Merged So what's next for Trump?

[ZiprHead]

From a European perspective I think this "scandal" reads like this. Trump is awesome and fucks porn stars. Democrats are pathetic moralists who can't deal with a guy enjoying life a little.

Come on now, Europeans aren't that stupid.

Correction: not ALL Europeans are that stupid.

It's become quite apparent that there are Europeans that stupid. Just the name of the thread is tremendous proof.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Act like it? When did he ever act like a President? I mean other than to get out of prosecutions?

Orange is doing the same thing he's always done. I am certain he is thinking this and other charges will pass as well, and they may. Considering how many cognitively challenged stooges prefer Orange Koolaid to democratic freedoms nothing will surprise me.

 

[Shadowy Man]

From a European perspective I think this "scandal" reads like this. Trump is awesome and fucks porn stars. Democrats are pathetic moralists who can't deal with a guy enjoying life a little.

Come on now, Europeans aren't that stupid.

Correction: not ALL Europeans are that stupid.

It's become quite apparent that there are Europeans that stupid. Just the name of the thread is tremendous proof.

I think you’re just misunderstanding how much better some Europeans understand American culture than those of us who live here.

 

[JohnG]

I understand that Trump has been accused of paying hush money to Stormy Daniels. What I don't understand is what law has been allegedly broken?

Not if the money was an effective donation to the Trump campaign, but not declared as a donation under electoral laws, it's not.

Nor if it was fraudulently entered in any accounts to avoid paying relevant taxes.

Ok. So it's complete bullshit. So I'm assuming Trump will come out of this stronger?

In the Swedish language does "criminal but difficult to prove" translate as "complete bullshit"? I thought Google Translate was better than that.

Anyway, I see that T**** has been indicted on "more than 30" criminal charges. That suggests that they've gone beyond the illegal hush-slush accounting.

I'm not sure what outcome to hope for. This prosecution may STRENGTHEN Trump, but is that a bad thing? The GOP will nominate either Mephistopheles or Trump in 2024. Electing either would be disastrous for the USA, but the stupider, more disgusting candidate will be easier to defeat in November.

From a European perspective I think this "scandal" reads like this. Trump is awesome and fucks porn stars. Democrats are pathetic moralists who can't deal with a guy enjoying life a little.

This entire indictment makes USA look bad.

yikes

 

[DrZoidberg]

I understand that Trump has been accused of paying hush money to Stormy Daniels.

It's not that he paid hush money, it's that he took (or ordered the taking of) money from a fund, from the Trump Organization which is a taxed legal entity set up for a specific purpose, not including hush money...and those funds are taxed and it is recorded what those expenses are in such a way that capital gains are taxed. If there are lies to the govt about what expenses are legitimate business expenses, that is fraud, which is the allegation.

So the fund was Trump Organization business entity and the fraud was that this was a business legal expense for the Trump Organization, but it wasn't. It was a personal expense. This is part of a larger systematic fraud perpetrated by the Trump Organization. Recall they would also inflate prices of real estate properties to investors but then deflate the value of the properties for tax purposes. So on top of those shenanigans, the business entity was also allegedly being used for personal expenses, but declaring legal expenses and thus not being taxed for that portion. Big tax fraud in total of which the hush money was only a small part...

But it probably isn't only Stormy Daniels. He also paid other people hush money, too, and committed more fraud when taking the money from other sources than his personal accounts. For example, he allegedly used his rich boy ties to the National Enquirer owner to divert money to playboy model Karen McDougal to also keep her quiet.

Sure. Tax fraud. But this is a tax dodger of epic proportions. Everyone knows this. Oops, he got caught, doing what we all know he was doing. That's not news.

Trump has always been a scumbag

What I don't understand is what law has been allegedly broken?

All articles I read start with the assumption that the reader gets this. I don't.

Wasn't she just paid for service rendered? That, to me, seems perfectly reasonable

No, she was paid not to say anything about it but it came from a source that legally could not pay that and it was recorded as something legit. It would be like if Bill Clinton paid Monica Lewinsky hundreds of thousands of dollars to shut up, but the money came out of an election fund. And when they reported expenses of the campaign fund to the government, they lied that it was for travel expenses to Dubai. So, it's defrauding the government, not to mention the alleged continuous lie and coverups of the whole thing later on, probably a lie or two under oath or to federal agents.

It might be true that the Stormy Daniels hush money fraud is a small issue, but it's part of a larger pattern of many other fraud issues. It doesn't make sense to look at each issue individually and say, "Oh come on. That's not a big deal. Let it go," because when you do that, you throw away millions upon millions of dollars in fraud collectively across all the issues. You let the Big Liar continue to defraud the public and lie about it.

Yes, exactly. The bigger picture is the interesting thing here. I think the focus on Stormy Daniels is a distraction

 

[JohnG]

From a European perspective I think this "scandal" reads like this. Trump is awesome and fucks porn stars. Democrats are pathetic moralists who can't deal with a guy enjoying life a little.

He can get all the pussy he wants but if he's running for office, voters have a right to know who they are voting for. So it is illegal to pay to keep someone quite. And the candidate should never ever pay a porn star to keep her mouth shut.

USA is even more uptight than Europe is about sex. We all need to lie in the bed we have made for ourselves. USA has created a culture where it's not ok for men of power to use that power to sleep around. But obviously they all do. Why else have power? If it needs to be kept quiet it makes perfect sense that he will have to pay hush money. That seems perfectly legit to me. No matter the legal status.

I think Trump is the one who looks good here. The Democrats (or whoever is pressing charges him) looks hysterical. It also looks politically motivated. So no matter who is accusing him this falls onto the Democrats. And it doesn't make them look good.

And since it's the Republicans that is the political party of the Evangelical Christians, the Republicans risk becoming the party of both the fundie moralistic hardliners as well as fun loving libertines. While the Democrats are turning into the party for people who are acing PC pronoun usage. Is that what's going on?

This isn't about sex. You try to hide 130K in the US and see what happens. Also, The pronoun usage is a right wing issue - not a left wing problem

 

[ZiprHead]

Yes, exactly. The bigger picture is the interesting thing here. I think the focus on Stormy Daniels is a distraction

So your thread is a distraction?

 

[laughing dog]

I understand that Trump has been accused of paying hush money to Stormy Daniels. What I don't understand is what law has been allegedly broken?

Not if the money was an effective donation to the Trump campaign, but not declared as a donation under electoral laws, it's not.

Nor if it was fraudulently entered in any accounts to avoid paying relevant taxes.

Ok. So it's complete bullshit. So I'm assuming Trump will come out of this stronger?

In the Swedish language does "criminal but difficult to prove" translate as "complete bullshit"? I thought Google Translate was better than that.

Anyway, I see that T**** has been indicted on "more than 30" criminal charges. That suggests that they've gone beyond the illegal hush-slush accounting.

I'm not sure what outcome to hope for. This prosecution may STRENGTHEN Trump, but is that a bad thing? The GOP will nominate either Mephistopheles or Trump in 2024. Electing either would be disastrous for the USA, but the stupider, more disgusting candidate will be easier to defeat in November.

From a European perspective I think this "scandal" reads like this. Trump is awesome and fucks porn stars. Democrats are pathetic moralists who can't deal with a guy enjoying life a little.

This entire indictment makes USA look bad.

Compared to all of Trump's other "high crimes and misdemeanors" this is trivial in comparison. That does not make it inconsequential.

If the European perspective is truly that it is awesome to fuck porn stars, that makes Europe look pretty bad.

 

[ZiprHead]

Here's some other Europeans who didn't understand Americans.

 

[ZiprHead]

Trump criminally charged in New York, a first for a US ex-president

Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, becoming the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges even as he makes another run for the White House.

www.reuters.com

Trump could use the case to stoke anger among his core supporters, though other Republican voters might tire of the drama. Some 44% of Republicans said he should drop out of the race if he is indicted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week.

 

[Elixir]

Trump criminally charged in New York, a first for a US ex-president

Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, becoming the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges even as he makes another run for the White House.

www.reuters.com

Trump could use the case to stoke anger among his core supporters, though other Republican voters might tire of the drama. Some 44% of Republicans said he should drop out of the race if he is indicted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week.

I bet they'd have a hard time finding those 44 percenters today.

 

[Elixir]

This entire indictment makes USA look bad.

I believe you say that in good faith. May I ask, though… if/when election fraud and obstruction of justice and mishandling classified documents indictments are handed down, will that make the USA look even worse, or better in the eyes of Europeans (since it has nothing to do with prudish morality police)? Or will they simply be contemptuous that we are acting like a banana republic, prosecuting former leaders?
As I’ve been telling you for more than a half decade, Trump is scum. And by now only the ignorant and the stupid in America believe Trump is not a serial criminal. The tragedy is that so many don’t care.

 

[Elixir]

I think the focus on Stormy Daniels is a distraction

I think it’s “normalizing“. A relatively unimportant felony, just begging for Republican phony outrage, accompanied by attacks against prosecutors, the law, the judges, democrats… and playing like a broken record (do you know what that is?) next time a more serious indictment comes down. And the time after that and the time after that…
People will get sick of it.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I understand that Trump has been accused of paying hush money to Stormy Daniels.

It's not that he paid hush money, it's that he took (or ordered the taking of) money from a fund, from the Trump Organization which is a taxed legal entity set up for a specific purpose, not including hush money...and those funds are taxed and it is recorded what those expenses are in such a way that capital gains are taxed. If there are lies to the govt about what expenses are legitimate business expenses, that is fraud, which is the allegation.

So the fund was Trump Organization business entity and the fraud was that this was a business legal expense for the Trump Organization, but it wasn't. It was a personal expense. This is part of a larger systematic fraud perpetrated by the Trump Organization. Recall they would also inflate prices of real estate properties to investors but then deflate the value of the properties for tax purposes. So on top of those shenanigans, the business entity was also allegedly being used for personal expenses, but declaring legal expenses and thus not being taxed for that portion. Big tax fraud in total of which the hush money was only a small part...

But it probably isn't only Stormy Daniels. He also paid other people hush money, too, and committed more fraud when taking the money from other sources than his personal accounts. For example, he allegedly used his rich boy ties to the National Enquirer owner to divert money to playboy model Karen McDougal to also keep her quiet.

Sure. Tax fraud. But this is a tax dodger of epic proportions. Everyone knows this. Oops, he got caught, doing what we all know he was doing. That's not news.

How do you know what the charges are?

Also, it is extremely unlikely Trump is being indicted for fucking. He is more likely getting indicted (or "indicated" as some put it) for falsifying documents, likely wire fraud, among other things. The 30+ indictments really speaks as to a decently broader set of indictments that go beyond Daniels.

 

[Toni]

There are also investigations into whether or not Trump was responsible for the $150K paid to Karen McDougal by The National Enquirer to purchase her story about her affair with Trump. The Enquirer paid her for the story and then squelched it. Was that because Trump provided the $150K?

Trump has basically run his entire adult life like a mobster, using multiple shell companies, paying hush money, hiding payments, evading taxes, committing fraud by inflating the value of properties he would use as collateral for loans.

I should remind everyone that these charges in NY are far less serious than the ones he will be facing in Georgia for attempted election interference, and of course, there is always the charges that hopefully will be brought--because they very much need to be brought--with regards to Trump's organization of the insurrection of January 6 2020.

 

[Elixir]

If this was Stormy vs Donald, she’d summarily beat him up and that would be that. But it’s about felonies, not fucking.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Some right wing goobers claim in the Stormy Daniels case Trump will beat the rap. Because Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen are both bad witnesses. Cohen is a covicted felon and Daniels is an adult entertainer. But then there will be the issue of paper trails. That is going to be the big problem for Trump and his lawyers.

 

[Artemus]

Of all the crimes Trump has committed, it is rather pathetic that the Stormy Daniels payoff is the one that someone finally has the courage to charge him with. Hopefully this will open the floodgates on everything else.

With 30 or so counts against him, the Daniels payoff may be the least significant part of the indictment, assuming that it is included at all. I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised.

 

[blastula]

Many of the counts can be multiple counts of the same basic charge. Like maybe all the different installment payments he made to Cohen.

 

[Elixir]

Some right wing goobers claim in the Stormy Daniels case Trump will beat the rap. Because Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen are both bad witnesses. Cohen is a covicted felon and Daniels is an adult entertainer. But then there will be the issue of paper trails. That is going to be the big problem for Trump and his lawyers.

Mikey and Stormy might not be credible to RW sheeples, but David Pecker, publisher of the Holy Enquirer Gospel, can speak no lie.