The Former Trump Presidency Thread

[Pyperkub]

So....Comey's book has an account of Trump asking Comey to look into the Pee tape to 'disprove it'...ahem. It's real.

I think the latest rumor of an illegitimate child with the housekeeper (doorman's story, allegedly), may have us seeing the first presidential divorce in history.

[malchior]

FWIW - there are also rumors that the doorman's ex-wife says he made it up for the money.

[Pyperkub]

FWIW - there are also rumors that the doorman's ex-wife says he made it up for the money.

Still don't think Melania is very happy. She seemed miserable even during the campaign. At this point she may not even care if it isn't true and just want out.

[malchior]

Trump orders Post Office audit of the Amazon relationship.

[YellowKing]

Just pre-ordered Comey's book. It's my small petty way of giving Trump the finger.

[Smoove_B]

Trump orders Post Office audit of the Amazon relationship.

I wonder if they're going to detail in the audit on how Congress steals money from them?

[Chaz]

You mean that untruthful slime ball? He was a terrible director of the FBI!

[pr0ner]

Trump orders Post Office audit of the Amazon relationship.

I wonder if they're going to detail in the audit on how Congress steals money from them?

Congress stealing money from an agency? Nooooo. You don't say.

[LawBeefaroni]

Trump orders Post Office audit of the Amazon relationship.

What a dope. It will just blow the pension thing up again. And it threatens one of the USPSs big revenue generators.

He's proven to be a terrible negotiator (as if we needed further proof) and the bully tactics that he uses to mask his ineptitude don't scale up to this level.

[Zaxxon]

You mean that untruthful slime ball? He was a terrible director of the FBI!

Hilarious that Trump insults Comey by calling him an untruthful slime ball. That's like GWB insulting someone by saying they aren't super eloquent, or Dr Evil complaining that his enemies are building sharks with lasers on their heads.

[coopasonic]

FWIW - there are also rumors that the doorman's ex-wife says he made it up for the money.

Still don't think Melania is very happy. She seemed miserable even during the campaign. At this point she may not even care if it isn't true and just want out.

I am guessing at this point Trump is pretty good at pre-nups. He has a lot of experience at this whole divorce thing.

[Unagi]

FWIW - there are also rumors that the doorman's ex-wife says he made it up for the money.

He was paid money to keep a lie quiet? Or he wasn't even paid money and just hopes to make money now...?

[Ralph-Wiggum]

FWIW - there are also rumors that the doorman's ex-wife says he made it up for the money.

Still don't think Melania is very happy. She seemed miserable even during the campaign. At this point she may not even care if it isn't true and just want out.

Although isn't the rumor that the illegitimate kid was from a fling in the 80s? Not that it isn't scummy, but doesn't have much to do with Melania.

[malchior]

FWIW - there are also rumors that the doorman's ex-wife says he made it up for the money.

He was paid money to keep a lie quiet? Or he wasn't even paid money and just hopes to make money now...?

There is power in lies - as we are unfortunately living. To someone like Trump, keeping a rumor secret could easily be worth cash. Especially when paying off people is a norm.

[Sepiche]

He was paid money to keep a lie quiet? Or he wasn't even paid money and just hopes to make money now...?

There is power in lies - as we are unfortunately living. To someone like Trump, keeping a rumor secret could easily be worth cash. Especially when paying off people is a norm.

So you think the guy known for stiffing contractors to save a few bucks would shell out $30,000 to a guy who made up a story about him?

[Isgrimnur]

He'd just get his lawyer to do it.

[YellowKing]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how a self-described "germaphobe" thinks watching a girl pee from across a room is disgusting but apparently has no problem fucking porn stars.

[Hamlet3145]

Just pre-ordered Comey's book. It's my small petty way of giving Trump the finger.

Same.

[El Guapo]

Just pre-ordered Comey's book. It's my small petty way of giving Trump the finger.

Same.

I'd have mixed feelings about that because it's also giving money to someone who is uniquely responsible for Trump being the president.

[Holman]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how a self-described "germaphobe" thinks watching a girl pee from across a room is disgusting but apparently has no problem fucking porn stars.

Bareback, per Stormy Daniels.

Related: One of the details from Comey is that Trump told him he didn't even stay in the Moscow hotel overnight, but only used the room to change his clothes during the day.

But Keith Schiller (Trump's longtime security guy) told investigators that the prostitute story couldn't be true because he walked Trump up to his room that night and therefore knows that Trump went to bed there alone.

[El Guapo]

Trump orders Post Office audit of the Amazon relationship.

What a dope. It will just blow the pension thing up again. And it threatens one of the USPSs big revenue generators.

He's proven to be a terrible negotiator (as if we needed further proof) and the bully tactics that he uses to mask his ineptitude don't scale up to this level.

To be clear the audit doesn't mention Amazon - it's an audit of the Post Office's finances more generally. Obviously Trump has Amazon in mind, but the scope is broader than that. One other interesting thing is that apparently the order calls for the reconsideration of the Post Office's "universal service requirement" - e.g. the requirement that they carry mail to anyone in the country regardless of location. Which is I'm sure the kind of thing that rural Trump voters had in mind.

[Fitzy]

I'd have mixed feelings about that because it's also giving money to someone who is uniquely responsible for Trump being the president.

You’re blaming the ref for calling a last minute foul instead of blaming the Clinton team for playing a pathetic game.

[El Guapo]

I'd have mixed feelings about that because it's also giving money to someone who is uniquely responsible for Trump being the president.

You’re blaming the ref for calling a last minute foul instead of blaming the Clinton team for playing a pathetic game.

Blaming Comey for sending that goddamn letter in clear violation of DOJ policy around investigations and elections is not at all inconsistent with also blaming Clinton for campaign screw-ups. But it remains the case that had Comey not sent the letter, it is very unlikely that Trump would be president.

[ImLawBoy]

I'd have mixed feelings about that because it's also giving money to someone who is uniquely responsible for Trump being the president.

You’re blaming the ref for calling a last minute foul instead of blaming the Clinton team for playing a pathetic game.

Blaming Comey for sending that goddamn letter in clear violation of DOJ policy around investigations and elections is not at all inconsistent with also blaming Clinton for campaign screw-ups. But it remains the case that had Comey not sent the letter, it is very unlikely that Trump would be president.

And if Clinton hadn't been bricking threes and turning the ball over all game long, the Comey letter would have only affected the size of her victory.

(I'm enjoying this analogy.)

[Max Peck]

I'd have mixed feelings about that because it's also giving money to someone who is uniquely responsible for Trump being the president.

You’re blaming the ref for calling a last minute foul instead of blaming the Clinton team for playing a pathetic game.

My vague recollection/understanding is that he was in the position of choosing between two bad options: either announce that the investigation was reopened or not do so, in which case Giuliani's buddies in the pro-Trump NY office were going to leak it. Either way, the Clinton campaign was going to take a hit.

[malchior]

He was paid money to keep a lie quiet? Or he wasn't even paid money and just hopes to make money now...?

There is power in lies - as we are unfortunately living. To someone like Trump, keeping a rumor secret could easily be worth cash. Especially when paying off people is a norm.

So you think the guy known for stiffing contractors to save a few bucks would shell out $30,000 to a guy who made up a story about him?

Yes! I get why people want to think everything bad is true but the man's ex-wife says he made it up. She might have a motive too - she is the ex-wife - but it isn't hard to believe he'd pay the hush money to keep his name out of the press. Not paying the contractors was just a business model to him. He is a crook but wants to be an adored crook.

[El Guapo]

I'd have mixed feelings about that because it's also giving money to someone who is uniquely responsible for Trump being the president.

You’re blaming the ref for calling a last minute foul instead of blaming the Clinton team for playing a pathetic game.

Blaming Comey for sending that goddamn letter in clear violation of DOJ policy around investigations and elections is not at all inconsistent with also blaming Clinton for campaign screw-ups. But it remains the case that had Comey not sent the letter, it is very unlikely that Trump would be president.

And if Clinton hadn't been bricking threes and turning the ball over all game long, the Comey letter would have only affected the size of her victory.

(I'm enjoying this analogy.)

Again, not arguing that. Of course there are other things. BUT there's no reasonable dispute that had Comey not made the decision to send that letter, Trump would not be president. It was a national campaign with lots of people involved, but Comey is in the inner circle of people most directly responsible for Trump being President. Clinton is also among that group.

And note that Comey specifically says in his book that he did what he did because of his (mis)reading of campaign polls. It's not like it was a "do the honorable thing and let the chips fall where they may" kind of thing.

[Max Peck]

He was paid money to keep a lie quiet? Or he wasn't even paid money and just hopes to make money now...?

There is power in lies - as we are unfortunately living. To someone like Trump, keeping a rumor secret could easily be worth cash. Especially when paying off people is a norm.

So you think the guy known for stiffing contractors to save a few bucks would shell out $30,000 to a guy who made up a story about him?

Yes! I get why people want to think everything bad is true but the man's ex-wife says he made it up. She might have a motive too - she is the ex-wife - but it isn't hard to believe he'd pay the hush money to keep his name out of the press. Not paying the contractors was just a business model to him. He is a crook but wants to be an adored crook.

There are no allegations that Trump paid the guy off. As I understand it, he called in a tip to the National Enquirer and they paid for the story, then sat on it. Former National Enquirer staff have supposedly said that it would be unusual for the paper to pay out that much money if they didn't believe the story was somewhat credible.

[malchior]

Right but they also didn't publish. Was that because it didn't pan out or because they were protecting Trump? Or something else? Who knows but this one is more on the salacious, messy side than an actual 'thing'. Of course, the fact that we hear this and think this is very, very possible is a different sort of problem with this guy.

[Fitzy]

I'd have mixed feelings about that because it's also giving money to someone who is uniquely responsible for Trump being the president.

You’re blaming the ref for calling a last minute foul instead of blaming the Clinton team for playing a pathetic game.

Blaming Comey for sending that goddamn letter in clear violation of DOJ policy around investigations and elections is not at all inconsistent with also blaming Clinton for campaign screw-ups. But it remains the case that had Comey not sent the letter, it is very unlikely that Trump would be president.

And if Clinton hadn't been bricking threes and turning the ball over all game long, the Comey letter would have only affected the size of her victory.

(I'm enjoying this analogy.)

Again, not arguing that. Of course there are other things. BUT there's no reasonable dispute that had Comey not made the decision to send that letter, Trump would not be president. It was a national campaign with lots of people involved, but Comey is in the inner circle of people most directly responsible for Trump being President. Clinton is also among that group.

And note that Comey specifically says in his book that he did what he did because of his (mis)reading of campaign polls. It's not like it was a "do the honorable thing and let the chips fall where they may" kind of thing.

Again. No. There is a reasonable dispute, it starts with Clinton not violating federal regulations on the storage of emails. Note, I'm not claiming there was any violations or intent to mishandle classified material. That was a stretch from the beginning that happened to work out for the GOP.

I am saying she intentionally created a second email address to avoid the flood of incoming FOIA requests she knew was coming the moment she accepted the Secretary position.

Had she not--against regulation, but probably not any criminal laws--created the second email account, there would have been nothing for Comey to say or investigate.

To stretch the analogy further, Comey may have made a a bad choice calling the flagrant foul against Clinton for fouling Mr. Secrets (though Comey reversed himself on instant replay), and that may have demoralized TeamClinton, knocked out their momentum and energized team OrangeDouche, allowing them the easy game winning layup, but she did intentionally foul Mr. FOIA--who some people twisted into Mr. Secrets. Had she not fouled Mr. FOIA, Comey would have had nothing to make the bad call against and, as was said by ImLawBoy, without the other mistakes from Team Clinton, she would have been so far ahead it wouldn't have mattered.

I think I'm stretching this a bit far And butchered the grammar in my amazing long sentence.

My point is this: the "inner circle of people most directly responsible for Trump being President" is pretty small. Hillary Clinton. The American Voters (and non-voters).

Comey might, however, be on the list of people who had tiny bit of influence on the election, but really by that point it was moot and to blame him is to direct responsibility away from those actually at fault.

So you don't have to feel guilty for buying his book.

[Paingod]

So you don't have to feel guilty for buying his book.

Unless you buy it through Amazon and have it shipped via USPS.

[El Guapo]

I'd have mixed feelings about that because it's also giving money to someone who is uniquely responsible for Trump being the president.

You’re blaming the ref for calling a last minute foul instead of blaming the Clinton team for playing a pathetic game.

Blaming Comey for sending that goddamn letter in clear violation of DOJ policy around investigations and elections is not at all inconsistent with also blaming Clinton for campaign screw-ups. But it remains the case that had Comey not sent the letter, it is very unlikely that Trump would be president.

And if Clinton hadn't been bricking threes and turning the ball over all game long, the Comey letter would have only affected the size of her victory.

(I'm enjoying this analogy.)

Again, not arguing that. Of course there are other things. BUT there's no reasonable dispute that had Comey not made the decision to send that letter, Trump would not be president. It was a national campaign with lots of people involved, but Comey is in the inner circle of people most directly responsible for Trump being President. Clinton is also among that group.

And note that Comey specifically says in his book that he did what he did because of his (mis)reading of campaign polls. It's not like it was a "do the honorable thing and let the chips fall where they may" kind of thing.

Again. No. There is a reasonable dispute, it starts with Clinton not violating federal regulations on the storage of emails. Note, I'm not claiming there was any violations or intent to mishandle classified material. That was a stretch from the beginning that happened to work out for the GOP.

I am saying she intentionally created a second email address to avoid the flood of incoming FOIA requests she knew was coming the moment she accepted the Secretary position.

Had she not--against regulation, but probably not any criminal laws--created the second email account, there would have been nothing for Comey to say or investigate.

To stretch the analogy further, Comey may have made a a bad choice calling the flagrant foul against Clinton for fouling Mr. Secrets (though Comey reversed himself on instant replay), and that may have demoralized TeamClinton, knocked out their momentum and energized team OrangeDouche, allowing them the easy game winning layup, but she did intentionally foul Mr. FOIA--who some people twisted into Mr. Secrets. Had she not fouled Mr. FOIA, Comey would have had nothing to make the bad call against and, as was said by ImLawBoy, without the other mistakes from Team Clinton, she would have been so far ahead it wouldn't have mattered.

I think I'm stretching this a bit far And butchered the grammar in my amazing long sentence.

My point is this: the "inner circle of people most directly responsible for Trump being President" is pretty small. Hillary Clinton. The American Voters (and non-voters).

Comey might, however, be on the list of people who had tiny bit of influence on the election, but really by that point it was moot and to blame him is to direct responsibility away from those actually at fault.

So you don't have to feel guilty for buying his book.

You're just butchering causation at this point. By your logic you can't blame Clinton for Trump being president either, because had Ted Cruz or Jeb! Bush beaten Trump in the primary then her campaign wouldn't have impacted whether Trump became president or not. And by the same logic it is by definition impossible for any bad penalty (no matter how egregious) to change the outcome of a game, because by definition for the call to change the outcome the game must be close, and if the game is close then the losing team could have won notwithstanding the penalty by playing just a tiny bit better.

The fact of the matter is this - the Comey letter probably changed the outcome of the election. It is fair to hold Comey responsible for that, even if his actions would be irrelevant had an asteroid not wiped out dinosaurs and created the preconditions for human life to evolve, resulting in the emergence of England as a country, English colonization of North America, the American Revolution, and then the creation of the Constitution and the Electoral College. Damn asteroid.

[LordMortis]

Going by the analogy. I don't doubt the Ref cost her the game as the score was so close. But she put herself in the position where a call by the ref could cost her the game, a game she should have won without question. Blaming her loss on refs bad call is nothing but homerism.

[El Guapo]

Going by the analogy. I don't doubt the Ref cost her the game as the score was so close. But she put herself in the position where a call by the ref could cost her the game, a game she should have won without question. Blaming her loss on refs bad call is nothing but homerism.

I don't know why people seem to think that I am trying to absolve Clinton here. All I'm saying is that (by the analogy) the ref changed the outcome of the game. That's it. And because of that I am not super inclined to buy the ref's book.

[Paingod]

I like this line from a CNN Article that looks at the "11 Eye-Opening Things" in the Comey book.

We know that Trump said more than 2,000 things in his first year in office that were either partially or entirely untrue.

355 days. 2000 lies. He averages only 5.6 lies per day.

[ImLawBoy]

Going by the analogy. I don't doubt the Ref cost her the game as the score was so close. But she put herself in the position where a call by the ref could cost her the game, a game she should have won without question. Blaming her loss on refs bad call is nothing but homerism.

I don't know why people seem to think that I am trying to absolve Clinton here. All I'm saying is that (by the analogy) the ref changed the outcome of the game. That's it. And because of that I am not super inclined to buy the ref's book.

I just think you're not having as much fun with this as the rest of us are.

[El Guapo]

Going by the analogy. I don't doubt the Ref cost her the game as the score was so close. But she put herself in the position where a call by the ref could cost her the game, a game she should have won without question. Blaming her loss on refs bad call is nothing but homerism.

I don't know why people seem to think that I am trying to absolve Clinton here. All I'm saying is that (by the analogy) the ref changed the outcome of the game. That's it. And because of that I am not super inclined to buy the ref's book.

I just think you're not having as much fun with this as the rest of us are.

Probably, although I did enjoy attributing the 2016 election to the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. #WhatReallyHappened.

[LordMortis]

I like this line from a CNN Article that looks at the "11 Eye-Opening Things" in the Comey book.

We know that Trump said more than 2,000 things in his first year in office that were either partially or entirely untrue.

355 days. 2000 lies. He averages only 5.6 lies per day.

Yeah but he's only golfed like 126 days and that's than one day of golf per day. Really, look at how much Obama golfed Way more than 5.6 times in his first year alone.

[Grifman]

I find it hard to blame Comey for Trump's election and Clinton's defeat. I mean, seriously, her State Department emails were found on a laptop in Anthony Weiner's possession?! WTF?!? She had no one, and I mean no one, to blame but herself for this. Her ignorance of basic computer security and safety and the inability of her to have someone on her staff that could just say NO to this stupid idea of a private server and to co-mingle her official and private emails - she is totally blame for that. This was a disaster waiting to happen, and she has only herself to blame.

[El Guapo]

I find it hard to blame Comey for Trump's election and Clinton's defeat. I mean, seriously, her State Department emails were found on a laptop in Anthony Weiner's possession?! WTF?!? She had no one, and I mean no one, to blame but herself for this. Her ignorance of basic computer security and safety and the inability of her to have someone on her staff that could just say NO to this stupid idea of a private server and to co-mingle her official and private emails - she is totally blame for that. This was a disaster waiting to happen, and she has only herself to blame.

Going by the analogy. I don't doubt the Ref cost her the game as the score was so close. But she put herself in the position where a call by the ref could cost her the game, a game she should have won without question. Blaming her loss on refs bad call is nothing but homerism.

I don't know why people seem to think that I am trying to absolve Clinton here. All I'm saying is that (by the analogy) the ref changed the outcome of the game. That's it. And because of that I am not super inclined to buy the ref's book.

Seriously, just read Nate Silver's analysis. Comey's letter changed the outcome of the election. So did Clinton's use of an e-mail server. They are both responsible, and neither can absolve their responsibility by pointing to the other.