Is the end near for Trump?

[Twilight Hue]

Yes, those pesky facts ...

What's pushing inflation down? More goods, workers and housing

Inflation in the US slowed last month in a sign that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes are continuing to cool the price spikes that have bedeviled consumers for the past two years.

apnews.com

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-consumer-prices-unchanged-october-2023-11-14/

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/12/economy/cpi-consumer-price-index-inflation-november/index.html

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/u-s-inflation-rate-october-1.7027572

Why did you only respond to that one line from my post?

"Prices are up everywhere, not just in the US.

The delusional thinking is believing that a country's leader has some sort of control over the price of groceries.
And if they did do something to control prices, I daresay you'd be here screaming about communism instead."

Of course this ignorance that a president cannot control inflation becomes pure bull**** when it's very clear agenda driven policymaking can and does plays a major factor in how the economy is directly influenced, mainly by the presidents direct interference in the market employing government regulation , and even direct takeover/control of business itself which undoubtedly plays as being a major driver of what we see today.

The President may not control the entire economy directly, but the president certainly influences the economy, and as a consequence, causes the economy to go in directions it wouldn't normally go if the government had just let things alone and let the market go on its own accord.

 

[wellwisher]

I wonder.....
Let's say that Trump, now that he has Secret Service
(SS) protection, sexually assaults a woman.
Would they not be allowed to prevent the assault?
(Their job is to protect him, but they've no legal
obligation to protect ordinary civilians.)
Would the SS attack her if she defended herself?

Have you read the latest about Tara Reade, a women who accused Biden of sexual assault. This is very recent. She is now suing the DOJ for weaponization of Government for $10Million. She was the victim of an FBI targeting and intimidation initiative, called "Operation Cassandra.

Her lawyer is now requesting the DOJ release the documents for that operation, that was ordered to discredit and intimidate her, to protect Joe Biden from his past.This is the same FBI that raided Trump, but helps Biden pretend his classified documents are clean.

Below is a link to the law suit. Biden who already has the worse polling of any sitting president, due to such nazi tactic, as well as his lack of competence. Biden will have to drag feet and maybe destroy evidence like they seem to do. Tara is not a Republican or Conservative but has always voted Democrat. She dared to speak truth to corrupt Democrats leaders, which trigger a circling of the wagons, and then some unhanded behavior using Government and tax payers resources for personal vendetta.

Biden accuser Tara Reade promises to "expose the truth" about FBI

 

[wellwisher]

Ignoring that inflation has come down, many more jobs are being created than expected and so forth. But don't let facts stop you.

One of the wild cards when discussing unemployment rates, is only those who are actively seeking work are counted, when calculating the unemployment rate. If you stop looking for a job, you are not counted as unemployed, even if you have no work or employment. Conceptually if you had 1 million people suddenly leave the workforce; retire, get on social benefits, homeless, sabbatical, students back to school, etc., and created 500K only new jobs, the unemployment rate will actually come down, even with 500,000 fewer workers. Politicians, from both sides, have gamed the system.

I would prefer we talk of the employment rate which would be the total number of people with jobs, divided by the census population. This number would be a better reflection of actual work force participation relative to the whole population. This assumes everyone is able bodied. It also tells us more about the size of the welfare state, elderly, and children, etc, who are not always in the work force for many reason like retirement and back to school.

When Trump was President he was called cruel when he reduced the expansion Obama era food stamps. Based on how unemployment is calculated, Trump actually made his job harder. His action added more people to the labor participation rate. More people had to look for work since the gravy train had come to a stop. This required creating even more jobs to offset the more looking for jobs gaming math. Democrats resisted the decrease in food stamps, since they bank on the out of the workforce numbers, being much higher. This allows employment number to be better. This can look better on paper for unemployment.

With inflation, more people have left the work force, such as students living with parents or people adding to the homeless rolls or seeking help from social services or even working off the books; undocumented and tax free. The jobs created by Biden are good; but the unemployment rates need an asterisks, to show the "out of the work force", number. It is not always apples to apples.

 

[SkepticThinker]

Of course this ignorance that a president cannot control inflation becomes pure bull**** when it's very clear agenda driven policymaking can and does plays a major factor in how the economy is directly influenced, mainly by the presidents direct interference in the market employing government regulation , and even direct takeover/control of business itself which undoubtedly plays as being a major driver of what we see today.

The President may not control the entire economy directly, but the president certainly influences the economy, and as a consequence, causes the economy to go in directions it wouldn't normally go if the government had just let things alone and let the market go on its own accord.

Inflation is down and has been decreasing. Those are the pesky facts I'm drawing your attention to.

And you still didn't respond to what I said.

"Prices are up everywhere, not just in the US.

The delusional thinking is believing that a country's leader has some sort of control over the price of groceries.
And if they did do something to control prices, I daresay you'd be here screaming about communism instead."

So you want Joe BIden to takeover/control businesses now? Isn't that commie stuff? Make up your mind.

 

[Revoltingest]

Well we don't want anyone to actually SEE the third world banana republic that we have now become! They might start getting ideas that don't favor the capitalist's agenda.

Camps with shacks & RVs are unsightly, but I
prioritize their having housing over appearances.

The solution is to stop this mindless worshipping of capitalism and start looking for a more socially responsible system. But you aren't having any of that, are you. You're here to tell us all how socialism is equal to death, and capitalism is the only way to avoid it. Over and over and over and over.

Capitalism will endure because socialism
is an unacceptable nightmare.

 

[Revoltingest]

Have you read the latest about Tara Reade, a women who accused Biden of sexual assault. This is very recent. She is now suing the DOJ for weaponization of Government for $10Million. She was the victim of an FBI targeting and intimidation initiative, called "Operation Cassandra.

Her lawyer is now requesting the DOJ release the documents for that operation, that was ordered to discredit and intimidate her, to protect Joe Biden from his past.This is the same FBI that raided Trump, but helps Biden pretend his classified documents are clean.

Below is a link to the law suit. Biden who already has the worse polling of any sitting president, due to such nazi tactic, as well as his lack of competence. Biden will have to drag feet and maybe destroy evidence like they seem to do. Tara is not a Republican or Conservative but has always voted Democrat. She dared to speak truth to corrupt Democrats leaders, which trigger a circling of the wagons, and then some unhanded behavior using Government and tax payers resources for personal vendetta.

Biden accuser Tara Reade promises to "expose the truth" about FBI

This is old news.
Her "daring to speak the truth" is really just
her making accusations. She has no suit
against Biden. And her suit against the FBI
smacks of unevidenced paranoia.
If there's anything cromulent, we won't know
it if or until there's a court decision or the
failure to proceed.

 

[PureX]

Camps with shacks & RVs are unsightly, but I
prioritize their having housing over appearances.

That isn't housing. It's barely even shelter. No way to heat, cook, shower, or urinate/defecate, and no security whatever. They are the equivalent of the worst slums anywhere in the world.

 

[Revoltingest]

That isn't housing. It's barely even shelter.

It's better than what they have when government
confiscates & destroys their homes.

No way to heat, cook, shower, or urinate/defecate, and no security whatever. They are the equivalent of the worst slums anywhere in the world.

That isn't true for all. RVs often have full facilities.
And rather than government spending money
persecute them, it could simply provide
basic facilities.

 

[metis]

When Trump was President he was called cruel when he reduced the expansion Obama era food stamps. Based on how unemployment is calculated, Trump actually made his job harder. His action added more people to the labor participation rate. More people had to look for work since the gravy train had come to a stop. This required creating even more jobs to offset the more looking for jobs gaming math. Democrats resisted the decrease in food stamps, since they bank on the out of the workforce numbers, being much higher. This allows employment number to be better. This can look better on paper for unemployment.

So, just care not for the children of lower-income families and this will help the country out? Ever read Jesus' Parable of the Sheep & Goats [Matthew 25]?

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

By the way, he can appeal both cases, but to do so he has to come up with all of the cash to that has to be put into escrow first.

I read recently that he also has to pay $300,000/week interest on the $83 million (83,000,000 x 4.47% per year/ 52 weeks). Ouch!

And it will be worse with the NY civil fraud case, where a judgment on the order of $250-370 million is expected. And there's talk of Smith going after Trump for campaign finance fraud, also in the tens of millions. I'm not sure if the fraud is due to fundraising based in the Big Lie or due to misappropriation of donations to pay personal legal bills.

There are many (R)'s like me that are done with Trump.

I remember around the time of the insurrection a lot of people taking the position you did, and perhaps that's what turned you away from Trump, but to me, that's like saying that one didn't mind all of the lying, grifting, sexual predation, association with porn stars and pedophiles, tearing families apart at the border and caging them, etc., but that finally they found something unacceptable about this man.

I don't understand that. It can't be a moral objection. People who find Trump morally objectionable are the ones the Trump supporters have been calling deranged for that objection and who rejected the guy before the 2016 election. But what about those that took several more years to finally walk away from him? I expect that most people either found him reprehensible from the start or never did and still don't. If so, it's something else that they find unacceptable in him.

Of course the inflation reduction act did literally squat, but don't let pesky facts get in the way of your personal opinions.

That's incorrect.

the many millions of Americans whose already pathetic wages are not increasing, while the costs of food and shelter have been increased dramatically. Driving many of them into homelessness. Nary a peep is uttered about this.

That's by design. That's the Republican vision for ordinary citizens as they labor to concentrate wealth, money, power, and privilege leaving labor with just enough to get to work but not enough to have options. Nary a peep from the right, but the left is all over that. Biden was a superstar during the auto workers strikes. Minimum wages are going up. Efforts at tax reform and increasing taxes on the uber-wealthy come from the left.

You're here to tell us all how socialism is equal to death, and capitalism is the only way to avoid it. Over and over and over and over.

I like capitalism blended with socialism. So does just about everybody else including the uber-wealthy capitalists, who love that people are taxed to support the common good which taxes are then spent on defense contracting (ka-ching!), for example, or police and prisons to protect their homes and bodies, as well as the guy on the bottom of that food chain, who sells his plasma or her body for money.

 

[Colt]

I read recently that he also has to pay $300,000/week interest on the $83 million (83,000,000 x 4.47% per year/ 52 weeks). Ouch!

And it will be worse with the NY civil fraud case, where a judgment on the order of $250-370 million is expected. And there's talk of Smith going after Trump for campaign finance fraud, also in the tens of millions. I'm not sure if the fraud is due to fundraising based in the Big Lie or due to misappropriation of donations to pay personal legal bills.

I remember around the time of the insurrection a lot of people taking the position you did, and perhaps that's what turned you away from Trump, but to me, that's like saying that one didn't mind all of the lying, grifting, sexual predation, association with porn stars and pedophiles, tearing families apart at the border and caging them, etc., but that finally they found something unacceptable about this man.

I don't understand that. It can't be a moral objection. People who find Trump morally objectionable are the ones the Trump supporters have been calling deranged for that objection and who rejected the guy before the 2016 election. But what about those that took several more years to finally walk away from him? I expect that most people either found him reprehensible from the start or never did and still don't. If so, it's something else that they find unacceptable in him.

That's incorrect.

That's by design. That's the Republican vision for ordinary citizens as they labor to concentrate wealth, money, power, and privilege leaving labor with just enough to get to work but not enough to have options. Nary a peep from the right, but the left is all over that. Biden was a superstar during the auto workers strikes. Minimum wages are going up. Efforts at tax reform and increasing taxes on the uber-wealthy come from the left.

I like capitalism blended with socialism. So does just about everybody else including the uber-wealthy capitalists, who love that people are taxed to support the common good which taxes are then spent on defense contracting (ka-ching!), for example, or police and prisons to protect their homes and bodies, as well as the guy on the bottom of that food chain, who sells his plasma or her body for money.

You only assume those things didn't bother us, to the extent that they were actually true. Trump was able to fill the front row of a debate with women Bill Clinton had assaulted over the years, but Clinton was still elected twice! So, me thinks the (D)'s fain outrage about such things as morality, integrity or honesty. Oddly, politically speaking, today I would be more likely to vote for either of the Clintons than Trump.

 

[Subduction Zone]

And it will be worse with the NY civil fraud case, where a judgment on the order of $250-370 million is expected. And there's talk of Smith going after Trump for campaign finance fraud, also in the tens of millions. I'm not sure if the fraud is due to fundraising based in the Big Lie or due to misappropriation of donations to pay personal legal bills.

The civil fraud case arose because New York State has had a law against cheating for quite some time. This law allows the state to "claw back" money made from fraudulent claims. Trump used fraudulent claims about his own personal wealth to get lower interest rates from banks. They were able to show in the court case that he grossly exaggerated his wealth to get lower rates from banks. The reason that this is not allowed is because one is putting banks at a higher risk than they realized. That he was able to make money and pay the loans back does not help him. If the loans were at the appropriate interest rates he may not have been able to pay them back. You can read a bit more here:

Dissolving Trump's business empire would stand apart in history of NY fraud law

AP’s review of nearly 150 cases since New York’s “repeated fraud” statute was passed showed that nearly every previous time a company was taken away, victims and losses were key factors.

apnews.com

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

The civil fraud case arose because New York State has had a law against cheating for quite some time.

Yes, which is separate from the possible campaign finance fraud charges.

You only assume those things didn't bother us

You went from being a Trump supporter to not being one, so the things you knew about him before that transition didn't bother you enough to vote for him over Hillary and possibly Joe.

Something changed for you. Only you know what that is, but I can't believe that it is a moral objection if you voted for him once or twice before coming over. People don't want to talk about why it took them so long to see what tens of millions saw immediately, so I don't expect you to explain what changed your mind about Trump, but I also don't see how it can be that you now see that he is morally unfit but didn't then.

You knew he was an admitted sexual predator and known serial adulterer. You knew that he was a grifter who started multiple fraudulent businesses and a fraudulent charity, and who routinely stiffed people who did work for him. You knew he was a racist and misogynist. You knew he was a prolific liar. And you still voted for him once or twice. So it can't be that you eventually learned that he was reprehensible and unprincipled. You knew that already or should have.

I suspect that for most who have turned from Trump, the objections are practical. They want a candidate who can win and who won't be seen as a defendant all year and later a convicted felon and prisoner.

Remember, Joe won in a landslide in November of 2020 when Trump had the incumbent's advantage, before he was known as an insurrection, before he lost the White House and both chambers of Congress to the Democrats, before he was indicted multiple times, before he was muzzled with gag orders and multimillion dollar judgments.

Trump will continue to be humiliated all this year and be revealed as broke and impotent in the hands of the legal system. This is why many if not most Biden supporters would like to see Trump as the Republican candidate, and I suspect why many Trump supporters are looking elsewhere.

me thinks the (D)'s fain outrage about such things as morality, integrity or honesty.

Feign.

No, people with actual integrity disavowed Trump emphatically - a situation their detractors called Trump Derangement Syndrome. MAGA considers the intense negative reaction to Trump derangement. There was nothing feigned there. Do you really believe that I was not morally outraged by that man - that I was pretending? You've read my words about him. My sense of right and wrong and of justice demand that he be severely punished.

And the left also condemned Clinton's infidelity, as it did with Weiner and Cuomo. In my case, I never saw Clinton's sexual proclivities relevant to my opinion about him as a president except that it was used against him by Gingrich et al., which weakened his effectiveness some.

Nor did I mind that he lied about his personal life under oath.

And if Trump's only failings were sexual, I wouldn't care about that, either, with regard to his qualification to be president.

Oddly, politically speaking, today I would be more likely to vote for either of the Clintons than Trump.

That's to your credit, but remember, many have felt that way a lot longer than you, which is to their credit.

 

[Colt]

Yes, which is separate from the possible campaign finance fraud charges.

You went from being a Trump supporter to not being one, so the things you knew about him before that transition didn't bother you enough to vote for him over Hillary and possibly Joe.

Something changed for you. Only you know what that is, but I can't believe that it is a moral objection if you voted for him once or twice before coming over. People don't want to talk about why it took them so long to see what tens of millions saw immediately, so I don't expect you to explain what changed your mind about Trump, but I also don't see how it can be that you now see that he is morally unfit but didn't then.

You knew he was an admitted sexual predator and known serial adulterer. You knew that he was a grifter who started multiple fraudulent businesses and a fraudulent charity, and who routinely stiffed people who did work for him. You knew he was a racist and misogynist. You knew he was a prolific liar. And you still voted for him once or twice. So it can't be that you eventually learned that he was reprehensible and unprincipled. You knew that already or should have.

I suspect that for most who have turned from Trump, the objections are practical. They want a candidate who can win and who won't be seen as a defendant all year and later a convicted felon and prisoner.

Remember, Joe won in a landslide in November of 2020 when Trump had the incumbent's advantage, before he was known as an insurrection, before he lost the White House and both chambers of Congress to the Democrats, before he was indicted multiple times, before he was muzzled with gag orders and multimillion dollar judgments.

Trump will continue to be humiliated all this year and be revealed as broke and impotent in the hands of the legal system. This is why many if not most Biden supporters would like to see Trump as the Republican candidate, and I suspect why many Trump supporters are looking elsewhere.

Feign.

No, people with actual integrity disavowed Trump emphatically - a situation their detractors called Trump Derangement Syndrome. MAGA considers the intense negative reaction to Trump derangement. There was nothing feigned there. Do you really believe that I was not morally outraged by that man - that I was pretending? You've read my words about him. My sense of right and wrong and of justice demand that he be severely punished.

And the left also condemned Clinton's infidelity, as it did with Weiner and Cuomo. In my case, I never saw Clinton's sexual proclivities relevant to my opinion about him as a president except that it was used against him by Gingrich et al., which weakened his effectiveness some.

Nor did I mind that he lied about his personal life under oath.

And if Trump's only failings were sexual, I wouldn't care about that, either, with regard to his qualification to be president.

That's to your credit, but remember, many have felt that way a lot longer than you, which is to their credit.

It was political ideology not Trump the person that lead me to support him over (D)'s. I don't support Trump now becuse he's a divisive, caustic person that would only generate more fake dossiers and investigations by a corrupt DOJ, FBI CIA and other (D) dominated institutions.

 

[SkepticThinker]

It was political ideology not Trump the person that lead me to support him over (D)'s. I don't support Trump now becuse he's a divisive, caustic person that would only generate more fake dossiers and investigations by a corrupt DOJ, FBI CIA and other (D) dominated institutions.

So, it's not Trump that's corrupt. It's everyone else. Everywhere. Across the entire country and across all government departments.

Come on now.

 

[Colt]

So, it's not Trump that's corrupt. It's everyone else. Everywhere. Across the entire country and across all government departments.

Come on now.

Thats not what I said. I don't know what to believe when it comes from Trump! The guy just says all sorts of exaggerated and dishonest stuff. It was the agenda of the (R)'s that I supported over that of the (D)'s. But I was genuinely surprised at how corrupt other branches of government are. The Fed.gov as well as the media industrial complex are dominated by (D)'s.

 

[SkepticThinker]

Thats not what I said.

I mean, it kind of is what you said...


"... by a corrupt DOJ, FBI CIA and other (D) dominated institutions."

I don't know what to believe when it comes from Trump! The guy just says all sorts of exaggerated and dishonest stuff. It was the agenda of the (R)'s that I supported over that of the (D)'s. But I was genuinely surprised at how corrupt other branches of government are.

Believe his actions and behaviours. The guy has been openly defrauding and conning people for decades. (Trump University, Trump Charity, Trump Organization, etc.)

The Fed.gov as well as the media industrial complex are dominated by (D)'s.

Rather, they are dominated by career bureaucrats, who aren't really affiliated with either party, in the sense that they're just doing their jobs.

 

[Colt]

I mean, it kind of is what you said...


"... by a corrupt DOJ, FBI CIA and other (D) dominated institutions."

Believe his actions and behaviours. The guy has been openly defrauding and conning people for decades. (Trump University, Trump Charity, Trump Organization, etc.)

Rather, they are dominated by career bureaucrats, who aren't really affiliated with either party, in the sense that they're just doing their jobs.

FBI Lawyer Kevin Clinesmith who plead guilty to altering an email from the CIA was a relatively young and a (D).

The FBI agents who were texting back and forth about stopping Trump were NOT "career bureaucrats".

“[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Page texted Strzok.

“No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok responded.

 

[SkepticThinker]

FBI Lawyer Kevin Clinesmith who plead guilty to altering an email from the CIA was a relatively young and a (D).
View attachment 87964

I can't find anything anywhere on his political affiliation.

The FBI agents who were texting back and forth about stopping Trump were NOT "career bureaucrats".

“[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Page texted Strzok.

“No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok responded.



View attachment 87963

You don't have to be a Democrat to think Donald Trump is a human trash and not fit for the office of the Presidency.


Remember James Comey? Republican.
Christopher Wray? Republican.
Neither of whom have allowed politics to cloud their minds in regards to doing their jobs.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

It was political ideology not Trump the person that lead me to support him over (D)'s.

So what did you think Trump's political ideology was when you voted for him, and have you changed your mind about what that is? If not, why would you post that you would vote for either Clinton over Trump, and if so, you misjudged his character, and you misjudged his intentions. Yet you still seem to have confidence in your political judgment.

And it seems that you still support the Republican party, which is nothing but his puppet now, and if they ever get another candidate into the White House, it will be somebody with Trump's ethics and authoritarian vision, but smarter. Republicans don't respect any other kind of person and they tolerate no dissent from their ranks as we saw with Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. I consider that an error in judgment, too. Those people are not your friends.

I don't support Trump now because he's a divisive, caustic person that would only generate more fake dossiers and investigations by a corrupt DOJ, FBI CIA and other (D) dominated institutions.

Not a good reason. You should have stopped at caustic and add a threat to democracy. I'm guessing that you don't believe that.

And here's the judgment thing again. You seem to accept the idea that Trump is being treated unfairly when he is investigated then prosecuted, that these aren't valid criminal investigations that Trump inspires. Your main objection to Trump isn't the man but rather the response he elicits. If so, you've missed the mark again. Divisive and caustic are reason enough to reject the man.

I was genuinely surprised at how corrupt other branches of government are.

Yes, but your judgment is suspect. You keep getting it wrong. Haven't you noticed?

What do you think the Republican party stands for? Please answer what it is now with Trump leading it, and what it would be if he dropped dead tomorrow. What do you think its goals and agenda are now and would be then?

I'll bet your answers would look nothing like mine. But then, I didn't make the mistakes you have. I didn't make errors in judgment regarding Trump, nor about the Republican party. Don't you think you should defer your judgment to people that didn't make the mistakes you did?

If you had a friend that correctly predicted the winner of the last ten Super Bowls during which time you kept getting it wrong, at what point would you begin to think that maybe you should defer your judgment to his?

If every time you opened a business it failed, at what point would you realize that your business judgment was bad and not to be trusted again?