The Donald Trump Score Card

This one is my favorite

He also slipped the Secret Service agents a copy of the Communist Manifesto as he was escorted out

 

'Anonymous' is a big word for Trump to pronounce, a whopping four syllables.

His slurred speech on his two failed attempts to pronounce the word 'anonymous' sounded similar to his slurring during his address in December 2017 when he announced the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. In that speech he said what sounded like "God bless the United Shits." The White House can once again claim that it was due to a dry throat.

Trump's handlers might want to coach him regularly on properly pronouncing words like 'fake' and 'crooked'. He's in real trouble if he starts having problems with those words.

The Donald Trump Score Card

Trump’s Slurred Speech Tied to Low Battery in Putin’s Remote

 

No wonder the guy in the checked shirt started laughing and making faces.

 

Trump needed a pretext outside the boundaries of the Russia investigation to fire Sessions. That is why it looks to me like he might be behind the NYT Op-Ed article. The NYT claims they know and verified the writer who gave it to them. That bit of information also says they may have been suckered into printing just what Trump wants to get the reason to fire Session and pursuant to that his newly appointed AG could fire Rosenstein and eventually Mueller. The Hill is reporting that Kavanaugh is likely to get confirmed, resulting in more protection for the Republican organized crime enterprise.

 

Montana teen removed from Trump's rally goes viral as #PlaidShirtGuy
CBS News
September 8, 2018, 1:04 AM

Montana teen removed from Trump's rally goes viral as #PlaidShirtGuy

 

Trump has called for Sessions to investigate the NYT op-ed which he considers treason. Trump could potentially claim that Sessions didn't do what he wanted and later use it as one of his excuses for having him fired.

Kavanaugh needs to be confirmed first, as a firing of Sessions now would hamper Kavanaugh's confirmation and would also tarnish Republicans running in the mid-term election. Trump could fire Sessions now and have an interim AG assigned without confirmation by the Senate, but he or she would probably have limited power until later confirmed.

Trump needs to have his White House counsel make an official request to the DOJ to investigate the op-ed. Apparently this hasn't happened yet. Trump could also have the counsel make similar requests to investigate Obama, Hilllary, and other parties that Trump has incessantly complained haven't been investigated. Why Trump apparently hasn't directed his counsel to make the official requests is not clear. During an interview in 2018 on Fox & Friends after a long, whiney tirade by Trump, the hosts reminded him that he is the one who initiates requests for investigations by the DOJ. Trump's vague response was that he might initiate official requests at some point.

 

The days of Jeff Sessions appear to be numbered considering the recent increased inflammatory rhetoric of Trump directed at him and a rare public rebuttal by Sessions. The statement in August 2018 by Sen. Lindsey Graham is support for Trump to fire Sessions but not before the mid-term elections which would damage the Republicans running in the Senate and elsewhere and hamper the ability to confirm Kavanaugh. Graham: “The president’s entitled to an attorney general he has faith in, somebody that’s qualified for the job, and I think there will come a time, sooner rather than later, where it will be time to have a new face and a fresh voice at the Department of Justice.”

Based on Trump's past behavior, such as firing McCabe right before his retirement to damage his pension, it wouldn't be surprising if Trump fired Sessions as the polls closed on the west coast when the mid-term election ends. This assumes that his handlers can restrain an impulsive Trump from firing Sessions earlier. They failed to stop an impulsive Trump when he decided to fire Comey while angrily stewing during a weekend at his private Bedminster golf resort, which precipitated the Mueller investigation which he now wants to effectively end by firing Sessions.

 

He reminds me of those photos of the Heaven's Gate cult before they drank the Kool Aid.

 

British spy Steele told DOJ lawyer Ohr Russia had ‘Trump over a barrel,' report says
Eric Tucker and Chad Day, The Associated Press
Published 1:52 p.m. ET Aug. 31, 2018

British spy Steele told DOJ lawyer Ohr Russia had ‘Trump over a barrel,' report says

excerpt:

"Trump and some of his supporters in Congress have also accused the FBI of launching the entire Russia counterintelligence investigation based on the dossier. But memos authored by Republicans and Democrats and declassified this year show the probe was triggered by information the U.S. government received earlier about the Russian contacts of then-Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos.

The FBI’s investigation was already under way by the time it received Steele’s dossier, and Ohr was not the original source of information from it.

One of the meetings described to House lawmakers Tuesday was a Washington breakfast attended by Steele, an associate of his and Ohr. Ohr’s wife, Nellie, who worked for the political research firm, Fusion GPS, that hired Steele, attended at least part of the breakfast.

Ohr also told Congress that Steele told him that Page, a Trump campaign aide who traveled to Moscow that same month and whose ties to Russia attracted FBI scrutiny, had met with more senior Russian officials than he had acknowledged meeting with.

That breakfast took place amid ongoing FBI concerns about Russian election interference and possible communication with Trump associates. By that point, Russian hackers had penetrated Democratic email accounts, including that of the Clinton campaign chairman, and Papadopoulos, the Trump campaign associate, was said to have revealed that Russians had “dirt” on Democrat Hillary Clinton in the form of emails, according to court papers. That revelation prompted the FBI to open the counterintelligence investigation on July 31, 2016, one day after the breakfast but based on entirely different information."

 

t's factual that the term collusion itself isn't a legal term for a federal criminal act with the possible exception of federal antitrust laws in the U.S.

The act of collusion, though, can involve crimes, such a money laundering, wire fraud, reception of stolen property, not reporting a known crime, and conspiracy.

Hacking may not be a legal term, but unauthorized use of a computer and theft of information are criminal acts.

The point was that Trump and Giuliani are repeatedly making remarks that a behavior in which he has been implicated can't be a crime. It can be said that Nixon colluded with others in the Watergate burglary and a coverup. That doesn't mean that Nixon wasn't involved in crimes because collusion itself isn't a legal term. He was cited by the investigation as an unindicted co-conspirator of a crime and resigned because of it.

An operation involving a collusion of a group of people can be criminal even if the acts by the individuals involved might not appear to be criminal but the intent was criminal. The Stormy Daniels incident is a possible example. Trump stated that reimbursing his attorney Cohen through an LLC for Cohen's payment to Stormy Daniels (which Trump initially denied but later admitted) can't be a crime because the money didn't come explicitly from the campaign fund. The reimbursement can be construed as a campaign contribution by Trump who used his personal money that went unreported and that well exceeded the limit that can be made by an individual, both of which are crimes. Trump implicated himself in two crimes by making such a remark, which is probably why his attorneys appear to be so reluctant to have him participate in a face-to-face interview with Mueller..

The type of alibis Trump and Giuliani are using is indicative of a more general and serious problem of Trump: his reliance on using underhanded approaches in apparent attempts to circumvent tthe law with the denial that any of it can be criminal.

Beyond the criminal aspects of what Trump might have done, there are ethical aspects. One is whether people in the U.S. really want politicians, Trump or anyone else, who engage in colluding with people or groups such as agents of a foreign government, and ones that could be considered unsavory to the U.S., in shady, borderline ways that just barely escape criminal conviction for the sake of eking out an election victory or running an administration.

 

MSNBC reported the Republicans want Kavanaugh seated on the SUPRA by October 1st! They want obstruction at any cost!

 

Did you even read what you wrote? (1) No such thing as collusion! (2) Clinton and Russia colluded? I say that is incoherent.

 

Trump and Cohen chicken out.


Trump says he won't enforce hush-money deal with Stormy Daniels
If a court finds the issue resolved, it could kill efforts by Daniels' attorney to try to compel Trump to give sworn testimony.
by Associated Press
Sep.08.2018 / 8:23 PM ET

Trump says he won't enforce nondisclosure deal with Stormy Daniels

 

It is not that simple. Avenatti still has several options to move the case forward. The party who paid the filing fee to the court clerk can motion to withdraw the case. The judge can accept it or rule for the respondent, should their reasoning be compelling enough, and they want money in a counter claim.

 

Trump administration cuts $25 million in aid for Palestinians in East Jerusalem hospitals
The decision comes after the state department said it would also end funding to the United Nations relief agency for Palestinian refugees.
by Josh Lederman and Saphora Smith
Sep.09.2018 / 9:31 AM ET

Trump cuts $25 million in aid for Palestinian hospitals

excerpt:

"Aaron David Millar, vice president and director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a former adviser to six secretaries of state, said he failed to understand the logic behind what he described as “economic and political war” against the Palestinians.

The Palestinian leadership, he said, would not accept Trump’s peace plan while security in the region was based in economic and social stability.

“In 40 years following U.S. policy in and outside government never seen any Administration simultaneously support Israel so uncritically and go after Palestinians so harshly both without logic, purpose or national security rationale,” he said."

 

Trump doesn't like what he perceives to be a usurping of his pathological intense demand of loyalty to him.


Trump: ‘Flipping’ to take a plea deal ‘almost ought to be illegal’
By Brett Samuels
08/23/18 07:43 AM EDT

Trump: ‘Flipping’ to take a plea deal ‘almost ought to be illegal’

excerpt:

"It’s called flipping, and it almost ought to be illegal," he added.

Trump suggested that individuals who flip aren't being truthful, telling Earhardt that they "make up stories" and "just make up lies."

"I’ve seen it many times," Trump said, without providing examples. "They make up things and now they go from 10 years to they’re a national hero."

Legal experts have noted in the aftermath of Cohen's guilty plea that prosecutors would not have accepted his plea if they believed he was not being truthful.

On Tuesday, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight felony charges, including two counts of violating campaign finance law by arranging the payments to two women who say they had affairs with Trump.

The president pushed back on that claim, telling Earhardt that he found out about the arrangements "later on" and argued such a payment would not constitute a campaign finance law violation.

Both claims have been undercut by Cohen."

 

I'm sure Jimmy Carter has something to say about all this.

 

Trump blames Canada for U.S. dairy woes.


Why Canadian milk infuriates Donald Trump
by John Barber
Trump’s latest trade war target is Canada’s protected dairy industry. But Canadians have no intention of abandoning it – because it works
Sat 9 Jun 2018 07.00 EDT
Last modified on Fri 17 Aug 2018 23.38 EDT

Why Canadian milk infuriates Donald Trump

excerpt:

"As the trade minister, Chrystia Freeland, has pointed out, trade data flatly contradicts the claim that Canadian supply management is ravaging US dairyland – either because it unfairly restricts imports or because it dumps a subsidized surplus in US markets. In 2016, Canada imported dairy products from the US worth five times more than the small amount it exported there. “I would call that a pretty good deal,” she told the House of Commons.

Canadian farmers point out that despite the tariffs that protect them, imports make up 10% of the country’s dairy consumption. By contrast, the US restricts dairy imports to 3% of domestic consumption. “That just screams hypocrisy to me,” Muirhead said. “I don’t understand how they can get away with these positions.”

As a recent visitor to Wisconsin, “America’s Dairyland”, where low prices are forcing the closure of hundreds of dairy farms a year, Muirhead said he encountered no resentment against Canada among local farmers. “The president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union told me that what they really wanted was a supply-managed system like ours,” he said."

 

The felons in Trump's orbit.

image:

 

Trump picks the best people...