Trump outrage of the day

[MudPuppy]

The vaccine has the trackers, the 5G has the mind control!

[SunnyDays]

Scarily, that makes sense!

[Glenstache]

Given all of the paranoia about deep state and tracking, I wonder what the cookie policy is on Parler.

[OtherJen]

Given all of the paranoia about deep state and tracking, I wonder what the cookie policy is on Parler.

https://legal.parler.com/documents/privacypolicy.pdf

[Glenstache]

Given all of the paranoia about deep state and tracking, I wonder what the cookie policy is on Parler.

https://legal.parler.com/documents/privacypolicy.pdf

Well, THAT was an interesting read. "Nothing more than what would be on your W-9" really stuck out.

[Just Joe]

Ironically, Qanon appears to exert some sort of mass mind control/hysteria and encourages actions that result in covid deaths...

Kind of describes so much about the past 10+ years. Especially Trump's years. Project, project, project...

[Just Joe]

So when Trump is gone - will there be a thread for calling out conservative BS?

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/prageru-video-contains-misleading-claims-about-covid-19-deaths-falsely-claims-94-of-covid-19-deaths-had-pre-existing-conditions/

Maybe I'm not paying attention but is there a liberal equivalent to the conservative misinformation machine demonstrated for the past 20+ years that is as dangerous?

[Travis]

So when Trump is gone - will there be a thread for calling out conservative BS?

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/prageru-video-contains-misleading-claims-about-covid-19-deaths-falsely-claims-94-of-covid-19-deaths-had-pre-existing-conditions/

Maybe I'm not paying attention but is there a liberal equivalent to the conservative misinformation machine demonstrated for the past 20+ years that is as dangerous?

The entire media establishment according to Fox, OANN, and Newsmax. They're on an island of truth under siege by the fake news left. 

There's plenty of left-leaning bullshit news out there, but tends to be a little more fringe and less organized. Think of where the anti-vaxxer movement gets its info or where MLMs circulate their claims.  If I had to pick a liberal version of Fox News it would be MSNBC, but I've never seen Rachel Maddow or her guests demand that the audience gear up to storm the Bastille.

[moneypitfeeder]

I just wish the big baby would get the vaccine, I just got to listen to my sister, of all people, tell my 70-ish mother that the Covid vaccine is known to cause death, horrible side effects, and HIV. Yes, she believes that it can cause HIV. Maybe if our illustrious leader would get the shot it would persuade the general public it is safe.

[nereo]

So when Trump is gone - will there be a thread for calling out conservative BS?

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/prageru-video-contains-misleading-claims-about-covid-19-deaths-falsely-claims-94-of-covid-19-deaths-had-pre-existing-conditions/

Maybe I'm not paying attention but is there a liberal equivalent to the conservative misinformation machine demonstrated for the past 20+ years that is as dangerous?

The entire media establishment according to Fox, OANN, and Newsmax. They're on an island of truth under siege by the fake news left. 

I’ve never understood how people can believe there’s a universal left-wing bias in news media, but in my very GOP-leaning district that’s an “accepted truth”.  Somehow they ignore that FoxNews is the most-watched news program, that Hannity is the most-watched news pundit (or whatever he calls himself), and that Limbaugh is the most-listened to syndicated political talk-show.  So they’ve got the top news network, tv program and radio, not to mention they seem to dominate many dark corners of the internet (e.g. QAnon) and a number of large-circulation newspapers (e.g. WSJ and NY Post)... yet somehow they all believe that it’s all liberal propagada, all the time, everywhere.

[Travis]

So when Trump is gone - will there be a thread for calling out conservative BS?

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/prageru-video-contains-misleading-claims-about-covid-19-deaths-falsely-claims-94-of-covid-19-deaths-had-pre-existing-conditions/

Maybe I'm not paying attention but is there a liberal equivalent to the conservative misinformation machine demonstrated for the past 20+ years that is as dangerous?

The entire media establishment according to Fox, OANN, and Newsmax. They're on an island of truth under siege by the fake news left. 

I’ve never understood how people can believe there’s a universal left-wing bias in news media, but in my very GOP-leaning district that’s an “accepted truth”.  Somehow they ignore that FoxNews is the most-watched news program, that Hannity is the most-watched news pundit (or whatever he calls himself), and that Limbaugh is the most-listened to syndicated political talk-show.  So they’ve got the top news network, tv program and radio, not to mention they seem to dominate many dark corners of the internet (e.g. QAnon) and a number of large-circulation newspapers (e.g. WSJ and NY Post)... yet somehow they all believe that it’s all liberal propagada, all the time, everywhere.

More ironic is that Tucker Carlson had to explicitly state that he's not a reputable journalist in order to get out of a defamation lawsuit earlier this year. His lawyer argued that basically he's just some asshole with an opinion and a TV show.

[nereo]

Tucker!  That’s the one I was forgetting.  Rush, Tucker and Hannity are all at the top in terms of viewership of their respective shows.  Yet “all news is left-wing” ...?

Tucker certainly plays the “I’m not a journalist’ card frequently... usually right before he claims to reveal some news story.  The sad thing is - he was actually a decent journalist and writer before he went down that white-power, xenophobic, right-wing rabbit whole.
...and somehow Rivera - the guy that got hit in the face by a white supremist on live TV - is now the journalist with [some] integrity.  Weird.

[ixtap]

So when Trump is gone - will there be a thread for calling out conservative BS?

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/prageru-video-contains-misleading-claims-about-covid-19-deaths-falsely-claims-94-of-covid-19-deaths-had-pre-existing-conditions/

Maybe I'm not paying attention but is there a liberal equivalent to the conservative misinformation machine demonstrated for the past 20+ years that is as dangerous?

The entire media establishment according to Fox, OANN, and Newsmax. They're on an island of truth under siege by the fake news left. 

I’ve never understood how people can believe there’s a universal left-wing bias in news media, but in my very GOP-leaning district that’s an “accepted truth”.  Somehow they ignore that FoxNews is the most-watched news program, that Hannity is the most-watched news pundit (or whatever he calls himself), and that Limbaugh is the most-listened to syndicated political talk-show.  So they’ve got the top news network, tv program and radio, not to mention they seem to dominate many dark corners of the internet (e.g. QAnon) and a number of large-circulation newspapers (e.g. WSJ and NY Post)... yet somehow they all believe that it’s all liberal propagada, all the time, everywhere.

More ironic is that Tucker Carlson had to explicitly state that he's not a reputable journalist in order to get out of a defamation lawsuit earlier this year. His lawyer argued that basically he's just some asshole with an opinion and a TV show.

Next thing you know, he will be running for US President.

[Travis]

Tucker!  That’s the one I was forgetting.  Rush, Tucker and Hannity are all at the top in terms of viewership of their respective shows.  Yet “all news is left-wing” ...?

Tucker certainly plays the “I’m not a journalist’ card frequently... usually right before he claims to reveal some news story.  The sad thing is - he was actually a decent journalist and writer before he went down that white-power, xenophobic, right-wing rabbit whole.
...and somehow Rivera - the guy that got hit in the face by a white supremist on live TV - is now the journalist with [some] integrity.  Weird.

Rivera is just good a smelling the favorable winds. Just two months ago he was right there with Hannity and Lindsay Graham about the election. Now he's yelling at his peers to get over it while at the same time having the gall to say the vaccines were something Trump forced the drug companies to produce.

[caracarn]

I just wish the big baby would get the vaccine, I just got to listen to my sister, of all people, tell my 70-ish mother that the Covid vaccine is known to cause death, horrible side effects, and HIV. Yes, she believes that it can cause HIV. Maybe if our illustrious leader would get the shot it would persuade the general public it is safe.

My brother is a first responder in IL and told the same thing to my mother who now is refusing to get it as well as authorize it to be given to her 97 year old mother in a nursing home.  So it is not just our leader, it is people who should know better.  It is a mess.  So upset with my brother.

[scottish]

I just wish the big baby would get the vaccine, I just got to listen to my sister, of all people, tell my 70-ish mother that the Covid vaccine is known to cause death, horrible side effects, and HIV. Yes, she believes that it can cause HIV. Maybe if our illustrious leader would get the shot it would persuade the general public it is safe.

My brother is a first responder in IL and told the same thing to my mother who now is refusing to get it as well as authorize it to be given to her 97 year old mother in a nursing home.  So it is not just our leader, it is people who should know better.  It is a mess.  So upset with my brother.

That's crazy.    People think a vaccine will cause HIV?   I suppose this is the same bunch that won't use condoms...

[marty998]

I just wish the big baby would get the vaccine, I just got to listen to my sister, of all people, tell my 70-ish mother that the Covid vaccine is known to cause death, horrible side effects, and HIV. Yes, she believes that it can cause HIV. Maybe if our illustrious leader would get the shot it would persuade the general public it is safe.

My brother is a first responder in IL and told the same thing to my mother who now is refusing to get it as well as authorize it to be given to her 97 year old mother in a nursing home.  So it is not just our leader, it is people who should know better.  It is a mess.  So upset with my brother.

That's crazy.    People think a vaccine will cause HIV?   I suppose this is the same bunch that won't use condoms...

I suspect this conspiracy theory is Australian in origin. The (now abandoned) vaccine that was being developed here by the University of Queensland used strands of the HIV DNA in its development. Because of that DNA within the vaccine, all trial participants tested ‘positive’ to HIV during the clinical trials.

Of course, the participants didn’t actually have HIV, but such a result no doubt has the potential to stir mass panic, and renders useless subsequent routine blood tests people may need because of the guaranteed false positive.

Despite the venture turning out to be a “failure”, the science behind using HIV in this manner is remarkably promising.

Science is like that sometimes, but the nuance is lost of many people.

[nereo]

Trump sent out a tweet: “Jan 6th, SEE YOU IN DC!!”

For context, that’s when Congress meets to certify the election - the one that saw Biden win 306 electoral votes, that has been upheld in over 60 court challenges and about a dozen recounts (three in Georgia alone!). A bunch of his supporters are planning numerous protests in DC, including the right-wing domestic terrorists group Proud Boys, who are talking of “an armed insurrection”.

Roger Stone, Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos (all convicted while working for Trump - and recently pardoned) are scheduled as headline speakers.

[moneypitfeeder]

Thank you @marty998 at least now I may have a chance at convincing my sis to get the shot when we finally become eligible with that info about the abandoned trial vaccine.

[Dancin'Dog]

So, Trump and Pence have abruptly left their planned New Year's eve planned events to return to DC.  Does anyone know what they're up to? 

[FIPurpose]

So, Trump and Pence have abruptly left their planned New Year's eve planned events to return to DC.  Does anyone know what they're up to?

Well Pence at least has to be there for the electoral confirmation on Wednesday.

[Travis]

Just about every world leader with a microphone today: "2020 was rough, but community/fortitude/hope/cooperation/etc."

Trump: "It's been a couple weeks since I mentioned how awesome I am."

[OtherJen]

Just about every world leader with a microphone today: "2020 was rough, but community/fortitude/hope/cooperation/etc."

Trump: "It's been a couple weeks since I mentioned how awesome I am."

I would expect nothing more of him. He isn't capable of more, not even when it would help him politically.

Trump’s Focus as the Pandemic Raged: What Would It Mean for Him? (NY Times)

Throughout late summer and fall, in the heat of a re-election campaign that he would go on to lose, and in the face of mounting evidence of a surge in infections and deaths far worse than in the spring, Mr. Trump’s management of the crisis — unsteady, unscientific and colored by politics all year — was in effect reduced to a single question: What would it mean for him?

The result, according to interviews with more than two dozen current and former administration officials and others in contact with the White House, was a lose-lose situation. Mr. Trump not only ended up soundly defeated by Joseph R. Biden Jr., but missed his chance to show that he could rise to the moment in the final chapter of his presidency and meet the defining challenge of his tenure.

[bacchi]

Trump sent out a tweet: “Jan 6th, SEE YOU IN DC!!”

For context, that’s when Congress meets to certify the election - the one that saw Biden win 306 electoral votes, that has been upheld in over 60 court challenges and about a dozen recounts (three in Georgia alone!). A bunch of his supporters are planning numerous protests in DC, including the right-wing domestic terrorists group Proud Boys, who are talking of “an armed insurrection”.

Roger Stone, Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos (all convicted while working for Trump - and recently pardoned) are scheduled as headline speakers.

Yeah, the alt-right boards have talk about taking over the pedestrian tunnels to stop Congresslings from leaving the building that way. There's a lot of posturing on those boards but their ilk did attempt to storm the Michigan capitol building and kidnap the governor.

Antifa is trying to get counter-protestors to not show up to avoid confrontation. Let the Boys show traitorous they truly are.

[OtherJen]

Presented without comment: Pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood insists he is not insane after tweeting that Mike Pence should face execution by firing squad (Business Insider)

[bacchi]

Presented without comment: Pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood insists he is not insane after tweeting that Mike Pence should face execution by firing squad (Business Insider)

There's a reason his former law partners dissolved the partnership. Besides claiming that Roberts is a pedophile, he also claimed that Roberts was involved in Scalia's death. Oh, and Epstein is alive and has flipped.

He's a loon.

[Just Joe]

Has any other presidency revealed so many loons so close to the president?

[OzzieandHarriet]

WTF

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/02/us/politics/gop-senators-josh-hawley-election.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Probably just him being a weasel, but still.

A little more info here:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/mike-pence-us-election-ted-cruz-electoral-college-b1781603.html?amp

[bacchi]

Not sure what else they can do unless some Dems flip in the House.

The good news is that there's a limit on this -- 2 hours x states won by Biden. (Maybe the Dems should oppose the Texas electors?)


Eta: This is disturbing. Another glaring hole in the power of the US President and the election process. https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/530306-no-biden-hasnt-won-yet-one-more-nightmare-scenario.

Though, if it comes down to a major delay, the Dems can oppose the R states/electors and run out the clock, giving us...President Nancy Pelosi. She serves until the House chooses a Prez by state and the new Senate chooses a VP by majority (it always does; the old Senate doesn't pick the VP). If the Senate is 50-50 and there is no acting VP to split the tie, then what happens? And can the House majority just not take up a vote?

What a (admittedly far-fetched) shit show.

[MilesTeg]

Not sure what else they can do unless some Dems flip in the House.

The good news is that there's a limit on this -- 2 hours x states won by Biden. (Maybe the Dems should oppose the Texas electors?)


Eta: This is disturbing. Another glaring hole in the power of the US President and the election process. https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/530306-no-biden-hasnt-won-yet-one-more-nightmare-scenario.

Though, if it comes down to a major delay, the Dems can oppose the R states/electors and run out the clock, giving us...President Nancy Pelosi. She serves until the House chooses a Prez by state and the new Senate chooses a VP by majority (it always does; the old Senate doesn't pick the VP). If the Senate is 50-50 and there is no acting VP to split the tie, then what happens? And can the House majority just not take up a vote?

What a (admittedly far-fetched) shit show.

This won't happen. In order to force a contingent vote in the house you have to finish the electoral vote counting first as the only way to get to a contingent vote is if no candidate gets a majority of votes. Biden has the majority of votes and the Democrat House will never allow Trump to swindle his way into a second term.

The Hill is a right wing rag.

[wenchsenior]

Presented without comment: Pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood insists he is not insane after tweeting that Mike Pence should face execution by firing squad (Business Insider)

There's a reason his former law partners dissolved the partnership. Besides claiming that Roberts is a pedophile, he also claimed that Roberts was involved in Scalia's death. Oh, and Epstein is alive and has flipped.

He's a loon.

This is a commonly held belief among a big subset of Trump supporters, apparently.

[Just Joe]

I hope what we are witnessing is the Republicans playing their own supporters to maximize political contributions. Also, it is easier to be a GOP critic than a Dem leader.

[Just Joe]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/amy-klobuchar-rips-ted-cruz-led-gang-of-senators-threatening-to-reject-biden-victory-on-jan-6-can-you-please-get-a-grip/ar-BB1cqa1O

"This sentence says everything you need to know:  Not one of the Republican officeholders objecting to Biden's victory have objected to their own wins on the same day on the same ballots using the same election systems.”

[ixtap]

Presented without comment: Pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood insists he is not insane after tweeting that Mike Pence should face execution by firing squad (Business Insider)

There's a reason his former law partners dissolved the partnership. Besides claiming that Roberts is a pedophile, he also claimed that Roberts was involved in Scalia's death. Oh, and Epstein is alive and has flipped.

He's a loon.

This is a commonly held belief among a big subset of Trump supporters, apparently.

For people who support a sex maniac, they sure are obsessed with their enemies' sex lives...

[OtherJen]

‘I just want to find 11,780 votes’: In extraordinary hour-long call, Trump pressures Georgia secretary of state to recalculate the vote in his favor (WaPo) (Paywall, but I think one article per month is free and the recording excerpts are worth hearing.)

President Trump urged fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat in an extraordinary one-hour phone call Saturday that election experts said raised legal questions.

The Washington Post obtained a recording of the conversation in which Trump alternately berated Raffensperger, tried to flatter him, begged him to act and threatened him with vague criminal consequences if the secretary of state refused to pursue his false claims, at one point warning that Raffensperger was taking “a big risk.”
---

“The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry,” he said. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated.”

Raffensperger responded: “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.”

At another point, Trump said: “So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

The rambling and at times incoherent conversation offered a remarkable glimpse of how consumed and desperate the president remains about his loss, unwilling or unable to let the matter go and still believing he can reverse the results in enough battleground states to remain in office.

“There’s no way I lost Georgia,” Trump said, a phrase he repeated again and again on the call. “There’s no way. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes.”
---

During their conversation, Trump issued a vague threat to both Raffensperger and Ryan Germany, the secretary of state’s legal counsel, suggesting that if they don’t find that thousands of ballots in Fulton County have been illegally destroyed to block investigators — an allegation for which there is no evidence — they would be subject to criminal liability.

“That’s a criminal offense,” he said. “And you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer.”

Trump also told Raffensperger that failure to act by Tuesday would jeopardize the political fortunes of David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, Georgia’s two Republican senators whose fate in that day’s runoff elections will determine control of the U.S. Senate.

Trump said he plans to talk about the fraud on Monday, when he is scheduled to lead an election eve rally in Dalton, Ga. — a message that could further muddle the efforts of Republicans to get their voters out.

“You have a big election coming up and because of what you’ve done to the president — you know, the people of Georgia know that this was a scam,” Trump said. “Because of what you’ve done to the president, a lot of people aren’t going out to vote, and a lot of Republicans are going to vote negative, because they hate what you did to the president. Okay? They hate it. And they’re going to vote. And you would be respected, really respected, if this can be straightened out before the election.”
---

“So tell me, Brad, what are we going to do? We won the election, and it’s not fair to take it away from us like this,” Trump said. “And it’s going to be very costly in many ways. And I think you have to say that you’re going to reexamine it, and you can reexamine it, but reexamine it with people that want to find answers, not people who don’t want to find answers.”

[OzzieandHarriet]

‘I just want to find 11,780 votes’: In extraordinary hour-long call, Trump pressures Georgia secretary of state to recalculate the vote in his favor (WaPo) (Paywall, but I think one article per month is free and the recording excerpts are worth hearing.)

President Trump urged fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat in an extraordinary one-hour phone call Saturday that election experts said raised legal questions.

The Washington Post obtained a recording of the conversation in which Trump alternately berated Raffensperger, tried to flatter him, begged him to act and threatened him with vague criminal consequences if the secretary of state refused to pursue his false claims, at one point warning that Raffensperger was taking “a big risk.”
---

“The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry,” he said. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated.”

Raffensperger responded: “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.”

At another point, Trump said: “So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

The rambling and at times incoherent conversation offered a remarkable glimpse of how consumed and desperate the president remains about his loss, unwilling or unable to let the matter go and still believing he can reverse the results in enough battleground states to remain in office.

“There’s no way I lost Georgia,” Trump said, a phrase he repeated again and again on the call. “There’s no way. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes.”
---

During their conversation, Trump issued a vague threat to both Raffensperger and Ryan Germany, the secretary of state’s legal counsel, suggesting that if they don’t find that thousands of ballots in Fulton County have been illegally destroyed to block investigators — an allegation for which there is no evidence — they would be subject to criminal liability.

“That’s a criminal offense,” he said. “And you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer.”

Trump also told Raffensperger that failure to act by Tuesday would jeopardize the political fortunes of David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, Georgia’s two Republican senators whose fate in that day’s runoff elections will determine control of the U.S. Senate.

Trump said he plans to talk about the fraud on Monday, when he is scheduled to lead an election eve rally in Dalton, Ga. — a message that could further muddle the efforts of Republicans to get their voters out.

“You have a big election coming up and because of what you’ve done to the president — you know, the people of Georgia know that this was a scam,” Trump said. “Because of what you’ve done to the president, a lot of people aren’t going out to vote, and a lot of Republicans are going to vote negative, because they hate what you did to the president. Okay? They hate it. And they’re going to vote. And you would be respected, really respected, if this can be straightened out before the election.”
---

“So tell me, Brad, what are we going to do? We won the election, and it’s not fair to take it away from us like this,” Trump said. “And it’s going to be very costly in many ways. And I think you have to say that you’re going to reexamine it, and you can reexamine it, but reexamine it with people that want to find answers, not people who don’t want to find answers.”

He’s using big words. His idiot persona is another scam.

[bacchi]

Is it too late to impeach him again? First President to be impeached twice.

Trump's ego could file for statehood so he may actually believe that he won. I'm unsure how any Trump supporter could be ambivalent about this call, though. Deluded or power hungry?


Edit:
Listening to the audio, we can glimpse his bullying style of negotiation. It's not convincing to me but I already think he's a dope.

1) Does his strong will and forceful words really make people believe what he's claiming? As in, he can really bully bankers into loaning him more money even after the 2nd/3rd/4th/5th/6th bankruptcy?

2) Or does it give the other side an excuse? He hints at money and power and they go along. It's another form of negotiating but it's not really the bullying that does it.

[partgypsy]

I was going to post the phone call (really more of a monologue on Trump's part than a conversation). I think the governor is showing remarkable restraint in the face of all the lies, bullying and BS flying through the air. Has no one in Trump's inner circle let him know he LOST or is it still a circle jerk in there?

[ctuser1]

Edit:
Listening to the audio, we can glimpse his bullying style of negotiation. It's not convincing to me but I already think he's a dope.

1) Does his strong will and forceful words really make people believe what he's claiming? As in, he can really bully bankers into loaning him more money even after the 2nd/3rd/4th/5th/6th bankruptcy?

2) Or does it give the other side an excuse? He hints at money and power and they go along. It's another form of negotiating but it's not really the bullying that does it.

If you read up the NYT investigations on his income and tax returns, you will find that he has been a very successful TV personality, but a failed businessman/entrepreneur:

1. He earned > $440M from Apprentice. This is massive and he obviously deserves credit for this.

2. However, he had previously received control of his father's entire business estates and managed to mostly run it to the ground. I am not quite sure anyone knows the exact figures except Trump's accountants - however, adding up the various transfers uncovered by NYT would likely add up to > $1B in total transfer from Fred to his children. He would be worth a lot more had he just invested his inheritance in the market. More than that, however, he managed to mostly run his father's business to the ground.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-wealth-fred-trump.html

In 2003, once again in financial trouble, Donald Trump began engineering the sale of the empire Fred Trump had hoped would never leave the family. The sale, completed in 2004, brought him his biggest payday ever from his father: His cut was $177.3 million, or $236.2 million in today’s dollars. But as it turned out, banks at the time valued the empire at hundreds of millions more than the sale price. Donald Trump, master dealmaker, had sold low.

So he is both a master entertainer and reality TV personality, and a poor businessman. His "negotiating style", bluffing and blustering causes poor results in business, but obviously got him the $400M+ in earnings from Apprentice and the US presidency.

Donald is basically the second generation of the Japanese proverb "rice paddies to rice paddies in three generations".

[nereo]

Edit:
Listening to the audio, we can glimpse his bullying style of negotiation. It's not convincing to me but I already think he's a dope.

1) Does his strong will and forceful words really make people believe what he's claiming? As in, he can really bully bankers into loaning him more money even after the 2nd/3rd/4th/5th/6th bankruptcy?

2) Or does it give the other side an excuse? He hints at money and power and they go along. It's another form of negotiating but it's not really the bullying that does it.

If you read up the NYT investigations on his income and tax returns, you will find that he has been a very successful TV personality, but a failed businessman/entrepreneur:

1. He earned > $440M from Apprentice. This is massive and he obviously deserves credit for this.

2. However, he had previously received control of his father's entire business estates and managed to mostly run it to the ground. I am not quite sure anyone knows the exact figures except Trump's accountants - however, adding up the various transfers uncovered by NYT would likely add up to > $1B in total transfer from Fred to his children. He would be worth a lot more had he just invested his inheritance in the market. More than that, however, he managed to mostly run his father's business to the ground.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-wealth-fred-trump.html

In 2003, once again in financial trouble, Donald Trump began engineering the sale of the empire Fred Trump had hoped would never leave the family. The sale, completed in 2004, brought him his biggest payday ever from his father: His cut was $177.3 million, or $236.2 million in today’s dollars. But as it turned out, banks at the time valued the empire at hundreds of millions more than the sale price. Donald Trump, master dealmaker, had sold low.

So he is both a master entertainer and reality TV personality, and a poor businessman. His "negotiating style", bluffing and blustering causes poor results in business, but obviously got him the $400M+ in earnings from Apprentice and the US presidency.

Donald is basically the second generation of the Japanese proverb "rice paddies to rice paddies in three generations".

Could he have been a great “success” without first having a half a billion to lose in real estate and casinos? That show was built on the [false] premise that DJT was a wildly successful, self made billionaire.

[Travis]

I hope what we are witnessing is the Republicans playing their own supporters to maximize political contributions. Also, it is easier to be a GOP critic than a Dem leader.

The lion's share of the donations since the election have gone straight to Trump.

[ctuser1]

So he is both a master entertainer and reality TV personality, and a poor businessman. His "negotiating style", bluffing and blustering causes poor results in business, but obviously got him the $400M+ in earnings from Apprentice and the US presidency.

Donald is basically the second generation of the Japanese proverb "rice paddies to rice paddies in three generations".

Could he have been a great “success” without first having a half a billion to lose in real estate and casinos? That show was built on the [false] premise that DJT was a wildly successful, self made billionaire.

Probably not in the exact same manner, no!

But that doesn't quite matter - does it?

He has a great talent for BSing. He generally is not capable of telling the truth or of lying, both of which require acknowledging the existence of "objective truth" and caring about what that truth is for a given topic on which he is to lie or be truthful. He has no such care for the direction or even existence of the said "truth". So what he does can't really be called "lying", it is rather BSing.

Well, many people BS. But very few, short of religious prophets, can do it at such a grand scale as The Donald. He could extract hundreds of millions of $$ from the Apprentice by doing it. He could even become the American president by doing so. A few centuries earlier, and he would have been deemed a prophet and a religion would likely have formed around him - such is the quality of his BS.

Tangentially relevant to this topic, have you read this book: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691122946/on-bullshit? It was a NYT bestseller at one point of time. I once picked it up from an airport bookstall and found it fascinating.

[bacchi]

Former Defense Secretaries, including Cheney, signed an op-ed in the WaPo:

Acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller and his subordinates — political appointees, officers and civil servants — are each bound by oath, law and precedent to facilitate the entry into office of the incoming administration, and to do so wholeheartedly. They must also refrain from any political actions that undermine the results of the election or hinder the success of the new team.

We call upon them, in the strongest terms, to do as so many generations of Americans have done before them.

A little unnerving that this is needed but here we are.

[Alfred J Quack]

Looks like he's going for drastic measures: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-transcript-georgia-vote/2021/01/03/2768e0cc-4ddd-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html

It's amazing how his projecting always ends up applying to himself.

[Roadrunner53]

But wait...there's more!

https://dailysoundandfury.com/dont-have-a-cow-now-trump-plans-to-give-nunes-the-presidential-medal-of-freedom/

[partgypsy]

Former Defense Secretaries, including Cheney, signed an op-ed in the WaPo:

Acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller and his subordinates — political appointees, officers and civil servants — are each bound by oath, law and precedent to facilitate the entry into office of the incoming administration, and to do so wholeheartedly. They must also refrain from any political actions that undermine the results of the election or hinder the success of the new team.

We call upon them, in the strongest terms, to do as so many generations of Americans have done before them.

A little unnerving that this is needed but here we are.

it is! It means these high up level people think, there is a chance the US will not have a peaceful, democratically elected transfer of power.

[Travis]

Looks like he's going for drastic measures: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-transcript-georgia-vote/2021/01/03/2768e0cc-4ddd-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html

It's amazing how his projecting always ends up applying to himself.

If he were candidate Trump instead of President Trump he would have racked up about 20 felony counts of election tampering by now.

[Omy]

Former Defense Secretaries, including Cheney, signed an op-ed in the WaPo:

Acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller and his subordinates — political appointees, officers and civil servants — are each bound by oath, law and precedent to facilitate the entry into office of the incoming administration, and to do so wholeheartedly. They must also refrain from any political actions that undermine the results of the election or hinder the success of the new team.

We call upon them, in the strongest terms, to do as so many generations of Americans have done before them.

A little unnerving that this is needed but here we are.

it is! It means these high up level people think, there is a chance the US will not have a peaceful, democratically elected transfer of power.

The op-ed was probably inspired by similar "perfect calls" to "his" generals.

[OtherJen]

Democrats ask FBI Director Wray to open criminal probe into Trump after leaked phone call (NBC News)

A pair of House Democrats are asking FBI Director Christopher Wray to open a criminal probe into President Donald Trump after a leaked phone call showed him pleading with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn his state's election.
 
"As members of Congress and former prosecutors, we believe Donald Trump engaged in solicitation of, or conspiracy to commit, a number of election crimes," Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., wrote in a letter to Wray on Monday. "We ask you to open an immediate criminal investigation into the president."

We'd never get to an impeachment trial in the Senate, but there's no reason why the House couldn't vote to impeach a second time in the next 2 weeks. Approval of the articles of impeachment would only require a simple majority in the House. I fully support such an approach. He wants to be the biggest, the most. Let's make him the most impeached president in history.

But the recording of his conversation with Raffensperger has led to a more severe response from Trump's Democratic opponents. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Sunday that the president's conduct was "impeachable," while Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said it "merits nothing less than a criminal investigation."

[John Galt incarnate!]

Democrats ask FBI Director Wray to open criminal probe into Trump after leaked phone call (NBC News)

A pair of House Democrats are asking FBI Director Christopher Wray to open a criminal probe into President Donald Trump after a leaked phone call showed him pleading with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn his state's election.
 
"As members of Congress and former prosecutors, we believe Donald Trump engaged in solicitation of, or conspiracy to commit, a number of election crimes," Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., wrote in a letter to Wray on Monday. "We ask you to open an immediate criminal investigation into the president."

We'd never get to an impeachment trial in the Senate, but there's no reason why the House couldn't vote to impeach a second time in the next 2 weeks. Approval of the articles of impeachment would only require a simple majority in the House. I fully support such an approach. He wants to be the biggest, the most. Let's make him the most impeached president in history.

But the recording of his conversation with Raffensperger has led to a more severe response from Trump's Democratic opponents. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Sunday that the president's conduct was "impeachable," while Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said it "merits nothing less than a criminal investigation."

In April 1970 House minority leader Gerald Ford urged the impeachment of Justice Douglas.

Ford declared  “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.”

Democrats, who hold a majority in the House of Representatives, have power  to impeach Trump again without any agreement from their Republican colleagues.

In an extraordinary, expedited, emergency session that sidesteps traditional impeachment procedures, which are not constitutionally  commanded, the Democrats could draft a single, simple, article of impeachment and within the next 24 hours impeach Trump for importuning Georgia's secretary of state "to find 11,780 votes."

The object of impeachment is not necessarily conviction and removal from high office.  Impeachment alone is an historic,  indelible stamp of gravest disapproval on the high official's record so it doesn't matter if there's insufficient time for the Senate to try another impeachment of Trump.