I agree with a number of the comments—who cares about the sex tape. It’s the money, baby—it’s always the money (especially with Trump). Follow the money and we might be able to get this nincompoop out of the White House.
12
This is all very interesting.
It may just be my own distrust of the president, but from the beginning, when the dossier first appeared in Buzzfeed- not only do I not have any problem believing that there was a "pee tape"; in fact, I simply assumed it was true (as any reasonable person would do)>
10
It would appear that this particular 'leak', if true, is the sort of compromat Trump's been exorcised of by the Art of the Mulligan.
Trump's prior sins have been divinely indulged because his presidency is apparently divinely ordained.
According to authorities like Franklin Graham & Rick Santorum, Christians have forgiven Trump's sins, because he's 'not perfect' & 'we're all sinners' (and all good Christians have Stormy in their pasts & pee-tapes on tap, & Cohen & 'Carmine' to clean it all up).
In any case Trump's base is lappin' all this up.
14
Since we already know that the *** tape may exist, and we know that with ALL of Trump's admitted perversions, like walking into the female children's dressing room when they were in various stages of undress so he could "check things out", his boast of grabbing women's genitals, that this tape is possible despite his denials. But, even if the assertion is proven, because it's out there, its leverage over Trump is highly diluted. So why is he STILL so defensive re: Russia? Speculation takes me to: Putin has far, far more on Trump, far more damaging, that will do far more than push Trump out of the White House. It will put him in a jail cell. Otherwise, why would Trump STILL defend Russia and Putin?
Sun-Tzu would call Trump Putin's "Doomed Spy"--the dupe to be sacrificed the moment his usefulness is over.
14
I really hope this ridiculous topic goes away soon. If Russia has a hold over Mr. Trump it will have more to do with money. His desire to build hotels needs Mr. Putin's approval and maybe to win that approval he sold properties at inflated prices for the purpose of money laundering. The seizure of Mr. Cohen's files will be the damaging ones.
Mr. Trump will be brought down but not by his disgusting behavior but by his illegal behavior. The secrets are in his business dealings. That tape is regular fodder on late night TV, hardly blackmail material. Let's move on.
8
Cudoos to Michelle Goldberg for bringing the Golden Showers story out in the open. I, like Comey and many others, have always found it credible and “possible”. However, Huckabee Sanders, Trump and his “duck-speak” (1984) supporters are always referring disparagingly to “the discredited Steele report”. Then anti Trump pundits are quick to point out only the “salacious part has never been verified” but much of the rest dovetails with other intelligence. Yet few excepting the late night comics have entertained its plausibility or clarified that the “salacious” has not been discredited ; all we know is that it didn’t happen in the few minutes before Trump’s bodyguard left.
1
Just the idea that we have a vulgarian in office who is all around unfit and unqualified for his job plus this tape may be a reality is the most disgusting low America has ever hit in its history, and we can thank the GOP for all this. He also has a serious problem recognizing the needs of others around him including his family as he has spent a lifetime as a Narcissist.
He needs to be removed from office and he is definitely involved in a continuing massive cover up regarding his 'fixed' election helped by Putin as they sabotaged Hillary.
America has fallen so low in its status as a leader for the global community, and what is going on in this country as far as not taking care of its people because ultra wealthy old fossils in the GOP want all the money and don't want it to trickle down to the middle class or lower income.
10
Peeing on things is a big thing for all dogs, both two legged and four legged. My little mutt is forever marking his territory. It's Trump at his primal level.
9
It is quite evident that Comey despises Trump.
Trump supposedly asked Comey to prove that the dossier was not true. Comey declined to even attempt that. That does bring up this question - if Comey is so disgusted with Trump, and Trump gave Comey the green light to un-verify the validity of the dossier, then why didn't Comey pursue the opportunity and verify that information was indeed true despite Trump's protest to the contrary?
Comey had the resources to verify the truth and chose not to employ those resources. Why he took that path is anybody's guess, since he is adamant that he would not promise loyalty to Trump, and has demonstrated a disdain for the man. So why did he not send his minions to investigate the dossier under the guise of attempting to "disprove" the information? If he had done that his book tour would have been an astounding success.
The tape exists.
If it does not exist, Trump would not be so defensive. It will never be produced, problem solved.
If it does exist, there's no way to prove it does not exist (a negative). Which means Trump wanted Comey to say "it does not exist" so that no one will go looking for it.
The tape exists.
5
Many Americans just don't care. They will stand by their man no matter what. This is what our country has come to. Akin to a sports team of us vs them. Yes depressing but it is what it is. If the unlikely occurs and Trump gets hastened to the exit, be assured that VP Pence will loyally supply the pardon.
5
Of course there's a "pee" tape. I'd guess there are lots of sneaky peeks at Trump's private life that he doesn't want set loose.
What else would explain his subservience to Putin?
6
The pee tape isn't the issue. It's just part of the Trump catalog and adds to a list of things to bear in mind.
As I said before in earlier comment, there is a there there.
Putin holds something on Trump, the tape being the least of it. Once all is known it will likely be money related. That is what Trump cares about more than anything else. All the rest is just speculation on his character and his character has been well known for many years.
7
In between pee tape rants, Trump is likely to protest this photograph. That lovely pageant winner appears to have longer fingers than him.
6
I love how Comey uses Trump's own style of twisted rhetoric against him:
“I don’t know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013. ...It’s possible, but I don’t know.”
4
And this is why the Dems will lose again. You're falling into the trap again. Stay on point, fight 45 on the matters on hand. You sound as crazy as the birthers on the right if that is even possible. Get on with your lives and stop feeding into the frenzy over nothing. Seriously you're discussing "golden showers" this is what you libs care about. Be prepared for a 2 termer in 45. Keep it up.
4
you are correct. The news weirdos especially CNN are gleeful just like they were before the last election day. Cooper, Selzer, Toobin and Goldberg(so many others) cant even fathom what issue mid america cares about so just prattle on on stormy, macdougal, cohen, hannity and other meaniingless diversions. I did not vote for Trump and probably wont next election but the coverage is ridiculous and this article is exhibit A
Were you saying the same about Republicans when they drummed up a frenzy about Clinton’s dalliance with Lewinsky? My guess is it won’t be the sexcapades and lying about them that will get Trump ousted, but the money laundering for the Russian mob. Where are his tax returns?
10
Would the story be any the more or less believable if instead of two prostitutes peeing on that bed it was Trump personally and unassisted? The trouble is that Trump is a man who knows no shame and he is far beyond louche. Either way it is, if true, and expression on contempt for a man he had without evidence has been slandering since 2010. Poor Trump everyone treats him so unfairly, nothing is his fault just like those behind bars whose lawyers sold them put.
3
Trump's media choices narrowed by one about a week ago, when the Feds closed the Backpage website. Talk about a resource for Trumpian desires and tastes. Even Fox can't compare.
1
Excellent piece, again. Trump's history of repeatedly lying certainly leaves him with very little credibility about anything. Duh!
4
Writing like this is why 2017 was perhaps the worst year for journalism and writing in a century. We go through CNN making its new 8-letter word world famous, and we discuss other bathroom words in the desperate but failed attempt to somehow chase the American President out of office - because he beat the indictee-in-waiting.
I love how Jim Comey went from The Worst Person To Ever Live to The Democrats' Best Friend because Trump listened to Rosenstein and fired him.
We still remember the audience of progressives in NYS being told that Comey had been fired to raucous cheering. (The media hadn't reached them yet to tell them they were to be filled with hate over the fact.)
So we have ten million of Hillary's and others' cash invested in this Steele dossier which Rosenstein and others presented to a federal judge as documented evidence, even though it was about as ''documented'' as Busta Rhymes lyrics.
1
If the pee tape really exists, we will probably never know about it because it is the best hammer that Putin holds over Trump. If Putin ordered that the tape be made public, even through some anonymous source, Trump would be shamed, but no longer in the thrall of Russia.
Moreover, Putin would be number one on Trump’s hate list, and we know what happens then.
If there is a tape, it is far more valuable as a controller of the President if it is never seen during his presidency.
6
The more I think about it and the more evidence comes out, the more it seems as though this whole fiasco regarding Mr. Trumps indiscretions hinges squarely on a pre-nup with the First Lady.
Why would he care about sleeping around? The Melina did the same thing while his first wife was pregnant!
Unless Ms. Trump was smart (and it certainly appears as though she is) and entered into the relationship only with the protection provided by a pre-nup agreement.
Why would he care about whether prostitutes peed on him, on tape? Given everything he has said, that's what offends him?
Unless there is a clause somewhere that prohibits this kind of behavior, on pain of lost assets.
Gain a presidency, lose an empire. Wouldn't that be a fitting end to this story.
2
Dear Lefties,
Your hate for Trump has polluted your thought and any form of rational thinking. Let me tell you once and for all. There is NO pee pee kompromat. Feel better?
Now run along and go protest the citizenship question on the census form.
Hank, and you know there is no pee tape how? Were you also one of those who was saying there was no payment to a porn star? Be careful putting too much faith in Donald Trump. He is known to be somewhat of a con artist.
15
Pee tape or not, Putin has something on him.
5
To find out if the Trump had prostitutes pee on a bed, someone (the CIA, FBI, a NYT correspondent) should talk to the cleaning crew in the Moscow Ritz Carlton. There is probably someone at the hotel that will talk about the defiled bed.
4
The operative word for Trump is that he is "compromised" by Russians. Whether by pee-pee tape or his assets being financed by Russia through Putin's hacks is immaterial.
As if on the cue, Trump contradicted his own UN ambassador NIkki Haley yesterday just as Ms. Goldberg wrote this Opinion.
Just one more blatant proof.
Question is ... which proof will finally prove to be the final straw!
8
It's easy to believe there is a pee tape and for all the reasons stated by Michelle Goldberg. In Trump's twisted mind, eradicating the Obama's bed symbolically helps him deal with being smoked at the Correspondent's dinner.
That he would not admit to sleeping with prostitutes is almost as ridiculous since he trolled the nightlife of NYC for years and yes, sometimes pro's will troll for rich guys like Trump.
So, we know all the rumors are possible. We know this by Trump's preoccupation with all things Putin, Comey and Obama. There is a there there.
What is disturbing is how the supporters seem to have no bottom to Trump's behavior and no standard for speaking out. They all want something from him and know he can be compromised by a mouthful of faked praise and a bag of cheeseburgers.
How very sad it's come to this but altogether frightening that it continues.
6
Let's simply go back to basics here. We have a president who is directly quoted as having said "I’m a germophobe. There’s no way I would let people pee on each other around me. No way." Ignore the substance for a moment. Just focus on the idea that our president was moved to utter such a statement.
Completely normal human behavior.
4
Absent a urinary tract infection, urine is sterile.
2
Unfortunately, even if there is a pee tape, and even were it to be shown in prime time on every channel, it wouldn't make the slightest difference. The evangelists will say, well, King David was a sinner, too; the Republicans don't care, and the Democrats couldn't hate him any more. So the only thing that might change is that maybe Putin would lose some of his hold on Trump.
The obvious question is: what more does Putin have on him?
5
'Whatever you think of the former F.B.I. director James Comey, he has started a long overdue national conversation about whether the pee tape is real.
“I don’t know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013,” Comey said in his hotly anticipated interview with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday night. “It’s possible, but I don’t know.”
How low will journalists go to feast on this kind of disgusting innuendo by this sad figure hawking
his tittle tattle book around the carefully selected
purveyors of truth (CNN etc)
There are children involved here, we know Comey doesn't know, none the less less drop the salacious
morsel for the vultures anyway, OK Trump has a young child but what the hell books have to be sold...do you people know no shame....
3
I agree that we don’t know enough about Comey to paint him as a hero but I wouldn’t worry about Trump’s youngest child- it’s absolutely inexcusable to comment on the child but the fact of a child should not shield Trump from a full investigation of his actions and vulnerabilities.
2
If only trump was sufficiently self-aware to feel shame, we might not be in this mess.
2
And now Sean Hannity as a PP (Peggy Peterson) problem of his own.
This is disgusting....have you no sense of decency....?....are you sure that there are no innocent minds that do not deserve to be assaulted with this imagery...?...come on, this is a public forum....you respect a porn star more than the office of the President...?
1
Writing from Canada - your neighbour and trading partner- yes - I absolutely have more respect for Ms Daniels than your President - why? Because I have seen no evidence to suggest that she lacks integrity whereas Mr Trump has an integrity deficit as deep as Mponeng
6
Lordy FBI Chief comes out as make up artist
'there was little tinch uderneath his eyes and his skin was...'
pass the sick bag for there is a hint of the pathological
in this kind of minute and suspiciously detailed defence
..surely this kind of detail is the province of romantic novelists. Even worse was the willing on of the interviewer Steppondo..I can't spell the name and on this obsequious performance he is not worthy of me trying
More than one tape. And for the real dirt, see Felix Sater and his sex parties with Trump and underage girls. Then there’s all that dirty money from Russia in Trump real estate.
10
My quarrel with the right during the take-down of Bill Clinton was the fact that the only impeachable case against him was that he lied about having consensual and free sex with an intern. I deeply resented any democrats who harped on this as well. Bill's impeachment was a charade because it was only about a tawdry affair. He was otherwise a good president and a loyal American, who served and represented us with appropriate decorum. In that same vein, I must poke a stick at Michelle's obsession with pee: "when did the president pee and with whom did he pee?" is not a relevant question, when our democracy and our national reputation is on the line. I want to know why trump behaves in treasonous ways. I want to know why the GOP doesn't care about his crimes, financial or otherwise. I want opinion writers and others in the MSM to pursue these trails. Trump's pee is unimportant "yellow journalism."
2
When the Steele dossier existence was first made known, even the regular media was highly suspicious of the intelligence portions of it. The MSM would not even mention, as Ms. Goldberg does here quite casually, the salacious portion of it.
Today, much of the Steel dossier's assertions have been proven true and the most salacious part of it is cavalierly examined even in the rarefied atmosphere of the op-ed pages of the Gray Lady.
Here's the thing. What do you think would happen to Trump professionally and politically if the tapes in question were to appear and be broadcast across all media venues for the world to see?
Correct, NOTHING! When you are known to openly lust for your grown daughter, to have slept with a porn star and to have done the things described on the Access Hollywood video, then the so called p-tape would be viewed as little more than a school boy prank. I bet his base would laud him for finding a unique way to disrespect the black guy. Again.
The evangelical community would give him another mulligan. Paul Ryan and Mike Pence would put on their long faces and say discussing it is not part of their agenda to make America great again and Trump would make restitution to the hotel for the damaged property and declare the matter closed.
Melania, however, would be another story.
9
Just saying,
" 'I don’t know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013,' Comey said in his hotly anticipated interview with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday night."
and as a rebuttal, Trump accuses Comey of "leaking"?
2
Trump may not (correction, does not) know much, but he knows the heart, soul and big money donor base of the Republican Party has no bottom line when it comes to tax breaks (for them) and regulatory disarmament (for them). The "pee" tape could be released and shown on the nightly news and all the cable news channels (including, improbably, Fox), and his deplorable minions, sycophants and Paul Ryan-like cowards would still support him. Although I had little faith in the Republican Party before 2016, even I thought they would be more principled. What a failure of imagination I had.
4
Follow the money (laundering) not the urine.
4
This is the real-life version of the Manchurian Candidate and time will tell soon enough just how manipulated Trump is by the extremely clever Putin. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to connect the dots and I believe that peeing isn't the worst things that the Russians have on Trump. You don't go to prison for urinating on a bed. You do however go to prison for money laundering, election tampering, and obstruction.
But back to the peeing for a moment. For those that love their guns, hate taxes and the social programs they fund, believe in their own supremacy when it comes to what it is to be "American", feels abortion is bad (except when someone they know needs one), and is morally certain that marriage is reserved solely for a man and woman, I would say you have a real dilemma on your hands.
Trump is most certainly not your guy but at the same time very much your guy. What are you to do let alone believe?
I will try and help you out here. Trump is your worst nightmare mainly because he doesn't care about you at all. Sure he reels you in by taking stances that hit close to home for you, but he is only doing that because he needs you. Trust me, he is using you and you deserve better.
4
Putin has people killed by chemical poison for annoying him.
Making a Kompromat tape of someone like Donald Trump watching urinating prostitutes is actually pretty mild stuff, almost good natured kidding, by comparison.
1
The whole thing about the pee tape strikes me as strangely credible. After all, if Russian sources were planting a story, why would they make up a story so out of left field and frankly, gross, so as to be almost unbelievable?
1
' ....., Steele reported that Trump had prostitutes defile the bed where the Obamas slept by urinating on it, and that the Kremlin had recordings.'
If he did, and I am not saying he did, but he could have, after all, he is alleged to have bedded at least one playboy bunny and at least one porn star, I am wondering if in that hotel room in Moscow, he hesitated and had lofty thoughts such as:
'to pee or not to pee, that is the question.'
Or, could he have been thinking:
'Ours not to reason why, ours but to do and lie'
Tough choice.
1
Ms. Goldberg,
Time to found your own online gossip website. You are really gifted for hyping unfounded, salacious rumors. And you don't let a little thing like lack of facts get in your way.
Your parents must be so proud. Hopefully, there's no such thing as karma.
I loathe Trump's politics but this "column" is beyond the pale.
2
Hard to overestimate the shallowness of this article. Last word in piece is obscene but what is offensive,repellent is the author's preoccupation with the "petite histoire,"folks peeing on beds, mentioned both by Comey, described by some as a nerd, and certainly a writer whose prose is less than compelling, and MG. Juxtaposed to her inconsequential, catty piece are horror stories of children being gassed to death in Syria as well as a profound and very well written analysis of impending conflict between Iran and Israel by Thomas Friedman. Author should be encouraged to live up to highest journalistic standards of the newspaper. Hark back to her article about "inadequate " efforts of FEMA in P.R. during Irma. MG never bothered to go to see for herself, doesn't as far as is known speak any Spanish, whereas Geraldo Rivera who was "sur place,"speaks fluent Spanish, was there and commended relief efforts grosso modo. Whom should 1 believe?Rivera was the voice of authenticity! MG, not so much.Perhaps a sit down with the managing editor is in order in which MG's interlocutor could explain to her the finer virtues of Times newspaper reporting, which is to avoid supefluousness and write with gravitas. Thus, the serious thing about this article is its lack of seriousness!
1
I actually don't think Putin and the Russians need to have any "dirt" on Trump. All they really needed was Trump in the White House. Getting Trump to do what is in Russia's interest is easy - in fact it is nearly preordained. First, the get the massive disruption in our government and a feckless foreign policy - excellent to Putin. Second, Trump is both narcissistic and greedy. Perfect to manipulated by Putin - praise and the opportunity to take part in the Russian kleptocracy. You don't need pee tapes to get Trump to do what you want.
2
What I wonder about is why Obama and Michelle even went to Russia for their honeymoon. Why pick a Communist country for that? What else was going on?
The Obamas didn't go to Russia for their honeymoon, they went to California. You are thinking of the Sanders.
1
"To seriously discuss this presidency, you have to open your mind to the truly obscene."
Exactly. Trump's entire presidency is an obscenity. When I see him fielding questions from the press in the WH, standing underneath the portrait of George Washington, I'm filled with deep disgust but even more, profound sadness. How have we as a nation gone from George Washington to this despicable, utterly irredeemable and vile thing masquerading as our president?
Trump is an obscenity. Every American who voted for him is in some small measure responsible for his daily vandalisms of the Constitution and the presidency. The fact that he enjoys a 40% approval rating is the most damning evidence of our nation's moral and spiritual decline.
3
Since HRC paid for the politicalized Steele dossier then there is obviously no tape. She would own it like her Russian “reset” button if she could remember where she put it. All this talk about peeing on Obama’s bed is just silly speculation from a disgraced book pusher. The stained blue dress and the cigar placed into the privates of a subordinate while in the Oval Office now that was totally real. Duh!
The years of money laundering with Russian gangsters is what the Cohen's files will show and why Trump remains complicit with everything Russian. The pee tape would just be the icing on the cake.
2
I find it hard to imagine that the golden shower tape would be worth much at this point, if it exists.
The few Trump supporters I know would just as soon watch him pee all over the stage at a rally than admit that they were wrong. The ability to pay prostitutes to urinate on one another would just be one more feather in his cap.
If Russia 'has something' on Trump, it is much more likely to be something more complex and with a stiffer set of consequences, such as evidence of a felony committed against the United States.
That would not be so easy to write off. Further, any time Trump treads too close to one of Putin's red lines, Russia could simply leak a little tidbit to the press as a reminder. (Where did the Times get Don Jr.'s 'I love it' email?)
Everyone knows Trump is a freak. They can't yet prove that he is a felon.
2
Hard to imagine this type of column is hosted by the same paper that won Pulitzers today for public service and investigative journalism.....
1
I have no doubt that Trump cavorted with prostitutes while in Russia and I have no doubt the Russians have videos of it. What's important is that Trump has shown a willingness to pay blackmail. I wonder how much he owes Putin.
4
Thanks to you , mr comey, we elected clown Trump, as your pre election display swung the public against Hillary. NICE JOB.....NOT
I bet Melania is getting angrier by the minute.
Donald Trump exhibits many of the signs of a dry drunk.
According to Comey, Trump dismissed the notion that he was party to a urination event because 'I'm a germophobe'.
One thing that germophobes refrain from doing is shaking hands, an act which reportedly is less sanitary than a kiss. Trump doesn't merely shake hands, he hangs on, pumps arms and turns the ritual into a domination contest.
So, one more lie.
3
What is scary is that Trump's outlandish behavior is considered 'normal' by too many in his entourage, and that includes his misinformed and prejudiced base; and lest we forget, a cowed republican party complicit in Trump's stupid and most immature behavior.
2
When all else is considered the simplest answer to Trump's mollycoddling of Russia is that they have something on him. And since the man is not known for being a prince of sensitivity it is reasonable to presume that what they have on him is something he considers damning. And if it is something damning in his Universe it must be truly obscene in everyone else's, eh?
John~
American Net'Zen
1
Did Don Henley, lead singer of the Eagles and a solo performer as well, know something decades ago that the world is just learning now? Perhaps.
In his song about American greed, the desire to have everything and keep right on acquiring, Henley referred directly to Trump. The song "Gimme What You Got", released in 1989, has the following line:
"...these Trumped up towers are just golden showers..." The phrase he used being a way to refer to urination during sex acts to make it appear just a little more high toned than "peeing". Golden showers has appeared enough in various media that anyone paying attention could figure out its meaning, even if such practices seem from a far distant reality to ordinary sexual relations.
I am inclined to believe that Henley was onto something long before the rest of us and before the dossier. He's a guy who seems to have seen it all, one who got around a lot and who knows truths behind the vail of fame that most of us will never learn (and perhaps don't want to learn, for that matter).
As for the Russians, they are well known for having cameras and listening devices in hotels frequented by foreigners. They seek weaknesses and exploit them to the hilt.
You can hear Henley's song mentioning Trump on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNpwaF69w40
2
Again, who cares what Trump did in 2013. I don't care if he did have some lewd sex party that involved outrageous acts. Its obviously not working as blackmail if people already know about it. If he was truly being blackmailed, that information about a naughty tape would not be out there in the public. You get blackmailed for things that only you and the blackmailer know about. It does not work if everyone knows about it, there would be no leverage. Trump is smart enough not to be caught doing things like prostitutes peeing in Russia when he is thinking about running for office. Trump because of his money can have anything he wants. In most cases, I believe he can pay for privacy. You notice that the women that he slept with did not come out with their story until he was elected or was about to be. Obviously they are looking for money. I think that Trump and his lawyer are smart enough not to pay them off with campaign finance like people are saying.
The tape features Trump, Hannity, Cohen and thier shared girlfriends Sarah Hannity Sanders and Kellyane Conway. When Putin watched the urine soaked antics, he immediately went insane. When Pastor Pence watched, his hair turned white.
Just as we know that rape isn't really about sex - it is about violent domination - I should venture to say that Trump's alleged fascination with pee isn't about salaciousness either. The fact that urine was supposedly coupled with defiling the Obamas' bed, would indicate that our Filth-in-Chief gets his jollies not from sexual activity, but from humiliating others in his attempts to dominate them. I personally find this way more disgusting than any fun and games with showers of the golden variety. Truly the workings of a sick mind.
4
Someone should ask the maid at the Ritz what she knows. Like the infamous blue dress kept by Monica Lewinsky, the maid may have decided to do the same thing with the sheets...This could all be over in a week, people!
1
Ms. Goldberg's editorial cleverly dances around a fundamental question, one that we have all thought about but rarely articulated: how badly has this president been compromised by Russia? When we know the answer to this question, we will understand why this country has been held hostage for the last 13 months. We may also understand why some of the Republicans who blindly support this president continue to do so.
As our Idiot in Chief says "let's see what happens".
1
Well, well, well - so THIS could be what the Kremlin has on Trump - tapes of the alleged incident of Trump paying prostitutes to urinate on the bed the Obamas had slept in on their visit to Moscow previously. I certainly would put nothing past the man at this point. It stands to reason that Putin could be blackmailing him with this and it certainly explains the fawning behavior toward Putin that we've been observing in Trump since before the election.
1
Trump has done much worse than his sexual proclivities. Why must we concentrate on golden showers when there are so many more egregious acts?
With Putin, Trump is like a boy with the school principal. Why?
1
Can't stand Trump, but also can't stand a columnist who is willing to traffic in rumors and "don't know" innuendo. We also "don't know" if Trump engaged in a mass orgy involving Vladimir Putin, 27 hookers, Hillary Clinton, and four farm animals; although I think I read it on Buzzfeed and so it probably must be true.
2
When does this end? How much more revulsion can we tolerate from this bizarre presidency and its revelations.
I was just having breakfast and read about this "peeing" tape; then there is the rape and brutal abuse of an 8 year old girl in India which makes you feel nauseous.
How much more can we take? The world seems to be closing in on the terrors of inhumanity. And we are living with a President who insults our country and our very existence.Indeed, you do have to "open your mind to the truly obscene" to view this presidency.
2
We are allowed to post our comments on this salacious story about Trump, which makes a another titillating, sexy addition to the Reality Show Presidency. Meanwhile, no comments are allowed on the two articles about the gang rapes and murders in India, part of a worldwide, ongoing epidemic of violence against women by men.
4
Love your style, Ms. Goldberg. Sadly, nothing -- and I mean nothing -- that the Donald does will change the mind of his white supremacist, fascist supporters. The man cannot help himself. His apologists, however, on Fox News and elsewhere, can. They are the true evildoers.
1
I don`t have a problem believing there is a tape I can easily see donnie dancing a jig watching these going ons. His rabid desire to disgrace and defile anything related to Obama, from where he was born or where he and his wife slept is obvious. But there is much more to this story than a tape. This story starts with money, money given to donnie by members of the Russian Mob. donnie has a "once bitten" problem, a problem that now has him hooked. The tape is a choke collar that is areminder of all the connections donnie has with Putins Mob, and those connections involve Russian Mob money, money used to build the foundation Of the Russian Mob here in the US. This includes money laundering and setting up actual investments to legitimize their standing here in the US. The collar is used when occasional balking is seen in donnie. It is an effective reminder that unlike the American Mob, with the Russians you don`t wake up with a horse`s head, you don`t wake up. The thing that bothers me the most is our perception of Putin meddling in our election for donnie, yet we don`t seem to recognize donnie`s part in strenghening the foothold the Russian/Putin Mob in our country. Putin controls the Russian Mob no matter what country it is in, just ask, I`m sorry , anybody who could tell you is dead.
2
Trump is extremely frightened of not being perceived as an Uber Heterosexual Male. Take that away and you destroy him. Putin has the goods.
1
Of course it happened and of course the Russians have a tape. Trump never wants to see himself as small and pathetic, which is what he is, so I have no doubt that he takes this seriously. But the bigger matter he is trying to hide is his phony business and its singular use to run shell companies, many for Russian Oligarchs. He is terrified at being exposed for money laundering, which is why he is now freaking out at his fake mob lawyer's raid. This is your president, Trump Country.
3
Tape or No Tape, Trump consistently goes easy on Russia....
Congress overwhelmingly passed sanctions against Russia last summer, and yet Pres Trump refuses to enact them, time and time again. Why would a sitting US President Trump passively go against Congress and in a way that helps Russia?
Why did Pres Trump fire Sec of State Tillerson immediately after Tillerson spoke out in favor of Russian Sanctions following the poisoning of a British spy and his daughter?
Even yesterday, US Ambassor to the UN Nikki Haley announced Russian sanctions and Pres Trump is now backpeddling about additional sanctions.
With this continuous pattern of tough talk and soft action, it leaves people wondering, "what does Russia have on our President?"
1
The more I read abut 45 the more nauseous I get. All I want is one day without any mention of this odious little man. Is that too much to ask? The Times and just about every news outlet is obsessed with him 24/7. Enough already. I mean I know you want to charge for ad space but enough is enough. It's been 2 years now and counting with non-stop continuing coverage of him. I need a break.
2
I don't know what kinky stuff appeals to Trump, but whatever it is, it pales in comparison to the indecencies he's perpetrated on his office and on the American people. Trump himself is the real obscenity.
3
The exact reason that trump is so nervous about a 'pee tape', and the Daniels and McDougall revelations dawned on me last week.
It's not the 'truly obscene' that embarrasses him, it's what it could truly cost him.
When trump married Melania Knauss, they both signed a pre-nup. I would say it's very safe to assume that one of the stipulations in the pre-nup is that if it is ever definitively proven that either party committed adultery, that the agreement is null and void.
If, or more likely when, Melania finally divorces trump, this could cost him millions, if not tens of millions of dollars. And since most business experts believe that trump is carrying a large debt load, a large divorce settlement could land him bankruptcy court. He's been there at least 4 times before, but this time could really ruin him financially.
And he knows it.
3
"Lordy, is there a tape?" And when there were photos of tracks going to concentration camps...?And when there were no tapings of the silence during the McCarthy era? And when less-than- clear-images of lied-to-soldiers, transmuted into lied-about numbers, were returned home, lifeless and not quite recorded? And when documented voices and sights of vertical barriers of faithless -"principles-of-faith"-based- hate accompanied a planned "reception" of fellow BEINGS attempting to bridge institutionalized racism in Selma? And when the chemicals of ummenschlich-corrupting-war-criminals in Syria, killed and maimed just a small number of a nameless-THEM, when 500,000 in number are no longer THERE? And wouldn't be permitted HERE, because...? When peeing or not peeing ON, rather then urinating into, by gendered labeled THEMS, during an era of gender politics, witnessed, or not, by inadequate-evidentiary-men,who may have enlarged prostates which can affect judgment and decisionmaking. Nationally and globally. As they prostrate them selves, and US, to alt-facts; news worthy or not! "Lordy, is there a tape?" Can it, will it,be resurrected? Lordy, is there a cure for willful blindness of taped eyes?Willful deafness of taped-over ears? Ignorance?Mouths taped by everpresent silence which mutes physical, psychological,spiritual, social,economic pains by so many?Everywhere!When any of US note that we don't know-whatever- do we want to know?To understand as best as one can?In order to...
Comey is probably right about one thing: Trump is, in his piggy little way, quite smart. The charges about obstruction of justice, financial malfeasance, profiting from public office, and corruption are more important. And using Russian assistance to get the Presidency is as Joe Biden said: "if it's true, it's treason." But reality shows and ratings are one thing Trump does know about, and he knows that most of the public is bored by financial and political stuff, but pee tapes? Pee tapes catch the modern American imagination. Pee tapes could make him look bad.
2
I think Trump is being blackmailed or somehow compromised, but not for the "salacious" details. He won the US presidency after Access Hollywood and his poll numbers just went up despite the Stormy details. His fear is jail not embarrassment with hookers. He can't be embarrassed.
And one more thing - this column must have been written before Trump threw Nikki Haley under the bus by backpedaling on sanctions. Another sign.
2
Consider the strong possibility the pee tape allegation is a MacGuffin - an object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion despite usually lacking intrinsic importance.
Trump is venal but there is good reason to believe his own claim that he is sharp enough to curb his misbehavior in the land of kompromat.
An experienced and clever blackmailer, anticipating and aware of the investigation could have concocted it. The salacious aspects becomes the focus of the scandal and keeps it newsworthy to all. It is simple, visual and easy to follow unlike complex financial malfeasance with shades of grey that are likely the real source of leverage. Lastly it is believable yet unprovable without a tape.
It simultaneously provides cover while keeping the scandal alive, causing ongoing division and diminution of America's standing.
Attention to details like this will help you rise to the top of the KGB.
This is disgusting. I'm embarrassed and afraid for my country. Mueller please end this nightmare soon.
It is entirely possible, even likely that Pence has been compromised by this evil administration in which case do you really think Paul Ryan will be retiring?
1
@Jennifer Issaquah
Oh, please, please let it be true that Pence has also been compromised . . . .
1
This moral monster is capable of anything.
1
Those Jane Doe-Trump rape (age 13) allegations? The tendency of both the responsible press and the public to avoid talking about the pee tape has a parallel in the non-coverage of Jane Doe’s now-withdrawn suit. The idea that our sitting president may have raped a then-13 year old girl in the home of Trump’s friend, convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein, is so disgusting that many reasonable adults would rather dismiss it out of hand as malicious, salacious gossip. The fact that this woman’s suit against Trump was withdrawn days before the 2016 election, and that her lawyer quoted her as saying she was threatened, this dynamite has been pretty well buried. Why? Well, Epstein was also reportedly a friend of Bill Clinton. And Jane Doe has apparently also gone deeply to ground.
Inquiring minds wonder what the payoff to her may have been.
Maybe we’ll find a receipt in Mr. Cohen’s records. THAT would be something.
1
Michelle, welcome to the ranks of the "peelievers"! After Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, the "louche" Las Vegas nightclub, who cannot harbor the belief that Christopher Steele might have told the truth i the most salacious part of his "dossier." In Comey's telling, it apparently so P.O.ed, in a manner of speaking, Donald Trump that the "more he doth protest" the more it seemed possible. But, with Trump's latest cave on imposing sanctions on Russia, we'll probably never knwo. What we do know is that other significant parts of the Steele dossier have just been confirmed like the report by McClatchy that Michael Cohen did, in fact, visit Prague as claimed, supposedly to act as "fixer" for the Trump campaign. It may not be as sensational as a potential "peetape," but it brings together both the Cohen and Mueller investigations into the real possibility of evidence of collusion and conspiracy. And this may be the reason that Trump fears that the FBI may find his real "dirty laundry" among the records seized from Mr. Cohen.
The other possibility that hasn't got much traction is that Trump and Putin are business partners. We already know Trump treats women poorly, and he might have a kinky side. The release of the tape would mean little to his ardent supporters. I think Donald is working in conjunction with Putin towards some kind of payoff. Money is what motivates DT. What kind of deal might be in place?
Tell-tale books are the price of political firings within a fundamentally capitalist system in the USA. If you're let go from your job by some evil person due to purely political reasons, you won't get a pension and you won't work again. Tell-tale books are our society's solution to that problem.
1
Another time, Trump said he’d “just remembered that he never even stayed overnight in Moscow” (though his bodyguard contradicted that story).
“One of the greatest memories of all time” at work! Conveniently 'remembers' whatever it is he wants to 'remember'.
Just the usual Trump scattershot defense -- throw out every excuse and see what sticks.
3
What is striking is how the element of voyeurism (from across the room), and the "germophobe" pieces of the puzzle, actually fit together so perfectly. And perhaps Trump is too unwitting to even see how oddly compatible those two pieces of information look together, to a neutral observer.
If such a recording exists, so what? Pence will say that Trump, in his heart, is repentant. The evangelical base will forgive, and the rest of Trump's base will double down on their support. Yee Haw! He's a naughty boy, but he's our naughty boy! Give him another pass. After all, he's done so many great things for the nation, and so forth.
It just occurred to me that Trump is an excellent deflector. It would be just like him to act like he wanted Comey to focus on the prostitute connection if there were far worse Russian interactions like election collusion and money laundering he did not want the FBI investigating.
When Comey said "Lordy, I hope there are tapes," I believe he was referring to Trump's threat that Comey "better hope there are no tapes" of the conversation they had together in Feb. 2017. Why conflate or distort the origin or meaning of these two references? Isn't there enough confusion created on Fox and other Trumped up new sources?
3
If the Ritz-Carlton pee tape, which I believe to be real, was released with Putin’s okay tomorrow, would it in any way tarnish Trump in American’s eyes? I don’t think so. We’ve been so normalized to his deviances that the abnormal, the pee-tape episode, seems normal. The normalization of deviance surely must be the primary way fascism takes root.
12
I think Trump is scared out of his wits by Putin. The recent poisoning of the Skripals could be read as a clear message to Trump: I’ll remember if you disobey me no matter how long ago and I’ll find you when you least expect it, and I know where your family lives...
11
Citing multiple anonymous sources, Steele reported that Trump had prostitutes defile the bed where the Obamas slept by urinating on it, and that the Kremlin had recordings.
Does this sound like something Donald J.Trump would do. Does it? YES, IT DOES!
10
i like the accompanying picture of the pageant winner and trump. there we see donnie in his element..... carefree, anticipating some grabbage. no worries about the consequences because there aren't any..... then he wins BIG. he's president. he has more power than he ever dreamed of..... but he is doomed.
6
Latest headline: Trump Scraps New Sanctions Against Russia, Overruling Advisers. Say no more.
6
As I have said since that ride down the escalator, the man is a walking, talking, unrelenting obscenity. He is America's kidney stone, and needs to be passed. One fears that he may be cancer stage four.
11
If Russians possess a compromising visual record of Trump having sex, they would only be borrowing a page from the Kushner family playbook.
8
There is no bottom -- the current occupant of the white house can always go lower
9
I don't think Trump is one who could be blackmailed. He's just too belligerent and too egotistical for such. And in the end, anything he might have done before he was President would be no surprise to most people. Even those who voted for him pretty much agree that he's a very coarse, vulgar man who is also very nasty.
5
Today, of course, the president has just removed many of the new sanctions on Russia. There is no longer any other credible explanation for his behavior. The president is a traitor in the everyday sense of that word.
8
Isn't there a video clip of Putin, during the American presidential election campaign, referring to the hotel incident, including Trump's involvement with prostitutes?
1
" The article considers a number of potential reasons for this, but doesn’t raise the rather obvious possibility that Trump is being blackmailed."
Precisely. How else to explain his reluctance to confront Putin and Russia over electoral hacking, or their actions in Syria and the Crimea and the Ukraine? Or his praise for Putin's re-election in an blatantly obvious rigged election? Is it the millions of Russian rubles that poured into Trump's real estate coffers, as detailed by Trump, Jr? Is it the alleged "pee tapes"? We don't know for sure yet, but the circumstantial evidence appears to be overwhelming that Putin has "something" on Trump...and by association...over the United States government. What's more, I don't think Trump is alone in this. The refusal to confront Trump by Congressional Republicans, along with their resistance to pass legislation to protect Rosenstein and Mueller, smacks of a deeper complicity (I hesitate to use the word "conspiracy") on their part. Russian money, funneled to their election committees through the NRA, is a story that needs further investigation but has become "lost" in the day-to-day mania that we now experience. This is, by far, the most corrupt administration and Congress that we have ever experienced in our history. A "fumigation" is needed to set things right. Vote.
3
If Steve Bannon was having a secret consensual affair with Reince Priebas (all the supposed hostility being just a diversion in a homophobic world that they publicly support) while others read Ross Douthat columns to each other while having sex is nobody's business but their own.
3
@Rober Roth: Priebus is not a national adversary and Bannon does not set U.S. foreign policy towards him. Their hypothetical dealings (as you described them) would be irrelevant. End of analogy.
1
@Robert Roth
Your hilariously imagined secret, off-the-record, hypocritical sex in strange places might be nobody's business but that of the copulators if not for the fact that the GOP, staunchly supported by and avidly courting the votes of white evangelical "Christians", has been working diligently to impose its cynical and hypocritical misogynistic, homophobic, anti-LGBT, anti-abortion rights, anti-privacy, "save us from rape in public bathrooms" craziness on the rest of 21st century America.
And on that note, be careful what you wish for: how do you feel about Mike Pence taking a seat in the Oval Office?
1
This is an interesting question. I think it is apparent that Trump's supporters don't care at all about his sexual activities. That goes, as well, for all the evangelicals whose concern with everyone else's sexual morals seems to be curiously missing when it comes to Trump's liaisons with various porn stars and Playmates. But it is evident that even Trump did not realize how immune he is to sexual scandal, as evidenced by his various efforts to pay off Karen MacDougal and Stormy Daniels. Does a "pee tape" pass a threshold that even Trump's supporters could not take? Would a video of Trump watching two women desecrate a hotel room bed be enough to pry Trump's people away from him? I am not convinced; indeed, the more the press talks about it, the more it is prepping the public for the tape's eventual release. In other words, if this is what Russia has on Trump - and it seems to have something - the value of the blackmail tape may be decreasing everyday. Personally, I think that what Russia is using against Trump is hard evidence of criminal dealings with the Russian mafia or similar bodies. I think that Trump's fear of Russia is rooted in the realization that dealing with the dirt it has on him would land him or his family members in prison, not just be bad PR or embarrassing.
4
It's more than "voyeuristic interest" to me to hear that allegedly Trump watched as a bed that former President Obama and his wife slept in was defiled. It is shock, because Obama was our president at the time Trump allegedly did this. And that would mean that Trump's hatred is for our country, not just for the highest elected official representing that country. Which would make him a prime target to be turned by Russian intelligence, for the purpose of encouraging him to commit treason.
4
Well, here we are---on the front page of the NYT and in op-ed columns analyzing the contents of extreme porn--this is what happens when a majority of the electorate goes to sleep and a minority of the electorate wakes up.
3
I don't know what kinky stuff appeals to Trump, but whatever it is, it pales in comparison to the indecencies he's perpetrated on his office and on the American people. He is the real obscenity.
6
Everything about this President is seriously obscene. Be it mob ties or mercenaries. Claptrap celebrities or cold hearted corruption.
2
That we as a nation accept this level of man as our leader is a poor reflection of who we are. We should all be ashamed of his behavior. The POTUS of the used to be an office that had integrity, See BARACK OBAMA.
3
Or Jimmy Carter.
2
As disgusting as these stories are, everything he has allegedly done has been consensual--unlike Bill Clinton who actually attacked women and was accused of rape.
2
No, actually Trump has been credibly accused of sexual assault and harassment by multiple women and he admitted on tape to assaulting women by groping and kissing them without their consent.
2
Shhhhh. What Clinton did was acceptable as his party affiliation was Democrat.
Nice analysis, while not salacious, the Dread Tyrant Trump's degenerate proclivities further indicate how truly perverted his life view is.
It is interesting to note that his probable interest with urination is another marker of his infantile life view---narcissistic and fascinated with bodily functions, and a germaphobe, thinking it is other people who are the source of baking unclean.
Sad!!
3
Couldn't they find out if Trump reserved an alternate room? I could see him reserving the presidential suite just to destroy the bed the Obamas slept in, then sleeping somewhere else, probably reserved by his bodyguard. This should be easy. Trump's not that smart.
2
My thoughts exactly.
Quickly, interestingly: I was very briefly confused by “... like the former director of the F.B.I., we don’t know if Trump has been compromised by Russia.”
Weirdly, at first, I read that as “like Comey, Trump may be compromised.” On second glance, the wording is fine, and the meaning is obvious given what I know of the context. It’s just odd to me that I don’t immediately read that as “like Comey, we don’t know.”
I thought maybe other readers got briefly tangled there too.
1
Odds are that Republicans don't speak out bcz Russia, or Tramp through Russia, have blackmail material on them, too.
2
Trump’s most earnest denial of the Russian Ritz tape is that he’s phobic about germs and bacteria. Mr Trump, if that’s true, how in the world can you eat fast food that’s prepared by underpaid teens who wake every day with a chip on their shoulders? On the other hand if the bed was wetted on and Trump remained the night, where did he sleep? Trump’s psychosexual life has for decades been a public display of infantile longings and disturbing images. Marla Maples’ narrative regarding Trump demanding she pose nude for Playboy after giving birth is among the creepiest chapters despite the fact that neither lips nor hands played a role. Ivana’s divorce tale is of course worse as is his confession to Howard Stern that if Ivanka wasn’t his daughter etc etc. As we will eventually ask regarding Trump and foreign banks, why would someone so corrupt run for President we have asked it every day since he first escalated down to the lobby of his tower or power. Pee is the least of his perversions. His concept of the presidency may be his greatest.
3
Even Christopher Steele doesn't say that the Russian hotel room urinating episode is guaranteed to be real.
But there are lots potential blackmail issues with Trump of which this episode is just one.
2
This presidency is truly obscene...
2
The Kremlin more than likely did the Trifecta - blackmail of salacious pee pee tape, loans to keep Trump afloat, and hacked the DNC and had Wikileaks post emails. Putin wanted someone he could control as president of the United States and he did whatever was necessary to be able to pull strings in Washington, D.C. Why else would Trump have two Russians in the Oval office and brag about firing Comey? Why else would he be so skittish about opposing Putin? Why else did he not do anything to investigate the Russian interference in our elections and still hasn't? Why else is Putin the only one not subjected to his bullying and attacks? Putin owns him. He is Putin's puppet. To Putin, I would say, "You get what you pay for".
4
How did Drumpf expect Comet to prove something doesn’t exist? It’s kind of hard to prove a negative, even to Trump voters.
1
Trump has forfeited a presumption of innocence.
Russia is also guilty until proven innocent. This is not an aberration of a pillar of justice. It is an informed judgment based upon a well chronicled recent history of Putin and Russian machinations worldwide, their form of government and a well founded distrust of their pronouncements.
Similar to Russia and Putin, Trump should also be considered guilty until proven innocent. Not legally--the search for evidence continues and he will be judged according to 'innocent until proven guilty'--unlike Russia. But his presumed guilt is an informed view based upon his espoused values, the horrible cabinet and advisers he has surrounded himself with and fact checking that has turned up thousands of lies he has told and is telling--every day, every issue.
Children in America are all told the story of the little boy who cried wolf so often that nobody believed him when the wolves actually appeared. America needs to arm itself for the wolves because Trump has proven himself a chronic liar with predator values.
Trump has lied so much that nothing he says can be taken at face value. And so it is both fitting and proper that we protect ourselves by presuming he is guilty until proven innocent.
Trump has forfeited a presumption of innocence. He is guilty. And he should be thankful he is American and not Russian because he might still be found innocent of these specific charges.
1
Is there a tape of Michelle finding out about Vera?
He wears those long ties for a reason...ask any psychiatrist.
He has polluted this country and it is seeping out into the world. Our American made monster.
1
Records of the dates and times of his flights and who was on board should be available for review.
"To seriously discuss this presidency, you have to open your mind to the truly obscene."
Agreed: We're not in Kansas anymore.
1
Out of curiosity, does anyone know if suicides have gone up statistically since November '16? Because it's just one bad thing after another, and it all feels like trying to live in a burning house full of sewage.
1
Let me say for the record that I hate Trump and want him out of the W.H. But this whole "pee tape" thing is horribly unfair and if Fox News was doing it to a Democrat, Michelle, you'd be apoplectic.
The peeing incident/tape was mentioned in the Steele dossier and, in response to a question about it, even former FBI Director Comey (who certainly had access to among the intelligence in the world) said he didn't know if it happened or if the tape existed. Despite their credibility challenges, Trump loyalists who were there like Schiller say it didn't happen. Nobody has come forward with meaningful evidence that it happened.
Look, Trump is horrid but when NYT columnists start acting like Page Six of the New York Post we've sunk to a new level. We need less written about peeing and more about policy.
1
It would have been better if you had run against O'Bama but that would have meant fixing the economy and having to make the same hard choices O'Bama did so we bounced back now enjoying his hard work. Let's see what happens after your stint in the White House is when we will see what you did.
All Republicans need to reassess their obsessive devotion to party and Fox news.
Fox et al, has been misleading this country for 30 years so a rich media mogul can make a bunch of money. Good grief.
2
What's the explanation for Trump's May 10 2017 Oval Office meeting with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak & Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, where Trump told them he'd fired Comey because of the "great pressure" the Russia investigation had placed him under & was now free of. Then Trump blabbed to them top secret Israeli intelligence our ally had shared with us, offered up as a treat for his Russian guests. The takeaway from this is that Trump was willing to betray our country & our ally in order to ingratiate himself with two Russian officials in the Oval Office several months after the election - Russia, our longtime enemy & antagonist of more than 60 years. If that wasn't a 'tell' that Trump has more loyalty to Russia than to us, & was willing to abuse or ruin our relationship with Israel to make them happy, what is? This stuff is staring us in the face. Trump fired Comey to make the Russians happy then offered them an ally's confidential intelligence to impress them further with how compliant & useful he is to them. This appalling episode - leaked by Moscow - has been staring us in the face for nearly a year. We don't know what started Trump's affinity with Moscow - shame, financial indebtedness, stupidity... What we do know is Trump behaved like what the Russians call "a useful idiot" in the Oval Office with Russian representatives. Donald Trump is a traitor. We'd better face this and remove him from office.
4
Yes, that meeting has always stood out to me as an egregious declaration of where Trump's actual loyalties are. It was appalling then and it remains insufficiently investigated or explained to this day. I only hope and have to believe it is a big part of what Mueller is investigating.
It's obvious that Trump's request that Comey investigate the pee tape report on the dubious claim that it would upset his wife was, in fact, Trump's desperate attempt to find out if in fact a tape of the encounter existed. He was trying to use the FBI as his own personal private detective service, after which he would order the tape destroyed and the story buried. In fact, the request is a rather obvious admission that the incident did in fact happen
The Exceptional Nation: Oligarchs r Us.
To seriously discuss this presidency, you have to open your mind to the truly obscene.
Or you have to be willing to go against all that you have learned about being civilized: avoiding lies, slime, disrespect of humanity and women in particular, civil discourse, talking in complete sentences, and willing to reside in the gutter of humanity.
What? Trump was not abducted by aliens??? You sure. I’m not so. But I would bet money that he still wets the bed.
"The possible existence of the tape isn’t relevant because it would prove that Trump is sexually debauched and longs to desecrate everything Obama touched; "
We need proof that trump is "sexually debauched"? Cheating on one's wife? Having an affair weeks after your wife has given birth? We're not in search of proof. As we heard in the Access Hollywood tapes, he's proud of his debauchery, there's no further need of proof.
1
The tape exists, it doesn't exist, the event happened, the event didn't happen...
What is happening is that trump is peeing all over everything and everybody. He is marking his territory - it is ALL about him - and everything is his. This obscene, petulant narcissist should be nowhere near the office of the presidency. THAT is the true obscenity here. That it is enabled by an entire party, and nearly half of the country, is an obscenity as well.
What a tragedy for us all.
Headline in Times today: Trump Rejects New Sanctions Against Russia, Changing Course. [Even undercutting his own U.N. ambassador.]
And the "tape" is in the news.
Is it possible Putin said that's it, regarding the tape?
"...I don’t know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013,” Comey said in his hotly anticipated interview with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday night. “It’s possible, but I don’t know.”..."
I think Comey is being a little playful here in copying one of Trump's standard propaganda techniques - say something outrageous and then qualify it with an"I don't know" or a "maybe".
Everyone ends up talking about it and questions about whether or not it is true take are pretty much forgotten about.
This pee tape thing is starting to become a little bit ridiculous. We have been talking about this for more than a year, and there is no evidence of what really happened in this hotel-room.
Whether if Moscow has the tape or not, Trump is still the President of the country. If it is true, it will just be ridiculous for him because he claimed so obsessively since the beginning that nothing happened. His obsession with this “rumored” pee tape only makes him look guiltier. We could imagine that if he was as innocent as he claims, he would just have admitted it once and for all. On the contrary, he keeps returning to this subject. If there is a tape, it will just deteriorate more Trump’s image and put into question all his relations with Russia. It is just a small part of all the Russian allegations around his election, but it will mean that, as the article said, they are using it to threaten him.
But we can’t forget that it was first the “golden shower gate” and today it’s the “pee tape”. Those are two different things. Can it just be a political plot to make him look dirty on the eyes of his own conservative electorate? Like even Comey said he do not know if the tape is real or not. However, as the article says, Trump has been involved in weird sexual activities, so can we really believe him on this one? I am not sure.
In the end, this tape story sounds just like another chapter in the Trump-sex scandal-Russia story.
It's so sad that so many people who voted for him channeled their angry through this loathsome creep who isn't deserving of anyone's support. Just look at him: a foul low-life carnival barker.
In a way ot doesn’t really matter whether the sordid incident happened or not. What matters is that we have a “president” so demonstrably decadent and debauched that serious people simply can’t dismiss the allegation out of hand. And no, we may never know if a “pee tape” exists—at least as long as Trump is still in office. Why would the Russians wish to do anything that might risk Trump’s presidency when every day he sits in the White House Trump drags Russia’s main global adversary deeper through the muck?
114
Indeed. Trump has yet to fully deliver. He's been trying to lift sanctions on the Russians since the week after he assumed office. Oh, but wait--!
Former officials: Trump seem prepared to lift Russian sanctions in exchange for absolutely nothing
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-wanted-to-lift-russia-sanctions-day...
7
If not video, there is something being held over Trump’s head. Nothing else can explain his obsequious, embarrassing grovelling before Putin.
Having said that, it is moot. No sexual escapade, no matter how sordid will matter to his base. Clinton permanently lowered that bar. The only crime that will matter will be financial - it’s the only unforgivable sin in the US psyche
7
"No sexual escapade, no matter how sordid will matter to his base. Clinton permanently lowered that bar."
There is nothing about Clinton's behavior with Monica Lewinsky that his family or his supporters can be proud of.It was an extramarital affair with a woman the age of his daughter. But it is undeniable that it was, and is, business as usual in Washington and anywhere else there are people with power. It was known by some at the time of the impeachment that at least 2 of the loudest voices driving the impeachment (Newt Gingrich, Henry Hyde) were conducting similar affairs at the same time. So much for "the bar" you allege Clinton lowered. It is a far cry from what is known about Trump and even farther from what is alleged to have been recorded in Moscow.
Scores of US presidents before Clinton had extramarital sexual affairs so that bar was already pretty low. It was the lying about Lewinsky that got Clinton facing impeachment, not the affair itself. Trump hasn’t faced impeachment - yet, and his cover up of and lying about the Stormy and other affairs will only be small change in it, it’s more his financial dealings....
The expanded dictionary of Trump prepositional phrases.
1
"To seriously discuss this presidency, you have to open your mind to the truly obscene."
Perfect.
10
It had to be really difficult for Comey to have to speak to Trump about the dossier and the prostitutes. Comey has spent his life defending law and order and the Constitution and as FBI his first contact with Trump put him in the position of having to talk about a disgusting subject to loathsome man whose response wasn't that he was offended that anyone would think such a thing about him but instead asked Comey "Do I seem like a guy who would have to hire hookers?" -- literally bragging that he is so terrific he, of all people, wouldn't need to pay for sex.
Comey must have gone home and showered and burned the clothes he wore to rid himself of the stench coming off of being in the same room with Trump.
9
Lordy, I'm worn out in San Diego. A good day for me is waking up to no news alerts on my cell phone. (Well, I exaggerate, but you know what I mean).
Somebody had better step up and save the country. The NYT sure tries...so thank you Michelle and everyone at the Times.
9
The important point to make about the tape is that we, citizens of the United States, are now bound to Trump as Melania is bound to Trump. This analogy is perhaps what Comey meant to convey (consciously or unconsciously) by fixating on the tape. Trump made a solemn vow to Melania, he had a child with her, he promised them his fidelity. He entered a very similar vow with the American people and the Constitution.
As Melania has had to stretch her imagination in her marriage to acknowledge what Trump is capable of, so too must the American people stretch there imagination to understand what types of betrayal and disasters he can inflict upon us.
It's not the sexual behavior that is the most disgusting and damaging. Rather, it is the recklessness, the stupidity, the hypocrisy, the utter absence of a moral compass or common sense. In this respect, the United States will learn and suffer as Melania has learned and suffered.
7
When I hear the term “golden showers” in relation to Donald Trump I do not think about “pee,” but about the “filthy golden lucre” which has been raining down on Con Don and his family through fraud, illicit real estate dealings, influence peddling etc. for years. That former KGB officer Putin was able, sometime in the past, to recognize and lock into the overreaching unfettered greed of Trump-his poor investments and business decisions is glaringly obvious.
The Russians have a hold on president Trump and now all Americans are hostages to “Putin pressure” as long as he remains in the Oval Office. He must be removed.
2
Comey admits to torture:
“I wanted to say, ‘You have no idea how hard these legal issues are. You have no idea that Congress defined torture in American criminal law differently than you and I would understand it,’” he told Stephanopoulos.
“So saying, ‘Don't be the torture guy,’ I don't wanna be. But my job as a lawyer is to say, ‘Here's what the statute means,’” he added. “And there's a whole lot that would pass muster under the statute, that I would think that any normal person would think is torture.”
1
Well. If Comrade Trump isn't being blackmailed, he sure is acting like he is.
But why would someone act as though he were being blackmailed?
7
Finally, an op-ed that doesn't blame Comey for not being nice, for not above getting into the gutter with Trump, not that he even gets close to the edget of the gutter.
I think the smell test for everybody who is criticizing Comey for using strong language in describing Trump will come 5-10 years from now when we look back and realize: my god, President Trump was a person who lied all the time, treated women like meat, was a all out vulgarian. James Comey will get points for not playing nice, as if nice is getting us anywhere.
8
Surreal photo of the two guys shaking hands over the woman. Creepy. Look at Donald Trump’s face. I don’t think I’d want to be Miss Universe if I had to stand too close to that.
4
This average American to the tape's reaction, is ick and gross. Sadly I believe it is possible of this President.
6
If there ever was proof of a merciful god, it's that we haven't been subjected to a Trump sex tape (yet)
2
"To seriously discuss this presidency, you have to open your mind to the truly obscene."
Pretty much.
3
Your sentence makes it sound as if the Obamas were in the bed at the time. Maybe had slept would have been clearer. I'm shocked they didn't wake up! Where was the security?
Just when I think " it's really time to get rid of Trump ", I read some trash like this article and I think "no the other side has nothing better to offer".
1
I don’t believe for a moment that you’d ever think it’s time to get rid of Trump. Hillary would have made an infinitely better president than Trump. Anyone but Trump would have made a better president than him.
For goodness sake, he would survive urinating hookers and they would probably be crowd funded to make the movie. This is a distraction. Russia is not blackmailing the President, they own his debt and they own him. The investigation should not be about collusion but rather about finances, money laundering and simple graft. If the Trump organization loans were pulled, he would be bankrupt and that is all the leverage Russia needs.
9
Fake may have been prescient and there are tapes. Not the famous one but tapes of crimes being plotted with fake, Cohen, and Hannity. The sick part is that the authorities have known for years that fake is a crook. They let him off with fines.
1
It's the "defiling" of the bed that the Obamas slept in that has the ring of truth to it. We know that Trump is deliberately dismantling every piece of the Obama's legacy that he can. This is just one more piece that fits the puzzle that is slowly building to become a complete picture. It's just that this piece is just so nasty and vengeful that makes it so spectacularly distasteful.
5
Blackmail is only effective if the blackmailer threatens to reveal something completely unknown and potentially damaging about the blackmailee. Trump is already widely known as a crude sexual actor, serial philanderer, shady businessman and overall barbarian. It’s hard to imagine what the Russians could be holding over him, and if there is something, what they are waiting for to spring the trap. More likely, they are laughing at us as we destabilize ourselves with this sordid voyeurism. Time to move on.
No, Michelle, you don't have to open your mind to the truly obscene. You have to ignore it. Read your colleague Frank Bruni. Stop stooping to Trump's level. It's a distraction, and he's winning the outrage war, while quietly the country becomes stocked with right-wing religious fanatics posing as judges, among other dangerous moves for the country.
1
Once again the commenters have solved a puzzle. Trump is pandering not to Putin, but to the oligarchs slated for sanctions that he owes beaucoup rubles to. ( see first reply to lead reader pick comment)
Thanks to the Times and its commentariat.
3
Donald J Chaos & Co will go down in history as the worst Presidential administration we have ever endured.
4
"Trump and his entourage, including his Russian associate Emin Agalarov, visited a louche Las Vegas nightclub called the Act. It was later shut down after a judge issued an injunction against the “lewd” and “offensive” performances it was known for." This makes Comey's mob comparisons seem that much more apropos -- it reads like the infamous scene in a sordid Havana nightclub from the Godfather II, only Trump is actually Fredo not Michael. The Moscow Ritz-Carlton prostitute tale is like the story line setting up the crooked Nevada senator for mob extortion. This is the presidency millions of flag waving 'heartland' white American voters chose and still rationalize as the lesser of two evils. Give me a break.
3
Ms. Goldberg, as I opened my (Pulitzer award-winning!) New York Times this morning, the upper left-hand corner screamed (sorry), reported, this headline: Trump Rejects New Sanctions Against Russia, Changing Course.
The story contradicts U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley's promise(s) that America will punish Russian companies for aiding and abetting Bashar al-Assad for his chemical attack(s) in Syria. Now the Trump 180.
It certainly does appear that the Russians have, indeed, kompromat, on the (now) American president from his appearance in Moscow in 2013 (and before he became a, ah, political operative). Of whose country, we don't yet have the definitive answer. But we can all guess, and that country's colors aren't red, white and blue. But I digress.
It certainly seems in keeping with Donald Trump that sleaze has always been his currency. What should be more concerning is that, even before 2015, millions of Americans thought he was such a grand and entertaining idea, and drank from the polluted stream. Now, of course, it's all Obama's fault.
Look, if Donald Trump, while a candidate, had urinated in public in the broad daylight of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, let alone shoot someone, he would still be the president of the United States this morning. In my mind, if the Hollywood Access tape didn't disqualify him in the wide-ranging American mind, what else would? Groping women? His reward is the presidency?
His presence in office says more about us than it does about him.
3
The tape I want to see is the one with the look on the face of the housekeeper innocently arriving to tidy the room, poor woman (and you just know it must be an underpaid woman).
2
Frank Zappa must have known Donald Trump when he wrote "Bobby Brown Goes Down". The names were changed to protect the innocent. Watch Trump now, he's going down.
1
We don't need a tape.
We need to see greed and avarice as enemies of democracy; that is what we need.
Trump loves Putin because he's the richest man in the world, and kills whoever gets in his way. Trump loves both of those scenarios.
This so-called 'Christian' nation elects the lying, adulterous, tax-cheat, immoral, draft-dodging, treasonous, money-laundering, bully. Wow. What would Jesus do? Probably cry, then turn over some of the Republicans' tables.
Yes, money-changers we have become. We've rewarded the rich so much, they are so powerful, that the only meaningful thing done in the last year is passing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. The 'good-ole boys' that vote Republican can't hide from that. You guys are complicit and tied to this abomination of democratic values. Yes, Democrats are more moral. Deal with that.
So, forget the tape, we can cleanse ourselves by moving towards democracy and compassion and community. We must.
Love your neighbor. Love the stranger. Love this country and the world. That destroys any and all lust for lucre and corruptions of the soul. We can do it together.
Trump be gone.
3
I have lost count of the number of reasons why I despise Donald Trump, and the list grows daily.
3
My only question is: Will Trump be the first president jailed for treason?
2
Putin is an old time KGB thug. He is a murderer. No one crosses his 'red lines' and gets away with it especially those who he considers to be traitors. It is not a stretch to think that Putin would use secret recordings for all sorts of control and blackmail.
And stateside we have Michael Cohen. An old school fixer of the American mob variety. Apparently Trump has found his "services" very helpful over the years.
Trump never cared for laws or morals. Get what I want anyway I can. So between Putin and Cohen it is not farfetched to think that there are numerous situations that could expose Trump's past.
Trump is being slowly exposed as more disgusting every week.
2
The most sickeningly funny thing in the interview was when Trump asked Comey if he looked like the kind of guy who needed to pay for sex. The answer is laughably obvious to everyone but Trump.
3
Lordy, is there really a need to discuss the pee tape, Ms. Goldberg? Believe me, I want this nightmare circus of Mr.Trump's presidency to be over as much as, or more than anyone else... But talking about the infamous tape only helps to follow Mr.Trump's all the way down to the gutter... Considering everything we already know about Trump's shady connections to Russia, Putin and their security services, the existence of the pee tape, if confirmed, would not by any means be the worst of all things that could potentially come out of the Russia investigation. Conversely, while it is looking more and more likely that Trump is indeed being manipulated by Putin, it is extremely hard to imagine that being blackmailed by the hypothetical pee tape would be enough to force him to go to such great lengths... Let's just run a mental experiment and imagine the tape being published. It would impress the predictable portion of the population already outraged by Trump; and disregarded by his base. It would be impossible to verify its authenticity, and very easy to dismiss as a fake.
It's gotta be something more boring - but more tangible and serious; laundering Russian mob's money, for example - something that's easy to imagine, and could be easier to prove in court too. Or simply a quid pro quo agreement during the campaign - Clinton's emails and online trolling in exchange for pro-Russian policy concessions. Something Mueller's probe is showing to be more and more plausible.
3
While it is quite possible that the peeing tape exists, I doubt that this would give Putin much leverage over Trump. It is already selvevident that the president is rotten to the core. This would not be sufficient to overturn the applecart. And especially so as the republican party with some notable exceptions seems equally mired in the swamp. No, it is Trumps admiration for Putin who has been in power since the turn of the century by a combination of politisised courts , murder, condoned oligarch kleptocracy, state controlled media and lies about everything imaginable. This is what Trump dreams of for America. Three more years of this administration and democracy may be on life support.
2
I had a long career in government at the local, state, and federal level. Once in a while there was an elected politician, out of the mass of honest elected citizens, that behaved very strangely with regard to a particular person or group. Strangely enough, sometimes, to lead to suspicions regarding financial impropriety or a coverup.
There was a common phrase for this situation: "They must have pictures of him with a goat." Wry humor, with a shake of the head.
2
"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must the be truth." Arthur Conan Dolye.
Trump being blackmailed by Putin is not only possible but highly probable.
But Republicans could not care less whether Trump is Putin's puppet or not, and their astoundingly sinister depths of cynicism is the real threat to America.
3
Contrast: "I don't know whether Mrs. Obama picked out that Tan Suit of President Obama's....it's possible- but I don't know."
2
This president certainly acts like blackmailed by Putin's Russia. Meanwhile it seems difficult to fathom the Russians would only have the infamous tape as leverage- they must be loaded with their own side of the collusion with the candidate Trump. It might just be the one they can leak (no pun) for it's powerful image to pre-blackmail this obscene and despicable president. Mr Mueller has everything else, and maybe this one too.
1
Trump might well be blackmailed by Putin. Among reasonable grounds for the assumption are sex and also business - and possibly both. We'll know sooner or later.
1
Well, after reading about the tapes, I can't help but refer to the electoral college president as "trumpy." Says it all.
3
Trumpsick should be a word. This proudly primitive 'man child' debases everything that's fine about being human from our hard-won ability over eons to be able to trust in one another's decent intentions, to any idea of human sexuality that isn't anything more than power grab by physically intimate means. The day this odious character from the lower depths of human nature at last takes his exit will be a happy day indeed.
3
I don't really have to open my mind to the obscene, Ms. Goldberg. It has already been brutally invaded and violated by everything already divulged about this president. Open my mind to the obscene? It is a truly horrible thought that some people have suffered multiple rapes. It is not too far of a reach to compare that to the routine defiling of my sensibilities wrought by the daily outrages of the crude, vulgar fraud now occupying The Oval Office.
1
Going to a club to watch women urinate? And then a few months later get involved in a similar spectacle in your hotel room in Russia?
Such a bizarre confluence of events.
And just this week the Trump administration called the Russian embassy up to say there were were no more sanctions in the pipeline . . . right after Nikki Haley said there would be more sanctions.
Looks like somebody's got Trump in their clutch.
1
There doesn't have to be a Ritz Carlton tape. There was an Access Hollywood tape.
Trump's behavior, whether it is his involvement with a porn star or his admission on audio/videotape about grabbing women without their permission, is proof enough of his promiscuous tendencies and salacious proclivities.
Lordy! He is our president. Sadly.
1
Let’s just say it. Trump is being blackmailed by Putin now.
The bodyguard leaves, then there is a knocking at Donald's door. The "Prostitutes" would be GRU agents, who come to entrap a famous American. (That Trump becomes President is just dumb luck. But what a prize!) Entrapment happens all the time, so take it to the bank. By the way, I'll bet Mr. Steele wears very heavy gloves when he opens doors now days.
1
The article forgot to mention the possible connection with Anastasia Vashukevich, who still seems to be in a Thaï jail, hoping to tell her side of this perverse story. I would not be surprised if she and her merry pranksters were the ones soiling that bed!
Probably the right question to ask now is - why hasn’t Russia outed Teump? What are they waiting for? What action by the US President is Russia expecting, while holding sexual and financial blackmail over his head?
Trump continues to degrade democracy and deface our Nation's honor in everything he says and does. He should be dismissed as a grave danger to democracy. Impeach!
6
Everybody knew he was a sleazeball, but enough people didn’t care, and Bernie split the Dems, so...here we are
This is not Alger hiss. This is a waste of time. I did not vote trump and probably won’t if he runs but this is lazy thinking and writing. Stop it. The 6 headed cnn screens with toobin borger et al are laughable and all should be fired when this is proven to be a waste of time if it has not been already.
2
You didn't vote for Trump because you're not from here. It's so obvious.
1
I understand your desire to not waste time. Perhaps you may not to read articles or watch TV programs that discuss matters you consider trivial. Or at the very least, you might want to spend your time doing something other than respond to said articles.
The possibility that the president of the United States is being blackmailed by Russia is a waste of time? Please explain why, because I just don't see how this is a minor issue.
I fail to see Comey as either earnest or as a tragic figure, though his actions, driven by self-righteousness, a love of the spotlight, and religious zeal, have certainly been tragic for Americans and American democracy. Further, I don't believe Comey was "striving for decency," so his errors in "judgment that helped put the singularly indecent Trump in the White House" are absolutely unforgivable. One can (and should) find Trump to be the most repugnant and depraved criminal, sexual predator, con-man, and liar imaginable, without making any excuses whatsoever for Comey. As Rod Rosenstein laid out in his letter recommending Comey be fired, Comey not only failed on every level in the Clinton investigation, he unforgivably sought out the spotlight and exploited it to personally attack Clinton. Rosenstein's rebuke says it all: "we do not hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation." Comey still defends his indefensible conduct in the Clinton investigation in his book. Comey believes he's a saint, just like Thomas Becket, so why should he apologize for throwing the election to Trump? Trump is president because Comey is a sanctimonious zealot. Decent prosecutors like Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller set aside antipathy towards a morally repugnant individual like Trump and focus on his criminality. If Comey had followed the law, instead of his extremist religious beliefs, Trump would have never been president.
7
Comey has religious beliefs? How do you know this?
How do I know Comey has religious beliefs? You can't be serious. Beyond casting himself as Thomas Becket (Saint Thomas of Canterbury), Comey has extensively spoken about his being a devout United Methodist, and he has also spoken repeatedly of how he had been a Sunday school teacher. Further, Comey has repeatedly used biblical verses and biblical moral arguments, as opposed to legal precedents and legal arguments, to makes his case. After former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with Russia's ambassador, Comey used a Bible verse on Twitter and Instagram, not any legal precedent, to discuss his views of how justice was being served. "'But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream,' Amos 5:24," Comey wrote, referring to the Bible's book of Amos. I did not create Comey’s religious zealousness, it is an unfortunate fact, and it is why he thought he was justified in contravening the law repeatedly in the Clinton inquiry.
Sure. Hillary claims to be a devout Methodist and Bill a devoted - ah, I forget. He spoke with passion about his religion. It’s true we may not know what is in a person’s heart, but it’s not as challenging to understand what is on their minds. With all of these people, it’s politics and power.
The Kompromat exists and is serving its purpose of manipulating Trump.
Trump is terrified of the Russians releasing something humiliating and devastating. That is the purpose of kompromat, to create that uncertainty and fear. It does not matter if the Russians actually have tapes...Trump thinks they do. He demonstrated that by asking Comey about the tapes again and again.
It’s all about getting into his head.
So it is working, Trump is being blackmailed by the Russians.
16
The thing about this administration is that it’s all true.
6
As little regard for Comey's intellect and thought process as I have, and it is microscopic, I will say this.
Anybody who can actually employ "Lordy" in an ostensibly unironic fashion is most likely incapable of lying.
6
Every time Trump refuses to impose Russia sanctions or speak ill of Putin makes the existence of a tape -- and I mean videotape -- more believable. Steele was a highly credible British agent who cooperated many times with U.S. intelligence agencies and never gave them cause to disbelieve him. While some of the intel he provided was labeled "raw," i.e. subject to further verification, a lot of it has since been verified and none that we know of has been disproved. Even Cohen's trip to Prague now appears to be true. As for Trump consorting with hookers in a Moscow hotel room, he's just the type of guy to do it and stupid enough not to worry that he was providing Putin with "kompromat."
9
So you have absolutely no evidence that this tape exists, but you spend an entire column discussing it. And you try to intimate that Comey is bring up all this salaciousness reluctantly, and I suppose you are too. Right. Donald Trump disgusts me, but Ms. Goldberg's emphasis on this tape and Trump's trysts with a porn star bring her down to his level. This column may appeal to the prurient interests of some, but I find absolutely no value added to the public discourse, and just want to take a shower after reading it. The discussion of this tape does nothing but bolster Trump's claims of fake news.
3
Another virulent defense of Trump while claiming he's not a supporter of Trump. I see a common thread here. You attack Goldberg for discussing the news of the day. That's her job.
Now go back to watching Sean Hannity. He would never get down and dirty huh Charles?
1
In the past it was easy to make jokes about Trump and the Republicans being exiled to Texas to join people like Rick Perry, Ted Cruz. Kansas was a suitable location, the Koch wings softening the glare of scrutiny while they create their own rancid nation and quit polluting ours.
Polluting includes every sense of the word, debauchery, in this opinion piece and where those words lead in a thesaurus. Trump's orbit professional to personal and those who actively participate through actions or silence are morally bankrupt which seems such an inedequate description.
Not on the debauchery subject but worth mentioning: I
don't fault Comey for describing the anamolies of Trump's appearance viewing him face to face for it had to be a great distraction upon their first meeting and those thereafter. Commentators, commediens, my friends have stated the same and should be veiwed as informing the visually impaired. After all, it is part of the story. Visually impaired are curious about appearances for instance Bolton's mustache they are denied seeing the whole picture due to their handicap.
1
It is over a year that Comey or Mueller have been investigating if Trump colluded with Putin. Comey testified that he could not find any evidence that Trump colluded and if the Russians meddled, they did not affect the election in any way. Not one peep has come from Muller about collusion. He can't find any. He brought charges against some Russians who couldn't care less except they won’t be able to go to Disney Land. He also charged people for things that had nothing to do with this election. He got a couple to plead guilty for lying. Flynn and Gates pleaded guilty for the same reason. They don't have a money printing press in their basement. They realized that Muller had every intention of ruining them financially, leaving their families destitute if they didn't plead guilty. Not finding any collusion, Mueller goes after salacious gossip. He is now delving into the National Enquirer and Access Hollywood to dig up dirt. Mueller used the Steele document to obtain a search warrant without letting the person issuing the warrant know it was bought and paid for by Clinton and the DNC. Steel was sent to contact some Russians to get dirt about Trump. Isn't that colluding with the Russians? We heard about the tape before the election. Trump still got elected. We also have heard about the pay offs to women who threatened to make public charges. What is the definition of black mail? None has anything to do with collusion with Putin. Mueller should put up or shut down.
1
I love how some of you act like you're on Mueller's team and speak with such authority on things about which you can't possibly know.
How do you know Mueller has no evidence of collusion? Are you just saying this because it makes you feel better, given the tidal wave that is on its way to Trump as we speak?
Let this play out and when Mueller comes out with all of his findings, THEN you and your ilk can speak on it with some semblance of certainty. Until then, though, don't speak on this as if you have some inside knowledge or more common sense than the rest of us. It's arrogant, condescending, and plain wrong.
1
Comey started this before Trump got to the White Hound. He found no collusion or that the Russians had any effect on the election. That's not from Mueller's team. That's from reading the NYT. The NYYT also posted a list of who Mueller charged and why they were charge. None come close to Trump and collusion. If Mueller found collusion, he is obligated to bring that information forward. Not finding any, he now is going after sleaze provided by investigating the National Enquirer and access Hollywood, neither of which has anything to do with collusion. Reports are Mueller is going to keep this going until until just before the election month of November. As far as finding condescending, you might find it if you look in the mirror. One question does need verification. Did Putin in his wildest dreams think Mueller would run the investigation? It took Comey and Mueller ten years to complete the anthrax investigation. That ended with a payment of over $5 million to a falsely accused person. All of this is found in the NYT, not the Mueller team.
It looks that Putin may have unflattering if not incriminating tapes of Donald Trump. I'm wondering if Putin might have a collection of video and audio recordings.
It sounds like Mr Cohen probably has several recordings. It sounds like Cohen had no idea that he was going to have his office raided. Apparently Trump and Sean Hannity are very worried about what Cohen has in his office.
Lordy, what a mess!
3
Tape or no tape, Trump is still No. 1 with his base!
2
Michelle, it's true that we don't know if there is a tape of Trump watching a performance by a handful of Russian prostitutes peeing on each other on the same bed in the same room of Moscow's Ritz-Carlton Hotel's presidential suite where president Obama stayed just a few months' back in 2013 with his wife.
But if there's a tape of the same sordid nature in Putin of Russia's hand then we can all say in unison : That we as a nation is in big trouble.
We can see the result already of the kind of trouble we're in by seeing Trump's handling of Russia's recent criminal acts where Putin's buddies did some horrible acts but Trump is reluctant to sanction any of Putin's friends.
Maybe one of the reasons why he insulted his U.N. Ambassador Ms.Nikki Haley because she couldn't perform what the Russians prostitutes could do although as per Steve Bannon, she used to spend a lot of time in Trump's Oval Room.
Trump's Chief Strategist clearly suggested in his book "Fire and Fury" that Trump and Ms. Haley had an extramarital affair.
Like most of the good women of this country who didn't vote for Trump thinking rightly that our illegitimate president is of lower moral character, Ms. Haley and most of the women who support Trump should think twice before sitting alone with this man with small hands who bragged on video how he treats unsuspecting women : By touching their private parts without bothering to ask for their permission.
So let us all say :God save America from Trump and Russia.
2
There is really no bottom to the septic tank of the Trump presidency and character. The worst part of it is not the sexual perversity, infantile rages or lying. It's the realization that the man occupying the Oval Office and commanding the most powerful armed forces in the world cares nothing for this country or its citizens, may be in thrall to an adversary, and will always put his own welfare and grip on power above all other priorities. Time is running short and we need Congress and the judiciary to do their duties.
5
It's getting beyond tiresome having to hear these disgusting things about the president of the United States without any evidence that they are true. It was bad enough when Republican's degraded the country with salacious details about Bill Clinton in their rabid effort to remove him from office. Watching Comey discuss this with George Stephanopoulos was beyond cringeworthy and diminished Comey's message exponentially. Trump is a real threat to our democracy. Not just in what he may do, but in the stage he sets for the next one with autocratic tendency. Trafficking in disgusting rumors is not the way to address this threat.
1
Take my word for it. Its all true. Or do you think the guy who cheats on his pregnant wife with porn stars is somehow above this because of his high morals?
1
I'm not sure whether Russia having video of Trump and urinating prostitutes could be usable to blackmail him. Most GOP leaders would not care nor act any differently towards Trump if such videos were released. And it appears likely most Trump supporters would give him a pass, or even amp up their support, tickled by the fact that Trump helped defile a bed where the Obamas once slept. They long ago decided to either ignore Trump's crudeness and misogyny, or embrace it.
No, Trump is not particularly worried about possible salacious videos. His statements, actions, and policies in support of Putin stem, rather, from two factors: (1) his ideological embrace of Putin and (2) his longstanding financial ties to Russian oligarchs, both from the Trump Organization and his campaign for the presidency.
On the first point, Trump does not hide his disdain for democratic norms, checks and balances, and the rule of law. He celebrates white supremacy, just like Putin. Trump would love to install in Washington the same form of government Putin enjoys in Moscow.
On the second point, Trump does have serious concern about the financial facts coming out, which is why he gets so agitated when the legal system is nosing around his business dealings and campaign practices. Putin would not be helped by this information seeing the light of day, so it is not usable for purposes of blackmail against Trump.
The possible existence of salacious videos is not at the root of Trump's pro Putin stance.
3
What's much more important is whether or not there could be recordings in material seized from Cohen's office; perhaps of payments made to the Trump campaign by Russian oligarchs to arrange help in spreading fake news trying to influence the election in Trump's favor?
1
Did w e not know this before Trump became president?
A nation gets the government it deserves, and the United States we knew no longer exists.
3
Excuse me, but I'm gobsmacked by this sentence: "Evidence that the tape might be real isn’t limited to Trump’s phony alibi."
Ms. Goldberg apparently doesn't understand the meaning of the word "evidence." This is kinda like saying that the federal government's denials about Area 51 are evidence that we have been visited by extraterrestrials.
Hey, instead of opening our minds to "the truly obscene," maybe we can keep our minds open enough to not get distracted by Trump's obscene sideshow.
3
I think comes would make a better politician...I'd vote for him!
Did any editor read this: " It matters because, like the former director of the F.B.I., we don’t know if Trump has been compromised by Russia." Is it that Trump was compromised like the former director of the FBI or that we hold a belief, similar to the former director of the FBl, that Trump was compromised. Grammatical accuracy matters in these horrible Trump times.
1
Trump is definition of indecency. I find it truly bizarre that his deplorable supporters purport to be religious.
5
We really must stop asking if Trump can sink any lower in his debasement of the Office of President of the United States of America........he is clearly taking such talk as a challenge!
1
Because Trump cares nothing about other human beings, he very likely would authorize using weapons to take attention away from what he would find embarrassing, so long as it was not apparent that the killing would lead to deaths of American troops. A real wag the dog scenario. And the Congress refuses to do anything about this obviously demented dangerous person. Were Trump not in office, the evidence about him and his inability to separate truth from lies would support a finding that he is not capable of executing an oath to tell the truth.
2
How do people who purport to believe this nonsense reconcile the fact that any sane person recognizes that Trump has, increasingly, been very tough on Russia. Sanctions, insults, calling them out specifically, most recently risking killing their soldiers in a bomb raid.
For this theory to hold water one must believe that Trump is, at this point, secretly getting clearance from his boss, Putin, on these stances.
I don’t see how anyone of average intelligence would consider that a plausible scenario.
in days of old, lies were crafted to sound like truth in order to get people to believe them.
now, it seems, truth is distorted to sound like lies in order to get people to ignore it.
how far we have fallen in just a couple of short years since the escalator descent from on high.
1
Lordy, the news keeps getting worse. Why would anyone think that our President is capable of such acts? I will have to tune in to Fox News and wait for Hannity to mansplain it all or maybe we should just wait for the Cohen tapes to be released.
2
"To seriously discuss this presidency, you have to open your mind to the truly obscene." Brilliant. That sentence sums it up. Sad, but true.
2
While the idea of Trump, Bannon, Bolton, S.Sanders even touching me is a major turn off, the idea of people urinating on each other isn't. Much of anything involving sex is a matter in what spirit it is done in. Because these people have given sex a bad name, I don't think the constant positing of "normal" monogamous with no "kink" sex that keeps appearing in times columns as the type of sex people should engage in is any better. In truth I do expect much more from Michelle Goldberg. But since coming to the Times she seems to increasingly fit in.
1
Trump's statement that it was unimaginable that he would sleep with prostitutes is like Bill's "I did not have sex" statement.
Of course trump was not going to sleep on a bed that was defiled in the way the dossier describes. Besides, who "sleeps" with prostitutes? I guess it depends on what the meaning of "sleep" is. So it is plausible he only used the room to change, not sleep but "sleep" with prostitutes and them watch them defile the bed that would not be slept on.
Trump is a dirty obscene old man, but when it comes to imposing himself in lewd and sexually obnoxious ways on women he does not embarrass.
What motivates him to compliancy is money - or the lack of it and where Russian oligarchs and Putin are likely to have made him whole. Money and laundering appears to be more important to Trump and likely how Putin controls him than a mere sexcapade. Indeed, our POTUS appears to have had many - taped or not - that we know of already.
Then there is also the threat of polonium or Novichok poisoning. That is a great motivator to honor one's debts or comply with all requests from a thug and leader.
2
Americans still think well of their political system, enough that there's a denial that a president can possibly be involved in such lewdness. This is a similar incredulity that kept people incredulous that Nixon, with a strong Christian name and an innocent Scottish family name meaning "son of Nicholas," so wholesome and mainstream, could possibly be a neurotic, foul-mouthed crook and felon. They wanted to believe it was a one-off bad apple. The American system, apart from Carter and Obama, has consistently produced crooks and liars as presidents, at least since Nixon. Trump is no exception.
The tape is real, Trump enjoys lewd acts, the Russians have their irons on his sensitive parts, and America got the president it chose, and deserves. It's not collusion, it's submission to Russia.
That is in my opinion the reality. Another reality is that American whites are some of the most dysfunctional of whites in the world, closer to Russian and Eastern European whites than other European whites. White Americans are more addicted to drugs and alcohol, die younger, see more violence and family dislocation, and are more poorly educated than whites in western and northern continental Europe. The contrast between Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel on the one hand, and Trump and Putin on the other, largely reflects the contrast between the populations of their respective countries.
Still, people come here to try to succeed, and in the process they improve the country, so there is hope.
At this point in the Trump reign, the only thing that would be considered salacious would be if Don invited Hannibal Lector to the White House and the dined on Jim Comey’s liver with favs beans. Maybe. Once one of the crimes he has committed is uncovered, maybe President Pence can find it in his heart to pardon the guy. After all it was just Trump being Trump.
We may never find out the truth. However, it is strange that Trump has ignored everyone when it comes to sanctions on Russia. He is reluctant to do so -- even after the poison gas incident. Why?
6
Real or not, significant or not, I would respectfully suggest that Las Vegas (or Macau or London - wherever) offer odds. And then they should create an app so that everyone, everywhere could install the daily odds on their websites, Facebook feeds, etc. Maybe the wisdom of crowds can provide some insights.
4
The true story will be outed in the fullness of time, and I think it will be obscene (Trump was compromised). And a thousand years from now, historians will still be using that obscenity to make a cautionary point about the limitations of democracies.
10
Trump has already been compromised many times over, as has Bill Clinton. Have have most presidents on the question of infidelity and disrespect of women. We haven't had the media covering this "news" so closely. Difference between Clinton and Trump: Clinton committed his infidelities as president - and one (that we know of) in the Oval Office.
The p-tapes are actually the least significant part of the Steele Dossier. Chris Steele must get a laugh out of this obsession by the US press and public.
The web of conspiracy outlined in the Dossier, involving Paul Manafort, Carter Page, Michael Cohen and the Russian intelligence services, Press Secretary Peshkov and Putin provides the most coherent explanation for all of the bizarre interactions and denials between the Trump team and Russians.
Cohen's role in particular as the manager of payments and deniability is coming into focus, as evidence emerges that he lied about a meeting of importance in Prague that was noted in the Dossier.
That accounts for the Trump panic over the Cohen search warrant.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump–Russia_dossier
25
I've listened to several Comey interviews. He sounds more like a delusional, media-obsessed, weed-induced, idealistic, teenage, church counselor than an FBI agent. He knows nothing and readily admits it. How many times does "possible" or "I don't know" in his book and interviews. Now ne wants to be an author and writes like a high schooler. He is a mess.
4
Agreed.
And Trump is ten times worse.
What does that make Trump?
And where does that leave our country?
Also:
James Comey - a Republican
Rod Rosenstein - a Republican
Bob Mueller - a Republican
Andrew McCabe - a Republican
2
Sorry, Pilot, but Comey is not the mess you should be worrying about!
It's kind of strange the way you vastly overstate his shortcomings, though I grant that his actions contributed to that much bigger mess we now have in the White House.
I'm sure you just forgot to mention that.
4
Ok Mr Cohen, we get it. You're running scared. It's ok. But rather than commiseration with your terrible situation, expect hilarity.
Regards.
2
Of course there are many rumors about tapes, underage girls, use of drugs and sex, and other things that are not common behaviors. That being said, we have not seen the evidence and should not presume guilt. However, as a possible espionage/thriller, the story of the Trump involvement with Russia has so many unbelievable elements that no writer of fiction would think she could get away with it. Would anything--perhaps up to Trump having been trained by the GRU shock us at this point?
Trump should want to cooperate with the various investigators to put these doubts to rest. That he is obviously kicking and screaming his way through the investigation is pretty strong circumstantial evidence that there are secrets he wishes to hide. For now, we can only worry about those secrets and hope that at some point some of his supporters will develop the guts to put country first.
14
I said this before .. at this point would it matter? This is not what the Russians have on him. I mean they may have a tape, but that's not what gives them leverage. It's the money he owes Putin and the gangsters. Trump is not right, he has no soul. He's con man and a pig. This has been known for a long time. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if there was a tape of him sacrificing a baby worshiping the devil. The few hard core supporters wouldn't care, wouldn't believe it, or would say it's doctored. Congress doesn't seem to care about anything he does, in fact they go along most of the time. And the press eats it up. Like it's one big tawdry reality TV show, which it is. The scary part for me is we just keep going backwards on everything important. The environment, tax policy. Syria, refugees, trade, drug war, infrastructure, health care.... Every decision this man & his admin. implement makes things worse. Going backwards, or the status quo gets us ever closer to some real disaster ... it won't work. It feels like a runaway train that can't be stopped until it flies off the tracks or over a cliff.
34
If someone were going to make up, out of thin air, a negative story about Donald Trump, it would take a very active imagination to dream up the prostitute story contained in the dossier. Why would a man who operates a company that is in the intelligence business make up something as bizarre as the story we have all heard? My gut feeling is that it is true.
24
The idea that the tape is real is not actually that outlandish. As most men will know, there is even a category for that kind of porn on every porn site. It seems to be a fairly common fetish. And we know for a fact that Trump enjoys destroying and defiling everything connected to Obama.
How to prove it? The Russians won't release it. But if it were real, there are at least five women somewhere who know that it happened. And somehow I think nobody would be surprised if some or all of them happened to have had a fatal accident.
What about that woman jailed in Thailand?
11
GS, Those black helicopters will be landing in your front yard any minute.
"The prince of darkness is a gentleman"... King Lear
So that eliminates trump.
6
“...a fairly specific kink.” Thank you Michelle, that made my day.
6
“I fear you protest too much...” reminds me of a great phrase from The Urantia Book.
“The argumentative defense of any proposition is inversely proportional to the Truth Contained”
Is the Dossier true? Who knows? Russia has something on Trump. Take that to the bank. To date, Trump has been caught in over 2,000 lies. What’s one more? The fate of our democracy.
18
Am I the only one unimpressed by this?
A whole column in the vaunted NY Times opinion section about why the alleged pee-tape might be real? Surely there must not have been anything else to write about.
This smacks completely of echo chamber conspiracy theorizing equally as incompetent as Alex jones.
Let’s be clear. Trump is unfit for the presidency. He shows this daily by his words and actions, which are on the actual record. By all means, criticize him for these! However articles like this only reinforce the belief by some on the right that he is being unfairly targeted by the liberal media.
At least when I read Bruni or Dowd I see stylistic prose and literary panache that make the experience enjoyable.
This is more preaching to the choir with all the eloquence of a high school debate club.
2
I would suggest rereading but I honestly don't believe you've missed the point, but are amongst that category of reader who prefers dissembling to founded argument, and as easily dismissed.
Regards.
3
Not the only one. I think there's 1 more.
1
"To seriously discuss this presidency, you have to open your mind to the truly obscene."
With each tweet and each day, Mr. Trump proves this presidency IS the truly obscene.
20
An other hit job.
It is also possible DT is an alien out of space or caused 911 etc. Without any proof, writing about things that physically possible but totally unlikely is wrong.
2
Trump is afraid he will be poisoned , killed, by Soviet agents when he is no longer in office. He is a germaphobe to begin with, but the Soviets instill a paranoia that will never allow a moment of peace for him or his kids the remainder of their lives.
5
Does it strike you as logical that a self avowed germaphobe would have unprotected sex with a porn actress?
Or even any type of sexual contact?
Considering is known dalliance with women any phobia about germs does not extend to his sexual proclivities,
THANK YOU, Ms. Goldberg, for addressing the elephant in the room. You may not be convinced yet, but I was sure from day one that the reason Trump was so concerned about the possibility of a Ritz-Carlton tape is because he's being blackmailed. His behavior toward Russia is all of a piece, the portrait of a toady groveling, praying not to be exposed.
14
Why hasn't a reporter visited Ritz Carlton and ask what happened that night. The company's headquarters is in Chevy Chase, Maryland, so no need to even travel outside of Washington. One would think that the whole company heard about the housekeeping nightmare in the Moscow presidential suite, if it happened.
1
probably just another day at the office for them, if it happened at all. very forgettable.
Who knows if there is a tape? Trump lives in a world where anything is possible and all "facts" change daily. My real takeaway on all of this is the GOP in general. They are all very quite about all of this and are still making up excuses. What if all this was on Obama or the Clinton's?? I wonder every day how any of them can look in the mirror.
6
What’s obscene is that Congress did not insist on his tax returns, way back when.
This would have revealed that Russia’s hold on Spanky is his debt, which Putin can call in at any moment, since he personally controls all of the banks in his country.
Putin can wipe out the entire Trump fortune with a phone call.
That, my friends, is what Donald is afraid of.
28
Nothing, absolutely nothing, at this point would lead me to believe Trump's explanation on anything without corroborating evidence. So, his story of what happened in Moscow is just as unbelievable as anything else he says which cannot be verified by someone else. More believable than the Trump explanation is the known fact that Trump's revengeful nature with his attempt to trash every thing accomplished by President Obama is the story that he hired prostitutes to defile the presidential bed in Moscow. The story fits that revenge motif. Trump's fear of Putin and that Putin might be angered by any of Trump's actions against Putin is further evidence that the story actually happened. Something has to explain the reason for Trump's exclusion of Putin from culpability for almost everything, including his attack on our democracy, and the story that Trump's revenge in Moscow was caught on video by the former KGB chief doesn't sound far fetched at all. The story going around is that Trump's fury and subsequent revengeful intent is that it springs from the digs which Obama made at the 2011 correspondent's dinner at the White House. Obama took the story of the birther conspiracy and made a joke of it and of Trump at that dinner where Trump was in the audience. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHckZCxdRkA
6
I'm waiting for Putin's memoirs to appear long from now after he has decided that he's tired of trying to run the world in secret, and just wants to enjoy his fabulous wealth.
It will be hilarious when Putin brags about the infamous tape and how it frightened little Don so much that his son-in-law tried to set up a secret method of receiving his orders from Moscow. Will Trump voters believe it then? Will they feel snookered? Will they be sorry? Doubt it. Trump shot America's values and self-respect in the middle of Fifth Avenue and it didn't cost him a single voter. About the only thing his voters get right is calling the rest of us "haters"--as in I absolutely hate what this vile greedy slob is doing to our country and the world.
15
Oh, should we remember that when Donald J. Trump was criticizing James Comey regarding their conversations, he said Comey should "hope there are no tapes" of those visit. That was back in May. Freudian response? "Tapes" on the brain?
Tick tick tick . . .
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
7
The thought of an intellectual lightweight like Trump going against the best political minds in Russia almost evokes a sense of pity. Trump's gift to turn everything into gilded garbage isn't lost on the Russians, which is why they wanted him in power.
12
Reasonable folks who find Trump an appalling and pathetic figure should be careful not to engage in too much speculation about undocumented behavior (there’s already enough that’s documented to build an iron-clad case against him) because when/if some of it is proven untrue such speculation will have served only to fuel right wing conspiracy theories and harden the already yawning divisions in the country. There’s plenty already on the record with which to build the case that Trump is the absolute worst president in US history.
7
“To seriously discuss this presidency, you have to open your mind to the truly obscene.”
Excellent sentence, perfect.
10
THe recent reports that Cohen actually was in Prague and that he lied about it suggests that the dossier perhaps got a lot right, and is, therefore, credible. Maybe even this bit of information.
5
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a POTUS who was knee deep in policy decisions and working to make the World a better place?
There was a time when POTUS meant being the moral compass for billions of people.
This has to be what it felt like as Europe descended into The Dark Ages.
10
It is interesting... If the Russians do have blackmail material on Trump (and just imagine how awful it must be for the Trumpster to not just shrug it off)... Then everytime Trump is forced by circumstance or by his own aides to impose sanctions or deport Russian diplomats; Trump gets hysterical because he doesn't know whether he has gone too far and Putin will publish the video or whatever they have.
It may also explain why Donald is so eager to meet with Putin alone, it is the only time he can get his instructions and beg for mercy.
5
Trump specifically wanted Comey to “investigate.” Why would he want Comey to investigate something he vociferously claimed never happened? Or was Comey supposed to find out if there was a tape?
5
Let's conjure some alternative explanations why Trump, who could generate the adulation he craves from the knee-jerk mouth breathers by slamming Russia (the archetypal black hat in the John Ford Western that seems to run in a continuous loop in right-wing brains), instead plays Twister in his efforts to look tough while doing nothing to tick off Putin.
I'm coming up empty. You?
I understand in right wing world evidence is a four-letter word. Hannity a Cohen client? Preposterous!
After all Donald Trump has done and said (dating his daughter, grabbing them by the feline, etc.), I would think that he would be presumed guilty in these matters, might even be called out by one of the Christian witch doctors favored by today's GOP.
Trump ran as a joke, as a publicity stunt. Even he didn't imagine that the Real Americans bound up by their resentment against people of color and their envy of coastal elites would believe his patter, would be thrilled by his denigration of their own Megyn Kelly, who for all her Fox credentials is still a woman like Hillary.
Whether the tape exists or not could be immaterial in an America where Postmodern thinking prevails even for those who cannot define it. (Britannica: "broad skepticism, subjectivism, or relativism; a general suspicion of reason; and an acute sensitivity to the role of ideology in asserting and maintaining political and economic power")
I don't think that there will be a bell to end this round. We're out for the count.
4
If there is such thing a thing as unsubstantiated drivel posing as "opinion" Ms. Goldberg has just successfully managed to lower that bar. Well done.
2
*Of course* the tape is real. And *of course* the Russians are blackmailing Trump. No other explanation can so economically and neatly account for all the facts.
Did we think a veteran British spy wasn’t good at his job, or just made up false facts?
Evangelicals and “values voters,” take cover, and quickly. Your utter hypocrisy is about to be shouted from the rooftops!
3
I express the following with my utmost respect and best wishes for the USA.
About a year ago I was surfing the tv channels and stopped in one where a movie was starting. It was one of the stupidest movies I’ve ever seen (a futuristic story of a country of idiots governed by a group of armed idiots elected by the former). The reason I kept watching it was that somehow it started me thinking of the negative consequences for leaning a society into a dystopian world, where education is oblivion and the rule of law and respect for the institutions erode.
I couldn’t avoid to link in my head the movie story to the actual US situation. When is that a society starts to rotten? The conclusion that troubles me is why there is this vast number of supporters that prefer chaos and alternate reality to common sense and high standards leadership. Ultimately as in all democracies voters set the course of a Nation through their vote.
I always regarded the US as a country of patriots, of people proud of their Nation’s roots, of their Declaration of Independence and Constitution, of their legal system, of the balance of powers. A country of civilized lawmakers although disagreement between aisles. But every week nowadays seems as a step (a big one) closer to the scenario parodied in the movie I saw, Idiocracy (2006).
4
One conclusion seems inescapable: Trump is afraid that a tape does exist. That implies that such a tape would show something he definitely doesn't want seen, whether it involves urination or not.
4
"...he [Comey] comes off as a somewhat tragic figure who, in striving for decency, makes errors of judgment that helped put the singularly indecent Trump in the White House."
Comey is not a tragic figure. He is as much a demagogue as Trump, just smoother at it. If you believe he made a mistake announcing more Clinton investigation just days before the election, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
4
Leslie, you are correct. Comey is not to be trusted. Dems would do well to ignore him as best they can.
2
Having prostitutes in one's room usually results in sexual gratification for john. It seems people assume the more mortifying aspect of any video of this Russian tryst involves the urination scene, but that might not even be the portion that would most embarrass Trump.
As we've seen with Bill Clinton, licentious behavior becomes prominently tagged to the person forever. If true, the debauchery caught on the Russian tape would forever hover over any image or mention of Trump. The life-changing blackmail power it contains is undeniable.
5
Obscene, beyond tawdry, vengeful, obsessive with regard to Barack Obama; everything about this story rings true with regard to the 45th President of the United States. That doesn't mean that it is true, but I would not bet a nickel against it.
Our national spirit is poisoned until he is legally removed from office.
6
“To seriously discuss this presidency, you have to open your mind to the truly obscene.” How true. Perhaps one of Trump’s biggest successes is distracting us with the salacious details of his personal sexual life while disassembling our democratic institutions and norms. That is the real obscenity.
5
Ms. Goldberg,
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your third paragraph is the most compelling and telling "justification" for the veracity of the reported event in print and speaks of the reason the base will accept and excuse trump's treason. They despise, hate, loath Barack Obama.
How dare a black man have the temerity to become the President, to be a decent intelligent individual, to practice compassion, to have a wit capable of momentarily silencing a privileged offish Anglo bully?
Now, the only reamaining question is does or does not a recording exist of the salacious event?
2
Richard Luettgen's comment that " the rumor of a tape, even if it has no basis in reality, is better than having such a tape in hand" applies for Putin as well. If the activities never happened, Trump would have no reason to worry about the existence of a tape. The fact that he is worried enough to demand a search for one means that he is vulnerable to blackmail by Russia whether a tape exists or not. After the neverending postings about Monica's blue dress it is hilarious to see the breathless pearl clutching from the right now.
7
Who really cares about what salacious things Trump does in his private time? Is any of that really important to the country? Yes, the Russians might have tapes of him in various indelicate situations, but would those be enough to make a President of the United States so servile to another country? They're irritating to Trump, but I don't believe so. What's important is that the Russians most assuredly do have evidence of a long history of Trump's money laundering with them. That is serious enough to put him behind bars for a very long time, and would suffice as the hammer they hold over his head to get him to do their bidding.
Clearly, we need to find out about the financial crimes Trump partnered with Russia on, and Mueller has been digging into those. But for the sexcapades Trump might be guilty of, the media, including Goldberg and the Times, needs to stop spending such inordinate amounts of time focusing on them. Why not write about the things Trump is doing to kill our country? Things like shredding our economic future, destroying our diverse culture, debasing our values of truth and honesty, and so much else? These are the things the media needs to focus on, not this filth that we New Yorkers have always known about Trump.
189
Agreed, but a point I've been making is that if it's proven beyond a doubt that he has committed adultery, it would nullify his prenuptial agreement with Melania.
This would mean that if (when??) she finally decides to divorce him, with all the debt he's carrying it would ruin him financially.
THIS is why he has stayed so uncharacteristically silent about the whole Daniels and McDougall issues, AND why he seems to tiptoe around Putin. Something definitely happened in Russia.
He could care less about money laundering, etc. He's beat the rap on those types of offenses a dozen times in his life. The only times he's been truly taken to the cleaners is when he got divorced. Especially the first time.
20
OK. Point acknowledged. But in the interest of fair play and equivalency let us make sure investigations into Trump's sexual "salacious things" are equivalent in time and effort to Bill Clinton's. That is, Trump should be impeached as well.
13
I disagree that those 'pee' tapes aren't important or irrelevant. Once could make the argument that Monica's blue dress had an impact on Hillary Clinton becoming president - maybe a 70,000 vote impact. People have long memories....
8
When the news first broke of Trump paying off a porn star for her silence, the right-wing commentators on Fox and right-wing radio were indignant. How dare the Trump-haters and lame-stream media spread such blatant salacious lies to smear the president.
Now with the pee tape, same kind of indignation. They better be careful, as they may be in for a real surprise.
10
Ok let's get over this, Trump on a personal level might feel some embarrassment over the pee tape story. I know hard to wrap your head around that After the Stormy Daniels story but whatever.
The blackmail is over financial dealings many of them most likely involve violations of both Federal and New York State laws. He has cultivated this image of a successful master of the financial universe kind of guy that the true masters of the financial universe most likely find laugh out loud funny. His ego can't stand the idea of all of this being exposed on top of the real possibility of losing it all and facing jail time. The real constitutional crisis will begin when the southern district of NY prosecutors begin to sift through his finances then we will all know what Putin has on him.
In the meantime talk about pee tapes is just a distraction that plays into his narrative, but watch the freak out when the focus becomes clearly on his finances.
14
"watch the freak out when the focus becomes clearly on his finances."
It's already starting. Stormy Daniels and McDougal are just the tip of the iceberg of money laundering, illegal low interest loans, bribery and who knows whatever else.
4
Whether or not a pee tape exists, it is obvious that our president wants to go easy on Russia. He is ready to give them a pass, even when they are accused of supporting the gassing of civilians in Syria.
It may be that our president has a fondness for Russia and honestly wants to improve relations between Russia and our country. Or, it may be that Russia knows (and can prove) something about our president that he does not want made public.
If it's the latter case, then we need to find out as soon as possible. Whether it is the pee tape or large loans or money laundering or something we haven't heard of yet, we need to know if our president is being blackmailed by the Russian.
If so, then we need to remove him from office. Not because of what he did but because we cannot trust him to put the interests of our country ahead of the interests of another.
In case this sounds like a nutty, left wing conspiracy to get rid of the president, remember "To seriously discuss this presidency, you have to open your mind to the truly obscene". That includes the possibility of treason.
20
I think that if Trump were to acknowledge the pee pee event in Russia especially with the explanation that he was defiling the bed that the Obama's slept in, he would be hailed as an Iconoclastic hero by his base. Just another "Mulligan " from the religious right. It's the money...
11
The sad fact is that Trump is just petty enough to hire prostitutes to defile the bed that the Obama's slept in. Worse, there are Americans who secretly hope that he did it because they hate that a black family spent 8 years in the oval office. As Comey said, Trump is morally unfit to be our president. He represents the worst of us and the sooner he's gone from office the better.
But we need to examine how we got here. A healthy, happy country doesn't elect a man like Trump. America is broken and Trump is a symptom of that brokenness. We need to take a hard look at our country and make some serious changes so that someone who could be potentially blackmailed by a foreign country never again gets anywhere near the whitehouse again. That should be our focus going forward, not some stupid pee pee tape.
24
Our country is broken and has been for a long time. Things that have broken our country are Nixon's southern strategy; supply-side economics; attacks on unions and working people; ALEC; the rise of religious extremism; voter suppression. I could go on. And what do these things have in common: They have all been brought to us by the Republican party.
6
Trump is a wholly owned Russian asset. Before the urination video was made, Putin would have done the research and known that Trump's weakness is in being exposed as a sexual pervert. Hence, Putin is using the pee-pee tape to blackmail Trump. It's only a matter of time before Putin uses it - and he will.
14
The UN ambassador, Haley, must now believe that there are pee tapes for sure. Putin must have a bird that flies up to the Oval office window once a month to remind the Donald of his finest hour.
8
A theory promoted by some (including Trump, I think) is that this type of entertainment would not be appealing to a germaphobe. In fact a germaphobe would be altogether likely to request the sort of activity where he could just watch.
10
Follow the money. Trump’s real estate dealings with Russian oligarchs, his need for financing legitimate banks won’t give him - all of that and more suggests his whole business Empire will collapse without Russian money. There are so many secret meetings, so many connections coming to light around Trump’s lawyer Cohen..
The Trump administration is an ongoing organized crime operation, with the full support of the GOP.
47
I learned in a college logic class that it is possible to prove any proposition with just one false premise. Just because we believe Trump is the kind of person who might be featured in a pee tape does not mean that he was, in fact, featured in a pee tape, and to presume it is so is to engage in a logical fallacy. It may be the kind of thing that would be taken into account in deciding whether to vote for him or not - and yet we (collectively, through the Constitutional process) knew his sordid personal past and voted for him anyways. It is neither illegal nor Constitutionally disqualifying to be in a pee tape. And he was a better apparently thought to be a better candidate that the alternative. That's right, Hilary was worse than the kind of man about whom it is believable that he might be featured on a pee tape.
8
Hillary won by over 3 million popular votes-- that's right, from actual PEOPLE.
1
WE - a majority of 2.7 million people - did not vote for him. You may have, in which case the shame of his administration sits firmly on your shoulders. I care less about his sexual perversions, real or otherwise, than I do his perversion of our government and what it has done to our standing in the world as well as to our nation internally.
1
WE (collectively, including you) - with a Constitutionally mandated electoral college majority - elected him, unless of course you don't care about the Constitution and the rule of law which is the complaint I hear made against the current administration so often. The reflexive, reactionary "Resistance", that makes it impossible for the country's normal organs of government function properly, does more to harm our standing in the world and to tear the country apart internally, than normal, rational political debate would.
Russian chess player and strategist Nimzowitch famously used to say "Threat is stronger than execution". Somehow I can't refrain from thinking about it of when contemplating Putin's handling of the pee tape. We probably will never see it.
10
Knowing what a complete cesspool Trump is, the odds of a pee tape and other seriously compromising material held by the Russians is very real. Money laundering and highly illegal activities are more serious. Tax evasion, fraud, the list goes on...
23
I will be satisfied if the dossier is correct that Michael Cohen had contact with Wikileaks and the Russians. Putting him in Prague would be icing on the cake.
I am sure Trump was filmed and observed doing compromising things by the Russians including visits with prostitutes. The "pee pee" or "golden shower" part is irrelevant as long as Trump is being blackmailed and compromising national security. Yesterday's events of him back stabbing Haley should be the final straw for any sane Republicans.
35
The "pee tapes" are only the most tawdry tip of the iceberg in Trump's vulgarization of the U.S.
Donald Trump has created a political climate so toxic that reasonable debate has become impossible. People avoid any discussions of politics with family and friends who disagree. They fear it will trigger a relationship-ending quarrel. And so much has become politicized: healthcare, the economy, world trade, taxes, the weather, even sports.
Our sense of decency, along with our political system, are under onslaught by this vulgar and vindictive man who treats anyone who disagrees with him as an enemy of the nation.
39
It is disquieting to think that only a pee tape could bring this atrocity of a presidency to a shuddering halt.
Personally, I would have preferred exposure of money-laundering through Deutsche Bank, Libya, Cyprus and Moscow to finish the job, because this would have the dual advantage of punishing the entire Trump family and discouraging money-laundering in general, which would be far more important than using the instrument of mere embarrassment.
37
Agreed.
And interesting that you're in Tehran(?) because one of the allegations about trump is a business deal that involved financing ties with the Iran Revolutionary Guard, which is on the sanctions list in the U.S.
4
Mikeweb,
Does it matter who I am or where I write from? Actually, I would have thought readers would be happy to receive real comments from real people who don't hide behind anonymity.
Or would you prefer I use the pseudonym "Rick from Texas"?
As for Trump's alleged contacts to the Revolutionary Guards, this is the first I have heard of it. I would appreciate a link. I am rather skeptical about such rumours as I doubt whether any Iranian government organization would deal with someone whom they despised from the second he announced his candidacy and threatened to tear up the nuclear accord.
Here is the thing: if we already know that Trump is 'debauched' and wants to 'desecrate' all that is Obama, about Obama and by Obama, then how can this supposed pee tape constitute being something with which the Russians can 'compromise' the president? It makes zero sense.
My humble perspective take on this, as a Swede living in Japan who obsessively has followed the Trump saga in horrid fascination, is that this tape, if it even exists, is totally irrelevant. What I believe IS relevant is a) that Trump has knowingly been laundering hundreds of millions of dollars for Russian gangsters for decades now and b) that the Trump campaign actively sought Russian help in spreading dirt on Clinton to secure the election. The former is easily proven, the latter also; but proving that Trump himself was involved with Russian interference is going to be harder to prove.
So, QED, focus on the money. Follow the money. With Trump, it's always the money. Nobody cares who peed on who.
342
Huh? Concerns about the P tape perhaps are most acute as concern about those who do not regard currently regard Trump as "debauched" enough to repel sympathy or credit grounds for thinking Trump compromised.
2
On "whom" -- otherwise perfect in every way.
11
Except that the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC, through a law firm, paid the Russians 10m to produce "information" about Trump that became the Steele Dossier (which was later used by the FBI to secure a FISA warrant, four times, so to spy on a Trump associate) .
3
The real hold that Putin has over Trump isn't comprimat of such a banal, although lurid, nature. The real hold is that Trump has fallen victim to Putin's propaganda. He really believes that Putin is the most powerful leader in the world. Why does he believe Trump is so powerful? The people who finance him, who use him to launder their money, they all owe fealty to the Oligarchs and Putin.
Putin doesn't need to pull Trump's strings. Trump's entire worldview has Putin as the leader.
9
I think we can safely say that Donald Trump is afraid of Russia the country and of Putin the man. Putin alone would probably be enough to make a soft, spoiled phony like Trump compromise the dryness of his own bed, but the circumstantial evidence of Trump's effective enslavement to Russia is overwhelming.
Debt? Debauchery? Illegal business dealings, tax evasion? We know enough of Donald Trump's past to feel that it would be odd if only one of those hooks for blackmail existed.
Even in the past two weeks, we've seen what could easily be a scenario designed to get Trump through a squeeze:
Trump has been needing to give some sign of being his own man. Syria's latest chemical attack presents an opportunity for that.
So Trump starts talking up his intention to strike Syria. This enables him to be verbally tough on Russia while giving Russia and Syria time to move military assets to hardened locations.
After this virtual, if not actual, coordination with Russia, Trump orders a surgical strike that results in no great inconvenience to Russia.
Winner: if any, Donald Trump, who may have managed to throw dust in some people's eyes about his servitude to Russia. For Putin, it's a wash. For Assad, it's a manageable loss. For Assad's victims, it's a continuing tragedy.
22
To Trump's reluctance to openly stand up to Russia, to his refusal to speak/tweet anything but praise about Putin, to the fact that he would never acknowledge Russia had interfered in the US election; to these facts, add that Jared Kushner attempted to set up a secret channel of communication with Russia, using encrypted Russian communications undetectable by US security agencies.
What does it all add up to? The answer is in the eye of the beholder - conclusively, Trump is compromised by Russia. Any other conclusion? You must be blind.
Evangelical Christians, even many mainstream Christians, believe America has the blessings of God, making America that beacon on a hill. Well, Trump is thumbing his nose at Christians and putting out the light.
Comey says that Trump is a "stain" on those who work for him. That is an understatement. But, whether you call it a "stain" or the spilled blood of Christ, the sins of Trump are on every Republican in Congress and every person who voted for Trump who has not sought forgiveness.
Trump is immoral (is anti-Christ to strong a reference?) and he is leading America on a path to the wide gate and "the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it." Matthew 7:13
Cavorting with prostitutes is trivial; standing by Trump is proud denial of Christ. For Christians it is a sin without redemption. For the rest of us it is treason.
26
The saddest fact is that 47% of voting Americans did not consider the facts they saw, read and heard during the election. They either did not believe or not care that Trump was morally unfit to be the President. "Lordy", that is the scandal.
22
Lordy, I can’t be alone in thinking Keith Schiller’s acknowledgment that Donald Trump was offered a visit from five prostitutes, but declined and went back to his hotel room to sleep, was due to understanding that some proof of the ladies could emerge. So there were prostitutes, the only question is if Trump partook of the show or went back to his room alone.
3
If Trump isn't compromised with Russia, he's sure doing a great impersonation of someone who is.
29
Good lord. Who needs a tape? We have the history. Of Trump pulling out of the Paris Accords. Of Trump cutting environmental regulations. Of downsizing Bears Ears. Of opening the coasts to oil drilling. Trump and GOP Inc. have prostituted themselves to the highest bidders for power -- the carbon masters who are soiling earth and sky.
17
The subject under discussion is merely the clearest illustration to date of that great Republican thesis: "Trickle Down."
17
With Trump openly reversing sanctions on Russia again, there is something unknown about his relationship with Russia that has resulted in his unique absence of criticism or actions against Putin. Even the attack on Syria feels like a charade with Russia warned first.
Almost everything in the Steele dossier has now been confirmed. With Trump and his Russian friend seeing a similar entertainment a few months earlier, the Moscow story seems probable. Trump's bodyguard made it crystal clear that he stood guard at the door a few hours, then left. He made it too clear, establishing his own alibi following the earlier offer of Russian prostitutes. In the wake of Stormy and the affair with the Playboy model, it is far more likely this was true than not.
Trump's kompromat endangers the country. His tax returns, the pee tape, recorded conversations with Cohen or others all are time bombs with his personal scandals harming America. Lordy indeed.
15
I do not have the time nor the space to fully present the innumerable ways in which Donald Trump has debased the Office of the President of the United States. The examples are many and varied but all point to the man's fundamental crudeness, insecurity, bigotry, corruption, dishonesty, and malignant narcissism. It remains to be seen whether the next POTUS, of either party, is capable of restoring some of the integrity, stature, gravitas, and respect that both the Presidency itself and the American people deserve. I see absolutely no possibility for such actions during the remainder of Trump's term of office.
14
I am no fan of Trump, but in this particular instance, I believe him. According to Comey, Trump actively tried to persuade Comey to investigate the prostitute allegations to prove them untrue. If the past year has shown anything, it is that Trump dislikes being investigated and does everything in his power to avoid it when he has something to hide.
2
Trump can't be blackmailed because he has no shame. He'll just say the tape is fake, like he did at one point with Access Hollywood. I would not be surprised if, even if the tape here surfaced, it would have no impact on Trump's support.
12
Two clear winners from Trump's presidency: GW Bush and Dick Cheney, whose calamitous leadership stain has almost been rubbed out. They are grateful and are keeping quiet so as not to stir the angry tyrant.
15
As Alice said "things get curiouser and curiouser."
But since Ms. Goldberg once again brings up the Steele dossier there are still many unanswered questions about it.
The dossier offers more than dirt, but is it reliable? If the Russians are trying to rig the election to support Trump, which we've heard repeatedly, so why offer information designed to sink his campaign?
To balckmail him just in case he is elected? But at the time it was written, no one thought he would be elected. And why give it to Clinton's people who we are told would be tougher on Russia?
Why would Russian agents who practice disinformation offer anything of real value to a British spy? Why was the memo so poorly written with grammatical and spelling errors? Don't they teach grammar in British public schools?
As Ms. Goldberg finally notes, "none of us know what really happened at the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow, and we may never find out."
But good journalists could dig a little deeper and try and find answers about the Steele dossier.
5
I fear, for me anyway, Michelle Goldberg is right on when she writes that to adequately and thoroughly discuss Mr. Trump we need to open our minds to the obscene. This fact fights my Catholic upbringing and instincts. Nevertheless, Trump's obvious debauchery and degenerative mind-set is intrinsic with this man's character, or lack thereof.
It goes without saying that his flagrant amorality makes for an unfit "leader" of the free world (God help us, truly). But what should be just as alarming his how his behavior is reflected back in the mirror of his GOP Congress and avid, and rabid, supporters. I understand how this can be in re to the bigot, racist, and questionably wealthy. But what is particularly perplexing is that large group who call themselves Christians yet all the while champion this president as the savior of the vulnerable unborn, overlooking the vulnerable living. There is something seriously wrong with us Americans.
14
I am constantly asking myself, "How did this happen to us?"
5
The allegations about the prostitutes are all too believable,because of Trump's own behavior: we have learned that the more ardenly he denies something, the more likely it is to be true. And yes, we have seen he has no lower limit.
Furthermore, he is a self-confessed vengeful snake: it makes sense that he would want to combine two of his favorite activities: degrading women and defiling Obama.
13
Trump related information saturation combined with the bitter polarization of politics makes it impossible to think clearly about Trump. Some still believe he is a game changing transformation, stubbornly not seeing he has become a nightmare. But Putin's puppet? Yes, certainly so and obviously so when step back from the headlines and look at who the man really is.
Look at the well known long standing and persistent patterns of Trump's behavior and patterns of thought. Trump behaved in Russia like he behaves everywhere else and the Russians have evidence of that behavior. So of course he is Putin's puppet. Ask Nikki Halley what she thinks.
4
I'd like to take up Ann from California's comment, because its significance cannot be overinterpreted: "There's also the problem of Putin's habit of killing off people; including those associated with the dossier. Ten influentials Russians have met with mysterious, sudden, and suspicious deaths since the dossier came to light and Trump took office."
4
One might suggest that there is a tape (constant news about the mess) and we're all stuck to it.
4
I love how Comey uses one of Trump's favorite rhetorical devices against him, e.g., "I don't know, but it's possible" (so draw you own conclusion, folks)
5
The last line is brilliant -- and perfectly sums up Trump and his odious presidency.
I keep looking for the one thing that could bring this man down, and the release of these tapes -- which I think almost certainly do exist -- might do just that. May it happen soon.
4
The next few weeks or days will show what is really going on. Looks like Pence is making his move, through Nikki Haley to challenge Trump while in office. Don't forget that it was Pence who pulled the plug on Flynn. If he can show that Donald Trump is incapable of fulfilling his duties, there won't ever have to be any drawn out impeachment proceedings in the House and Senate.
Then conservative evangelicals will then have to choose between their saint Pence and Donald the sinner. Tough call. Just like they had to choose between Bannon and Breibart. But then as they say, God acts in mysterious ways.
4
Wow, the choice between awful, awful, awful, and more awful. What did we ever do to deserve this? How did we allow a voluntarily blind minority to hijack our country?
Ms Goldberg, you walk up to a line on something when you say people "avoid admitting what seems to be staring us all in the face", followed by accounts of trump getting furious when it leaks that he is standing up to Russia: could the secret of the Putin-trump relationship be a dominance-submission fetish in play? Just asking ....
2
To convict in a court of law, one must be convinced of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. But we are not in a court of law, at least not yet. So we must be guided by what's left of our wits. So, the adage "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck" is what I refer to when I question whether Trump is a Russian version of the Manchurian Candidate.
Now Trump has reversed action on new sanctions against Russia. Trump is either terribly compromised by Putin or acting totally irrationally. Either way we are in trouble.
7
Putin has trump on a short leash. Witness the sudden revocation of sanctions against all the advice of his own people.
7
Yes, there is.
1) Clifford mentioned how there was no sleeping when they were together. It's entirely possible Trump wanted to make the most of a night in the suite he was in.
2) Keith Schiller is covering up for his long time boss.
3) Nothing but lies and distractions come out of Trump's mouth.
Case closed.
6
The mere fact that this man was elected president says a whole lot, much of it obscene, about America and Americans that most of us refuse to hear.
12
This is nonsense.
The tape that we should be clamoring to hear is the one of the conversation which took place between Bill Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch aboard Lynch's plane during their so-called "chance meeting" on the tarmac of an airport in Arizona on June 27, 2016, the one that Comey's FBI stopped the press from photographing in violation of the press' Constitutionally guaranteed Freedom of the Press.
The next business day Lynch's FBI director Comey had his press conference where he denoted a litany of serious wrong-doing by Hillary Clinton and came to the illogical conclusion that Hillary should not be prosecuted, a pronouncement which was not actually his call. Comey is the police, an investigative body. It is the prosecutors, the attorney general in this case, who decides whether or not to prosecute.
I have read that the NSA has that tape. Let's hear it.
Plus, it's time for New York's Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, where Lynch is admitted as an attorney, to get its Departmental Disciplinary Committee to start looking into the Lynch-Bill Clinton meeting with an eye towards disbarment. You do not meet with the spouse of someone you are investigating.
Now that is the tape we need to hear.
3
And this is pertinent to the very real allegations against trump and his close associates how exactly?
And last I checked, Hillary Clinton isn't sitting in the Oval Office; the leader of the free world.
4
We know Trump only cares about his fans who apparently don't care if Trump is a serial sex predator or as Comey says, "Treats women like meat."
Even if selectively applied, his evangelical fans embrace the sinner and hate the sin. Or they have such a hard time wrapping their heads around Trump's alleged nocturnal kinkiness, it's just easier to sweep it under the rug as "fake news."
As long as Trump vociferously denies even the most sensational and salacious revelations, his base will stand by their man.
Even if Putin released a tape of a compromised Trump cavorting at the Moscow Ritz Carlton, his supporters will grit their teeth and say boys will be boys.
Trump is almost shock proof by now.
During the campaign Donald Jr. disputed rumors his father was no longer bankable by claiming the Trump organization had all the capital they needed from Russia and that the bulk of their revenue came from their business activities there.
If there's a smoking gun, it's in Cohen's hard drive, not a surreptitious Moscow sex tape.
Who would have thought this reboot of The Apprentice would be XXX rated?
9
My new favorite NYT writer. The last sentence is incisive.
2
There are reasons that Russia and Stormy Daniels get free passes from this most predictable of presidents who rages at the merest hint of a challenge or criticism. It’s textbook Occam’s Razor.
3
Does Donald J. Trump still long for a Trump Kremlin Tower? He remains in business, and building the Moscow Mission has long been a fervent goal. In a significant way, the presidency is a sideline as the Trump Enterprise continues to thrust into the known unknown. During the Miss Universe trip to Russia, Donald J. Trump was not thinking about becoming president, he was concentrating on a Trumpian invasion of Mr. Putin's turf. To shrug off just about any sexcapade involving involving Mr. Trump seems absurd given the self-proclaimed Great Businessman, his needs and his drives. While tapes of some incident with prostitutes may or may not exist, by his reactions, Donald J. Trump seems a worried man singing a worried song.
And his Shakespearean hatred of Barack Obama makes the mattress-defiling story credible.
Are we at: Game-Set-Match Putin?
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
4
I’m an old sixties Lefty and have seen any number of politicians over the years that have triggered dismay, disagreement, and even derision. But until Trump never deep, deep disgust. The man defiles, rather than ennobles, everything and everyone he touches. Yet millions of my fellow Americans remain rapt supporters, and millions of others hold their noses and support the damage he and his minions are doing to the branch of government—and the country—for which he is responsible. It truly boggles my mind, which, though aging, is still pretty flexible on the whole. I don’t want to be disgusted by any human being, let alone a President. It’s a lousy, though important, feeling to experience. But Trump triggers it over, and over, and over... <sigh>
10
When has the truth ever hurt an honest person, someone with genuine character? The truth sets them free. Soon Trump will be free. In the worst way.
5
Conducive rooms are always ready; stills, motion and audio all used if and when predicted productive.
SOP by all players, everywhere...
Pay attention to that defensive pre-trip briefing...
1
Like his claim that privilege governs a conversation with Michael Cohen which he denies having, Trump's obsession about a video of an event he denies just confirms his status as a logical paradox. He's been a liar for so long that he couldn't stop if he wanted to, but he foolishly got himself elected to a position where newspapers care about lying and follow up.
Keep it up, NYT. The press is vital now.
7
More winning than we could have imagined.
2
Mr. Domey is no saint but the Republicans seem to be utterly oblivious of the nature of the beast they have put in the WH. Clearly, sooner than later, Mr. Trump will be firing Mr. Mueller, closing down the special counsel and limiting the Russia investigation.
As comments in this and other online publications indicate, a large part of the US public is already outraged. It is not hard to predict that the next day millions (not thousands!) will be protesting against Mr. Trump and his Republicans supporters across the country. Then what?
Will the Republicans in the Congress be sending tanks into streets to push the protesters back? Will armed white supremacists be allowed to counter the protesters? Does anyone remember the 1968 riots in Chicago? Isn't that what Putin hopes to see?
2
I appreciate patriotic efforts by Comey, NYT and others. These efforts surely suppress possibility of blackmailing from Russia and succumbing to it by Trump. They know that this unfounded claims diminish their credibility while helping Trump to have more room and flexibility in acting against Russia and making him act as more normal president in case the claim is true. It it's not true, it is still OK because nobody remembers garbagey gossib quite long.
I am not sure if they know they are patriots or not, but consequentially they are patriots and that's important.
1
The entire world is well aware that evidence of conflict of interest between Trump and Russia is trickling in... not sure the NYT needs to delve on the prurient details. At the same time the percentage of Americans who approve of president Trump is at an all time high since the beginning of his presidency and hardly a peep on that dichotomy? That is the real problem our intellectuals should tackle, leave the sordid commentary to the late night talk shows.
1
Ms. Goldbert, agree. For the same reasons, it enrages me when pundits state that Trump is angry about the Russia investigation because it calls into question the legitimacy of his presidency. How about, he doesn't like it because he colluded with the Russians and doesn't want to be found out?
16
No evidence suggests that Mr. Trump's money will trickle down to the masses, but his moral example sure will.
25
I don't have to open my mind to the truly obscene, I already know it when I see it. Trump is a monster, a depraved, misogynistic racist, who has a zipper problem.
49
"I doubt Comey wants these salacious details to be the main message of his earnest tome, in which he comes off as a somewhat tragic figure who, in striving for decency, makes errors of judgment that helped put the singularly indecent Trump in the White House."
.
This is a perfect example of what GWB called, "The soft bigotry of low expectations."
.
Hillary, the poor dear, could not beat a man with no redeeming characteristics. Then, just as she reaches the top rung of the ladder, Comey kicks it out from under her.
.
Exactly who is going to part with their newly received tax cut dollars and buy this book?
9
Your last question? Probably everybody...or at least everybody with functional brain.
Frump won because his ugly face was before the American public weekly in a show that made him seem 'majestic.' Someone who could rule the earth. Just look at what we got . . .
1
As I remember, in the closing months of the election, Trump would do 3 or 4 or 5 appearances a day, to capacity crowds. Hillary did 2 or 3 a week, mostly to smaller crowds, in smaller venues.
Of course these kinky stories are compelling to consider, but I still think its about dubious international oligarch/mobster financing. Follow the money trail...
19
Let's put all of this into context.
This President and administration are trying to eradicate everything that President Obama and Liberals accomplished over 8 years of the last administration. Some of those things are really common sense things or even things that republicans came up with in the first place ( even health care ) and supported vigorously,
Now everything must be repealed at all costs ( even if it means directly putting in danger the lives of million of Americans ). That could be health care, or things to with the environment, or the simple loss of an income/job.
So, no. I do not put anything past this President as being completely vindictive and doing despicable acts just for the sake of.
38
Having had less than 50 of them, each president will be one of a kind, as we are told all of us are. But these folks are supposed to be a cut above in our minds, which just goes to show you, the lies we tell ourselves about leaders. If they are almost like us, then they will have all of our bad habits, all of our thoughts in the darkness.
They also will be under the watchful eye of everyone, even if they themselves hate that fact, high status means they can't get out of the light like lowlier folks can.
Trump wanted attention before he got the job, now everything he did will be looked at with a fine toothed comb. And while he holds office he has a higher standing than he ever had outside the office of POTUS, he shouldn't have sought the office without thinking how much of his life would be looked at. Now he is in the fire, he can't run away from all the eyes prying into his every thought.
Welcome to the White House.
8
The focus may be off here. The existence of the tape could be real. For now though, the question is does the Trump team think the tape is real. In fact if we have a guilty man here, all Putin had to say was, "I have a tape." It could be a tape of anything nasty. For Trump to be owned, all that matters for blackmail is that Trump imagines that Putin has a tape.
12
There are Republican voters who still believe that, whatever Trump's behavior, whatever his words, it's policy that should get our chief attention. But the biggest problem Trump presents is behavioral. Millions take him seriously when he speaks of a deep state and denigrates every institution of government that can check his authority. It is not liberals and conservatives who misunderstand one another most. No, the people who misunderstand one another most are the conservative base and educated Republican voters.
Educated Republican voters so misunderstand the GOP base that when they try to grasp exactly what made Trump appealing, they end up concocting silly theories about how the base wanted compromise or something -- because isn't Trump just as much a liberal as a conservative? It's so absurd. The base liked Trump because he said what no one would say: that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, was a Muslim (and therefore shouldn't be president), and that we should round up and deport all immigrants, torture terrorism suspects, and take Iraq's oil.
Trump could easily be compromised by the Russians in some manner (I myself believe he is), but that's not my biggest fear moving forward. Why should we think, in this new, post-truth world in which we live, that GOP primary voters are not going to continue voting for demagogues? In the world the GOP base lives in, real news is fake and fake news is real. Sure, let's combat what Russia is up to, but the biggest enemy is us.
27
David L, not all of us but a large minority of very ignorant americans and their party. The republican party must be voted out of every office in the land if we are to survive as a democracy.
2
I always thought that "draining the swamp" was really turning it into a cesspool. But the media blitz about the "golden shower" in the Steele "dossier" caused by former FBI Director James Comey's ill-considered remarks where one commentator said he's now a "peeliever" is taking the whole nation into the sewer. Yes, Donald Trump's double infidelity with Stormy Daniels while he was engaged in a nearly year long affair with former Playmate of the Month, Karen McDCougal, certainly made this seemingly outlandish part of the dossier appear more credible as did his visit to the Las Vegas night club described in "Russian Roulette." However, headline grabbing this tawdry episode is, it does little to enhance former FBI Director, James Comey's, image or, more importantly, his credibility as a potential witness to Mr. Trump's obstruction of justice in the Russia probe. A much more significant scoop relevant to the dossier and the current criminal investigation of Trump's "fixer" lawyer, Michael Cohen, is the article published by McClatchy the other day proving that Mr. Cohen had, despite his strenuous denials, in fact, been in Prague (supposedly meeting Russians as a fixer of the damage done by Paul Manafort) as the dossier claimed. And, this is where both the Cohen and Mueller investigations intersect in an a major way.
3
Just when I had been accustomed to anticipating a Constitutional crisis because of the probability of Mueller's firing, Ms. Goldberg has reminded us of the crudity and obscenity of Trump. Is there no end to this nightmare?
9
My overriding question is whether the United States and any last vestiges of democracy can ever rebound from the lowest of the low depths we've sunk.
Certainly, if Trump is re-elected by some devilish miracle, the United States will have sealed its fate, a well-deserved one if that were to happen.
8
If Putin has a tape, it is more valuable to him as leverage than it would be as evidence that the US and democracy itself are a joke.
As it is, everyone but the 40% of the population that lives in some alternate reality of their own imagining can see that we’ve become a joke while Putin manipulates Trump, pretending at the same time to take him seriously.
All is not lost: stand by for blue wave and outcome of Bronze Star vs Bone Spurs.
4
Imagine for a moment that these events were occurring during the previous administration. This is how far we've come. Big money + public apathy = danger for future generations.
1
By the standards of American presidents, and especially Republicans, Trump's behavior toward Russia is even kinkier than those tapes, real or imagined.
4
Perhaps this fear explains why Trump reversed course and completely undercut Nikki Haley in opposing new sanctions on Russia following Syria's chemical attack on civilians - so moved his was by the horror of it all.
4
Lordy, are there tapes?
Because as well as the Russian government, obviously his lawyer Cohen is known to have kept tapes of discussions with clients, presumably including Trump. Would he have talked to his lawyer about the implications for his marriage, his career, his potential impeachment if Russian blackmail came to light?
& you elected this man to represent you to the rest of the world?
5
CSadler, not the majority of us. This moral decay was elected illegally by criminals, traitors, money and dummies.
"Since BuzzFeed News published the dossier last year, the right has treated this allegation as so outrageous as to be almost prima facie false, like a report that Trump had been abducted by aliens."
If Trump said he had been abducted by aliens, many of his voters would believe him.
6
Michelle your point that Trump cannot abide praise about doing something negative to Russia is very interesting. It sure does help make the case for blackmail. What else would explain Trump's inability to accept praise of any kind from any source. The problem as I see it is that even if we find proof will it change the unbelievable support of his base?
4
Today the sexual behavior of politicians is taken into account in diplomatic actions and diplomatic studies. Sexual scandals dominate the headlines: Bill Clinton, Dominique Strauss-Khan and today Donald Trump. Moreover, journalists comment more and more about their controversial past behavior. They make it an argument to inform us of the personality of politicians as if it was the only important part of their political actions. The figure of the American President has always intrigued, especially when it's about strong characters like Trump.
Pretend that all of this story comes from nowhere would be naive. Trump gets an advantage on this tape because media and people keep talking about his life, instead of talking about American policy. It isn't what we could call "Trump's kink". He is able to react to those accusations of journalists but he just can't react to precise questions or subjects about politics. It's beneficial both for journalists and Trump to feed this scandal because we already saw it during his campaign and his past life as a businessman, Trump's character was created to be a marketing product.
1
Let's put all of this into context.
This President and administration are trying to eradicate everything that President Obama and Liberals accomplished over 8 years of the last administration. Some of those things are really common sense things or even things that republicans came up with in the first place ( even health care ) and supported vigorously,
Now everything must be repealed at all costs ( even if it means directly putting in danger the lives of million of Americans ). That could be health care, or things to with the environment, or the simple loss of an income/job.
So, no. I do not put anything past this President as being completely vindictive and doing despicable acts just for the sake of.
3
Trump and his apologists debase the United States every day that he remains in office.
Sadly, there still exists a core of republicans who would vote again for Trump if the election were held tomorrow. They have the same morals, ethics and intelligence of those people who tune into such media stalwarts as Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones for their political and social insights.
Lordy, it probably doesn't matter whether there is a tape or not to such republicans.
2
Steele’s dossier is flagellated by Trump and the GOP as being horribly biased. However, why would a British national, a former member of the establishment, be biased against an American running for office? The answer is that Christopher Steele discovered Trump’s inner secrets and moral turpitude, knowing that this man was not only an odious individual, but anathema to western principles that Steele, as an experienced and respected intelligence operative, had sought to uphold. In simple terms, he recognised Trump, as leader of the free world, would pose a serious internal threat prone to Russian kompromat.
The Republicans might want to portray the dossier as democratic dross, but Steele cannot be so blithely dismissed. His report is significant because it persists without fading into obscurity. In the meantime, where is Steele? He, unlike Comey, is not on a book tour. Rather, he is secreted away somewhere, avoiding any publicity. Steele did his job without affection, malice, or ill will; his subsequent actions support that conclusion. Additionally, why hasn’t Trump taken more affirmative legal action against the man? Bias does not equate to prevarication, and there’s enough truth in Steele to worry Trump and his ilk.
4
Let's put all of this into context. This President and administration are trying to eradicate everything that President Obama and Liberals accomplished over 8 years of the last administration. Some of those things are really common sense things or even things that republicans came up with in the first place ( even health care ) and supported vigorously, Now everything must be repealed at all costs ( even if it means directly putting in danger the lives of million of Americans ). That could be health care, or things to with the environment, or the simple loss of an income/job. So, no. I do not put anything past this President as being completely vindictive and doing despicable acts just for the sake of.
5
At this time, the salient point made by Comey is that behavior like this is "possible." He stressed that with a pronounced disbelief that we have a president for whom we can't rule out this behavior. It means in light of all we know that IS true about Trump, it is not inconceivable that he has been compromised by a corrupt dictator due to this behavior.
1
Michelle Goldberg says, in part: "we don’t know if Trump has been compromised by Russia." It's true that we don't know, but Trump's behavior toward Russia and Putin strongly suggest that he (Trump) has been compromised.
In another of Trump's probable lies, he states that he didn't sleep in Moscow; that he merely used his (expensive) hotel room to change clothes. It's a long flight to and from Moscow from New York. It's inconceivable that he didn't sleep there, especially since Schiller contradicts Trump.
2
The funny thing is that if such a recording does exist, and, yes, where there’s smoke there is usually some form of combustion, it will most likely become just a red herring, and a little fish at that, when the rest of the muck bloats to the increasingly pungent surface of this massive stain on American’s history.
1
Trump's refusal to go along with sanctions or to grudgingly delay and dilute them and his refusal to criticise Putin while badmouthing everyone else including fellow Republicans not to mention Obama, Clinton, Democratic Senators, the FBI, CIA, et. al suggests something is at play here.Time for full exposure re. collusion.
1
Whether the tape exists or not, one thing we have learned about this administration is that it is probably worse than we imagine.
1
I have read other commentators on this obscene allegation, and most mainstreamers appear to dismiss the subject as beneath notice.
Ms. Goldberg makes a convincing case that it should occupy a niche in our memories that makes it easy to retrieve.
She essentially proves that Mr. Comey did not mention the rumor by way of dangling marketable sleaze before the reading public.
If the alleged incident is sordid, it is also admissible as relevant evidence and, by revealing its wider context, Ms. Goldberg, following Mr. Comey, places the burden of the rumor right back where it belongs, in the presidential bailiwick.
In that presidential bailiwick is the power, if properly used, that could break Vladimir Putin. Unless, as Ms. Goldberg points out, Putin has already broken Trump.
99
Putin has broken Trump and is riding him downhill like a Nantucket Sleighride. The only foreseable problem is the lasting damage his human stain puts on US competitiveness. Of course all this happened as Steele wrote in the report.
11
"If you're listening Russia, please release the tapes."
Other than the Stormy Daniels case, it's the best chance of getting Trump out of office before he can wreak even more havoc.
My guess, though, is that the Russians are waiting for the best moment to create the maximum amount of havoc for the United States, not just the demise of Trump. Seriously, top of their wish list would be Civil War II.
12
No doubt arguments in favor of the tape’s authenticity will be dismissed as yellow journalism by Trump supporters.
12
How do you authenticate something which hasn't been proven to exist?
Arguments in favor of the tape's authenticity? You have to establish there is a tape before you attempt to establish its authenticity.
Third-hand sources that an event occurred which may have been taped establishes nothing. C'mon now- even Comey said he doubts there was a tape. This is fantasy land.
I’m assuming no pun intended. : )
2
"I Am Going to the Lordy" was a hymn composed by Charles Guiteau, which he sang on the day of his execution for the assassination of President James Ambram Garfield. Will the same Lordy, invoked by another spurned Federal employee, assist in bringing another presidency to a premature end? Perhaps there is some irony in the fact that Guiteau shot Garfield for refusing to grant him a position in the Federal government, merely because he was insane and grossly unqualified. Trump would have given him a job.
66
Dear Mrs. Goldberg you urgently need to discuss this issue with your fellow (male) - journalists at the NYT.
As it seems to be that some of them (like Mr. Bruni - who deletes all comments about my suggestion) - have a major (manly?) problem with discussing peeing issues.
But as it is a fact that the Pee-Tape is far more important - at least for Mr. Trump - than any type of ''politics'' or ''political writing'' - AND as it has been proven without any doubt that Mr. Trump is ALL about ''salacious details'' - it isn't helpful if ''decent educated journalists'' like to stick their heads - No! - not into the toilet - but into the preverbal ''sand''.
So please could you tell the dudes - to finally take their heads out - and accept the challenge to write about ''Spanky'' or the ''Peeir in Chief!
-(even if they much rather would like to write about... ''politics''?)
8
Comey’s memoir may only be another in a long line of such books, but it represents a phenomenon that the President didn’t expect. When you burn powerful people they fight back. Trump can push around ordinary folks because of his money and fame, but he had more difficulty getting past those who are vastly superior in intelligence and connections.
57
One thing we do know is that the Steele dossier exists and no one has shown that Steele himself had a likely motive to concoct this story in his dossier.
44
When you are being paid for damaging information, that establishes motive to come up with something damaging.
I often refer to the Steele dossier, most recently to see what he said about Cohen. While we may never know the truth about this sordid tale of the tape, it is more likely that Mueller will get to the bottom of Cohen's involvement with the Russians and his alleged payments to agents in Prague to go to the hackers of the DNC.
33
Is it any wonder nothing is getting done in the office of the president or in the government. Is this every going to end? This makes me yearn for the days of the Obama white house and try to imagine how peaceful a Hillary presidency might have. Trump is beyond the pall. The sooner this guy is gone, the better.
51
Had HC won, the GOP would continue obsessively investigate every past alleged wrongdoing (the Uranium mine, Benghazi, the emails, etc) as well as throwing new - completely fabricated - bombs daily. It would never end. In fact, whoever the democrats elect president in the next 100 years, will be subject to daily GOP harassment and fabricated charges.
2
Thanks to the NYT for hiring Ms. Goldberg. A welcome voice of clarity. She sees the big picture.
88
The best way to test the veracity of the Ritz Carlton story is to interview the next occupant of the presidential suite after Trump. The evidence would be hard to hide!
12
If the Ritz was doing its job it would have been completely cleaned and even likely replaced the mattress.
3
You assume that they wouldn't have changed the sheets and cleaned the mattress. That's not common sense.
1
Common sense? Sheesh, give the Russians some credit for heaven sakes. Even they known enough to switch out a soggy mattress. I don't doubt this is a true story. What's being left out and that terrorizes trump is that the prostitutes were 14 years old slaves.
2
There's so much to keep track of when trying to determine whether Trump is being blackmailed by the Russians, but I always think back to the recording of the GOP leadership from June 15, 2016. Kevin McCarthy -- yes, that McCarthy, the one next in line to be House Speaker -- told his colleagues that there are two people he thinks are being paid by Putin: Rohrabacher and Trump. When others laughed, he said, "Swear to God." Paul Ryan immediately cut off the conversation and swore everyone to secrecy.
Initially, people at the meeting denies McCarthy ever said such a thing. Then, when the recording was revealed, of course everyone claimed it was a joke. But just because they all laughed doesn't mean it wasn't true.
There are usually good reasons that rumors make their way around Washington. It's a small piece, but it shouldn't be forgotten in case hard evidence of a link between Putin and Trump is found.
191
Exactly, and I think that's why there are high level GOP Congressional members keeping their mouths shut and hiding out because they are complicit in this whole Trump/Putin thing. Perhaps that's why we're seeing a high level of GOP Congressional members not running this November?
3
Who knew these Republicans were such comedians. It seems like everything they say turns out to be a joke.
2
Like Tom Cotton lying about how Trump called African nations, well you know.
3
Lordy, we shouldn’t need a tape to conclude that the Russians are blackmailing the president. The analogy with an emperor wearing no clothes is too close to true to even use.
By any objective analysis Trump is serving Russia’s interests not because he loves them but because he fears them.
How can his tax returns still be sequestered at the IRS?
Whether it’s loans or tapes they have the goods on Trump. It quite obvious.
111
GAMING THE PRESIDENT.
Suppose there is no tape, but Trump isn’t sure. What is the best strategy for both men?
If there is no tape, Putin has no line in the sand. Trump could decide that Putin has pushed him too far and decide that he’s prepared to be exposed.
The longer Trump goes without challenging Putin, the longer Putin can play him.
The best play for Putin–with or without a tape— would be to wait and see if Trump can win in 2020. If he does, Putin can continue to manipulate him if Trump still believes there is a tape.
If Trump loses in 2020, and he’s been obedient, Putin will announce that there is a tape, but he’ll destroy it; winning the gratitude of Trump forever.
If the tape gambit continues to work on Trump, Putin will keep Trump dangling to exchange rubles for dollars or just take Trump Towers.
The best play for Trump, challenge Putin’s possession of a tape in October 2020.
16
I find this observation striking:
"This leads people observing him to construct elaborate theories to avoid admitting what seems to be staring us all in the face."
I know a fellow who worked closely with the group that employed Kenneth Pinyan back in 2005. He described the reaction of Pinyan's co-workers to the fatal accident. It was known that it involved a horse, but was attributed to a head injury, or perhaps a fall from the horse. The reality was studiously evaded.
12
I Googled it. Ouch!
The scariest thing about our whole national experience of the Trump presidency is the fact that somewhere between 30-40 percent of Americans are impervious to facts and the truth. I'm not sure that you can have a fully functioning democracy with this situation. You might think well a majority of Americans are still living in the world of facts and truth. But if that was the way our electoral system worked Trump would not be president.
Sadly it might be easier to change the electoral system than bring those 30-40 percent into the world of facts and truth. One blessing so far is that the judiciary seems to still value facts and truth, Trump has possibly met his match there.
214
Our democracy doesn't work, at least the at it did from Teddy Roosevelt to Jimmie Carter.
When Reagan and his minions introduced the "all-in-for-me" mindset, the slippery slope was built and the oligarchy of entitlement was born and nurtured by political contributions that has destroyed our democracy.
The only politicians who am to really care are those elected officials in local government. Even most state office pols seem to be in the bag for monied political interests
27
Don’t be too hard on your fellow Americans. There are people for whom the truth is what they think and believe until the facts bite them. When the harm Trump is doing has less abstract consequences (think soybean farmers) attitudes will shift. Unfortunately some must learn the hard way.
5
I bet those same 30-40% still think the North started the Civil War and that the Confederacy never really was defeated.
2
And just yesterday, Trump stopped the advancement of more Russian sanctions (trumpeted by our UN rep and our national security teams). All this lionizing of Putin and going soft on Russia can not be because Trump is a student of Russian history and culture ...
208
Personally, whatever consenting adults do during intimate moments is none of my business as long as it's truly voluntarily, everyone is over the age of 18, animals are not involved, and no one's life or body parts are in danger.
I'd just be happy to see Trump's tax returns. That's all.
72
Eh? If the consenting adult pays for sex and Russia can use the evidence and he now sits in WH--that's important.
235
"I'd just be happy to see Trump's tax returns. That's all."
Agreed. His tax returns and how deeply his properties are mortgaged to Russian money launderers, the latter being of much greater consequence than playtime with sex workers.
3
Let me see. How should I explain this to children. He is not any form of representation of a US President I want to see, hear or remember. NOT my President.
6
"To seriously discuss this presidency, you have to open your mind to the truly obscene."
I've learned that I often underestimate just how deep into the sewer Trump will go, so expectations need to constantly be lowered. Nothing, however vile, deranged or obscene would surprise me now and my guess is it's much, much worse than watching prostitutes peeing on a bed.
301
To your point, Trump is like an addict who doesn't have a bottom line (or hasn't hit bottom yet). And everyone in his orbit is carried with him. Along with his personality disorders and the power of the WH--it makes him very dangerous.
124
I think it's partially because he can't get out of his own rage and actually think about something that is beyond himself. Rage is what governs this very dangerous man, and part of that rage is his need to demean other people; women, immigrants, employees, other countries, and Obama. He uses people then destroys them and tweets obscenities about them. We need to have some psychiatrists come forward and make a case for impeachment. This is a very, very scary situation.
"As outlandish as the rumor is, however, the idea that Trump would shy away from good press out of principle is far more so."
Which is why if his tax returns made him look good, Trump would not only release them, he would run (well, walk quickly) down Fifth Ave waving them in the air.
291
I recently paid my taxes, and the thing that kept crossing my mind was that while I've paid my taxes for 50 years, each year, Trump probably hasn't. For the first time in my life, I resented paying my taxes, especially after the hugh tax cut for the rich last year.
115
Yes, and my tax rate was 28% this year. I'm pretty sure that most of the big corporations did not pay at that rate and will pay even less thanks to the new trump/Republican tax bill. Since corporations are now "people" (thank you SCOTUS) just like you and I. They ought to start paying just like you and I.
15
That visual made me laugh.
He probably wouldn't even "walk quickly". He'd be in a golf cart.
5
Ms Goldberg is right about the conservative take on Mr Steele's dossier. If you venture into the wastelands of Fox's alt-reality you will observe the dossier's summary dismissal on the grounds that it's cheap propaganda bought and paid for by Hillary Clinton. Never mentioned is its instigation by an anti-Trump contingent within the Republican party, and that there's no evidence Hillary ever paid a dime for it (the DNC perhaps, but that's not the way it gets painted). Nor is Steele's prior history as a respected Russia source for the FBI ever discussed. Now there is stronger evidence that Cohen's visit to Prague to discuss hacker payments with the sanctioned Putin crony Korsachev and others may be provable. Tho Steele himself gives the dossier about a 70% chance of complete veracity, it's rather breathtaking to think it all might be true, hook(ers), line and sinker.
308
There's also the problem of Putin's habit of killing off people; including those associated with the dossier. Ten influentials Russians have met with mysterious, sudden, and suspicious deaths since the dossier came to light and Trump took office.
144
Not only that but Hillary didn't use the dossier or its contents in the campaign. So, how is Hillary even involved in this story?
12
Are those 15 influential Russians definitively connected to the Steele dossier? Who are they, and how did they die? Do you have the documentation for your claim?
I think there's a tape, it's what the Russians do. And they play the long game which is in play. My guess is Trump borrowed a significant amount of money at some point in exchange for influence of some kind - like running for president and lifting US sanctions against Russia. Recorded sexual acts of perversion and/or compromise is the usual leverage to keep borrowers focused on the end goal, like removing sanctions. Case in point...today Trump withdrew the Russian sanctions after Haley announced them at the UN. Stay tuned!
428
Whitewashing Russian mob money through real estate transactions is a likely exchange as well. That is what Bharara was, and his successor’s office is investigating. That’s why Trump refuses to show his tax returns. If Mueller comes too close, Trump may either fire him or step down to “spend more time with family”.... But it may be too late for Trump already, now Cohen’s documents have been seized in a surprise raid.
18
I have always thought the tape was real because it is too bizarre a story to make up and it fits with Trump's deep disdain for Obama. As for being a germaphobe, the report says he had the women urinate on the bed the Obamas slept in.
If you are trying to smear Trump you would invent a much less weird story such as Trump having sex with underage girls. That would be very believable given Trump's bragging about walking in on naked teenagers in his pageant. In fact Putin was promoted by Yeltsin after he produced a tape of Yeltsin's rival (or a lookalike) having sex with underage girls.
2
Well this makes things much more clear, if true. Russia can blackmail Trump or maybe already has done so - just thinking about how Trump backed off the sanctions today.
143
Lordy will Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell do the oversight that is part of their leadership positions. They should be outraged but instead they're strangely Ok with whatever the executive branch is doing.
It sounds like executing the search warrant may indeed have some tapes that could be very damaging. I wouldn't be surprised if Trump tries some last minute desperation tactics to suppress the tapes.
106
Russian operatives also hacked into the RNC servers, into the emails of Senators McCain and Graham and into some state GOP organizations. It's reasonable that Putin would also want something to hold over some key Republican leaders' heads. Most certainly they targeted key people in Trump's org. I'll be interested to see what turns up about Nunes.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/devin-nunes-and-the...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/03/opinion/trump-russia-mueller-election...
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/09/a_...
66
Regarding Trump’s behavior toward Putin and Russia, it’s not about a video tape. That’s nothing to Trump. It’s all about the money he and his family owe them. Very simple.
104
All signs point to yes. Of course there is, by a preponderance of the evidence. And soon enough, beyond a reasonable doubt.
75
Thank you. Ms. Goldberg. I enjoyed your perspective. I feel it helped me to understand some matters more fully.
54
I believe it is time for our showman-in-chief to reconsider his protestations of this video....if it exists. He loves the ratings game and frequently reminds us incorrectly that he had the highest-rated show on TV. He always reminds us of the high ratings for Fox and never missed an opportunity to tell us how low the ratings for his old show were when Arnold Schwarzenegger took over.
If the tape exists, he should encourage that it be broadcast to everyone simultaneously. There is an excellent chance he could be the star of the highest rated television show in history. Now that would be something, wouldn't it? The perfect bookend to the largest-ever inaugural audience.
Maybe Hannity could introduce?
167
I'm wondering now if he's encouraging this as the most benign of his corruptions to distract more serious focus on the truly corrupt elements of his performance in the White House. Don't be surprise if the Lincoln Bedroom shows up on Air BnB or VRBO. Follow the money I say and you'll find the source of his corruption.
2
The salacious behavior, if ever proven,would be the least of any offenses. The core of the Steel dossier is exchanges and encounters with Campaign officials and various Russian operatives and oligarchs to whom trump is deeply and financially indebted.
The blackmail aspect of the sexcapades may have gone away but there are more critical things that Steel reported that endanger trump. The recent revelation that Michael Cohen visited Prague during the 2016 campaign, for example now point to verify more of the dossier content.
116
The probability that the pee tape exists is quite high. And most observant people who has been following the news closely can piece together a pattern of lies, and behaviours on Trumps' part that make only one logical conclusion possible...He's owned by Putin.
First, he wanted Comey to have the FBI investigate to find proof that he didn't participate in the pee tape. Question: Why would you need to investigate something that didn't happen? Finding facts to prove that nothing happened is rather odd to say the least!
Second, he claimed to Comey that he's too much of a germaphobe to be involved in such louche behaviour. Question: If he is truly a germaphobe, why did he engage in non-protected sex with Stormy Daniel (as she had claimed.) And proudly told Howard Sterns that avoiding STD was his personal Vietnam. No germaphobe that I know of would have sex with a porn star without a condom!
Third, as this column accurately stated, Trump is a narcissistic egomaniac who loves to take credit for everything that can be seen as positive in the media yet is eerily silent when tough measures towards Russia are taken. A sudden case of humility? More like the behaviour of a scared victim of blackmail.
Putin probably used the oldest trick in the book of the espionage manual to trap and blackmail Trump. It's working well so far for Putin.
363
Downright criminal to have unprotected sex and putti nursing wife and newborn son at risk for STDs. I hope Melanie speaks up for herself and her son.
39
Not likely. Melania didn’t marry for love honey.
Like HRC?
That it could be true, even if only remotely so, is damning in it's own right.
46
Whether the pee tape exists or not, whether it even happened or not is beside the point. Aren't the vile things our President says, the lies he tells on a daily basis, the damage he has done to our country - all of which we know to be true and our subjected to every day, enough to make it clear he is unfit to be leading our country?
261
Well, if that isn't enough, when is it enough? I wish people would stop talking about Trump's "base," and how everybody in the Republican party has lost all moral authority by being too afraid of alienating the "base." If these base people stopped voting, that would be fine with me. If they came out in hoards to protest sane, decent gun control, or money for education, or the fact that climate change exists, that would be fine with me. Will we never move forward as a country because of this absurd "base?" They are horrible, they don't deserve the ink they get and they should be ignored. Good people everywhere are sickened by them. Let's just forget about them.
8
I totally agree. The two things that really amazed me about the Comey interview was 1) He thought Trump was of above average intelligence? On what planet? Surely not this one, and 2) He didn't think Trump should be impeached. REALLY?! What more does this malignant stain on our democracy have to do to rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors?
3
This editorial jarringly illustrates an under-examined phenomenon in mainstream reporting. The left can be just as irresponsible as the right. This is possibly the least credible story involving Trump yet, but Goldberg is running with it because it embarrasses a man she hates. This is exactly how Fox news sells the narrative that the liberal media has taken journalism & twisted it into anti-Trump resistance. I'm not surprised that Goldberg would be an enthusiastic participant in this kind of tripe. But should the NYT dip their toe in this gutter? This is the kind of speculative journalism... if you can call it that, which Alex Jones , Rush & others engage in every day. I was repulsed about the lies they manufactured about Obama...this feels like we heading to the same territory. We shouldn't hesitate to denounce the fake news we see on the right. But columns like this make it harder. Lets at least admit this. Far too many leftist polemicists have a questionable agenda. They're feeding us an alternative media landscape—where the implausibility of any claim about Trump is no bar to its acceptance. Anything passes the smell test if it furthers the resistance. It's time we call the left on this cynical dissembling. They're muddying the waters. They do a great dis-service to responsible journalism. Lets at least get some hard facts before we run with opinion pieces like this.
O Lordy,
How could St. Trump the Kind ever encourage Russian GRU prostitutes to pee on a bed,
used in a previous administration?
25
It might explain why he wanted the Obama suite.
I have always just assumed the urinating story, yucky as it is, to be true. I think most people know it is true. Which makes it all the more ironic that Trump is so desperate to cover up what is, perhaps, the most humdrum part of his behavior. I am much more concerned about his criminal activity - money laundering, tax evasion, nepotism, profiteering from the Presidency, etc etc. The pee fetish - gross! salacious! But who cares?? Trump obviously. And I agree - he is compromised because of it.
277
If Putin tapped it, and is able to blackmail our president, then it matters.
1
It matters because a tape wuld help explain why trump is a Russian puppet.
1
What I find amusing is Trump's claim that the peeing prostitute allegation is ridiculous, because of his assertion that he is a "germaphobe". I mean after all, if he actually has a phobia, then wouldn't he have been disgusted by the idea of having unprotected sex with all of his wives and girlfriends? And with a porn star, even, allegedly? (Also, as an aside, I feel compelled to point out that pee is typically sterile... and the dossier implied that he was an observer, rather than a participant.)
90
Actually, as a "porn star," (and director, and seemingly smart woman), Ms. Clifford was probably the safest person he could have chosen. She's the most likely to have been tested regularly.
Good points, and Trump just reversed course on applying sanctions on Russia, against the advice of all of his cabinet members. Could easily be he's being blackmailed by Putin.
But it's odd that he would be averse to the stories coming out. Trump was filmed in a soft-core Playboy movie. He's cheated on every wife thus far, once with the next wife-to-be, once with a Playboy model, once with a porn star, and doubtless many more times besides.
We've heard audio of him bragging about sexual assault, there are over a dozen women who have come forward with very believable stories about his assaults on them.
Trump is a boy driven by lust, he must conquer as many women as he can, they always have to be seen as beautiful by society at large, they always have to be younger than him. This has been one of his few driving principles for his entire adult life.
So how is it that he'd really be buckling to Putin on this? Wouldn't he be alright with just saying, sure, I slept with the most beautiful prostitutes in Moscow, I hire only the best people? Or is it just the pee thing?
45
Maybe the tape is worse than we think - only he and the Russians know
4
When I heard about a "pee tape" with Trump in it, I wasn't so sure I could believe such a thing.
This column is the first time I read that these women were instructed by Trump to defile the bed the Obama's slept in.
While I hope such a thing is not true, unfortunately, that possibility is precisely what makes it believable to me.
106
Whether the pee-pee incident was fact or not, we all KNOW that this episode fits entirely within the character profile of Trump.
116
Lets assume for a moment that the Russians are in possession of such a "pee tape".
Do you think that they can use the tape to blackmail him anymore?
Few people will be shocked by the existence of such tape because Trump has already proved himself to be a mob, a thug and amoral.
Cohn, Flynn, and Manafort, should they choose to tell the truth, have more manipulative power over Trump than Putin does.
21
Tens of millions of dollars "loaned" to a so-called billionaire who in reality may have been bankrupt but needed to keep up appearances, above all else. Kind of fits with the storyline of a morally bankrupted loser: rumored sex with over 100 paid prostitutes, failure to pay contractors, finra ruling of casinos set up for money-laundering, 5 bankruptcies and no U.S. bank will loan more, over 3,500 lawsuits, one rape of a 13-year old, and boasts about grabbing women by the p**sy, and so on.
40
Ah, but is it the only thing they have? That's the real question.
4
At least 35% of our fellow citizens disagree. I think Mike Pence should be delegated to look into it.
4
The President often says when trying to avoid a hard question or obliquely threatening an enemy, "well, we'll see." About the tape, "well, we'll see."
31
Let's put the record straight - there is no such thing as "former" spies. Those who officially retire are still part of the same machine through a shady network of private contractors. So Christopher Steele who created the infamous Trump Dossier is still pretty much part of the British Intelligence. And everyone knows that the British will not move a finger without coordinating with the CIA. Basically they all are drinking the same Koolaid served by the "intelligence community". And this includes the media being fed the same story from different angels.
In my opinion Russia is just a collateral damage in the Trump vs. the spy establishment war with the added benefit of the increased budgets by resurrecting the cold war fearmongering.
5
"X-Rusky" -- what a handle! Are you trying to tell us something with it?
21
Vlad's opinion too, as he has told us.
1
The sad thing is that there is even a discussion about a United States President that includes these tawdry notions. And this sad state of affairs is compounded by the absolute silence of Republican leaders in Congress.
Never in my lifetime did I think I'd see someone who was even in the same conversation as Richard Nixon. And now Nixon is probably saying, "See, I wasn't so bad after all."
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Many thousands of people died as a result of Nixon's bad acts.
If the story about this event is true, it would be troubling, of course.
What is much more troubling to me is that Trump's base will not care. Many will appreciate what he did out of their hatred for Obama. But for the vast majority of them, they will not be swayed, by this or anything.
My great-aunt was a Republican and a supporter of Richard Nixon. When the news broke about his crimes (at least the ones related to the Democratic Party - most journalists and elites didn't care about his war crimes), she replied "Well, he must have been ill." She simply couldn't fathom the idea that he was knowingly engaged in criminal and unconstitutional activity, and so created a justification for his actions that alleviated her own conscience.
Trump supporters today are far, far more dedicated and committed. That's what worries me, because while many things keep us from being a functioning democracy, I don't know how we will ever achieve that when large segments of the population are simply impervious to evidence.
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The Trump/GOP cult members will need serious deprogramming once he gets ousted and their complicit GOP Congressional members get voted out in November. Start by taking Fox "News" off the air and keep going after that...
18
It's basically a cult. In fact the first thing a cult leader does is tell you the rest of the world lies and only he is the source of TRUTH. Trump and his propaganda/head office channel Fox have been doing that since day one. It's weird how warped Trump supporters are. They view a news story just reporting what their president says, tweets or does and of course being Trump it doesn't make him look good so they blame the messenger instead of the idiot actually doing the stupid/enethical/treasonous things. No one likes to admit they were conned but at some point even Trump supporters must put this country and the rule of law first.
11
There is a great quote attributed to Charles Darwin, it reads "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those that know little and not those that know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science". I'd say that quote could apply to his base's non-flagging support even when the facts dictate otherwise...
10
I was a manager in a recently Trump-owned hotel in NYC in the 80s. One day we were called in because he wanted to address us. We were told by his handlers not to try to shake his hand. He gave a monologue about his goal in life being nuclear disarmament. Then he left. He is a germophobe, but this compulsion does not preclude him from being a voyeur. He fears nothing more than nuclear war, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't, out of compulsion, start one. Once we understand the role of the paradoxical motivators in his life, we will better understand the connections between the intricate web of lies and fraud that he compulsively creates.
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One thing can be said with reasonable certitude; whatever Donald Trump did during his stay in Russia was surveilled and recorded. What that shows, as Michelle Goldberg says may never be known. So what?
The real issue here, to Trump is not his possibly sexually prurient behavior but his financially prurient transactions.
Donald Trump is motivated by three things:
1. Covering up the sources of his company's funding for the last 15 years.
2. Covering up the Trump teams conspiratorial relationship with Russia during the campaign, and,
3. Protecting his family's interests post-presidency.
Trump, like Icarus, has flown too close to the sun. The hubris that led him to expose himself and his family to the scrutiny that would surely be brought upon them is stunning.
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I think both Nicki and Pence are already planning their 2020 campaigns, perhaps on the same ticket. They see the writing on the wall.
32
Any normal person would dismiss the pee tape as absurd and not worth paying attention to. But Trump is far from normal. We don't know if he is obsessed with it because he cannot tolerate anything that may smear his image or because the incident actually happened. Trump's general demeanor is such that no one should be surprised if he engages in this kind of puerile behavior, it is well in keeping with his character.
59
Yes, Virginia...There was a time that The Dossier seemed a ludicrous piece of absurdity...I believe 99% of us (including) Trump Haters gave Don the benefit of the doubt...
But we were all children back in 2017...
1
The only thing I am confused about is why the Press have not yet realized that this "IS" the entire republican party regardless of what any of you may think of individual members like Comey, it "IS" who and what they are.
You only have to look past that to see what has been staring is right in the face for 40 years.
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I think that this essay captures an element of how we felt watching the interview last night, but I can’t help feeling sad for Comey - and sad for us. To go further: it’s become clearer that the rot that the president either has created, or is a symptom of, has undermined even fundamentally strong, moral leaders like Director Comey.
As adults, we all know that every one of us has weaknesses; we all know it’s far too easy to point to the mistakes of character that a public figure has made without silently wondering if we would have acted with more probity. The only real answer to that question is that the head of state really does set a tone that is extremely difficult to counter.
Comey seems like an extraordinary person. Frank Bruni’s critique is absolutely on target. The utter filth that has drawn evangelicals to champion Trump in spite of his total lack of any real Christian spirit, that has enveloped the G.O.P. in a fog of historical unconsciousness and convinced an enormous population of Americans that there is no such thing as truth has even crippled some of the best public servants.
This is a tragedy. No one can see straight. The integrity of the entire nation is in question as long as we continue to elect those who won’t challenge us to face hard truths, act on evidence, compromise respectfully with each other, and focus on what we share with other rather than what advantage we can obtain over our neighbor. Hopefully, this realization is part of the solution.
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You are ignoring the fact that Comey has long been a holier-than-thou choir boy who was most interested in his own reputation. Goldberg also left out the part of the interview where comey doubted that Russians had compromat on Trump.
@K.M. You have nailed it exactly! A fine comment.
7
@K.M. Peterson - Amen!
3
I'd say Putin's hold over a sitting president is far more obscene than any pee tape (as revolting as that image is).
But I'm not sure that salacious videotape of alleged defilations of a bed slept on by the Obamas would be enough to stun the president into submission to Putin.
Not much shames or embarrasses this president except for one thing: being found out to be less than what he appears.
Which is why I still feel that the blackmailable hold is financial. If Trump owes Putin a bunch of rubles for bailing him out of bankruptcy or, gasp, paying the for the election hacking, well, that destroys Trumps carefully cultivated image as a master businessman or a candidate who could only win with Russian "rigging."
Isn't it true that the lies we tell ourselves are far more tenacious than the ones we tell the world?
776
Exactly. I would go further and suggest that a man who bragged about his exploits in the Access Hollywood tape would normally be just as ready to brag about the goings-on in the Moscow hotel room. His reticence has to be because of related questions to do with his business dealings.
And I would not be in the least surprised if the KGB alum in the Kremlin somehow has something a lot more valuable than Access Hollywood up his sleeve - let's call it Access IRS.
266
Perhaps Trump is less worried about being embarrassed by Vladimir than he is about being ditched by Melania.
He seems to be obsessed with proving to her that the pee incident never happened — to the point of attempting to make Comey his personal "cleaner"; part private detective, part international fixer.
It's got to be anxiety-producing to know deep within yourself that you are full-on physically and personally repulsive and wanted only for your purported fortune.
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I don't believe this is about Melania. Never have the 2 of them seemed to exhibit any affection or even friendliness. The Obamas, the Bushs, even the Clintons, ... every past presidential couple I can remember seemed at least friendly if not affectionate. The Trumps mostly seem to ignore each other.
When Trump met with Comey, it was Trump who brought up the pee tape. It has always been Trump who keeps bringing it up. Trump keeps talking about the Steele dossier.
Trump being so obsessed with these topics indicates that he has something to hide. If it was all lies, why does he keep drawing attention to it? If there is nothing there, why does he constantly bring it front and center?
Trump is projecting his angst. People do that for a reason.
867
I'm starting to wonder if he does it in the same sense that he claimed to be able to shoot someone on 5th Ave and get away with it. "Look (wink, wink), there is no (it's a family newspaper) tape (wink, wink) and even if there is, I'm getting away with it (cheesy grin). Ugh!
11
Trumps weakness and tell is,and always has been, projection. Behold the master projectionist!
24
Quite simply, attention.
2
At the end of the day, we all want to take a long, hot shower after listening to Mr. Trump's banal protestations, but in our case, we'll leave out the "golden" part.
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Clyde, I have a proposal for some of the Trump followers, those who don't condemn his behavior but rather aspire to it. (They do not include all Trump supporters, but surely number in the millions, if not tens of millions.) They should take a COLD shower.
3
Trumplestiltskin's Lament
Oh how I hate that slime ball Comey
Plus all of the favors he’d owe me,
Eschewed fealty
To his POTUS did he,
When he could have been my close homie.
He’s more literate than I am
My tweets leave me in a sad jam,
I’m feeling so glum
Cause folks think me dumb
Can’t help it, should not give a damn.
138
Love it!
1
Michelle, Trump claims that he's a germophobe - and yet, as least according to Ms. Daniels, he has unprotected sex with her.
Is that something that an authentic germophobe would do - especially a married one - in our age of rampant sexually transmitted diseases?
If you're a germophobe billionaire always on the make, don't you carry the best condoms that money can buy in your wallet?
Michelle, I think that the person most convinced by Trump's lies is Trump. I don't think that he has it in him to see himself honestly. I think that he likely lies to himself in the same fashion that he lies to everyone else.
694
Trump’s having unprotected sex isn’t necessarily inconsistent with his being a germaphobe. People often make behavioral exceptions for sex.
Also, recall reports that DJT dislikes shaking hands (germaphobe), while separately he admitted venereal disease was his “personal Vietnam.” People who regularly wear condoms don’t generally view STDs as an intractable war of attrition.
45
Urine is sterile, except in cases of a UTI.
So, a germophobe can engage with urine and never come in contact with germs.
21
Ah, only people who have cash carry a wallet. #45 does not pay, so why does he need a wallet?
9
Trump once remarked that he told his employees to be careful what they do when abroad, as there are cameras recording you when you don't expect them.
How big of a leap, really, is it to conclude that Trump learned this firsthand? Or that the nation will pay the price?
180
More like is paying the price.
7
Is it possible that he has cameras in HIS hotels nobody knows about?
5
I'm confused about the tape and Trump's requests that Comey use his resources to prove that it didn't exist. If someone told me that they had a tape of me robbing a bank in 2013 or at any other time I wouldn't worry about it because I have never, ever robbed a bank in my life. Why would Trump keep coming back to the tape if he had no reason to worry about it?
1247
I imagine because you don’t want to be accused of robbing a bank.
2
I hope there are tapes somewhere that prove that Trump is lying. But what I truly hope is that the GOP would behave like adults and start to figure out how to govern the country while keeping the damage Trump does to a minimum. Of course given the GOPs record for the last few decades my hope is futile.
476
What a pipe dream.
2
To media interests, the rumor of a tape, even if it has no basis in reality, is better than having such a tape in hand. If such a tape were leaked on the Internet, it would be a sensation for a couple of weeks, then Trump would shoot his fiftieth or sixtieth victim on Fifth Avenue at High Noon on a cloudless summer Saturday … and gotten away with it AGAIN. The RUMOR of a tape could give excellent service to attract clicks, sell newspapers and spike viewership for YEARS. And, really … like Comey’s performance Sunday night and his extended flog of his book … it’s really all about the money, isn’t it?
I don’t know if James Comey is a child vivisectionist. It’s possible, but I don’t know.
Then again, it could all be a simple misunderstanding. Years before he was a candidate, Trump, bored to death in Moscow, may have relieved himself on a printed stack of Obama programs to that date, thereby setting himself a goal once eventually elected, and manufacturing a few laughs to boot. It could have happened.
Trump’s anger at his portrayal of toughness against Russia is interpreted by #NeverTrumpers as suggestive that he’s being blackmailed. Yet, for years, Trump has made clear a desire to find a mutually productive modus vivendi with Russia, possibly as a wedge to use against China. That could have happened, too, but it’s not something a president would admit, or would be pleased to be called on.
But let’s hear more about Trump being abducted by aliens. Inquiring minds want to know.
15
@Richard Luettgen: If there's no possibility that the tape exists, why was Trump obsessed with getting Comey to come up with proof of its non-existence?
Of course, Trump would expect "his" FBI Director to manufacture evidence out of "loyalty."
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The fact that anyone would waste electrons trying to defend a man as demonstrably morally and ethically depraved as Trump, regardless of a tape or not, doesn't say a lot for that person, I'm afraid.
142
"This leads people observing him to construct elaborate theories to avoid admitting what seems to be staring us all in the face." This is exactly what you seem to be doing. Why?
45
Even for spies, blackmail tapes secretly recording sexual activity is about as low as they can go.
This author wants it done, and wants to see them. "you have to open your mind to the truly obscene."
There is talk that James Comey has gone low, and harmed his cause. Maybe. But this is lower than low, it is all the way to embracing disgusting, participating with glee just to imagine the "truly obscene."
This stuff is just rumor without the slightest verification anywhere, even according to Comey. Yet the ones who feel themselves superior are wallowing in it.
18
Actually, many if not most of the allegations in the Steele dossier have been verified or supported by independent evidence. So the dossier itself has so far been shown to be a not unreliable source. That this particularly incendiary allegation has not yet been verified is no reason to dismiss it out of hand or not look at it seriously. That strikes me as just wishful thinking. This isn't a National Enquirer story we are talking about here.
541
I would call the "golden showers" story not a rumor, but an accusation. Maybe it began as a rumor, maybe as a lie, or maybe it's based loosely on actual events or completely factual. We do not know. It is certainly an unproved accusation. HOWEVER as the article describes, there are lots of strands of circumstantial evidence pointing towards the accusation being true, entirely or in part. And there is no reliable evidence against the accusation. Did anybody suggest that statements by Trump are reliable evidence? On this plane of reality, especially since some have been proven false, Trump's claims are logically evidence that Trump has something to hide and will lie to keep it hidden.
49
Exactly. The recent New Yorker profile by Jane Mayer speed this out in great detail.
4
"The piece described how Trump reluctantly agreed to sell antitank missiles to Ukraine on the condition that it be kept secret, and was apoplectic when the news leaked, "
From whom did Trump want to hide this? Did he think he could keep the sale of arms to Ukraine secret from Putin?
213
Evidence mounts that Putin is running the president. On Sunday, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley announced harsh new sanctions against Russia - a surprise move that gladdened many Americans and infuriated the Kremlin. But today, we learn that the president actually isn't comfortable implementing those sanctions. He says he'll get back to us, eventually, about his eventual response (if any). And that's just the latest example in a long list of astonishing acts of deference to Russia on the part of POTUS.
1047
Bucky, I agree that Trump is too deferential to Russia. However, for these latest sanctions, it may not be Putin to whom Trump is deferring. These sanctions, as I understand them, were directed at particular enterprises and their oligarch owners. These people may be investors of Trump's, or he may have hoped to get them to be investors. I do not know them personally, but they seem to be the types of people who carry a grudge, so Trump would have to write them off if he allowed these new sanctions to take effect. I'm just speculating, but ....
77
It is now, and always has been, about the sanctions.
Remember that ”adoptions” meeting. The adoption policy was in response to sanctions.
The meeting was about getting sanctions lifted.
Dirt on Hillary was a further inducement.
Congress should go around the president and deploy the approved sanctions, then increase them til the president gets outed. Russia may be able to do what we Americans have not.
77
Just like he got back to us to show his tax returns...
34