That about sums it up... very nicely too. Sad.

NY Tax Board is investigating the allegations in the NY Times article.

State of New York criminal charges that can't be pardoned. Poor Donald, DJTJ, Eric.

Poor Ivana Marie a.k.a. Ivanka.

I'm crying real tears for them. I'm as emotional as a supreme court nominee talking about calendars.

Don't bring her name up. She's a great person. She's always been a great person. We never had any sexual interaction. By bringing this up, you're just — just dragging her through the mud. It's just unnecessary.

I'm going for a beer.

I like beer. I like beer. ;)

Probably trying to distract people from the NYTimes article.

Whatever his motives he is vile and his followers are scum-of-the-earth.

Eh, they said the same thing about Obama. I think that's why the Right thinks his election was the day the music died.

The black vote, if you can get it to come out, trumps the racist vote. And we're already seeing what a motivated woman's vote can do.

Further, the black left is gonna say, 'you had a lily white ticket last time - where'd that get you?'

On the other hand, I've heard a lot of white liberals just assume that it's Warren's turn.

It will be an interesting primary season, that's for sure.

This has the potential to be a financial disaster for the whole family.

I'm crying real tears for them. I'm as emotional as a supreme court nominee talking about calendars.

I'm going for a beer.

Keyword--Dream-- All things being equal, which is a stretch in US politics, Biden is the perfect candidate to run for President. The only question would be, with whom, for sure. To step on the thin ice of speculation, I would suggest either Booker or Harris... Biden is perfect to douse Trump, but I think a passing of the baton would have to be part of the overall equation. Four years of riding shotgun would benefit both Booker and Harris. I think either one has the potential to lead. My heart would put Kamala Harris ahead of Booker with Biden, but I just don't trust the American penchant for misogyny, or racism...obviously, the two combined, isn't where the US is right now.

LL&P

Weight lifting after school at a friends house choked him up.

Naming different girls that he would talk on the phone to choked him up.

Talking about how his day got him to start using a calendar choked him up. I guess if his dad was dead and he was thinking back on his time with his father I could see getting choked up.... but his dad was sitting right behind him at the hearing!

It just seemed more like very bad acting than actual emotions.

I guess he and PJ should have spent more time with the drama club and less time lifting weights at Squee’s.

A truly jaw dropping account of the Trump's familial distaste for paying taxes.

Bear in mind, Trump could sue were any of this false...but won't, because it's true, and, Trump's sister is a federal court judge!

Helluva read, well worth the time.

LL&P

Indeed.

But, they may number more than some people think.:)

Some being the operative word. Most Trump supporters long ago bought into the Republican theory that giving government money to anyone whose last name isn't "Inc." is a bad idea.

Trump lawyer Charles Harder told the Times: “President Trump had virtually no involvement whatsoever with these matters.”

Harder added: “The affairs were handled by other Trump family members who were not experts themselves and therefore relied entirely upon the aforementioned licensed professionals to ensure full compliance with the law.”

Interesting that Trump's lawyers don't refute the allegation, they simply dump the blame on Trump's chief Accountant - who is currently singing to Mueller.

The Times article claims that this information was developed through hundreds of interviews, but fails to be specific about the source of the documents. Be wary - this plays right into the hands of anyone who might want to discredit one of Mueller's star witness.
.

Trump lawyer Charles Harder told the Times: “President Trump had virtually no involvement whatsoever with these matters.”

Harder added: “The affairs were handled by other Trump family members who were not experts themselves and therefore relied entirely upon the aforementioned licensed professionals to ensure full compliance with the law.”

Interesting that Trump's lawyers don't refute the allegation, they simply dump the blame on Trump's chief Accountant - who is currently singing to Mueller.

Keep an eye on the sourcing for this. It could be an attempt by the Trump team to discredit one of Mueller's star witnesses. If not, they'll surely use it to that end.

.

… this puts me into your Biden camp, as he's already a survivor of GOP slings and arrows. I think Liz Warren or Kamala Harris are credible VP picks.

I think that's a winning message.

Thanks for a serious response!

I think the next Democratic presidential nominee is going to be faced with a clean-up job no less Herculean than were the Augean stables - domestically and internationally.

Which is why I believe Joe Biden fits the bill - not least because he has already been involved in cleaning up such a mess in the form of the financial crisis of 2007/08 and because he already has the respect of world leaders.

It would not surprise me if Biden opts for a hybrid or fusion ticket, assuming he is the nominee, and picks a moderate Republican. In fact, I would expect it. In any case, he will choose wisely and take into account all relevant factors.

My dream ticket, however and since we're talking fantasy, is Joe Biden/ Jerry Brown.

You've given us a very good start in terms of what a winning Democratic message looks like.

I think part of that message has to be a sincere economic reckoning for how the Democrats have contributed to the present situation where income inequality continues to rise. The economic part of the message must ring true with the middle class, including with some Trump supporters, and acknowledge the robust economic growth that may still be the case by the time presidential primary season rolls around.

I've lost a great deal of faith in the notion that the Mueller investigation will lead to Trump's downfall. In any event, Democrats should not count on the fact that Trump won't last beyond his first term and rather operate on the assumption that they have to fight for every vote.

3. Expose the Con
__________________________

BREAKING NEWS

Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes
as He Reaped Riches From His Father

The president has long sold himself as a self-made billionaire, but a Times investigation found that he received at least $413 million in today’s dollars from his father’s real estate empire, much of it through tax dodges in the 1990s.

By DAVID BARSTOW, SUSANNE CRAIG and RUSS BUETTNER
Oct. 2, 2018

President Trump participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud, that greatly increased the fortune he received from his parents, an investigation by The New York Times has found.

Mr. Trump won the presidency proclaiming himself a self-made billionaire, and he has long insisted that his father, the legendary New York City builder Fred C. Trump, provided almost no financial help.

But The Times’s investigation, based on a vast trove of confidential tax returns and financial records, reveals that Mr. Trump received the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire, starting when he was a toddler and continuing to this day.

https://tinyurl.com/y8qwnguk

How do the Democrats win in 2020?

Easy answer. Democrats and left-leaning independents are the majority; all they have to do to win in 2020 is not get distracted by those who would divide the "left" into factions and show up and vote.

In the meantime:

1. Win the midterms
2. Keep OSC Mueller doing his job

Message: Vote D for Democracy or R for Russia

How could I forget? heh.

Just trying my hand at fantasy political fiction.

...and they already have their boy Pence waiting in the wings, ready to assume the mantle.

And that's why all this For the Benefit of Mr. K!

He doesn't think anything needs improvement. He's a moron, remember?

How do the Democrats win in 2020?

What do they have to do to ensure that Trump is not re-elected.

It sounds glib, but it's true: Republicans mostly beat themselves, and the same is true of Democrats. Incumbency is a powerful tool, just ask Joe Manchin.

I think that, due to his own words and actions, Trump is facing the largest electoral wipeout since Walter Mondale.

That's not to say that Democrats don't have to field a credible alternative. Whomever they pick will be savaged by Republicans - this puts me into your Biden camp, as he's already a survivor of GOP slings and arrows. I think Liz Warren or Kamala Harris are credible VP picks.

Biden could deliver a solid old-school Democratic message, focused on the working class. A return to competence on the world stage, a return to concern for the sick, the desperate, the oppressed, and the underpaid. An end to pious politics and a return to real Christian values, including tolerance.

I think that's a winning message.

But I still think that Trump fate us ultimately in his own hands. He's trying hard to take credit for his Cover version of NAFTA, claiming that taking out pollution controls and upping the volume of dairy a notch essentially makes it a new song. Even George Harrison couldn't get away with that one.

My point is that he still has time to resuscitate his image before 2020, something that others have managed before. If he decided, for instance, to strengthen rather than weaken Obamacare, sign peace treaties with North Korea, Iran and Cuba, and turn his tariffs into long-term economic treaties, he might actually be hard to beat in 2020.

But, HA! I really don't see that happening. We'll spot a unicorn first.

Nice parsing though.

LL&P

I never did know anything, and now I even know less.

I see it across the GOP board, they are portraying Democrats ultra-socialists who want to ban guns, let Mexican gangs run in the streets like feral dogs and tax everyone 199% on their income. Then there's Cruz... who outdoes them all and refers to Beto as 'cultish', as if Texas needs one more cult.

I can't help feeling there's something wrong here...I get twitchy when Trump plays supplicant and hedger simultaneously. He wants Mr. K to be on the SCOTUS, yet he wants him to jump through a 'hogshead of real fire' by subjecting him to further review and declaring, if he's proven a liar he wont get to 'challenge the world'. I'm inclined to believe that Mr. K's nomination, 'having been some days in preparation', might have been a miss-direction to bubble up the GOP base, as that seems to be the case. I'm not confusing Trump's agenda with that of the GOP, the GOP have drooled for the day they can gain the top bench, I think Trump might suspect his days are numbered with the Evilgelicals once their bidding has been done...

Either way, come Friday, 'a splendid time is guaranteed for all...'

LL&P

How do the Democrats win in 2020?

What do they have to do to ensure that Trump is not re-elected.

How do the Democrats beat Trump?

This is fodder for an actual discussion that focuses on actual issues and what the Democratic party stands for and what their message should be in 2020.

We saw that in the primaries - whenever one of the losers tried to out-Trump Trump they crashed and burned. Cruz held on the longest because he was the second biggest asshat on stage.

U S M C A
U S M C A
U S M ----> C A
U S C A M ---->
U S C A M
___________

USCAM

You scam! Fixed it. :)

Spot on! The GOP has a history of playing the “soft con” on their supporters - lying, but not going overboard in their dishonesty for fear of being shown as liars. But Donald Trump has come in and blown the doors off of their “soft con” and ratcheted it up a hundred times what they are used to doing.

I don’t know why people buy into Trump’s BS and don’t think that I will ever understand it. If a loved one needed surgery and their surgeon came in and spoke in the confusing word-salad way Trump talks, I would never allow that person to operate on someone I cared for! I doubt many Trump supporters would either, but that doesn’t stop them from supporting him as our president!

My father helped me understand his support of Trump a little better when he admitted that he knew Trump was often lying, but that all politicians lie and at least Trump’s are obvious. Not very uplifting reasoning, I admit.

The problem is that the rest of the GOP can’t run a con game like Trump is able to do. Let them try, please, let them try....but they will fail!

I have no idea - it was obvious to me from day 1 that this guy was a con artist who just wanted self publicity. He decided to see just how many marks there are in America and was probably as surprised as everybody that there was just enough to finagle a win via the thumb on the scale that the Republicans put on elections and a bizarre alignment of the Electoral College.

To be dumb enough to fall for this con probably excludes you from having enough insight to realize you have been conned, so I'm not holding out too much hope beyond the "Never Hillary" voters who could be converted with a different candidate.

Kick [10] - Exactly. There is an unverified story that after Trump canceled the TPP somebody actually explained to him what was in it and he regretted his decision. This story requires two leaps of imagination: (1) Trump can understand what the TPP was all about; and (2) he ever regrets anything.

Your comment is right on target!

But of course that's how he's portraying it. Surprise... not surprise for anyone paying attention, but this is little more than Trump's latest con job.

Let's review:

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is another disaster done and pushed by special interests who want to rape our country, just a continuing rape of our country. That's what it is, too. It's a harsh word: It's a rape of our country.

~ Donald Trump, St. Clairsville, Ohio, 06/28/2016
___________________________________________

Because NAFTA, signed by her husband, is perhaps the greatest disaster trade deal in the history of the world; not in this country. It stripped us of manufacturing jobs. We lost our jobs. We lost our money. We lost our plants. It is a disaster.

~ Donald Trump, Second Presidential Debate, 10/09/2016

Con Artistry 101

* Create the crisis or the scam. No fabrication is too outrageous to those who wish to believe it.
Examples:
- Trump University, get rich in real estate, promising graduate programs, post graduate programs, and doctorate programs but delivering the bait-and-switch upsell scam.
-- Hillary is going to be locked up.
-- Mexico is going to pay for a great border wall.
-- The national debt will be eliminated in 8 years.
-- TPP is "rape" and NAFTA is the worst deal in the "history of the world."

* Seek out the aggrieved victims who so desperately want to believe (it's easier than actually thinking).

* Oversee and stoke a period of disruption and chaos, and let the victims do most of the work.

* Bring the crisis to a close. Make minor tweaks, reframe it, rename it, and inform the "victims" you have saved them from ruin and created perfection.

Once approved by Congress, this new deal will be the most modern, up-to-date and balanced trade agreement in the history of our country, with the most advanced protections for workers ever developed.... This landmark agreement will send cash and jobs pouring into the United States and into North America. Good for Canada, good for Mexico. Instead of jobs leaving for overseas, they will be returning back home.

* Declare victory over the crisis, regardless of the actual outcome.

* Laugh your ass off.

* Lather, rinse, repeat.

And thus the reality TV show presidency rolls on, surrounded by smoke and mirrors with the con artist cult of personality sitting atop the entire circus and barking to the minions how much better things are at the circus.

At what point do the minions clue in? The longer they buy into the con, the harder it is to admit they've been scammed, but there's always a turning point. :)

I am of the opinion that being all over the place on this one is about the most reasonable place to be. The central tendency of punditry has not changed much, but the dispersion around the central tendency has broadened a bit. To put it another way, I think the best guess odds have changed little, but I am less confident about the stated odds of any given prognosticator. Myself especially.

Having digested as much of the information about Mr. Kavanaugh as I can, I feel the need to add just one thing.
I was combing my beard yesterday, while doing so, I was thinking about the movies referenced in testimony, from sources, that were contemporary for Mr. K's high school experience. I was struck by the omission of the movie 'Porky's'... a rollicking saga of youthful sexual acceptance and encounter, if ever there was.

Many of us saw the movie several times, some still have sticky Betamax copies of the movie in their keepsakes from that time, along with calendars and locks of hair.

I'm not suggesting that those of us who watched the movie lived our lives like that, or even have a ' Beulah Balbricker' like grip on those days in the present day, just that, Porky's was the quintessential movie of the era that we remember most.

Thanks.

Michael 'Mike' Hunt.

LL&P

Nobody knows what the impact on either set of voters will be, and even if they did they couldn't prove it because this level of granularity is impossible to dissect after the election anyway.

I'd call this a draw. The left, as you point out, and I agree (see "Happy Valley is Angry posts all of last year from me) is already in a high state of "when can we vote this abomination out and all his evil demons as well". The right seem to be amped up about abortion and this is their crowning moment so they are excited, but then they always are, so ho hum there.

let's take a windy-walk down reality lane, you and I...we can discus the 'Canadian Byzantine' system. Let's be frank, the US government subsidise the dairy industry up the yang of ying, the standards from housing, feeding and treating of livestock is medieval in comparison to the Canadian industry, and the US wonders why Canada gets tariff-uppity? wtf? Then the cretin, Trump tells his idiots that Canada is ripping off the US...it's more US bullshit than Canadian Byzantine system of tariffs...are you aware that DC has promised to lower the subsidies to match the increase of access to the Canadian market? Three hands up if you think trump will stick to that...

No, no, no...It doesn't wash. Canada was just about the only country on earth that was dealing with the US amicably, and actually running at a trade surplus for the US.

I don't blame Americans for having a lying, shirt-lifting peace of shit for their mouthpiece, I just bristle when intelligent people jump a ride on his verbal sewage to make a point that died on the vine, before the newly sanctioned Mexican workers could be herded in to pick at a yet another discount to the American farmer.

LL&P

Woodrow Wilson thought retreating into isolationism after WW1 was best for the US, that led ultimately to the Treaty of Versailles (which he thought unjust), to the great depression, to Hitler, to WW2, to the rise of communism as a world player, the cold war, Vietnam and so on and so on...America stepped onto the world stage and then buggered off and left a vacuum. History has a bad habit of repeating itself.

so..meh

LL&P

It's no secret Avenatti rubs my fur the wrong way, but he's bad penny these days, and uncannily spot on with his crystal balls and smarmy monotonal swagger. It wouldn't raise many eyebrows if he suddenly dropped the hammer on Kavanaugh in the form of civil or legal charge, just to make Trump's head implode like a Lampoon Christmas Turkey.

As for DRUMFTA, meh... easily summed up with and old English saying from the before time, when pay phones were at the pub and public toilets had attendants..." There I sat, broken hearted, paid a penny, and only farted" I know. Not subtle, but I'm sure that's where 'meh' gets its origin.

I think the democrats should listen to the whispers on the wind, if they decry the Kavanaugh issue too much from here on in, they might inadvertently wake the snoozing hound that is the GOP base. Call it quits after this week, if Kavanaugh gets his golden keg, with matching steins, so be it. If he withdraws, he can slink back into his country club Christmas sweater world, and resume his chasing of interns and leering at women in bistros, while his wife texts the pool boy. But...the longer this shit goes on, the more wound up the GOP base becomes.

LL&P