grantcart
grantcart's JournalTrump: "I am going to sue that imposter John Barron", Barron "I will counter sue".
To give this breaking story context please get caught up on Trump's threat to sue Brad Parscale, his campaign manager.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142482860
If you need to be reminded who John Barron is, this will help:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/trumps-history-of-lying-from-john-barron-to-realdonaldtrump
Reporting by William Gaines
Trump Covid 19 Debacle Devolves into Internecine Legal Battle
A stunned White House Press Corps listened in silence as President Trump held a 20 minute impromptu unscheduled press "briefing" that left one spectator musing "was that an example of a Neo-Dada schizophrenic performance art work or a self inflicted metaphysical pie fight?".
Trump initiated the briefing by announcing that he had not been the one to muse about ingesting toxic disinfectants to cure Covid 19 infections, "wasn't me, I wasn't here, it was that bastard John Barron who many of you old timers know and have talked with from time to time. He lured me into the upstairs bedroom with an order of Big Macs, Fries and ice cream, locked me in and came down and did the press conference."
As reporters watch with mouths gapping wide open he explained that his long time friend, prankster buddy and nemesis had gotten tired of not getting out and grabbing stuff and sabotaged the President's press briefing in an effort to undermine the President's re election campaign.
"I can't believe you guys fell for it, because even though he is very good looking he can't really compare with me. To be honest I have used him for some events to fill in for me when I need to take a day off but when he isn't filling in for me he has to stay around in the back bedroom and he's had enough of this White House gig."
Trump announced that he had retained counsel to sue Barron for $ 50,000,000 for breach of contract as he had made the alter ego persona sign a 22 page contract in 2016 when he had him accompany him to the White House.
Three different reporters reported that they had received phone calls shortly after the briefing from John Barron announcing that he was going to counter sue Trump adding "I can't wait until we get him before a camera during the depositions, this guy is the worst witness in the history of the world. Before I am done with him I will own everything he owns."
Trump elevates stupidity to a new level, on camera in real time.
When asked about South Korea's much higher per capita Coronavirus testing results he made the following statement:
“I know South Korea better than anybody. It’s a very tight (sic). Do you know how many people are in Seoul? Do you know how big the city of Seoul is? 38 million people. Bigger than anything we have. 38 million people all tightly wound together.”
Since the question is based on per capita testing the size of the population isn't really relevant but that is just the beginning of his display of idiocy.
Seoul is not 38 million it is between 9-10 million.
Where did he get 38 million? If you go to the wiki page you will see that Seoul is 38 meters above sea level
Elevation 38 m (125 ft)
Population (2020[2])
As first mentioned on Morning Joe Trump was probably handed a copy of the wiki page and committed to memory the elevation as the population.
However the man who knows more about Seoul than anybody had no idea where it was located just a few months ago
https://www.vox.com/world/2019/12/5/20996986/trump-seoul-north-korea-move-bergen-book
After seeing a satellite image showing that Seoul — South Korea’s capital, home to 10 million inhabitants — sits just 15 miles south of the country’s heavily militarized border with the North,Trump asked, “Why is Seoul so close to the North Korean border?”
He then made a rather unorthodox suggestion: “They have to move,” Trump said, referring to the city’s residents. “They have to move!” he repeated. Those in attendance at the Oval Office briefing were uncertain whether or not Trump was joking, Bergen writes.
Trump, Bergen notes, had already been briefed numerous times on the danger Seoul faces every day. The city is in direct firing range of thousands of pieces of North Korean artillery that are already lined up along the border between the two countries, also known as the demilitarized zone (DMZ). Around 70 percent of North Korea’s ground forces are within 90 miles of the DMZ, presumably ready to move south at a moment’s notice.
This is why we don't have sharp objects in the house anymore.
In 24 hours we will have a presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party
The numerical possibility of Biden achieving the nomination under proportional allocation will move from 99% to 100%.
The thin veneer of pretense that Sanders (I) has an outside chance of getting a first ballot win or go to a second ballot where Super Delegates can overcome the popular vote will no longer be tolerated by any serious person regardless of who they personally support.
A small cadre of folks who believe that if you really really believe life can mirror a musical and groups can break out into dance and orchestrated song and that Bernie is not only a very sweet person but can also win will persist but even Sanders (I) will acknowledge the obvious.
Sen Sanders (I) will face the ultimate professional challenge of his life
1) make the decision to become a team player and make an enthusiastic and unqualified endorsement of Vice President Biden, or,
2) find an ideological pretense ("let everyone have an opportunity to let their voice be heard at the ballot box", or some other nonsense) so that he can continue to build a post 2020 war chest that will enable him to raise up a couple of dozen true believers to run against Democratic incumbents in 2022 primaries.
It would be great to see Sanders (I) exit at the top of his game with grace and dignity, but it is doubtful.
What is known is that after tomorrow this country will start taking a step away from the ledge of bombastic incompetence, aggressive self promotion and criminal greed.
I will stop waking up in the middle of the night with clenched teeth and a recitation of all the Presidential stupid of the day.
Today Impeachment, predicting pardons tomorrow
Trump has only one move, double down.
Nothing doubles down more than pardoning and with Manafort out of double jeopardy it's perfect for him and shows all the co conspirators that they will be saved if they just stay quiet.
Anybody who is not against Trump at this point isn't going to object to a pardon.
After it is done it will be seen as expected, normal and not THAT bad.
Nauseating.
The Impeachment of Donald J Trump should be narrow and focused
In considering the best strategy to ensure that we maximize the number of Senators that will vote for removal of the President a completely novel argument has for the first time asked the question; Is it better to list all of the President's crimes or is it better to narrow the number of crimes to those that the President has confessed to or carried out in detail in front of cameras.
As is the case in many of the controversial issues of the time I advocate a moderate position arguing that we should have more than the Ukraine phone call and Mueller obstruction articles but that it isn't necessary to detail every crime.
I would like Speaker Pelosi to craft a strategy that would narrowly focus only on the most select and egregious crimes and not detail every single crime. For example I think that they should definitely include the President's personal interference with the FBI Headquarter location scandal but don't need to detail the obstruction of justice charge when Trump offered Assistant National Security Advisor McFarland the Ambassadorship of Singapore if she lied for him (that could be part of a larger omnibus obstruction article). Likewise we don't need to detail every time a foreign government has purchased thousands of rooms at Trump resorts for no show guests but we could limit it to one article for each property.
After detailed and careful consideration I strongly urge Speaker Pelosi to cap the Articles of Impeachment at a firm 200 articles. I know that it will be challenging given the hourly production of severe crimes that the White House is producing but a line has to be drawn somewhere.
Two of the three key elements in Nixon's removal have likely been met for Trump's removal
During the Watergate hearings I had a strong bout of Mononucleosis and was bed ridden.
I saw every minute live.
I still remember the electricity when Butterfield walked in and told the world that tapes existed.
There were three critical elements that created the momentum necessary to move Republicans to give Nixon the ultimatum to leave.
Those elements were:
1) An insider. John Dean
Without John Dean there would have been no impeachment or resignation. Dean turned and had a remarkably detailed day by day record of what Nixon's committee and administration did. The original crimes and the cover up.
2) An agreed metric
As claims and counter claims became more and more confusing Senator Howard Baker came out with a very simple metric that cleared the field and everyone, Republican and Democrat could agree.
"What did the President know and when did he know it"
Baker assumed that Nixon couldn't have been in on the early stages and offered this metric to create a line in the sand to help him. Because we had a common metric that everyone agreed to it cleared the field and clarified the essential question. It actually created the rational that would doom Nixon.
3) Documentation
Tapes.
I have been an impeachment sceptic because impeachment can't be a partisan move, we need a broader base to undo an electoral college result. That isn't an accident, its the way it should be as we don't want a Democratic President removed simply because the Republicans have the votes to do it. I didn't think we could hope for the insider and the documentation needed.
Then we have the whistle blower.
Unbelievably we have an insider to give witness to Trump's treachery. Not a political insider but an insider nevertheless. The fact that the insider is non political will be devastating. Could be better than John Dean as he or she is a high level dedicated career expert and will have highly developed analytical skills and must be very articulate to reach the senior level able to listen to Presidential conversations.
And we will have the documentation. We will have the tapes.
The only thing that is missing from the Nixon denouement is a common agreement on where you draw the line on "high crimes and misdemeanors".
We may get that but we have more than enough to get unimpeachable (irony intended) testimony and document facts. There will be no he/she said and the idiot in chief said.
We should not be inherently pessimistic about the Senate. If there is a clear and easy to understand charge about high crimes and misdemeanors there will be Republicans who will move on it. Not out of morality but out of self interest. When the Watergate hearings started no one believed that Nixon would be removed from office.
Nixon had a 23% margin of victory and a 520-17 electoral landslide. No one thought that Republican Senators would challenge their party leader who was swept into power with the greatest landslide in the country's history.
First there are two retiring Senators who will be more interested in how they fare in history than being on Trumps Christmas list.
Second removal of Trump doesn't give the WH to the Democrats. The Republicans retain it and it opens up the possibility of a Republican cage match for advancement. I believe that Romney will do anything to open up the ticket and give him his last chance to get to the WH. He would run as a moderate against "socialist Democrats" and would have the odd credentials to talk about strengthening the Affordable Care Act having implemented Romney Care in Massachusetts.
His obvious running mate would be Nicky Haley. They could denounce the aberration of Trump and launch a completely new campaign unrelated to Trump. That will be very attractive to a lot of Republican Senators.
We are going to have a majority vote for impeachment in the House.
We are going to have a trial in the Senate.
It will not be exactly parallel to the Nixon removal but I never thought that it would be this similar.
Impeachment and removal of Donald Trump is now very possible. Pence can pardon him if he wishes but he will face criminal prosecution in NY state.
The whistle blower has changed the landscape exactly in the same way that Butterfield told a stunned country that tapes exist that would confirm exactly what John Dean had alleged.
Questions that the WH Press Corp should be asking in front of the Helicoptor Propoganda blitz
We know three things about Trump in front of the press
1) He cannot resist the bait. He will always try and be clever no matter how insulting the question is
2) He will always double down. Upon really stupid he will go to fantastically stupid only louder
3) He has no real self awareness about how ridiculous his make believe world is
Absolutely everyone reacted to the low level carny hucksterism of Trumps attempt to sell the snake oil wonderment of his trashy hotels.
Don't fight him. Give him a mic and dare him to elaborate
Mr. President, will the G7 leaders and their staff
a) Be able to buy time shares while they stay at their beautiful villas?
b) Will they be served Trump Steaks in the famous dining room?
c) Will interns from Trump University be able to get extra credit by working at the summit?
d) Given your expertise in gaming will G7 visitors be able to enjoy gambling in a temporary casino?
e) Must visitors book a Trump Jet to arrive at the summit?
f) Will visitors have an opportunity to book transport from Trump Classic Cars?
g) Will the guests be drinking Trump wines?
The more that he blabs on about selling his own products the more of a two bit con he sounds like. Even Santorum is repulsed.
Get him talking about selling his own crap the more demented he appears. I bet they could get him to talk for an hour about time shares at his property.
Prior to the vote he will have a "major medical event" that requires "hospitalization"
and Trump resigns and Pence issues a "pity" pardon.
Trump will try and use the "deteriorating health" defense that is sometimes used by the mob to forestall state prosecutions.
He will engage in a full blown "sick out the clock" strategy to put on the brakes of state prosecution which is likely to take 3=4 years to actually start.
There is one very compelling reason not to impeach Trump
I am of the opinion that we should slowly build a case in such a way that compels everyone, including Republicans to face the facts and come to an agreement on the facts.
Once we have agreement on the facts then the impetus and force will build for impeachment.
There is one reason that strategists who look long term advocate stopping short of impeachment: it significantly undermines Republican 2020 electoral chances in all federal offices.
There is another even more compelling reason: if Trump is impeached Pence will pardon him, and all of the top gangsters in this criminal enterprise. If, however Trump stays in office and suffers electoral defeat he will have nothing to shield him from the full force of federal prosecutors and can not only suffer disgrace but actually go to jail.
It almost seems that this is Mueller's preferred choice and why his report pointedly states, "no one is above the law", and "the President can be prosecuted after he leaves office".
While it seems like an eternity to wait for a post election result I would happily bear it to ensure that Trump faces the ultimate humiliation of actual imprisonment, preferably until he dies in jail.
My theory on the firings at DHS
The real objective is to fire the career prosecutors at SDNY and Washington and others who are carrying on leads developed by the Muller investigation.
Obviously he can't go after them directly so he is starting a series of "mini purges" to create a general acceptance on the President's ability to fire people in the executive branch.
He will continue to create chaos and much "tsk tsk tsking" from Grassley and other Senate Republicans. Romney and others will say it is disconcerting but within the President's prerogative.
And after he has started disarming large sections of the federal government and getting Nero like confirmations from crowds who hate the government in part because of the ankle bracelets they wear for DUI and wife beating he will "uncover" a network of prosecutors who are trying to "do an end run around the elections" and take him out with a coup and put Hillary in.
People will be numb to it. The Republican senators have long lost the courage to stand up for the constitution or the country.
And the final move will be wide spread pardons. He will pardon everyone he can so that he and his children will be lost in the crowd.
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