"This lightweight case against the Trump Organization does more to let Trump off the hook than any pardon ever could. It robs the justice system of any authority and gravitas, if, for example, Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis gets an indictment against Trump for election interference, the New York case will be brought up framing this as just another 'witch hunt.' After five years, you’d think they’d get the witch by now. Instead, they are just matting the dog hair."
Trump and his posse will be shouting "witch hunt" regardless, so avoiding that outcome should not be anyone's concern. As for Weisselberg, I'm very skeptical that this is the final word on the People vs. Donald Trump, and I'd wager that the DA put together a smaller airtight case against the CFO to flip him to go after bigger fish. The man is 73 years old, so you don't need to convict him of a big felony for him to see that he will die in prison. Aside from the question of what the DA has saved for their next act, is to what extent Weisselberg believes that Trump will do everything in his power to assist him, or whether he's as disposable as Cohen, Guiliani, etc. Even if Papa Trump isn't smart enough to know to go to bat for Weisselberg, I'm fairly confident that his kids are.
As for who's rooting for this to take down Trump and his clan, it's not just Democrats - there's a whole bunch of Republicans who would like to see the man out of the way and out of the business of wielding his capriciousness over their political futures.
Out of the way politically, yes. Remember, Republicans had it within their power to bar Trump from running for office again and they booted it. I don’t think it’s a good idea to pursue a systematic strategy to convict a former president of literally any crime they can hang on him. It’s a political prosecution by any measure. Trump is not the Mafia that needs to be rolled up from the Capos to the Boss.
The problem that the DA bringing this case solves for Republicans is that no member of the GOP has to actually put their neck out and risk the wrath of the Trump base. They can secretly celebrate, publicly denounce the DA as a political opportunist, and get back to their political career. As we saw with Liz Cheney, the Party is currently in a bit of a Prisoner's Dilemma at the moment with the Trump clan.
As for the conviction of a former president, I'd be inclined to agree with you, but given the events of January 6th, anything we can do to keep a would-be despot away from the levers of power again - especially after he's proven his willingness to abuse them - is a Good Thing in my book. I might be more generous and toss him in the same bin as Bush and Clinton, but breaking America's streak of peaceful transitions of power going back to the Founding made me a bit less charitable.
To revise my "prosecutable Presidents" bin, I wouldn't throw Bush in that. Unlike Clinton, who clearly perjured himself and cast the mold for Trump, Bush didn't do anything that I can think of that ran himself afoul of the law.
"The right thing from the wrong thing." Wow, really? I know you love to ignore my comments which is basically why i seldom waste my time responding to you or anyone else on The Racket anymore Steve. You've truly crossed the line of sanity with this one.
I don't give two shits about politics anymore Mr. Berman; there is no such thing as right or wrong any longer...there's just what can i get away with. So what if trump et al defrauded the government of taxes owed (by the way it's far from over). So what if Bill Cosby is a serial rapist who has no remorse and the idiot prosecutor was brain dead (and ended up representing trump and proved his craziness). So what that SCOTUS just made it so red states can discriminate against voters who they don't want to cast ballots. It's all good brother.
I used to believe that people had some sense of fairness. This article simply proves that is utter and complete nonsense. Happy 4th of July. By the way, feel free to ignore me again. I really don't give two shots about that either.
I don't get what your issue is here? You can think Cosby is guilty and still recognize that by our legal standards it is only right that he be set free. Jake Tapper said it best, "we don't have a justice system, we have a legal system".
It's also within reason to point out that the state spent way more on investigating the crime than the actual crime committed. Just like its within reason to observe that this is reactionary and a political case. Because of course it is.
While I disagree with 95% of what Steve says nothing he said here is wrong or a lie. He is just pointing out the way things are.
Based on what he wrote Scott and based on his "optimism" (his words not mine), the article he wrote (especially if you disagree with 95% of it) is far from giving me hope. But then i've never understood where he is coming from or going to. Perhaps you can help me understand the cause for optimism when the likes of Cosby walk away free and red states can discriminate on who gets to vote. As far as trump et all, i could care less what happens to any/all of them other than to pay their god darned taxes like the rest of us...or maybe that's too much to HOPE for.
Because our legal system is working as intended. Yes people get off on human errors and sometimes the courts come to decisions you don't like but the fact that its working means that can change.
Also, Steve never said he didn't think they should pay taxes, he said it was political(it was) and that it cost more to find the crime than what was actually alleged. Both of those are legit points. Easily countered points, but at least it wasn't a lie..
Hey Scott i didn't/wouldn't say he lied. I'm just almost always confused by where he is coming from and when i try and engage to understand him the silence is deafening. Look, it's a free site where they spend an inordinate amount of time trying to stimulate conversation. I have better things to do than respond unless there is some give and take. Without it, far better for me to just drift away, which is really okay by me. I've given up on the political process working; my sense is it will only change at the local level by people willing and able to find common solutions.
Well considering his response to me was the accusation that I don't know the difference between a delusional person and an opportunistic one I wouldn't worry to much about it.
The last thing in the world i would worry about is what someone's opinion is of me. Like you, i suspect, you come here for the exchange of ideas. When that doesn't happen, then there is no point in wasting ones time.
They charged the Trump Org with 1st degree falsifying records. Trump and his kids are in for a nasty awakening when the banks start demanding all his tax records. They may have just defaulted on every loan they have out.
Also the real lesson here is that if you are a crooked business man maybe don't make an enemy of the people who have the power to look into your financial records. Dude deserves everything he gets. I know you Trumpers like to pretend he didn't threaten to go after every democrat on the planet and that "lock her up" isn't still the mantra of every red neck fool who ever got conned into voting for him.
There is a reason Hollywood has a popular trope of the bully getting his comeuppance. It's not our fault you find more in common with the bully.
What does that even mean? You knew how horrible and what a threat to the well being of our nation he was but you voted for him anyway?
You advocated for voting for him. You defended him. Sure you pointed out his bad tweets but you downplayed those who were actually right about the danger he was.
It's annoying when you vote for someone who promises to make life a living hell for his opponents and then complain when that actually happens to him.
"This lightweight case against the Trump Organization does more to let Trump off the hook than any pardon ever could. It robs the justice system of any authority and gravitas, if, for example, Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis gets an indictment against Trump for election interference, the New York case will be brought up framing this as just another 'witch hunt.' After five years, you’d think they’d get the witch by now. Instead, they are just matting the dog hair."
Trump and his posse will be shouting "witch hunt" regardless, so avoiding that outcome should not be anyone's concern. As for Weisselberg, I'm very skeptical that this is the final word on the People vs. Donald Trump, and I'd wager that the DA put together a smaller airtight case against the CFO to flip him to go after bigger fish. The man is 73 years old, so you don't need to convict him of a big felony for him to see that he will die in prison. Aside from the question of what the DA has saved for their next act, is to what extent Weisselberg believes that Trump will do everything in his power to assist him, or whether he's as disposable as Cohen, Guiliani, etc. Even if Papa Trump isn't smart enough to know to go to bat for Weisselberg, I'm fairly confident that his kids are.
As for who's rooting for this to take down Trump and his clan, it's not just Democrats - there's a whole bunch of Republicans who would like to see the man out of the way and out of the business of wielding his capriciousness over their political futures.
Out of the way politically, yes. Remember, Republicans had it within their power to bar Trump from running for office again and they booted it. I don’t think it’s a good idea to pursue a systematic strategy to convict a former president of literally any crime they can hang on him. It’s a political prosecution by any measure. Trump is not the Mafia that needs to be rolled up from the Capos to the Boss.
The problem that the DA bringing this case solves for Republicans is that no member of the GOP has to actually put their neck out and risk the wrath of the Trump base. They can secretly celebrate, publicly denounce the DA as a political opportunist, and get back to their political career. As we saw with Liz Cheney, the Party is currently in a bit of a Prisoner's Dilemma at the moment with the Trump clan.
As for the conviction of a former president, I'd be inclined to agree with you, but given the events of January 6th, anything we can do to keep a would-be despot away from the levers of power again - especially after he's proven his willingness to abuse them - is a Good Thing in my book. I might be more generous and toss him in the same bin as Bush and Clinton, but breaking America's streak of peaceful transitions of power going back to the Founding made me a bit less charitable.
To revise my "prosecutable Presidents" bin, I wouldn't throw Bush in that. Unlike Clinton, who clearly perjured himself and cast the mold for Trump, Bush didn't do anything that I can think of that ran himself afoul of the law.
"The right thing from the wrong thing." Wow, really? I know you love to ignore my comments which is basically why i seldom waste my time responding to you or anyone else on The Racket anymore Steve. You've truly crossed the line of sanity with this one.
I don't give two shits about politics anymore Mr. Berman; there is no such thing as right or wrong any longer...there's just what can i get away with. So what if trump et al defrauded the government of taxes owed (by the way it's far from over). So what if Bill Cosby is a serial rapist who has no remorse and the idiot prosecutor was brain dead (and ended up representing trump and proved his craziness). So what that SCOTUS just made it so red states can discriminate against voters who they don't want to cast ballots. It's all good brother.
I used to believe that people had some sense of fairness. This article simply proves that is utter and complete nonsense. Happy 4th of July. By the way, feel free to ignore me again. I really don't give two shots about that either.
I don't get what your issue is here? You can think Cosby is guilty and still recognize that by our legal standards it is only right that he be set free. Jake Tapper said it best, "we don't have a justice system, we have a legal system".
It's also within reason to point out that the state spent way more on investigating the crime than the actual crime committed. Just like its within reason to observe that this is reactionary and a political case. Because of course it is.
While I disagree with 95% of what Steve says nothing he said here is wrong or a lie. He is just pointing out the way things are.
Based on what he wrote Scott and based on his "optimism" (his words not mine), the article he wrote (especially if you disagree with 95% of it) is far from giving me hope. But then i've never understood where he is coming from or going to. Perhaps you can help me understand the cause for optimism when the likes of Cosby walk away free and red states can discriminate on who gets to vote. As far as trump et all, i could care less what happens to any/all of them other than to pay their god darned taxes like the rest of us...or maybe that's too much to HOPE for.
Because our legal system is working as intended. Yes people get off on human errors and sometimes the courts come to decisions you don't like but the fact that its working means that can change.
Also, Steve never said he didn't think they should pay taxes, he said it was political(it was) and that it cost more to find the crime than what was actually alleged. Both of those are legit points. Easily countered points, but at least it wasn't a lie..
Hey Scott i didn't/wouldn't say he lied. I'm just almost always confused by where he is coming from and when i try and engage to understand him the silence is deafening. Look, it's a free site where they spend an inordinate amount of time trying to stimulate conversation. I have better things to do than respond unless there is some give and take. Without it, far better for me to just drift away, which is really okay by me. I've given up on the political process working; my sense is it will only change at the local level by people willing and able to find common solutions.
Well considering his response to me was the accusation that I don't know the difference between a delusional person and an opportunistic one I wouldn't worry to much about it.
The last thing in the world i would worry about is what someone's opinion is of me. Like you, i suspect, you come here for the exchange of ideas. When that doesn't happen, then there is no point in wasting ones time.
Hey Bill, I am the wind.
They charged the Trump Org with 1st degree falsifying records. Trump and his kids are in for a nasty awakening when the banks start demanding all his tax records. They may have just defaulted on every loan they have out.
Also the real lesson here is that if you are a crooked business man maybe don't make an enemy of the people who have the power to look into your financial records. Dude deserves everything he gets. I know you Trumpers like to pretend he didn't threaten to go after every democrat on the planet and that "lock her up" isn't still the mantra of every red neck fool who ever got conned into voting for him.
There is a reason Hollywood has a popular trope of the bully getting his comeuppance. It's not our fault you find more in common with the bully.
Just to defend the proprietors here, they're the last group that I would call "Trumpers". Especially after January 6th.
With one exception. Steve was fully on the Trump train.
Correction: I wasn’t on the Never Trump train after 2017. That’s not the same as being on the Trump train. Two different things
What does that even mean? You knew how horrible and what a threat to the well being of our nation he was but you voted for him anyway?
You advocated for voting for him. You defended him. Sure you pointed out his bad tweets but you downplayed those who were actually right about the danger he was.
It's annoying when you vote for someone who promises to make life a living hell for his opponents and then complain when that actually happens to him.
It means you see no distinction between Sidney Powell and Sonny Perdue.
Sure I do. Sidney Powell actually believes the lies, Sonny Perdue just uses them to get what he wants. Which is worse to you?
Wow. Never-Trumps hate people who, at some point, weren't never-Trumps but only skeptics.