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NYTimes: This Conspiracy Theory Should Worry Trump

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I finally found time to read an article about the Cohen debacle. I didn’t understand any of it. Except for the example about marijuana. That was a good one. The rest is absolutely mystifying. I don’t believe that any of the people who voted for Trump will understand it. This will be, to them, what Hillary’s emails are to us.

Besides, Bill Clinton was impeached for something similar but a lot worse. The boat of righteous indignation over this sort of thing sailed a long time ago.

One could say, screw Trump voters. And ok, I get it. But screw them for which wonderful, important purpose? President Mike Pence? What is this all in aid of? I have lost the plot of any of this brouhaha a long time ago.

18 responses to “NYTimes: This Conspiracy Theory Should Worry Trump”

  1. Dreidel Avatar
    Dreidel

    This article was written by a law professor who worked for the Obama administration. You can find equally knowledgeable articles written by other legal professionals who think Trump’s behavior in this situation isn’t criminal, and doesn’t merit impeachment.

    At this point, Mueller still doesn’t have a “smoking gun,” which is why he’s casting such a wide fishing net over Trump underlings like Cohen and Manafort. Absent a smoking gun that BOTH Democrats and Republicans agree on, Trump isn’t likely to be forced from office.

    Whether he gets impeached probably depends on the mid-term elections results — whether the Democrats retake the House, who takes over the Democratic leadership, and how radical their views are.

    But as long as the Republicans control the Senate, there’s zero chance that Trump will be convicted based on the facts currently known.

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  2. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    The political implications of all of this is not quite the same as the legal implications. And this article is an op-ed.

    My understanding of this op-ed is this:

    Any legal trouble Trump is in results from his cover-up of his payments to make his mistresses shut up and go away right before an election, not the fact he paid them to shut up and go away. [Yes, we know Clarissa doesn’t make such a fine distinction between prostitution and not-prostitution.] Which is why I find this scandal absurd in the extreme because again, it’s not like he had any reputation to lose as a loving family man and husband because he really didn’t make a pretense of it. So why pay anyone money to go away and shut up?

    Also, he is a fucking idiot who fails to pay his end of the gag agreement on time. AFAIR, the whole “pay Stormy Daniels right before the election” only came about because he decided he was going to stiff her. Or was it some other woman? Had he even bothered with dispensing with all of this in a timely fashion, it would be of zero legal interest to anyone because there would be no question of “for the purpose of influencing the election.”

    It is the most idiotic scandal blundered into by the dumbest of people.

    He just needed to go The Reynolds Pamphlet on everyone because it’s not like he gives a fuck about any of his wives and it’s not like it’s the 1800s and we know he probably wouldn’t forfeit much money if Melania bounced. Did he really think he’d lose extra voters (above the ones he had already repelled?)

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  3. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    But never mind the tweets and the mistresses and the Russia scandal. His real problem and source of continuing misery is going to be all the fun federal and state income tax evasion he’s been engaging in his entire adult life. He’ll be screaming about RICO on his deathbed even if he manages to serve an entire 8 years. He could’ve happily grifted in peace and relative obscurity for years if he never bothered to run for President.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I’m very indifferent to the trials of tribulations of Donald Trump. What I want to know is how all of this is helping us achieve anything worthwhile. What are we gaining? What am I gaining? There’s wall-to-wall coverage of this Cohen debacle but how is this helping? Even I can’t understand what’s so horrible about paying a couple of prostitutes for services rendered.

      I mean, the party I’m planning to vote for cheerfully swallowed its leader ejaculating all over an intern in the Oval Office. We are 20 years past the point where we could claim moral high ground on sex scandals. We are suddenly all about marital fidelity and not lying about sexual pecadilloes? That’s kind of ridiculous.

      What is all this in aid of? Even if Trump is impeached, what is it that we gain from that? A bona fide religious fanatic in the Oval Office?

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      1. Mike Avatar
        Mike

        If the Democrats hate Trump, just wait till they successfully impeach get Pence. He’s a true fundie, and he’s not incompetent. Trump is a clown and gets about as much done as a clown. Pence is not a clown and will really be in a position to do irreversible damage. I hope Trump stay in office all four years because the alternative is Pence.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Exactly. I’m terrified of Pence. He can get things done. Evil, shitty things.

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      2. cliff arroyo Avatar
        cliff arroyo

        “A bona fide religious fanatic in the Oval Office?”

        Who could probably steamroll any democratic challenger in 2020?

        The impeach Trump people are the stupidest fucking imbeciles I’ve ever heard of…

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  4. Dreidel Avatar
    Dreidel

    “I’m terrified of Pence.”

    Obviously, all of you people haven’t been keeping up with your required Shakesville reading.

    Melissa McEwan KNOWS that Pence is secretly the evil genius behind all of Trump’s criminal activity, and therefore he’s going down with Trump when justice finally reaches the White House!

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      You are not serious. Not even she is that nutso.

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      1. Dreidel Avatar
        Dreidel

        She has actually said so repeatedly in her anti-Trump rants.

        The Pence accusations are usually just a sentence or two hidden in her rambling multi-paragraph posts, so they’re easy to miss if you’re skimming her always lengthy, redundant writing.

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      2. Shakti Avatar
        Shakti

        She lives in Indiana and/or grew up in Indiana. Google search has been made to suck bollocks but she’s written about him (link describes how he stripped the Superintendent of Schools position of power as soon as a Democrat won the state office) and hated him since 2005.

        The source for the idea that Pence is definitely caught up in the Manafort/Russia business is the claim Manafort, not Trump was responsible for picking the man as VP.
        And that comes from a NYT article.

        There’s nothing to stop the Republicans from chucking Trump out of office tomorrow and installing Pence. But Pence isn’t popular enough to justify it and every single Republican party flier I’ve received in the last two weeks that mentions a national politician loves Trump or mentions Hillary or Obama as a specter. It’s not like being VP slowed Dick Cheney down anyways.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Oh, Pence is a Russian spy, too?? These people are certifiable.

          I absolutely agree that no Republican politician attracts the same love and support as Trump. This makes it very clear that people don’t support the kind of Republicanism that Ryan and Pence represent. The Reaganite obsession and the anti-gay thing are outdated. If the party leaders had an ounce of grey matter, they’d notice this.

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          1. Shakti Avatar
            Shakti

            Oh, Pence is a Russian spy, too?? These people are certifiable.
            Pence isn’t nearly as stupid as Trump. We’re grading on a curve so it’s all relative. It’s more like Pence has Russia investigation cooties than anything. Even Rachel Maddow isn’t breathlessly expositioning how Pence is just like Spiro Agnew…yet. [When something really happens she cuts the windup and just has people on to talk about the present.]

            Pence was specifically chosen to shore up support with people who really come out for the anti-gay thing and other culture war stuff. I don’t think Trump has the continued high support of white evangelicals without Pence. Trust that Pence is going around talking about the anti-gay baker victory when campaigning for people in the midterms.

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      3. cliff arroyo Avatar
        cliff arroyo

        ” Not even (Shakesville) is that nutso”

        Au contraire madame, you’ve obviously never read (or have mercifully forgot) the fan fiction she wrote about herself and Pence… I however have not been able to forget….

        http://www.shakesville.com/2017/05/my-imaginary-dinner-with-mike-pence.html

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          God. This is very sick.

          I detest Pence, so this puppy love for the fellow is incomprehensible to me.

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          1. el Avatar
            el

            Now I want her to write

            My ( Imaginary) Dinner With Putin

            🙂

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            1. cliff arroyo Avatar
              cliff arroyo

              “My ( Imaginary) Dinner With Putin”

              You’ve got a crush on Putin? My reading of that thing I linked is that it’s about repressed desire – when somebody weaves elaborate fantasies about rejecting someone it’s because they’re unhealthily emotionally obsessed with them (and desperately want their approval).

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              1. Clarissa Avatar
                Clarissa

                “My reading of that thing I linked is that it’s about repressed desire – when somebody weaves elaborate fantasies about rejecting someone it’s because they’re unhealthily emotionally obsessed with them (and desperately want their approval).”

                • As a professional literary critic, I had the same response. This is cheap Harlequin romance style of writing. For some bizarre reason, she is into this fellow.

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