This week, news has been focused on the former president’s possible indictment for paying $130,000 in hush money to adult film performer Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their 2006 affair before the 2016 election. The information currently being thrown about has been shaped by Trump himself and is obviously suspect (among other things, he has apparently raised $1.5 million since he claimed he would be arrested on Tuesday).
Let's not go back to all Trump, all the time. If we give him oxygen his notoriety wins votes, unfortunately. He will be indicted or not. Our job is to elect Democrats to keep the MAGA cult out of power.
The moral for all of us ordinary citizens is that we need to vote. We need to work on voter registration, on getting out the vote on election day, and on voting ourselves. We need to elect legislators who will protect everyone's right to vote, since that's the basis of our democracy. We need to elect judges or those who appoint judges who will make sure that everyone is equal before the law. It is up to all of us to do the work of ensuring that scoundrels and cheats cannot prevail.
As usual, very well distilled and constructed essay Dr. Thank you. **edit in > However, I must point out a fact that I know all too well from lived experience that's documented. Wherein you state >> "It appears Republicans have gotten to the point that they don’t believe they can win a free and fair election, and in their conviction that Democrats will destroy the country, they believe cheating to win is justified. They cannot condemn Trump because he delivered what they wanted: a victory." >> I must add that it is not a recent conclusion of theirs (gop). It's only new that they may have in recent history exhibited and hopefully got caught red handed in how far they would go to 'win.' I caught them red handed roughly 30 years ago when they were beginning their tricks locally, on a much smaller scale mind you. At the time, council meetings in this glowing red town were still televised. I prepared myself well, steeled my nerves, then live at the recorded meeting I blistered their azzes (tastefully - no village idiot ranting) and called them out, pointing out that I had met with them all and the mayor, to no satisfaction, so I was bring it via public meeting to the people. They were not happy to say the least. One week later, council and the mayor changed the local law / rule severely restricting a citizen's allowed time to comment at council meetings ! Additionally, one of the 'upstanding citizen mover / shakers' in the town - a gop member of the city Chamber of Commerce, asked me if I could be 'persuaded' to argue as forcefully from their point of view. I think you 'know' what he was insinuating. I do beyond doubt; they wanted to know if I were for sale. *Postscript - We carried the day and city voted against them as I had lobbied for at that council meeting. Other measures I did was that prior to the council meeting, I'd months earlier begun composing local information newsletters that we (my family) distributed at our cost and time, as far and wide as we could. One of the many things I caught them doing and blistered them for was gerrymandering districts to favor themselves - jfyi.
This is an excellent explanation of a case that the GOP and its media pilot fish have terribly muddled. Let's hope it's successfully argued and produces a conviction. A Republican could win the presidency if he or she moved somewhat to the left and articulated policies that would directly help voters and the country. But the party is boxed in, trapped really, by all that it has wrought — by embracing Trump and hate.
The Stormy Daniels case seems like smaller potatoes than the classified-docs-at-MAL or the I-need- to-find-11,000-votes case but it's actually the most sobering. Buying Daniels' silence bought DT the election and that, in turn, led to DT's handling of the pandemic and the unnecessary deaths of over 1 million Americans.
"Our election laws are designed to try to hold the playing field level" is no longer true with Citizens United legalizing corruption of elections by calling money free speech and tipping the playing field toward minority autocratic rule.
Would votes have changed if Stormy's Story was public pre-election? Come on, guys. You know the answer. I know you know the answer.
Nada.
The Access Hollywood tape told everyone everything they needed to know. Only a person existing at the nadir of depravity could have said what tfg did there, and so cheerfully too! Is anyone here *really* wondering if there were people who were okay with making the guy in that tape the President, but would have changed their mind upon hearing of the porn star hush money? Please.
Actually, who among us truly thought he would lose support after that tape came out? I didn't, not for a second. Anyone with a sense of decency who heard the bile this guy spewed at his campaign ANNOUNCEMENT should have been able to tell that anyone capable of letting these words out of your mouth in public, or frankly even thinking them at all, would be capable of saying and doing pretty much anything, at any level of venality. Anyone who didn't turn the channel with their stomach turned immediately had had their moral compass run over by a semi somewhere along the line.
I have never been surprised by one thing this dude has said, and I never expected to ever find "the dealbreaker." There was not going to be one. The man is a dealbreaker unto himself for everyone other than those willing to deal with the devil. I am not bragging about my clairvoyance here, as I don't think I should take credit for seeing something so obvious. When people tell you who you are the first time, believe them.
Ignore him. Then put him in jail. Then ignore him again. And ignore everyone saying they didn't know or couldn't tell. Please.
Thanks to HCR for explaining why this case isn't minor. Unfortunately, the CNN crowd, including the Dems on their panels, have already pooh-poohed this particular case, because they think paying hush money to women isn't a big deal anyhow. How about focusing at least briefly on the sexism behind such attitudes?
I guess I’m stuck in a rut of disbelief that over 60% of the Republican redcoats continue to support him and unfathomably they even send a multimillionaire money - let me say that again - average ‘redcoat’ citizens are parting with their hard earned funds to send them to a multimillionaire - huh?
Trump is a lying nutcase! What do you call the lemmings which continue to blindly follow him.
Donald Trump is a thief. His father was a thief. Donald learned his real,estate craft from his father and continued the family business. He recognizes weaknesses in people with similar character flaws and those people have gravitated to him for years and years. They still do, and they are predominantly members of the Republican party. They all know that there are fewer of them than normal hard working folks just trying to survive and provide for themselves and their families. So, the Republicans cheat to take advantage of any weakness in the democratic system in order to be elected. This is a simple exercise of the Trump family getting caught stealing everything that they can convert into cash in order to stay out of jail as long as possible. They grift, lie, and pay attorneys to delay the inevitable judgment day when every member of the jury agrees that the Trumps have been operating a family criminal enterprise for multiple generations. With any luck Ms Willis in Fulton, GA will charge the FPOTUS with RICO crimes and prosecute a large number of the family crime syndicate and its current boss and members of Congress who are accomplices in the RICO violations. Jack Smith knows this RICO violation has been ongoing and it is embarrassing to the Attorney General of the US and everyone in the DOJ who has ignored the existence of the Trump crime family and hoped this open sore would stay a quiet NYC crime sene. It is now a world wide embarrassment that is going to be exposed by women who have grown tired of being told to behave and stay in your place. That behavior is over. Many honest public servants know this is a long time coming and the scandal will make the Watergate preview look like a dry run in preparation for the main event. The Trump circus is about for be burned down. It is about time.
Oh we are back to talking about Fake 45 and what might or might not happen to him. He is the king of delays and some speculated that he will ask SCOTUS to take his case. That ain't gonna happen. In spite of 6 justices being Repubs, I feel they are very tired of him. He is, after all, a big whiner and always plays the victim. The fact that his "fans" have deposited $1.5 mil into his "GoFundMe" account really says it all. I say if we can get an indictment from some entity somewhere, then isolate him, bankrupt him. Make him a pauper, a pariah, where no one will go near him.
Trump lived as he did in New York his entire life, a good part of it as a registered Democrat, womanized freely, and hobnobbed with the connected operatives of both parties and industry. That state never touched him then, and I'm not holding my breath trusting they will do anything now, but...surprise me NY. That would be a welcome surprise. Meantime, I'm waiting for the real indictment to come from Georgia.
Donald Trump paid Michael Cohen to pay off Stormy Daniels, right? He then deducted the payment made to Cohen as a business expense, calling him a consultant. So the tax payers, paid for half, assuming a 50% tax bracket, of Mr Trump’s affair. I don’t care who Trump has an affair with, I just don’t like paying for it.
Oh ya right, Trump doesn’t pay taxes, so the those of us that do pay taxes, picked up the whole tab!!!
Let's not go back to all Trump, all the time. If we give him oxygen his notoriety wins votes, unfortunately. He will be indicted or not. Our job is to elect Democrats to keep the MAGA cult out of power.
The moral for all of us ordinary citizens is that we need to vote. We need to work on voter registration, on getting out the vote on election day, and on voting ourselves. We need to elect legislators who will protect everyone's right to vote, since that's the basis of our democracy. We need to elect judges or those who appoint judges who will make sure that everyone is equal before the law. It is up to all of us to do the work of ensuring that scoundrels and cheats cannot prevail.
As usual, very well distilled and constructed essay Dr. Thank you. **edit in > However, I must point out a fact that I know all too well from lived experience that's documented. Wherein you state >> "It appears Republicans have gotten to the point that they don’t believe they can win a free and fair election, and in their conviction that Democrats will destroy the country, they believe cheating to win is justified. They cannot condemn Trump because he delivered what they wanted: a victory." >> I must add that it is not a recent conclusion of theirs (gop). It's only new that they may have in recent history exhibited and hopefully got caught red handed in how far they would go to 'win.' I caught them red handed roughly 30 years ago when they were beginning their tricks locally, on a much smaller scale mind you. At the time, council meetings in this glowing red town were still televised. I prepared myself well, steeled my nerves, then live at the recorded meeting I blistered their azzes (tastefully - no village idiot ranting) and called them out, pointing out that I had met with them all and the mayor, to no satisfaction, so I was bring it via public meeting to the people. They were not happy to say the least. One week later, council and the mayor changed the local law / rule severely restricting a citizen's allowed time to comment at council meetings ! Additionally, one of the 'upstanding citizen mover / shakers' in the town - a gop member of the city Chamber of Commerce, asked me if I could be 'persuaded' to argue as forcefully from their point of view. I think you 'know' what he was insinuating. I do beyond doubt; they wanted to know if I were for sale. *Postscript - We carried the day and city voted against them as I had lobbied for at that council meeting. Other measures I did was that prior to the council meeting, I'd months earlier begun composing local information newsletters that we (my family) distributed at our cost and time, as far and wide as we could. One of the many things I caught them doing and blistered them for was gerrymandering districts to favor themselves - jfyi.
This is an excellent explanation of a case that the GOP and its media pilot fish have terribly muddled. Let's hope it's successfully argued and produces a conviction. A Republican could win the presidency if he or she moved somewhat to the left and articulated policies that would directly help voters and the country. But the party is boxed in, trapped really, by all that it has wrought — by embracing Trump and hate.
The Stormy Daniels case seems like smaller potatoes than the classified-docs-at-MAL or the I-need- to-find-11,000-votes case but it's actually the most sobering. Buying Daniels' silence bought DT the election and that, in turn, led to DT's handling of the pandemic and the unnecessary deaths of over 1 million Americans.
"Our election laws are designed to try to hold the playing field level" is no longer true with Citizens United legalizing corruption of elections by calling money free speech and tipping the playing field toward minority autocratic rule.
Would votes have changed if Stormy's Story was public pre-election? Come on, guys. You know the answer. I know you know the answer.
Nada.
The Access Hollywood tape told everyone everything they needed to know. Only a person existing at the nadir of depravity could have said what tfg did there, and so cheerfully too! Is anyone here *really* wondering if there were people who were okay with making the guy in that tape the President, but would have changed their mind upon hearing of the porn star hush money? Please.
Actually, who among us truly thought he would lose support after that tape came out? I didn't, not for a second. Anyone with a sense of decency who heard the bile this guy spewed at his campaign ANNOUNCEMENT should have been able to tell that anyone capable of letting these words out of your mouth in public, or frankly even thinking them at all, would be capable of saying and doing pretty much anything, at any level of venality. Anyone who didn't turn the channel with their stomach turned immediately had had their moral compass run over by a semi somewhere along the line.
I have never been surprised by one thing this dude has said, and I never expected to ever find "the dealbreaker." There was not going to be one. The man is a dealbreaker unto himself for everyone other than those willing to deal with the devil. I am not bragging about my clairvoyance here, as I don't think I should take credit for seeing something so obvious. When people tell you who you are the first time, believe them.
Ignore him. Then put him in jail. Then ignore him again. And ignore everyone saying they didn't know or couldn't tell. Please.
Thanks to HCR for explaining why this case isn't minor. Unfortunately, the CNN crowd, including the Dems on their panels, have already pooh-poohed this particular case, because they think paying hush money to women isn't a big deal anyhow. How about focusing at least briefly on the sexism behind such attitudes?
Benedict Donald was a criminal long before the MAGA TRASH ever heard of him
I guess I’m stuck in a rut of disbelief that over 60% of the Republican redcoats continue to support him and unfathomably they even send a multimillionaire money - let me say that again - average ‘redcoat’ citizens are parting with their hard earned funds to send them to a multimillionaire - huh?
Trump is a lying nutcase! What do you call the lemmings which continue to blindly follow him.
Donald Trump is a thief. His father was a thief. Donald learned his real,estate craft from his father and continued the family business. He recognizes weaknesses in people with similar character flaws and those people have gravitated to him for years and years. They still do, and they are predominantly members of the Republican party. They all know that there are fewer of them than normal hard working folks just trying to survive and provide for themselves and their families. So, the Republicans cheat to take advantage of any weakness in the democratic system in order to be elected. This is a simple exercise of the Trump family getting caught stealing everything that they can convert into cash in order to stay out of jail as long as possible. They grift, lie, and pay attorneys to delay the inevitable judgment day when every member of the jury agrees that the Trumps have been operating a family criminal enterprise for multiple generations. With any luck Ms Willis in Fulton, GA will charge the FPOTUS with RICO crimes and prosecute a large number of the family crime syndicate and its current boss and members of Congress who are accomplices in the RICO violations. Jack Smith knows this RICO violation has been ongoing and it is embarrassing to the Attorney General of the US and everyone in the DOJ who has ignored the existence of the Trump crime family and hoped this open sore would stay a quiet NYC crime sene. It is now a world wide embarrassment that is going to be exposed by women who have grown tired of being told to behave and stay in your place. That behavior is over. Many honest public servants know this is a long time coming and the scandal will make the Watergate preview look like a dry run in preparation for the main event. The Trump circus is about for be burned down. It is about time.
Oh we are back to talking about Fake 45 and what might or might not happen to him. He is the king of delays and some speculated that he will ask SCOTUS to take his case. That ain't gonna happen. In spite of 6 justices being Repubs, I feel they are very tired of him. He is, after all, a big whiner and always plays the victim. The fact that his "fans" have deposited $1.5 mil into his "GoFundMe" account really says it all. I say if we can get an indictment from some entity somewhere, then isolate him, bankrupt him. Make him a pauper, a pariah, where no one will go near him.
Trump lived as he did in New York his entire life, a good part of it as a registered Democrat, womanized freely, and hobnobbed with the connected operatives of both parties and industry. That state never touched him then, and I'm not holding my breath trusting they will do anything now, but...surprise me NY. That would be a welcome surprise. Meantime, I'm waiting for the real indictment to come from Georgia.
Your artical(?) is the clearest I've read about the hush money. Thank you.
Do I hear three prosecutors saying “no, you go first.”?
Donald Trump paid Michael Cohen to pay off Stormy Daniels, right? He then deducted the payment made to Cohen as a business expense, calling him a consultant. So the tax payers, paid for half, assuming a 50% tax bracket, of Mr Trump’s affair. I don’t care who Trump has an affair with, I just don’t like paying for it.
Oh ya right, Trump doesn’t pay taxes, so the those of us that do pay taxes, picked up the whole tab!!!