The president-elect of the United States got up bright and early this morning, and turned to the twitter machine to declare this.
The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2016
The man is still obsessed over this rebuke, and the sheer pettiness of which I hear is highly overrated
, is appalling. Artists and comedians and office workers hanging around the water cooler are going to be saying mean things about you for years to come, Donald; they’ve already been saying them for decades. If the musical is so awful, then you’re supposed to be less concerned about it, not worrying over it for days.
What the Donald ought to be worrying over, and what we all should we be concerned about, is that the president-elect of the United States had to pay up $25 fucking million dollars to settle a major fraud case against him. Look at the opening graf on that story. This is what ought to concern him, that some press outlets are finally beginning to grow a spine.
President-elect Donald Trump, who has repeatedly bragged that he never settles lawsuits despite a long history of doing so, has agreed to a $25 million settlement to end the fraud cases pending against his defunct real estate seminar program, Trump University.
That clause is a thing of beauty: it’s completely unnecessary if the point is to simply state the dry bald legal facts, but the Washington Post thought it worthwhile to simultaneously sting him for being a braggart and a liar. That’s what ought to have him bolting awake and racing to vent on Twitter.
I take little consolation in that, though, because I can guess why he’s less concerned about losing $25 million. He’s planning to loot the presidency for everything it’s worth. Look what he’s also done lately:
President-elect Donald Trump met on Tuesday with three Indian business partners who are building a Trump-branded luxury apartment project near Mumbai, the Economic Times reported.
The meeting occurred despite Trump’s promises that his business ventures will be handled by his children, so as to avoid potential conflicts of interest as he assumes the presidency.
It’s kind of obvious that he has no intention of avoiding conflicts of interest. He’s going to milk this thing for everything it’s worth, and use the Oval Office to promote cheesy, tacky, overpriced real estate…if we’re lucky. If we’re not, he’s going to realize how much money he can make by selling out the country.
And hey, if he was devolving all of his business interests to his children so he could focus on, heh, “statesmanship”, how come he’s bringing his kids into meetings with heads of state?
We have elected a not-very-bright spoiled two-year-old to the presidency. This will not go well.
I posted about all of that days ago, and have continued to post about it. The coverage at Think Progress has been great, and no one there is mincing words about what is going on. They made sure to point out Trump’s lying about “never settling”, and included a link to a tweet by the pres-elect saying he really could have paid out much more.
And the mess of his ‘cabinet’ continues.
The White Nationalist Administration. (including the five horseman of the climate apocalypse.)
Have Fun, but Don’t Get Lost in Distraction.
[nitpick]I don’t care what CommonDreams or the NYT write, Abe Shinzō is not the head of state of Japan. That’s the Tenno.[/nitpick]
It’s dawning on some that we might use Trump’s sensitivity against him.
Sam Seder joked that we should all tweet about how much cooler Paul Ryan is, but now Cliff Schuster suggested that provoking GOP infighting might be a legitimate strategy.
Adding to that: these are really vindictive people, not just Trumpy.
Revenge is their primary means of enforcing loyalty, so they can’t give it up. We need to overload their enemies list until it segfaults.
Cliff Schecter!!!
Damn you Autocorrect!!
Yabbut Hillary used a private e-mail server, which is a much more important story. In other words, can you imagine if Hillary Clinton got sued for fraud and settled for $25 million? What do you think the news coverage will be like? This got one story, not the headline, and it will now be forgotten.
Yes, that bodes well. So, does the US president have to take office before he can be impeached for corruption / flaunting or breaking the law / idiocy / incompetence / wearing the wrong colour tie (take your pick)? If not you could really streamline the process and mitigate the damage that would otherwise be done.
In a related question, when the VP has to take over from the president, does he have to take office before he can be impeached for corruption / …?
Lastly, is there a limit to how many people can be kicked out of the White House for […] during a single term? Other than the line of succession being completely exhausted before someone someone tolerable turns up, that is.
BUt I thought the new government credo was “I’m just saying it like it is”? I thought people voted against all that silly “safe space” and “political correctness” stuff in favour of full freedom of speech?
We are doomed. What a clown show. Perhaps the NYAG can prosecute him because the USAG Sessions won’t.
$25 mil? Chump change compared to what he..sorry..his kids will rake in on this gig.
Mr Pence got off lightly. I have heard that critics in American theaters can be harsh.
Impeachment is for those in office. Otherwise, a person can face indictment, which is essentially the same except that it isn’t done by the US House of Reps (at the federal level of course). You could consider this streamlined in the sense that we don’t need to wait until Trump’s inauguration on January 20 to charge him, because we don’t need the House (which is majority Republican) to do it and pass it to the Senate (which is also majority Republican) to conduct a trial. It wouldn’t be streamlined in the sense that the whole process will almost certainly not be finished before inauguration day, at which point the legislature is the only thing formally authorized to make those charges, so you’d more or less have to start over.
The VP takes office immediately, but you don’t need to wait for anything. You could’ve gotten started with that at any time, while you were also impeaching the president for instance. It’s not something that only (or usually) applies to the president, but also applies to other officials including the VP.
There’s no limit, including the line of succession. Maybe there would be a special election. (Perhaps the House could do that itself, once it has a new Speaker…? No clue if there are provisions for this.) But that doesn’t mark the beginning/end of “a single term” in the normal sense of the four year term length between regular general elections.
The Hamilton’s behavior wasn’t terrible. They were telling Pence to not be terrible. They should have used Twitter.
Last night’s SNL owes me a royalty check *smirk*
Their Trump character told their Pence character (paraphrasing) “they’ll never impeach me, because you’re worse”.
Pretty much the comment I made around here yesterday, that Drumph only picked Pence to be a safety net, to prevent getting impeached, since no matter how awful Drumph becomes, he knows everyone hates Pence even more.
@consciousness razor #12
Checking, it looks like there are 17 people in the current line of succession[1] but most of the positions that put you in the line would be replaced should they become President. In a “one after another” scenario where Trump is booted, then Pence, then Ryan, etc. the de facto line would be a string of VPs and Speakers depending on if two came close enough together to beat the appointment of a new VP.
[1] It would be 18, but one isn’t a natural-born citizen.
I love how the ethical line keeps getting defined downward.
Handing the business ventures to the kids does nothing to avoid conflicts of interest. They need to be handed to an independent trustee that makes decisions without the consent or knowledge of the president. Handing them to his own kids whom he effectively controls is meaningless. And yet he can’t even manage that.
Michael Moore was prescient enough to predict Trump’s election. He has also now predicted that Trump will not last the full term — he will either be impeached, or he’ll just quit and walk away (which is my guess).
From what I’ve seen, handing his businesses to his kids is like handing a loaded gun to a monkey.
Ivanka might have enough on the ball to keep things going.
Dreamers talk of impeachment, but that’s just a dream. Since the conflict of interest laws don’t apply to the president or vice president, none of this is against the law, or has anything to do with an impeachable offense. He can be fully active and running his far-flung businesses without penalty. If being unethical were an impeachable offense, no president would last a full term.
Slightly off topic:)
With all the anti-everybody except Trumpers, I have always opposed bullying in any shape or form. Physically if required. Anybody know where I can buy a really big safety pin???
Slightly off topic:)
With all the anti-everybody except Trumpers, I have always opposed bullying in any shape or form. Physically if required. Anybody know where I can buy a really big colorful safety pin???
tomh:
You’re wrong. Just learned this myself: emolument.
Double Plus Ungood News.
I wouldn’t hold out much hope of it working, especially in light of “Who Cares?“, but it’s best to be as accurate as possible.
Pence (the Dense) is probably even nastier than Trump (the Chump).
Pence basically invented the Republican Party’s war on Planned Parenthood while he was in Congress. He wants Roe v. Wade to be overturned. He signed every anti-abortion bill that crossed his desk as governor of Indiana.
But Pence signed one anti-abortion bill in March of this year that was so extreme, even some pro-life Republicans opposed it. And it was eventually blocked from going into effect by a federal judge for violating women’s right to choose.
The law did something truly bizarre. It would have basically forced women to seek funerary services for a fetus — whether she’d had an abortion or a miscarriage, and no matter how far along the pregnancy was.
The law Pence backed would have required all fetal tissue to be cremated or buried, an unprecedented measure in state law. The law also banned abortion if the fetus had a “disability” — which would have denied women the right to end a pregnancy even in case of serious fetal anomalies.
http://www.vox.com/2016/7/14/12190380/mike-pence-trump-vice-president-abortion-funerals-fetuses
@ #22
What did I say that’s wrong? I said that the federal conflict of interest laws specifically exempt the president and vice president entirely, (and also members of Congress from most of its provisions). You’re talking about a Constitutional Clause meant to prevent US officials from accepting titles of nobility or outright bribes from foreign governments. The idea that staying at a Trump hotel, “looks like a gift,” as your source puts it, is stretching logic beyond all reason.
It’s funny how, after spending years targeting Barack Obama in the media, he doesn’t seem to realize that being The President Of The United States means endless books, cartoons, and critiques. Some will be valid and some will be mean, but when you’re a pusblister like Trump, they’re all going to hurt.
He stepped out from under his rock and shouted “SHINE A LIGHT ON ME”
OK.
You’ve got to bet that right now thanks to his “Hamilton” reaction, there are playwrights feverishly scribbling musicals called “Trump!” or “Trumpty Dumpty!” and broadway’s problem is going to be figuring out which ones to run where, not whether it’s going to make the POTUS explode into a twitter-storm of brilliant marketing for them. Maybe Barbara Streisand should consult to the new administration regarding: marketing genius, how to.
President of the United States is such a public figure it’s probably impossible to slander one. Again, Trump should know, given the shit he said about Obama.
The Constitution doesn’t specify only titles of nobility and “outright bribes” (whatever those are). Trump would be blatantly violating his responsibility to act in the interests of the US, when he corruptly decides to favor those have lined his pockets. There is no stretching of logic here. The Constitution explicitly aims at a variety of different corrupt practices like that, any of which would qualify, which are described in very general terms to allow for a wide array of circumstances. This is simply about what’s required for the president to be charged of anything, not tried or removed from office or whatever else. Such criteria are not meant to be especially limiting in their interpretation, because much of that work is rightly done throughout the rest of the process (if it even occurs). So, Congress could formally consent to it, they could impeach him for it, or they could fail to do their jobs and face the consequences of that — I don’t see another valid option here.
He might, of course, be impeached for all sorts of other things too. So it would be wrong to imply (as you seemed to be doing) that the “dream” of impeachment (which I agree is very unlikely soon after inauguration) hinges on those specific types of charges.
What concerns me more than Trump lining his pockets at our expense is who he is picking for his cabinet. Many of those named are the hawkiest of the hawks. Some of these men seem to be perpetually spoiling for a fight. Trump campaigned on not getting the U.S. in more useless wars, but he didn’t say anything about useful ones, whatever those may be. My best guess at the moment is that Trump will start picking fights with Iran and their leadership will rightfully conclude that the only way to prevent themselves from being attacked is to go nuclear. This ‘logic’ can also go the other way. Trump, goaded by his advisors, may decide that it’s better to attack Iran sooner rather than wait for them to eventually get their own atomic weapons. Seeing how easily he’s offended I believe a Trump war is inevitable.
Since Trump doesn’t recognise the concept of “facts”, why should confronting him with actuality make any difference.
Amurca is a murdochracy.
Yeah, I’ve noticed that too. They are war mongers and extremists.
1. War is good for business!!! A lot of those trillions of dollars spent on the last two ended up at American companies. We were even paying for mercenaries, Blackwater.
2. Between the paranoid kooks, haters, and Big Business, there is going to be a lot of support for a pointless war somewhere.
Maybe Iran.
He must have spent eight years sitting on his own in an empty office, playing patience.
By being elected, Berlusconi both managed to avoid jail AND rescue the financial fortunes of his crumbling empire.
Also, Trump is the president, he’s The Leader, so of course it’s “impolite” to speak against him or even point out that he’s inconsistent or an outright liar. You don’t speak ill of the Leader, because he’s the Leader. He knows his followers, and he can play them like a violin.
Sojourner, there with you. I put up with bullies in public school, but I damn sure don’t have to put up with them now! I’m planning on registering as Muslim if this registry goes through.
Hairhead, that’s my bet, too.
Re: conciousness razor (#12):
Damn, foiled by bureaucratic overhead. Still, it might be handy to get some forms ready. The sort of form where you just fill in a name, check a few boxes – ‘corruption’, ‘idiocy’, ‘ugly tie’, for example – and a few labelled lines for the signatures of approval. (Ah, if only it was that simple…)
Re: F.O. (#32):
I’m pretty sure Trump’s fans will play themselves. They’re happy to indulge in any conspiracy theory that makes the opposition* look bad and probably don’t need any input from their beloved leader to come up with new material.
*Whoever they might be. Possibly everyone. No, probably.
I am pretty sure that he is going to have a hard time getting use to the fact that he can control his followers and supporters (but maybe not his cabinet) but is unable to have much of an effect on his opposition despite winning the election. He can think being the president is like being a CEO of a corporation are the same but there are some important differences. One of which is there is no tame board of directors to not worry about there are the voters or share holders the public as a whole.
The news media will probably not discourage it because it will help “circulation” delivering eyeballs and selling advertising.
how can he not step over the ethical line he hasn’t seemed to have been able to stop himself so far in his carrier.
Push his way any way he can and settle the law suits and still come out with more than you started with.
Not sure that will work the same when you are POTUS.
uncle frogy
F.O. wrote:
The instant transition is amazing. During the Bush years, it was unpatriotic to criticise Bush because he was president (and criticism was treason). Obama becomes president, and it’s no longer unpatriotic and it became their patriotic duty to criticise him. Trump is elected, and it’s wrong to criticise again.
I’m surprised no one is worried that Trump branded properties will become targets for terrorism. I wouldn’t stay at a Trump branded hotel in Mumbai, or New York for that matter. It’s too obvious a target. Attacking such a property is not just a way of fomenting terror, but also attacking the US and its government. One thing the World Trade Center attack showed us it is that terrorists are extremely concerned with symbolism.
Why would they attack the Trump brand? Trump is the best recruiting tool they have. And if they do… no one cares.
tomh wrote:
To make Trump retaliate, which would also be good for recruiting.
@ #39
He’s good for recruiting already, without a couple of nukes dropped on them. But hey, who knows what anybody will do. Especially Trump.
We got Berlusconi for 20 years, and what we got afterwards was a “center-left” government that brought on the War on the Poor, and with enthusiasm.
Eventually we got rid of him, more or less, but we didn’t learn the lesson.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/21/if-berlusconi-is-like-trump-what-can-italy-teach-america
And then Trump will have a Twitter press conference to say again that he never settles court cases, and his followers will believe him.