The DON / redux

[Brad225]

Thanks for you take on it Rich. I can't disagree with what you have said. Only time will tell what comes of it.
As far as Trump goes, he displays, I think, about what his bigger than life personality has always been. I have worked in my capacity as a craftsman for quite a few men whose wealth was in the hundreds of millions. I would say the majority of them had strange personalities, were never wrong and would throw you under the bus without thinking about it. Fortunately my connection to any of them was only 12-18 months at a time.

My wife is a CPA and was the personal business manager for a person like this for about 3 years. During that time she negotiated a deal for the sale of his company. He would have received about $175 Million plus substantial money for his siblings and children. This was a more than fair price but said the buyers were trying to cheat him and he kept the company. My wife left a year later amidst some bad decisions by him and 6 months after that, there was a takeover of the company and he ended up with $4 million. My wife started hearing that he blamed her for making a bad deal for the sale and giving him bad advice. This was a person that would only pay multiple people for advise but only take the one he wanted to hear. Each time the person giving the advice would profit from his decision. It is like a mini version of life in D.C.

 

[Rich]

Bingo, Brad! And the problem with those types of people is that they think they are smarter than everyone else, but never accept responsibility when they make poor decisions. The other problem is that they tend to think they are “special” and that the normal rules don’t apply to them. The biggest egos tend to be the most fragile.

 

[timm]

Well...I've got my Maggie 20.7s. So F them!! Lol.

 

[Rich]

The next big step in Mueller’s investigation has just been taken. Flynn’s attorneys ended their cooperation agreement with White House lawyers. The only reason they would do this is if Flynn decided to cooperate with Mueller. This is huge. Flynn was part of the inner circle of the campaign and highly trusted by Trump. He was very involved in most meetings and communications. If there was collusion with Russia, he was probably deeply involved. Mueller would not agree to a deal with him unless he could provide direct evidence of criminal culpability of Trump, Trump Jr., and/or Kushner. Trump highly praised him, even after he fired him. Trump then asked Comey to lay off the investigation of him (direct evidence of obstruction). He will be Mueller’s key witness that will tie everything together and likely bring down the entire Trump family. This is going to get very interesting over the next few months! Stock up on popcorn.

 

[adeep42]

Right on the money. Rich. My pop corn order is in.

 

[twich54]

My pop corn order is in.

I might have to buy some extra Raisinets !

 

[timm]

I might have to buy some extra Raisinets !

I'd really like to see a price tag on this. Then I'd like to see the results and see if it was worth it.

 

[Rich]

Wow, things are moving fast in Mueller’s investigation. A little over a week after his attorneys ended their information sharing agreement with White House lawyers, Michael Flynn is scheduled to plead guilty today to lying to the FBI. Note that this is the least of the crimes for which the FBI appears to have evidence against him. This is pretty standard procedure and is clear evidence that Flynn is working with the FBI and has provided them with relevant evidence of crimes committed by one or more of the following: Donald Trump Sr., Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Jeff Sessions, and possibly others.

Make no mistake, this plea will send shivers down the back of the entire White House staff and probably send the Don himself into a panic. Expect Trump to lash out on Twitter with tirades against anyone and everyone over the next week or two. I wouldn’t be surprised if he created some sort of international incident just to draw attention away from this probe. My fear is that he may order a military strike on NK in response to their recent missile test. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. But you have to realize, nothing is more dangerous than a textbook narcissist in fear of losing control over their own narrative. The self-delusion of a true narcissist is real, and the lengths they will go to in order to maintain that delusion are extraordinary.

 

[Gordon Gray]

Yes Rich,

Getting better everyday. Question is if Special Prosecutor proves impeachable offense, will the House of Representatives actually initiate impeachment proceedings.

Gordon

 

[Brad225]

Flynn is getting exactly what he deserves. How do people think they can lie to the FBI, congress etc. and expect to not be revealed as such. We can only hope that where ever it leads people are taken down and put away.

I can just see Trump deciding to flee the country before being arrested and using a plane with his name emblazoned on the side for media coverage.

I may be giving him much to much credit but I would doubt he would start a war thinking the investigation will end. One explosion in NK and their little wack job will escalate it very quickly.

My gut feeling is there will, in the end, be no other way to stop NK than some type of military strike. I hope there is another way, but I'm not betting on it.

 

[Brad225]

Yes Rich,

Getting better everyday. Question is if Special Prosecutor proves impeachable offense, will the House of Representatives actually initiate impeachment proceedings.

Gordon

If there is Gordon, I would hope so. Certainly the D's would and I would think there are enough R's that don't like him that it is a real possibility.

 

[Rich]

I expect if the R’s can get their tax cut pushed through, they’ll be happy with that and be willing to get rid of Trump. He’s an anchor around them for the midterm elections and they would rather deal with Pence anyway. Although I can’t see them faring well in the midterms regardless. This has been a disastrous year for them in every sense except for the economy. Their only legislative accomplishment will be pushing through a rash and unpopular tax cut that is widely perceived as benefitting the rich over the middle class. But I’m sure they would rather face these headwinds without Trump creating more problems for them.

On another note, I must say it is sweet poetic justice to see the man who led chants of “Lock Her Up” at the Republican National Convention plead guilty and face jail time for his own criminal acts. It’s just too bad that he will get leniency for his crimes because he can turn on the bigger fish. But that’s the way our imperfect justice system works. And those bigger fish need to be brought down.

 

[twich54]

interesting video to ponder ............

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stephen-fry-fake-news_us_5a20e521e4b03c44072c7029

 

[Rich]

Whoomp, there it is!

”Former national security adviser Michael Flynn is expected to testify that President Trump instructed him to contact Russian officials during the 2016 campaign, according to a report by ABC News.”

Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...y-trump-directed-him-to-make-contact-with-the

So after reading several articles it appears both Trump and Jared Kushner instructed Flynn to engage the Russians diplomatically regarding U.S. sanctions, Syria, and Israel. Note all of this took place before Trump was sworn in as President. So basically, they are citizens with no authority working behind the scenes to shape and/or undermine the U.S. foreign policy of then president Obama. Certainly a violation of the Logan Act.

 

[timm]

Should be interesting. Re Logan act - has it ever been enforced? Find it difficult to believe that other incoming presidents haven't tried similar things. I know it makes for better theater to make it seem as if he were undermining the president. Hell, I actually thought the president was doing his best to plant as many bombs for him in his last months in office. A president sanctioning Russia on his way out the door ? Cutting a big fat check to the palestinians on his last day of office?

this goes back to the complete lack of bi-partisanship between the parties and wanting the other to look bad. It goes both ways unfortunately.

 

[Rich]

Should be interesting. Re Logan act - has it ever been enforced? Find it difficult to believe that other incoming presidents haven't tried similar things. I know it makes for better theater to make it seem as if he were undermining the president. Hell, I actually thought the president was doing his best to plant as many bombs for him in his last months in office. A president sanctioning Russia on his way out the door ? Cutting a big fat check to the palestinians on his last day of office?

this goes back to the complete lack of bi-partisanship between the parties and wanting the other to look bad. It goes both ways unfortunately.

Seriously, timm? You don’t think some form of retaliation was called for once it was confirmed Russia meddled in our elections? I think what Obama did was weak. That was basically an act of war by Russia and we just sent home some diplomats. Ridiculous. Oh, and the fat check to the Palestinians had already been approved and set aside by Congress for just that purpose, so I don’t really see your point on that one.

So I take it from your post that you don’t see any issues with private citizens secretly negotiating foreign policy with the Russians behind the President’s back? It’s just “theater” to you? Trump was not President yet. He had not been sworn in. His advisors had not been confirmed by the Senate. And they were secretly negotiating foreign policy with the Russians, one of our most dangerous adversaries. And you don’t see a problem with that?

And no, the Logan Act has never been enforced. But it’s still a federal law and it’s still on the books. But then, so is the Hatch Act, and no one seems to be enforcing that one against this administration either.

My guess is that the Logan Act ultimately won’t play into it, except maybe as an add-on charge. Mueller is going to get Manafort for a multitude of crimes, including money laundering, Kushner, Trump Jr. and probably Sessions for perjury, and Trump himself for Obstruction of Justice and possibly money laundering / tax fraud as well. Who knows what the result will be regarding the ultimate question of collusion with the Russians to interfere in our election. That’s still an open question, which Flynn can probably shed some light on.

 

[timm]

Rich. My point is basically there are a lot of games going on. Once someone is elected -anyone democrat or republican - I would not find it abnormal for that person to try and reach out and improve relations so that you could hit the ground running once you took office. I mean - it's a big job. I would also hope that the two admins could be adult enough to make things as smooth as possible for the incoming president regardless of ideologies. But kind of pointless. I think people in general are becoming more and more doubtful of people in leadership positions whether that be law enforcement , politicians , presidents, media etc. I couldn't tell you what is true and someone's version of the truth. That's why I'm fed up with all of this. In my opinion - everybody is a liar. It's just whose lies you believe.

Not to switch the topic - but I say Roy Moore wins Alabama. If this guy wasn't shut down yet and it is neck and neck - no way he doesn't win. Haha.

 

[Brad225]

Whoomp, there it is!



Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...y-trump-directed-him-to-make-contact-with-the

So after reading several articles it appears both Trump and Jared Kushner instructed Flynn to engage the Russians diplomatically regarding U.S. sanctions, Syria, and Israel. Note all of this took place before Trump was sworn in as President. So basically, they are citizens with no authority working behind the scenes to shape and/or undermine the U.S. foreign policy of then president Obama. Certainly a violation of the Logan Act.

Rich, the first sentence, (and national news networks yesterday afternoon) said it was after the election. ABC first said during the campaign but then corrected it. After the election Trump had the right to connect with the UN security council members regarding a vote on sanctions against Israel. Obama hated Israel and was pushing the vote.

Whether there are other issues is yet to be seen.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Not to switch the topic - but I say Roy Moore wins Alabama. If this guy wasn't shut down yet and it is neck and neck - no way he doesn't win. Haha.

There once was a time when no party would support Roy Moore. It says a lot that we are so divided that someone like him could actually get this far. It's not just polarization, but rationalization that nothing is as bad as the "other" party.

 

[twich54]

"Politicians and diapers must be changed often ...... and for the same reason" - Mark Twain.