In the lead up to the 2016 election, a colleague was convinced that Trump was going to win, and was all doom and gloom about it. “Tut-tut!” said I knowingly, “he won’t possibly win- and not only that, but he will destroy the Republican Party as he goes down in flames, to the point that it will never recover!” Something like that anyway.
I certainly had egg on my face when he won- but as of now, I like to think that I stand a reasonable chance of having been half right before all is said and done!
― epistantophus, Friday, 22 March 2024 03:48 (one month ago) link
It’s weird, but one of the ridiculous things about Trump is his obsession with the media and how he is covered in it. He can’t separate the topics in his mind even if he tries. xp
― Requiem for a Dream: The Musical! (Dan Peterson), Friday, 22 March 2024 03:59 (one month ago) link
It’s what you get when you elect a pathological narcissist as president.
― Requiem for a Dream: The Musical! (Dan Peterson), Friday, 22 March 2024 04:02 (one month ago) link
He should offer up top secret documents as collateral, let the state of NY grapple with some cool nuke plans.
― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Friday, 22 March 2024 04:09 (one month ago) link
So this dumbass just boasted that he *does* have $500 million in cash?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 March 2024 13:27 (one month ago) link
Keep talking, Donnie
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 22 March 2024 13:29 (one month ago) link
SNL was funny back when Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller, Victoria Jackson, Rob Schneider and Jim Bruer were on it
― President Keyes, Friday, 22 March 2024 13:29 (one month ago) link
Weird aside about that Jon Lovitz sketch. I had a family friend at the time who used to go around saying "yeah, that's the ticket." He was in his teens and I was about 6 years old, so I didn't have the frame of reference for SNL. But I looked up to this kid and started saying it on my own. Trump's screed led me to look up the Lovitz bit on YouTube, and as soon as he started talking, I realized that this was the origin of that phrase.
― peace, man, Friday, 22 March 2024 13:45 (one month ago) link
....I thought it was a three stooges thing...
― m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Friday, 22 March 2024 13:46 (one month ago) link
Good point. Lovitz didn't create the phrase, but I'm pretty sure that's where my friend got it. I remember it coming into my lexicon in 1985 or 86.
― peace, man, Friday, 22 March 2024 13:50 (one month ago) link
...I think a similar thing happened with "you dirty rat"... originally a 30s gangster line (cagney? robinson?), but had a later revival in the 80s, maybe also from snl?
― m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Friday, 22 March 2024 14:09 (one month ago) link
I think maybe “you dirty rat” was reintroduced into the popular lexicon by the fast-talking Michael Keaton character in “Johnny Dangerously”?
― henry s, Friday, 22 March 2024 15:18 (one month ago) link
and bugs bunny probably.
― scott seward, Friday, 22 March 2024 15:27 (one month ago) link
i feel like rich little kept things alive for decades. definitely bogey.
― scott seward, Friday, 22 March 2024 15:28 (one month ago) link
Also "You dirty rat" was famously not actually said on screen.
― President Keyes, Friday, 22 March 2024 15:29 (one month ago) link
you dirty rat = cagney impersonators
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVFRI0h5NFw
― just like Christopher Wray said (brownie), Friday, 22 March 2024 15:38 (one month ago) link
The line from Blonde Crazy (1931) is "Oh, that dirty, double-crossin' rat! I'd like to get my hooks on him. I'd tear him to pieces!" Hack impressions reduced it to "You dirty rat!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXxZCrM04uI
― Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Friday, 22 March 2024 16:43 (one month ago) link
Also, from Taxi! (1932): "Come out and take it, ya dirty, yellow-bellied rat, or I'll give it to ya through the door!"
― Kim Kimberly, Friday, 22 March 2024 16:54 (one month ago) link
love how this thread is devolving
― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 22 March 2024 17:25 (one month ago) link
trump: a dirty rat
― schrodingers cat was always cool (Hunt3r), Friday, 22 March 2024 17:44 (one month ago) link
buncha headlines today about how Trump just made billions from some merger, I'm sure that's legit
― frogbs, Friday, 22 March 2024 17:45 (one month ago) link
https://images-cdn.bridgemanimages.com/api/1.0/image/600wm.REU.48410580.7055475/8498305.jpg
― President Keyes, Friday, 22 March 2024 17:46 (one month ago) link
Theoretically he has, but not exactly. Two good threads by Mitchell Epner with the details:
https://bsky.app/profile/mitchellepner.bsky.social/post/3koc6yudg7c2l
https://bsky.app/profile/mitchellepner.bsky.social/post/3kocdvboqms23
TL; DR: lots of restrictions and even his own hand-picked board would basically be risking their own money in general if they gave him everything, and even then the value itself is not exactly clear.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 22 March 2024 18:03 (one month ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNwPWQcnypo
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 22 March 2024 18:06 (one month ago) link
That said, Epner notes the board can potentially do something but there are still weird pitfalls (more in his replies, which may not be open to all — a key point, believe it or not, is that Don Jr can’t be involved). Backtrack from here:https://bsky.app/profile/mitchellepner.bsky.social/post/3kocknljjkv2b
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 22 March 2024 18:47 (one month ago) link
So DWAC (the company Trump is sweatily hoping to merge Truth Social with) lost 13% of its already imaginary share price today. As someone said on Bluesky, "remind me, is it a good idea to announce that a pump and dump is a pump and dump before the dump phase?"
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Friday, 22 March 2024 22:14 (one month ago) link
"You've got to prime the pump before the dump...Prime The Pump...what a phrase...I invented it... nobody said it before me...Prime The Pump before the dump...such massive dumping...many people are saying they've never seen a Pump and Dump so large..."
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 22 March 2024 22:21 (one month ago) link
Proverbs 16:18 KJV - Pump goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a dump.
― CEO Greedwagon (Neanderthal), Friday, 22 March 2024 22:23 (one month ago) link
“TRUMP PUMP DUMP! TRUMP PUMP DUMP!” to reifenstahl-ish footage of gop convention
― schrodingers cat was always cool (Hunt3r), Friday, 22 March 2024 22:28 (one month ago) link
The thread is taking a turn that reminds me of dialogue in a George Saunders story, but I’m not looking it up
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 22 March 2024 22:35 (one month ago) link
I don’t know his work yet, but being from Texas, going to Mines, then doing straight documentation, and then being a creative writer is a story itself
― schrodingers cat was always cool (Hunt3r), Friday, 22 March 2024 22:51 (one month ago) link
When you've got even Charles Gasparino going 'uh' you know it's all bad over there in Trump finance world. A lot of usual whining but this bit is interesting:
As I first reported, Trump advisers are weighing whether to turn over all the properties to James and let her figure out the complexities of ownership, including his limited partners, until she gets to Trump’s share. By the time that happens, the case may have been successfully overturned on appeal.
boldstrategycotton.gif etc.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 24 March 2024 22:17 (one month ago) link
― calstars, Sunday, 24 March 2024 22:20 (one month ago) link
I mean, it could be, right?
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 24 March 2024 22:29 (one month ago) link
He did claim to invent the phrase "prime the pump." Gah, kill me now, this timeline....
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 24 March 2024 22:58 (one month ago) link
I made up the quote using parts taken from real quotes and known tropes.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 24 March 2024 23:08 (one month ago) link
Credit where due: this is funny, and imagining the all-night stream of Truth Social posts it will inspire is even funnier.
Congratulations, Donald. Quite the accomplishment. pic.twitter.com/nyDivqPwoI— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 25, 2024
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Monday, 25 March 2024 02:59 (one month ago) link
the fix is in
Breaking: New York appeals court judge grants stay of judgment in Trump's fraud case, gives him 10 days to post reduced bond of $175 million. pic.twitter.com/yyq3gPO5DW— Graham Kates (@GrahamKates) March 25, 2024
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Monday, 25 March 2024 15:32 (one month ago) link
*wriggle*
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Monday, 25 March 2024 15:33 (one month ago) link
Eh, not completely. He wanted to only pay $100 million for the bond, and $175 million has gotta hurt on top of the near $100 million he kicked down already for Carroll. Being down $300 million when his actual estimated worth is around $350 million is, how you say, amusing.
Per NYT reporting out of the NY court case hearing, Trump's lead lawyer just got rubbished big time. Probably not a good idea when the judge is saying things like this!
Merchan is now asking Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche about his background as an assistant United States attorney, and telling him that he should have known that he could immediately seek the documents he wanted from federal prosecutors. “For whatever reason, you waited until two months before trial,” the judge says.--Justice Merchan is taking it a step further: suggesting that the Trump team was aware it wanted documents and didn’t ask for them for a long time.
--
Justice Merchan is taking it a step further: suggesting that the Trump team was aware it wanted documents and didn’t ask for them for a long time.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 25 March 2024 15:36 (one month ago) link
$175m will not hurt. he can put up someone else's money at that amount. this eliminates the PR problem of losing real estate, but also eliminates the actual problem in an election year of losing all his cash.
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Monday, 25 March 2024 15:39 (one month ago) link
he can put up someone else's money at that amount.
Well, someone actually has to give it to him first. The Carroll bond was secured by collateral in some big Schwab account, per that paperwork.
Also in reading the order, the independent monitor plus the new director of compliance roles stay in place, which delights me because they clearly hate that.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 25 March 2024 15:41 (one month ago) link
little thread on how worthless Truth Social actually is
1. Can we talk for a minute about how poorly Truth Social is performing?In its November 2021 pitch to investors, Truth Social estimated it would have 41 million users in 2023 and 56 million in 2024It actually had 8.9 million "sign-ups" through 2/14/24 pic.twitter.com/itRPHP5HOs— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) March 25, 2024
― frogbs, Monday, 25 March 2024 16:02 (one month ago) link
Anyway, Merchan rules from the bench, dismisses all the defense attempts, and the hush-money trial is now set for April 15th. It's pretty clear in his words to Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche earlier that any further attempt on their part to delay things will get shot down.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 25 March 2024 16:17 (one month ago) link
(The 15th is three weeks from today, etc. etc.)
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 25 March 2024 16:18 (one month ago) link
donnie rambling outside court at the moment.
― scott seward, Monday, 25 March 2024 16:21 (one month ago) link
He'll be doing a lot of that over the next couple of months!
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 25 March 2024 16:24 (one month ago) link
My freedom I hold dearHow years ago in days of oldWhen greatness filled the air'T was in the darkest depths of 'MericaI won a election so fairBut Biden, and the evil onesCrept up and slipped away with it
― President Keyes, Monday, 25 March 2024 16:34 (one month ago) link
Ramble, Donnie, ramble
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 25 March 2024 16:40 (one month ago) link
speaking of truth social, i keep reading that trump is about to make 3.5 billion off it? i'm a financial dummy (on purpose - i believe the love of money actually is the root of all evil), but even if truth social is worthless and he only gets 1.5 billion of it (or whatever), why can't he use that money to pay off the hundreds of millions he owes? is it because it's due this month? i feel like ol donny would be able to convince someone who has too much money to cover him for now and then pay them back with the truth social windfall, but that must be wrong because no one's talking about it and it seems obvious
― z_tbd, Monday, 25 March 2024 17:06 (one month ago) link