Open Thread to discuss all things Trump, I mean holy crap

Whether the hooker allegations are true or not, the most disturbing thing about it, to me, is that they’re believable.

Every major news source has said openly and loudly, “this report isn’t corroborated yet and does contain errors”, so for now I’d treat the waterplay allegations like #snoutrage: darkly comical, but probably not true.

I think it’s much more important to focus on how much Drumpf is in Putin’s pocket, and also on the Sessions hearing today.

I’m not drunk enough to deal with this right now.

Problem: if I start drinking, it will lead into peeing, and right now I’m sort of suspicious of doing that because…

*furious handwaving*

Well this.

(Yes this is a joke.)

Remind me, when did we start caring again about whether or not shit (or in this case, piss) was true?

Maybe what this does is persuade the news media to properly shine a light on Trumps and his upcoming administration’s cosy relationship with Putin and his inner circle.

Irrespective of whether or not the more lurid parts of the allegations are true the real dangers comes from Trump and Putin sharing a common authoritarian mindset.

“The Micturian Candidate”.

Great nickname, or GREATEST nickname? (I wish I could take credit for it but I read it on another forum, and that person didn’t give the source.)

I wish the media cared about him raping children or promising to give Ukraine to Putin even half as much as they care about this. Oh well, I should stop grouching and take what I can get, I suppose.

It’s probably not true… Believable, but not true.

http://www.snopes.com/u-s-trump-intelligence-russia/

So I saw this tweet (please let this embed even though that never works for me XD)

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/819164172781060096

And it’s just the funniest thing. “Free press? What kind of fascist totalitarian bullshit is this?” No, this isn’t Nazi Germany, Trump. If it was, the press wouldn’t be criticizing the soon-to-be leader of the country.

Also, it may not be Nazi Germany, but a lot of your most fervent supporters wish it was. Actual nazis think you’re the bee’s knees.

@David: Oh, of course! But for some of us the piss stuff is the first real laugh (as opposed to a mirthless chuckle while twitching) we’ve had this year…

Donnie’s Twitter shitfit is making me think that there may be some truth to the allegations.

So when I read the report, I saw that it was claimed that Russia was using party insiders to disrupt the Democratic Party.

I live in Nevada, and the whole NVDems convention was a huge puzzler for me. I couldn’t understand why the Bernie folks would put up such a fight to gain so little ground.

Now I’m stuck in the land of conspiracy theory and conjecture. And wow does it suck out here.

All I’m hoping is that the press conference he’s supposed to give today is about actual things and not whether he paid someone to pee on a bed Obama slept in once, or whatever it was.

@SFHC No shit. :/

PM on BBC Radio 4 right now is talking about his potential conflicts of interests with Russia, and his businesses.

He’s saying he’d be able to run his business and the country at the same time, “but I don’t wanna do that”. So maybe he’s finally come to the realisation that he can’t be president of the US and his company simultaneously, and is edging his position to that of “I totally could, so I was never wrong, but I just don’t want to”, and then he can deny everything later.

Lol, they’re saying that these allegations are lurid even for Trump and his history.

Apparently, the report is based on more than one tape – from St Petersburg and Moscow, which makes Intelligence agencies think it’s credible.
It still sounds almost too news-worthy to be true, but with Drumpf, it’s just as likely to be true.

I’m listening to excerpts from the press conference on the radio right now. I have no earthly clue what the man is talking about.

Also, apparently in every country other than the US, hotel rooms come equipped with tiny cameras that will broadcast on the television news all of your bedroom antics. “I say this to people all the time.”

I’m just… *waves hands in the air and goes to make a cup of tea*

I don’t believe the report. The errors (such as misspellng “Alfa” as “Alpha”: FFS, the possible evidence of suspicious activity between Trump and Alfa Bank was all over the news in October) suggest that the PI is sloppy and may have exaggerated their level of access. I suspect they were played.

That’s not to say that Russia hasn’t compromised Trump: it wouldn’t be surprising if they’ve tried, and they would have almost unlimited resources for such a high-value target. But I’m worried that this probably bogus scandal will be used to discredit any later and more credible revelations.

To apologise for my sour-grapesing, which is totally a word, here’s a header image for the next thread:

http://i.imgur.com/hfgH50d.jpg

I will not, however, be apologising for the terrible pun.

This is more troubling to me than the “piss”ing contest OR the Russian Connection

Donald Trump is ‘gaslighting’ all of us

The Bloviator-in-Chief is spouting blather and then denying it faster than the fact-checkers can check it, and half the country unflinchingly believes it, even to the degree of saying that a fucking VIDEO of it “is just the lying media”….

We in a world of hurt….

Although the pissplay stuff is comic and sensationalistic, it may well not be true, or even if it is true, I’ve a hard time believing that Putin could actually be blackmailing Trump with that considering what’s already come out.

On the other hand, consider that Trump has refused to release his tax returns and has refused to put his business holdings in a blind trust. Who does he owe money to? We know only some of the answers to that question. Does he owe money to the Russian oligarchs/mafia?

If the Russians have a hold over Trump, it is almost certainly financial.

The whole golden shower thing gave me some amusement last night, but … yeah. The press conference was surreal. It reminded me of when my late father had started slipping into dementia.

To paraphrase a btl commenter over at The Grauniad –

UK: Our former Prime Minister once stuck his dick in a pig’s head. Top that, US!
US: Hold my beer.

If only these revelations were in email form…

@taiki

I couldn’t understand why the Bernie folks would put up such a fight to gain so little ground

Entitlement. And delusions of revolutionary grandeur. No conspiracy necessary

Also, are you new? If so, hiya, I’m Axe! Welcome package on the right 🙂

@David, I saw most of it, I think. There was a whole lot of “I don’t have to do this, but I am, because I’m so bighearted, but really nobody cares if I do, except the media, who are forcing me to do it.”

He had a woman from a law firm come out and read a statement about divesting, which was full of little digs like “Nelson Rockefeller had a larger fortune but nobody gave a shit” and “they cancelled 30 pending deals, costing themselves millions of dollars” like they’re not going to be lining their pockets with as much as they can get.

She all but said divesting was impossible. They couldn’t sell because someone would have to come up with the money, and if D&E borrowed it, that would give someone financial leverage over Big Trump, and if The Don raised the money, that would defeat the purpose.

Oh, and the Name has to stay on, because if they sold out from under the Name, the properties would lose value bigly. Almost as though they’re … over rated. It seemed like she was hinting that people had to think that The Don still owned the properties.

Don and Eric are going to be taking over control of Big Trump. Ivanka’s out, and if you believe the spokeswoman, that’s only because she’s going to be busy settling her tykes into school in DC.

It was a great big whine-fest from start to finish, and very, very abusive, in the martyring, in the “look-what-you-made-me-do.”

The misspellings in the dossier don’t seem like a big problem to me. They apparently consist merely of spelling “Alfa Group” as “Alpha Group” throughout.

1) The document was allegedly prepared by a former MI-6 agent, and they might have a quirky way of transliterating “Alfa Group” from the Cyrillic.

2) It was apparently prepared as oppo research for The Don’s Republican primary opponents, and then presented to the Clinton campaign, before “Alfa Group” was all over the media in October.

And the “geographical errors” seem to be only one — claiming a community outside of Moscow is reserved for the highest governmental officials, when it is actually inhabited merely by the filthy rich.

Someone pointed out that the last time Trump tweeted that something was a WITCH HUNT, it turned out to be Trump University.

I will not, however, be apologising for the terrible pun.

From pizzagate to pissgate.

From watergate to watersportsgate.

And so on.

To paraphrase a btl commenter over at The Grauniad –

UK: Our former Prime Minister once stuck his dick in a pig’s head. Top that, US!
US: Hold my beer.

From Twitter:

World: It can’t get any weirder than 2016.

2017: Hold my beer.

World: Wait, this isn’t beer.

@Artic Ape : you actually made me laugh.

Back to topic, I think it’s what the secret service of whatever country, likely the US, believe but can’t really prove. So they leak it because holy crap it’s important, but not yet “let’s assassinate the president” important.

Also, it may be a cultural thing, but no French I know of had found the golden shower with prostitute thingy disgusting or particulary important. Might or might not be linked to a french tradition of knowing that the (french) president have a more sexually active life than most sex workers.

Oh boy, Trump and Robert Kennedy Jr. are up to some sort of antivax fuckery!

All I’m hoping is that the press conference he’s supposed to give today is about actual things and not whether he paid someone to pee on a bed Obama slept in once, or whatever it was.

Again, was the timing of this leak (or possibly fake leak) deliberate from Trump campaign? The distraction power is terrifying, and it makes me really wish for Trump’s impeachment. Although even then he might keep running some show that hogs media attention.

So, what are the odds on Trump making it to the 20th?
Right now I reckon it’s around 60-40 that he’ll be forced to step down either by his own party or because further revelations will make his position untenable.
I also think there’s a more than 50% chance he’ll face arrest owing to his Russian collaboration rising to near certainty if the allegations are backed up with solid evidence.

Say what you will about the man, but there’s no denying he’s made politics…..interesting, if not entertaining. Which is not necessarily a good thing.

The piss story is important on the grounds that it might have been blackmail material. Regardless of how we feel about kink shaming, other people kink shame and that means that kink can lead to blackmail. A blackmail story involving Trump is an important story, and that doesn’t change just because the adults in the room are pointing out that we shouldn’t shame people for an innocuous kink.

Ohlmann:

@Artic Ape : you actually made me laugh.

That must count for something, considering circumstances.

According to a Finnish saying, schadenfreude is the best freude. Now it seems to be the only joy left.

Dropping this URL here as an interesting view of the Trump stuff:

https://lawfareblog.com/about-explosive-trump-story-take-deep-breath

From VP’s link, a darkly hilarious line:

(Comey refused to comment on an ongoing investigation.)

I’m sure he did.

@Ohlmann

Might or might not be linked to a french tradition of knowing that the (french) president have a more sexually active life than most sex workers.

The wh- wait, what ? Okay, I’m assuming you just phrased that a bit weirdly, because otherwise I don’t understand what you’re saying.

Although, my own explanation is that the French don’t give a flying fuck about anybody else’s sex life unless they happen to be involved in it – and even then.

Like, remember the Hollande-Gayet thing ? Everyone was outraged… that the president would ride a scooter to his lover’s apartment, creating a hell of a security breach and an awful headache for anyone involved in ensuring his safety.

Now, regarding how Americans are reacting to “Goldengate” (@SFHC aight, you had me with that pun), it’s more about the pettiness of it, rather than its degree of kink. It’s a smaller equivalent to the absolute catastrophe that he’s wrecking on the remnants of the Obama administration – it’s basically the same thing, something he does just to spite Obama. The difference is that Goldengate we can laugh at. Unlike his wiping the slate clean of everything “Obama” without even a plan to replace that stuff and those people he’s getting rid off.

I swear I’m not making this up: The Watergate caught fire during the dipshit’s press conference.

…

ಠ_ಠ

@SFHC

The universe is trying to tell us something.

The only more direct message the universe could give us at that point would be by making a giant bullshit fall from the sky on his toupee.

@Sinkable John : I used sex worker only because I needed to compare to somebody who unambiguously have sex often without that being anormal. I wedded out the like five first comparison I have got because they were too sex-shaming to me.

In retrospect, I should have compared them to bonobos, because while it’s not shameful for a sex worker to have sex, it’s (sadly) shameful in the general opinion for someone to be a sex worker. But I did not though of it on the fly.

Bonobos vs. sex workers.

What if the sex worker IS an ape?

http://orangutan.or.id/ponys-new-life-2/

Let’s hope Donald Trump never visited Central Kalimantan prior to 2003.

@SFHC

I wish the media cared about him raping children or promising to give Ukraine to Putin even half as much as they care about this.

So, so much of this.

@Conan the Librarian

Who does he owe money to?

AFAICT, everyone who’s ever worked with or for him in any capacity whatsoever.

@Falconer

And the “geographical errors” seem to be only one — claiming a community outside of Moscow is reserved for the highest governmental officials, when it is actually inhabited merely by the filthy rich.

Which may well be a temporal error rather than a geographical one anyway; prior to ’91, that probably was an accurate description.

Sinkable John:

The universe is trying to tell us something.

You know that idea that we’re living in a simulation? I don’t normally think much of that, but I’ll admit that there have been times in the past year when I’ve wondered. That point in a sim game when you get bored with being sensible, and just start fucking things up? Yeah. If any kaiju appear in 2017, that’ll be why.

Isn’t being a top official a requirement to be rich, russian, and living in Russia ?

Just watched the press conference.

Must confess that I find it mildly disconcerting that a warning that hotel rooms are routinely equipped with surveillance cameras should come from someone who owns a load of hotels.

Still as they say, “In West, tourists take pictures of hotel. In Soviet Russia…”

(Sorry, best I could come up with)

@Ohlmann
I’d rather have a literal all mighty diety come down in full view of all cameras and say “Okay stop all of this we are stopping this one way train to hells of hells.”
@Moggie
Remember in Pacific Rim where Not Ron Paul decided to build walls instead of funding giant mechs to protect humanity from Kaiju when things started going south? I get a feeling that if Kaiju appear the film’s going to look disgustingly optimistic in comparison.

So, there is three french cyber-harassers who are currently in front of a judge with possibly prison sentence. It’s a small step, but I will take every steps on thoses dark days.

(it was homophobic insults against a french Communist elected official. The judge slyly noted that the harassers, who said they harassed him because of his political opinions, still resorted to homophobic slurs instead of just saying that he was a dirty red)