I don't know what disturbs me more...

[Mr.Bill]

The fact that Trump tried to overthrow the government to stay in power,
or the fact that everyone around him knew about it and said nothing.

I'm becoming more convinced that Trump surrounded himself with people he could blackmail. And at the bottom of this is evidence we will never see or hear from a dead man named Epstien.

[malaise]

1. Both are disturbing

bot what is even more frightening is that they are continuing with their plans to eradicate democracy and anyone and anything else in their way.

[dwayneb]

13. We are at the precipice

We should all be prepared for big changes in our lives, because it looks increasingly likely that "Republicans" (New American Fascists) will gain control of Congress in 2022, and have an excellent chance of winning the Presidency in 2024.

If so, they will finish the job that Trump began during his term, to destroy the rule of law and seize power without limit.

[Wednesdays]

22. Repugs will definitely win?

"... it looks increasingly likely that "Republicans" (New American Fascists) will gain control of Congress in 2022, and have an excellent chance of winning the Presidency in 2024."

And we're just going to sit around and accept that? We're waving the white flag of surrender before the midterm primaries are even over?

[wnylib]

30. It sometimes sounds like the doomsayers

would be disappointed if their predictions did not come true. Why else push messages that discourage fighting back against the fascist movement in the country?

Yes, there is a danger of extreme RW takeover of the country even worse than before. All the more reason to fight hard to prevent it instead of waving white flags before the elections even take place.

[gab13by13]

2. He threatens to harm them,

it isn't just about primarying them.

[Mr.Bill]

3. "Lindsay, I need you to do me a favor." n/t

[cilla4progress]

4. He knew what he was doing

In stacking his staff with corrupt enablers.

[FoxNewsSucks]

5. I wonder who has that stash,

MF45 or Barr. The DoJ got custody, but that I would bet Barr kept all the good stuff for his own blackmailing purposes.

[Mr.Bill]

6. I know they waited a long time before

they raided his house on the island. Plenty of time for someone to grab all the good stuff.

[SergeStorms]

23. Sell all the good stuff.

Trump grabbed, Trump sold or traded for something he considered of equal value.

Jared got his long before the end of Hair Hitler's administration. Somehow he and White House Barbie added $600 million to their coffers while Daddy Dearest was in office.

Imagine how much King Con made off with.

[SharonAnn]

24. It's the J. Edgar Hoover tradition to amass "dirt" on people.

[rubbersole]

25. Barr has all the tapes.

Everyone involved knows that. He has incredible power over a bunch of pedophile millionaires. Sick motherfuckers. Hope they get a visit from the karma fairy.

[SoonerPride]

7. Don't give them a convenient excuse for treason

They weren’t doing things against their will because of blackmail.

Oh no.

That’s too convenient. It assumes they are decent people being coerced to go along with evil.

No.

They are evil people who wanted the coup to succeed.

[Mr.Bill]

17. I don't disagree,

but most people getting blackmailed in this case I would imagine are people who did something very bad in the first place to be blackmailable.

[wiggs]

8. Add to that the number of people around him who knew of daily, weekly, and monthly

lies, cons, bad decisions, rule breaking, norm breaking, foreign bribes, self-absorption, threats, and incompetence.

This is just one of many, many scandals...maybe the most important one, sure, but I think this guy's history of cheating, criming, and lies should be documented and recounted by the committee (or at least by journalists and pundits) and show that Jan 6 is totally ON BRAND.

[Mr.Bill]

9. Very good point.

Many people knew for years how he ran his business. And they just stood there and watched him get elected president and said nothing.

[Novara]

20. And many of those motherfuckers cashed in by writing books

Never said anything about anything when it might have made some difference.

I despise them all.

[wiggs]

21. And I believe that few of them have told us everything they know. nt

[Brainfodder]

10. Add to it, still roaming free as a super flight risk?

[Mr.Bill]

12. He and his family are the definition of a flight risk. n/t

[Brainfodder]

14. Yup and so many others, I think DOJ needs to play charge and round 'em up SOONish?

[Brainfodder]

15. Yup and so many others, I think DOJ needs to play charge and round 'em up SOONish?

[Hugh_Lebowski]

11. I think it's salient that dozens of witnesses have testified to abuse by Epstein/Maxwell themselves

And yet only one, EVER (that being Virginia Giuffre) has claimed to have been trafficked to others.

This is after YEARS of court cases (mostly civil, initiated by Giuffre, in which she's attempted to gain a considerable sum of money by accusing famous/rich people of sexual abuse vis-a-vis Epstein).

And Giuffre was basically working for Epstein, traveling with him, living with him, getting money from him ... and has even admitted to recruiting other young girls for him, ala Maxwell.

I'm not saying those two aren't horrifically evil people, but this whole fantasy of Epstein running a giant underage prostitution ring ... actually appears to be just that. There's really no evidence that they were out for anything other than fulfilling their own sick perversions.

I've watched pretty closely all along with this, and not even Giuffre herself has claimed that she knew of other girls being abused by anyone other than Epstein/Maxwell.

There's probably 'a reason' for 'everyone' to go along with Trumps demands, and it may've been some sort of blackmail ... but there's no reason to think it's Epstein at the epicenter.

Just sayin

[Mr.Bill]

16. Oh, it's pure speculation on my part.

But I don't think Epstien was running some global sex trafficing ring. I think it was more like a private club, and now we are getting an idea of who the members were.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

18. Okay, but no victims but Giuffre has ever claimed they were trafficked to anyone but Epstein

(and that's a case where that was done by Maxwell, hence her trafficking conviction).

And Giuffre really seems like someone who'd have fingered everyone involved by now. She's been VERY active in court cases for many years now.

As basically an Epstein employee, she'd have 'known' if this was some private underage sex club, and would've said she saw other girls trafficked. But she hasn't claimed that.

Nor have any other victims who've had the opportunity to do so in depositions and testimony.

To me, the evidence for such assertions is non-existent, other than by extrapolation.

[cilla4progress]

19. He knew what he was doing

In stacking his staff with corrupt enablers.

[Lonestarblue]

26. What disturbs me, and frightens me at the same time, is the hatred in this country.

The willingness to believe a charlatan over provable facts, the eagerness to use violence to achieve political wins, the lack of concern about democratic rule, the special privilege for white people—all of it leading to an unrecognizable government that serves the demands of the wealthy white Republican elites. We know that the Republican Party started this decades ago. We just don’t know how it ends other than in anarchy.

[Bear Creek]

27. Former boss

Had Trump's books and used him for his role model. It was miserable. The department was ran like a corrupt police force. He would only promote people he could blackmail. He told me once that he would never give me a promotion because he didn't have anything to hold over my head. I can only guess how toxic that cesspool was.

[lamp_shade]

28. That says it all, Mr. Bill - "...surrounded himself with people he could blackmail"

I hadn't thought of it that way. Thanks.

[Emile]

29. This whole damn insurrection is sickening. I don't trust any Republican

after this and I probably won't for a long time!

[Hortensis]

31. Remembering that from the beginning almost all qualified people,

the kind expected to be tapped for high-level positions, refused to join THIS president's administration, both out of principle and self protection. That left a huge vacuum for opportunists of bad character.

Blackmail's been suspected all along as the explanation for many of the shocking "personality changes" some highly regarded people who did join him exhibited. Amazing that none of those stories have broken yet.

But we learned that some only had good reputations because they'd risen withing a framework that required ethical behaviors, not because they were ethical people. When that framework was smashed and the mission changed, a lot of people refused and resigned but others adapted, blackmail probably not required.

But, it gave us a window into the "white collar" criminal world, how people of really bad character find each other and work together to break the law. tRump CAN'T work with people of high principle because they despise him, much less suck up, and won't follow orders, but the people he wanted, who would, rushed to fill the vacuum. tRumpworld was. and still is, opportunity to sack. piss on, or destroy as the case may be, an entire nation.

[Emile]

32. The anti government ideology being drilled into the willfully ignorant

minds is a huge threat to our Democratic Republic. They now think they can overturn elections because their ideology is more important than our constitution. That disturbs me!