On Air Force One on Tuesday night on the way back from a rally in West Virginia, Mr. Trump repeatedly minimized the news, telling aides that the legal developments were not about him, but about Mr. Manafort and Mr. Cohen. He also groused over the optics of the rally, telling a person close to him that the crowd seemed flat and that some chairs were empty.
People are getting tired of the reality tv "shtick" of this administration.
Even his supporters realize he is an empty suit, a loudmouth liar who knows a lot less than he suggests, and one who is accomplishing much less than he promised.
After more than a year and a half, the huckster-in-chief is running out of ways to deflect. The never-ending dirt is just going to inundate this administration. Nobody believes anything that Sara Huckabee Sanders says any more, because it is disconnected from reality.
Trump will give the term "Potemkin Village" a new meaning. This administration is all facade and no substance. It is the Trump way that business is done.
This administration is a house of cards that so far has not been subjected to a "push." Once that "push" is applied, this administration will collapse. This administration is going to implode starting January 3, 2019 if the Democrats win a majority in either or both of the House and the Senate.
4
"How did we end up here?" XD
Hahaha, boy did Trump leave himself open with that one! It's gonna be a real kick seeing the endless memes and jokes in response.... which Trump very well deserves.
4
We started with bootlegging and gangland murders, but how did we end up with tax evasion?
5
How did we end up here?
Easy, the liar-in-chief should not have run for the highest office of the land in the first place. Then no one, maybe his third wife, will care if beds as many strippers and Playboy models and pays as much hush money he can afford. And he can proceed to stiff as many subcontractors as he can find, and hoard as much Russian money as he can.
That is how. Sad!
7
"But [Cohen] was somebody that was probably with me for about 10 years and I would see him sometimes."
"I've had many friends involved in this stuff. It's called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal...It -- it almost ought to be outlawed. It's not fair."
"In an interview, Mr. Giuliani said that he had spoken at length with Mr. Trump, but that the president had wanted to move on from legal tangles to other topics — including the golf game that Mr. Giuliani was playing at a course in Scotland on Wednesday."
The dissembling dismissiveness and cognitive dissonance, so emblematic of con artists, street thugs and racketeers, are breathtaking. The ethics and rationalizations of the Queens social club and the raw, dirty street have come to enfold America's supposedly "legit" business and political worlds. How far we have fallen...or was the American Experiment a romantic delusion - propaganda - all along? Was "It's Morning in America" really "It's Another Day To Fleece the Mark?"
6
Here's a nice metaphor: How many fires around you that you didn't cause have to flame before you feel burned?
In other words, Trump—in his casual (though inflaming) path to being awarded the presidency (illegitimately)—surrounded himself with corrupt associates, yet claims that it has nothing to do with him or his actions.
So, how many crooked associates does it take to make a mob one's own?
4
The best of British luck, Mr. President. Looks like another of your co-conspirators, David Pecker, flipped on you to get immunity from prosecution.
3
David Pecker, American Media Chief, Is Said to Have Immunity in Trump Inquiry
--- NY Times today.
The rats are rapidly leaving Trump's ship.
Soon -- thank G-d -- he'll be all alone.
5
US Presidents and the Press: Throughout my lifetime, from Eisenhower through Obama, the presidents would appear 4 to 6 times per year (sometimes more!) in the White House Correspondents Room to answer direct questions from the Press Corps.
President Trump held one (1) open Press Conference (in the East Room) a month or two after assuming the presidency. It went very poorly for him. Since then, he had held only "occasional" one-on-one interviews with select reporters... and even those questions and responses generated controversy.
For a democracy to thrive, the citizens of this country need to have reporters (of all stripes) ask the President questions, and the President owes it ALL listeners, to respond to those questions to the best of his ability. Later on, people can listen to the "analyses" of their preference.
President Trump, on this subject alone, fails to possess the ability, acumen, and honesty to perform the minimum duties of the President of the United States.
7
Opinion and wishful thinking disguised as "reporting" - typical NYT piece. How would these reporters know what the mood inside the WH is on any given day?
@takebacksr - They report on what they learn from people in the WH willing to talk about what they're hearing and seeing.
3
And there appear to be many. Daily. Hourly.
3
For someone who has been running a criminal enterprise for nearly 40 years it was quite stupid for Trump to take the office of the President with all of the investigative spotlight it brings.
4
Yes. Been wondering what Manafort was thinking.
1
"American Carnage" indeed.
1
Oh, and let's include Sarah Hucksterbee in any charges of collusion ...
3
Forget pay-offs to women for sex...in the great scheme of things it's just an example of an amoral slimeball! What I want to see are his tax returns. If no-one is above the law, why should Paul Manafort pay the price and not the law-breaker in chief? Don't forget how they finally got Al Capone the killer when all else failed. Cheating the government is always a way to get to a person when hard evidence is neccessary. There is probably not enough hard evidence re Russia. Only Mr. Mueller knows!
3
How did we end up here?
By letting Trump be Trump.
Keep going. He'll hang himself.
3
When your entire arrogant, cowardly, privileged life has been one of scams, grifting, and constant lies and hypocrisy, what else would you expect?
When your crooked produce-nothing enterprises have failed, scammed and gone bankrupt many times, what would you expect?
When you lie about everything, are a narcissistic sociopath and care only about yourself, what would you expect?
THIS IS TRUMP; this has always been Trump, these are Trump's children. Why would he ever expect anything to be different now? NOW EVERYONE knows about him, not just those in NYC. The weak have followed him and they will all go down together. What else should he expect?
GOOD RIDDANCE! Please don't send us any postage-due cards from Alcatraz.
8
Oh come on, the big deal is they got caught!!!
2
Cohen and Manafort's downfalls, and Trump's responses, expose how little separation there is among organized crime, racketeering, politics and business in America and around the world. Cohen's the nearest thing we've had to a made man so close to the Oval Office in a long time, with ties to New York and Russian mobsters, and Manafort was a consultant to oligarchs. Trump is an oligarch, or a wannabee at least, with longtime dirty connections in New York and Jersey.
And Trump's comments to Fox in the aftermath show this is just business. We are living a reality-TV show. And all that such tacky tawdriness implies. "It's nothing personal, [America]. It's strictly business."
2
There is no "soldiering on" at this WH - that would imply the existence and implementation of a plan from beginning to middle to end. What this WH has demonstrated repeatedly is how it merely lurches to respond to Fox News broadcasts.
4
"Well into the president’s second year, Mr. Trump’s aides have learned to weather, deflect or completely ignore developments". When do these aides begin to have some personal integrity? Anyone who has associated with this POTUS has been tainted in my book. They have proven to be people of few ethics. They are liars and not to be trusted. Their arrogant manipulation is disgusting. I hope these vampires feel the burn as these verdicts shine sun light on all their dark character.
5
Nixon got away with less.
Nixon's congress was far less craven. And that is a VERY difficult thing to say.
3
I think your headline ("How Did We End Up Here?") will be the title of a top-selling book when this mess is finally over.
But the question in my mind now is: "What will the Master Distractor come-up with now?"
THAT is something to fear...
1
"How did we end up here?"
To quote Stewie Griffin: "Oh there's a very simple answer to that... You drove me here, with all the indignity you forced me to suffer!"
Imagine a police officer pulled in behind Trump on the road with the siren on because Trump's inspection sticker appeared to be expired. For the sake of argument, though, let's say the officer was mistaken. Trump's sticker was frayed and strange-looking, but technically still good. But Trump saw the lights and floored it. A high speed, "Blues Brothers"-style car chase ensued and in the end, Trump found that he had barricaded himself in a children's hospital, demanding that his jet be fueled and left waiting on the tarmac with $1B in unmarked, non-sequential bills in the cargo bay. And when he was inevitably charged with multiple felonies he would say... "I thought this was about an inspection sticker! How did we get here?"
8
Ah but that non-sequential trick wouldn't work for him anyway, the mint could just print out a billion in thousands (good old Grover Cleveland), and then shuffle the bills so that the numbers weren't sequential, but keep track of the whole range. Anyone trying to use a Grover thereafter could be tracked back to Trump.
1
I can't fathom why any American who pays their taxes wouldn't choke at Trump's claim Manafort is a "good man."
A tax cheat like Manafort has stolen money from all of us who pony up and pay our tax bills. Why that wouldn't make even Trump supporters seething mad is just bizarre.
4
"“We started with collusion,” the president mused, according to several people who witnessed Mr. Trump’s somber mood. “How did we end up here?”"
The law and order President must know that often times a police officer starts with a broken tail light, an expired registration, or not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, which leads to the eventual discovery that there's a gun on the driver's lap, and/or there are narcotics in the vehicle. My point is, an investigation into possible collusion can lead to other crimes.
2
The incompetence of the legal and political people advising this President is astounding. Why would they allow him to appear on Fox News? He admitted on national television that he violated campaign finance law. Didn't anyone foresee this? Isn't this why they don't want him to be interviewed by Mueller? Oh boy, every day these folks look more and more like the Keystone Cops.
3
Resignation is your best option, Mr. Trump.
4
In the end, if SDNY doesn’t get him, Trump may resign with immunity from prosecution and a presidential pension. And live to crime another day. In his wake, some of his enablers will be in jail, and the country will be in ruins.
We’re seeing the beginnings of this u fold right now.
4
“Soldiers on”? Hardly, the WH is reaping what it has sowed. May there be a perp walk the likes of which we have never seen before.
4
In addition to his legal worries the specter of a depressed base should also be a concern. Right now the GOP is looking like a corrupt party. Their strategy is obviously to try and tough out the November elections with the hope that the base will hold and no one stays home failing to vote. But all Republicans will be saddled with Trump and the doubts about him as President. Make no mistake this election will be a referendum on Trump. Corruption in Washington and New York will be front and center in the minds of voters.
3
As a contrast to "How did we end up here?" raises the answer "It Can't Happen Here".
Read the "fiction", it's the Trump/Pence playbook...
1
USA like any young country (compared to European countries and Asia) suffering the old saying. History Repeats Itself. No lessons learned. Change without plans only means chaos. The country deserves the consequences of its action. It's not the USA that Lincoln fought to save, or Washington defended to create. It's the USA of American Idealists who hates anyone who is not them (White). Truth is Trump is the President we deserve because for so long we ignored our responsibility to preserving the democracy others before us relished.
2
One thing I found interesting here--'he groused about the crowd...' I hope this means that his vaunted 'base' is dwindling, or at least becoming less enthusiastic.
It's apparent that the rabid rallies he holds are staged affairs.
4
When hasn’t the mood in the WH been grim and in trench warfare mode?
Poor Barron, the only innocent among a pack of wolves and vipers.
3
Here's how. Trump thought he could reconstruct his Don-centric hire, fire, reward, punish, humiliate, lie, stiff Trump Tower playpen to the White House.
Instead, due to his ignorance or dismissal of serious concepts like separation of powers, checks & balances and press freedom, he's now reduced to wailing and flailing furiously and impotently as the walls of accountability close in on him.
32
@Phillip Usher
Senate needs two-thirds against Trump for your fantasy--"walls of accountability close in"--to happen, i.e., 2024 end of Trump's second term before it has a chance.
Mr. Manafort, at age 69, can just as well retire to a cell in a nice white collar federal prison as anywhere else. He could certainly write his memoire there as easily or more easily than anywhere else. If he is accurate and complete, it would almost certainly be both a best seller, and also madatory reading for intelligence operatives from Russia and all NATO countries, as well as every political operative for decades or longer. By the standards of Machiavelli, Manafort has a far more interesting and successful story to tell.
6
As with many people who have these clinical personality defects, he thinks this is all being done To him. He’s the victim. He has no appreciation he’s done all of this to himself.
10
To all those who ask how can anyone still support this man, I suggest you tune into some right wing talk radio. The constant barrage of lies can warp anyone’s thinking.
13
@EW - this would include my girlfriend, who's an environmentalist, has a job that harms no one, and is extremely giving. She's educated and intelligent and has a great sense of humor. She's also brainwashed.
She believes and repeats repeats what she hears on FOX News. The Iran nuclear deal was terrible, Trump has brought the unemployment rate down farther than Obama, stocks - which have been stuck in place for months - continue to shoot up in value, etc.
While all of that and so much more can easily be fact-checked, it would never occur to my GF to do so.
1
How did we get here? Simple: High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Solution: Investigate, Indict, Impeach, and say "Goodbye!"
Preach Impeach? Absolutely! Root out treason and complicity? Absolutely! Accomplish these things peacefully? Absolutely!
Trump, you're through as of August 23, 2018. But, go ahead and fight till your last breath of power. Petty, would-be dictators always do. In the end, we all suffer, and all of us come away diminished.
Make America Great Again, Mr. Trump? Sure! Resign, and let us -- the Citizens of the World -- do the rest. And after you resign, you might even read your FIRST book on the Presidency -- one of the many that tells the story of how we drove you out of office through peaceful, legal means.
Make one right decision: quit, and pay for the cost of your resignation.
2
Everyone in connection with 45 has become tainted and wears the gold tinged scarlet letter "T". he hired WH staff and others based solely on loyalty, not qualifications. They are now paying the price and 45s time is coming. I guess he's now realizing the federal government doesn't operate the same as his private organization, and that as much as he thinks he is, he is not above the law. Wonder what he thinks about Manafort would have been found guilty on ALL counts were it not for one juror?
2
Mr. Trump can always contend that the payments -- those he made to Mr. Cohen to silence the two women with whom he had affairs -- were designed to keep the women quiet in order to spare his wife and children from embarrassment, and that the payments had nothing to do with the campaign.
Seems much ado about nothing to me.
1
Doesn't he understand that a bunch of people look at him and his presidency and wonder the same exact thing?
5
Movie suggestion for Trump: The remake of Papillon opens tomorrow.
1
Mr. Trump’s “Presidency” is wiping out G.O.P.’s reputation for decades to come. Good for America and for the Free World too.
14
Wow, Trump. Beats me.
Guess he looked around and saw no one to lay the blame on.
3
Whatever destruction Trump has brought upon the presidency and our democracy, there is still far more transparency and accountability in government than a person of Trump's arrogance and deceitfulness can possibly withstand. It was only a matter of time.
But in response to "How did we end up here," it's really quite obvious: Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8
What if it has been about Pence all along? Progressives (including me) for too long have ignored the signs that the “collusion”between business, Republican Party, and corporate evangelicals has been marching steadily onward. I doubt that many progressives watch conservative religious programming long enough to understand just how determined this group is. Maybe I’m giving in to the national susceptibility to conspiracy theories, but the pained expression on administration figures such as Sarah Huckabee Sanders makes me wonder if she’s just waiting for Daddy to slide into a Pence White House.
8
That's a terrifying thought, and not far fetched by any measure. My only thought though is if there is going to be a reckoning for all this madness and corruption, then surely Pence will be brought down with the rest of them. He is Manafort's boy after all.
1
@JBro
Let's not forget that Pence was brought on board by Manafort. Pence was also the head of the Trump transition team. Pence is as dirty as Trump. And as a professed Christian, Pence is the epitome of a hypocrite.
3
Republicans just see smoke rising in every direction and repeat time after time, "no fire."
Here's some blessings and prayers that the party goes up in the inferno.
5
This unindicted co-conspirator president, quivering with psychoses & false perceptions, controls the nuclear trigger. A bill to inject some oversight has gone nowhere in the Republican Congress. It may turn out to be the crime of the century.
5
The Republicans who control Congress (at this time) are only interested in protecting Trump and have no interest in doing their duty under the constitution to protect our country from a criminal President. We are stuck with these corrupt and craven individuals until we vote them out of office.
Imagine how they (Ryan, McConnell, and the lot of them) would be howling and demanding impeachment hearings if Hillary Clinton's personal lawyer had testified about how she ordered him to make payoffs to people to influence the election. Does anyone think they would be silent and do nothing?
Their hypocrisy is breathtaking. How do they look themselves in the mirror?
Vote in November and get everyone you know to vote.
23
Let's treat Trump like his boy, Alfonse Capone and throw him to the IRS!
4
Lie down with porn stars, arise with fees.
10
If there is a silver lining to be found in any of this nightmare, it lies in the fact that America has historically recovered from its more manic phases. That there remains a vast chasm of political differences between the various geographic pockets of the country is something which can be overcome, and is to be expected on some level.
Politicians from both parties have been politicking for so long that the fact of partisanship took over the entire conversation, and Donald Trump capitalized on the 'resentiment'. But he can't possibly keep the charade going for much longer, and enmity has a surprisingly short half-life.
Now is the time to remember that we're all just people. Cherish your neighbor.
3
@ubique
"Now is the time to remember that we're all just people. Cherish your neighbor." I admire your sentiment, I do, and I fully agree that is the higher path, that is being the bigger person. But I'm afraid the pendulum has swung too far over, the poison has been spread too thickly for a lot of people to be able to live that. And yes, even though Hope was the only thing left in the jar by the time Pandora got the lid back on (I'm mixing my metaphors dreadfully), I'm afraid I can't see that happening. I know, for myself alone, I'm not that big of a person.
5
"“We started with collusion,” the president mused, according to several people who witnessed Mr. Trump’s somber mood. “How did we end up here?”"
HAHAHAHA. It's still going towards collusion, you dummy. We are "here" because you are corrupt. But you know that. You just ran into something you can't control with your idiotic blustering. Even if you don't get impeached and you serve out your term I am looking forward to you having dozens of criminal indictments waiting for you the day you leave office. I sincerely hope you spend the rest of your life in court and in prison and your pretend fortune evaporates and your entire family has to work in fast food the rest of their lives. It is only fitting for the worst "president" in history. And the most disgusting person, and family, we have ever seen in politics.
27
Pardoning makes little sense as state convictions will not be pardoned.
2
'How did we get to here?' The President has spent his entire public and business life defrauding people, cheating contractors, declaring bankruptcy, continually lying, bullying people, and bragging. In addition, he has been a serial adulterer, a sexual predator, a racist, and a misogynist. He entered office utterly and wilfully ignorant of the basic principles of governance, shows no sign of having any Constitutional knowledge, and has run his administration more or less like a quasi-criminal gang.
A more accurate question would be: 'Why did it take us so long to get here?'
20
No worries Donald! The NFL has some preseason games today and tomorrow. I'm sure there will be some kneeling, so you'll have something to distract your followers from the news about Cohen and Manafort. MAGA!
16
America, the bankrupted war state DESERVES this "President"!
The sick nation is filled with corporate-valued "distinctions" and "We the People" longed for a simple-minded "fixer".
We got it: one party rule, elitist fascism and in their pockets: NDAA 2012 no-warrant arrest and permanent detention authority, pending activation by the fixer.
4
"The presidency doesn't make you who you are, it exposes who you are."-Michelle Obama.
Ain't that the truth!
29
"How'd we get here?" Easy. The lies ran smack-dab into the truth. Like when a speeding, out-of-control car runs into a cement wall. No matter what his magical thinking, Donald Trump can't repeal the laws of physics. There's a first time for everything, Mr. President, and this is clearly your first time dealing with something bigger and more powerful than yourself. Too bad you have to learn that basic lesson at age 71.
10
Nailing rich guys on tax crimes is like finding drugs on the streets of Oakland or Chicago.
The crime here is Mueller using same for Stalinist Show Trials. Cohen begs with DNC Politburo lawyer at his side and gets to come to the Comey-Mueller tea party in 2024 when Trump leaves office and Manafort goes to the deep-swamp gulag for those unwilling to yield to the Mueller mandate to get Trump by whatever means necessary.
Nothing new here. Nothing unexpected. Deep-swamp and Mueller snipe-hunt get-Trump piñata party continues. Still depends on which way the margin of error swings in November.
2
@Alice's Restaurant - Interesting. So you're saying the law doesn't matter and people should be able to break it with impunity?
5
So your argument is that because there are still crooks out there, the Federal prosecutors that Trump appointed have no right to go after crooks.
Boy, that there is some argument.
2
@DR
If the law mattered, Bush and Cheney would be in Leavenworth along CIA conspirators Brennan and Clapper. Clearly the deep swamp has its favorites.
Trump always had the option of NOT committing adultery with a porn star. Paying her off to keep quiet was a choice too. When is the "personal responsibility" crowd going to start holding this man personally responsible?
19
David Pecker, CEO of American Media Inc/"Catch and Kill" National Enquirer infamy, was just granted immunity, the WSJ is reporting.
Trump really hired a bunch of dummies.
9
President Trump welcome to the realization that as President the your actions have serious consequences. We know this is a difficult lesson for you to learn, as your frantic meltdown is showing, looks like you might be understanding at last.
The President isn't above the law.
Go to another rally and have the crowd yell "Lock Her Up", see where that gets you.
13
Is it yet time to begin to plan for how Mike Pence will deal with the challenges of our time, for example whether to speak out threatening the Russians about hacking and organizing a serious government wide cyber effort. It seems so strange when the daily news is still dominated by the latest tariff increase, or the phishing effort at DNC or tweets about Paul Manafort.
1
@WHM - For the one hundredth time, Pence is probably guilty in all of this and any evidence that implicates Trump will implicate Pence as well. Paul Ryan etc. are probably well aware of this and this would explain why Republicans haven't kicked Trump to the curb yet.
2
"Soldiers on"?!! That phrase conjures up bravery in battle against overwhelming odds. Anyone in the White House who has not yet resigned in protest is not "soldiering on." At this point, anyone still there and supporting this travesty of a presidency is complicit in multiple crimes. They aren't soldiering on, they are circling the wagons and hoping *they* won't be next to receive a subpoena. Because while they may have a vague aversion to committing perjury, they have all lied to us so much they no longer know how to tell the truth.
13
He will wait until all legal action and sentencing of Manafort has been done before pardoning him. His family will be pardoned too if they are drawn in to any complicated legal quandaries. I predict that because he is President he won't be removed from office anytime soon even for obstructing justice for that matter of which he definitely is guilty. Any such procedure will ride out past his first and possibly only term unless he manages another Electoral win. And should Pence win in 2020 look for a pardon from him for any Trump scalliwags.
3
The polls indicate that 42% of the people approve of Trump's performance. That seems to be a floor. Nothing he does will lower it. They are indifferent to right and wrong. Their beliefs and prejudices outweigh facts. And those people vote, and their votes count disproportionately, whereas a large proportion of the 53% that disapprove don't vote.
Trump doesn't have a problem; we have a problem.
18
Trump reminds me of the lyrics from Four Tops song Standing in the Shadow of Love "What did I do to cause all this grief? Now what'd I say to make you want to leave Now wait a minute"
So much grief from one man. Republicans do your duty and start Impeachment proceedings. If not that, at least put a hold on Kavanaugh's confirmation until after mid term elections.
8
Trump wants to move on from legal "tangles" to other topics, like Guiliani's golf game in Scotland this weekend. A golf game - most certainly at Trump's golf course there and which means more money in his pockets. Yet another indication of where his priorities lie; certainly not in governing the country. He's abysmal at it, and we are probably better off the less that he's involved.
Don't even get me started on the fact that he is now a proven unindicted co-conspirator, and the rest of this embarassing debacle. There's not enough room here. This is his "I'm not a crook moment".There surely will be many more, and if the Republicans in Congress grow spines, he'll be out. The only problem with that is we'll be stuck with Pence.
5
If I were a Trump supporter, would I care if Trump paid off women to keep quiet about consensual sexual affairs? We're not talking about sexual harassment after all. Why is it such a big deal? We can understand why someone would want to keep the details private. We understood why Bill Clinton lied about his affair with Lewinsky. Its not as if nobody knew Trump was a womanizer/pussy grabber. They knew it about Clinton as well and elected him anyhow.
Why can't we keep the focus on where it deserves to be? On his shady business dealings, his fraudulent tax deductions/charitable foundation, his payments to everyone he's lost legal cases to so that he doesn't have to plead guilty, the non-disclosure agreements he asks everyone to sign, the tax returns he's hiding, the hotels he's continuing to profit from. Why is it so hard to explain that Trump is the one guilty of everything he accused Hillary Clinton of? Why is it so hard to demonstrate that Trump is one of the most secretive people ever? He has even had members of his family - his own siblings - sign nondisclosure agreements. He is a con-man who is lying about his own vaunted success.
11
@DebbieR - Have you not noticed how many Trump supporters claim to be good Christians and how often they like to lecture other people about what goes on in their private lives?
2
@DebbieR
The focus on "the right things" is in process. First, they had to get the low-hanging fruit and secure cooperation from Cohen and (most likely) Manafort. Between Cohen's records and recordings, and Manafort's Ukrainian & Russian "business" connections, my feeling is that Trump will be "toast". My feeling, however, is that Trump will never stick-around for impeachment hearings. He'll probably resign and "declare victory" with his followers...and continue to wreak havoc around the country.
1
“We started with collusion. How did we end up here?”
The same way Kenneth Starr started with a land deal in Arkansas and ended up investigating a blow in the Oval Office. Quit acting surprised.
15
if the guilty parties have nothing to do with you - why address them at all and waste time and energy in the process?
don't you have other things to do - like a JOB?
12
How did you end up here?
You surrounded yourself with unethical and corrupt people. And still do.
You relied on bad advice and believed that you were above the law. And still do.
You failed to realize that the majority of American people believe that you are amoral, unfit for the presidency, and lack any moral compass.
Your White House press secretary can make all the denials she wants, but the fact remains that your longtime attorney, with whom you had a legal relationship spanning many decades, stated under oath that you directed him to break the law. That's how you ended up here.
299
@William Michael Cohen has worked for Trump since about 2007. Before that it was the now deceased Roy Cohn. Besides that minor point, agreed.
1
@William
You look the fact that he is himself unethical and corrupt. That is why he is surrounded by people who are unethical and corrupt.
@Carol
And we know how morally corrupt Cohn was. Not much change except an added “e”.
Unfortunately, the president might be down right now but he’s not out. Ever since the Hollywood Access tape came to light, the president has shown an uncanny knack of skirting danger and weathering the storms of political blowback.
Throughout his disastrous presidency, lawmakers and his base have stuck by him. Not one Republican of note has taken him to task for the way he has defiled the norms of American democracy and her institutions. Even his humiliation at the hands of his Russian hero in Helsinki has had no effect of his popularity with Republicans.
All of the president’s wounds have been self-inflicted. Even if he was a callow novice in the political arena, Republicans have excused his stumbling and bumbling as someone who’s learning on the job and just needs time to find himself.
The president may be a survivor but he’s gotten plenty of help from his party and his White House aides to steady him through tough times. Republicans, with the help of Fox News, will continue to spin the unspinnable.
283
@silver vibes, But you would agree that all this changes if the Democrats win the house and/or the Republicans begin to show some spine.
2
The explanation that makes the most sense to me for Trump's behavior is that at heart he is a dyed-in-the-wool, bona fide mafioso. Following such people leads to no good places. I think his proclivities led him to fall in with the Russian mob (including the Kremlin), and I don't think that leads to any good places either. If the GOP continues to stand by him, it will only become more and more corrupt and corrupted, because as a mobster, corruption is one of Trump's core values. The reason his behavior is surprising is because we aren't used to having presidents whose model is organized crime or something close to it. But if we adopt that model as a way to analyze him, everything makes sense.
162
@Joe
There are a number of news segments on Trump Tower Panama, and on his grand failure in Atlantic City. The picture is there for those who know what they’re looking at.
6
The result of electing by electoral college (Trump lost the popular vote by millions) an unworthy and unqualified person. Predictable as two follows one.
11
Sarah Huck will defend Trump--it is her job. But does she really believe it? The fact is that Trump is the wrong person for the job he is in.
How he got elected will occupy the historians for decades to come. But Trump's election is a deadly blow to US prestige, standing in the world, alliances, and self esteem. The problem is the system set up by the GOP and Fox news, misleading the Trump voters that Trump is interested in helping them or even aware of them.
The long range, big question is whether the US can recover after Trump/Pence are gone from the scene. It is not like the fall of the Roman Empire, but perhaps the beginning of the end of the US domination of the world that started in 1989.
9
@toom
Sarah Huck will defend Trump--it is her job.
No. As the daughter of a father who advocates morality she should know better and uphold her Christian values by speaking out and resigning if necessary. The only future work she may acquire after this is with her own lying kind. Loyalty to immorality breeds contempt from truth and justice seekers.
3
"How did we end up here?"...just look in the mirror Trump and the answer is looking right back at you.
26
Manafort will be pardoned following the midterm elections. After taking the House but not the Senate, the Democrats will not be able to pierce the GOP wall around Trump, which will continue to stand so long as Trump continues to rubber stamp an arch-conservative agenda. There'll be constant sniping and fighting over whether Trump should be removed but it will never happen. The GOP's base and Fox News will continue to back their party no matter what happens. And the beat will sadly go on...
7
@Lionel Hutz taking the House will definitely change the game. Holding the purse strings changes everything.
1
@Lionel Hutz I agree with you.
2
@Lionel Hutz yes that is likely being considered but State of NY trials will then be convened and 45 can't pardon Manafort for those state crimes or his own. His goose is cooked and he finally seems to get it. My only fear is that he will launch world war III to deflect his guilt.
2
Whatever Trump's fate will eventually be, before it is over with, he will pardon any and all who had a hand in this governmental debacle as a way of showing his ultimate contempt for the rule of law.
10
Every time I read an article about a terrible thing Trump did I remember it doesn't matter. He's been an absolute garbage human and people voted for him anyway. He's Teflon. Values don't matter anymore, apparently.
It makes me sad. Is our democracy a success story? I'm not so sure anymore.
13
"Mr. Giuliani said in the interview that a pardon for Mr. Manafort was not under consideration." Translation: Trump is going to pardon Manafort! Wait and watch.....
12
@DC
it's good that there are 10 counts that can be re-prosecuted. remember, only 1 juror couldn't find pauli guilty of those 10.
plus - there is another trila already scheduled for additional crimes.
pauli is not likely to ever in his lifetime, be free of the justice system.
2
@DC - What would Trump gain by granting him a pardon?
1
His SILENCE.
The sycophants keep falling back to “there’s no collusion” ignoring the fact that the president shouldn’t be an unindicted coconspiraror in ANY act that is against the law.
8
@Gusting. I think that once we move into the Russia probe itself, the "no collusion" comment will look pretty irrelevant. There will also be the concern about the legal exposure of Don Jr and Jared. It will be interesting to see what America's mayor chooses as his next chapter.
1
So many of us knew from the very beginning what a man like Trump was capable of. He had an affair with a playmate and porn star while his newborn spent time with his wife - that’s really all you need to know. I so badly want to have the strength to have empathy for the poor people who put their faith in him. Trump is a very effective con-man. This rich selfish liar is no savior - he’s the devil in disguise, representative of the very worst in humans.
12
To paraphrase Seinfeld “His whole life amounts to nothingness” to end up anywhere.
5
Some Republicans might convince him to resign after the midterms,then Pence becomes the President and carries out the ultraconservative agenda that the Republicans want,pardon Trump for past and future crimes as Trump fades into the sunset preserving his fortune. Pence and his Republican cronies will continue to say that "Trump was the best President we ever had."
4
@rughani, Not if the blue wave takes the house and hobbles the GOP. VOTE!
1
@rughani - Why doesn't it occur to anyone that Pence is probably guilty as well?
2
@rughani. Do you think it likely that Pence will begin to show some legal liability? His role in the Trump campaign and Flynn survival after Sally Yates' warning could be tough.
3
Don't count on the GOP to suddenly find morality and take a stand against this Mussolini want-to-be. Only a midterm neutering will bring this national sickness to heel.
Vote in November. Get others to vote. Get others to vote where it counts most.
Vote.
19
Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.
When you tell your wife your too busy to join her and you go play golf with your buddies, grist for a stand up comic, you are cheating. When you cheat at business, you lose your reputation and your ability to get loans, when you cheat your contractors, your contractors won't work for you, when you cheat at golf, it better be your own club. But when you cheat the American people, you haven't just violated a local trust, you have violated the trust of those who died for this country, who work for and serve this country, its citizens and the American Experiment that Lincoln hoped "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".
Nobody likes cheaters, but cheaters do sometime win, but cheating the American people is the worst crime.
12
Trump has always played his games in safety provided by his money, protected by many others who established and maintained civilization. Now his job is to seriously deal with the world as he has never been required to do and it’s beyond his zone of comfort. It’s all beyond anything about which he appreciated and his carelessness as a private citizen has a different set of consequences than he ever imagined himself having to face.
Trump is the dream President that the reactionaries in the Republican Party have sought since FDR was elected. He is undoing everything government does that they hate and filling up the courts with judges who will withdraw the law from protecting people from the wealthy and powerful in their daily lives and restore the power of religious institutions to control public policies. His tax cuts will create a trillion dollar debt that probably will force the end of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for which there will not be money to fund.
Trump will have ended the America into which he was born and replaced it with one resembling Dickens Great Britain. There will not be any renewal of growth from all of this. The gilded age was the result of western expansion of human settlement up to the Rockies and along the Western coastal states, and many new industrial innovations that profited from that geographic expansion. That is done and cannot be repeated. These reactionary policies are going to create third world poverty across America.
102
@Casual Observer Brilliantly written and observed. And it's a hell of a place that we find ourselves in.
3
@Casual Observer As tempting as this seems, and yes, that's the direction, but it isn't a forgone conclusion. Taxes came come back, and our Democratic institutions are a bit more resilient than you might think. Hey, a trump appointed republican is the inciting judge in the CA representative's case.
2
@Casual Observer
Absolutely correct. It is a sad, crying shame to watch that man hack away at the foundations of civil society. And his base eats it up like he's giving away candy. Hopefully his hubris will bring him down soon.
1
How did we get here ? Nancy MacLean has more than a few ideas in her book Democracy in Chains. The far right continues to support Trump because they see him as the avatar of their long term plans to pass "harsher laws to undermine unions, privatizing everything from schools to health care and Social Security, and keeping as many of us as possible from voting". In addition to Trump they have Mike Pence as Vice President ready to take over when Trump finally implodes...........In their minds all of Trump's destructiveness contributes to their agenda by destroying the institutions of Democracy and prepares the country for a radical far-right transformation.
69
Trump’s usual distract and outrage approach. He’s accused (or outright caught) doing something wrong/improper/corrupt/unethical/etc. and he creates a big loud ruckus (one per day, one per hour, one per minute...) to distract everyone from the real issue. It’s control via chaos. Enough already.
No one should ever vote for a Republican again. The Republican Party’s support for Trump and a societally poisonous, divisive ideology has damaged the country. They don’t deserve a single vote.
92
Trump colludes to steal a presidential election and then wonders how he got to be recognized as a criminal? Only Trump seems not to understand how. And its just beginning.
8
You can tell that Team Trump is worried because he deliberately lit a trash fire that is visible from space. Rudy Giuliani claimed that "collusion is not a crime." The president agrees, and now argues that"collusion is not a crime, but that doesn't matter because there was No Collusion (except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats)!"
If you're tracking this horror show, the president has gone from claiming, on election eve, that "I have nothing to do with Russia, folks," to instructing his mouthpieces to go on national television and tell the country that conspiring with the Russians to undermine an American national election is not actually a crime. This would be like your lawyer looking somberly at the jury during closing arguments and saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, my client didn't commit this murder, but even if he did, this particular homicide is not against the law."
11
Tuesday’s night’s “crowd seemed flat and some chairs were empty.”
Trump noticed a subdued crowd at a rally.
Now this is a new development. Perhaps there is a ray of hope - that Trump supporters may be affected by learning how sociopathic are the “birds of a feather” surrounding Trump.
Perhaps, as the Mueller investigation proceeds, the sycophants’ excuses will also fall flat, their voices become empty of conviction. As they begin to realize the terrible truths behind a stolen election and perverted appointments by a man so unsuited and unfit for governance that our very Republic itself is now at stake.
I cannot feel joy. Not even schadenfreude this morning. I consider those young people whose idea of morality has now been corrupted by a venal, lying, thieving, con man - in the White House - and his toadies willing to lie on his behalf.
22
"How did we END up here?" You STARTED here!
Before and after this "administration" got underway, crimes were committed and kept ongoing. The partnership with Russia was signed, sealed, and delivered. Ignoble, mendacious characters were put in positions of authority and influence, even in the cabinet. There was criminality coming and going from day one!
What he really means, I think, is not "how did we end up here," but "how did we get caught?"
23
“How did we end up here?”
"We" ended up here because you are a scofflaw and a criminal, who has spent his life flouting and breaking the law and surrounding himself with criminals, grifters, and low-lifes, and you have dragged that along with you into the most important political office in our nation.
To our great detriment and shame, you have pulled our nation into your manifold catastrophes, which has deeply sullied our standing in the world. It has also exposed the Republican party as a cadre of hacks and shills who are happy to carry water for you, no matter how brackish and foul, and refuse to uphold the necessary checks on your virulent and erratic administration. This not only deeply wounds the necessary integrity of our institutions and of public office, it also delays and denies the crucial work of public policy and healthy change that is desperately needed by the American people.
We- as in We the People- will be much better off when you leave office. The sooner, the better.
63
@Dominic The next man up is a very dangerous and scary individual as well.
5
@James Howard
Yes very much so. But three things to consider -- he won't be tweeting like a lunatic to keep himself in the news every minute of every day/night, he can at least ACT "old school" presidential when he needs to, and the Congressional GOP aren't terrified of him going after them the way 45 does.
But I agree, a Pence presidency with a GOP controlled Congress is Gilead waiting to happen.
@Dominic. Carrying water sounds much too clean for what is going on here. More like carrying raw sewage.
Democrats force the president to waste a great deal of time on matters of little consequence. I am concerned about trade policy, China, North Korea, and the Mexican border.
Trump's not.
Don't blame the Democrats again. They didn't force him to have affairs with porn stars & then cover it up. If you haven't done anything wrong then you have no reason to cover it up. As they say, he dug his own grave - with help from the likes of Cohen, Manafort & others - including members of his own family. Now he has to lie in it.
3
@Eugene Windchy. - Matters of little consequence, like Trump's golf games, tweeting and hours of television viewing?
4
The circus will at least give pause when his children are indicted. Serious pause.
It will take that, and perhaps more, to force his resignation.
The Trump foundations vs the IRS.
They are the people that always get the gangsters convicted.
Can't wait for him to say it is too cruel separating children from their parents.
9
"How did we get here?" Sounds like a question a tornado might ask after careening and ravaging great swaths of territory as it begins to fizzle out.
If tornadoes were given names, Tornado Trump would be the most damaging one in our history.
11
You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. Abraham Lincoln.
And let's not forget Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, "...at the length truth will out..."
14
What If Trump had ( for now, allegedly) not paid the hush money but simply said, “Yes, I slept with these women”? Would he have been elected anyway? I’m actually relieved that we didn’t have to face that scenario or the possibility that his sexual activities wouldn’t matter a bit to his fan base.
Brcause I’m afraid they wouldn’t. I’m afraid they still don’t.
3
It's a pity so many intellectuals,media,government agencies etc.,of the most developed country on earth are spending their valuable time to analyse,discover(?) and digest the acts of a stone age man.How many POTUSs to deal with such acts?
1
@NsMurthy. This absurdity is particularly noticeable when the MSNBC crowd does a detailed dissection of the legal issues involved in the Russia probe. The level of discourse is far beyond what Rudi and the Fox team could manage, but that becomes irrelevant if the Trump base is the relevant audience. This issue will make the mid-term elections very informative. Are there enough thinking people out there for us to get into intricacies of the law.
They are dealing with it because it concerns the integrity of our country. If the person who holds the most powerful office of this country can't abide by the rules of law, they pose a serious threat to the fabric and the moral integrity of our society.
Not to mention that when he took the Oath of Office, with his hand on the Bible, he vowed to uphold & protect the Constitution. He has broken that promise he made to the American people.
And thats a big deal.
1
How did we end up here? Trump asks. Well for once in his life he should look in the mirror. He will see a man who has spent his whole life conniving,cheating,lying and exploiting the vulnerable.And his senior advisors follow his example. They all think they can get away with anything. WELL they cannot. They are all subject to the law. Including the Donald. The answer to the question. Be cause of your disgraceful performance as President.
8
His use of Twitter is so dangerous. If you listen to his off the cuff remarks, most of the tweets seem to be written by someone else. He has a very limited vocabulary.
Trump: Impeach me and the market crashes http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45285585
6
The mere fact the he uses Twitter to announce policies concerning affairs of State is lazy, inappropriate, and indicative of how seriously he takes his responsibilities as president. I'm surprised that he doesn't use shorthand like BTW and LOL.
2
It’s looking like Russia gate may not matter since there is so much corruption in the W.H. without it. No collusion is becoming irrelevant. All of this makes me want to go screaming into the night. Thanks for letting me rant.
11
@Sue, please don't be discouraged, and don't forget to VOTE!
1
How did we end up here?
It really started when you said you could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and your voters would stick with you.
It will end when enough voters realize that you were telling the truth and it will scare them.
24
“There are no charges against him.”
Because the DoJ won’t charge a sitting president.
They sure charged Michael Cohen and Duncan Hunter for similar crimes. Each will most likely go to jail.
So Sarah Sanders’ defense is irrelevant.
9
"'We started with collusion,' the president mused, according to several people who witnessed Mr. Trump’s somber mood. 'How did we end up here?'"
Worst. Shakespeare. Play. Ever.
16
Not that it matters, but is trump doing any president-like work this week?
17
Technically, I don't think he has since the election. He does do a lot of rallies though.
6
@Tom Quiggle
Has he ever? Every time I see a photo of him at his desk, there is nothing on it!
4
I wouldn't say this is much about nothing, but the only Manafort conviction/Cohen plea items which directly impact Trump are Cohen's admissions about paying hush money to the women. Yes, technically Trump is now an unindicted co-conspirator because the payments broke certain laws, but at the bottom of it, we already knew Trump was slimy in his personal life; he had these affairs with women and we are used to people like him paying what was required to cover it up. In a sense, it is not all that different from Bill Clinton lying about his affairs. Lots of men and some women too can accept that a powerful person would pay or lie to cover up illicit sex and I don't think it provides a basis for impeachment, notwithstanding the technical felony.
7
@Roy Lowenstein You can make a case that the Framers at the Convention were concerned about abuse of office and corruption, irrespective of felony status or not (and eighteenth-century felonies were different in many ways). In this regard, one must at least entertain the assumption that a personal lawyer to the president might know a lot more that bears upon these issues than just the payments you refer to.
1
@Roy Lowenstein. True, although the potential jail times for these offenses may alter the chance of these two men getting more involved in the Russian conspiracy cases. Also, Michael Avenotti's attempt to force discovery in the Daniel's case is likely to move forward now and could provide interesting reading.
1
@Roy Lowenstein Seems like there are two motives for cover-up. The one you mentioned can be expected and not a big problem legally. But the other is to sway an election, and that is a campaign-related issue. I believe both were in play, but the cost of the campaign related one must be declared or else it violates law.
1
Trump says that Cohen is lying and that he didn't know about the payoffs beforehand but there is an audio recording that proves that Trump was aware of at least one of the payments before it was made. In other words, Trump knew about the payment and committed a crime. It is still not certain whether he colluded with Russia but we do know for certain he colluded with Cohen.
46
@Dave in Seattle
I think the word is "conspired" with Cohen.
1
Things may look bad for Trump now, but the fact remains that the entire GOP is meekly going along with his corruption and nonsense, and they will not turn against him no matter what. Every now and then some low level representative will gripe about Trump in an oblique way, but it never amounts to anything.
So I think nobody should expect that impeachment is on the table, nobody should think Trump is going to be indicted for his various crimes, and no one should hope that justice will be done, yet. The only way that justice might get done is if both houses of Congress switch to Democratic, and I don't think that can happen, as Democrats will shoot themselves in the foot like they always do, and Republicans will march in lockstep like the fascists they are trying to be.
Sorry to be a downer, but it's foolish to get one's hopes up when the authoritarian GOP is solidly in control of all three branches of government. My hope is that we don't actually turn into a dictatorship, and I think there are still decent odds that we won't.
67
It may be foolish to get one's hopes up over an "authoritarian GOP," but not so to have SOME hope when it comes to any registered and participating American voter who's concerned about their country come this November.
2
@Dan Stackhouse
Things change. When polling starts to show a shift in sentiment, then alleged GOP leaders will start to be more critical. In 1972, Nixon won a landslide re-election. By the summer of 1974, following a sustained and determined investigation into Nixon-inspired and directed misdeeds, only a handful of Repub senators were willing to vote against articles of impeachment. Then -- the resignation. Follow the money, and follow the poll numbers. The search for truth and justice requires time and dedicated work. We're getting there.
3
It may be foolish to get one's hopes up over an "authoritarian GOP," but not so to have SOME hope when it comes to any registered and participating American voter who's concerned about their country come this November.
"...and yet his relative calm — contrasted with his more typical lashing out when he is anxious..."
This is an interesting shift in personality reaction. I pull out my Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and in the pages describing Narcissistic Personality Disorder I found the same shift.
"... criticism may haunt these individuals ... They may react with disdain, range, or defiant counterattack."
This is what we have seen until a couple of days ago, but now the change:
"... performance may be disrupted due to intolerance of criticism or defeat ... Sustained feelings of shame or humiliation ... may be associated with social withdrawal, depressed mood ..."
11
"How did we get here?" I've asked that question everyday since Nov. 8 2016. The reason you're confused, sir, is that you lie about everything and when people lie, even a little bit, it is hard t keep their stories straight. One of the advantages of telling the truth is that you never have to worry about the who, what, when and how changing from day to day. If you've never felt more alone it might be because you have gone way past a "tangled web" and now find yourself, helpless, in a cocoon of lies. All of your your own making. You may not be in prison yet, but you've already put yourself in solitary confinement.
20
Somehow the Times manages to bury the fact that Trump, in his Fox News interview, basically confessed to the crimes for which he is now an unindicted co-conspirator.
Presumably because he's too lazy and reckless and narcisstic to take a moment and learn what he's talking about, Trump admitted to making the payments out of his own pocket. (He evidently thinks, mistakenly, that it's only a crime if the campaign itself makes and fails to report payments.)
Dear Times: don't you think that deserves a headline?
16
It was a natural progression from the little boy in Jamaica Estates who wouldn’t give the ball back when it bounced over the fence and on through the multiple bankruptcies and stuffing of contractors in all his real estate dealings. Those who were too naive to see it or too greedy or too bigoted then elevated the evil spawn to the presidency.
5
Trump and all around him are corrupt!
9
You ended up here because you started to believe your alternate facts, and think that Faux News is reality.
8
The lesson from all this is that breaking the law is neither a crime nor illegal when done by old white men wearing suits.
9
Trump now is truly hated by a significant portion of the US. A little like Hillary, except he deserves it.
5
@Eero - Not just the U.S. I firmly believe he will go down in history as one of the most despised beings on the planet.
4
How did we get here?
Ask voters in Madison, Ann Arbor, and Philadelphia who pouted and pulled the lever for Jill Stein because Mrs. Clinton was "behind a blue wall."
17
@Padonna
If every Stein vote in Pennsylvania switched to Clinton, Trump would still have won the election. Michigan and Wisconsin only total 26 electoral votes, switching them to the Clinton column does not change the election result.
To me Clinton was a most unattractive candidate, There has been little discussion of the role of Democrat hubris in the loss of the election. Yeah, I think the Democrats are in part responsible for the election of Trump.
Our "President" appears to have a persecution complex, and could quite easily be categorized as mentally ill. Yet, he occupies the office of the most powerful and potentially lethal man in the world. Hmmm.
5
Dear Mr. Trump.
I sense that you are a tad confused as to how you wound up being the victim of such rabid left wing hatred. Perhaps I can help you out a bit.
1. Stop lying. Every time you open your mouth, out pops a lie. Perhaps you can't help it. Perhaps you don't know you are lying. If that is the case, you should seek help. It may be the symptom of something more serious.
2. Try treating people with respect, especially women, people of color, people with disabilities, immigrants and just about everyone else in the world who is different from you or disagrees with you.
3. Maybe, just maybe you should have released your tax returns.
4. And what's with this Putin guy?
5. Learn to be humble. Accept the fact that you did not win the majority of the vote. That there were three million people who would rather have had Crooked what's her name instead of you in the White House.
6. Global warming is a fact.
7. The environment matters more than money.
8. Own up to your sons involvement with the that Russian meeting in your own building.
9. It is NEVER okay to accept information about a political opponent from an enemy state.
10. Try keeping it in your pants. Your wife and children will appreciate it. So will the rest of the country.
11. Oh, and did I say, Stop the lying.
I hope that this helps end your confusion. But don't worry. It will all be over soon and you can return to the glamorous life you used to lead in New York.
Or maybe not. I hope you wear orange well.
25
"We" ended up here as a result of Trump running his administration as a crime syndicate.
11
"He did nothing wrong " asserted by a person who has utterly ZERO credibility...what a pathetic bunch of losers.
15
At some point the president will run out of lies, and all that will be left standing is the truth.
Wah, wah.
7
You "got here" Mr. Trump because this is who you are as a human being. All your flaws and personality defects are now "writ large". The game is up. I believe that democracy will win in the end...and you will be out of the high office you have disgraced.
5
Here’s how “we” ended up here: A perpetually corrupt, racist, amoral wannabe thug from New York who’s never worked a day in his life decided he wanted to run for president. Not because he wanted to serve his country, but because he liked the attention and relished the idea of collecting the title of POTUS, just like he collects wives.
10
'how did we end up here?'
maybe bc djt spent decades of his life thinking
'wrong is right, black is white,
down is up, a plate's a cup,
news is fake, a [drained] swamp's at stake,
lies are truth and truth isn't truth,
but is rich really filthy rich?
that now he's at a loss as to which is witch.
9
@°julia eden Great!
Foreign territory for him -- everything on his life is controlled with money and bluster, even his relationship with his children and wife. Wow, I sure am glad I'm not him or anyone close to him.
6
Thank you for this news analysis. I'm sure the president did not use the word "optics," but the thought of him perceiving our collective disgust is a thought I've been waiting for.
"He also groused over the optics of the rally, telling a person close to him that the crowd seemed flat and that some chairs were empty."
9
There has been chaos in the White House ever since Inauguration Day -you do remember that very sunny day when Trump drew the biggest crowds ever! Since that fateful day there has never been a moment when the Oval Office functioned in a normal way, with every employee having security clearances and concentrating on national and world news.Every moment has been spent on the misdeeds of Trump or one of his aids or cabinet members.The American people deserve better- we deserve our country back.
5
Is this a case of a businessman so engaged with Russian mobsters that he became, in effect, a Russian mobster--and he then diversified from business into politics and became our first Russian mobster president?
Robert Mueller now knows the answer to this question. If Trump is indeed a Russian mobster, Mueller must reveal his evidence of Trump's business/political wrongdoing. Our national leaders, and particularly Republican leaders, must then remove Trump from power immediately under the 25th Amendment, and place him on trial for his crimes. Congress must then pass the Graham/Menendez bill to sanction Russia.
The big question then is whether Mike Pence is sufficiently guilty by association with Trump that he cannot assume the presidency?
14
If Donald had any nuance about him, he'd understand exactly how we got here. He wants to do whatever he likes and he wants to end up on top. He's been fighting the same battle all his life.
The real indictment is how much American and international business is conducted by such shady characters.
We need strict ethics regulation so anyone doing business in America is honest, open and paying taxes. We can't allow rich people to buy their way out of jail.
9
Here's the brief paragraph explaining exactly how Trump has apparently broken the law:
"Campaign finance laws still prohibit Mr. Trump from making unreported payments related to the campaign, regardless of where they came from. Neither payment was disclosed to the Federal Election Commission."
So that's it? It suggests the payments would have been fine if they'd been reported. Trump's high crimes and misdemeanors are limited to a failure to disclose these payments? Somehow I don't see this as the basis for setting aside the results of an election. He should face some kind of fine or sanction, but not impeachment. Not for this.
@John MCohen
Cohen is going to prison for it, probably for 5 years. Since 'money is speech' and being elected to any public office these days comes with a big price tag, then lying and cheating about the money you use to get elected should be a big deal. Our election system is corrupt enough, without establishing a wink wink nod nod standard where secretly dumping $300K into your own bid for power gets a little slap on the wrist.
3
It's real easy to understand how Trump ended up where he is, he started his run for the presidency with a lie and it kept on growing bigger and bigger.
He keeps on saying that there was no collusion, but the dictionary defines collusion as a "secret agreement to commit fraud" which is exactly what he and Michael Cohen did and what Trump and Giuliani continue to do.
Hopefully this will all end soon with him losing everything.
7
Trump probably clicks everyday on this website to count the number of stories that are about him. Then checks back periodically to count the accumulating numbers of comments
on each story. Or has someone do it and they bring him a slip of paper with the figures. In his spare time probably he muses how to keep upping those numbers. Probably it's almost a natural reflex by now.
"I guess they're not having ad revenue problems over there anymore!" he yells to the crowd at one of those rallies.
His advisers "admitted they had no strategy for countering the news that Mr. Trump’s former fixer, Michael D. Cohen, had admitted in federal court that Mr. Trump directed him to arrange payments to two women during the 2016 campaign to silence them from talking publicly about affairs they said they had with Mr. Trump."
Well, I have a strategy. Send Rudy on the talk circuit where he can repeat "truth is not the truth" or "truth is never true" or "truth is whatever the President says is true" and the hundreds of other nonsense that he spouts everyday. This strategy has worked so far is holding together the GOP and the base.
But it may not work in a court of law. Be patient. Vote these bums out in November. Only time will tell.
4
"But there remained a pervasive belief, rightly or wrongly, that things have looked this bad before."
Sure. And if this leads them to believe that there will be no consequences from the implications that the president was involved in the criminal activity (as the Cohen plea makes clear), it's because they're probably right.
We all know the GOP will not do a thing to hold the president to account. They've shown time and again that they are perfectly fine with their new role as toadies to their king. And in the event that the Dems take back Congress, I remain skeptical that they will hold the president to account - given the timidity of current Congressional Democratic leadership, I don't think they have the stomach for an impeachment fight. And the media will move on to the next shiny object next week.
So yea, if I were them, I probably wouldn't worry too much either.
Kinda head-scratching to behold just how radically our system of government has transformed over the past eighteen months...but here we are.
2
The cowardly bullying liar in chief has pursued the shallowest form of greed and harm to others for his entire life.
How did he end up here? By making the US a pariah, promoting toxic ideas, poisoning the planet for profit, encouraging hate and violence, and making giveaways to himself and his wealthy and powerful cronies at the expense of a once great country.
He is the ultimate unpatriot, a bone spurs chickenhawk, who only thinks of himself and those who promote his idea that he is somehow better than others because he has abandoned humanity and caring for the community at large.
Evil, be thou my good, and "better to reign in hell than serve in heaven." Shallow, successful, and ultimately damning.
69
Where is McConnell?
Hiding behind silence and not answering questions to the media.
McConnell is responsible for what Trump is doing and getting away with, because individuals like McConnell are silent sociopaths, like the way he prevented the Democrats
releasing information in August/September 2016 that Russia
was hacking and influencing the election in Trump's favor.
McConnell said that he would shout out that the Democrats
were fixing the election by accusing the Russians of attacking
the election.
By this act McConnell allowed the Russians to get away with cyber warfare, and allowed them to help Trump into the White House, that he wanted.
Trump is in the White House because of McConnell's deep and vile hatred of democracy and the American way of doing things.
Trump got to the White House, and has made it a White Nationalist hub of propaganda, an RT type of bub
in the heart of American democracy.
This is how Trump got here - at this moment, at this time.
151
@PropagandandTreason
McConnell really has no spine, and your assessment is spot on. I have one amendment, however, "Trump is in the White House because of McConnells deep and vile hatred" of a black man in the oval office. Yes, he reviles democracy and the rule of law, but he hated Barack Obama more.
@PropagandandTreason
You forgot McConnell's deep and vile hatred of Barack Obama. Racism. Period.
@PropagandandTreason. McConnell is a traitor, putting party before country at every turn. History will savage him for his vandalism of parliamentary norms. I hope he finds his way to prison.
“He did nothing wrong,”
prove it in court.
57
@sam - Well as luck would have it that's precisely what will happen. Trump won't be president forever and there are multiple lawsuits and criminal charges awaiting him.
2
While it is the case that Sanders is lying like she does every day, the fact of the matter is that we have to prove Trump did something wrong in court. Nobody ever has to prove that they did not do something wrong, because that system works out a lot more tyrannically than the way we do things.
1
Correct me if I'm mistaken: But even if he pardons Manafort for the federal crimes, aren't there state crimes for which he can't pardon Manafort?
I'm sure Manafort will be flipping soon. After all, where will he get the money to continue paying all these legal fees?
35
@May Manafort flipping might not be forthcoming. It could very well be that immense pressure has been put upon him with threats to his family's well being. Nothing surprises me anymore.
2
May--And, don't forget the AG of NY has just brought charges, associated with their fake charity, against the entire family, tRump and all 3 adult kids. The evidence is overwhelming, and I think prosecutors will be successful. Don't forget that various jurisdictions can pass, back and forth, the evidence that has been collected. As well, the AG of NY is actively following up on those federal charges against Manafort, which may incriminate tRump on other charges. tRump and his crime family will get theirs, sooner or later. This is so far beyond Watergate, that people can hardly imagine the scope of it. Put it all down to a lifetime of crime, 30 or 40 years, by tRump. There will be no pardons in the state of New York.
1
@May - Yep. Most people don't stop to think about what Trump would gain from pardoning Manafort. He really has nothing to gain and quite a lot to lose.
2
Mr. President. Enough already. You should have stopped at six feet.
I don't think so Sarah. I'm not stopping until my grave is deeper than Nixon's.
13
When you are an employee, whether you like it or not, you represent an employer.
As a nurse, or healthcare provider, would we stick with an employer who ignores public health standards, federal guidelines, our own career policies, and allow people to be harmed, just to collect a paycheck when we knew the employer was wrong?
Well, we are all being harmed because of the White House corruption. Congressional members who do nothing to stand up for us, the people, are the same as hospital employees who would allow dirty, unsterile instruments in surgery; medication errors which poison patients; medical procedures done without following proper safe policies.
Yes, Congressmen and women. You know who you are. You are allowing your constituents to be infected, to become toxic without them being aware, and disabling us - because this is what you are allowing our democracy to become.
And you still collect your paycheck, paid by your taxpaying patients. For Shame!
30
@MIMA
“When you are an employee...you represent your employer...Congressmen and women...you still collect your paycheck paid for by taxpaying patients.”
But Congress doesn’t work for the President or the people. Congress works for the moneyed interests that provide the much larger sums needed to campaign as well as the high paying jobs as lobbyists or think tank representatives after they resign from Congress to spend time with their families. Their bosses think they are doing a great job, including their support of that Trump guy who is helping give them all they want.
6
Apparently feeling isolated is a periodic issue in this Presidency.
Seems he feels that way every month or so - whenever his misdeeds haunt him, or when he looks in the mirror, in the bathroom, hoping to stave off an early morning tweet-storm. Or gastritis.
7
@sandgk
feeling isolated is a trademark problem of psychopaths.
5
I'm sure it compounds that feeling of isolation when Melania refuses to sleep in the same room with him, and is headed off on a trip without him.
2
The problem with "He added that Mr. Trump’s team was looking at the possibility of making public at least one recording of Mr. Cohen speaking to journalists about his payments to Ms. Clifford, in which he said he made the payments on his own initiative to spare the Trump family pain." is that Edward Pecker has corroborated to SDNY what Cohen testified to SDNY.
8
As long as the completely negligent and self interested legislative branch refuses to do its job, Trump is safe being the corrupt president that he is so committed to being. The rich are benefitting from his evil ways, so they will sit on their hands.
34
How could this crew with a multitude of hidden crimes think that exposing themselves to public scrutiny would work out advantageously?
Perhaps someone could put a biopic of John Gotti on the tube for them.
16
Unfortunately I think screening that biopic of John Gotti with John Travolta playing him, goes against the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.
2
Trump’s circular and illogical musings are no longer newsworthy for anything other than shock value that this guy is our President.
The answer is simple: Vote in 2018.
41
Come on folks, Trump is still learning. He's a political novice. Give him time, he will honor the office.....
... Mr. Trump responded by parading Bill Clinton’s female accusers in front of Hillary Clinton at the presidential debate in St. Louis...
What are people thinking? We are lost, really lost as a nation.
The GOP is rotting from the head down.
171
@Samuel
Why is it important to determine if the GOP is rotting from the head down, or from the outside (Koch and friends) in, or from the bottom (KKK, alt Right) up, or in some other disgusting pattern.
We know there is not a single Republican Congress person who has taken a strong stand against Trump, and many who have aided and abetted him. We know that every Republican Senator has failed to acknowledge the lawless, corrupt disaster that is the Trump administration (with the possible exception of John McCain), and do something about it. We know that every Republican Senator is eager to approve a Supreme court justice who is pro torture, and also believes no (Republican) president can be investigated for subpoenaed for a crime or charged with a crime or convicted of a crime--but a (Democrat who is president) can be impeached for not wanting to acknowledge infidelity in front of his wife and daughter.
The national Republican party is now rotten, lawless, unprincipled, 100% partisan, and utterly divorced from any reality except the need to please the racists and corrupt mega-rich who provide votes and cash for corruption respectively. There is no need to worry about where the rot began.
1
Mr. Trump you ended up here because you are a crook and you surrounded yourself with crooks. You've been doing this so long that you cannot even tell or care to worry about what's wrong from right.
That's ok, hang in there because Mr. Mueller will tell you very clearly how you ended up here.
111
Trump is floating the idea of a Manafort pardon - testing the waters to see what the public reaction will be. The reaction will be outrage - Trump pardoning criminal activity to protect himself is abuse of Presidential power, and is likely obstruction of justice. Trump and Manafort may feel like they are above the law, but most people don't think they are.
77
Very true, except I doubt Manafort thinks he's above the law anymore.
4
Dear Mr. President. You are an un-indicted co-conspirator. Let that sink in for one moment. given your lack of appreciation of history, the last and I believe only other person in that position was Richard Nixon. Your lawyer/fixer fellow, who you so weakly tried to dismiss in front of a fawning Fox and Friends personality yesterday, as some guy, one of many who did little deals for you, also claimed $50 K reimbursement for tech matters he incurred on behalf of the Campaign. That fellow helped with your campaign and was Deputy Finance for RNC. That fellow it seems also went to Prague,his protestations to the contrary.Me thinks the $50K is related to the Prague trip.That fellow also worked to get the sanctions on Russia lifted. It started with collusion; it will end with a report on collusion. The side trials and convictions, are the inevitable result of running your campaign and this country the way your ran your businesses. On the slimy side of the coin.
35
Wait til the paid foreign agent currently occupying the White House gets his Grand Jury subpoena. Doubtless it'll be the best ever subpoena, a subpoena the like of which no one other than the President* has ever seen, but still.... Actions have consequences and sometimes not even bully-ragging and raging can overcome stupidity and greed.
18
Part of the problem with Mr. Trump is that he has lied so many times on so many issues, that it is difficult to know when to believe him. How many times has he changed his story on this issue, from his starting point of not knowing anything about any such payments? Rather than saying that the truth isn't the truth, perhaps Mr. Trump's attorney should have said, in referring to statements that come from Mr. Trump, that there is no truth. Do we now know the real truth about this issue? I suspect not, and that is probably why Trump's advisors are so somber.
26
The President claims that Manafort has been horribly treated.
Has he ever made observation about how African Americans have been treated in U.S. history?
The man lives with selective blinders.
21
@rifotay
Two totally unrelated issues
4
@ARYKEMPLER - I don't think the issues are as unrelated as you think. Look how long it took for Manafort to get away with his crimes and then contrast that to the lengthy prison sentences people of color have been given for doing things that aren't remotely as bad.
@ARYKEMPLER They are related, if only by the skewed perceptions of the person in question and his warped sense of entitlement.
It all started with the President's decision to play in a golf tournament where he met Stormy. BTW Mr. President, what did you shoot that day?
7
@RNS. So what are trump’s golf scores, anyway? Does he cheat?
Even stones are worn away by the constant dripping of water. And, Trump is no rock of stability. He will be flushed away by all of those who have been bruised by Trump's self-serving brash and egotistical behavior. Those who thought they might gain from their association with this very flawed, crude, immoral pretender will find out they have instead been contaminated by his filth. They will no longer be able to hide the stench of their association with Trump and his immoral behavior. Perhaps even his self-deluded supporters in the hinterlands will begin to smell the rotting stench coming from the Trump organization.
42
This is exactly where anyone with sense knew you'd end up if you entered the White House.
78
Anyone in WH who has not already lapsed into Zenlike resignation must be wonder where on earth to start.
9
How we ended up here? Disingenuity. Trump, the candidate, knew that most politicians, both democrats and republicans, are disingenuous. So he decided to take disingenuity to the extreme and hire as many openly disingenuous people as possible. In fact, if you are not disingenuous, you would never consider applying for a position with the Trump administration. The stain of disingenuity will follow all of the former Trump people for the rest of their political careers.
10
RE: “We started with collusion,”
That is a result of typical right-wing redefining things to be what they want. The letter authorizes "a full and thorough investigation of the Russian governments efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election". We started with interference.
And if Trump read, or had any of advisers read it to him, he would see that the authorization includes:
(i) any links and/or coordination bet ween the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and
(ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and
(iii) any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a).
It appears that he has forgotten (or wants us to forget) parts ii and iii of the authorization.
Trump doesn't like the idea that other crimes may be found out along the way of the investigation (and wants us to ignore them) but he wants to prosecute someone for being in the US illegally when they were originally pulled over for a stop sign violation. Should we be surprised that he wants it both ways? One way for him and another for everyone else?
21
"How did we end up here?"
The fact that that question can even be asked shows how disconnected from the real world and the consequences of his actions Reality TV President Trump is, as are those around him and his base.
This is a man who has made a career out of acting like rules don't apply to him, a man who has left a trail of failures and scandal behind him, a man who believes his own lies. A man who surrounds himself with people who must reinforce and amplify those lies if they are to keep his favor.
The question shouldn't be how he ended up here - it should be why has it taken so long - and how was he ever allowed to take us here in the first place?
Only the willing complicity of the Republican Congress and the Republican Party to shield Trump and his administration has delayed the day of reckoning this long.
"GOPus delenda est." - Kevin Drum
13
So much to keep track of. When you've spent a lifetime lying and ripping people off, I guess it's hard to figure out how you ended up here.
33
Those empty seats at his rally are a good sign. The fact that he noticed them is even better. Little things like that drive him nuts. Those chants of "lock her up" and "drain the swamp" seem more forced and ludicrous than ever. The only people getting locked up are his people. Audiences get tired of reruns and I hope they are starting to get tired of the carnival barker's routine.
190
Excellent job by these reporters in answering Trump's own question, especially in the paragraph beginning with "Well into the president's second year..."
Basically, he has brought it all on himself, due to his poor choices and corrupt thinking.
Unfortunately, 30 to 40% of the citizenry listen to "news" sources from an alternate reality in which Trump is blameless and it's the press that is hounding him. These people are allergic to reality and any truth that is not of their own making.
Still, ultimately, Trump will be brought down by his crimes, whether or not he looses support from his "sheeple."
41
Trump is wondering how his presidency devolved into the swamp he said he was going to empty. The answer is simply in the character of the President.
50
"How did we end up here?"
That is exactly what Bob Mueller is trying to find out, Donald.
And it is what this American and millions of Americans would like to know. Watching you and your minions in actions, it is more evident by the day that you are not the types of people that play fair and square or could have achieved this without some help from some extra legal source. Betsy DeVos and her guns in schools included, you're the gang that couldn't shoot straight.
26
We started with collusion,” the president mused, according to several people who witnessed Mr. Trump’s somber mood. “How did we end up here?”
Well for starters you broke the law, tried to hide it by lying, and then lied about whether you lied.
211
How did we end up here? Simple. Because 40% of the country wanted a reality show president as opposed to a real president with gravitas. And because 40% of the nation wouldn't get off its butt to vote. So we ended up with a pathological liar and narcissist, someone totally unfit to be in the White House, an unread, unprepared moron who revels in his ignorance, knows nothing of statecraft, thinks only of himself, desires dictatorial powers and believes he is above the law.
220
And because we had a media who put the adjective "flawed" in front of Hillary 's name, with every mention; because we had a selfish Bernie who refused to see that his stubborn behavior might lead to this outcome; because a tiny but still significant minority voted for the questionable green party as an asinine protest.
36
@karen
One cannot help but growing exceedingly tired of responding to such accusations. Asinine protest! Really? So people voting for someone "new" and "progressive," someone who's been saying the same thing since the 80s, sadly enough, is mere protest. Could it be that some people really do want change and that Hillary Clinton does not---and certainly did not at the time of the campaigning---reflect that change? Interesting enough, she started to talk about, among other things, more "progressive" ideals when she and her campaign noticed how positively Sanders's and her own supporters responded. And, anyway, Sanders was disgustingly clear that he would, no matter what, support the Democratic Party's nominee---even after they undermined his campaign. And, yes, save for John Kerry in 2004, I have voted for the Greens. As I understand my role in the presidential election cycle because I am told, repeatedly, by liberals and Stockholm Syndrome-esque Democratic Party supporters, my votes for president don't even count since I live and vote in a Democratic-Party-leaning state. Thanks to the Electoral College, my vote "doesn't even count." (Remember, Clinton took the popular vote by three million.) So much for what that means to this great republic's use for its citizens "exercising" their voting rights. If ever there were a time to protest---and the better way would be to not vote at all in the presidential elections given the favored Electoral College's sway---2020 would be it.
@Karen
Thank you for mentioning the role that Mr. "I'm- smarter- and -more liberal -than -you" Sanders played in all of this.
When he lost the nomination to HRC, instead of supporting her (and the majority of Americans) from the outset he said " HRC is the better of two evils." Huh ?
Thanks for nothing Bernie.
This is on you too.
3
Tired of Trump. Just so very very tired of this Trump "presidency". In a year and a half the man has turned the country's highest office into his own reality show.
Our allies alienated. Dictators and strong men embraced.
And an endless stream of nonsense and distraction.
This fall for the first time in my voting life I will be casting an all one-party vote. Never mind trying to parse "the good Republicans" from the bad. It will be an all Democrat ticket. Why? Because not one Republican in the House or Senate have done their job to stop the Trump s...show and addressed any of the big problems we sent them to Washington to fix.
The first step to recovery is admitting we have a problem. The second step is to vote a wholesale change to send the clearest message possible that we as a country are Tired of Trump.
358
I used to vote for whomever I thought was the best candidate in any race, regardless of party. My first vote at age 18 was for Gerald Ford, who I thought could restore honesty to the Oval Office after the Watergate affair. Now I support only Democratic candidates because the Republican party has become feckless and corrupt. I just don't understand how and why the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln, let itself be overtaken by Trump and his corrupt associates.
4
Like all sociopaths Trump shows a lack of empathy for others,
and a complete absence to take responsibility, that he is the problem - no one else, but him and him alone.
It has been recorded that Trump has lied over 3,000 times,
and continues to peddle white nationalist bigotry,and has turned the White House into a White Supremacist hub and propaganda hub to sell the most nasty and evil ideology that the world has ever manufactured in the minds of those who hate and fear other human beings, because they look different, and have a different culture and way of seeing the world with their religious belief, and the way that they worship God.
Trump has been peddling racism as a tactic to gain and retain power, and make money.
Lets be honest the Trump regime's demise and vile history
is all about Trump himself and his deep and evil racist
and sexist way of behaving in society.
That's the way it is.
31
When the Russians conclude that they have collected all they can from their investment in Trump, how will they continue their assault on US strength? Congress? Cyber attacks?
They seem to have learned that whatever they've done so far has had an investment return to them with little risk.
26
@Scouters
they will continue to launder money through the terrorist Republican org. called the NRA
4
Trump wonders? Is he that delusional? Mafia Don need only look in the mirror.
55
Can't wait until the time when his kids are jailed. Truly, I cannot wait. Hoping every day to see the headline.
203
@Jodi malcom
Trump is a psychopath and would not care if his children and the rest of his family spent their lives in jail for life.
A common trait for psychopaths and sociopaths
is total self survival.
37
@Jodi malcom
Sadly enough, me, too. But that's because of their blatant disregard for the law...Ivanka earned over$75m in just last year?! For what? Melania pulled in between $100K -$1m in 2017 for what? And the list goes on...EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE
Lock'em up!
48
@May
Originally Trump entered the presidential race as part of his con to sell more of his products,
and was working on a large hotel in Moscow.
But the Russians helped him into the White House, and somehow Trump felt that his desire to make money had gone.
But maybe Putin told Trump that he could use the White House like he uses the Kremlin to make billions, as Putin has a personal wealth of over $82 billion,
Therefore Trump and his family has turned the White House into a Trump hotel type of enterprise, where making money is the only
service and product that they sell.
To the "center of the known universe" egoist Trump everything is about him. That is why he says the investigation is all about collusion where it was originally about Russian interference in the election. To the public we pretty much fall into two camps. That the investigation is about Trump OR it is about Russia. Where you fit in those groups locks in your opinion of Mr. Mueller and his team. When Mr Trump and all his apologists point out the absence of evidence of Trump's personal collusion they fail to add the word YET.
16
How did we all "all end up here..."?!?
The brutal fact is that white voters were willing to overlook this corrupt human beings flaws and vote him into the presidency, all because they could stomach him more than they detested Hillary Clinton.
We're going to some day come to the realization that Donald J. Trump is a mirror of the U.S.A. and the white men that run both this Country and 99.99 percent of our corporations.
The U.S.A. is as seriously flawed as Trump. Everyone. else can see it, except us.
98
“He did nothing wrong,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at least three times as the flames and ashes of burnt facts reduced visibility, human dignity and truth to zero.
This greedy, lying, cheating, illegitimate Administration represents the absolute bottom of the American political barrel.
Aiding and abetting a criminal syndicate and flushing your country down a Trump Toilet is no way to show your patriotism.
Eject this deplorable, despicable, disgraceful President and sycophantic enablers on November 6 2018.
America is much better than this criminal, amoral, fraudulent Trump Presidential University.
164
There is one major issue the press seems to avoid and/or not actually understand and that is that when Robert Mueller takes this investigation to the next level because of all the cash flow issues, he will most likely require all the Trump organization's corporations financial reporting in addition to the Trump families tax returns. This would be more than that which the IRS would want and when it does happen he and most of his direct family, and that would include the Kushner family, may be equally found guilty of using their positions to also personally benefit.
25