yeah but his numbers are slipping. He'll retain his base, at least for a while (in five years, your Q Anon Uncle will swear he never voted for Trump) but his base is small, and getting smaller, electorate wise
No question. Mind you, Trump's connections to Putin and the Russian mafia date back at least 20 or 30 years. He has had many dealings with mobbed up Russian businessmen, including the Trump SoHo Hotel, which was the subject of a RICO investigation. He has been marrying Eastern European mail-order brides for his whole adult life. Russian mobsters have been bankrolling him for decades. If we drop the fantasy that he is some dumb jamoke who accidentally took over the GOP one day, the planning and the relationships are very visible.
There are much much easier ways for him to make a shit-ton of money. He got $2.5 billion out of his 4 years in the White House. He could easily sit in Mar-a-Swampo and be an actual kingmaker if self-aggrandizement were his only goal. He could be the eminence grise of the GOP til the day he drops dead. But he's a genuine fascist, and he also loves do wreck things - on the biggest scale he can. So he's doing a lot of things that may actually harm him (cost money, lose supporters, attract the wrath of the DOJ) but that further his agenda.
With Trump it's always a good idea to look at what he's actually doing, not at the image we have of him. That image of a low-grade venal fool is very convenient for him. It constantly distracts us - and no one is better than Trump at using endless distractions to defang the opposition.
For example: anyone who thinks Trump's real lawyers are Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and the other Kraken clowns is a naive dupe.
If you set aside Trump's schtick and his (mostly intentional) typos and clumsy communication style, what he accomplished in 5 years is nothing short of astonishing. In one year he took over the entire Republican Party, and destroyed all his competitors. One year.
Then, in 4 years in office, he completely restructured the federal justice system to the point where we are not sure there is any real separation of powers between the 3 branches of government anymore - or if it can ever be restored. He partially dismantled the very concept of a social safety net. He wiped out a massive chunk of the tax base. He successfully instilled the idea that the executive should have unlimited powers - and nearly half the country now thinks that's a good idea. He incited an actual armed insurrection to attack the one branch of government, Congress, that could oppose that idea, and did so without any consequences at all to that idea.
In 4 years Trump fundamentally restructured the world's oldest and most robust, sustained democracy. He weakened its structures so profoundly that it may not recover. Four years.
I don't think we have ever seen anyone as capable as Trump in our lifetime. If he had gotten a 2nd term (and he came within 40,000 votes in 3 states of doing that), he would have remade the United States into something unrecognizable, violent, and powered by the biggest army on the globe.
Chris Cuomo and a lawyer guest (forgot who) both agreed that Trump would never spend a day in jail. I guess I could handle this if enough of his supporters would turn against him so that he is no longer a threat to this country.
I keep going back to what his niece, Mary Trump, said about him recently. She is a shrink and knows his mental issues well.
She has said repeatedly that the loss of the 2020 election is a wound that he will never recover from. He has always managed to worm his way out of losses before, but not this one.
The fear of losing again in 2024, according to Mary, will prevent him from actually running. He'll pretend he's going to, just to grift money, but he won't actually do it.
I hope she's right. I also hope that his legal problems will envelop him to the point where it's completely unfeasible.
"Clark was the one who wanted to announce an investigation of non-existent fraud in Georgia and do all the crazy shit Trump wanted, and his ascension was only prevented because Trump realized half the DOJ leadership would resign if he went through with it."
I don't get this. Trump does give a fuck about _anything_ that doesn't directly effect Trump. Why would he care if half the DOJ leadership resigned? It would just give him an opportunity to appoint more knob-gobblers.
The only thing that I can think of is that someone (or several someones) in DOJ leadership had something on Trump. These call notes are a good example.
Lighten up, dude, cheese!
http://uploads.disquscdn.co...
It better be under oath. Don't fuck around with these traitors.
It's a fact that Gov. DeSantis is going to run in 24, and he's as much a scumbag as trump, but smarter (Which doesn't take much, I know.).
Hell, it's probably what their couch cushions are stuffed with.
I gots some .022 piano wire. (Don't ask me why)
yeah but his numbers are slipping. He'll retain his base, at least for a while (in five years, your Q Anon Uncle will swear he never voted for Trump) but his base is small, and getting smaller, electorate wise
No question. Mind you, Trump's connections to Putin and the Russian mafia date back at least 20 or 30 years. He has had many dealings with mobbed up Russian businessmen, including the Trump SoHo Hotel, which was the subject of a RICO investigation. He has been marrying Eastern European mail-order brides for his whole adult life. Russian mobsters have been bankrolling him for decades. If we drop the fantasy that he is some dumb jamoke who accidentally took over the GOP one day, the planning and the relationships are very visible.
There are much much easier ways for him to make a shit-ton of money. He got $2.5 billion out of his 4 years in the White House. He could easily sit in Mar-a-Swampo and be an actual kingmaker if self-aggrandizement were his only goal. He could be the eminence grise of the GOP til the day he drops dead. But he's a genuine fascist, and he also loves do wreck things - on the biggest scale he can. So he's doing a lot of things that may actually harm him (cost money, lose supporters, attract the wrath of the DOJ) but that further his agenda.
With Trump it's always a good idea to look at what he's actually doing, not at the image we have of him. That image of a low-grade venal fool is very convenient for him. It constantly distracts us - and no one is better than Trump at using endless distractions to defang the opposition.
For example: anyone who thinks Trump's real lawyers are Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and the other Kraken clowns is a naive dupe.
If you set aside Trump's schtick and his (mostly intentional) typos and clumsy communication style, what he accomplished in 5 years is nothing short of astonishing. In one year he took over the entire Republican Party, and destroyed all his competitors. One year.
Then, in 4 years in office, he completely restructured the federal justice system to the point where we are not sure there is any real separation of powers between the 3 branches of government anymore - or if it can ever be restored. He partially dismantled the very concept of a social safety net. He wiped out a massive chunk of the tax base. He successfully instilled the idea that the executive should have unlimited powers - and nearly half the country now thinks that's a good idea. He incited an actual armed insurrection to attack the one branch of government, Congress, that could oppose that idea, and did so without any consequences at all to that idea.
In 4 years Trump fundamentally restructured the world's oldest and most robust, sustained democracy. He weakened its structures so profoundly that it may not recover. Four years.
I don't think we have ever seen anyone as capable as Trump in our lifetime. If he had gotten a 2nd term (and he came within 40,000 votes in 3 states of doing that), he would have remade the United States into something unrecognizable, violent, and powered by the biggest army on the globe.
Chris Cuomo and a lawyer guest (forgot who) both agreed that Trump would never spend a day in jail. I guess I could handle this if enough of his supporters would turn against him so that he is no longer a threat to this country.
And I just don't see that happening.
I keep going back to what his niece, Mary Trump, said about him recently. She is a shrink and knows his mental issues well.
She has said repeatedly that the loss of the 2020 election is a wound that he will never recover from. He has always managed to worm his way out of losses before, but not this one.
The fear of losing again in 2024, according to Mary, will prevent him from actually running. He'll pretend he's going to, just to grift money, but he won't actually do it.
I hope she's right. I also hope that his legal problems will envelop him to the point where it's completely unfeasible.
I think you're right. It's an alien mindset to the rest of us but I don't think he categorizes things as true and false.
"Clark was the one who wanted to announce an investigation of non-existent fraud in Georgia and do all the crazy shit Trump wanted, and his ascension was only prevented because Trump realized half the DOJ leadership would resign if he went through with it."
I don't get this. Trump does give a fuck about _anything_ that doesn't directly effect Trump. Why would he care if half the DOJ leadership resigned? It would just give him an opportunity to appoint more knob-gobblers.
The only thing that I can think of is that someone (or several someones) in DOJ leadership had something on Trump. These call notes are a good example.
Fuck around: checkFind out: ongoing
This is historical fact and needs to be highlighted. It's a pity it wasn't done in 2016 and the world would be a far different place if it had been.