357 Comments

$5F is the best lawsplainer. Yes, Evan does yeoman work all the time, but HINAL.

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Trump is making the case for obstruction of justice an open and shut one.

And I'm fine with that, so I think he's doing great on that score.

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This is the $5DF I know and love. All of this is pretty much on point - especially the part about this very likely being a friendly subpoena. McGahn is a dick, and a self-laudatory one, but at the same time, he almost certainly wants to retain his law license in the long run. That's going to make someone open up to inquiry really quickly.

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Any judge imposing it would have to be very careful about amounts, but it's not a bad idea. Fines can't be punitive; they have to balance on that line between not hurting at all, and driving someone to penury - but given that President Shitforbrains only says he's rich, it would be diabolically funny to watch him scramble.

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Michael Cohen allegedly disavowed parts of his guilty plea in a recorded conversation, at least according to the evening news, so maybe not even him. Someone call Cohen's rabbi. Gotta bring in the big guns.

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It would up the Irony-ometer to 11 if donnie had to produce his tax returns to justify a lower fine.

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In its former annual "Dubious Achievement Awards" issue, the year that Clarence squeaked into the Supreme Court, Esquire magazine published a number of "congratulatory" messages to him. The two best were a telegram from Ronald Reagan ("Congratulations on your award") and a very exercised message from Long Dong excoriating Clarence for having ruined his "good name."

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At Wally. They have everything.

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I wonder if he likes brownies. Surprise him with a pan of nice, chocolatey pot brownies.

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And, furthermore, also, in addition, Congress does NOT "have all of that information that's been given...". He damn well knows that, too.

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Cooking ground beef to at least 160ºF for 15 seconds or more will kill ecoli. If everyone did that, there would be no old people and young kids dying of kidney failure.

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You so funny! You crackin' me up!

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Right. And there was no way he would win.As the incumbent he has an enormous advantage.*Unless the economy goes tits up before November 2020 I don't see Trump losing -- not because people like him but because there are plenty of people out there who won't want to rock the boat.

* And he's an incumbent who will use his levers of power in ways no previous president, even Nixon, has done, like gathering intel on his Democratic rival. There doesn't even have to be any there there, just innuendo and lies, with his army of howler monkeys throwing shit at the wall 24/7.How many people believe in "Pizzagate" and Q-Anon? It will sow confusion; and confused people pumped full of fear may just go with the monster they know.He also will intimidate voters, threatening retribution against anyone who votes "illegally" -- by his definition of the term. It will scare some people away from the polls, maybe enough in close states.And finally, I'm sure Rootin' Tootin' Putin has some tricks up his KGB sleeve. He got away with it in 2016 and pretty much no steps have been taken to prevent it from happening in 2020.Oh, and almost forgot, there's no guarantee Trump will accept a loss. He will claim voter fraud, millions and millions of "illegals" voting for the Democrat.He will get his deplorables, in their full Second Amendment glory, out in the streets. Maybe even dressed in brown shirts for the lulz.Who's going to take a cattle prod to him and drive him and Ivanka and the rest of them out of the White House? In a crisis Trump can depend on the Supreme Court to put its imprimatur of legitimacy on the whole shitshow. And enough of the public will accept that as the final ruling, which, short of revolution, it might be.If we have to depend on Trump to do the "right thing" and vacate the premises, well ...

TL;DR version: Assuming Trump will leave office based on the results of an election, no matter the results, may backfire. Bigly.

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Eww, I'm not going to do something he'd enjoy.

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And the strategy he used last time - stink up the whole election so bad nobody wants to have anything to do with it.

i was pretty sure a bunch of his behavior during the campaign was intentionally disgusting to reduce voter turnout. Now I'm not so sure.

I have this theory about his intentionality: it's like evolution. There is no thinking going on, no real intention. All that's happening is some behaviors that are "fittest" to the foul, stinking zeitgeist. And if those behaviors weren't "fittest" there would be a different organism in the Oval Office.

We need to clean the swamp, because it breeds mosquitoes and Trumps. He's not the disease, he's a symptom.

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Thank you for your response! Rootin Tootin Putin, hahaha.

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