Author Topic: Citizen Trump  (Read 23595 times)

Crafty_Dog

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #150 on: August 09, 2022, 04:04:14 PM »
Can't disagree, but I was enjoying the fantasy , , ,

G M

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #151 on: August 09, 2022, 04:50:54 PM »
Can't disagree, but I was enjoying the fantasy , , ,

No one is coming to save us.

Plan accordingly.

G M

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Re: MY fantasy
« Reply #152 on: August 10, 2022, 07:10:26 AM »
https://michaelyon.locals.com/upost/2551380/what-if-this-was-a-trap-for-fbi-and-they-just-took-the-bait

Not entirely.

I know of a LEO who served a search warrant at a residence and got jammed up over a pretty minor thing that was captured on the home camera system. What Yon says is possible.

The fantasy part is that Trump was this cagey. If he was, he'd still be in the white house.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11098825/Trump-says-Mar-Lago-staff-lawyers-blocked-watching-raid-agents.html


Crafty_Dog

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ET: MAL raid improperly intrusive
« Reply #153 on: August 10, 2022, 08:17:21 AM »
FBI’s Trump Home Raid Improperly Intrusive, Circumstances Indicate: Lawyers
By Petr Svab August 9, 2022 Updated: August 10, 2022biggersmaller Print


There’s reason to suspect that the FBI search of the Florida residence of former President Donald Trump was improperly intrusive, according to several lawyers. The raid prompted a rebuke from Trump and Republicans more broadly and further escalated political tensions in the nation.

About two dozen FBI agents entered Trump’s Palm Beach resort of Mar-a-Lago around 9 a.m. on Aug. 8 and left about 10 hours later with “a handful of boxes of documents,” one of Trump’s attorneys on scene, Christina Bobb, told The Epoch Times.

“I didn’t actually get to oversee the search, they wouldn’t let anybody see what they were doing,” she said.

It isn’t clear what legal basis the FBI had for the raid. The agents had a search warrant signed by a judge, however, the affidavit explaining the basis—its probable cause—was filed under seal and Trump’s lawyers weren’t allowed to examine it, Bobb said.

In general, the agents were looking for “what they deemed to be presidential records,” she said.

“I don’t think there was anything of substance.”

Trump’s legal team will take steps to obtain the affidavit, she said.

There has been a dispute between National Archives and Trump about whether he has documents that should be stored at the archives under the U.S. Presidential Records Act.

Trump has been cooperative on that front, Bobb said, and previously had invited the FBI to Mar-a-Lago to examine the White House records he had in storage at the time.

“Nothing had been hidden and nothing had been kept secret from them, which makes this all the more ridiculous,” she said.

Potentially Illegal

“I’m stunned and dismayed,” commented Marc Ruskin, 27-year FBI veteran and former federal prosecutor.

“The disregard for traditional norms and apparent lack of concern with the appearance of impropriety is indicative of an abandonment of even a veneer of independence and objectivity,” he told The Epoch Times.

Former federal prosecutor Mike Davis went even further, saying the raid may have been illegally invasive.

“Under the case law, you can’t do a home raid if you can secure the documents through less intrusive means,” he told “Bannon War Room” on Aug. 9.

The FBI had to first determine that requests for the documents or even subpoenas wouldn’t be sufficient, said Davis, who formerly advised Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on judicial nominations and now heads The Article III Project.

“There’s zero evidence” that Trump wouldn’t have cooperated, he said.

“There was no allegation or evidence that he [Trump] was destroying any of this evidence or putting it into the wrong hands. This is banana republic-level tactics from the Biden Justice Department.”

Even if Trump took classified documents, he took possession of them when he was still chief executive and had the authority to declassify them, Davis said.

Bobb suggested that the invocation of classified documents was a disingenuous attempt of “shrouding this in a national security blanket.”

“They don’t want to disclose what they’re doing, because what they’re doing is wrong. And so they want to hide it behind the premise of  ‘Oh, it’s a matter of national security and classified documents, so we can’t disclose to you what we’re doing or why we’re doing it. But just trust us. We’re not lying to you,’” she said.

“Well, no, the American people aren’t going to stand for that anymore.”

Even if the DOJ tried to charge Trump with withholding documents, it wouldn’t hold up, Bobb said, because the statute in question requires a “willful” violation and Trump would have had to have “some malicious intent” to take specific documents.

“They would have to lay the foundation that Donald Trump actually packed up his own office” or ordered somebody what specifically to take, she said.

History of Missing Documents

If Trump had documents that should go to the archives, it would add him to a lineup of former government officials.

Former FBI Director James Comey took his handwritten notes when he was fired by Trump in 2017. His home wasn’t raided. He handed the notes to FBI agents who came to interview him.

The Obama administration didn’t just fail to hand over documents, tens of thousands of its documents went missing or were destroyed. No homes were raided.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed to hand over tens of thousands of emails and documents from her server, claiming they were of a personal nature. The FBI was able to retrieve some of the documents, revealing that many were work-related. Moreover, the documents were under congressional subpoena at the time when a Clinton aide deleted them.

Immediate Skepticism

The raid prompted an immediate wave of skepticism, particularly because the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have a history of breaking protocol, misrepresentations, and even forging of evidence, in their case against Trump and members of his campaign.

“After six years of unfounded, absurd investigations of President Trump, the presumption is that any investigation of President Trump is politically motivated, and the burden of proof is on FBI/DOJ to prove otherwise,” Will Chamberlain, senior counsel at the Internet Accountability Project, wrote in an Aug. 9 tweet.

In 2017, the FBI and DOJ obtained two extensions of a spying warrant on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page although the warrant was based on false or unsubstantiated allegations. The FBI later acknowledged that spying based on the extensions was illegal.

The FBI also has a history of harsh treatment of people associated with Trump. His aides have been arrested at gunpoint, handcuffed, and “perp-walked,” and their homes and offices have been raided in pursuit of trivial or nonviolent offenses, even when the targets were cooperating with the government.

Shoe on the Other Foot

The Trump raid increased the already polarized political playing field, as Republicans can now argue that home raids of former presidents are acceptable.

“They’re setting a very dangerous precedent where you can do a home raid of a former president of the United States,” Davis said, noting that such a thing has never happened “in our 250 years as a republic.”

Already, Republican lawmakers are promising to subject the DOJ and the FBI to intense scrutiny, with the expectation of reclaiming the majority in the House after the November midterms.

“When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned,” House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said in an Aug. 8 statement.

“Attorney General Garland: preserve your documents and clear your calendar.”

Judge’s Epstein Connection
The search warrant was issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart in the Southern District of Florida. Reinhart was a senior prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida when the office reached a non-prosecution agreement with Jeffrey Epstein, who was later indicted for sex trafficking children and died by apparent suicide in a New York jail.

Upon leaving office, Reinhart went into private practice and represented multiple Epstein associates and employees in civil cases against Epstein by his alleged victims.

Reinhart was appointed a magistrate judge in 2018 by the district judges in the Southern District of Florida.

The warrant was issued on Aug. 5, the day after FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee and was questioned about multiple whistleblower reports alleging politicization of the bureau. Wray cut the questioning short because he said he had to urgently travel. Flight records indicate he flew in the FBI private jet to his vacation retreat in the Adirondacks, according to New York Post columnist Miranda Devine.

ccp

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FBI need to start wearing body cams
« Reply #154 on: August 10, 2022, 08:23:52 AM »
security cameras forced off......

maybe it is time that Feds who search personal property should be wearing body cams

like the local police

why are they exempt?




Crafty_Dog

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Eric Trump on the raid
« Reply #155 on: August 10, 2022, 08:30:08 AM »

ccp

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #156 on: August 10, 2022, 09:44:31 AM »
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, the former president's son said the 30 agents who arrived at the property asked staff to turn security cameras off – but they refused.

 :-D

ccp

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #157 on: August 10, 2022, 09:52:38 AM »
I might also add I have noticed
The Daily Mail is more objective then the UK communist version of NYT or WP,
"The Guardian"

who are in jihad against conservatives


Crafty_Dog

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« Last Edit: August 10, 2022, 10:58:24 AM by Crafty_Dog »

G M

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Re: FBI need to start wearing body cams
« Reply #159 on: August 10, 2022, 11:58:56 AM »
security cameras forced off......

maybe it is time that Feds who search personal property should be wearing body cams

like the local police

why are they exempt?

The same reason they don't record interviews. They want to be able to testify against you without anything contradicting them.
Ask Gen. Flynn how that works.

G M

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The FBI would NEVER plant evidence!
« Reply #160 on: August 10, 2022, 12:03:31 PM »
Cernovich Retweeted
Julie Kelly:
Blue checks: THE FBI WOULD NEVER PLANT EVIDENCE

Whitmer defense this am: FBI informant planted explosives material in truck of defendant so FBI could confiscate the evidence upon arrest.

Except when they do.

Coming soon: Deep State Andy explains how manufacturing evidence actually protects individual freedoms.

ccp

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Kimberly FBI listening devices ?
« Reply #161 on: August 11, 2022, 08:28:06 AM »
my thoughts exactly

either they planted devices or were retrieving them:

https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/kimberly-guilfoyle-fbi-listening-devices/2022/08/10/id/1082617/

probably no security cameras in Melania's closet
so another possible reason to go there
though that would be a bit sloppy to place it there now

DougMacG

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Trump video, 3 minutes, "A Nation in Decline"
« Reply #162 on: August 11, 2022, 08:53:32 AM »
https://youtu.be/RsOXP-HrNWc    3 minutes long

John Podhoretz (no Trump fan), "the most effective short piece of political communication since Reagan in 1979-80".

Notice what’s not said in this spot:
Nothing about the stolen 2020 election. (Notice also the production techniques, of transitioning from black and white to color about halfway through.)

It’s almost as if Trump knows what he’s doing.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/08/trump-from-here.php

ccp

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #163 on: August 11, 2022, 09:05:44 AM »
".It’s almost as if Trump knows what he’s doing."

exactly

crazy delusional maga explanation :

Trump is a genius who set the raid up to generate more support from his base.....


 :roll:

more like he only released the video he had been painfully trying to hold till after an election
[against his demon like urge to fight fight fight
stay in the limelight etc }

more quickly because he could not control it any longer ......

I still wish we did not have Trump as the leader
but now we may be more stuck then before ..... don't know

G M

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #164 on: August 11, 2022, 09:12:33 PM »
You guys better wrap your heads around the fact that the Deep State isn't EVER going to give up power peacefully.

No matter what.

ccp

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Who is lying Garland or Trump?
« Reply #165 on: August 12, 2022, 01:07:40 PM »
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/trump-loses-over-nuclear-docs-130804653.html

I don't trust either.

why didn't he just return the materials if that was the problem?

now we go through the same back and forth while the country rots

oi vey!

he we go again


ccp

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for yr and half he had these documents?
« Reply #166 on: August 12, 2022, 01:39:10 PM »
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/fbi-removed-eleven-sets-of-classified-documents-during-mar-a-lago-search-report/

so what if he declassified them (so he claims now)

why does he need to have these in Mar a Lago?
nuclear documents ? -  if true

it is hard to believe no one asked to return for a 1 and 1/2 yr and now he states "all they had to do was ask"

I can't believe Trump
here

I just don't know

will have to continue to wait and see

lets just have deSantis as our choice......

 :cry:

DougMacG

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Re: for yr and half he had these documents?
« Reply #167 on: August 12, 2022, 01:51:35 PM »
ccp:  "will have to continue to wait and see"


Yes.  It will be a long time,  if ever,  before we know everything.

The accusers start with zero trust.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/trump-investigated-espionage-act-violation-unsealed-fbi-warrant

Like the "golden showers",  the premise is beyond absurd.

The President has the power to declassify.   He couldn't have taken them if he wasn't President at the time.
« Last Edit: August 12, 2022, 01:58:19 PM by DougMacG »

Crafty_Dog

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #168 on: August 12, 2022, 01:56:54 PM »
What I'm getting is that

a) As part of the negotiations, the Feds knew where the documents were and that they were under lock and key and that there was no legit concern about them being disappeared;

b) the next logical step was a subpoena, not a search warrant;

c) by way of reference:  https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.oann.com%2Ftrump-blasts-fbi-raid-points-out-obama-never-turned-in-his-records%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3bkSbtjmBN-4WsONTlD5qxls_mgxd5UspNGh0EzyKE6O6G4eeiLJmoXz4&h=AT3CHp8YxNioO3bCT-BKNqWsX3v4U7VXKE9HKnd2Raw2RzhVHPjLiVeCJ96QOwYE3uXoRfQWf31wyQapoWQBwd1yqk1OoctNdZBWYPgkE3WiUnyjebo8EAzzEz4A6XGqWg&__tn__=R]-R&c[0]=AT3jSolQGLyEXe4bArBhUXkCqcpbHW8bcfRo4aTEco6erdxYRI1dl5kifcrJJi-OVLzanomPse1Jn38efI132Hr7z_W5pS66_6_va3kSLUq9e-7FnvVUpIlQz6ZucXSa79nqKv0w9qyTLtJoXPExGxKpgPb0ueyVh2mbYVTOIRVMhJva_cBEALbLqxdLgIWVTJORyapdsxo1_Q

ccp

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John Turley
« Reply #169 on: August 12, 2022, 02:04:09 PM »
one of my favorite -

when he or she speaks I LISTEN:

stated just earlier on Fox
that a lock on closet door in your home is not sufficient security for high rated top secrets documents

and said there are secure places in local court houses for such things while disputing where they best belong

I can't find a video of him saying that just now

someone was paid informant who knew where these boxes were

another mysterious leaker informant etc .......





Crafty_Dog

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #171 on: August 12, 2022, 09:49:57 PM »
Trump Has Not Sealed Up Anything

Former President Donald J. Trump takes the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Texas, August 6, 2022. (Go Nakamura/Reuters)
Share
479 Comments
Listen to article
By MICHAEL BRENDAN DOUGHERTY
August 12, 2022 6:30 AM
The former president needs to re-create voters’ iconoclastic thrill of supporting him.
For sheer drama in the Politics section, nothing is better than Donald Trump. Yes, as soon as the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, all the news interest about Ron DeSantis seemed to evaporate instantly. Yes, almost the entire conservative ecosystem immediately shifted into its own “Democracy is Dying” melodrama. Yes, even many Trump-shy Republicans started to speculate that a bit of overreach by the Biden admin would backfire and renew the bond between Trump and Republicans. And yes, Trump is a gift to the media hungry for clicks, ready outrage. Everyone in the White House press corps and on cable news is anxious to sign their second or third deal for a book in lurid red, white, and black colors. On the night of the search, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee said on Hannity, “I hope that right around Christmas, Donald Trump, after these midterms, he announces he will run for president, and we rally around him, and say he is the candidate.”

So is that it? Trump by acclamation?

No. Not quite.

It’s true that populist leaders like Donald Trump do forge unique bonds with their supporters, bonds that transcend merely transactional politics. That is why you hear pro-Trump commentators saying that this wasn’t just an attack on Trump, but on all Americans who support him. And Trump showed that he has the game mastered when he turned around and explained that he now understands how innocent people can plead the Fifth.

But Trump cannot play the victim card all the way to the White House. There is a double-edged nature to his complaints about the 2020 election, or about legal troubles that he is in now. Supporters may instantly sympathize with Trump and intuitively understand why he is undergoing these trials. But Trump needs to show himself triumphing over them to be a credible leader.

Trump will also need to re-create the magic that propelled him in 2016. His supporters anticipated and greatly enjoyed delivering his election as a shock to all of polite Washington, a shock that not only humiliated Democrats, but also humbled many Republicans, too. Trump will have to find a way to make a sequel even more exciting than last time. Part of his 2016 appeal was his willingness to tell truths that Washington would not accept: that America was getting little for the war on terror. Trump needs to re-create the iconoclastic thrill of supporting him, the empowering sense that he is an instrument for crushing the establishment in both parties.

Trump’s first term also will have inevitably disappointed some of the people who projected their hopes onto him. He had promised to “change” once in office and be less outrageous. He didn’t, and many suburban women voters punished him in 2018 and 2020. He promised to fulfill the long-nursed fantasy among some Republicans and many populists to put a businessman at the top of Washington. The economy was good until the pandemic started, but Trump frequently seemed like a boss who had lost control of his underlings. A real boss wouldn’t have let a subordinate department like the FBI soak up so much of his energy.

Finally, Trump needs to be what he was in 2015 and 2016; he needs to run on policies that people like. In his first run, Trump promised to build a wall and revive American manufacturing. He promised to confront China. The fact that the Biden administration is building some parts of the wall and passed the CHIPs act, hoping to kick-start a semiconductor industry in America as a hedge against Chinese adventurism or blockades of Taiwan, is a testament to how successful Trump was at raising the salience of these issues.

But he needs to do it again. DeSantis has shown a keen eye in joining battles that conservatives already feel engaged in — with woke teachers or corporations. But the Trump who won the presidency in 2016 had a talent for feeling out the secret hurts and aspirations of the electorate available to Republicans, especially their wounded pride in their communities.


ccp

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #173 on: August 15, 2022, 01:45:11 PM »
“If there is anything we can do to help, I, and my people, would certainly be willing to do that,” Mr. Trump told Fox News Digital. “I will do whatever I can to help the country.”

He said he has “not heard yet” from Justice Department officials whether they will accept his offer.


through
Merrick's proxies:

sign plea bargain  that he will not run in '24 or ever again
then charges will be dropped .....

what in the world could Trump otherwise do that would otherwise satisfy DOJ?



« Last Edit: August 15, 2022, 01:48:17 PM by ccp »

Crafty_Dog

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #174 on: August 15, 2022, 02:27:11 PM »
Kabuki theater.

Crafty_Dog

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WSJ: Citizen Trump vs. Elaine Chao
« Reply #175 on: August 31, 2022, 04:08:28 PM »
Is the WSJ remembering all the facts here?  Wasn't there something about the Chao family scoring a $500M contract with the Chinese to build ships for them? 

Anyway, that aside, IMHO the WSJ scores here:
===================================

Donald Trump’s Vendetta Politics
The former President smears Elaine Chao because her family is ethnic Chinese.
By The Editorial BoardFollow
Aug. 31, 2022 6:44 pm ET


One reason Democrats are thrilled to keep Donald Trump at political center stage is because they know they can count on him to continue his revenge campaign against fellow Republicans. Even by that all-too familiar standard of behavior, the former President’s smears against his former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao are especially ugly.

Mr. Trump has been pursuing a vendetta against Mitch McConnell since the Senate GOP leader denounced the former President’s role in the events of Jan. 6. Mr. Trump calls him “a broken down hack politician,” despite Mr. McConnell’s role in keeping a Supreme Court seat open in 2016 for Mr. Trump to run on. The Court issue was crucial to Mr. Trump’s victory, and Mr. McConnell was indispensable in getting his judicial nominees through the Senate.

***
Mr. McConnell is wise to ignore Mr. Trump’s attacks. But that may be why Mr. Trump has recently dragged in Ms. Chao, who is Mr. McConnell’s wife. On Aug. 20 in a post on Truth Social, his social-media site, Mr. Trump said Mr. McConnell “should spend more time (and money!) helping [Republicans] get elected, and less time helping his crazy wife and family get rich on China!”


The money line is itself rich since Mr. Trump spends almost none of his own campaign stash helping other Republicans. But the political-action committee affiliated with Mr. McConnell is spending tens of millions to elect candidates Mr. Trump endorsed and who have been struggling in the polls.


On Aug. 24 Mr. Trump escalated with a statement that “The Democrats have Mitch McConnell and his lovely wife, Elaine ‘Coco’ Chao, over a barrel. He and she will never be prosecuted, as per the last paragraphs of this story.” He then linked to a story in The Federalist, an online publication, that was full of guilt by innuendo.

Ms. Chao came to the U.S. as a child from Taiwan, not China. You may have heard there’s a difference. She’s one of six daughters of James S.C. Chao, who founded the Foremost Group, a U.S. shipping company based in New York. It’s an immigrant success story. Ms. Chao’s sister Angela is now CEO, but Elaine is neither an employee nor an owner.

The company specializes in bulk-commodity ships that carry grain and other freight. Foremost Group ships travel often to Chinese ports because much of the world’s commodity trade goes to and from China. The destinations are set by the owner of the commodities. You can’t be in the global shipping business and not travel to Chinese ports.


Some Foremost ships were built in China over the years, but we’re told the company currently has no such contracts. The company does have contracts for ships made in Japan. Angela Chao was also on the board of the Bank of China, a commercial bank, not the central bank. But countless American firms have done business with Chinese companies since the country opened up in the 1980s and there was hope for its economic and political reform.


Those hopes have been undone by President Xi Jinping and his Politburo. But doing business with China remains legal, as Mr. Trump underscored when he struck his “phase one” trade deal with Mr. Xi in 2019. Is Mr. Trump now claiming that any American who does business in China is a traitor or in bed with the Communist Party? It’s hard to believe Mr. Trump would make these accusations if Ms. Chao wasn’t ethnic Chinese.

If he believes what he says, then why did Mr. Trump invite Ms. Chao to join his cabinet? The Foremost Group’s commercial history and business with China were all known at the time. Mr. Trump also praised Ms. Chao for doing “an incredible job” as late in his term as July 2020. In April 2020 he said she was doing a “fantastic job.” Ms. Chao’s real offense, apart from being married to Mr. McConnell, is that she resigned from the cabinet after the Jan. 6 riot. Mr. Trump can’t abide that stand on principle.

Democrats in Congress tried to dig up dirt on Ms. Chao and her family, but they came up empty. They triggered a Department of Transportation Inspector General probe into several charges of misconduct. But in March 2021, after Ms. Chao had left office, the IG report concluded: “This report does not make any conclusion regarding the compliance of the Secretary or any other Federal employee with any ethical principle or rule.” It closed the probe after it found no prosecutorial interest by the Biden Justice Department.

***
Beyond the unfairness to Ms. Chao, all of this relates to Mr. Trump’s role in the GOP. Instead of focusing on President Biden, Mr. Trump cares above all about settling scores with members of his own party. His politics is always about himself, not a larger cause. His vendettas have already hurt Republican prospects in 2022 by blackballing good candidates and letting Democrats divert attention from Mr. Biden’s failures. No wonder Democrats are thrilled to have Mr. Trump around
« Last Edit: September 18, 2022, 08:38:06 AM by Crafty_Dog »

G M

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Re: WSJ: Citizen Trump vs. Elaine Chao
« Reply #176 on: August 31, 2022, 04:16:26 PM »
https://thefederalist.com/2022/08/24/trump-is-right-mitch-mcconnell-and-elaine-chao-spent-decades-getting-rich-on-china/

Is the WSJ remembering all the facts here?  Wasn't there something about the Chao family scoring a $500M contract with the Chinese to build ships for them? 

Anyway, that aside, IMHO the WSJ scores here:
===================================

Donald Trump’s Vendetta Politics
The former President smears Elaine Chao because her family is ethnic Chinese.
By The Editorial BoardFollow
Aug. 31, 2022 6:44 pm ET

SAVE

PRINT

TEXT
14

Elaine Chao
PHOTO: JON CHERRY/GETTY IMAGES

One reason Democrats are thrilled to keep Donald Trump at political center stage is because they know they can count on him to continue his revenge campaign against fellow Republicans. Even by that all-too familiar standard of behavior, the former President’s smears against his former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao are especially ugly.

Mr. Trump has been pursuing a vendetta against Mitch McConnell since the Senate GOP leader denounced the former President’s role in the events of Jan. 6. Mr. Trump calls him “a broken down hack politician,” despite Mr. McConnell’s role in keeping a Supreme Court seat open in 2016 for Mr. Trump to run on. The Court issue was crucial to Mr. Trump’s victory, and Mr. McConnell was indispensable in getting his judicial nominees through the Senate.

***
Mr. McConnell is wise to ignore Mr. Trump’s attacks. But that may be why Mr. Trump has recently dragged in Ms. Chao, who is Mr. McConnell’s wife. On Aug. 20 in a post on Truth Social, his social-media site, Mr. Trump said Mr. McConnell “should spend more time (and money!) helping [Republicans] get elected, and less time helping his crazy wife and family get rich on China!”

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What the FBI Discovered at Mar-a-Lago


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The money line is itself rich since Mr. Trump spends almost none of his own campaign stash helping other Republicans. But the political-action committee affiliated with Mr. McConnell is spending tens of millions to elect candidates Mr. Trump endorsed and who have been struggling in the polls.

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On Aug. 24 Mr. Trump escalated with a statement that “The Democrats have Mitch McConnell and his lovely wife, Elaine ‘Coco’ Chao, over a barrel. He and she will never be prosecuted, as per the last paragraphs of this story.” He then linked to a story in The Federalist, an online publication, that was full of guilt by innuendo.

Ms. Chao came to the U.S. as a child from Taiwan, not China. You may have heard there’s a difference. She’s one of six daughters of James S.C. Chao, who founded the Foremost Group, a U.S. shipping company based in New York. It’s an immigrant success story. Ms. Chao’s sister Angela is now CEO, but Elaine is neither an employee nor an owner.

The company specializes in bulk-commodity ships that carry grain and other freight. Foremost Group ships travel often to Chinese ports because much of the world’s commodity trade goes to and from China. The destinations are set by the owner of the commodities. You can’t be in the global shipping business and not travel to Chinese ports.


Some Foremost ships were built in China over the years, but we’re told the company currently has no such contracts. The company does have contracts for ships made in Japan. Angela Chao was also on the board of the Bank of China, a commercial bank, not the central bank. But countless American firms have done business with Chinese companies since the country opened up in the 1980s and there was hope for its economic and political reform.

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Those hopes have been undone by President Xi Jinping and his Politburo. But doing business with China remains legal, as Mr. Trump underscored when he struck his “phase one” trade deal with Mr. Xi in 2019. Is Mr. Trump now claiming that any American who does business in China is a traitor or in bed with the Communist Party? It’s hard to believe Mr. Trump would make these accusations if Ms. Chao wasn’t ethnic Chinese.

If he believes what he says, then why did Mr. Trump invite Ms. Chao to join his cabinet? The Foremost Group’s commercial history and business with China were all known at the time. Mr. Trump also praised Ms. Chao for doing “an incredible job” as late in his term as July 2020. In April 2020 he said she was doing a “fantastic job.” Ms. Chao’s real offense, apart from being married to Mr. McConnell, is that she resigned from the cabinet after the Jan. 6 riot. Mr. Trump can’t abide that stand on principle.

Democrats in Congress tried to dig up dirt on Ms. Chao and her family, but they came up empty. They triggered a Department of Transportation Inspector General probe into several charges of misconduct. But in March 2021, after Ms. Chao had left office, the IG report concluded: “This report does not make any conclusion regarding the compliance of the Secretary or any other Federal employee with any ethical principle or rule.” It closed the probe after it found no prosecutorial interest by the Biden Justice Department.

***
Beyond the unfairness to Ms. Chao, all of this relates to Mr. Trump’s role in the GOP. Instead of focusing on President Biden, Mr. Trump cares above all about settling scores with members of his own party. His politics is always about himself, not a larger cause. His vendettas have already hurt Republican prospects in 2022 by blackballing good candidates and letting Democrats divert attention from Mr. Biden’s failures. No wonder Democrats are thrilled to have Mr. Trump around

Crafty_Dog

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #177 on: August 31, 2022, 06:42:28 PM »
Quite the whitewash by the WSJ!!!

Crafty_Dog

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Citizen Trump rally in PA 9/3/22
« Reply #178 on: September 04, 2022, 08:50:42 AM »

Crafty_Dog

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ET: Citizen Trump says US must confront China over Fentanyl
« Reply #181 on: October 12, 2022, 07:58:05 AM »
Trump Says the Biden Administration Must Confront China Over US Fentanyl Crisis
By Frank Fang October 10, 2022
Former President Donald Trump says it is imperative that the Biden administration confronts China now over the U.S. fentanyl crisis.

“Must immediately meet with China on Fentanyl, and what they are doing in pouring it into the U.S. It is ripping our Country apart,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Oct. 6.

Trump estimated the U.S. death rate caused by fentanyl to be around 250,000 people a year. While official reports have indicated the rate to be increasing, the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported that death involving fentanyl rose 23 percent to 71,238 in 2021. The CDC estimated that a total of 107,622 drug overdose deaths last year.

This crisis “CANNOT CONTINUE,” Trump added.

Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged between 18 and 45, surpassing suicide, car accidents, and COVID-19, according to a December 2021 report from the U.S. advocacy group Families Against Fentanyl.

Most states in the United States are seeing a surge in fentanyl deaths. According to the group’s report published in February, fentanyl fatalities doubled in 30 states, tripled in 15 states, and nearly five times in six states, in the last two years. Alaska, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, California, and Texas are the six states seeing a nearly five-fold increase in fentanyl deaths.

Epoch Times Photo
U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized approximately 47,000 rainbow-colored fentanyl pills, 186,000 blue fentanyl pills, and 6.5 pounds of meth hidden in a floor compartment of a vehicle at the Nogales port of entry on the southern border with Mexico on Sept. 3, 2022. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin.

Trump’s urgent call came a week after China’s ambassador to the United States Qin Gang defended the Chinese regime in an interview with Newsweek, saying that the U.S. fentanyl crisis “was not created by China.”

Qin accused “some Americans” and the U.S. media of making “false and misleading claims” about how “China is the primary source of fentanyl in the United States.”

Last month, Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) told The Epoch Times’ sister media outlet NTD that Qin has tried to lobby congressmen sitting on the House Intelligence Committee, getting them to defect blame away from China for causing the flow of illicit fentanyl into America.

China
Qin’s claims are not supported by facts, considering findings by two U.S. government reports.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in its January 2020 report (pdf), laid out clearly that China was the “primary source” of fentanyl trafficked into the United States.

“China remains the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and express consignment operations environment, as well as the main source for all fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States,” the DEA report says.

Eight months before the publication of the DEA report, the Chinese regime designated fentanyl and many of its analogs as controlled substances, meaning that the production and sales of these opioids would be banned.

The DEA officials expressed optimism about the communist regime’s drug control measure, saying in the report that it had the “potential to severely limit fentanyl production and trafficking from China.”

But in February, the Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking, established by the 2020 defense policy bill, published a report saying that transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) in Mexico are buying precursor chemicals from China.

“Instead of shipping finished product to the United States, chemical and pharmaceutical businesses (or individuals within them) in the PRC [People’s Republic of China] either knowingly or unknowingly started sending other, controlled and uncontrolled chemical precursors from the PRC to Mexican TCOs that illegally synthesize fentanyl for U.S. markets,” the Commission’s report says.

The report singled out two particular TCOs—the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The report added that Chinese regional officials “eschew enforcement” of the drug control measure and other regulatory efforts because they have a greater interest in seeing pharmaceutical and chemical sectors in their regions grow, which prop up local economies. Moreover, corruption could also have played a role in diminishing the ban’s effectiveness in fentanyl production, according to the report.

“They [China] need to take industry oversight and enforcement of rules more seriously. Authorities will need to penalize those who break rules or continue to engage in illegal activity,” the report says.

With precursor chemicals from China, the two Mexico cartels can make “an unlimited amount” of fentanyl, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram told CBS in August. She added that the two TCOs “are killing Americans with fentanyl at catastrophic and record rates like we have never seen before.”

“We have to stop it before it comes from China to Mexico to the U.S.,” Milgram said.

Biden’s Border
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized 12,303 pounds of fentanyl during the current fiscal year, which started in October last year. That amount was up from 10,586 pounds of seized fentanyl in the fiscal year 2021, 4,558 pounds in the fiscal year 2020, and 2,633 pounds in the fiscal year 2019.

On Oct. 4, DEA agents announced that a New Jersey woman had been arrested in Manhattan, who was concealing 15,000 candy-colored fentanyl pills inside a LEGO box. The DEA said it was the largest fentanyl bust ever in New York City.

Many Republican lawmakers say President Joe Biden’s border policies are fueling the lethal influx of fentanyl.

Some GOP lawmakers have introduced bills aimed at tackling the fentanyl crisis. In September, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) introduced legislation that would make the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death a felony murder offense.

On Sep. 30, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) introduced a bill that would grant agents within the Homeland Security Investigations, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, independent authority to enforce America’s drug laws.

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has said that Republican lawmakers will act decisively to deal with the crisis, should the GOP retake Congress in November.

“The number of Americans dying from Chinese fentanyl amounts to a commercial jet crashing every single day,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter on Sept. 16.

“This is a crisis. China must be held accountable—and Republicans will act decisively if we are entrusted with a majority in the next Congress.”

ccp

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Trump "announcement "
« Reply #182 on: October 25, 2022, 08:55:13 AM »
"https://republicbrief.com/crowd-erupts-at-trump-rally-after-trump-makes-presidential-announcement/"

every time he speaks we are to read he has announcement

just announce he is running already and get it over with
stop. playing dumb ass games

please give us DeSantis


Crafty_Dog

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #183 on: October 25, 2022, 09:05:17 AM »
I saw he made some asinine comment at a recent rally along the lines of arresting someone and sending them to jail/prison where rape/fear of rape would get them to talk or something like that.

DougMacG

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Re: Trump "announcement "
« Reply #184 on: October 25, 2022, 09:15:18 AM »
"https://republicbrief.com/crowd-erupts-at-trump-rally-after-trump-makes-presidential-announcement/"

every time he speaks we are to read he has announcement

just announce he is running already and get it over with
stop. playing dumb ass games

please give us DeSantis

There are some legalities about formally declaring candidacy.  Also politically, we don't need to feed the narrative this midterm is a referendum on Trump.

He is making his intentions to run clear.  I no longer think that will clear the field.  For one thing, Trump proved it takes two terms, with a willing Congress, to get anything good and lasting done.  He had two years...

Trump needs his new candidacy to make sure his inevitable legal issues all look political.

Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit blog) mentioned preferring DeSantis for the reason above, it takes two terms.

Trump started his mission to drain the swamp without really knowing one person of like mind who could take their place.  At least DeSantis has run a major state and hopefully can assemble a team.

Crafty_Dog

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Citizen Trump on alcohol
« Reply #185 on: November 03, 2022, 07:25:11 AM »

ccp

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who would ever have thought?
« Reply #186 on: November 04, 2022, 01:23:13 PM »
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/11/04/report-donald-trump-considering-november-14-date-2024-campaign-announcement/

caveat emptor - vanity fair piece - Trump - DeSantis :

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/10/donald-trump-ron-desantis-florida-rally

but we know Trump hates DeSantis who has (wisely in MHO) not sucked up to him
as he does with everyone .


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Re: So much for the Trump-DeSantis ticket?
« Reply #188 on: November 06, 2022, 06:44:27 AM »
Citizen Trump is making or about to make two big mistakes that will affect his political future.
1)  Calling his R (potential) opponents names again means he hasn't grown since 2016,
2)  If he announces for President, that timeframe may very well be AFTER the Georgia runoffs in December.  He screwed up Georgia last time costing Republicans the Senate and Americans the economy and more.   Don't screw this up again.  Trump is not liked in Georgia and Georgia, in this cycle, is mission critical to the nation.

When he was President, I argued his interests were same as America's.  As a candidate if he puts his personal strategy ahead of the party and the country I, for one, will not forgive him.

Trump clearly wants to be an announced candidate at the time his (wrongful?) indictments come down making them political.  At least until it happens that's not our problem.  Keeping the focus on the Biden-Warnock economy until the mid term is called is priority one, and will affect the governability of the nation for the next 6 years.  If Trump can't grasp that and put himself second to that for a month, he will lose support again.

Crafty_Dog

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #189 on: November 06, 2022, 07:37:03 AM »
Assuming they happen, when are the GA runoffs?

ccp

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #190 on: November 06, 2022, 09:37:24 AM »
"When he was President, I argued his interests were same as America's.  As a candidate if he puts his personal strategy ahead of the party and the country I, for one, will not forgive him."

Watched his rally in Pa last night on Newmax

it seemed like the whole first hour before he even got subject of Mastriano and Oz
was about HIS grievances - "they raided my beautiful home "  and , they even went through Ivana's [bleep] next to her dress and her gorgeous high heels "

 :roll:

still looking like he is way ahead of competitors for '24.
 :cry:

Crafty_Dog

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #191 on: November 06, 2022, 02:06:49 PM »
My wife will vote against him in the primaries, and likely I will too.

ccp

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Re: Citizen Trump
« Reply #192 on: November 06, 2022, 02:33:30 PM »
I will
not sure about my wife but probably

what about your mother ?


Crafty_Dog

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Citizen Trump: Enough about me. What do you think about me?
« Reply #193 on: November 06, 2022, 02:46:31 PM »
My mom is getting too old to follow these things.
=================================

Donald Trump Rallies for . . . Donald Trump
Even before the midterms, he’s mocking his potential presidential competitors, Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence.
By The Editorial Board
WSJ
Nov. 6, 2022 4:36 pm ET




Donald Trump’s allies are saying the former President who lost in 2020 is going to announce as early as next week that he’s running for the White House again in 2024. In case you doubt it, Mr. Trump is already mocking his fellow Republicans and potential competitors before Tuesday’s midterm election.

Mr. Trump held a rally Saturday in Latrobe, Pa., ostensibly to boost turnout for GOP Senate candidate Mehmet Oz and nominee for Governor, Doug Mastriano. Mr. Trump endorsed both men in the primaries, and Mr. Mastriano is trailing in the polls. Mr. Oz is in a tight race with Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, and his defeat could cost the GOP control of the Senate. There’s little doubt that David McCormick, who lost narrowly to Mr. Oz after Mr. Trump’s endorsement, would be winning handily against the far-left Mr. Fetterman.

But as usual with Mr. Trump, the rally turned out to be less for Mr. Oz than for . . . himself. During the rally Mr. Trump showed the results of a recent poll for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.

“We’re winning big, big, big in the Republican Party for the nomination like nobody’s ever seen before,” Mr. Trump said as the numbers went on screen. “There it is, Trump at 71. Ron DeSanctimonious at 10%.”


That was a shot at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for re-election in Florida, which is now Mr. Trump’s home state. Mr. DeSantis is ahead in the polls, but the election isn’t over. Perhaps Mr. Trump thinks that if he can reduce the Governor’s margin of victory on Tuesday Mr. DeSantis will be less likely to challenge him for the nomination.

Mr. Trump kept going, mocking his former Vice President, who is also considering a run for the White House. “Mike Pence at 7—oh, Mike’s doing better than I thought,” he said.

Then he brought up Ted Cruz, the Texas Senator who ran against Mr. Trump in 2016 and could run again.

“Ted Cruz is doing a good job, by the way. He didn’t like me for a while but we got to be friends, right? Could’ve put him on the Supreme Court,” Mr. Trump said. “If I’d put him on the Supreme Court, I would have had 100% of the people in the Senate voting in favor, to move him out. Okay? Even the Democrats would’ve voted for him. Okay? But he’s great and he’s smart and he’s good.” That shot at Mr. Cruz’s unlikability is best understood as a warning not to run or Mr. Trump will return to calling him “lyin’ Ted.”

Mr. Trump wants to clear the GOP presidential field, and he knows that Mr. DeSantis has emerged in the last two years as his strongest potential opponent. A declaration so soon after the election, if he does declare next week, will also be an attempt to deter a possible Justice Department indictment.


But his focus on his own prospects, and criticizing his fellow Republicans even before a crucial midterm election, is one more reminder that Mr. Trump’s only abiding principle is what’s good for Donald Trump.

DougMacG

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Georgia Runoff
« Reply #194 on: November 06, 2022, 07:06:30 PM »
Assuming they happen, when are the GA runoffs?

Georgia Runoff:  Dec. 6, 2022
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/10/19/potential-senate-georgia-runoff-elections-explained/10542142002/

Herschel (or the socialist) needs 50% + 1 vote or this goes to runoff.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2022, 07:51:43 PM by DougMacG »

ccp

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Trump : if Desantis runs he can hurt himself badly
« Reply #195 on: November 08, 2022, 01:29:00 PM »
https://nypost.com/2022/11/08/trump-warns-desantis-he-could-hurt-himself-very-badly-by-running-in-2024/

" Trump then threatened to expose some dirt on his fellow Republican.  I would tell you things about him that won’t be very flattering — I know more about him than anybody — other than, perhaps, his wife,” Trump said without elaborating.

he says this on election day ?

mark my words - if trump is elected he will bring us down in a second term



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Re: Trump : if Desantis runs he can hurt himself badly
« Reply #196 on: November 08, 2022, 05:25:52 PM »
"mark my words - if trump is elected he will bring us down in a second term"


   - I actually think he might govern well in a second term but we can't take 6+ more years of his lips moving.


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Re: Michael Goodwin NYPost columnist
« Reply #199 on: November 09, 2022, 07:50:49 AM »
https://nypost.com/2022/11/09/ron-desantis-shows-hes-future-of-the-gop/

Yes, great night personally for DeSantis (and Rubio), but red states red and blue states blue doesn't mean he could win nationwide.  Pockets of good news, far, far away from me, but I find this election result overall to be the most disturbing of my lifetime.
----------------------
"To think we could beat a stroked out person with heart failure who walks around with a hoodie and never had a real job ....

people could simply not stomach Oz"



   - Maybe yes on both but I think no.  I think Fetterman in his verbal nonsense, like Biden, made clear he would be a reliable Dem vote and Oz made clear he would be a reliable R vote.  And Pennsylvania chose the former and so goes the nation.

How could it be more clear today, in all 50 states, that Dem policies lead to failure?

People want failure.  People want economic carnage, out of control inflation, gangs and fentanyl in control of the border and the country, I don't know how to stop it.

It may still turn out Republicans take both the House and Senate, but this is still the biggest disappointment in memory.

If these circumstances don't change liberal leanings, what will?  Nothing.