Trump Gets Triggered By Looming Criminal Charges & Melts Down

The New Republic
Opinion

Donald Trump Is Short on Cash—and Selling Laws to Anyone Who Will Pay​

Timothy Noah / Fri, May 10, 2024 at 6:00 AM EDT

It has never been a better time to be a corporate lobbyist. The Republican Party, having run out of ideas, no longer even pretends to represent anything other than capital. The party’s standard bearer, Donald Trump, has no agenda to speak of for a second term, and I doubt the GOP, which wrote no platform in 2020, will write one for 2024. Should Trump get elected, however, he will need to have a program. So he’s holding a sort of yard sale, starting with the oil and gas industry.

Especially galling is that industry lobbyists are treating a second Trump term as their personal property even as Trump and the GOP continue to draw strong support from the working class. Non-college voters (the standard definition of working-class voters) should ask themselves why Trump isn’t inviting them to write any executive orders, or merely to suggest any ways he can make their lives better. The answer is he doesn’t care. He can win them over by insulting Democrats, the press, the professional class, and other enemies at his campaign rallies— and through a constant flow of cultural and now legal transgression on social media. They love that he respects nothing. They sell themselves cheap.

news.yahoo.com

Donald Trump Is Short on Cash—and Selling Laws to Anyone Who Will Pay

Donald Trump is telling oil and gas executives they can rewrite entire laws if they help him return to the White House.
news.yahoo.com news.yahoo.com

This article, this "opinion" isn't fully accurate.
Trump reportedly has advocated using the National Guard to round up illegal aliens, presumably for deportation. Trump has long been the champion of the xenophobe.
 
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www.nytimes.com

Trump May Owe $100 Million From Double-Dip Tax Breaks, Audit Shows

A previously unknown focus of an I.R.S. audit is a dubious accounting maneuver that effectively meant taking the same write-offs twice on a Chicago skyscraper.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
TRUMP ON TRIAL

‘Take Care of It’: Cohen Says Trump Told Him to Bury Stormy Daniels’ Story​

The former fixer is finally taking the stand in Trump's hush-money trial — and dismantling many of the former president's arguments about the case
BY NIKKI MCCANN RAMIREZ, CATHERINA GIOINO

THE MOST ANTICIPATED showdown of Donald Trump’s hush money trial began Monday as Michael Cohen — the former president’s ex-fixer and lawyer —- took the stand to detail his close relationship with Trump, and how he craved his validation by consistently updating Trump on his efforts to stifle Karen McDougal’s and Stormy Daniels’ stories.

Cohen testified that when he got wind of Daniels’ story potentially going public, he felt it would have been “catastrophic” for Trump’s campaign. “I immediately went to Mr. Trump’s office, knocked on the door. ‘Boss, I’ve got to speak to you.’ Cohen said. “I told him that one of the things that we need to do is obviously take care of it.”

“Absolutely. Do it. Take care of it” Cohen said Trump replied.

Cohen detailed his day-to-day relationship with the former president during his employment between 2007 and 2018, describing Trump as a “micro-manager” whom he spoke to “every single day, and multiple times a day,” either by phone or in person. He also told the jury that ahead of his 2016 campaign announcement, Trump had warned him to “be prepared, there’s going to be a lot of women coming forward.”

As Cohen worked to help suppress potentially damaging stories about Trump, he recounted providing regular updates to the former president to claim “credit” for his actions, and to receive directions on “what he wanted me to do.” Prosecutors hope Cohen’s testimony will show just how much Trump was in the know about every little detail, especially about matters “that worried him,” Cohen testified.

Cohen’s testimony will be pivotal for the prosecution’s case against Trump, who has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records. The charges stem from an alleged scheme in which then-candidate Trump and his associates made hush-money payments to women, including $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, in order to aid his 2016 presidential election campaign. Prosecutors have accused the former president of unlawfully masking reimbursement payments to Cohen — who paid the money to Daniels out of his own pockets — as legal expenses.
While Cohen’s testimony promises to be some of the most impactful in the trial, he’s already been the subject of ....

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I've wondered what Cohen's motive is for testifying. I gather Trump's already called Cohen a rat.
A vengeance motive for Cohen taints his testimony, in my opinion. It may not mean Trump is innocent. But it might suggest jurors subordinate Cohen's testimony, to that of other witnesses.
 

The Hottest Place to Pledge Allegiance to Trump Is Manhattan Criminal Court​

The former president's allies, including some vice presidential hopefuls, are heeding his calls to show up and support him at his hush-money trial
BY CATHERINA GIOINO, ASAWIN SUEBSAENG, RYAN BORT

IF YOU’RE A Republican politician looking to score points with Donald Trump, there’s a decent chance you’ve been spotted recently in or outside Manhattan Criminal Court. U.S. Senators, House members, state attorneys general, and former GOP presidential primary opponents have all traveled to New York to support the former president during his criminal trial.

Trump has publicly complained that the MAGA faithful haven’t descended on the court in droves, blaming law enforcement for restricting access to the area for blocks, which is false. Privately, he’s griped that more prominent Republican lawmakers — including those he’s considering for vice president — aren’t showing their support. “Where are they?” he angrily groused earlier this month, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

A different source familiar with some of Trump’s private comments on this topic tells Rolling Stone that earlier this month, the former president, noticeably annoyed, remarked that elite conservatives he had endorsed weren’t showing up to the trial to show moral and political support. This source also says that especially irritated after he saw the following New York Times headline, from early May: “After Large Rallies, Trump Is Greeted at Courthouse by a Single Fan.”

They seem to have since gotten the message. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) was there last week, claiming to reporters that ...

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Shiftless2 said:

"— aren’t showing their support. “Where are they?” he angrily groused" #486 ​

Click to expand...
Seems to me Trump's been running things over the past decade consistent with social dynamics familiar in public high schools across the U.S.
In that culture, personal loyalty is the coin of the realm, as a high school student's résumé is otherwise quite sparse. No Harvard Law grads. there.

It's easy for me to scoff. BUT !
I've never leveraged such simplistic antic into residing in public housing, #1600 Penn Ave.

I surely hope Trump is a unique historic freak, and not merely a hint of things to come. BUT !!
There's room for doubt / alarm.
Follow the progression from Speaker Gingrich's contract on America, to Limbaugh ... Trump, MTG ... .

No end in sight, even if the government housing Trump ends up in is an 8' x 10' cell.
 

Michael Cohen gives Donald Trump his best day in hush money trial so far​

Story by Analysis by Stephen Collinson,

Donald Trump finally had a good day in court.

The presumptive GOP nominee has often seemed embarrassed and infuriated by his first criminal trial, which has featured salacious exposés of his personal life and details of his alleged attempts to cover it up.

But on Thursday, he got to savor his former fixer-turned-enemy Michael Cohen wobbling on the stand under a fearsome cross-examination. Cohen appeared to be tripped up over ...

SOURCE
 
Shiftless2 said:

"Michael Cohen gives Donald Trump his best day in hush money trial so far" #488​

Click to expand...
The news bidness is in slo-mo crisis. "News rooms" used to bustle with activity, bureau chiefs scattered around the globe.
The 4th Estate remains on subsistence diet, alive, but a shadow of former ...

News isn't merely a valuable service, it's an indispensable commodity in our democratic republic, especially in an election year.

Trump has insinuated himself as the news vortex.
And so we get headlines like that above.

There's no denying the consequence of what's at stake here.
But daily hand-wringing is best left to those that swill their Pepto-abysmal by the bottle.
"There's no need to worry.
Absolutely nothing is going to turn out alright." Paul Harvey
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I'm overwhelmed by detail here. Blame it on my Friday night 'tude?

Seems to me if this is yet another Trump violation of law judge's instructions, the law judge has the legal responsibility under the 14th Amendment (equal protection) to cram Trump in a metal cage.
Judicial dereliction in this case risks forfeiting the Constitution. But it's too much trouble to bang the gavel ?!
 
Shiftless2 said:
"Shameless" #492
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hmmm
It seems "shameless" and shameful mean kind of the same thing.

And while we can ramble derisively at our GOP MOC it's actually a quantifiable parameter.

note: I have not independently corroborated the meme / content of #492. But if it is substantially correct, from the publication The Nation:

The New Do-Nothing Congress​

The end of 2023 saw the House of Representatives passing a mere 27 pieces of legislation—the lowest such output in nearly a century.

www.thenation.com

The New Do-Nothing Congress

Representatives failed to make progress on most matters of consequence for the past year, but they sure had a lot to say.
www.thenation.com www.thenation.com

It may seem like empty rhetoric. It's been said before. These Republicans prioritize their own partisanship ahead of citizenship. Isn't that perjury?
 

Wow. What a day. Cohen rebounds. Defense witness ticks off the judge to the point the judge clears the courtroom to admonish him and threaten him with contempt. Trump does another Hail Mary dismiss appeal that’s doomed to fail tomorrow AM.​

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Shiftless2 said:
"... Trump courting the former head of Hells Angels is a pretty clear signal that we're headed for more violence this election." AttP #495
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Reminds me of Altamont. Hells Angels hired for security there too. What could possibly go wrong, again?

The event is remembered for its use of Hells Angels as security and its significant violence, including the stabbing death of Meredith Hunter and three accidental deaths: two from a hit-and-run car accident, and one from a drowning incident an irrigation canal. Scores were injured, numerous cars were stolen (and subsequently abandoned), and there was extensive property damage.
more at Wikipedia
 
On a related note:

"The Supreme Court's structural lack of transparency––its internal decision-making process is overwhelmingly secretive––leaves little room for good will when individual justices act as though the Court's members are exempt from questions about their behavior."

Supreme Court's Jan 6. Decision Comes at Turbulent Time​


 
sear said:
Reminds me of Altamont. Hells Angels hired for security there too. What could possibly go wrong, again?

The event is remembered for its use of Hells Angels as security and its significant violence, including the stabbing death of Meredith Hunter and three accidental deaths: two from a hit-and-run car accident, and one from a drowning incident an irrigation canal. Scores were injured, numerous cars were stolen (and subsequently abandoned), and there was extensive property damage.
more at Wikipedia
Click to expand...
At the time the general consensus was that Mick Jagger was egging people (on both sides) on.

Stories are somewhat contradictory but you really have to wonder who would even consider hiring the Hells Angels for security?
 

Trump Pressures Republicans to Pass a Law to Keep Him Out of Jail Forever​

The former president is convinced state prosecutors will target him again after a second term, and wants the GOP to solve that problem for him
BY ASAWIN SUEBSAENG, ADAM RAWNSLEY

Donald Trump likes to tell anyone who will listen that he’s absolutely convinced he will win his 2024 rematch against President Joe Biden. And, according to people who’ve spoken to the ex-president about this, Trump also seems convinced that if he wins another four years in the White House, state prosecutors will still be waiting for him on the other side of his term — ready to put him on trial, or even in prison, just as they are now.

To avoid such risks, the former and perhaps future president of the United States wants Congress to create a very specific insurance policy that would help keep him out of prison forever, two sources familiar with the matter tell Rolling Stone. Trump vaguely alluded to this idea last week outside his New York criminal hush money trial, when he said he has urged Republican lawmakers to pass “laws to stop things like this.”

In recent months, the sources say, Trump has spoken to several GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill, attorneys, and other associates about the possibility of Republicans passing legislation in a second Trump term that would shield former presidents (i.e. Trump) from non-federal prosecutions. In recent conversations with closely-aligned lawmakers, Trump has pressured them to ...

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