The Donald.

[ramjet]

My thoughts as well. Not really important how it started, but it was a jury that his legal team agreed to as well as the prosecution.

Not really an arguable point in my opinion. I am an Australian though, so my opinion on American politics is fairly debatable.

The MAGArines would probably disagree though. Oh, and a bunch of Republican politicians.

[LotuStuart]

On 31/05/2024 at 18:51, Mark Blanchard said:

This court case was politically motivated, to make sure Trump doesn't get into power.  I find the verdict quite troubling, guilty on all counts.  It's the kind of verdict you'd get in a banana republic not a country that upholds law and democracy. 

Yes Trump has done wrong, but the administration is not balanced by not prosecuting Biden while he "willfully retained and disclosed classified materials" in his garage, because he has a bad memory.

Are you being serious?

Trump appeared to have broken the law. He was tried and convicted after a Grand Jury decided there was a case to answer. If he had NOT been tried that would have been more troubling.

As for the retention of documents, Biden and Trump acted about as differently as is possible to imagine-and this has no impact whatsoever on whether Trump falsified business records-unless you see it as proof of a pattern of behaviour.

[snowrx]

Reportedly Donald turned in two of his three pistols to the NYPD, who of course also want his very rare NY concealed carry permit back, but the third went to Florida. Both NY and FL prohibit felons possession of firearms, will it now show up in a Mar A Largo bathroom?

 

[ramjet]

So if he sent his third gun to Florida, was that an effort to retain a gun?

Isn't that another breaking of the law right there?

Or was it already there?

[snowrx]

The report said it had been transferred, so I would guess it went down there when he abandoned NYC.

Maybe he'll tell us when it becomes another of his many victimizations to share with his followers.

[Mark Blanchard]

On 06/06/2024 at 09:51, LotuStuart said:

Are you being serious?

Trump appeared to have broken the law. He was tried and convicted after a Grand Jury decided there was a case to answer. If he had NOT been tried that would have been more troubling.

As for the retention of documents, Biden and Trump acted about as differently as is possible to imagine-and this has no impact whatsoever on whether Trump falsified business records-unless you see it as proof of a pattern of behaviour.

You're missing the point.  The Government didn't go after Biden as they want him for President, even though he broke the law.  It's not balanced.

But neither are ideal for office.

[LotuStuart]

You mean about the retention of documents? No, I am not. The actions of each party in response to the documents being located were clearly different.

[Mark Blanchard]

Well we'll agree to disagree. 

Biden "willfully retained and disclosed classified materials" and he wasn't investigated because he was an "elderly man with a poor memory."

So he's too old and senile to be investigated, but not to old to run for President.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68245617#:~:text=US President Joe Biden was,he will not face charges.

[EldonZ]

You are actually missing the point. Through our history we have had presidents and vice-presidents retain documents that do not belong to them. The difference is that Trump is the first to willfully refuse to return them. Biden and Pence both found documents that they did not know that they had. When found, they went through the proper channels and returned all said documents. They also allowed unrestricted access to their places so the officials could search to make sure there were no more.

The fact that you are quoting the line that you are is also just acting like a news reporter that cherry picks information to push a point out of proportion.

Later,
Eldon

[Mark Blanchard]

So it's ok they didn't investigate him then?

[EldonZ]

They did investigate Biden but decided that no legal action was needed. The same was done for Pence. They both fully cooperated. Trump decided he wanted to keep the documents because he believed they belonged to him. There is a federal law that states all presidential papers belong to the US public. He is being prosecuted because he obstructed justice. The belief is that if he had willfully turned over the documents then nothing would have happened as it has been the case with other former presidents and vice-presidents. It is still believed that he has more documents squirreled away somewhere.

Later,
Eldon

[DanR]

Many would agree with this:

Jabba the Hutt of privilege... The best description of Donald Trump was done by Nate White a British columnist:

“A few things spring to mind;

Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.

For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever.

I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.

But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.

And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.

Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.

Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.

And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.

Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.

He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.

He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.

That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.

There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.

You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.

After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.

God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.

He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W. look smart.

In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:

‘My God… what… have… I… created?’

If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.”

Thank you Nate White,

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All reactions

 

 

[pete]

Trump challenges Joe Biden to take cognitive test - only to get name of his own doctor wrong

[drdoom]

If any doubt remains as to the underlying Neo-Nazi nature of Trump's plans I urge watching the episode aired June 16 of Last Week Tonight, With John Oliver. Despite holding forth on this for more months than I can remember I was thoroughly appalled to see and hear Trump and his brain trust figures reciting strategies to be acted on promptly after inauguration in January 2025. The parallels with 1930's Germany are sickening.

[DaveC72]

I watched that segment with more and more disbelief as it progressed.  The parallels, as you described, turned my stomach. 

More terrifying is that many will ignore it (and the ramifications) as either, "Trump is their guy", or a tribal dislike for Biden or any other democrat. 

[DanR]

Donald B. Ayer, the deputy attorney general under George H. W. Bush, said,

Project 2025 seems to be full of a whole array of ideas that are designed to let Donald Trump function as a dictator, by completely eviscerating many of the restraints built into our system. He really wants to destroy any notion of a rule of law in this country ... The reports about Donald Trump's Project 2025 suggest that he is now preparing to do a bunch of things totally contrary to the basic values we have always lived by. If Trump were to be elected and implement some of the ideas he is apparently considering, no one in this country would be safe.^[8]

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025}

^{https://www.project2025.org/}

[snowrx]

I wish We were only broken at his level, but it's nationwide. His local followers, having declared public schools evil centers of indoctrination, and having failed in their efforts to create a Christian conservative public school district, have now defunded our local school district, forcing closures and a desperate plea for private donations to scrape by this fiscal year, not to mention student and staff departures. Our state super-majority party just voted for a party platform to cease public funding for any education past 12th grade.

Hard to see a future in a fact-resistant tribe that thinks democracy, elections, schools, medical care, science, clean energy and the justice department are bad things, but I'm afraid we're going to find out.

[ramjet]

Based on what I just read about Project 2025, I expect that the Secret Service guys will be happy when someone assasinates Trump.

That would be what I expect will happen. Surely Project 2025 falls foul of the Constitution?

[drdoom]

There is the Constitutional aspect however Project 2025 amounts to a coup d'etat scenario. The Nazis negated all fundamentals of the German democracy by way of swift application of force with no regard for their Constitution. Whether guardians of American law and order are able to act in effective response remains a key question. 

[Mark Blanchard]

After Biden's senile performance last night, I wonder if Trump will be running his Presidency from a jail cell?

[Bibs]

Dear America - There must be more people avaiable to run the show, these 2 can't be the best options out of a third of a billion people? 

[DaveC72]

https://x.com/mikegalsworthy/status/1806550308127969447

[Geoffers]

These two make Sunak & Starmer look like geniuses!

[exeterjeep]

Was painful to see Biden struggle, everyone must know he is toooo old to govern. But as for his opposition...........as Bibs says there MUST be alternatives.

[Kimbers]

I dunno, at least they don't have a Green Party!!