All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Robotman]

Breaking news: Supreme Court rules New York prosecutor can get Trump's tax returns



EDIT: HOWEVER, The Supreme Court has ruled that Congress cannot get the tax returns, and since the New York case the returns would be covered under Grand Jury secrecy rules, the public won't be seeing the returns before the election.

So the very slim chance that Trump would leave peacefully or concede if he loses is pretty much gone. He’s going to cling to the White House with everything he’s got because his freedom literally depends on him remaining president. The challenges and court cases will drag this out well into January. Though if there’s no winner by January 20th, the House gets to vote on who the president actually is.

[BeastieRunner]

"Two hundred years ago, a great jurist of our Court established that no citizen, not even the president, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding. We reaffirm that principle today."

-- John Roberts

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Amazing! It's just like his Twitter feed!

Yeah, just saw his feed. Spongedon Whinepants was in fine form!

[Gray Lensman]

So the very slim chance that Trump would leave peacefully or concede if he loses is pretty much gone. He’s going to cling to the White House with everything he’s got because his freedom literally depends on him remaining president. The challenges and court cases will drag this out well into January. Though if there’s no winner by January 20th, the House gets to vote on who the president actually is.

Even worse under your scenario is that it isn't one vote per rep, but one vote per state. Meaning the House would vote to keep Benedict Donald.

[GindyPosts]

Tobacco Road... That's a name I haven't heard in years. They ran ads by saying "we mainly sell things we can't say on TV, so let's say things we don't actually sell". I mean... it was memorable if you lived in Indiana, but it also flew in the face of regulations that they got in trouble for (no ****) bait-and-switch tactics despite them not being allowed to promote cigarettes.

And yet it was environmental hazards that sunk them.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

So the very slim chance that Trump would leave peacefully or concede if he loses is pretty much gone. He’s going to cling to the White House with everything he’s got because his freedom literally depends on him remaining president. The challenges and court cases will drag this out well into January. Though if there’s no winner by January 20th, the House gets to vote on who the president actually is.

Even if the Supremes ruled in Trump's favor (and, to be perfectly honest, I half expected them to), he'd still cling to the presidency like a drowning man to a life preserver because SDNY would be waiting drop his ass in a courtroom the day his term ends. Bottom line: tax returns or not, Trump was NEVER going to concede or leave peacefully should he lose.

[Robotman]

Even worse under your scenario is that it isn't one vote per rep, but one vote per state. Meaning the House would vote to keep Benedict Donald.

The one vote per state rule is absolutely ridiculous.

[JackDaw]

So the very slim chance that Trump would leave peacefully or concede if he loses is pretty much gone. He’s going to cling to the White House with everything he’s got because his freedom literally depends on him remaining president. The challenges and court cases will drag this out well into January. Though if there’s no winner by January 20th, the House gets to vote on who the president actually is.

Realistically he’ll go....or put it this way if bookies were offering bets on “will the Donald try to stage a coup when he loses the election”, I’d be happy to put down a heavy bet that once he loses he will leave Presidency on normal date.

Of course, he won’t make a gracious losing speech..he doesn’t have that in him. But equally once he loses election, he has no friends in senior positions that will be willing to use force to keep him in power.

Some might like to...but that would require guts, organisation, daring and significant numbers. Most of his “supporters” lack those qualities...and indeed I think he will have very few supporters as soon as election result announced.

[The no face guy]

I have this theory that deep down inside the Donald doesn't want a second term, particularly when he cannot go out and campaign because of COVID 19.

Think about it, he loves the Presidency because he loves the adoration from the crowds, the shady foreign leaders who flatter him, and the fact that he can make his twitter feeds go viral at anytime.

But does anyone think he actually likes the work and the responsibility. The constant memo's from highly professional experts to make decisions, the intelligence and budget briefings. Sure he has his own agenda issues with economic nationalism and immigration, but outside of that, I wouldn't be surprised if the job is pure torture for him, and he wants a quick out.

[The Cool Thatguy]

I have this theory that deep down inside the Donald doesn't want a second term, particularly when he cannot go out and campaign because of COVID 19.

Think about it, he loves the Presidency because he loves the adoration from the crowds, the shady foreign leaders who flatter him, and the fact that he can make his twitter feeds go viral at anytime.

But does anyone think he actually likes the work and the responsibility. The constant memo's from highly professional experts to make decisions, the intelligence and budget briefings. Sure he has his own agenda issues with economic nationalism and immigration, but outside of that, I wouldn't be surprised if the job is pure torture for him, and he wants a quick out.

I think that people have contradictions.

He never wanted the responsibility of president, but he didn't want to lose, either.

Same here. He hates being president, but I doubt Trump understands emotionally that he can quit or not run.

Especially given the fact that he would face criminal charges....

[PaulBullion]

The Barr-Trump regime is gonna come down hard on Black Lives Matter:

Today, Attorney General William P. Barr announced the launch of Operation Legend, a sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative across all federal law enforcement agencies working in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials to fight the sudden surge of violent crime, beginning in Kansas City, MO. Operation Legend was created as a result of President Trump’s promise to assist America’s cities that are plagued by recent violence.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attor...eration-legend

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I have this theory that deep down inside the Donald doesn't want a second term, particularly when he cannot go out and campaign because of COVID 19.

Think about it, he loves the Presidency because he loves the adoration from the crowds, the shady foreign leaders who flatter him, and the fact that he can make his twitter feeds go viral at anytime.

But does anyone think he actually likes the work and the responsibility. The constant memo's from highly professional experts to make decisions, the intelligence and budget briefings. Sure he has his own agenda issues with economic nationalism and immigration, but outside of that, I wouldn't be surprised if the job is pure torture for him, and he wants a quick out.

I have no doubt you're spot on right about everything you said. Yeah, Trump probably does hate the actual work that comes with being president, but I'll tell you one thing he hates more....PRISON. See below:

If Trump Doesn't Win in 2020, SDNY Will 'Be Waiting With Cuffs' When He Leaves Office: MSNBC Legal Analyst

Legal analyst and Above the Law editor Elie Mystal told MSNBC on Saturday said that if President Donald Trump isn't reelected in 2020, he could be arrested immediately by the Southern District of New York (SDNY) when he leaves the White House.

During a segment on AM Joy, Mystal explained to host Joy Reid that the SDNY investigation has elevated the stakes for the president when it comes to winning the 2020 presidential election.

"The irony here, that I hope it is not lost on people, is that the Trump Organization, which appears to be a massive criminal front, is so small potatoes that if Trump hadn't run for president, SDNY wouldn't care," he said. "SDNY cares about stopping terrorists.

"SDNY is lining all of them up, right?" Mystal explained. "When Cohen said Trump was inflating his assets to get a loan to buy the Buffalo Bills, Michael Cohen wasn't trying to buy the Buffalo Bills, Donald Trump was. Do you know what the statute of limitations is on bank fraud that apparently happened in 2014? It's 10 years."

He added: "This election is so important for Donald Trump. Because if he does not win, SDNY is going to be waiting with cuffs on his way out the door."

[JackDaw]

I can certainly imagine the Donald doing something utterly crass in his last days as President...like, for example, pardoning himself from any crimes he may have committed...

Tricky, of course, because doing it sort of requires admitting he’s done some crime to start with.

It would certainly give the lawyers some remunerative work arguing whether it was constitutional..so at least it would make a few people happy.

[Iron Maiden]

Realistically he’ll go....or put it this way if bookies were offering bets on “will the Donald try to stage a coup when he loses the election”, I’d be happy to put down a heavy bet that once he loses he will leave Presidency on normal date.

Of course, he won’t make a gracious losing speech..he doesn’t have that in him. But equally once he loses election, he has no friends in senior positions that will be willing to use force to keep him in power.

Some might like to...but that would require guts, organisation, daring and significant numbers. Most of his “supporters” lack those qualities...and indeed I think he will have very few supporters as soon as election result announced.

And there's some hope that his cohort Moscow Mitch will lose re-election this fall. I'm hoping that enough people realized their mistake of not holding their nose and voting for Hillary.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I can certainly imagine the Donald doing something utterly crass in his last days as President...like, for example, pardoning himself from any crimes he may have committed...

Tricky, of course, because doing it sort of requires admitting he’s done some crime to start with.

It would certainly give the lawyers some remunerative work arguing whether it was constitutional..so at least it would make a few people happy.

A president can't pardon himself, Nixon damn sure couldn't, he needed his successor, Gerald Ford to give him a get out of jail free card. But, if Trump were to lose, there would be lots worse things he could do as a lame duck between early November and mid-January, provided of course he actually does leave, and Trump, perhaps the ultimate sore loser would make a real hash of things in the interim.