Trump announces he's running for President again

[Rebound]

On 11/18/2022 at 9:33 PM, myata said:

Nomination of Trump, if it happens would be as clear evidence as can be that two-party system cannot support and maintain sustainable modern democracy. No better checks and balances exist anywhere and still the degradation of thought and act is painfully clear. Inevitable polarization will first hollow it, then erode and destroy. Two party system places the highest emphasis and priority on a cave-age old question: who rules, as opposed to what are the issues; how to understand and approach solving them in a coherent, non-partisan way that benefits the whole of the society.

Our Presidential primary system is fairly broken. 
 

It’s worse for the GOP, because of their winner take all rules. If you have seven candidates, a guy who gets 27% of a state’s vote can get all of its delegates.  At least the Democrats apportion their delegates.  

[Contrarian]

--> After so many scandals lately, Donald can finally claim a "win".  😄

Is not his win, is just the justice system working however I have no doubt he will make a commentary in the next few days taking some sort of credit. 

A federal judge sentenced former attorney and Trump foe Michael Avenatti to 14 years in prison Monday for embezzling clients’ money and violating tax laws, on top of five years of prison time he is already serving for two prior criminal convictions, a dramatic fall from grace for an attorney who became famous by representing adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against Trump.

California-based Judge James Selna said Avenatti’s prison term will run consecutive to two separate federal sentences: One imposed after Avenatti was convicted of trying to extort Nike, and another after Avenatti was found guilty of stealing Daniels’ money.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2022/12/05/michael-avenatti-sentenced-to-another-14-years-in-prison-for-fraud/?sh=6ae3afb8e27d

Edited December 5, 2022 by Contrarian

[Contrarian]

The U.S. Justice Department has asked a federal judge to hold Donald Trump's office in contempt of court for failing to fully comply with a subpoena to return all classified documents in the former president's possession, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell has not yet held a hearing or ruled on the request, the newspaper reported.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-justice-dept-asks-judge-hold-trump-team-contempt-documents-probe-washington-2022-12-08/

Update: Judge declines DoJ request to hold Trump team in contempt of court over Mar-a-Lago papers subpoena.

Edited December 10, 2022 by Contrarian

[Contrarian]

Donald Trump Demands Reinstatement, Suggests Overthrowing Government

In the midst of a crucial week for the former president over his role in the January 6 Capitol attack and his tax returns, Donald Trump has doubled down on his 'Big Lie'—the widely debunked conspiracy theory claiming that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Writing on his official Truth Social account on Tuesday (one day after the January 6 committee called for criminal charges against the former president for trying to overturn the 2020 election) Trump insisted that President Joe Biden isn't the rightful leader of the country and the government should be overthrown.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-demands-reinstatement-suggests-overthrowing-government-1768621

[West]

13 hours ago, Contrarian said:

Donald Trump Demands Reinstatement, Suggests Overthrowing Government

In the midst of a crucial week for the former president over his role in the January 6 Capitol attack and his tax returns, Donald Trump has doubled down on his 'Big Lie'—the widely debunked conspiracy theory claiming that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Writing on his official Truth Social account on Tuesday (one day after the January 6 committee called for criminal charges against the former president for trying to overturn the 2020 election) Trump insisted that President Joe Biden isn't the rightful leader of the country and the government should be overthrown.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-demands-reinstatement-suggests-overthrowing-government-1768621

When far left "news" outlets start calling something a conspiracy theory, there's probably truth to it. 

Sort of like when the far left lunatics claimed anyone who said their delusional collusion narrative was bonkers was lying and they were spreading Russian propaganda

[Contrarian]

4 hours ago, West said:

they were spreading Russian propaganda

Donald Trump: "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing."

Above the President of the United States of America is asking a foreign power to assist with his campaign. That was the tip of the iceberg. 

His refusal to admit the elections and the January 6 riot which followed created wave of celebrations in probably every FSB or CCP affiliated station.

The amount of work which the seditious forces did that day, the Russians could not even dream of it.

The images of thugs breaching one symbol of the United States America, their amateur security due to incompetence, and Trump's narcissism in my opinion created such a spectacle which will take years to repair. 

There are issues with establishment politicians of course, since the beginning of history the politician is a politician however I don't recall a President until populism took hold of United States America to provide such a free show to the Russian counterpart. 

Anyhow your man has almost zero chances with the latest developments. if DeSantis does not find a serious VP, it will be Joe again so better get used to it is my view on this. 

Edited December 22, 2022 by Contrarian

[West]

2 hours ago, Contrarian said:

Donald Trump: "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing."

Above the President of the United States of America is asking a foreign power to assist with his campaign. That was the tip of the iceberg. 

His refusal to admit the elections and the January 6 riot which followed created wave of celebrations in probably every FSB or CCP affiliated station.

The amount of work which the seditious forces did that day, the Russians could not even dream of it.

The images of thugs breaching one symbol of the United States America, their amateur security due to incompetence, and Trump's narcissism in my opinion created such a spectacle which will take years to repair. 

There are issues with establishment politicians of course, since the beginning of history the politician is a politician however I don't recall a President until populism took hold of United States America to provide such a free show to the Russian counterpart. 

Anyhow your man has almost zero chances with the latest developments. if DeSantis does not find a serious VP, it will be Joe again so better get used to it is my view on this. 

He was mocking Hillary's delusions. Nice try though

[Contrarian]

17 minutes ago, West said:

He was mocking Hillary's delusions. Nice try though

I know the context, don't confuse me with all the CNN followers that thought Russia "colluded" with Trump. 

There was no collusion, only narcissism on Trump's part in my view. His feelings were hurt and decided to disregard any political rule, even considering working with enemies of the United States to win personal battles. 

Another embarrassment moment in Trump's world. 

Edited December 22, 2022 by Contrarian

[West]

8 minutes ago, Contrarian said:

I know the context, don't confuse me with all the CNN followers that thought Russia "colluded" with Trump. 

There was no collusion, only narcissism on Trump's part in my view. His feelings were hurt and decided to disregard any political rule, even considering working with enemies of the United States to win personal battles. 

Another embarrassment moment in Trump's world. 

His feelings were hurt? Seems like it was the whacky democrats and some looney Republicans who couldn't let their election loss go and decided to hold the US government hostage for 4 years while launching frivolous investigations instead of governing a country 

[Hodad]

4 hours ago, Contrarian said:

I know the context, don't confuse me with all the CNN followers that thought Russia "colluded" with Trump. 

There was no collusion, only narcissism on Trump's part in my view. His feelings were hurt and decided to disregard any political rule, even considering working with enemies of the United States to win personal battles. 

Another embarrassment moment in Trump's world. 

Trump absolutely DID collude with Russia. The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee report wrapped up the investigations in a very tidy and damning package. Their report is like a thousand pages long, but I read a couple hundred of them when it was released. For being under Republican leadership, they didn't mine too many words. It clearly was not a hoax. It happened. 

I would encourage you to look at the meaty parts of the report if you're interested. Republican David Frum also does a nice summary.

They say the devil's greatest trick was convincing the world that he doesn't exist, and somehow the Trump-Russia collusion story had topped it. It's become shorthand in some circles for peak delusion, but it clearly happened. And Trump himself pardoned the people who helped cover it up. 

Edited December 22, 2022 by Hodad

[Contrarian]

41 minutes ago, Hodad said:

Trump absolutely DID collude with Russia. The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee report wrapped up the investigations in a very tidy and damning package. Their report is like a thousand pages long, but I read a couple hundred of them when it was released. For being under Republican leadership, they didn't mine too many words. It clearly was not a hoax. It happened. 

I would encourage you to look at the meaty parts of the report if you're interested. Republican David Frum also does a nice summary.

They say the devil's greatest trick was convincing the world that he doesn't exist, and somehow the Trump-Russia collusion story had topped it. It's become shorthand in some circles for peak delusion, but it clearly happened. And Trump himself pardoned the people who helped cover it up. 

Robert Mueller is the type of man that gave up private business to practice in homicide. He used to pick up the phone as "Mueller, homicide!". 

I have no doubt that Trump pushed the lines to get extra information for his own benefit however I don't believe for one second he would have been allowed to cross that line into conspiracy without the intelligence community reacting. In the CIA there are patriots, they are loyal more to country, than Donald is to the money. Also Mueller, an example of integrity which loves his country would have definitely make it known. The report found no conspiracy. 

The Democratic party overexagereted all this reports for their own agenda. They played the same game as Fox News did. Remember a couple of years ago when Obama was caught on a mic saying to Putin to lay off from the elections interference because once elected more things can be done. 

{Above the Fold. President Obama got himself into hot water this week when he was overhead telling Russian president Dmitri Medvedev he would have “more flexibility” on issues like missile defense after the November election and that incoming Russian president Vladimir Putin should give him “space.” }

Fox News at the time ran with news similar to what MSNBC did this time: Russia controls the president of the United States of America. I don't buy it. Is just how politics is. 

Edited December 22, 2022 by Contrarian

[robosmith]

6 hours ago, West said:

He was mocking Hillary's delusions. Nice try though

He SPECIFICALLY CONFIRMED to Katy Tur on a follow up question that HE REALLY WANTED TO SEE HILLARY'S EMAILS.

But you WANT to BELIEVE his repair ATTEMPT days LATER, so you keep shining his boots.

How much does Trump pay you to shine his boots here?

[Hodad]

1 hour ago, Contrarian said:

Robert Mueller is the type of man that gave up private business to practice in homicide. He used to pick up the phone as "Mueller, homicide!". 

I have no doubt that Trump pushed the lines to get extra information for his own benefit however I don't believe for one second he would have been allowed to cross that line into conspiracy without the intelligence community reacting. In the CIA there are patriots, they are loyal more to country, than Donald is to the money. Also Mueller, an example of integrity which loves his country would have definitely make it known. The report found no conspiracy. 

The Democratic party overexagereted all this reports for their own agenda. They played the same game as Fox News did. Remember a couple of years ago when Obama was caught on a mic saying to Putin to lay off from the elections interference because once elected more things can be done. 

{Above the Fold. President Obama got himself into hot water this week when he was overhead telling Russian president Dmitri Medvedev he would have “more flexibility” on issues like missile defense after the November election and that incoming Russian president Vladimir Putin should give him “space.” }

Fox News at the time ran with news similar to what MSNBC did this time: Russia controls the president of the United States of America. I don't buy it. Is just how politics is. 

That's simply not correct. The Mueller report came earlier than the Senate Intelligence Committee, but even that goes a long way toward confirming collusion. "No collusion" is Bill Barr's spin on the report, not Mueller's. Mueller pushed back.

A good analysis of the Mueller report. 

 

And here is Mueller's response to the administration's claim that his report found no collusion.

"Former special counsel Robert Mueller pushed back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s characterizations of his 22-month investigation, telling lawmakers on Wednesday that he did not evaluate “collusion” with the Russian government, and confirming that his report did not conclude that there was “no obstruction” of the probe.

“The president was not exculpated for the acts that he allegedly committed,” Mueller told the House judiciary committee, adding that Trump could theoretically be indicted after he leaves office.

“We did not address ‘collusion,’ which is not a legal term,” Mueller added. “Rather, we focused on whether the evidence was sufficient to charge any member of the campaign with taking part in a criminal conspiracy. It was not.”

[West]

1 hour ago, robosmith said:

He SPECIFICALLY CONFIRMED to Katy Tur on a follow up question that HE REALLY WANTED TO SEE HILLARY'S EMAILS.

But you WANT to BELIEVE his repair ATTEMPT days LATER, so you keep shining his boots.

How much does Trump pay you to shine his boots here?

We all wanted to see Hillary's emails.. seems a little shady she was doing state business on a private server to skirt any sort of oversight. 

Of course her pals at the FBI just swept it under the rug like they did with the Hunter Biden information showing he was accepting bribes on behalf of his dad from hostile foreign countries

Edited December 22, 2022 by West

[robosmith]

35 minutes ago, West said:

We all wanted to see Hillary's emails.. seems a little shady she was doing state business on a private server to skirt any sort of oversight. 

Except SHE DIDN'T skirt ANYTHING. All her State Dept related emails either ORIGINATED from State.gov or were sent TO STATE.gov AS REQUIRED by the Federal Records Act. Have you read that?

35 minutes ago, West said:

Of course her pals at the FBI just swept it under the rug like they did with the Hunter Biden information showing he was accepting bribes on behalf of his dad from hostile foreign countries

Of course as usual, you have NO EVIDENCE for ^this. In FACT a lot of FBI agents hate Hillary because they are MOSTLY right wingers.

[West]

13 minutes ago, robosmith said:

Except SHE DIDN'T skirt ANYTHING. All her State Dept related emails either ORIGINATED from State.gov or were sent TO STATE.gov AS REQUIRED by the Federal Records Act. Have you read that?

Of course as usual, you have NO EVIDENCE for ^this. In FACT a lot of FBI agents hate Hillary because they are MOSTLY right wingers.

Nonsense. If she was anyone other than Hillary Clinton she would have been in jail. 

And there's plenty of evidence on the Biden scam. Working for a Russian controlled energy firm is first clue.

[robosmith]

1 minute ago, West said:

Nonsense. If she was anyone other than Hillary Clinton she would have been in jail. 

As COMEY SAID, NO ONE has EVER been prosecuted for what Hillary did.

Administrative sanctions are the normal accountability. AKA, loss of clearance and or job.

Do you ever get ANY NEWS aside from Fox?

1 minute ago, West said:

And there's plenty of evidence on the Biden scam. Working for a Russian controlled energy firm is first clue.

That "clue" is NOT evidence of a crime. BoD members are OFTEN hired for their influence.

Of course you have NO EVIDENCE Hunter influenced Joe for favors for Burisma.

[Contrarian]

1 hour ago, Hodad said:

That's simply not correct. The Mueller report came earlier than the Senate Intelligence Committee, but even that goes a long way toward confirming collusion. "No collusion" is Bill Barr's spin on the report, not Mueller's. Mueller pushed back.

A good analysis of the Mueller report. 

 

And here is Mueller's response to the administration's claim that his report found no collusion.

"Former special counsel Robert Mueller pushed back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s characterizations of his 22-month investigation, telling lawmakers on Wednesday that he did not evaluate “collusion” with the Russian government, and confirming that his report did not conclude that there was “no obstruction” of the probe.

“The president was not exculpated for the acts that he allegedly committed,” Mueller told the House judiciary committee, adding that Trump could theoretically be indicted after he leaves office.

“We did not address ‘collusion,’ which is not a legal term,” Mueller added. “Rather, we focused on whether the evidence was sufficient to charge any member of the campaign with taking part in a criminal conspiracy. It was not.”

I am getting confused with all these terms. I made a mistake initially, I should not even used the word colluding. 

Conspiracy was the better term which I used in my second post. So forget I wrote that and let me write it again to @West: 

I know the context, don't confuse me with all the CNN followers that thought Russia "conspired" with Trump. 

There was no conspiracy, only narcissism on Trump's part in my view. His feelings were hurt and decided to disregard any political rule, even considering working with enemies of the United States to win personal battles. 

I think if any president would cross that line the intelligence community would have some sort of reaction. 

Getting confused with all these terms, let us speak plainly, not a lawyer: 

Do you believe there was a conspiracy between Trump and the Russians? In your estimation did the Russians controlled Trump?

--> Want to see how deep you think the conspiracy goes.

Mueller is the kind of man to expose if there was indication towards a serious crime, he did not, that is my opinion.

Edited December 22, 2022 by Contrarian

[robosmith]

1 minute ago, Contrarian said:

I am getting confused with all these terms. I made a mistake initially, I should not even used the word colluding. 

Conspiracy was the better term which I used in my second post. So forget I wrote that and let me write it again to @West: 

I know the context, don't confuse me with all the CNN followers that thought Russia "conspired" with Trump. 

There was no conspiracy, only narcissism on Trump's part in my view. His feelings were hurt and decided to disregard any political rule, even considering working with enemies of the United States to win personal battles. 

I think if any president would cross that line the intelligence community would have some sort of reaction. 

Getting confused with all these terms, let us speak plainly, not a lawyer: 

Do you believe there was a conspiracy between Trump and the Russians? In your estimation do the Russians controlled Trump?

Want to see how deep you think the conspiracy goes.

Mueller is the kind of man to expose if there was indication towards a serious crime, that is my opinion.

Trump wanted to build a tower in Moscow; so badly he LIED about continuing to work on that deal during the campaign.

That is PART OF the control that Putin had over Trump. There was also huge loans from Russian banks, some funneled through Deutsche Bank, because NO US bank would deal with Trump after he left them with huge losses on his bankruptcies.

[Hodad]

1 hour ago, Contrarian said:

I am getting confused with all these terms. I made a mistake initially, I should not even used the word colluding. 

Conspiracy was the better term which I used in my second post. So forget I wrote that and let me write it again to @West: 

I know the context, don't confuse me with all the CNN followers that thought Russia "conspired" with Trump. 

There was no conspiracy, only narcissism on Trump's part in my view. His feelings were hurt and decided to disregard any political rule, even considering working with enemies of the United States to win personal battles. 

I think if any president would cross that line the intelligence community would have some sort of reaction. 

Getting confused with all these terms, let us speak plainly, not a lawyer: 

Do you believe there was a conspiracy between Trump and the Russians? In your estimation did the Russians controlled Trump?

--> Want to see how deep you think the conspiracy goes.

Mueller is the kind of man to expose if there was indication towards a serious crime, he did not, that is my opinion.

I wouldn't go so far as to say Trump was controlled by Russia. His personal financial interests I'm Russia, and seeming desperation for those engagements may have been compromising. We know that he was consistently willing to put his own interests ahead of the interest of the country. That was a point of consistency. So direct Russian influence wouldn't come as a shock to me.

But what we do know is that his campaign was directly engaged with Russian intelligence operatives, sharing polling data (Mandafort and associates) and while also engaged with the WikiLeaks/Guccifer hacked documents release (Roger Stone). And we know that the Russian intelligence apparatus was actively engaged in trying to damage Clinton and elect Trump. Those connections are matters of record, and certainly constitute collusion. Sharing strategy and polling information with a foreign government that is actively waging a cyber campaign against your election opponent is wrong, whether it is prosecutable or not.

Manafort and Stone both took the fall without rolling over on Trump, and in return they were pardoned. Russia collusion was not a hoax. 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2022 by Hodad

[Rebound]

On 12/22/2022 at 5:06 PM, West said:

And there's plenty of evidence on the Biden scam. Working for a Russian controlled energy firm is first clue.

What’s the second clue?

[Contrarian]

A great analysis of the possible confrontation between Trump and DeSantis. 

According to the latest polls, the man that apparently does not pay his taxes from New York is still in lead on the Republican side. 

---

Questions about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' political resilience — and fears of going toe-to-toe with former President Trump — have all but frozen the 2024 Republican field, delaying most of the leading prospects' timelines for entering the race.

Why it matters: Despite dominating polling among Republicans looking for a Trump alternative, DeSantis hasn't been tested in the klieg lights of a presidential election. His Republican detractors see him as a paper tiger who lacks the charisma necessary for a national campaign.

State of play: DeSantis himself is unlikely to make a final decision about running for president until at least May, after Florida's legislative session ends.

Between the lines: DeSantis is already taking some hits on his right flank from South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem over abortion. Florida currently has a 15-week abortion ban in place, but pro-life activists have been advocating for stricter limits.

Reality check: Even with a lackluster start to his campaign, Trump is still the Republican front-runner in primary polls.

• A Morning Consult presidential primary tracking poll found Trump's support declining only four points — from 50% to 46% — since his announcement in November.
• He's planning to hold his first campaign event of the year in South Carolina this month — encroaching on Haley's home turf. (South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott is also considered a possible presidential candidate.)

The bottom line: We're likely to see a historically slow start to a presidential campaign, with many "known unknowns" about the size and nature of the field.

https://www.axios.com/2023/01/15/the-gops-2024-freeze

Edited January 16 by Contrarian

[Contrarian]

Brace yourself, the circus is about to get loud: 

The Washington Post is announcing the imminent return of Trump on Facebook and other publications are saying is just a matter of time until he takes command of Twitter. 

I assumed he would have done it around the holidays, I was wrong on that prediction. 

[Michael Hardner]

18 minutes ago, Contrarian said:

Brace yourself, the circus is about to get loud: 

The Washington Post is announcing the imminent return of Trump on Facebook and other publications are saying is just a matter of time until he takes command of Twitter. 

I assumed he would have done it around the holidays, I was wrong on that prediction. 

There's a new poll saying he beats DeSantis.  Hard to poll people who think pollsters are sent by Lucifer to put silicon chips in their pets.

Anyway, the slow realization of America that the new populism is a big nothing continues to move at a glacial pace...

[Contrarian]

You know, I don't like Trump, everyone on the board knows it by now. 

but man oh man, some in the media have no shame. 

This is what NewsWeek decides to run on their front page: "Hillary Clinton has the last laugh over Donald Trump" followed by a propaganda piece. 

I am just going to play a scenario here, imagine if Joe Biden can not hold the position, he needs to step down for health reasons and Kamala Harris becomes president. I would not want to be Bill Clinton that day. 

Update at 10:25: I realised the reason they ran that article is because she won a lawsuit, that makes sense.

Edited January 21 by Contrarian