindered substantially from fleeing. Realistically, nobody among his self-serving "friends" would risk a prison term just to "help out" someone like Trump.
Trump is not at risk of going to prison over the documents case unless there is evidence showing he had nefarious plans to use them. He could go to prison in NY for his financial crimes, however.
He is in danger of being charged and indicted for stealing government documents, and espionage is a very wide label.
Whether or not he is ever charged in NY is at most a chimera-subject to changing people. Alvin Bragg has done nothing and without him, nothing happens.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/21/nyregion/trump-bragg-stormy-daniels.html
Hoping DOJ confiscates his passport(s) before he hightails it out of town. If he isn’t going to serve time in prison, let Mar-A-Lago be his forever home. He can sit and eat all of his big macs and fries by himself, with two ankle monitors attached to him. He won’t be able to make a move, even in the bathroom, without the government knowing about it. Oh, and no visitors other than his immediate family. I say let’s drive him insane until he won’t want to exist anymore.
Remember, he gets lifetime Secret Service protection.
I would say that bells the cat nicely!
I wish I could remember where I read it, but should Trump be put in prison he will lose his Secret Service protection. Instead, any prison he lands in will put him in protective custody.
Generally, passports are not confiscated unless formal charges are filed. Regardless of whether he's out on bail or inside a cell, his passports would be confiscated. However, rich white guys don't go to jail for nonviolent crimes.
Already insane, based on results.
Yeah, I could live with that!!
noel casler, who had worked closely with trump and knows his whims and weaknesses, has held the view that rather than face shame and loss of face trump will flee.
just earlier today casler said trump will have feelers out and if he senses an indictment he will flee, likely to saudi arabia or russia.
someone else said trump will make a legit sounding trip to a normal sounding destination such as one of his two properties in indonesia, then with the help of confederate ss agents will slip away on a private jet.
hmmm.
I don't know if those agents who guard him would jeopardize their jobs for him. Remember, aiding and abetting a federal defendant to escape is a federal crime and they'd do time for it, as well as lose their jobs and lives. I don't think I'd want to risk it all for some scum like Trump, unless they went with him. Even then I'm not convinced they'd do it.
Mary, I agree with you that his SS agents would not actively aid & abet his escape. But the Dumpster would find a way to get out without them.
I agree.
All we need to do is trail the Russian Pee Girls.
Trump's never liked traveling, which is why he has holed up at Mar A Lago and not flown off to parts unknown, nor has he ever taken vacations in foreign countries. He won't leave the US, although I suspect Melania and her parents will fly back to Slovenia with Trump's money when he lands in prison.
Can you promise this?
He has a country now, DeSantistan.
DeSatan would fly him to Martha’s Vineyard.
I hear Epstein Island has nice accomodations.
Yeah, but can his 757 land on it?!
uh
he only has to *attempt* to land it. once and final.
Unfortunately, any news about trump only boosts ratings for the networks, so anything he spews on social media or at his “rallies” is gold. Like the lonely little man-child who never received love from his biological parents, he is desperate for attention to salve his fragile ego, so he throws tantrums to get people to notice him as even negative publicity is better than no publicity at all. To be forgotten or ignored again or to be regarded as a failure would crush him more than going to prison as he would no longer be in the limelight on center stage…only his death would rid us of his malignancy once and for all, just like Rush Limbaugh.
There was an episode of Star Trek original series where they drove out some malevolent force by laughing at it. One of the lesser episodes, but that could be used here. And ridicule. Like, what is Trump drinking or smoking.
It is _definitely_ time to ridicule Trump!
He has performed that service all by himself for decades.
It was the “Day of the Dove” episode where Michael Ansara portrayed a Klingon (Kang). The Klingons and crew of the Enterprise fought each other until they figure out some entity was controlling them. Laughing at it caused it to weaken and leave the Enterprise. I think the only thing that will finally stop trump and his ranting is his death as he’s not going away on his own, no matter what. He was denied love and attention as a child by his biological parents and this is the only substitute he has, by manipulating peoples’ emotions through social media. Like Rush Limbaugh, he finds he has the spotlight and all the attention he craves, as well as fame and money and power, but once he’s dead, he’ll be forgotten even by his rabid supporters…
Thanks for the correction, Dennis! It has been a while since I've seen this one...
De nada…I’m a Trekkie nerd from back when The Original Series debuted when I was in high school so many years ago.
One of my favorite episodes. "Piece of the Action," another one, was just plain fun. I gotta stop now, otherwise the list will be as long as Mr. Truscott's article!
Ed, I think it was the Apollo (the god)episode.
Here is a Possibility, a fairy tale; if shared, only 4 people could contradict or confirm:
When Trump and Putin met without Trump's note taker or translator, Putin told Trump that he and Xi had agreed that Xi could have all of the Pacific from 100 miles west of Midway island; Putin will take all of Europe including the UK, plus Iceland; and, Trump may have all of the Americas from 200 miles from the North to 200 miles from the South Poles. While engaged in securing their territories, they will jointly isolate India, the middle east, and Africa, to bring about widespread famine resulting in massive civil mayhem, then deal with later.
What is your guess? The odds? Is Ukraine the first move? N Korea the scare card?
I think it's more likely he told Putin he would pull out of NATO if reelected in 2020, which goes for 2024 as well.
Well framed. I always wished, once Trump let the crazy show, that he would have a corner cell at Sandstone Prison. That would have at least slowed the bandwagon. The whole thing is a lost cause now, alas, because of all the crazies-in-waiting who agree with him. That this human being manqué was elected POTUS was surely a harbinger of worse to come. And it is here. With no religious component, I believe end times are now.