Donald Trump: Classic or Dud?

so sad that a kennedy needed some tech arriviste to pay for stuff

None of the actual fascists of the past were super-smart either, it takes other skills to be a successful fascist: total lack of shame, complete belief in one's own righteousness, etc.

Being a sociopath obviously helps. I think Trump is definitely one.

hes still got it baby

Former President Donald Trump has sued two of his co-founders at Truth Social in an attempt to acquire their stake in the company, which went public late last month.

In a suit filed on March 24, but first reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday, Trump accused The Apprentice star Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss of failing in their duties to properly set up Truth Social, which resulted in “significant damage” to the company at “a critical time.”

At the time of the lawsuit, Trump owned 90 million shares, or 90% of Trump Media Group. Litinsky and Moss’ company United Atlantic Ventures owned 8,600,000 shares, or 8.6%, while Bradford Cohen owned 1,400,000 shares (1.4%).

https://www.mediaite.com/news/trump-sues-truth-social-co-founders-for-their-stake-in-company/

Lol Litinsky is a conservative radio show host. I wonder if it’s awkward talking about how great Trump is while he’s suing you.

I've given up any expectations that anything will happen to this asshole (short of maybe being reelected to the White House, which is of course totally reasonable for a discredited and dangerous con man imbecile), but the latest legal stuff with the classified documents is pretty fascinating, from a strategy standpoint. When last we heard from our hero Eileen Cannon, she gave both prosecution and defense the order to come up with different jury instructions, apparently just for lols/vibes. Trump defense came up with something predictably ad hoc that hinged on BS that the presidential records act allowed Trump to do ... basically anything. Prosecution response calls Cannon on bullshit, saying the Trump jury instruction defense is not based in law, essentially telling her to either rule and dismiss the case (which can be appealed) or forget this dueling jury instruction shit.

Turns out that if the judge fucks up (intentionally or not) and makes a decision mid-trial based on erroneous bullshit and the jury comes back with a not guilty, the prosecution can *not* appeal. So prosecution in this case is, as I understand it, demanding the bullshit games stop, that Cannon rules/dismisses the case so they can appeal or they're going over Cannon's head.

Again, nothing is going to happen to Trump or Cannon or anything or anybody, ever, but it's nice to see some dramatic pushback.

Question: Assuming he does not win the election to pres this time, isn't he just going to come back again in four years? Until croak or win?

No I reckon he’ll take the L with grace and dignity

Be nicer if someone pushed him back off the edge of one of his shitty skyscrapers

^^"Russian Mob, are you listening?"

a sharp rebuke!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/03/trump-documents-case-cannon-jack-smith/

i was being kind of tongue-in-cheek about repeatedly joking/suggesting that trump would have no trouble paying the bonds because there's almost a limitless number of incredibly evil billionaires who want a president to owe them a favor. but...i just want to confirm - trump's bond was paid by some rich subprime auto loan guy who pretty much no one had ever heard of until this week, right?

i do compartmentalize my optimism and pessimism these days, and i am very optimistic about my life and what i'm doing. but all that pessimism has to go somewhere and yeah i don't think trump will ever suffer any sort of significant consequence, and neither will any of his dumbass children. he's responsible for hundreds of thousands of people dying that should not have died, and no one will even ask him about that ever again. he doesn't have to think about it.

since i'm doing classic pre-coffee i'm angry at trump rant, i'll add that i don't think this will end when he's dead. christian fascism is accelerating and they're not going to go back to how things were because they can't anymore

I can't stand that Trump!

trump's bond was paid by some rich subprime auto loan guy who pretty much no one had ever heard of until this week, right?

It is and the fact that any number of actually-more-flush billionaires didn't -- and that it took a week instead of out of the gate -- is telling enough.

*sips coffee*

well perhaps this will end when he's dead!

xp ned but (and i'm cosplaying a rich person here, i don't know) maybe those more flush billionaires didn't post his bond because they knew that some lower-tier billionaire like the subprime auto loans guy would do it for them?

good morning, where's the consequences?

xpost Which also says something. "Hmm, a guy who sues and stiffs just about everyone to avoid having to actually pay anything if he has to. Yeahhhhhh I'll let someone else be that stupid patsy." (Remember, if the appeals process changing nothing, this subprime dude coughs up, and if Trump tries to get out of making him whole from there...well, that'll be deeply hilarious.)

most billionaires prob like trump less than say biden or some more normal politician because hes unstable and doesnt really care about their carefully constructed system, he had to find a billionaire whos specifically into trump type stuff

I would actually very much agree!

wall st guys dont want someone who might cut off arms donations to ukraine pumping money into the defense industry is a core practice of the economy, some auto loan guy tho does he care he prob should but hes just into trump stuff he likes it

Mike Lindell has got to feel *red faced* here.

The authoritarian/christian nationalist/proto-fascist wot have you movement won’t go away when Trump dies but it really galvanized around him in a way that will be hard to replicate. (Pre -existing celebrity, reputation as “successful” businessman,etc). Everyone else in those movements are charisma vacuums or too weird.

I'm glad y'all mentioned it. From today's NYT:

Mr. Biden has also brought to office an economic philosophy that relies heavily on federal government intervention in private markets. That includes investments in infrastructure and industries, which business leaders generally support.

But it also includes environmental, financial and other regulations meant to reduce risks in the marketplace. Businesses oppose those efforts, along with the administration’s aggressive antitrust enforcement and other initiatives meant to stimulate competition.

As a result, Mr. Biden’s relationship with corporate America “is a complicated one,” said Neil Bradley, the executive vice president and chief policy officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a large business lobbying group in Washington.

Mr. Biden and his economic team have been open and thorough in their outreach to business groups, Mr. Bradley said, but frustrating in their policy choices. Chamber officials calculate that federal agencies under Mr. Biden have issued about twice as many regulations considered “economically significant” — currently defined as carrying at least a $200 million annual effect on the economy — as they did under President Donald J. Trump.

It is a contrast with Mr. Trump, whose administration employed less consistent outreach and careened chaotically from crisis to crisis, business leaders say. Mr. Bradley said executives were torn on which combination they preferred.

“You can look at a Trump administration with a lot more uncertainty, but directionally, the regulatory effort was moving to lighten the regulatory costs,” he said. “Here in the Biden administration, we have a pretty good idea where they’re going to go — it’s just how crushing is it going to be in terms of the regulatory level? And so, interestingly, there’s a lot of people saying, ‘The chaos is better.’”

the administration’s aggressive antitrust enforcement

haaa (i dont doubt corporations believe it they are very sensitive)

Hey they’ve stopped a couple potential mergers, Spirit and Jet Blue for one.

Spirit-Jeb Blue?

ha, jinx

yeah i guess doing anything at all does qualify as aggressive these days

And so, interestingly, there’s a lot of people saying, ‘The chaos is better.’”

"interestingly" -- fuck you

Jeb I’m sure is blue

Compared to even the Obama administration Biden’s is practically Teddy Roosevelt reincarnated.

reading the tea leaves of quotes from one lobbyist saying we might actually like the chaos better is an indication that they do not in fact like the chaos, which also stands to reason as chaos is by nature bad for established entities

Yeah, if chaos were good it would not be chaos.

I hear it's a ladder

there could be a situation where the level of regulation was so high under biden that it was actually worse for big biz than the chaos and low regulation of trump, but obvs were not nearly there, however its important consider that corporate executives are huge babies who are likely to throw a tantrum if anyone tells them they cant do exactly what they want all the time

It's always wild to me that you can just call yourself the US Chamber of Commerce.

Chaos is good and fine, there’s this little thing called the invisible hand

It's always wild to me that you can just call yourself the US Chamber of Commerce.

i'm always fruitlessly searching for polls that ask people if they think the US Chamber of Commerce is a government entity. it must be at least 33%

US Chamber of Commerce is the name of my dog

"And I know you hate me, and you got the right to kill me now
And I wouldn't blame you if you do
But you ought to thank me, before I die
For the gravel in ya gut and the spit in ya eye
'Cause I'm the son of a bitch that named you the US Chamber of Commerce."

if chaos were good it would not be chaos.

Don't we have chaotic good / chaotic neutral / chaotic evil in our cosmology here? I thought we were supposed to be nerds.

U.S. Chamber at the controls

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E3GBoXTVgAYee97.jpg

Radios appear

Whoopsie:

When former President Donald Trump posted a $175 million bond in New York on Monday, it appeared that he had evaded a financial crisis. He had paused enforcement of the more than $460 million judgment against him following a civil fraud trial, while his appeal is pending.

But the surety bond was missing vital information typically included in those filings, experts say. These standard elements include documents related to power of attorney for the bond provider, Knight Specialty Insurance Company, a financial statement from the company and a certificate of solvency from the Department of Financial Services....

On Wednesday, the New York Supreme Court clerk's office returned to Trump's attorneys the bond filing "for correction." There was no reason publicly specified in the request for correction.

Adam Pollock, a former assistant attorney general in New York, said, "This bond is deficient for a number of reasons."

"Including that the company doesn't appear to be licensed in New York and doesn't appear to have enough capital to make this undertaking," Pollock said."....

Knight's compliance officer, Mike Pepitone, said that there are a number of insurance companies that do not hold a license in every state, but a company is able to write a bond in other states where they are not licensed on what he said is called "an excess and surplus lines basis."

"For court bonds, as regulated by the CPLR, the law is clear about in-state license requirement," said Pollock, who noted that there are surety bonds used in other industries like construction that would not be subject to that rule.

Shah initially said that the company had in fact submitted a financial statement with the bond. However, during a conversation the following day, Pepitone said the financial statement was not supposed to be a part of the filing and was "not willing" to share it with CBS.

The whole thing is very amusing and if the NY Supreme Court is already going "Yeah, about that," well well.

😬

The company also does not appear to meet a restriction under New York insurance law barring companies from putting more than 10% of their capital at risky.

why do plain ol’ typos make me lol

*wriggle*

the little known king of subprime car loans going out of business cause he made trump a loan which he immediately defaulted on would be another perfect trump story

Really would!