President Donald Trump's Final Days...

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by crinolynne

I'm sorry, Mr T claimed he would do X and he hasn't. He set the bar and he failed. Naivety, arrogance, ignorance, stupidy, take your pick. The fact is by his own admission, he's a failure. Impossibly bad rhetoric piled on amateurish slogans are all he's achieved. This emperor never had any clothes.

He has only got three years and nine months of his first term yet to go.

[tsunamiSD]

The Twisted, Ever-Morphing Timeline Of The Ties Between Donald Trump And Russia

One cannot observe U.S. news and politics in 2017 without careening headfirst into a Russia story. Naturally, this has everything to do with Donald Trump’s presidency, for the real estate mogul and reality star has been fixated on Russia for decades. And the obsession is mutual, although the American president has grown extraordinarily defensive over Russia’s interference in the U.S. election. Nearly every day sees Trump lash out at and completely trash anyone who alleges collusion between his campaign and the Russian government.
What has transpired may eventually go down as legend, something that is taught in history classes around the world for centuries to come. However, the truth is still out there, slowly being pieced together during investigations by the FBI and Congress. While the world witnesses these hearings over the coming weeks and months, this timeline of key events — involving Trump, his many associates, and Russia — reveals clear patterns of behavior and strategy on all sides. Whether or not Trump has been a knowing participant in the shadier aspects of these ties is up for debate, but the total effect of this timeline is staggering to witness.

******


{note for the following stories: Both Trump and Rybolovlev claim they never met or interacted with each other. The intermediary was one Wilbur Ross.Wilbur Ross is now our Secretary of Commerce. A reward for helping KoF and Trump? No. Just a coincindence.}

Russian billionaire in spotlight over property deal with Trump

After Donald Trump’s 2005 tax returns were revealed on a cable TV show Tuesday, the president’s property deal in 2008 with Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev grabbed attention. Trump sold his Palm Beach, Florida, mansion — that he bought for $41 million in a 2004 auction — for a whooping $95 million in 2008 when the real estate market in the U.S. was down.
The deal raised eyebrows at the time because the Russian oligarch paid more than double the original price of the mansion and it represented 131 percent increase in the value of the property at a time of dull real estate market in the country, Politico reported last July. Earlier this month, the Palm Beach Post reported that Rybolovlev did not conduct a professional review of the 62,000-square-foot mansion.
“If someone is paying $90-something million, more than anyone else has ever paid for a private residence, one would think they might look around and do a little due diligence, or even have an inspection,” David Newman, a commercial litigator who represented Elena Rybolovleva, the Russian billionaire’s ex-wife, told the Palm Beach Post.

Why did a Russian pay $95M to buy Trump’s Palm Beach mansion

In 2008, Rybolovlev characterized the purchase as a company investment: “This acquisition is simply an investment in real estate by one of the companies in which I have an interest,” Rybolovlev said at the time through a spokesman for Uralkali, the fertilizer company he previously owned.
Rybolovlev added that he didn’t plan to live in the United States.
Nonetheless, he went ahead and paid an exceptionally high, $50 million premium to Trump, then a real estate tycoon and reality TV host, for a property he never sought to live in, not even on a part-time basis.
It was a Rybolovlev entity, County Road Property LLC, that bought the property. Its ownership subsequently was transferred to a trust.
But not before Rybolovlev had disavowed any interest in the property during his messy divorce from now-ex-wife, Elena.

In addition to the mansion intrigue, Rybolovlev and Trump recently have drawn attention in another peculiar way.
Federal Aviation Administration records reviewed by The Palm Beach Post and other news outlets have tracked Rybolovlev’s private plane to cities where Trump has traveled, both during his campaign and into his presidency.
In October, for example, Trump appeared at a campaign rally in Las Vegas. Rybolovlev’s plane arrived in that city an hour after the campaign event started.

A month later, FAA records show Rybolovlev’s plane, an Airbus 319, also landed in Charlotte, North Carolina, 90 minutes before Trump’s plane arrived. Trump was scheduled to host a campaign event there that day — Nov. 3 — five days before the presidential election.
The latest juxtaposition of Trump’s and Rybolovlev’s aircrafts occurred last month, the weekend of Feb. 10-12, when the oligarch’s plane landed at Miami International Airport while Trump was at Mar-a-Lago entertaining Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

[BustyWomenLovr]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

He has only got three years and nine months of his first term yet to go.

Unless he "pulls a Palin" and quits. Or is Impeached.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by BustyEscortLovr

Unless he "pulls a Palin" and quits. Or is Impeached.

I think he will serve his term. I also think that if he chooses to run again he will be re-elected, unless the Democrats stops deluding themselves that the American people voted wrong and let them down, and start to take to heart the bitter knowledge that it is they who let the American people down. The people wanted a fundimental change and the Democrats were determined to preserve the status quo regardless of what the people want. If that remains unchanged, Mr Trump will be re-elected. Mark my words.

[diamelsx]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

unless the Democrats stops deluding themselves that the American people voted wrong and let them down, and start to take to heart the bitter knowledge that it is they who let the American people down. The people wanted a fundimental change and the Democrats were determined to preserve the status quo regardless of what the people want. If that remains unchanged, Mr Trump will be re-elected. Mark my words.

It is more the people will have to take the party back as opposed to the party seeing the error of their ways. The party is not delusional, they just rather get paid and risk losing than sacrifice the big money and win. Comfort and convenience will make losing acceptable.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by diamelsx

It is more the people will have to take the party back as opposed to the party seeing the error of their ways. The party is not delusional, they just rather get paid and risk losing than sacrifice the big money and win. Comfort and convenience will make losing acceptable.

And this is why Donald Trump will win next time unless something extremely basic changes. It is not really a psychotic delusion; rather it is the Democratic Party believing what it wants to believe, and living the lie.

[diamelsx]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

And this is why Donald Trump will win next time unless something extremely basic changes. It is not really a psychotic delusion; rather it is the Democratic Party believing what it wants to believe, and living the lie.

Can Trump win? Yeah, but don't bet the rent money on it. You are going to have factor in the people that

• did not vote this time
• the people who are going to feel betrayed this time
• the will of the voters to change the parties
• The economic fortunes of some of Trump voters

The reason the media got this last election soo wrong is that the mainstream media is misidentifing the dividing line. The voters, especially the younger ones are realizing that both sides are really on the same team and the right/left divide is really illusionary so the question is now about establishment/independent where the voters are definitely on the independent side of things. Remember Trump ran as a outsider, but now he is in office he has basically governing as Republican insider as possible and at some point the voters are going to turn on the party and either switch sides or drop out altogether. Basically what I am saying is that the energy he had this time will not be there. Next year's midterms may provide a clearer picture of his chances.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by diamelsx

Can Trump win? Yeah, but don't bet the rent money on it. You are going to have factor in the people that

• did not vote this time
• the people who are going to feel betrayed this time
• the will of the voters to change the parties
• The economic fortunes of some of Trump voters

The reason the media got this last election soo wrong is that the mainstream media is misidentifing the dividing line. The voters, especially the younger ones are realizing that both sides are really on the same team and the right/left divide is really illusionary so the question is now about establishment/independent where the voters are definitely on the independent side of things. Remember Trump ran as a outsider, but now he is in office he has basically governing as Republican insider as possible and at some point the voters are going to turn on the party and either switch sides or drop out altogether. Basically what I am saying is that the energy he had this time will not be there. Next year's midterms may provide a clearer picture of his chances.

In a way, Mr Trump is still an outsider. His failure to push through a repeal of "Obamacare" was a case study of this. The Republicans in Congress, despite their majority as a caucus, cannot unite behind him because they disagree with each other, let alone with him. and because they are selfish prima-donnas who lack discipline.

IMHO Mr Trump's smart tactical play would have been to craft a Trumpcare bill which gets as many Republicans as possible to support it but which excludes the ultra-right Tea Party shitbag types such as Cruz and Santorum, and then make Paul Ryan call the vote, regardless of the certainty of defeat, so that all those who voted it down for not being sufficiently mean-spirited and for not sufficiently excluding the indigent and poor from access to healthcare can be shown to the world and named and shamed. In this way Mr Trump could position himself with the voters and even leave the door open for future horse trading with the Democrats in Congress, and leave the Cruz and Santorum side out in the cold, openly inviting the voters to get rid of them if they think fit.

Like Churchill in WW2 Mr Trump's real strength is his connection with the voters, which the establishment politicians has totally lost for decades now. As long as he has Twitter, he can sidestep the media prostitutes and go over the heads of the Republicans in Congress and outmanoevre the establishment, as he did when campaigning. But he allowed the Republicans in Congress to escape from the corner they painted themselves into and if I were him I would look for my next opportunity to revive Trumpcare and talk to the Democrats as well as to the mainstream Republicans and build a consensus which freezes the fascist elements out. But I am much more liberal and progressive than he is (you dont need to be very liberal or progressive to claim that much) and I wonder if he is capable of even wanting to cut a deal on the centre ground to deliver a better healthcare system.

[philll_77]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

I wonder if he is capable of even wanting to cut a deal on the centre ground to deliver a better healthcare system.

I don't think Trump is capable of "cutting a deal". The concepts of negotiation and compromise are alien to him.

[SanteeFats]

Originally Posted by philll_77

I don't think Trump is capable of "cutting a deal". The concepts of negotiation and compromise are alien to him.

Really