Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

How stupid are these people?

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

The lights are all blinking red.

Everybody saw this coming.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

You are here: Home / Mercy, you know you signed on that dotted line

Mercy, you know you signed on that dotted line

by | 90 Comments

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Yes, but Hillary used inappropriate emoji in one of her emails:

The allegations of a quid pro quo between Trump and Florida Attorney General, improper use of the charity for personal benefit, and employment of the charity for political purposes have serious penalties beyond mere campaign optics—the possible consequences range from hefty fines to jail time.

[….]

“This reaches above a distraction for them due to the legal implications of it and long litigation possibility,” a former senior aide to Trump said. “Look, Donald signed those checks… he’s on there. He’s liable.”

Reader Interactions

90Comments

  1. 1.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    Heard Trump on the radio giving a speech at a rally this afternoon. It struck me listening to him how fascist he really sounds. America this, America that, Americans, this, Americans, that. If you took “America” or “Americans” out wherever you heard them, and stuck “German” or “Germans” in instead, it would sound like shit Hitler said. Sorry to Godwin the thread with the first post, but, well, there it is…

  2. 2.

    Jay B.

    Why would it matter though? Or rather, who would care? Decent people? They already are against him. This is the guy who signed his name to Trump University, an obvious, outright fraud. He’s bilked contractors and suckers for millions over the years. And the only people properly outraged are people who already hate his guts. Why would they be nervous about stealing money from charity? They do that as a matter of principle.

  3. 3.

    singfoom

    Yes, Trump needs to be pounded on this Foundation business. If anyone’s into podcasts, the latest episode of Vox’s The Weeds covers this and their basic point beyond the scandals that are covered in the article above is that Trump’s foundation isn’t much of a charitable foundation. As in, it doesn’t really do the things that other charities do, you know, help people…. There’s no cause that it’s dedicated to. It seems more like a way for him to avoid/deduct taxes.

    Team HRC needs to do a lot of oppo research on the Trump Foundation because it’s a pretty crazy difference. Clinton foundation clearly helped actual human beings. You can grouse about the quid that had no pro quo in regards to the Clinton Foundation’s donors, but it’s clearly an actual charity that helps people.

    Of course, the amount of words spent on the two foundations is squarely much larger on the Clinton side because ‘stormy, cloudy’ reasons.

    @Jay B.: I think it’s fair to say that there are decent people who ignore politics that will start looking into the election in the coming weeks that might be swayed by these facts. YMMV

  4. 4.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    If the Justice Department and FBI can investigate Clinton’s emails, they could at least launch an investigation into the quid pro quo and shady Trump Foundation dealings. They might not find anything they can prosecute on, but I would imagine such an investigation would generate news headlines for months. So, you know, that’s not all bad. There’s enough smoke there so lets see if we can find the fire. The Republicans certainly would not hold fire if they were in charge right now and the Clintons were under suspicion.

  5. 5.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    It does seem like it took a four-night shitstorm (the RNC convention) and the very positive DNC response two weeks later to move voters in a meaningful way.

    Otherwise, all too many Americans simply have the attention span (and taste for poop) of house flies.

    I anticipate as a country we will choose correctly (HRC), as we did in ’08 and ’12, but due largely to a decades long smear campaign against the Clintons, she is regarded as a corrupt person. I will be glad when this election is done.

  10. 10.

    singfoom

    The emojis were donors to the Clinton foundation and they asked for a customized version. But they had to make do with a standard version. Corruption!

  11. 11.

    Renie

    Whose responsibility is it to investigate this? Here in NYS our AG Schneiderman is going to do it but in Florida I doubt Bondi as AG is going to investigate herself and Trump? I recall the House Democrats asked Loretta Lynn to investigate but have heard nothing since then.

  13. 13.

    BruceJ

    If the Justice Department and FBI can investigate Clinton’s emails, they could at least launch an investigation into the quid pro quo and shady Trump Foundation dealings.

    Holy FSM on a chopstick can you imagine the howling volcanic shitstorm that would unleash in Congress and the right-wing ALL the media? Conducting an investigation of a major non-GOP party nominee during an election??? It would be Hitler times Stalin to the Acorn-th power.

    And it would be clearly Hillary’s fault because bothsides!

  15. 15.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Renie: That’s what I was asking. I assume that Trump University corruption is prosecuted at the state level which is why it’s interesting that Florida and Texas dropped investigations after they received donations from Trump. It would be great if this fraud could be looked into at the Federal level though.

  16. 16.

    Hal

    Nothing about any of these allegations, from Trump U to the charity to Trump’s character, is new. The media should have been on this month and months ago. Hell, Trump’s competitors should have done better opposition research. Now this shit is getting attention 7 weeks before the election?

  17. 17.

    Calouste

    Via TPM:

    The Commission on Presidential Debates on Monday announced the topics for the first presidential debate to be held on Sept. 26: America’s Direction, Achieving Prosperity and Securing America.

    TPM rightly calls it a Doozy.

  18. 18.

    BruceFromOhio

    I bribe you to stop investigating my business. Sounds like ‘the cost of doing business’ to me, just another expense line item! Shit, if I could capitalize it or write it off as a loss, or goodwill, I’d expect to see it in the next quarterly P&L statement. Who gives a ratfuck if it’s illegal.

  19. 19.

    JMG

    @Calouste: Meaningless words. Why not, economic, social and foreign policy. But of course, foreign policy now means “make sure that the demented mass murderer in my town is at least a white man.”

  20. 20.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    I hope Hillary comes into debate #1 with multiple verbal 2x6s and whacks Trumpy upside the head so many times that Trumpy looks like a cartoon character with stars blinking above his head, with pieces of wood scraps all around him and splinters sticking out from his wig.

  21. 21.

    MomSense

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    Absolutely. This is classic fascism. I cannot stress enough how hearing and seeing him and the people who support him has shaken me. My stepdad was Jewish from Hungary and his survival stories were terrifying. I also grew up with teachers and friends of my parents who were survivors of WWII- Jewish and resistance who shared so much about what it was like. And then there were the teachers who defected from the USSR and the Eastern bloc. They were all musicians, artists, writers, and theater people. I am haunted by their memories as I watch this election campaign.

    I think I shared here a few months ago that I went to a mini reunion dinner with some old friends I hadn’t seen since college and was horrified by the Trump support. Ive heard that kind of racism and vitriol before but not from them and not with such fervor. They would turn me in without hesitation. I have no doubt of this.

  22. 22.

    Jeffro

    @Jay B.:

    Why would it matter though? Or rather, who would care? Decent people? They already are against him. This is the guy who signed his name to Trump University, an obvious, outright fraud. He’s bilked contractors and suckers for millions over the years. And the only people properly outraged are people who already hate his guts. Why would they be nervous about stealing money from charity? They do that as a matter of principle.

    It matters because there are still folks out there (bless their hearts) who think the choices are equally bad. I’ll take every bit of evidence, every argument that can be made, to try and reach, then try and turn, every last one of them into Hillary voters. And while suckering innocent people by Trump U, not paying bills, etc is sleazy, some folks might say well, ‘buyer beware’. Outright bribing of an AG to not look into it? That might help a few folks see the light.

    Btw…on a side note about “every last outrage”…I’ll wait for the next open thread, but I had a very interesting experience w/ RW-dad and not-usually-RW-stepmom this weekend that I’ll throw out there in a bit and see if you all have had something similar happen. Sort of a Fox-Effect-by-osmosis thing…really eye-opening.

  23. 23.

    hovercraft

    @singfoom:
    From what I’ve heard it’s a way to promote his businesses, he makes a shitload of his money from renting out Mar a Largo, mostly for charity functions. So say the rotary fund of Balloon Juice is going to rent the place, he will ‘donate’ $ 5 or 50 K to the BJ to place an Ad in BJ Magazine for his club. So it’s a two for one, he gets the deduction, and he gets to promote his club for future business. Oh and by the way the place rents for something like $ 250 K per event. So it’s giving while drumming up business. So no real causes, because I guess they can’t afford the overhead, just a lot of business and trade groups.

  24. 24.

    Betty Cracker

    @Renie: Sadly, Loretta Lynn is a raving wingnut. Otherwise, she’d put Bondi on the express bus to Fist City. (I know it was a typo — I couldn’t resist. Sorry.)

  29. 29.

    Trentrunner

    Hitler didn’t become “Hitler” until someone gave him a country to run.

    So, yes, quibblers, Trump is not Hitler. Yet.

  30. 30.

    Tokyokie

    During the debates, I hope Hillary points out that der Trumpenführer’s refusal to disclose his tax filings and his plans to continue his business while in office clearly indicate that his first priority is to his wealth, not his country. Make America great again, my ass. My nearly invariable experience is that those who make the most ostentatious displays of their patriotism and their religiosity have neither love for country nor love for God.

  31. 31.

    Trentrunner

    I think it’s time for Hillary to use the “f” word.

    Fascist.

    If she loses, she will have the comfort of having been right.

    If she wins, she wins.

  34. 34.

    Renie

    @Calouste: Trump’s answers:

    America’s Direction = Make America Great
    Achieving Prosperity = I Make The Best Deals
    Securing America = Build the Wall

  35. 35.

    Miss Bianca

    @MomSense:

    I went to a mini reunion dinner with some old friends I hadn’t seen since college and was horrified by the Trump support. Ive heard that kind of racism and vitriol before but not from them and not with such fervor. They would turn me in without hesitation. I have no doubt of this.

    These are “friends”? What the hell happened to them?

    Meanwhile, I have Bernie-or-Busters in my FB feed posting things like some smug little Millenial beeyotch saying “this is what Hillary has to do to win Bernie voters” – and it’s all stuff she’s ALREADY COMMITTED TO DOING. And it’s a woman *my* age who’s posting this! I’m like, “you know what, despite the fact that HRC is ALREADY the candidate you want, based on what you say you want, the very fact that she’s NOT Trump ought to be resonating a little harder with you.” I swear, some of the frogs in the pot this electoral season don’t seem to have a fucking clue what’s going on or what’s at stake. Meanwhile, the water is heating up, slowly but surely…

  39. 39.

    Tokyokie

    @MomSense: One of my best friends from grade school (we later were college roommates, I was in his wedding, and we still stay in touch) was the son of a German Holocaust survivor. (Her family lived in southern Bavaria and all escaped to Switzerland in the early days of the Nazis’ rise to power.) Thinking back on the time I spent around his parents, I’ve only recently come to appreciate the bone-dry humor of his father and the take-no-shit-from-anyone-feistiness of his mom. If nothing else, she taught me the power of ridicule, how an honest dismissive laugh (and she has the best one I’ve ever heard) can cut a bullshit artist off at the knees. She’s in her 90s now, and somewhat infirm, but she’s apparently the staunchest Democrat in the Florida retirement community where she now lives. I’m sure der Trumpenführer would consider her a loser immigrant.

  42. 42.

    Botsplainer

    @MomSense:

    I’ve known too many Jews that fled lingering Russian resentment in the 80s (the USSR pretended to be above antisenitism, but it was still very much a part of the Russian psyche) to be blinkered to how bad things can be. I’ve also known several that fled Germany prior to 1936.

    Some of them had stories they were willing to share.

  44. 44.

    Patricia Kayden

    @JPL: Trump’s message has always been indistinguishable from a National Front speech. He started his campaign with racism against Mexicans, for goodness sake.

  45. 45.

    JPL

    @Renie: I mentioned that I had a gut feeling that the Trump campaign might be fed the questions ahead of time. Now I no longer think, it’s just a possibility.

  46. 46.

    MomSense

    @Tokyokie:

    Oh I miss them so much. They were tough, didn’t suffer fools, and could really appreciate beauty and joy. I hope we can live up to their example.

  47. 47.

    Tokyokie

    @Trentrunner: And she should point out that fascists, despite always talking about restoring national pride, have never made a country great again. Whether in its original form under Mussolini in Italy, or as it mutated in places like Germany under Hitler, Spain under Franco, Chile under Pinochet, Paraguay under Stroessner, or Bolivia under Busch, fascism has only led to ruin.

  48. 48.

    jl

    @JPL: Or they don’t need to give him the questions. The news media has degraded to the extent that only Trump’s answers will fit into the designated format and conceptual scheme.

  52. 52.

    Botsplainer

    Actually the best story that I know is the one I didn’t learn until after the death of a guy. He went to an Orthodox Church with me in Louisville, the sweetest, most peaceful little man you ever saw. Always a smile for everybody, a cheerful, devoted worker who spoke very little English. He was Russian but from one of those weird little border oblasts between Russia and Ukraine.

    When he died, I learned that he had been an early draftee into the People’s Valiant Red Army and had battled his way from Stalingrad to the west. When the linkup came, he was one of the lucky souls on our side of the lines who somehow managed to not get repatriated. He wound up serving the US Army as a ski trooper in the Korean War. The man was a warrior – a true badass in every sense, who fought from Stalingrad to the Elbe, and then again in Korea. Who knows how many men he killed serving his countries.

    I guarantee you, he never felt like carrying heat into a coffee shop.

  53. 53.

    hovercraft

    @efgoldman:
    Exactly, remember when the media and the DLC and Rahm all said the ACA was too ambitious and it would cost him re-election, he said if that’s what happens so be it. Remember when he drew the “red line” and then backed off in spite of being called weak and everything else, he said fuck it, it’s the right call. Remember the episode when Halpern called him a ‘dick’ was because he had gone out and basically told the GOP to go fuck themselves. The two things that he’s backed down on were ‘sequestration’ and Guantanamo, but he’s still gone ahead and kept on reducing the Gitmo population in spite of congresses limits.

  54. 54.

    Tokyokie

    @MomSense: I don’t think I had any idea how weird it must have been for her to live in a far-right town in which there were only a few Jewish families (and I’m pretty sure she was the only one of them who was born in Europe before the war). But I realize now that her dogged determination to challenge conventional wisdom made me realize that there was an array of opinions, not just conservative Bircher claptrap. I feel privileged to have known my friend’s parents, and have told him so on several occasions in recent years.

  56. 56.

    debbie

    @Tokyokie:

    I have more than a few friends from childhood who were children of survivors. Not a one went GOP. Horror teaches you a thing or two.

  57. 57.

    Keith G

    Watching the coverage of the Tulsa police officer’s fatal shooting of Terence Crutcher is so depressing. There just is no plausible and rational explanation for this type of thing happening in a modern, western society.

  58. 58.

    Roger Moore

    @Miss Bianca:

    Meanwhile, I have Bernie-or-Busters in my FB feed posting things like some smug little Millenial beeyotch saying “this is what Hillary has to do to win Bernie voters” – and it’s all stuff she’s ALREADY COMMITTED TO DOING.

    Which, IMO, is a sign that they are more anti-Hillary than pro-Bernie. They have an image of evil Hillary in their head, and they’re so sure that their idea is right that they don’t bother to find out what she’s actually like. I’m willing to bet that if you pointed them to her web site where she’s already promising what they want, they’d turn around and claim that they still aren’t going to vote for her because they can’t trust her to keep her promises. The hatred of Hillbeast comes first and the justification rationalization for not voting for her is a distant second.

  59. 59.

    Mary G

    @hovercraft: It’s astonishing how much Obama has been able to accomplish against implacable opposition, just by chipping away at stuff by the means available.

  60. 60.

    hovercraft

    @efgoldman:
    Yes they did because the democrats as usual were cowed by the GOP calling them soft on national security. Bust as I said even then he kept releasing people. He backed off on the bringing them to IL.

  61. 61.

    singfoom

    @Keith G: Jesus Fucking Christ. 4 Officers already have weapons drawn on him, he’s up against the car with his hands up in the air. I just don’t fucking get it. Why the fuck why? I couldn’t watch the entire video. I’m going to guess that they don’t render medical attention immediately after shooting him, right?

    This shit has got to stop. Why the fuck do police officers shoot first and ask questions later?

  62. 62.

    Tokyokie

    @debbie: My friend’s father, who was the son of Polish immigrants (and who lost all his relatives save his immediate family to the death camps), was a middle-of-the-road Republican for most of his life, but in his later years, he, too, was voting a straight
    Democratic ticket. Der Truppenführer likes to say “they” are not sending their best people over here, but I beg to differ. Most of the best people I’ve known are immigrants, and I never have met a person as horrible as the native-born Trumpenführer.

  63. 63.

    SFAW

    @JPL:

    Yeah, I’ve been thinking the same thing. But then I realized that someone in the media would have to do that, and that it would never happen.

    Well, 40 years ago, that is.

  64. 64.

    lamh36

    Dash cam video shows unarmed black man with hands in air before Tulsa police shoot him dead

    Dash cam video released by the Tulsa Police Department on Monday showed 40-year-old Terence Crutcher with his hands above his head moments before he was shot and killed by one of the officers at the scene.

    At a press conference on Monday, Chief Chuck Jordan explained that the video was “very disturbing — very difficult to watch.”

    The video shows multiple police cruisers approach Crutcher’s vehicle, which appears to be broken down in the middle of the road. Crutcher is seen with his hands in the air. Both hands appear to be empty.

  67. 67.

    Tokyokie

    @debbie: I’d prefer that we instead put the entire Trump clan in a crate and send them to France, specifically the department of French Guiana. Too bad Ile du Diable is no longer a going concern.

  69. 69.

    Aleta

    Depressing that the stories about Trump — charity scams, business scandals, mafia ties, casinos, union breaking, tax welfare, code violations– have been investigated and reported for quite some time. Why only now, 2 months before the election, are they getting more prominence?
    David Johnston* brought up most of these issues years ago, and even laid it out for anyone to see over a year ago in this article, which appeared July 2015, in several places, and then dropped, if I remember right. This election sure is a great example of how dangerous it is to lose a free press, in this case a media that is free of profit dominance and threat from lawsuits.

    * a reporter and law professor (tax and regulatory law at Syracuse) who’s researched and written about Trump (books, + various papers incl. (the NYT).

  70. 70.

    Mister Forkbeard

    @Miss Bianca: Yep. This bugged the hell out of me whenever I talked to any of my BoB relatives. They had no idea what Hillary was already doing, what her actual plans were – and in some cases, Hillary had publicly stated her plan BEFORE Bernie, or before Bernie had become any kind of threat to her candidacy.

    But they had no idea, and had no interest in actually following through on their statements. Because when shown that Hillary was already doing the things they wanted her to do, they moved the goalposts or stated that they “just didn’t trust her”.

  71. 71.

    Felonius Monk

    @debbie:

    Trump makes think we need to return the Statue of Liberty to the French.

    Let’s keep the Statue and donate Trump to the French. Maybe they could use him in their Tumbrel/Guillotine exhibit.

  73. 73.

    Bokonon

    @Anoniminous: How do you know that that some of those Facebook postings aren’t created by the GOP, under a false flag, as part of their ongoing efforts to break up the Obama coalition?

    I am serious. They put a lot of money into digital marketing (including planting false memes, “jokes”, and other things that lend themselves to being posted and re-posted all over social messaging sites). It is a very effective way to do political advertising in a way that people don’t suspect is … political advertising. And a great way to plant false information (since people have their guard down – particularly when it comes in viral posts from friends and family).

  74. 74.

    Elizabelle

    Just turned the PBS SnoozeHour off. Monday Political analysis of why Hillary Clinton is so unpopular. College students are saying “well yeah, I guess I’m voting for her…”

    She’s had such a bad week with that remark at the fundraiser (basket of deplorables comment).

    Really?

  76. 76.

    Mister Forkbeard

    Bleah. I’m hearing now that the new most important news is that Hillary Clinton’s e-mail guy once asked Reddit how to protect a VIP’s email address on outgoing mails.

    This is supposed to prove that he changed the emails to make Hillary look better or something. I can’t even follow the ‘logic’.

  77. 77.

    NR

    @Mister Forkbeard: If it’s true (big “if”), it speaks to intent, which is the whole reason Hillary wasn’t prosecuted for the email issue.

    So it’s potentially a big deal, again if it’s true.

  80. 80.

    Mandalay

    @lamh36: Ugh…that makes for brutal, brutal viewing.

    And comments columns nationwide are already being filled with racists posting that he got what he deserved for not complying with the orders he was given. WTF???

    Trump’s lasting legacy is to make it socially acceptable for white people to be proudly and openly racist once again. We are so fucked.

  81. 81.

    Renie

    @Elizabelle: I asked my 2 college age kids tonite about this. They were both Bernie supporters who will now vote for Clinton. Their opinion is that a lot of kids say they will vote 3rd party but probably won’t actually do it. But it disappoints them that Hillary voted for Iraq cuz that’s the biggest event of their lives and they don’t like Hillary speaking about the Bush people who are endorsing her. Their generation doesn’t see anything positive about anyone from the Bush administration. They also understand why Hillary doesn’t like the media due to how she has been treated for 20+ years but a lot of kids their age don’t know the backstory and see how she reacts now as evidence she is secretive.

  82. 82.

    Emma

    @NR: Spare me. “Protecting a VIP’s address on outgoing mail” is done routinely for all VIPs. I’ll bet any half-competent attorney can come up with about 50 examples of it.

  84. 84.

    Jeffro

    @Tokyokie: I think she should say something along the lines of “Donald you’re clearly trying to be a good fascist but you’re not smart enough and can’t even focus long enough to do that well”

  86. 86.

    Jeffro

    @Aleta: I think there has been a fair degree of reporting on Donald’s multiple scandals any one of which would have sunk Hillary Clinton.

    I have also been somewhat encouraged at the medias growing a pair and calling him a liar, noting that he is making false claims all over the place, and so on. I know not a lot of Democrats feel that way but I am seeing some encouraging signs personally.

    What I find very troubling is that it took someone this manifestly unfit for office, someone this incredibly stupid, this incredibly manipulative and this incredibly fascist in order to provoke even the coverage we are seeing today. The next clown will not have 50 years worth of baggage nor be so unbelievably offensive at least on the surface.

    So I am concerned about how much support for a fascist is already baked in, as they say. And this is during relatively good economic times for most people. In fact as has been discussed many times here trumps strongest support is from people who are doing really well(!)

    I think we better hurry up and get big money out of politics quickly and I think we better have a national conversation about standards in this democracy and what it means to truly be an American
    It will fall on deaf ears with Trump supporters but it might restore some sort of baseline to hold the next moron/dictator accountable for the things he says and does .

    ( and yes I think it’s fair to say “he”)

  87. 87.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @MomSense: I heard a snippet of a Trump rally on the radio Saturday morning–with that rat bastard bellowing something about One America! One God! One flag! so you know what I flashed on.

    As Molly Ivins said about Pat Buchanan’s speech at an RNC years ago, perhaps it sounded better in the original German, but I doubt it.

  90. 90.

    Dadadadadadada

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: That’s the difference, and our weakness: I think the Obama DOJ will be very restrained in investigating Trump, because otherwise it looks too much like powerful people using government power to punish their political enemies. Never mind that Trump appears to totally deserve it; the right-wing whine machine would never shut up about how “the powers that be” “persecuted” Trump just to shut him up.

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