Good King Trump

[Miss Shelby]

i was (mostly) dohing at the pope remark.

[Ari]

Age is a red herring, Desantis is 44, (Liz Truss is 47), just being not-old doesn’t make someone a better/smarter/more-caring choice.

In the established political system, becoming president seems to end out the person’s political career, even Obama retired over going back to congress. So they seem to levitate older politicians to the nomination. Trump being an outlier.

[Ari]

I’ve always thought the Pope was selected by gathering each Bishop’s collection of Altar Boys, lining them up on squares facing each other, then fighting to the death. That’s what the black smoke is, dead altar boys. When one boy is left champion they burn his clothes, which burn white and clean, and the orgy commences.

[LarsMac]

Originally Posted by Ari

Age is a red herring, Desantis is 44, (Liz Truss is 47), just being not-old doesn’t make someone a better/smarter/more-caring choice.

In the established political system, becoming president seems to end out the person’s political career, even Obama retired over going back to congress. So they seem to levitate older politicians to the nomination. Trump being an outlier.

They should have been around a bit, and know how the world works, and have earned some sort of reputation so folks can get where they are coming from. It helps if their also old enough that te decisions they make while in office aren't necessarily going to be based on what they can get rich on after leaving office.

(Yeah, I know - Good luck with that.)

[Sock Puppet]

My more serious answer is that anyone with Presidential aspirations has to build enough support within his/her party, as well as a reliable donor base, even to have a realistic shot at getting nominated. That usually takes a really long time, possibly decades. Obama got in while relatively younger because he built his support much faster than the average candidate. Trump bypassed the whole process by buying everybody.

ETA: That's a bit of an exaggeration. He didn't buy everybody; he extorted quite a few.

[Stephen Maturin]

Originally Posted by Sock Puppet

My more serious answer is that anyone with Presidential aspirations has to build enough support within his/her party, as well as a reliable donor base, even to have a realistic shot at getting nominated. That usually takes a really long time, possibly decades.

Excellent points. One of my favorite aspects of the 2008 POTUS campaign was that McCain became the GOP nominee because he was the only Republican candidate left with any goddamn money.

[specious_reasons]

I don't know this person, but they made a bunch of AI images featuring Trump getting arrested:

https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/sta...27681734987777

[Pyrrho]

New York Times is reporting that the grand jury has voted to indict Trump for the Stormy Daniels hush money payments.

[specious_reasons]

Originally Posted by Pyrrho

New York Times is reporting that the grand jury has voted to indict Trump for the Stormy Daniels hush money payments.

Finally. Let's hope it sticks... this particular case isn't the strongest one against him.

[ChuckF]

Donald Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury on more than 30 counts related to business fraud | CNN Politics

Donald Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in an indictment from a Manhattan grand jury, according to two sources familiar with the case – the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges.

[LarsMac]

I hope some of them stick.

[Miss Shelby]

I read in our local newspaper this morning that the charges centered around him paying hush money regarding extra marital affairs.

[specious_reasons]

Originally Posted by Miss Shelby

I read in our local newspaper this morning that the charges centered around him paying hush money regarding extra marital affairs.

Paying hush money to people you slept with isn't illegal as such, but IIRC, the problem is how the money was handled. "[Michael Cohen] admitted to campaign-finance violations related to his coordination of the payments. The argument by federal prosecutors was that the payouts to the two women constituted an unreported in-kind donation to the Trump campaign." (from here)

...but 30 counts imples they found more than just that.

[Miss Shelby]

I couldn't read the entire article without signing up. But it's interesting. I'll bet there are a good number of people out there doing back flips, especially since one of the things he ran on was 'Hillary for Prison' . I don't know if she spells her name with one or two Ls.

But I can't help but compare it to Bill, who lied under oath, pressured his intern to do the same, got her a job at Revlon with the intention to continue the affair because Hillary's plan was to carpet bag and run for Senate in NY. He didn't face any charges. And I'm sure if he was investigated it could have well been the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

[specious_reasons]

Originally Posted by Miss Shelby

[Clinton] didn't face any charges.

He was literally impeached.

[Miss Shelby]

Originally Posted by specious_reasons

Finally. Let's hope it sticks... this particular case isn't the strongest one against him.

Maybe he'll be the new 'Teflon Don'

[Miss Shelby]

Originally Posted by specious_reasons

He was literally impeached.

Big whoop. He didn't leave office or admit to any wrong doing until his back was against the wall. He did not face criminal charges for perjury.

[LarsMac]

Originally Posted by Miss Shelby

Big whoop. He didn't leave office or admit to any wrong doing until his back was against the wall. He did not face criminal charges for perjury.

You're actually serious, aren't you?

[mickthinks]

You're making this shit up as you go along, aren't you Shel?

Clinton fined $90,000 for court sex lie | The Guardian

[LarsMac]

Originally Posted by mickthinks

You're making this shit up as you go along, aren't you Shel?

Clinton fined $90,000 for court sex lie | The Guardian

Probably. But, then, As I learned from my days in High School, "But, they did it too!" has never been a good defense tactic.

[Miss Shelby]

What makes you think I’m not serious?

[Miss Shelby]

Did the man face criminal charges? And do you think he really paid that fine, mickey?

[specious_reasons]

Originally Posted by Miss Shelby

Did the man face criminal charges? And do you think he really paid that fine, mickey?

Besides this being a Tu Quoque argument, it's a bad one.

Besides what was already said:
1. Bill Clinton was also disbarred.
2. Any unproven payments Clinton given to Lewinsky, they weren't literal cash illegally coming from his campaign. There's a distinction here, at least a legal one.
3. I'm pretty much fine with throwing Clinton under the bus.

Typically, even if you can invoke a "you too" argument, Trump almost always has confounding factors that make his crimes worse. He's a terrible, terrible man.

ETA:
4. I don't even think he actually committed perjury. In the time period, I read the transcripts, and I thought he was acting like a too-clever-by-half lawyer who was trying not to lie, but not actually giving the opposing side the information they wanted. It's this testimony where "It depends on what the definition of 'is' is." comes from. He was trying to walk that line between evasiveness and perjury. He might have crossed it, but it's a hard sell in a trial.

[mickthinks]

https://nypost.com/wp-content/upload...eet-meme-1.jpg

We're not after Trump, we're after you, Shel But we gotta get rid of Trump first because he's protecting you from us ... by falsifying his business records to hide his hush-money payment to a sex worker.

[Kevlar]

I do hope we learned some lessons from Slick Willy.

He certainly did commit an egregious abuse of power. If the Republicans had just been professional about it, they probably could have nailed him. But, they had to go the route of "maximum humiliation" and publicly shaming. The way they made Monica detail every sex act in fine detail turned everyone's stomach and led to public sympathy for Bill and Monica. The GOP just took it too far. And to top it off, Democrats learned how much money there is in being a political victim.

Now, a very similar thing could happen with The Don. We're already seeing surges in his popularity. All these various allegations against him, the timing of them, the slow rollouts, the vagueness, the media circus... is going to create sympathy for him and probably just make him richer and more popular.