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Trump Claims ‘Death & Destruction’ Will Happen if DA Bragg Charges Him

Trump Claims ‘Death & Destruction’ Will Happen if DA Bragg Charges Him

“What kind of person can charge another person…known by all that No crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic…a degenerate psychopath that truly hates the USA!”

Former President Donald Trump went off on Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, saying that “death & destruction” will happen if he is charged for allegedly paying off porn actress Stormy Daniels.

Trump also posted a picture of him swinging a baseball bat next to a picture of Bragg.

Another post calls Bragg human scum.

“Isn’t it terrible that D.A. Bragg refuses to do the right thing and ‘call it a day?'” Trump wrote in the other post. “He would rather indict an innocent man and create years of hatred, chaos, and turmoil, than give him his well deserved “freedom.” The whole Country sees what is going on, and they’re not going to take it anymore. They’ve had enough! There was no Error made, No Misdemeanor, No Crime and, above all, NO CASE. They spied on my campaign, Rigged the Election, falsely Impeached, cheated and lied. They are HUMAN SCUM!”

Trump reposted the picture of him with a baseball bat next to a picture of Bragg with his hands up. The images are in the article he posted.

Last week, Trump claimed he would be arrested this past Tuesday. Nothing happened.

In fact, it appears Bragg has a hard time convincing his grand jury to indict Trump.

Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen claims Trump ordered and paid Daniels $130,000 to shush her over a supposed affair.

One witness, a legal advisor to Cohen, said Cohen did it alone. He said Trump and the Trump Organization had no idea about the payoff.

It’s also interesting that Bragg, who inherited the investigation, called it off when he took office in January 2022.

Bragg reopened the case when Trump announced his 2024 presidential candidacy.

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Comments

Calls it as he sees it
7 years of this BS

I’m sure Ron will handle it better

    mailman in reply to gonzotx. | March 24, 2023 at 5:50 pm

    Everyone’s gettin the vapours because Trump said the truth 😂 It’s delicious and watching supposed conservatives getting all high and mighty over what Trump said but keeping quiet over political witch hunts. Almost as if those supposed conservatives and conservatives spelt with a little c (also has a u, c and a k in there too).

    CommoChief in reply to gonzotx. | March 24, 2023 at 5:54 pm

    Is there a grand jury seated to review allegations that DeSantis paid off a porn star? I don’t think I have heard that DeSantis has these sorts of self inflicted issues lingering in the background to deal with/overcome.

    When viewed from that perspective DeSantis did handle ‘it’ better, as did 99+% of the population b/c they didn’t have any interaction or connection with payments to porn stars in the first place. Avoiding the ambush from the outset is a far more effective gauge of tactical leadership than reacting to it as it is sprung.

      gonzotx in reply to CommoChief. | March 24, 2023 at 6:03 pm

      Oh that’s just ridiculous, Ronny hasn’t had to deal with anything like Trump and you know it
      7 years and hundreds of millions, FBI, all found Trump to be innocent

      I doubt YOU could stand up to anything like it, pretty sure Ronnie couldn’t

        CommoChief in reply to gonzotx. | March 24, 2023 at 6:22 pm

        There is no such thing as ‘wrong place, wrong time, with the wrong people’. Each of those things require you to make a separate decision to:
        1. Be out at that time
        2. Be at that place
        3 Be with those people

        Some of us make the better decision not to put ourselves in the position of needing to explain why our former attorney was paying off a porn star who claimed she had an affair with us to get her to sign a nondisclosure agreement so she wouldn’t talk about it publicly. AKA blackmail.

        Trump is his own worst enemy sometimes. This is one of those times. It doesn’t mean he is guilty, frankly the case brought by Bragg is garbage IMO, but it is another example of bad judgement. When someone is constantly explaining their past associations b/c those associations turn out to be toxic it demonstrates a pattern of poor judgement in selecting whom he associates with. Nothing more, nothing less.

          Blackmail is a crime. Should a Grand Jury be formed to look at every NDA?

          Few have the type of foresight you suggest.

          It’s interesting his judgment in raising kids, helping people without fanfare, and putting America first is ignored. He must be a choir boy, or he cannot run for office. And now, many that questioning his judgment thought it was great when he took on the Establishment.

          Concise in reply to CommoChief. | March 24, 2023 at 8:30 pm

          Yeah, looks like you’ve got it all sorted out. The Russian collusion lies, abusive special counsel investigations, and impeachments. Trump has only himself to blame for getting elected president.

          CommoChief in reply to CommoChief. | March 25, 2023 at 11:05 am

          Concise

          Nice try to change the subject. The only thing Trump is responsible for are his own actions and choices.

          This is a BS partisan play by Bragg. The legal theory is untenable IMO. It’s an ideological prosecution by someone who desperately wants to ‘get Trump’. IMO legally it is doomed to fail, political/PR wise it may do some slight damage. It will give media hacks something to talk about which they love.

          The real issue here is Trump’s statements and imagery. The choices Trump made here do not help in downplaying the media narrative that he is an unstable, loose cannon who can’t resist lashing out with overly provocative messaging.

          Trump chose to feed into this persona boosting and amplifying it. He is choosing to help perpetuate the negative image and narrative of him that the legacy media and d/prog will use to club him and us with.

          Personally I like the persona, and it is a persona just as much as the pro wrestling guys used back when ‘wrasslin was real’. If you can’t see that this persona is the creation of his choices and just as much a ‘character’ he presents as old school pro wrestling did to put asses in the seats in arenas you are, as they say ‘a mark’.

      The Grand Jury has nothing to do with what happened with a porn star, so does it matter that DeSantis did not do it. Trump has done a lot of things that DeSantis has not done, both good and bad. The comparison is not apt.

        CommoChief in reply to oldschooltwentysix. | March 24, 2023 at 6:25 pm

        So the payment to the porn star isn’t at the hear of the case being alleged as use of personal funds for a campaign purpose and thus an unreported campaign expenditure?

        Please do tell us what this is about then.

          CommoChief in reply to CommoChief. | March 24, 2023 at 6:49 pm

          How about describing the who what when where why as they relate to the case Bragg is attempting to make?

          Why? Have you not heard Turley, Dershowitz and others speak to the effort? Bragg is abusing his power. He is not trying to make a case at all. You can do the analysis because you seem to give it credence.

          CommoChief in reply to CommoChief. | March 24, 2023 at 7:17 pm

          I prefer to hear from you directly b/c you allege there is no connection with a porn star in what is being presented to the grand jury. That would mean the payment to the porn star wouldn’t be in front of the grand jury either. Which of course would mean the payment wouldn’t be subject to Bragg attempts to magic that payment into a campaign donation.

          We already know it is yet another in a series of ‘get Trump witch hunts’. Please do enlighten us on what the theory and facts of the case are since they are not, in your estimation, about a porn star or payments to a porn star.

          See below, please. It’s a waste of time to talk about the “the theory and facts of the case.” Especially since you acknowledge it IS a witch hunt.

          Concise in reply to CommoChief. | March 24, 2023 at 9:13 pm

          So, let me see if I understand this. You actually believe there a legitimate underlying campaign crime at issue here? That’s quite an embarrassing admission. You might want to think about that. I’ll be generous and say Trump derangement syndrome has clouded you’re faculties a little.

          CommoChief in reply to CommoChief. | March 25, 2023 at 11:12 am

          Concise,

          What’s embarrassing is your crude attempt to reframe my argument. The acts by Bragg are pure partisan BS.

          That doesn’t mean that Trump’s attorney didn’t pay off a porn star. Nor does it mean Trump’s public statements aren’t tone deaf.

          FWIW, and I get weary of repeating this, I like Trump, may support him in the primary if he earns my support and will absolutely support him in the general election if he is the nominee.

          There are two strains of Trump Derangement Syndrome. One manifests as Never Trump and the other as Only Trump. I am neither.

        In the larger context. Do you really think that is the purpose of the Grand Jury here, to look at what happened with a porn star? This is a mountain, not a molehill. Can you discern context?

        CommoChief in reply to oldschooltwentysix. | March 24, 2023 at 7:44 pm

        26,

        Either present your argument or admit your error. It’s ok to be wrong occasionally, I have been in the past and will be again in the future, but not here in this thread with you.

        What you seem to want is for us to ignore your error and still take you seriously. That won’t work here with commenters at LI. We often disagree on matters of opinion and interpretation of the facts but we usually hold folks accountable for making false statements that are easily recognized as such.

          Error? You just do not want to accept the answer that there is a larger context that it really is not about Trump’s relationship with Daniels. You ADMIT the whole exercise is an abuse, then ask for a critique of the theory by the abuser, as if there is a justifiable theory. There isn’t. Turley, Dershowitz, and multiple others explain it much better. Or maybe ask the many prosecutors who ran from it or who apparently object in Bragg’s own office.

          CommoChief in reply to CommoChief. | March 25, 2023 at 11:17 am

          You persist in refusing to admit your error that the payoff to a porn star is central to Bragg’s argument before the grand jury.

          That’s the question here in our back and forth. You don’t seem to be able to admit when you are wrong, preferring instead to attempt to change the subject.

      You keep framing this as allegations that Trump paid off a porn star (just like Jeb!!! DeSantis). First of all, everyone has made it clear that Trump had no relationship to Daniels at all. She admitted in court that she and Trump did not have sex. Cohen admitted that much. Even Avenatti tweeted from prison that there is nothing to these charges. Could WE drop it too?

      What we have witnessed is yet another stellar example of what Trump does best. He takes control of situations and tangles all of the liars attacking him into one big tangled mess until the chaos those who started are in the spotlight getting dissected and exposed. Trump is now enjoying this because he can extend the torture as long as they insist on pursuing their plan.

      Bragg has already given up on the case. Clearly, the grand jury just wants to leave and won’t give him what he wants no matter how much he badgers them. The problem is that he has no off ramp that salvages his career. He has been an utter failure in as DA and now the failed spectacularly on the world stage.

      Trump wins because all of these charges are bogus. He wins because he is an innocent man. It’s one hoax after the other and he wins EVERY TIME! What an idiot eh? No, he is brilliant and that is what bothers you Trump haters the most. He is NOT your conventional politician. He isn’t a politician at all! What you see is what you get. No phony airs, no practiced expressions or gestures, no poll-tested statements…. Nope. “Ask me anything!” and he gives in-depth answers HIS WAY!

      We finally found our authentic person with the balls to take on the world and we taught us how to fight evil and WIN!!! Yeah, bring on Jeb!!! Trump is going to eat him alive in the primary. End of career for Jeb!!! He took the road mostly taken and it made no difference. Another L for Karl Rove’s latest protegee.

      Bragg has given up already

        CommoChief in reply to Pasadena Phil. | March 24, 2023 at 6:47 pm

        Phil,

        This hot garbage case Bragg is attempting to bring does rely on the payment to the porn star being viewed as an unreported and illegal ‘campaign contribution’. That’s what it is about. Whether Trump banged a porn star is immaterial to whether his Attorney made a payment to the porn star in exchange for her signing a non disclosure agreement about the alleged affair she claimed took place.

        I like that Trump has much better taste, physically at least, than some previous politicians. As I recall he made a large payment to Karen McDougal, former Playmate of the Year, and my all-time favorite playmate. She claims they had an affair and she got something like $1.5 million from Trump. Good for Trump! I could only dream that Karen McDougal would claim to have had an affair with me!

          To be clear, Daniels was blackmailing Trump. She was threatening to tell the news media a story unless she was paid off. She acknowledged the story was fake. The payments were made from Trump’s personal funds (because Cohen was never part of the campaign). If the payments were made from campaign funds, that WOULD have been a violation of law. Blackmail payments made from personal funds are not.

          CommoChief in reply to CommoChief. | March 24, 2023 at 8:27 pm

          georgefelis,

          Yes indeed. Perhaps you could explain that to 26 who can’t seem to grasp the facts of this.

          Bragg’s theory is Cray Cray and at odds with reality but the payment to Daniels is central to his bizarre theory that this payment was a campaign contribution.

        Costello said that Cohen paid the money on his own.

          CommoChief in reply to oldschooltwentysix. | March 24, 2023 at 8:31 pm

          Yes that is true about the payment to the porn star at the center of Bragg’s misguided effort to ‘get Trump’ that he is placing before a grand jury; which you allege is immaterial.

    Ghostrider in reply to gonzotx. | March 24, 2023 at 6:40 pm

    DeSantis will handle it better. Compared to Trump, Ron is the candidate who is more mentally stable.

Trump should know there is a time to shut up. He might talk his way into trouble when none existed.

    The Gentle Grizzly in reply to Whitewall. | March 24, 2023 at 5:27 pm

    Or, talk US into trouble.

    Trump 😳

    fenrisulven6 in reply to Whitewall. | March 25, 2023 at 4:46 pm

    Funny thing about women – they go after that Alpha and then claim men are jerks. They don’t seem to understand the traits that create Alpha also create The Jerk. Its a coin with two sides, you can’t take away one side and keep the other.

    We need Patton leading the tank division, and if his “potty mouth” is too much for. you, leave us. Go join the Marxists and inflict your Queensbury Snobbery on them. They’re “not your people” so I’m sure it’ll be a riot. Maybe you can finally be useful and distract them for a few hours.

    I often wonder if God sent Trump as a vanity check to see if we were worthy.

    “I hear you. You’ve been wandering in the desert for 30 years looking for another Ronald Reagan. I’ll send him to lead you the promised land. No worries…

    Oh one little hitch though. He’ll come to you in the form of Rodney Dangerfield from Caddyshack. That’s not a problem is it? … oh really? Okay then, I’ll check back with you in 30 years”

DJT is right that if they can take down a former President for no crime the Gulags will be opened soon.
The government has taken 1200 people for Jan6 and looking to double that.

    And Trump is the ONLY GUY fighting for them. Every other Republican is taking George Soros’ advice to “move on” which is what the GOPe always does. It is never EVER the right time to do the right thing. There is no battle worth fighting except to make sure that fighters like Trump are kept out of their big empty tent. MAGA!!!

Too often, Donald Trump talks speaks in hyperbole, and that makes him say things that make him look bad, or that can be manipulated to make him look bad.

One example of this type of manipulation:

… when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?

becomes:

Trump Claims ‘Death & Destruction’ Will Happen if DA Bragg Charges Him

He did not say “there WILL be” but “there COULD be”.
There is a fine line in the middle. One of the 2 could be understood as threat, but that’s not what he said.

I love this site.
I love all the authors.
But wrong is wrong.

    mailman in reply to Exiliado. | March 24, 2023 at 5:52 pm

    BUUUUUUUT TRUUUUUUUMP! Little c conservatives losing their shit left, right and centre 🙄

    CommoChief in reply to Exiliado. | March 24, 2023 at 6:07 pm

    That’s a fair point on the headline. Of course in making the statement that the ‘potential for death and destruction in such a false charge COULD be catastrophic for our Country’ it isn’t clear whether:
    1. Trump views his supporters as easily riled up hooligans aka the ‘J6 media narrative’ we have seen repeated since
    2. Trump believes his supporters would be defeated by the forces of tyranny in NYC
    3. Trump believes his supporters would stage a ‘Bastille Day’ to secure his release after their victory
    4. What precisely he considers catastrophic. Is it; defeat of his supporters, defeat of the NYPD, that his supporters are so enraptured with Trump as to resort to lawlessness

    Trump doesn’t say things that will make him look bad so much as he says things that others twist and misrepresent to make him look bad. Present what he says in proper context and everything is fine. There is a reason the swamp is so swampy. There are just too many swamp tools who refuse to recognize that they are swamp tools.

    henrybowman in reply to Exiliado. | March 24, 2023 at 7:23 pm

    “and that makes him say things that make him look bad, or that can be manipulated to make him look bad.”
    Who made him pose for a picture taking a baseball bat to Bragg’s head?
    This is really stupid, stupid, stupid. Andrew Branca would bitch-slap him for this.

      Exiliado in reply to henrybowman. | March 24, 2023 at 7:29 pm

      There you are, proving my point, CHOOSING to present the facts in the worst possible light.
      I don’t see anyone putting anything to anyone’s head.

      Have you ever heard the phrase: “To knock something out of the (ball)park?

      That’s why I see. But again, I am not trying to find the worst possible meaning.

        CommoChief in reply to Exiliado. | March 24, 2023 at 8:10 pm

        This is the ‘you have to be able to decipher Trump speak’ argument. The problem isn’t that those outside the Only Trump camp don’t understand what he is doing in using the imagery and linguistic choices he makes. Far from it.

        Basically there are three groups at play:
        1. Never trump weirdos both d/prog and some in the GoP establishment who want it to be 1994 again.
        2. The Only Trump camp
        3. The Open to Trump or DeSantis or potentially another candidate who emerges from a contested GoP primary as the strongest horse

        Trump keeps throwing bombastic phrases and imagery to the Only Trump camp as if he needs to keep delivering a weekly fix of combative communication or they will disappear. They won’t.

        The real issue here is those who grew tired of translating ‘Trump speak’ to their friends and neighbors by 2020. They initially liked his showmanship and appreciated how he used it to come in as an outsider and win the nomination.

        This group believes that once Trump was elected POTUS he doesn’t require anymore splashy presentations to hype up his campaign. Whether they are correct or not that is the reality for them. They are tired of having to explain their support for Trump to those around them ever time he decides to make bombastic/authentic statements.

        There is a portion of getable votes sliced off each time he does this. Frankly I don’t think he is netting a positive in terms of votes with his insisting on keeping up the persona he projects. I do know that there are those who refuse to vote for him directly b/c of this act he insists upon.

        Personally I appreciate it and find it entertaining as hell. I am not the average GoP voter and that is the real issue; how many uncommitted voters are turned on v turned on by this?

          Danny in reply to CommoChief. | March 24, 2023 at 9:45 pm

          You forgot by far the most important camp of all

          The not a Democrat doesn’t vote in primaries, open to Republican or Democrat

          Among that group of voters this statement would be cryptonite, but add in Trump’s record and I think he is showing he can’t possibly win the general.

          You could be Sir Galahad, if you can’t win the general election you shouldn’t be our nominee, and we really do need to start remembering the camps outside of the Republican Party.

          Danny in reply to CommoChief. | March 24, 2023 at 9:46 pm

          To add that wasn’t a criticism of what you said I agree with most of it although I think Trump has already made himself unelectable, I just thought we all needed a reminder that we aren’t the entire electorate.

          CommoChief in reply to CommoChief. | March 25, 2023 at 11:25 am

          Danny,

          I didn’t take it as a criticism but as an expansion on my argument that buttressed it.

          There are plenty of voters who might be willing to pull the Trump lever in ’24 but are turned off by what they perceive as his reckless public persona.

          Just as his diehard supporters soak up the public persona of ‘authenticity’ and bask in it there are others who are turned off by it. Many of these voters are not ‘never Trump’ folks already lost to Trump. They are getable votes but are pushed away by the insistence on leaning into the persona Trump projects.

He said “COULD,” not will. And the Pandora’s Box that would be open could be quite destructive in untold ways. The doctrine of unforeseen events.

    healthguyfsu in reply to oldschooltwentysix. | March 24, 2023 at 5:49 pm

    You can’t really think this is a good move.

    Who do you think would bring the hypothetical death and destruction? BLM?

    He basically just said his own supporters have the potential to be murderous rioters if charges are brought against him. Do you really want someone suggesting that you and your friends on here are violent and potentially criminal?

    Have it your way, then.

      mailman in reply to healthguyfsu. | March 24, 2023 at 5:54 pm

      You know I’m old school in thinking what is NOT a good move is arresting your leading political opponent on bullshit grounds created by your democrat party.

        healthguyfsu in reply to mailman. | March 24, 2023 at 6:31 pm

        That’s also not a good move. So why give the opposition something back with a stupid hyperbolic statement like that?

        Sun Tzu said “never interfere with an enemy in the process of destroying himself.” Trump is not a good student of Sun Tzu.

      Care more that the story is reported correctly. Guess you think “could” means “will,” too.

        That’s the entire problem with these anti-Trump discussions. Facts and context are tossed out because otherwise, Trump wins and comes out looking good. Trump just scored yet another big victory but the Jeb!! nuts twist it into defeat.

        Yep, the walls are closing in on Trump again. And again he escapes. I find it thrilling to watch him in action. The greatest show on earth.

        healthguyfsu in reply to oldschooltwentysix. | March 24, 2023 at 7:05 pm

        Apparently, you don’t understand the meaning of the word hypothetical or potential. By the way, potential is Trump’s own word, which I reused in my response.

      Exiliado in reply to healthguyfsu. | March 24, 2023 at 7:33 pm

      Who do you think would bring the hypothetical death and destruction? BLM?

      Yes.
      Together with “Antifa” and other “unknown” actors egged and protected by undercover FBI agents, like it happened on January 6th.

        Danny in reply to Exiliado. | March 24, 2023 at 9:37 pm

        The way a vast majority of Americans saw the statement was how to interpret it simply which was Trump asserting his supporters would be the violent ones

        This is yet another example of Trump shooting himself in the head while aiming for his foot. There are no good things about the statement.

        The circumstances of the country should be making the Democrats losers instead Trump has resurfaced to make us the losers.

        healthguyfsu in reply to Exiliado. | March 24, 2023 at 11:19 pm

        Antifa and unknown actors are going to show up to protest Trump’s arrest?

Your TDS anti Trump Bias is showing…..

The exact words “, & also known that POTENTIAL death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country”

First rule of gaslighting and twisting what some one says:,,,,,,If you are going to make shit up don’t do it in such a way that can be easily disputed.. You are better than that

    healthguyfsu in reply to starride. | March 24, 2023 at 11:20 pm

    I don’t think you understanding gaslighting.

    PS it’s closer to what the Trump lovers are doing by claiming what Trump said isn’t a big deal.

healthguyfsu | March 24, 2023 at 5:47 pm

This is just dumbassery.

It’s almost like he wants to be misquoted.

I cast write-in votes in ’16 and ’20. It was my personal no-confidence vote in what the two parties have become. Yes, it’s a witch hunt, but there are much bigger crises right now, and Trump remains what I called him in ’16: a rodeo clown, except now he’s not amusing at all. Hasn’t been for quite some time.

I understand and to some degree sympathize with his anger, but his latest comments were beyond outrageous.

Prof. Jacobsen, make a post about the banking crisis. I have something to say that has been “reported” almost nowhere; is factual and very important; and should interest you and everyone else here. I’m not posting it here because it’s off-topic and will get lost in the shuffle.

Or maybe an “open thread?” Trust me, everyone’s going to want to hear this one.

    A “rodeo clown” that effectly confronted China and NATO, brought us the Abraham Accords, and increased support among minorities for the GOP, all while being mercilessly attacked for what?

      RandomCrank in reply to oldschooltwentysix. | March 24, 2023 at 7:24 pm

      Besides being a distraction from the real kettles now boiling on the front burners, am I the only one who sees Trump and his followers, including many House Repubs, being sucked into taking the bait? Does no one among them have a third digit in their I.Q.?

Does Donal Trump want Bragg to indict him, or is he mentally ill?

In a rational world, in a sane country, this picture of Trump holding a baseball bat alongside a photo of Bragg would be out of bounds and it is being interpreted as a threat of violence against an elected official by some on the left. Trump has just created a free commercial for DeSantis 2024.

Trump is making it harder on himself and his supporters. This rant is wrong. There has to be a point when Trump acts so atrociously that you can’t support him regardless of how you feel about DeSantis as his primary opponent.

Trump’s words are fine, but the bat is not. Trump’s too arrogant for his own good. If he thinks this will earn a huge amount of independent and crossover voters to his cause he is sadly mistaken

I don’t want him to be the nominee because I don’t think he can win and we can’t afford another four years of any Democrat in power.

I understand Trump’s frustration but Trump is finished. He is toxic and polarizing. Like it or not, people have a preformed negative opinion of him. The mention of his name turns way too many people off. Is it time for him to step aside?

He cannot help himself. He inserts himself into everything. His enemies know full well how to get him to go on some rant to the detriment of his party. I can’t take his drama anymore. He needs to step aside

    healthguyfsu in reply to Ghostrider. | March 24, 2023 at 6:34 pm

    Trump sure seems determined to find that line with his most hardcore followers. It sucks to even be in political proximity to these nutbags.

      Exiliado in reply to healthguyfsu. | March 24, 2023 at 7:38 pm

      It is interpreted as a threat of violence by those who WANT to find the worst possible meaning. There are other possible meanings you could choose.

        Danny in reply to Exiliado. | March 24, 2023 at 9:31 pm

        A sane or disciplined person chooses words to avoid giving off the impression of a threat.

        Words matter and ill discipline is not a virtue now or ever.

        If Trump had the discipline not to claim the virus would never reach American shores…if Trump had the discipline not to tell jokes about people in a boat who got covid not being allowed in in a way just waiting ten minutes would have revealed to him make him seem like he is artificially cooking the books….if Trump had the discipline to focus on what Americans cared about instead of discussing arresting Joe Scarborough (and insulting a conservative catholic family that was on his side in the process)….if Trump had the discipline not to take a marker and change maps to avoid admitting he misspoke if Trump had the discipline NOT TO GIVE BOB WOODWORD a major interview……

        That isn’t even close to an exhaustive list of Trump self inflicted wounds that had nothing to do with Democrats.

        The reason he is not president today is he routinely injured his campaign for re-election.

        Frankly I don’t care that Trump is a twitter troll.

        The American people however do.

Trump is his own worst enemy. He is digging his own grave. He orchestrated the whole lie that he would be arrested this past Tuesday. He claims that he is peaceful and never incited anyone to violence. Then he says that “death & destruction” will happen if he is charged for allegedly paying off porn actress Stormy Daniels. Then he posts a picture of himself swinging a baseball bat next to a picture of Bragg. Yes, the deep state wants to get rid of Trump. But Trump is playing right into their trap. And he is too stupid to know it. Trump is playing one dimensional chess. America deserves better than this.

    Soaring in the polls, pulling in small donations into a massive war chest, turning fools who challenge him with their lies and hoaxes into sputtering idiots,… Yeah, his own worst enemy. This is what it looks like when you elect candidates who don’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. You WIN!!! You will never know how that feels.

    Can you point to the word “will?”

      63% of Iowa independents view Trump unfavorably to 35% favorably, The trend is for unfavorable to go up while favorable goes down.

      That poll confirms that even if Trump gets the nomination he is toast in the general election.

      The make it easy to vote for yourself part of politics isn’t optional outside of primaries.

        Except no one know what will happen tomorrow, and when faced with an actual choice, then we all will find out.

        More important than that is whether or not the election will be clean. If not, will it even matter?

        Do you think Trump would have won if the last election was clean?

          Trump has a record

          1. 2016-I am grateful that Hillary Clinton bought into the idea that MI PA and WI would be a blue wall because it prevented her from contesting those three states. Mitt Romney won more Wisconsin voters in 2012 than Trump in 2016. Trump lost the popular vote by millions of people but would barely win those three states giving him the electoral college (each state was razor thin by the way).

          2. 2018-Blue Wave

          3. 2020-Biden wins

          4. 2022-Trump prevents the red wave

          The last election wasn’t clean in terms of institutions like corporate America and google putting their finger on the scales with censorship or with the way Dr. Fauci intervened but it was a clean election.

          We won election after election in 2021 when Trump seemed to be leaving the field and ceased being the issue.

          Glenn Youngkin was a master of removing the Trump effect from his election and campaigned entirely on education (his earliest campaigning included fighting censorship to).

          And he won Virginia

          America’s system for getting your information is horrible. But the counting of the votes is clean.

          By the way Brian Kemp won re-election in Georgia against the lefts superstar.

          It is time to move on to important issues, such as CRT lgbtq ideology and many others.

          I think he would have, yes. But guess what, that does not matter one whit to anyone outside the Only Trump club. It’s over, it’s done. There is little that is more of a turn-off to people than living in the past, and that election is over. Biden is the person in the WH, not Trump. It’s not changing, there is no do-over, and a rematch will be worse for Trump for a number of reasons, some in his control, some not.

          If you are on some kind of crusade to right a wrong, forget it. Voters care about the present, the future, they want to know that they will have a good economy, good jobs, an affordable cost of living, etc. They do not care about Trump’s and his fawning acolytes’ butt hurt over 2020. You can look backward all you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that Americans and America has moved on (in every case I can think of for the worse, but we have to deal with what is not what coulda, woulda, shoulda been). Be left in the dust with Trump’s old grudges if you want, that is certainly your prerogative, but don’t expect anyone else to join you who isn’t already there, nose pressed to the door like Al Bundy waiting for that pizza do-over.

Apocalypse literally means a revealing, uncovering.

“from Greek apokalupsis, from apokaluptein ‘uncover, reveal’, from apo- ‘un-’ + kaluptein ‘to cover’.”

I’m done here. You Jeb!!! crazies have got nothing. The same exact BS arguing with the Biden voters. How about coming up with your own BS?

    Ghostrider in reply to Pasadena Phil. | March 24, 2023 at 8:01 pm

    Bye. Have a good life.

    gonzotx in reply to Pasadena Phil. | March 24, 2023 at 8:14 pm

    I think the powers that be want Trump
    Supporters to leave. They have made their bed with DeSantis and do not want any discussion but proRonnie.

    I mean just look at what they post, I rarely see any post
    Supportive of President Trump in any measure , but Ronnie,
    he just needs to smile. It is what it is

    I’m really surprised as in all other things, this is an outstanding blog working hard for American rights and values

    Rush was a bush accolade for a long time… guess that’s why I didn’t listen to him for years…

    It is what it is

      CommoChief in reply to gonzotx. | March 24, 2023 at 8:49 pm

      gonzotx,

      I for one haven’t made any decision about the primary b/c it hasn’t even really begun. There are lots of us who may end up supporting Trump in the primary but haven’t made a premature decision yet.

      It gets old when the Only Trump crowd denigrates us by inaccurately putting us in the Never Trump or DC establishment camp. There are a few folks here who wouldn’t vote Trump again but that’s a different category than many of us.

        txvet2 in reply to CommoChief. | March 25, 2023 at 2:03 am

        The basic flaw in the Trumpbot mentality is that they assume that all of the people who voted for him are part of their cult. Phil has essentially already made that claim.

      We don’t “want” you to leave, but we are changing nothing, so that call is yours.

      txvet2 in reply to gonzotx. | March 25, 2023 at 1:24 am

      No, I just want you to stop spamming every article. That’s what started this whole Trump vs. Desantis circus in the first place.

    I believe you have said this 3 times before, but you keep coming back. Why don’t you keep your promises, if you are an honest man.

      txvet2 in reply to JR. | March 25, 2023 at 1:31 am

      He isn’t an honest man. I had a longer response, but I deleted it. I hate to speak ill of the dead (to me).

    Take away attribution and there are indeed many similarities. It’s not too different than The Lincoln Project either. The acrimony sucks, both ways, but the minority always gets it worse. It will be interesting to see if this place devolves into an anti-Trump site. The headline here was not helpful. What seems most sad is that there is too little care about the significance of having a president indicted this way. They pretend that Trump wants it. Yeah, he wants that legacy, not to mention what it does personally. He is Machiavelli, He’s not someone that cares about the country, or people, at great personal cost. It’s cynical. It’s ironic, people claim to want a leader that’s capable, transparent, and direct. When they get it, they turn away and seek out those responsible for the state of things, as if history started at 2016. Some change direction even with knowledge of all that has occurred. Hard to figure out. The age of immediate gratification. Fortunately, nothing in the comments has much tangible effect, even if some treat it as if they are sources for what, in essence, is fake news.

      You can stick around and find out that we will not be changing our content or site for you or anyone. If you don’t like it and think we are like the Lincoln Project (a ludicrous, malicious claim), then you know what to do.

        Did not ask you to do anything, actually. Jumping the gun. If it sounds like a duck. You know the rest. Not malicious at all. Factual.

          So why are you here if we are just like the Lincoln Project? Or do you also comment there to regale them with their failings as you do here? I find it curious that you would stick around since we are “not too different from the Lincoln Project” in your mind. All our Lincoln Project quacking must be horrible for you to endure, no? I don’t think I have ever once clicked on that site, even in the course of my work researching articles, but if hanging out at sites that you find repellent is your thing . . . .

      “He is Machiavelli, He’s not someone that cares about the country, or people, at great personal cost….”

      Huh?

      Fact is, before you cultists started making this all confrontational, (and it really started with just one individual) this site strongly supported Trump in his struggles against the Dem attacks, up to and including Mar A Lago.

    Phil, no one here supported Jeb!, as you know since you were here then. This Jeb! thing is all in your head, and it’s not pretty. We are not changing our content or site for you or anyone else, so if you want to leave, go ahead, no need to make dramatic declarations every other week.

      healthguyfsu in reply to Fuzzy Slippers. | March 24, 2023 at 10:26 pm

      Allow me to translate special phil speak. His simple brain thinks that desantis is jeb because they were both governors of Florida.

      He completely ignores their track records and thinks this is clever. It gives you insight into the quality of the intellect we are dealing with here.

        txvet2 in reply to healthguyfsu. | March 25, 2023 at 2:06 am

        I have to disagree somewhat, having long exposure to Phil. Hin intent is to make a mental connection between the two. Their individual history (outside the fact that Jeb is anathema to conservatives) is irrelevant.

    healthguyfsu in reply to Pasadena Phil. | March 24, 2023 at 10:23 pm

    If you are threatening to leave again, be a man and make it stick this time.

    Don’t come back with a lame ass fake name like Paula.

    You say that over and over, and every time is a lie. Let’s make it the truth this time – stay gone for at least 3 months instead of your usual two month pouting sabbatical.

I voted for Trump twice and knocked on doors for him every weekend in September up until Election Day in Luzernd County, PA in 2020, but I am done, done, done. I am disgusted by Trump insinuating on Monday that DeSantis was some sort of gay groomer who may have groomed an underaged boy.

I will be supporting DeSantis.

    txvet2 in reply to Mercyneal. | March 25, 2023 at 2:12 am

    Four downvotes indicates that four people think it appropriate that Trump called DeSantis a gay pedophile groomer. i would say that it speaks more to their sickness than to yours or DeSantis’s.

With his alarming and dangerous weight gain in the last few months, Trump may not be around to run. He looks to have broken Taft’s record of 325 pounds. He’s out of control with his words, his anger, his compulsive eating.

    Seriously, his weight? He looked pretty healthy in a recent appearance, and apparently can outwork most anyone. How many times have you broken bread with the man? Mean tweets and weight. The REAL issues confronting us in 2023.

      Seriously, Go to the Daily Mail. It shows photos of him on Wednesday. He’s gained about fifty pounds in the last six months. Something’s wrong… You are in denial if you think this isn’t an issue. He is 76 years old with high blood pressure and dangerously obese. In pants he looks like my old Congressman Jerry Nadler before he had his stomach stapled.

Pasadena Phil keeps telling us that he is done here, like he has done so many times before, because we all don’t worship Trump. But like a sick dog he keeps coming back here to lick up his sick vomit. Like a junkyard dog, I hope he goes away for good this time. By the way, I really like dogs. Buddy is my new Collie that I just recently rescued. He’s the best dog I have ever had as a forever friend. We have snow here in the forecast for the weekend, and whenever it snows, Buddy runs off leash like the wind outside and sticks his nose in the snow and throws it up and then swallows some of it. I am getting old in life, but sometimes I think the 2 best things in my life are my dog and my AK47. And my wife, of course.

Folks, the real crises are the situation in Ukraine; the rapproachements between China and Russia and between Saudi Arabia and Iran; the willingness of Russia, Saudi, and Iran to take yuan in trade; and the massive bank fraud in this country, the dimensions of which haven’t even come close to being revealed.

Let me dwell on just one of those for a second, the Saudi-Iran rapprochement. Kids, the emnity between Arabs and Persians dates back to Alexander the Great, and between Sunni (Saudis) and Shia (Iran) to I believe the 8th Century. The latter was behind the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988, which killed half a million people and included the use of poison gas.

If that hatchet’s really being buried or put in storage (“the enemy of my enemy is my friend”), that alone is an ominous sign; add the move, however limited, from the dollar toward the yuan in exchange for oil, and it’s a very, VERY big deal.

The banking situation is far uglier than we’re being told. The level of corruption and self-dealing has been off the charts. The Ukraine situation is both desperate and increasingly dangerous, on account of the Biden administration’s having elevated it very far beyond its intrinsic importance, followed by the near-certain collapse of Ukraine. That’s being hidden too.

China and Russia are increasingly aligned; the other day, as Xi left Moscow his remarks were on the order of now being a turning point in world history, with those countries driving it. The BRICs are watching carefully, having just seen the U.S. confiscate half a trillion of Russia’s dollars. Just as the Nazis did in the late 1930s and early 1940s, China is making major inroads in South America, especially Brazil. That’s not getting mass attention either.

Instead, the powers that be are trying hard to distract everyone with the Trump battles, which are a barely shiny object compared to everything else. To dive down that rabbit hole is to be played for fools, IMO. Not that there aren’t some real issues there, but their significance pales by comparison to the rest.

Kids, there’s money in chaos, and our society is being driven toward chaos. I increasingly think purposely. Is that an organized effort or a loose and divergent coalition? I lean toward the latter on grounds that American leadership, such as it is, couldn’t run a two-car funeral most of the time. But I think it’s happening, and I think it’s ominous.

Bragg is a joke and Trump is an irresponsible, destructive force. I don’t think they’re part of some plot, but I do think they are fools and I do think the American media are pretty much gone as we once knew them. They were never much more than a mixed bag, but now the mix is as bad as it’s been since before the Civil War of 1861-65 and getting worse all the time.

Keep this in mind before getting enticed into the Trump fray. With every passing day, I think it’s more and more a sideshow. I’ve paid more attention to it this afternoon than I’ve done in several weeks. I am focused elsewhere, notwithstanding this long comment. There’s a fairly high degree of intelligence on LI, even in the comment section. My advice to all is to protect the third digit of your I.Q., because it’s going to matter more than ever in the times ahead.

    gonzotx in reply to RandomCrank. | March 24, 2023 at 8:51 pm

    Trump was the only one saving us from all the crap that’s happening in your post

    The only one

    Danny in reply to RandomCrank. | March 24, 2023 at 9:08 pm

    Ultimately out of all of your issues why would America or Europe maintain domination of the world economy with an education system that doesn’t educate and which has as the moral creation CRT in America instead of something actually good and beautiful, and with an active policy of de-industrialization and de-agricultural development in Europe?

    Not to mention America is spending more than any peace time nation on armaments since Germany between the wars.

    The money could be going to useful things to make America more competitive in the future world instead of on shells.

    Ultimately what kind of America we want in the future does determine how America will do on the world stage.

    Are we a no national interests ideology first imperialistic power with an agenda of overthrowing any dictator when we get a chance no matter the cost to our interests (Libya is going to be studied as the ultimate self destructive move for a nation to make), that is open about not leaving you alone to run your country even if you are friendly to us whether you are Romania saying no to transgenderism or Poland in rejecting LGBTQ ideology, with a state religion of wokeness and a high inflation policy for the purpose of spending more on arms while living on the completely unearned inheritance of 20th century America that the dollar is the world reserve currency or are we going to go back to our roots and try to make America start minding her own business, less warlike, less provoking proxy wars, and more nation building at home.

    American power starts in the classroom.

    If kids lack the three rs they will fail and with their failure the country fails. If they are taught bad morals that makes it even worst.

    America can’t hope to be the force she was in the 20th century if the people leading her are ideological zealots with a tendency to push the start war alarm, and her citizens can barely read and can’t do math at a 5th grade level. India only has so many geniuses willing to move to America to take up niches for Americans.

      RandomCrank in reply to Danny. | March 25, 2023 at 11:12 am

      I agree with you. I’d point out that the arguments over the projection on power outside of our borders aren’t new, especially after the first overseas colonial experiment in the Philippines. In any case, what’s going on vis a vis Trump is to me a dumpster fire, while the other things amount to the house burning down.

    Trump is not the one abusing his power, but the subject of a Crusade of spite, seeking utter destruction of himself and family. Bragg is the abusing Crusader. Big difference.

    That said, the problems you mentioned are the important ones. The question is who is best at navigating the REAL issues, foreign and domestic.

      Bragg is just one of many lawfare cases, they know it’s the only option to stop President Trump

      He has like 4-5 pending and then the professor just posted another post on Trump “possibly” having his lawyer lie regarding the classified documents

      Really, why would he do that, he had every right, unlike the thug in the WH as vp had no rights and has classified documents spread a lover the world.

      Had to get paperwork for Hunter to use In his selling of American classified information to ukraine/China

      But mother there

Trump is the gift that keeps on giving if you are a Democrat.

This statement would be a disgrace for anyone to make, and I am sure the Biden camp are already cracking out the champagne bottles following this statement.

    Perhaps you misunderstand that Democrats will take anything and crack out the champagne. Perhaps you are giving Democrats the ammo with your anti-Trump hostility. Imagine that.

      There is no hostility in Danny’s comment. He’s simply noting, accurately I believe, that this plays into Trump’s enemies’ hands. He doesn’t need to shore up his base; you people will never move on. He is certainly not trying to win over indies and centrists with this kind of rhetoric, so what is the point? Who knows. The only people it really benefits are Democrats. It’s a reasonable observation, not hostile in the least.

      Why is it that any deviation from the Only Trump line is hostile? Or as others claim, Jeb! Karl Rove, GOPe, Marxist, blah blah yawn, blah. Trump is a man, and he is definitely flawed, more so than most, and he is also a public figure and politician. People are allowed to disagree with him, not want him to be president, and even to decide they will not support him in the general if he wins the GOP primary. None of that is “hostile,” it’s just what free people are free to say and do.

      And you are certainly free to get all worked up about someone pointing out something pretty clear to pretty much everyone. It’s just weird. I’m not sure when Trump’s diehard supporters turned into touchy, delicate little flowers (snowflakes?), but it’s very off-putting to normal, thinking people who don’t put politicians–or any human being–on a pedestal, throne, or Heavenly perch.

        Thank you

        This response isn’t a disagreement just something I thought should be added.

        I think you would agree nobody here is a normal voter (not an insult I am including myself in the not normal) but the normal voter just hears and moves on with whatever impression they got from hearing it.

        Being either an apologist trying to reinterpret the statement from the obvious, or an enemy trying to make them focus on it will be a huge turnoff that doesn’t change their opinion on Trump but just makes them tune you out.

        Which is why the idea Democrats would make ammunition out of my observation absurd it would be a deliberately manufactured dud (so maybe Bloomberg would do it).

          The idea that Democrats would make ammunition out of your statement is absurd on its face. What would that even look like? Oooh, we found a commenter on a conservative site who said . . . .? Yeah, no. The problem, I think, is that the Only Trump contingent here tosses things out hoping that it sounds as clever as it does in their head. It never does.

        It was not the one statement that was being referred to. Nor was it said that “any deviation from the Only Trump line is hostile?” But there are quite a few that are. And you might notice it more if you were part of the minority. It goes both ways, of course. The tone of your remarks are certainly helpful. Passive-agressive for sure. 100%!

          Wait, that came off as in the least bit “passive”? My bad. 😛

          But you Trump folks (and let me point out once again, since it never seems to penetrate – you aren’t the ONLY ones who will support him come crunch time), especially Phil, insist that you not only are not a minority, you’re the vast majority of the not-Democrat voting populace. Make up your mind(s), because it just makes you look like hypocrites and fools to on one hand portray yourselves as an indigent put-upon minority and on the other hand proclaim yourselves masters of the universe.

          healthguyfsu in reply to oldschooltwentysix. | March 25, 2023 at 2:47 pm

          Are you an oppressed minority now?

          Geez, the lines just get richer and richer. That’s how professional victims talk, and they always have openings in Dem land for more of those! You might have to pretend to be trans or gay though with white skin and being born male.

        .Danny gets all up in arms when someone disagrees with him. His freedom is not at stake and there is no system houbdibg him. If you want to ban me for hyperbole, your call. I’m not even an only Trumper. I thought it was worse when Trump said he only likes people who don’t get captured. I was not a big fan of McCain. The larger point is that Danny was using multiple punctuation marks in a row, a sign of becoming unhinged… over a different opinion.

        I will refrain from using highly charged language. The point, which I did not artfully make, was that people become quite “combatant with words” over opinions but are not understanding that someone who is facing indictment for a crap charge, may not have the best reaction.

      Fuzzy gave a wonderful statement about the real American electorate but to give you how this will play out.

      Responses are utterly irrelevant. The normal American voter (which is not you or me) saw or heard of this statement ONCE it lowered their opinion of Trump and hardened the view that Trump is bad, they will then never again think about it and never again hear about it and will not follow it along it will just be another hurt for Trump with no benefit.

      It isn’t Democrats doing that it is Trump.

      The American people for the most part will just tune you out if you try to be a Trump interpreted turning this into an acceptable statement because once they heard it they made up their mind and moved on.

      I hope I gave Democrats ammunition because such ammunition would be 100% a dud, the people who will decide this countries future already moved on with a lower opinion of Trump and are no longer willing to discuss this statement after tonight. If Democrats see that I rightly consider Trump the gift that keeps on giving to Democrats and use that to describe his statement they will be tuned out by a bored public that would rather listen to a lecture on the price of nails between 6 a.d. -19 a.d.

        Who the real American electorate is is subject to opinion.

        What Trump said will be forgotten tomorrow, except for some. Life goes on and there are pressing problems for people to deal with

        Democrats will trash Trump no matter what. If you’re so concerned about them, why are you reinforcing them by dumping all over him? Pretend that is not the case, but it is.

          Yes, because Democrats are scouring conservative blogs looking for randos to quote against Trump? Do you hear yourself?

          Are you seriously suggesting the inverse? That you are supporting him despite knowing this is a crazy statement to make given the climate because you think you are owning the libs? That’s crazy. Just as crazy as your idea that Democrat operatives are quoting random commenters to make a case against Trump . . . they don’t have to. Trump does it for them. With glee. And he knows you people will back him up no matter what. That makes you something like a useful idiot, no?

          You are right they moved on. They moved on with a lower opinion of Donald J Trump, and if you try to restore it they will tune you out and inform you it is urgent for them to listen to an elderly professor who falls asleep while teaching his classes lecture them about the pressing issue of why we find nails more frequently than screws in Roman ruins.

          The real American electorate is the vast majority of it, not a tiny minority of highly engaged (and likely to be partisan as a result) people like us.

          healthguyfsu in reply to oldschooltwentysix. | March 24, 2023 at 11:08 pm

          No it’s subject to careful analysis by polls. The problem is that your side lives in a fantasy world where anything that doesn’t confirm their Trump worship is rigged.

I recall Romney letting attack ads that he caused a woman’s death from cancer stand. He was so gentlemanly in his loss. McCain also, so principled as he lost. And George W. so honorable as he … oh wait… who floated the idea in South Carolina that McCain fathered an illegitimate black child?…but W lost… oh wait… he won. Politics are ugly. Trump is what he is. He doesn’t lay down like a kitten nor does he have someone behind the scenes pulling dirty tricks. Reverse the picture of who is holding the bat, and you will see exactly what happened: Bragg wanted to take down Trump in the worst way, the equivalent of taking a bat to his life. There are people here who get all in a tiff by mere words… .

    healthguyfsu in reply to willow. | March 24, 2023 at 11:14 pm

    I hate Romney but what was he supposed to do about those ads exactly? There are tons of anti Trump attack ads, some true and many not. He lets them stand. What is he supposed to do about them?

    I mean I guess one strategy is to play right into the persona of a violence of which he has been unfairly portrayed. It’s a strategy but no sane person would call it a good one.

    Danny in reply to willow. | March 24, 2023 at 11:26 pm

    Reverse the picture and someone we hate says she is about to be indicted and threatens there will be death and destruction if she is.

    Or say instead of Hillary it is someone else

    This was a stupid statement at best. Luckily most of the voters have just heard it and moved on with a lower opinion of Trump but this is not what fighting looks like it is what being an ill disciplined child looks like.

    In case you forgot

    2016-Hillary a very hated person got more total votes than Donald Trump, but because she believed 3 states that were under contest weren’t really in play she never visited them and didn’t really contest them resulting in Trump winning Wisconsin with fewer votes there than Romney 2012, PA and MI. All 3 races being razor thin by the way.

    2. 2017-Virginia wasn’t the swing it was in previous cycles so we could all let that one go.

    2018-Blue wave

    2020-Biden wins and gets enough senate seats and the house

    2021-Helps Democrats win Georgia taking the senate

    2022-In the ultimate ideal circumstances for a red wave he against all odds prevents it from happening Democrats still control the senate as a result and with barely a majority in the house there is very little it could do.

    It is uncivilized is a negative not a defense. It is one thing if it works if it doesn’t…..

      willow in reply to Danny. | March 24, 2023 at 11:34 pm

      Abraham Accords
      Low unemployment for Black Americans
      Gas prices low
      No wars
      Isis destroyed
      Strong military support
      Strong border

        CommoChief in reply to willow. | March 25, 2023 at 12:04 pm

        You left a couple of central campaign promises.
        1. Build a border wall along the entirety of the US/Mexico border
        2. Drain the swamp

        Neither of those central campaign promises were fulfilled.

        You also left out his enabling Fauchi and his band of totalitarians in the Covid ’emergency’ while choosing to slam Governors who ‘opened up too early’ in defiance of Federal guidance from his administration.

          gonzotx in reply to CommoChief. | March 25, 2023 at 6:35 pm

          Dear God he tried, he tried EVERYTHING and was stopped by his own freaking party

          What part of they are the enemy do you not understand?

          CommoChief in reply to CommoChief. | March 25, 2023 at 7:45 pm

          gonzotx,

          You claim that ‘he tried, he tried EVERYTHING and was stopped by his own freaking party.’

          It is true he got rolled by Ryan and McConnell when they presented a budget WITHOUT funding for the Border wall. The DC establishment of his own party did stop him.

          However, Trump did not do EVERYTHING. He could have used his Veto power and told both Ryan and McConnell to pound sand. He chose NOT to do so, ergo Trump did not do EVERYTHING as you claim.

          Trump had the opportunity there to break the DC establishment and shatter their hold on the purse strings and the policy agenda. For some reason Trump blinked in that moment and retreated from the real fight with the DC swamp establishment.

          What part of this history do you not comprehend? Do you simply ignore it and hope no one mentions it b/c the facts show Trump isn’t quite the fighter you claim?

        Danny in reply to willow. | March 25, 2023 at 9:14 pm

        I am not reacting to spam just stop. If you want to engage use of your own words is required otherwise it is just spam.

Romney could have fought those ads much harder than he did. No, it is not a good, well planned, strategized, poll tested response. It never will be with him. Interesting facts from Open Secrets about donations 2020

Biden
Large Contributions $646,035,524 61.02%
Small Individual Contributions (< $200) $406,562,408 38.40%

Trump
Large Contributions $396,152,428 51.17%
Small Individual Contributions (< $200) $378,084,012 48.83%
—–
Desantis

Contributors 2022

$134,367,665

grand total of contributions Ron Desantis has reported in 2022
Number of Contributions from Individuals (above itemization threshold): 306,351

The comparison is not on point since Desantis has not announced, but his donors from 2022 do not come from the little people.

I will still vote for him if Trump does not get the nomination.

    Danny in reply to willow. | March 24, 2023 at 11:33 pm

    So Trump gets 10% more small contributions than Biden which I care about why?????

    Which a non-Bolshevik cares about why??????????

    A rich person is good or bad based on what he/she does not by being rich.

    We are not a Bolshevik party, knock it off.

    This is not a defense of Biden or his donors, his donors contributed to a horrible administration, and Biden has been a horrible president.

    However his donors are not bad for being rich.

    Your own data shows Trump had plenty of big donors (majority of his funding actually).

    What would Eisenhower think if he saw Republicans arguing that what makes someone bad is they are rich?

    This isn’t a principled idea, it isn’t an American idea, and it isn’t a Republican/conservative idea either.

      healthguyfsu in reply to Danny. | March 25, 2023 at 2:53 pm

      In Trumper fantasy land, Biden is completely beholden to his rich donors (and DeSantis would be too). However, Trump is somehow completely unaccountable to his rich donors.

      This is the kind of suspension of logic that you have to take on to stay on the derailing Trump train. It’s no wonder they are always so irritable. That cognitive dissonance must create migraines.

        It also is ironic because well if rich people are so bad why on Earth should anyone vote for the man who gave them a tax cut and plans on giving them an even bigger tax cut shortly.

        Policy isn’t everything feelings are important in a general election but this “Demonize the rich” stuff in addition to being disgusting will for a general election population…….well you will have to explain why if the rich are soooo eeevvilllllllzzzzz!!!!!!!!!! would you want to give them a tax cut?

    Were these the official numbers or were they adjusted after Team Trump was forced to refund millions to small donors who thought they were making a one-time donation but were automatically set-up for recurring donations?

Gee, Danny, you sound a little violent… Your math is just a bit off for the percentages of donors.

Thank you for trying to brow beat me into taking your position.

I feel a bat coming my way. lol

    healthguyfsu in reply to willow. | March 25, 2023 at 2:55 pm

    What exactly is violent?

    Besides, the numbers are yours not his. He literally broke down YOUR numbers.

    Trump got 51% of his money from big and 48% from little
    Biden got 61% from big and 38% from little

    That 10% proportional difference between the two does not exactly scream that they were built on vastly different splits by way of wealth.

    This is a very serious accusation. I do not, however, see a single thing in Danny’s comments that is or seems remotely violent. What exactly are you accusing him of here? Please point out the language that you found threatening, willow, as this is not okay at all. Unless you are just being “cute,” in which case there is nothing at all cute about accusing people of violence and it will be you, not your falsely-accused victim, who is removed.

    Danny in reply to willow. | March 25, 2023 at 9:19 pm

    I stand by everything I said. The 10% is your numbers not mine, and you answered questions with an accusation like a true leftist would.

Amazing how Trump said terrible things about Ted Cruz and humiliating comments about Rubio. I think they have buried the hatchet, like men, given their general support of Trump.

    healthguyfsu in reply to willow. | March 25, 2023 at 2:59 pm

    So, what makes Cruz and/or Rubio good or bad now?

    That they accepted what Trump said about them and moved on.

    If they are now good men, was Trump wrong about them before?

    Are they still bad men behaving well? (and by behaving well, would you mean falling in line with the guy that trashed them?)

    There’s a lot of complicated (and by complicated, I mean circular) logic here. Regardless of your answers, there’s not a lot of trust built there and doesn’t exactly build a coalition to take on “the bad guys”.

Fair minded people have maintained that Putin would not have invaded Ukraine under a Trump administration. I can’t control what other people think and do. You and others think it is a terrible idea to spout off like he did. I can’t change that. Biden has screwed over over country “seven ways to Sunday” to quote Schumer. That bat picture means little in the scheme of the direction of our country.

    amwick in reply to willow. | March 25, 2023 at 12:03 am

    Pretty sure that Truth was removed, because I went back to his account and looked.

      CommoChief in reply to amwick. | March 25, 2023 at 8:00 pm

      Yep. Pulled down by Trump b/c even he seemed to realize he may have gone too far and was giving his enemies ammo to use against him.

    amwick in reply to willow. | March 25, 2023 at 12:08 am

    I have been reading through the very erudite and thoughtful comments.. The dividing line here at LI is clearly drawn… Now we don’t have Rags to dis Trump.. We don’t have Voting Female to come in swinging.

      Dathurtz in reply to amwick. | March 25, 2023 at 7:28 am

      The line has always been those of us who see the Uniparty and its machinations vs. those who don’t. One side sees the other as dangerously naive and perhaps unable to face the hard truths of the desperate situation where we find ourselves while the other sees that side as crazy nutters with bad optics.

      That’s exactly the divide we see in these comments over and over and over. The “deplorables” and the “respectables”.

        CommoChief in reply to Dathurtz. | March 25, 2023 at 11:37 am

        That’s a good point. However don’t conflate those of us see the uni party/DC establishment as harmful to middle America and the USA in general with ‘Only Trumpers’.

        There are quite a number of folks who see the same problems and want many of the same or similar solutions. Some of us are still open to letting Trump earn our support in the ’24 primary.

        This false picture being painted of support Trump or you are a rino/dupe of DC establishment is as tiring as it is wrong.

          Dathurtz in reply to CommoChief. | March 25, 2023 at 1:34 pm

          I agree completely. I am not an only-Trumper and sure hope the survival of our civilization doesn’t depend only on so old a man. If it does, we’re doomed anyways.

          There is an awful lot here that is as wrong as it is tiring. It’s like watching children fighting over who’s daddy is the toughest. If I were more cynical I would suspect websites intentionally foster exactly this conflict because it drives massive engagement.

          CommoChief in reply to CommoChief. | March 25, 2023 at 8:05 pm

          Dathurtz,

          Agreed. Those of us who haven’t chosen a candidate yet in the upcoming primary are weary of the demand to kneel at the alter of Trump lest we be thrashed as sell out, rino, dupes of the DC establishment, at least I am.

          There are plenty of other issues that do not revolve around Trump, DeSantis, Haley or any other potential candidate in the GoP primary. Unfortunately we seemed doomed to be force fed a steady diet of Trump koolaid from a small number of commenters.

          Dathurtz in reply to CommoChief. | March 25, 2023 at 10:19 pm

          I agree. I do think the Trump kool-aid isn’t the only flavor around. But, I have said my piece on that previously and it feels overly rude to delve deeply into it. It ain’t my site.

          Mostly, this whole thing seems to be an enormously successful wedge that separates people who share goals and should be working together.

          CommoChief in reply to CommoChief. | March 26, 2023 at 5:45 am

          And that begs the question of motivation on the part of the usual suspects among the commenters who claim to be Trump centric and demand we all conform.

Blackgriffin | March 25, 2023 at 8:22 am

I see the Right–especially the OnyTrumpers–is as unified and reasonable with each other as usual. When they lose again, it will be well-earned. Except for the few sensible ones who understand we need both of these men and many other women and men like them (but more like DeSantis than Trump).

I want to give a further explanation. I don’t know how Desantis will hold up when under extreme pressure, when he will get attacked from every direction. He has young children. Four years from now, they’ll still be young but not as young as now. I got the impression that it would be conflicting for him to balance family versus the presidency. On the plus side, he has done good stuff in Florida. However, he has not faced the true ugliness that will come his way. I am not 100 percent certain that he isn’t being swayed by other influences. Consider his initial comments about Ukraine: a territorial dispute. Then he got push back and “clarified.” Trump would stand his ground if he believe he was right. That’s probably a two edged sword, but Trump can be persuaded. L. Graham persuaded him to keep troops in Syria at the time. Desantis needs to prove himself as a candidate. The big donor point, which somebody above missed, is a consideration. Candidates need money for sure to run [Unless you let the press help you out a la Trump 2016 campaign], but is he beholden to people who may have their own interests in mind?

    healthguyfsu in reply to willow. | March 25, 2023 at 3:03 pm

    Trump had proved far less than DeSantis in 2016, and consequently, that’s the only time Trump has won or helped anyone win anything of consequence.

    DeSantis has a good track record. That’s enough for him to move up when he wants to in my book.

    Your concerns about big donors are unfounded. Big donors are “rewarded” with jobs and access, it’s pretty standard. Indeed, Trump did the same thing for his big donors. There is nothing at all wrong with this. It was not wrong when Trump did it, and it wouldn’t be wrong for anyone else to do it, either.

      gonzotx in reply to Fuzzy Slippers. | March 25, 2023 at 7:14 pm

      No it’s not, the concern of the globalist elite which have donated 96% of DeSantis $$$$$ is a valid and major consent

      He will do as told

        LOL, and you know this because you have insider knowledge of DeSantis (or anything at all)? And while both I and the professor have told you this several times, there is nothing wrong with DeSantis’ donors thus far. They are, by and large, the exact same donors who donated to Trump in 2016 and/or 2020. The only reason he is whining about them is that they are NOT donating to him this time around. Stop spreading this lie. We are done enabling you (and your fellow rabbit hole dwellers).

        Here is Professor Jacobson’s previous comment to you regarding this nonsense:

        So having billionaire and finance industry backers makes a candidate “GOPe” and in the pocket of the funders? Take a look at the list of billionaires, including many from finance, who backed and funded Trump in 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2021/02/19/here-are-the-billionaires-who-donated-to-donald-trumps-2020-presidential-campaign/?sh=5e1d602e4667 Trump helping a candidate doesn’t make that candidate his property. And DeSantis urged the party to unite behind Trump years before Trump helped DeSantis in the Governor’s race – https://floridapolitics.com/archives/208720-ron-desantis-calls-gop-unite-behind-ticket/

        __________

        Professor Jacobson also commented at greater length about this crazy:

        Sad to see that some readers are going down the rabbit hole pushed by conspiracy websites and pundits whose main interest is in stoking traffic and self-importance. A sentence from an op-ed by one billionaire is used to weave a fictional elaborate web of control over DeSantis. Where did the $100 million Trump has in the campaign bank come from? Certainly not himself, he never spends his own money. And he spent very little of that $100 million political bankroll to back candidates he endorsed.

        And if having billionaire and finance industry backers makes a candidate “GOPe” and in the pocket of the funders, why doesn’t that apply to Trump, who had a long list of billionaires backing him in 2020, including many from finance. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2021/02/19/here-are-the-billionaires-who-donated-to-donald-trumps-2020-presidential-campaign/?sh=5e1d602e4667

        (added) it is possible to be against DeSantis, to think Trump would be the better candidate, or to simply say you like Trump more, without buying into the insane conspiracy theories being spread.

        And this notion that DeSantis “owes” Trump not to run because Trump helped him reverses historical reality. DeSantis backed Trump long before Trump backed DeSantis. In 2016, when there was an effort to mount a convention floor fight against Trump, DeSantis urged the party to unite behind Trump. That was years before Trump helped DeSantis in the 2018 Governor’s race – by that logic, Trump owes DeSantis, not the other way around https://floridapolitics.com/archives/208720-ron-desantis-calls-gop-unite-behind-ticket/

        As we documented in multiple posts, prior to the midterms the media narrative was that DeSantis was “worse than Trump” and equally if not more MAGA, Now, as Fuzzy documents, they are trying to manipulate people by claiming DeSantis is NeverTrump and an establishment stooge. Interesting how the media narrative lines up perfectly with the anti-DeSantis conspiracy narrative.

        I think this has it right: “DeSantis went after Disney. He took on the trans agenda. He shipped illegals to Martha’s Vineyard. He defied Fauci. If you think he’s establishment then you truly have absolutely no idea what the establishment is, how it operates, or what it wants. You are just clueless.” https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1591137651264196608

        We are not advocating DeSantis or any particular candidate. Let them fight it out in the primaries. But sabotaging the 2022 midterms by launching a tirade in the 72 hour runup and damaging the upcoming Georgia runoff effort by making it all about you (if Trump announces next week), needs to be called out. We’ve seen this movie before when Trump sabotaged the Jan 5, 2021 Georgia runoffs which cost us two Senate seats and enabled the Biden agenda to pass 50-50 plus VP.

        Go down the rabbit hole, it’s your right as Americans. But we’re not going to enable it.

          healthguyfsu in reply to Fuzzy Slippers. | March 26, 2023 at 1:33 pm

          There’s way too much fact here for gonzo to comprehend.

          Next time, try more conjecture and maybe put hard line breaks in the middle of your sentences, so she can read it.

    Mercyneal in reply to willow. | March 25, 2023 at 6:00 pm

    He will be just fine. He is extremely disciplined and unlike Trump doesn’t care what others think of him. He was heavily attacked when he ignored Fauci and opened up Florida quickly

    Trump is terrible when he is attacked. He is also scared silly of the measured DeSantis. That’s why on Monday Trump suggested that Ron may be a gay groomer who had some involvement with an underaged boy . Trump has gained an enormous amount of dangerous weight in the last three months- which indicates to me that he is not holding up well under attack.

    gonzotx in reply to willow. | March 25, 2023 at 6:41 pm

    I don’t think DeSantis will have 20% what President Rrump has faced because he will continue to be MAGA very lite
    Just enough to fool “some” people

    He’s already flip flopped on Ukraine/ Russia

    He will do as directed

    He’s seen obamas hundreds of millions , he wants his cut

    Danny in reply to willow. | March 25, 2023 at 9:28 pm

    Trump called the invasion a genocide by Vladimir Putin.

    If you consider that consistency I have a certain bridge in New York to sell you.

    DeSantis actually is getting the full on media attack on himself. There is a difference however.

    DeSantis does his homework.

    For example DeSantis instead of siding with big tech censorship is fighting back against (Trump wouldn’t touch it till it went after his account).

    DeSantis has made fighting DEI his highest priority; DEI took over the military under Trump.

    The wealthy DeSantis donors contributed to him BECAUSE he is going after DEI.

    I see nothing wrong with DeSantis being in the tank for them.

    Rich people are not bad for being rich. Forget Republican that is a view anathema to the United States of America and it really has to stop.’

    I am sorry you are angry rich Republicans stopped backing Trump in favor of other Republican candidates, but I am not going down the bolshevism path. Trump actually had dirty tricks to get small donors which he had to refund, but him having 10% less support from wealthy vs small donors is NOT some kind of great virtue.

    If you think independents will see “Trump funds are 10% less likely to come from rich people than Biden” (your numbers) and be impressed I have a bridge for you.

Holy moly,batman. Post trump story. Get gazillion responses. Love the guy. But lose the hyperbole. Let facts speak for themselves.

Trump worked his tail off campaigning; Hillary didn’t, and that’s why he beat her. Every election has its own set of circumstances.

    Danny in reply to willow. | March 25, 2023 at 9:31 pm

    Hillary got millions more votes than Trump did in 2016, what made Trump win was Hillary made a blunder of not thinking WI MI and PA could be in play and never visiting those.

    Trump received fewer votes than Mitt Romney in Wisconsin. He also barely won PA and MI.

    If you think Democrats are going to leave battlegrounds uncontested again…..they won’t.

    2022 showed exactly how much support Trump has in the three states that gave him the 2016 electoral college and it was not pretty.

      willow in reply to Danny. | March 26, 2023 at 12:47 am

      Trump was the first Republican to win PA sin e 1988. I’m not sure whether the 10 million more votes were from new boters, disgruntled Dems, or combo, but 10 million more people in 2020 wanted him in office than in 2016. Reublicans will likely never get the popular vote again. The Democratic vote is mainly concentrated in cities. As every Pennsylvanian knows, which I am one, Pittsburgh and Phillie are the two main strongholds.

        Danny in reply to willow. | March 26, 2023 at 9:47 am

        That just isn’t true because Pat Toomey (sp) won election in PA, and I forget his name but PA also had a Republican governor. He was the first presidential candidate, but even then you need to include the contex.

        What did it in PA is unlike Obama who saw it as a battleground to be contested at all cost Hillary saw it as a blue wall and didn’t proper contest it or recognize it as a battleground. She saw PA the way we would see Alabama or South Carolina.

        Trump won 46% in both of his elections, 2020 was just a higher turnout race.

        It also isn’t the most recent race involving Trump.

        Trump was the issue of 2022 both for his candidates in places like Michigan and for Democrats.

        Michigan and PA, and AZ looked like California. Wisconsin was close for the Trump candidate; but for the senator who won Wisconsin before Trump was a thing it was a victory.

        Then there is Georgia

        Trump cost us the Georgia senate seat twice.

        First time by his childish antics which depressed Republican turnout

        Second time by his presidential campaign announcement done because he feared if he reacted to his massive defeat by cancelling it so his candidate in Georgia could have a chance he would look weak.

        He is unpopular with the general public, he is known by everyone and nobody has no opinion on him.

        I am sorry you want a suicide for our party by picking someone you know can’t win.

        Just as I said before you could be Sir Galahad if you can’t win you shouldn’t be our nominee.

    willow in reply to willow. | March 26, 2023 at 12:49 am

    Among other reaons I should add.

Trump is the hardest working President ever in my lifetime

I dare say if it was 1863 we would have seen him riding out to the battle in the civil war aka Lincoln

Hey , President Trump is in Waco right now!

Be sure to watch, greatest show on earth and it’s packed!!!!!

    healthguyfsu in reply to gonzotx. | March 26, 2023 at 1:37 pm

    Great place to win over the voters he needs. It’s not like Waco is a battleground, unless the ATF is involved.

Well Danny, Fuzzy, and others, I know that polls don’t carry the same meaning now as later, but there is a poll out showing 7 million voters will not vote for anyone but Trump. That’s a problem. I have towed the line in every election that I voted in, believing that it is better to have a Republican than a D. I got 2 nonvoters to vote in 2020, and my daughter was old enough to finally vote, all for Trump. I would have talked them into voting against Biden no matter who the candidate was. [I didn’t need to convince my daughter] my dearest friend had the same revulsion to Trump as you do here back in 2020. We had good conversations. I saw her point of view but I was able to convince her of the fusadtet of the alternative. I’m starting to wear down truthfully after this thread about even caring to vote anymore.

    willow in reply to willow. | March 26, 2023 at 1:42 am

    Unless I am mistaken, Cruz came out swinging against Bragg. I don’t recall either of them putting roadblocks up. As for their being good men now but not before, they put aside the past to do their job. Trump has flaws and making impulsive statements is one. I forgive for it because no one has been harrassed to the level he has been. He did not ask for the Russian collusion falsehoods, the very first stumbling block in his presidency.

    I actually don’t know what word I was trying to type there.

      healthguyfsu in reply to willow. | March 26, 2023 at 1:40 pm

      Trump wasn’t harrassed when he went after Cruz and Rubio early in the nomination process of 2016. No pass given…it’s just who he is.

      Like I said, they may be siding with him, but he hasn’t built a lot of trust with anyone. If you want to take down corruption in DC, you need to inspire trust. Trump does not do that. He is ready to drop his allies at a moment’s notice if it can insulate him and his record.

    CommoChief in reply to willow. | March 26, 2023 at 5:57 am

    The folks who claim they won’t vote for anyone other than Trump can’t do as they like but I will be damned if I will be held hostage to their threats. Many of these Only Trump folks are not registered GoP voters which is going to be an issue in the primary for Trump.

    Kinda hard to win a primary contest when one’s most rabid supporters are not able to vote in the contest. I suspect that was the motivation for Trump to declare so early and attack potential rivals in order to attempt to freeze them out, dissuade rivals from entering and thus avoid a contested primary race for the GoP nomination.

      healthguyfsu in reply to CommoChief. | March 26, 2023 at 1:42 pm

      I won’t let anyone dictate my vote. That may mean I vote for Trump, it may not. It won’t be because of anyone here or anything Trump has to say. I will only vote for him if the alternative is Stalin-esque.

        willow in reply to healthguyfsu. | March 26, 2023 at 2:20 pm

        Every voter makes the choice. Unless the voters of whichever candidate loses votes for the winner in the general, it is a sure defeat for the presidency. I don’t see any candidate that will outright win a landslide of voters over. Assuming a Desantis [He has yet to announce] or Trump choice, the voters of the losing candidate will need to vote for the winner. I have pledged my vote for the winner. An interesting poll question would be whether the commenters here will pledge to vote for the winner, no matter who it is.

    Danny in reply to willow. | March 26, 2023 at 9:58 am

    At issue is which risk do you want to take.

    Do you want to take the risk the 100% chance risk of Trump losing to Biden, or do you want to take say a 25% (although when you look at polling showing support for a third party candidate that should go much lower) chance that Trump gets his supporters to stay home.

    I know which risk I would prefer.

    Trump got himself a special counsel investigation with his impulsive statements. Trump got through the special counsel unscathed the people it hurt are the people far beneath him who had to go bankrupt defending themselves or got extorted into guilty pleas or got railroaded.

    Paul Manafort did not receive a fair jury for example or a good judge and was placed into SOLITARY CONFINEMENT.

    All because Trump had to speak to Don Lemon and lacked the discipline to say “if you want to know why Comey was fired read the Rosenstein memo yourself” unlike Trump Rosenstein laid out a fantastic case for firing Comey which makes Trump just saying “because I wanted to and had an excuse” inexcusable.

    When you are that impulsive even if it doesn’t hurt you it hurts other people. Trump did not receive something unprecedented Manafort did.

    All of the time and effort we put into fighting the special counsel could have gone to urgent issues but Trump had to speak to Don Lemon.

The special counsel also was investigating Russian interference, a separate inquiry from obstruction, which had nothing to do with the Don Lemon interview. What was unfair about Manafort was that the only reason he was targeted then [and not years earlier when the alleged law breaking took place] is that he was Trump’s campaign manager. The evidence did not look good for him from what I followed. Here are the sentencing details:
On March 7, Paul Manafort was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis on eight counts of tax evasion and bank fraud. Manafort was sentenced to 47 months in federal prison though under statute, he could have received up to a 10-year sentence and guidelines recommended that much time or more.
In a highly ridiculed and patently bizarre attempt to justify what many viewed as a surprisingly short prison sentence, Judge Ellis claimed that Manafort had lived “an otherwise blameless life.”
https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/how-federal-judge-missed-mark-explaining-paul-manaforts

I think it was Judge Amy Berman Jackson who you may be referring to, who found Manafort violated his plea agreement. She is a wretched person in my opinion. The prison makes housing decisions, though. I read what his conditions were in solitary, which if true, were astounding to me given how much he was allowed to do with phone calls and a computer, but I don’t know how the information can be verified. https://www.vox.com/2018/7/11/17561616/paul-manafort-solitary-confinement

You maybe know more than I do. I followed the case but not closely.

General Flynn was also targeted. In a strange way, so was Michael Cohen, on the assumption that he was in Trump’s inner circle.

I disagree that Trump caused the targeting of so many people because of his impulsivity and poor choice of words. He won the election, and there was never going to be a different treatment of people in his sphere. There are still people who believe in the “pee pee tapes.”

About the recurring donations that had to be refunded to individual donors, Trump himself didn’t come up with the idea of pre-checked boxes, but in an example of “I am the best even” stated something to the effect that his campaign co-opted the pre-checked boxes from Democrats and did it much better, indicating his online campaigning was stronger. Good response? No. It is true in the sense that more people were donating and therefore susceptible to missing the checked recurring donation box. His answer appears to be based on the following statement from ActBlue [Democratic fundraising]

ActBlue said in a statement that it had begun to phase out prechecked recurring boxes “unless groups were explicitly asking for recurring contributions.” Some prominent Democratic groups, including both congressional campaign committees, continue to precheck recurring boxes regardless of that guidance. Still, Democratic refund rates were only a small fraction of the Trump campaign’s last year.

Translation: Trump did better online so therefore ended up refunding more of people who unknowingly did not uncheck the box.

That’s Trump’s potential hermatia in a nutshell.

He never took his presidential salary. He lost money while president. Yes, he causes his own problems, but in my opinion, he doesn’t deserve the lowest of low opinion. I don’t think Desantis does either, but his strength as a potential world leader is yet to be discovered.

    Danny in reply to willow. | March 26, 2023 at 4:52 pm

    The reason there was a special counsel is because Trump made a choice. Instead of avoiding Don Lemon invite him and treat him his dearest friend and when asked about why fire Comey don’t use the Rosenstein memo just say I was going to do it.

    Anyone and everyone knew there would be a special counsel when he did that. It was appalling and it happened solely because Trump can’t control himself.

    You are only discussing people who got charges what about the ones who had to lose their homes and life savings hiring lawyers to defend themselves?

    I am glad you agree he did cause a lot of his own problems, and I don’t rank him that low as a person although his reaction to electoral failure ranks up there with Hillary Clinton.

    However what you think of someone as a person can’t be deciding for if he is our nominee.

    I think it is too late I think he has made himself completely unelectable (see 2022 in the three states he barely won in 2016) but his impulse control made governing hard for him to.

    DeSantis doesn’t have that issue which is key.

    In addition to being more electable I think DeSantis would actually be a vastly superior president but to hammer in the point about Trump impulse control

    Lets go over the numbers for Wisconsin in 2020

    20k it was one of the closest races Wisconsin had (warning wall of text)

    1. Could telling everyone that covid would never reach these shores when he knew it already had because he couldn’t contain his impulse to say everything was fine have cost votes in Wisconsin?

    2. Could his joking that he wants to keep people on a boat with covid in that vote because he likes a lower covid death count have cost votes in Wisconsin?

    3. Could resisting his impulse to draw on a map instead of admitting he misspoke have cost 1k voters in Wisconsin?

    4. Could being perceived as a cruel bully for suggesting a conservative catholic girl was murdered by the boss she was having an affair with in order to troll someone extremely far beneath him have cost votes?

    5. Could focusing on Joe Scarborough while the rest of the country was focused on a national catastrophe have cost votes?

    6. Could his telling the squad go back where you came from when only one of them is an immigrant because he was above containing himself have cost him votes?

    That is not an exhaustive list it is just things I remembered without thinking. If Mitt Romney had entered the 2016 primary you would have brought up his electoral record right? You would have found 47% to be relevant to is he a good candidate yes?

    This would be like if Romney entered the 2016 race and did his trademarked 47% comment again.

      willow in reply to Danny. | March 26, 2023 at 6:20 pm

      1. Anyone and everyone knew there would be a special counsel when he did that. It was appalling and it happened solely because Trump can’t control himself.

      -Special counsel was appointed for suspected Russian collusion. The Mueller Report dealt with obstruction, but special counsel was not called for that reason. Obstruction added to his problems, but he was already being investigated because of the Steele dossier.

      2. Could his joking that he wants to keep people on a boat with covid in that vote because he likes a lower covid death count have cost votes in Wisconsin?

      -Your statement is not provable. [I would add the following:
      Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi toured San Francisco’s Chinatown Monday to send a message. She said there’s no reason tourists or locals should be staying away from the area because of coronavirus concerns. ]

      https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/nancy-pelosi-visits-san-franciscos-chinatown/2240247/
      I doubt that statement alone would have lost voters permanently. People were looking for an end to Covid; the vaccine was said to be a game changer.. The development of the vaccine was held until after the election; reporters did not believe Trump when he said that a vaccine was in the works. [I did not take the vaccine; I didn’t believe there was enough study for long term effects..]
      Pfizer considered releasing results from 32 cases, but decided it was more scientifically sound to wait for more cases [which happened to be after. the election]
      https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/11/18/fact-check-pfizer-received-covid-vaccine-data-after-election-day/6267242002/
      However, the new booster was released without human data:

      The lack of human data means officials likely won’t know how much better the new shots are — if at all — until the fall booster campaign is well underway. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-authorize-new-covid-boosters-data-tests-people-rcna45387

      I need more time to address your points. I prefer to look into statements first. [I have personal stuff and not trying to put you off.] In general, you are keyed in much more that most people are.

      Also, my answers are not going to be knee jerk and will take up space. It may be better to break down my answers into different comments.

        Danny in reply to willow. | March 27, 2023 at 11:03 am

        1. The reason the special counsel was appointed was Trump’s Don Lemon interview. If it had not happened no special counsel. There was no evidence of anything whatsoever, and no basis to appoint a special counsel. What it took as an ill disciplined child like behavior from Trump to get one.

        2. The problem with your response is that enough states got close enough for any loss to be devastating. Remember we aren’t even talking about Michigan’s 100something k votes we are only talking 20k here. It wouldn’t have taken avoiding much loss to have held Wisconsin against Biden.

        3. It is fine 🙂 but remember on each statement they really don’t have to do very much to have been causes of Trump’s electoral college defeat. There are also many more of them that left a negative impression on voters over Trump’s time in office.

Dear Danny,

I thought over my comment that you sounded a little violent, and I apologize.