The Trump Presidency: Part 18

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plague311 said:
Will this have an effect on Trump?

Charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust have been unveiled against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in three separate corruption cases, the Attorney General announced on Thursday evening, marking the first time in Israel's history that a sitting PM faces indictment in criminal investigations

They've loved on each other a lot, and it appears that everyone Trump comes in contact with is getting in trouble!
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Since Trump claims he is so concerned against corruption, does that mean the U.S. will be suspending military aid to Isreael, pending the results of this case?
 
newyorkguy said:
Myeshia Johnson, whose husband, Sgt. La David T. Johnson, was killed early this month in an attack that is under investigation by the United States military, said the president had blundered through the condolence call he made to her last week, only deepening her grief because he did not seem to know her husband’s name.
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Trump told the media he was actually "fantastic" in his call to Johnson's widow. He denied having trouble remembering Johnson's name which led to the memory comment. The photo below is from a screen cap of Trump's remarks. The written words are from closed captioning. You hear Trump saying it as the words appear.
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Mrs. Johnson said it made her feel so bad -- her husband died serving the U.S. and the president couldn't even get his name straight -- that it made her cry. I felt really crappy when I read about this or, I should say, reread about it.

I watched the film clip following the incident and Trump is his usual oblivious self. Totally clueless. He was so cheerful, while telling the media how he reaches out to people all the time and how great they think he is. All while completely ignoring any distress he caused this widow. Why would he care, anyway, given his mindset? She might just as well be on another planet. First, she's African American. Second she has (and her husband had) a 'black sounding' name. Third, her husband was a career enlisted man in the U.S. Army. That's three strikes and she's out.

Governor Weiker was right. Trump's a total dirtbag. :(
 
I got an interesting scam email in my spam filter today.

"Trumpcare Medicare. Open Enrollment Final Days.
Trumpcare Medicare enrollment is almost over. We're here to find you a plan that fits your needs and budget. View low cost Trump Medicare Plans available now before the deadline on Dec. 7th."

First, I'm pretty sure that there's no such thing as Trumpcare. It was the nickname name given to the American Health Care Act of 2017, which didn't pass.
Second, the links in the email go to storage.googleapis.com. I don't see a legitimate source using that as their web address.

I can picture senior citizens getting the email and thinking "He said he would get us a great new health care plan. This must be it and I missed hearing about it. I'd better click and sign up." Then they get hit with whatever scam or malware is on the other end.
 
Armitage72 said:
I got an interesting scam email in my spam filter today.

"Trumpcare Medicare. Open Enrollment Final Days.
Trumpcare Medicare enrollment is almost over. We're here to find you a plan that fits your needs and budget. View low cost Trump Medicare Plans available now before the deadline on Dec. 7th."

First, I'm pretty sure that there's no such thing as Trumpcare. It was the nickname name given to the American Health Care Act of 2017, which didn't pass.
Second, the links in the email go to storage.googleapis.com. I don't see a legitimate source using that as their web address.

I can picture senior citizens getting the email and thinking "He said he would get us a great new health care plan. This must be it and I missed hearing about it. I'd better click and sign up." Then they get hit with whatever scam or malware is on the other end.
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A scam named after Trump. How apropos.
 
Bob Herman is a health care business reporter for @axios. This is from a September 2019 report he filed:
Do a quick search for health insurance, and you'll find plenty of ads for "Trumpcare" plans that cost $59 or less per month. But there's a catch: Trumpcare doesn't exist, and many of these advertised plans offer bare-bones coverage.

After seeing Trumpcare ads in search engines, I submitted contact information to get quotes about coverage options. Over the the next week, I was bombarded with 70 phone calls and 12 texts from insurance brokers.

  • Every broker I spoke to admitted there is no such thing as Trumpcare, and that it is a marketing ploy from the lead generator site.
  • When I asked how I could get the plan that was advertised for $59 or less per month, brokers said the ads were in reference to short-term plans or fixed indemnity plans that offer little to no coverage for serious illness or injury.
Link
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newyorkguy said:
Bob Herman is a health care business reporter for @axios. This is from a September 2019 report he filed:

Quote:
Do a quick search for health insurance, and you'll find plenty of ads for "Trumpcare" plans that cost $59 or less per month. But there's a catch: Trumpcare doesn't exist, and many of these advertised plans offer bare-bones coverage.
After seeing Trumpcare ads in search engines, I submitted contact information to get quotes about coverage options. Over the the next week, I was bombarded with 70 phone calls and 12 texts from insurance brokers.
Every broker I spoke to admitted there is no such thing as Trumpcare, and that it is a marketing ploy from the lead generator site.
When I asked how I could get the plan that was advertised for $59 or less per month, brokers said the ads were in reference to short-term plans or fixed indemnity plans that offer little to no coverage for serious illness or injury.
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Link
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In other words, they're as worthless and dishonest as the man they're named after.
 
I wonder how many Republicans who think the impeachment hearings are all just a 'big show' and that there's 'no there there' have actually watched them? From what I've seen many of them say on TV, I get the distinct impression that they base their opinions directly from what they hear on FOX News.
 
I'll go with MIB.
Trump strikes me as more of an Edgar Suit... and Miller the sort who would wear one.
[emoji15]


Eta: the quote didn't copy over. Sorry and damn you TapaCrap. [emoji17]
 
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From a number of different things. I got a sick feeling that Trump is going to play the Anti Muslim card to try to rev up his base during impeachment.
He has been pushing the anti Hispanic angle for a while, but I got a feeling that is going to change.
 
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I'll be curious if Buttegieg wins the Democratic nomination. Trump will have to dig up the most negative perception he can. I wonder if he'll "go there"?
 
Stacyhs said:
In other words, they're as worthless and dishonest as the man they're named after.
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From the Trump Zone.
  • Trumper: "Hey I got myself Trumpcare health insurance. I'm only paying fifty-nine a month!"
  • Friend: "Trumpcare? But it doesn't cover you for anything."
  • Trumper: "That's okay."
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:(
 
alfaniner said:
I'll be curious if Buttegieg wins the Democratic nomination. Trump will have to dig up the most negative perception he can. I wonder if he'll "go there"?
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I think even he knows he can't openly so he'll use dog whistles. He'd use a lot of references to how people's religious rights have been violated and how 'his' Supreme Court has ruled to protect those religious rights (think wedding cakes).
 
dudalb said:
Over in Israel, Bibi just used Trump's "Attempted Coup" meme.....
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And in the US recently Trump used Bibi's "self-hating" meme when referring to opponents. They must be having long mutual whining sessions over a secure line (Bibi would make sure it was secure; the subject wouldn't occur to Trump, of course).
 
dudalb said:
From a number of different things. I got a sick feeling that Trump is going to play the Anti Muslim card to try to rev up his base during impeachment.
He has been pushing the anti Hispanic angle for a while, but I got a feeling that is going to change.
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Potentially, Trump will attack Iran and Bibi will claim credit for getting him to do it. There's an election coming in Israel and bombing Gaza doesn't seem to cut it these days.
 
Belz... said:
I don't know. I used to love Colbert but ever since he took over Letterman's show he's not what he used to be.
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He's looking bad, tbh.

His Trump impression is just awful. It's hard to listen to his sincere comedy after years of the Colbert Report, which I enjoyed.
 
Stacyhs said:
I think even he knows he can't openly so he'll use dog whistles. He'd use a lot of references to how people's religious rights have been violated and how 'his' Supreme Court has ruled to protect those religious rights (think wedding cakes).
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What makes you think he has the self-awareness and the discipline to ever say “that’s over the line, I better not say that”?

Now, he might try to invert it. Perhaps saying “my supporters want me to say X, but I am not going to say X. I’m not going to stop others from saying X, but I’m not going to say X. Do you folks think it is inappropriate to say X?” That, of course, will be said with that doofus smirk of his.
 
Time to poke at a couple thing of potential interest!

Swalwell enters it into the record : Lev Parnas Helped Rep. Devin Nunes’ Investigations

And... Nunes is now officially linked to the bad actors in play in the impeachment inquiry. Would anyone be at all be surprised if he was also trying to use government influence improperly, potentially at the behest of Trump, in his quest to provide Trump and the Republican Party with things of value for personal and political gain at the expense of the US government?

Prosecutors investigating the Trump Organization zero in on Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg

And they seem to be getting a little annoyed at federal interference that seems intended to run out the statute of limitations on some of the known crime, among other things.

Russia expert Fiona Hill warns Republicans they are acting as Russia's stooges

If only they cared.
 
Aridas said:
Time to poke at a couple thing of potential interest!

Swalwell enters it into the record : Lev Parnas Helped Rep. Devin Nunes’ Investigations

And... Nunes is now officially linked to the bad actors in play in the impeachment inquiry. Would anyone be at all be surprised if he was also trying to use government influence improperly, potentially at the behest of Trump, in his quest to provide Trump and the Republican Party with things of value for personal and political gain at the expense of the US government?

Prosecutors investigating the Trump Organization zero in on Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg

And they seem to be getting a little annoyed at federal interference that seems intended to run out the statute of limitations on some of the known crime, among other things.

Russia expert Fiona Hill warns Republicans they are acting as Russia's stooges

If only they cared.
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More Daily Kos at al. links that I'm leery of because they tell me what I want to hear. Slightly distressing when I realize that the "other side" is lapping up the information sources that tell them what *they* want to hear. It makes me somewhat dismissive because the Daily Kos is not going to change anyone's mind because only sympathetic readers will ever look at these sources.

I can only hope that GOP lawmakers are maybe getting exposed to at least a little information they would prefer not to hear. But what are the chances of that? Not zero, if any are in vulnerable districts. So there's that. But the partisanship is an awfully powerful cognitive filter. And overall I find it very disheartening. I can only hope "both sides" develop a craving for truth. We need to get to the bottom of this somehow. I know on this forum, and in my mind, Democrats are seen as being on the side of the angels. Huge swathes of the nation think Democrats are the devil.

Where does it all end?
 
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TofuFighter said:
Not a direct response to you Darat, but to do with his medical state in general, Snopes has categorised the Sudafed abuse accusations as false.
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I had some Sudafed tonight. Maybe does make one a tad speedy. I'll have to see how Snopes came to its conclusion.
 
Tsukasa Buddha said:
And their attorney general indicted him, too. Our system of government looks even more dysfunctional by comparison.
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That was pretty much the first thought that I had.
Other than that, the similarities are stark, and probably why CNN kept in on the screens for as much as they did.
Netanyahu's "I did nothing wrong", "It's a witch hunt", "It's a coup", "Investigate the investigators" "I've done so much for this country". None of his responses deal with the substance of the charges, all of it distraction and obfuscation.
 
TofuFighter said:
That was pretty much the first thought that I had.
Other than that, the similarities are stark, and probably why CNN kept in on the screens for as much as they did.
Netanyahu's "I did nothing wrong", "It's a witch hunt", "It's a coup", "Investigate the investigators" "I've done so much for this country". None of his responses deal with the substance of the charges, all of it distraction and obfuscation.
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At least Benny has the benefit of longevity in the office to claim he has "done something". He's done a lot of things, and I'm sure we can all argue about those elsewhere if they are positive or negative.

Trump, on the other hand, has been there only 5/7ths of the time at very best, and has done less than sweet FA. He's taken everything backwards and hurt a lot of people. And he doesn't give a rats.
 
Norman Alexander said:
At least Benny has the benefit of longevity in the office to claim he has "done something". He's done a lot of things, and I'm sure we can all argue about those elsewhere if they are positive or negative.

Trump, on the other hand, has been there only 5/7ths of the time at very best, and has done less than sweet FA. He's taken everything backwards and hurt a lot of people. And he doesn't give a rats.
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That argument has always seemed particularly daft to me.
"I've made the economy great, so how can you impeach me (or charge me with a crime)?"

It's absurd, even if it's true, which it arguably is not. You don't get immunity from wrongdoing because you've previously done something good. In trump's case it's always just been yet another indication of his transactional mindset, and I don't think he even realises what a bizarre proposal it is.
 
Minoosh said:
More Daily Kos at al. links that I'm leery of because they tell me what I want to hear.
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All of it that I poked at properly sourced and backed up, of course. Again, Daily Kos is being used as something of a news roundup, for my purposes. And to be a bit contrary to what you're saying - honestly, many of the links that I post here are not things that I actually want to hear, but rather, that I think are worthy of note.

Minoosh said:
Slightly distressing when I realize that the "other side" is lapping up the information sources that tell them what *they* want to hear.
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Information sources that have been repeatedly shown to be dramatically less than truthful or objective as a major and fundamental part of their business model, for the most part. It's good to understand what's going on, but not so good to work with false equivalences.

Minoosh said:
It makes me somewhat dismissive because the Daily Kos is not going to change anyone's mind because only sympathetic readers will ever look at these sources.
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Hmm? That's an odd criteria to when it comes to whether something should be dismissed or not.

Minoosh said:
I can only hope that GOP lawmakers are maybe getting exposed to at least a little information they would prefer not to hear. But what are the chances of that? Not zero, if any are in vulnerable districts.
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Mmm. The chances are actually very high. Let's be completely clear about something very simple. Most of the GOP lawmakers certainly are hearing a lot of stuff they don't like, especially right now. Even the ones that are going out of their way to officially avoid listening to the clear testimony of wrong-doing. Let's be clear about something else - different people have different sets of values, and truth is one of the first casualties when extremely unethical people seek power. That the Republican Party lawmakers are currently effectively in the pockets of extremely unethical people after decades of hard work and very plentiful funding is no accident. Nor is the observation that that leads to unethical behavior by the lawmakers.

Minoosh said:
So there's that. But the partisanship is an awfully powerful cognitive filter.
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It can be. Remember, though, that truth is truth. One certainly can (and should) take into account and be wary of one's biases, but that should not be any excuse to refuse to accept truth.

Minoosh said:
And overall I find it very disheartening. I can only hope "both sides" develop a craving for truth. We need to get to the bottom of this somehow.
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Mmm. I think that you're a little off base here, much as it's annoying to go more into depth about a bunch of it. Still, the bottom of it is fairly certain to be... rooted in small minorities that hold disproportionate power pushing hard to keep and increase that power and using highly unethical methods to do so.

Minoosh said:
I know on this forum, and in my mind, Democrats are seen as being on the side of the angels. Huge swathes of the nation think Democrats are the devil.

Where does it all end?
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Angels? Only so much as they are the only currently rational and patriotic major party. Where does it all end? The return of the Fairness Doctrine, for example, would be a major step back towards sanity - regardless of the complaints by right-wing personalities that their free speech right to lie about and wildly distort issues is being infringed upon. Warren's anti-corruption plan pokes at a lot of things that would help return things to sanity, as well. There's a fair bit more that can be done, but it does require the will and push from the people to do them.
 
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Aridas said:
Time to poke at a couple thing of potential interest!

Swalwell enters it into the record : Lev Parnas Helped Rep. Devin Nunes’ Investigations

And... Nunes is now officially linked to the bad actors in play in the impeachment inquiry. Would anyone be at all be surprised if he was also trying to use government influence improperly, potentially at the behest of Trump, in his quest to provide Trump and the Republican Party with things of value for personal and political gain at the expense of the US government?
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Shouldn't he recuse himself, now? Or does that not apply to congresscritters?
 
Aridas said:
Hmm? That's an odd criteria to when it comes to whether something should be dismissed or not.
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I said "somewhat" dismissive and it doesn't mean that everyone should dismiss it. I'm glad they're doing it; I'm glad you post the links. It's just that I can't tell if any of the punches are landing. Republicans know damn well that Russia was the main bad actor in 2016 election meddling. They'll smear Ukraine anyway, and maybe Ukraine did do just enough to allow them to draw the false equivalence (ratting out Manafort). For purposes of abuse of power, it doesn't matter whether Hunter Biden benefited from the family name - but it still offers cover for false equivalencies. That frustrates me immensely.

Remember, though, that truth is truth.
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That's just the thing though. Giuliani said truth is not truth and the GOP didn't bat an eye.

There's a fair bit more that can be done, but it does require the will and push from the people to do them.
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The will of the people is badly fractured right now. I'm glad this stuff is going in the record, but it just doesn't seem to matter very much at present. I am fairly confident that will happen, because even Trump's enablers have qualms about the mess he's made of foreign relations. Even in the House, but especially in the Senate.

In the end it will almost certainly be up to voters to decide if they want to pull the plug on the worst reality TV show ever.

ETA: And American voters aren't famous for taking a keen interest in foreign affairs. Trump has done much more than make a mess; he's systematically done everything he can to trash U.S. standing in the world. I am grateful he hasn't started any wars and I'm happy the al Baghdadi guy is dead. But the rest - Kim, Putin, Erdogan, trade wars, etc. - I do hope conservative voters take an interest in these issues.
 
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