US Politics: Ruthless Aggression

[IheartIheartTesla]

I am hoping GA of 2020 is like the IN of 2008, where a good ground game and GOTV made up for the difference the polls were showing (Obama down by ~ 1-2 points, but with 15 field offices to McCain's 0). Slightly different here, but maybe there is a mass registration drive or something we are missing.. Keep in mind also that there are usually 1-2 states that the pollsters and aggregators get wrong, might as well be GA.

Not including Texas here because of inertia. Just the sheer number of people involved makes it harder to change simply by GOTV efforts.

[Zorral]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump--white-men-boat-parade/2020/09/27/dcd7bdd8-fe79-11ea-8d05-9beaaa91c71f_story.html

Quote

 

...  he remembers the years he spent as a lowly worker, making other people millions of dollars. He thinks Trump has that same mentality....

... Bickley and Karr rolled their eyes at the notion that Biden understands them. As they see it, Biden has spent his entire career in elective office with a generous salary, posh benefits and opportunities to become wealthy. Trump’s right to call him weak, they said. Although Trump was born into a wealthy family, they see him as someone who knows how to build a business and understands the pressure of trying to make payroll....

 

Compare and contrast with:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/politics/donald-trump-father-will/?

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....By the end of 1990, Donald Trump’s financial problems were spiraling out of control, and he increasingly looked to his inheritance as his salvation....

....His casino empire at the time was in “severe financial distress,” according to a report by New Jersey regulators, the Trump Shuttle airline was losing millions of dollars per month, and his latest project, his crown jewel called the Taj Mahal, was cannibalizing business from his other casinos....

...the debts kept mounting, and Trump relied even more heavily on the man who had repeatedly bailed him out: his father. Fred Trump Sr. sent a lawyer to one of his son’s casinos with a check for $3.35 million, which paid for 670 gambling chips worth $5,000 a piece, according to a New Jersey regulator’s report. The maneuver funneled desperately needed cash into the casino....

 

And etc.  Such a good businessman who understands business and pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps without any help or bail-outs from anybody.
 

[ThinkerX]

not sure if this counts as a 'glimmer of hope' or 'hype'

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/courts-trump-has-stacked-the-federal-bench-but-he-s-not-winning-many-election-court-battles/ar-BB19tfgJ?ocid=ob-fb-enus-580&fbclid=IwAR3xlOjyPpb83h6Y9qRhA6s1l7Co-Mf0GYryg9FrvhHrM0WjeBtrrhtjLJc

 

Facing a persistent polling deficit against Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Trump and Republican allies have undertaken an array of efforts to stop election officials from making voting easier during the coronavirus pandemic. The President fogs the autumn air with groundless complaints of fraud while lawyers on his behalf challenge such adjustments as mail-in voting, expanded use of ballot drop-boxes, and relaxed deadlines for counting ballots that show up late in the mail.

 

But courts in red and blue states alike have repeatedly rebuffed them. They've done it for the same reason that FBI Director Christopher Wray and longtime Republican election lawyer Ben Ginsberg have rebuffed him in recent days: decades of fruitless searching have shown that widespread election fraud simply does not exist.

"An utter dearth of absentee fraud," wrote US District Judge J. Michelle Childs in slamming Republican insistence on witnesses for absentee voting in a South Carolina case. She concluded the witness requirement would expose vulnerable people to coronavirus.

No surprise, perhaps, since President Barack Obama put Childs on the federal bench. But Republican-appointed judges have pushed back, too.

"Generalized," "speculative," "unpersuasive," was how US District Judge James Mahan characterized GOP claims in a case challenging Nevada's decision to adapt to the pandemic by mailing ballots to every registered voter. Mahan, appointed by President George W. Bush, threw the case out.

Even judges selected by Trump himself have declined to help. In Michigan, US District Judge Stephanie Dawkins Davis blocked a state ban on hired drivers taking voters to the polls. In Pennsylvania, US District Judge Nicholas Ranjan deferred to the state Supreme Court's decision to extend absentee ballot deadlines and permit the use of drop-boxes for those ballots.

[Gaston de Foix]

3 hours ago, DMC said:

Lots of polls out today - all Big 3 networks came out with some, as well as NYT/Siena.  The most interesting to me were the CBS/YouGov polls on NC/SC/Georgia.  Biden is up only 2 in NC, but down only 1 in Georgia.  Also, while Biden's only up 2 in NC, Cunningham is up 10.  However, both Biden and Cunningham are at 48% - the difference is Trump is at 46 while Tillis is at 38.  Then there's SC, where Trump is up 10 but Harrison is only down 1 (45/44) - while in Georgia Perdue is up 5 (47/42).  Now try making sense of all that.

I realize this was a rhetorical suggestion but here's how I'm trying to rationalize it.  Some states have more Trump supporters than Republicans and some states have the opposite (obviously there is enormous overlap). 

NC:  Cunningham = vet/unknown quality > Biden = known quantity - negative partisanship. 

SC:  Trump support > Graham reputation for political opportunism/Republican support. 

Georgia:  Republican support > Trump support > Biden support.   

 

[Martell Spy]

White House chief of staff doubles down on attacks on FBI director

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/27/politics/mark-meadows-christopher-wray-voting/index.html

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Washington (CNN)White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Sunday delivered a pointed rebuke of FBI Director Chris Wray after he testified that there isn't evidence of coordinated national voter fraud, despite President Donald Trump's baseless claims otherwise.

"To suggest that there is a process that is full of integrity is trying to make a verdict before you've actually heard the case," Meadows told CBS' "Face the Nation" of Wray's testimony on Capitol Hill last week.
"That's my problem with Director Wray. They need to investigate it, and make sure that the voting populace -- makes sure that their vote counts and no one else's does," he continued.
The FBI did not comment on Meadows' remarks Sunday.
Wray had told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee there has been voter fraud at the local level "from time to time," but maintained, "we have not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise."

 

 

[Zorral]

16 minutes ago, Gaston de Foix said:

I realize this was a rhetorical suggestion but here's how I'm trying to rationalize it.  Some states have more Trump supporters than Republicans and some states have the opposite (obviously there is enormous overlap). 

But in every state no matter how the majority of voters lean, all the police are all in with shoggoth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/99-reasons-to-dump-trump/ny-edit-the-cuba-time-machine-20200927-ph3cq6argndbbpabrwm2cbs6zu-story.html

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....Trump’s new Cold War at a time when Communism globally is pushing up daisies looks especially ridiculous alongside his entreaties to Vladimir Putin’s Russia — Putin makes no secret of his desire to restore perceived days of Soviet glory — and his economic and political courting of Kim Jong Un, who runs the planet’s only truly totalitarian Stalinist state....

So what's gonna happen here, as the teachers vote no confidence in the mayor and stay home?  While already, due to the High Holy Days, the college/university students, the 'restaurant' scene, the illegal parties, weddings etc., from last week until now the new covid-19 infection cases have risen alarmingly, along with hospitalization and deaths, including 3 rabbis.

 

[Fragile Bird]

Lol, CNN is reporting the NYT has obtained 15 years of Trump’s taxes. Among other things it shows that Trump paid zero in federal income taxes in 10 of those 15 years and less than $1,000 in the other 5.  That his businesses are in far worse shape than many speculated, that he goes to his properties constantly so that those properties can run up bills for the officials and the Secret Service folks who follow him around because they need the money.  And that Trump has $300 M in loans he personally guaranteed coming due, and possibly $100 M that might need to be paid back to the IRS for improperly taken tax refunds.

The NYT says it has a whole series of stories coming out.

[maarsen]

9 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Lol, CNN is reporting the NYT has obtained 15 years of Trump’s taxes. Among other things it shows that Trump paid zero in federal income taxes in 10 of those 15 years and less than $1,000 in the other 5.  That his businesses are in far worse shape than many speculated, that he goes to his properties constantly so that those properties can run up bills for the officials and the Secret Service folks who follow him around because they need the money.  And that Trump has $300 M in loans he personally guaranteed coming due, and possibly $100 M that might need to be paid back to the IRS for improperly taken tax refunds.

The NYT says it has a whole series of stories coming out.

I always suspected that he was up to his fake hair in debt. The frantic scrabbling to monetize everything around him shows that he has immense financial problems. But then he always has been a fool with his money.

[DMC]

14 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Lol, CNN is reporting the NYT has obtained 15 years of Trump’s taxes. Among other things it shows that Trump paid zero in federal income taxes in 10 of those 15 years and less than $1,000 in the other 5.

Only losers pay taxes.

[KingintheNorth4]

26 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Lol, CNN is reporting the NYT has obtained 15 years of Trump’s taxes. Among other things it shows that Trump paid zero in federal income taxes in 10 of those 15 years and less than $1,000 in the other 5.  That his businesses are in far worse shape than many speculated, that he goes to his properties constantly so that those properties can run up bills for the officials and the Secret Service folks who follow him around because they need the money.  And that Trump has $300 M in loans he personally guaranteed coming due, and possibly $100 M that might need to be paid back to the IRS for improperly taken tax refunds.

The NYT says it has a whole series of stories coming out.

Eat the rich.

[IheartIheartTesla]

I doubt it will change too many minds, but hopefully it will dominate the news cycle for 1 week and have Donnie playing defense. Would be great if Biden can use them in the debates as well.

This is something for surrogates like Bloomberg to use in attack ads in swing states, highlighting the difference between him and the Don.

[maarsen]

1 hour ago, KingintheNorth4 said:

Eat the rich.

Not much meat on Trump. He owes more than he has.

[Fez]

2 hours ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

I doubt it will change too many minds, but hopefully it will dominate the news cycle for 1 week and have Donnie playing defense. Would be great if Biden can use them in the debates as well.

This is something for surrogates like Bloomberg to use in attack ads in swing states, highlighting the difference between him and the Don.

It could maybe get back a few more Obama-Trump voters. One of the main thrusts of Obama's 2012 campaign after all was that Romney was an out-of-touch rich guy who didn't pay enough taxes. Though I'm not sure how many of the Obama-Trump voters who haven't come back to Biden are there that haven't drunk the kool-aid entirely.

[HoodedCrow]

Many Trumpers revel in his crudeness, lies, violent speech and mobster habits. He’s just like them. Except that he is not like them, he just knows how to manipulate them.

[Zorral]

It's such a remarkable, huge story and scoop that the NYT is providing that its story is the the lead story in the WaPo!  That's how big it is!  

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President Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and the same amount in 2017, and paid no taxes at all in several previous years, largely because his business empire has reported losing more money than it made, according to a new report in the New York Times.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-taxes/2020/09/27/8a58c618-010f-11eb-a2db-417cddf4816a_story.html

Please, Biden, make some hay with this!

As even at this very moment he's in such dreadful financial deceit, deception and dire straits, with loans and interest due, back taxes, etc., one must think the reason he's forcing the Secret Service to stay in his properties and pay HIM, this the only way he can get his hands on even any walking around cash,

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As the president wages a re-election campaign that polls say he is in danger of losing, his finances are under stress, beset by losses and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt coming due that he has personally guaranteed. Also hanging over him is a decade-long audit battle with the Internal Revenue Service over the legitimacy of a $72.9 million tax refund that he claimed, and received, after declaring huge losses. An adverse ruling could cost him more than $100 million.

The tax returns that Mr. Trump has long fought to keep private tell a story fundamentally different from the one he has sold to the American public. His reports to the I.R.S. portray a businessman who takes in hundreds of millions of dollars a year yet racks up chronic losses that he aggressively employs to avoid paying taxes. Now, with his financial challenges mounting, the records show that he depends more and more on making money from businesses that put him in potential and often direct conflict of interest with his job as president....

....The picture that perhaps emerges most starkly from the mountain of figures and tax schedules prepared by Mr. Trump’s accountants is of a businessman-president in a tightening financial vise.

Most of Mr. Trump’s core enterprises — from his constellation of golf courses to his conservative-magnet hotel in Washington — report losing millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars year after year....

 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html?

Racketeers -- it's always the taxes . . . .

[Argonath Diver]

So many moderate-to-progressive person on my FB feed have shared the NYT story. Every single response by a conservative has been "Hey it's not his fault he skirted the dumb IRS rules." 

I am just baffled at how many people will not have their faith in this absolute wretch shaken. The man said four years ago he could kill someone in broad daylight and his voters wouldn't care. About the most honest thing he's said.

 

[S John]

5 minutes ago, Argonath Diver said:

So many moderate-to-progressive person on my FB feed have shared the NYT story. Every single response by a conservative has been "Hey it's not his fault he skirted the dumb IRS rules." 

I am just baffled at how many people will not have their faith in this absolute wretch shaken. The man said four years ago he could kill someone in broad daylight and his voters wouldn't care. About the most honest thing he's said.

 

Yea my parents basically applauded him on having good tax attorneys. I don’t get it. I often don’t attempt to drive my point home with them but I did this time. He is a billionaire. Each one of us (within the conversation of which my brother in law, sister, and wife were also in) pay more money INDIVIDUALLY than our billionaire - born into wealth and never wanted for a single damn thing - President of the United States - who, again, pays little to no actual taxes in the United States.

Pretty quickly got to the point where they say they are just so sick of politics. Which I’ve learned to mean, we cannot refute any of the things you have said but we are going to vote for Trump anyway. I honestly just kind of laugh about it at this point because we all live in the same state and myself, my wife, sister, and brother-in-law are gonna cancel their presidential votes 4-2, which is how I like to think about it in their particular case.

But in general, yea, I’m at a loss as to why so many average folks would seemingly take a bullet for this guy who has NO IDEA what it’s like to be a regular person in this country. Never has and never will. There is no end, they’ll excuse anything. Things that you’d condemn friends and family over, somehow this aged rich kid who wouldn’t give a single one of them the time of day if the cameras weren’t on gets a pass. Lots and lots of fundamentally decent people willing to excuse behaviors in Trump that they wouldn’t accept from their family or friends. It’s really remarkable.

I do understand it insofar as he makes a great show of being on their side, and being the only thing standing between them and whatever flavor of the week boogeyman. What is hard to wrap my head around is that there isn’t a line, or maybe I should say the line is ever-retreating. In practice he’s rarely held to have finally gone too far, and when he is he’s immediately forgiven and excuses are made for him.

[Kalbear]

22 minutes ago, Argonath Diver said:

So many moderate-to-progressive person on my FB feed have shared the NYT story. Every single response by a conservative has been "Hey it's not his fault he skirted the dumb IRS rules." 

I am just baffled at how many people will not have their faith in this absolute wretch shaken. The man said four years ago he could kill someone in broad daylight and his voters wouldn't care. About the most honest thing he's said.

 

The response to this should not be how little he paid. The thing that should constantly be spread is how pathetically bad his business acumen has been, how he did not make any money for 10 years, and what a pathetic loser he is. 

[Zorral]

But tax attorneys or no -- this at the end of that linked to section of the report put into the NYT today -- is something to seriously ponder in terms of his future -- why he's utterly desperate to stay in the WH:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html?

 

Quote

 

What’s more, the tax records show that Mr. Trump has once again done what he says he regrets, looking back on his early 1990s meltdown: personally guaranteed hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, a decision that led his lenders to threaten to force him into personal bankruptcy.

This time around, he is personally responsible for loans and other debts totaling $421 million, with most of it coming due within four years. Should he win re-election, his lenders could be placed in the unprecedented position of weighing whether to foreclose on a sitting president.

There is, however, a tax benefit for Mr. Trump. While business owners can use losses to avoid taxes, they can do so only up to the amount invested in the business. But by taking personal responsibility for that $421 million in debt, Mr. Trump would be able to declare that amount in losses in future years.

The balances on those loans had not been paid down by the end of 2018. And the businesses carrying the bulk of the debt — the Doral golf resort ($125 million) and the Washington hotel ($160 million) — are struggling, which could make it difficult to find a lender willing to refinance it.

The unresolved audit of his $72.9 million tax refund hangs over his head.

The broader economy promises little relief. Across the country, brick-and-mortar stores are in decline, and they have been very important to Trump Tower, which has in turn been very important to Mr. Trump. Nike, which rented the space for its flagship store in a building attached to Trump Tower and had paid $195.1 million in rent since the 1990s, left in 2018.

The president’s most recent financial disclosure reported modest gains in 2019. But that was before the pandemic hit. His already struggling properties were shut down for several months earlier this year. The Doral resort asked Deutsche Bank to allow a delay on its loan payments. Analysts have predicted that the hotel business will not fully recover until late 2023.

 

 

[DMC]

8 minutes ago, Kalibear said:

The thing that should constantly be spread is how pathetically bad his business acumen has been, how he did not make any money for 10 years, and what a pathetic loser he is. 

The fake news has been spreading this lie for years, what else is new?