Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald dropped a bombshell on the Trump campaign this morning:
Documents show that the Trump company spent a minimum of $68,000 for its 1998 foray into Cuba at a time when the corporate expenditure of even a penny in the Caribbean country was prohibited without U.S. government approval. But the company did not spend the money directly. Instead, with Trump’s knowledge, executives funneled the cash for the Cuba trip through an American consulting firm called Seven Arrows Investment and Development Corp. Once the business consultants traveled to the island and incurred the expenses for the venture, Seven Arrows instructed senior officers with Trump’s company—then called Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts—how to make it appear legal by linking it after the fact to a charitable effort.
The payment by Trump Hotels came just before the New York business mogul launched his first bid for the White House, seeking the nomination of the Reform Party. On his first day of the campaign, he traveled to Miami, where he spoke to a group of Cuban-Americans, a critical voting bloc in the swing state. Trump vowed to maintain the embargo and never spend his or his companies’ money in Cuba until Fidel Castro was removed from power.
Sounds legit. The Trump Foundation operates as Trump’s personal piggybank / tax evasion scheme, so why not use a charity as a cover for an embargo-busting business expense?
This latest Trump scandal could have huge implications in Florida. Even Marco Rubio, who acknowledged that Trump is a conman but endorsed him for president anyway, issued what passes for a tough statement from that quarter:
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Donald Trump will have to “answer some questions” about a Newsweek story reporting that a Trump-owned company allegedly violated the United States’ trade embargo with Cuba in the late 1990s.
“This is something they’re going to have to give a response to. I mean, it was a violation of American law, if that’s how it happened,” Rubio said on the ESPN/ABC “Capital Games” podcast.
A real profile in courage, is our Marcolito. But the vote in Florida is on a knife’s edge, thanks in part to an aging bloc of voters who reflexively vote Republican because of hostility toward the Castros. This might complicate that a bit.
Trollhattan
There’s time between now and the election for Raul to go shirtless horseback riding on a Cuban beach, which would turn red-blooded Republicans pro-Castro. Just. Like. That.
redshirt
What a country we live in. A guy who says he doesn’t want to be a Senator anymore gets his ass kicked running for President, then runs for the Senate again, and he’ll probably win.
Values!
? Martin
We’ll see if this goes anywhere.
I challenge anyone to find evidence that doesn’t align with this. Even his remarks about Bill cheating – suggesting that had he cheated with someone prettier he would have been forgiven – align with this.
Keith P.
The Trump campaign’s response is going to be heavy on pleas to talk about the Clinton Foundation instead. Reading Politico comments, it looks like more and more people are getting tired of Conway’s dodges on these questions.
jeffreyw
I hope for some complications that are fatal to his campaign. Orange fuckwit, indeed.
LAO
What will Trump do when faced with Marco Rubio’s criticism and disdain? Oh, right. I guess we know.
SFAW
LOLGOP sez:
When oh when will the MSM start asking about Corrupt Deadbeat Donnie ducking press conferences? Not holding my breath.
LAO
@? Martin: I’m wondering how Trump reconciles those beliefs with his 2 eldest sons.
Jeffro
@LAO: Same thing he’s doing to his staff and allies that won’t get out there and pretend he did a BIGLY AWESOME job at the debate – yell, rant, tell them to get in line.
what a piece of work this clown is…you have to wonder just how many different ways he will have been indicted by the time Secretary Clinton’s 2nd inauguration rolls around…
Villago Delenda Est
Rumor has it that Uday, Qusay, and Lolita are very unhappy with the outcome of the debate on Monday, and think it has something to do with their latest hires to manage their vile shitgibbon of a sire. So another purge of the help may be happening. Won’t change anything…the leopard himself cannot change his stripes, and they can’t fire the leopard.
SFAW
@? Martin:
What’s interesting is that if this country subscribed to that idea, Corrupt Deadbeat Donnie would have been “put out to pasture” (IYKWIMAITYD) about 40 years ago.
Wag
Eichenwald’s reporting is good enough that I’m thinking about reactivating my subscription to Newsweek
Felonius Monk
(Source)
Betty Cracker
@redshirt: I think Murphy has a decent shot at unseating Rubio, and this story might help. If Rubio repudiates Trump, he’ll lose votes. But if he fails to repudiate Trump, he looks like even more of a toady.
Villago Delenda Est
@? Martin: If this is true, they’re drawing all the wrong conclusions, as Drumpf’s grandfather was a pimp in the Yukon during the gold rush.
jeffreyw
More Spark Plug than Secretariat.
Betty Cracker
@? Martin: Wasn’t there some Austrian fella who had a similar set of beliefs? Guy with a funny mustache?
PPCLI
@? Martin: There is so much damaging material out there that is 100% documentable, that there is no reason to introduce stuff like this, which is kind of speculative. [Though I don’t find the claim implausible, exactly, but without more evidence than some guy conjecturing I can’t say I’m convinced. And besides, no need to bring the sins of the father in when there are enough sins of the son to fill an encyclopedia.]
Case in point: [Source, Lauren Fox article in TPM today]:
That’s not only horrifying, but it is straight from Trump’s mouth.
liberal
File under: things idiots/interventionists/al Qaeda lovers would say
PaulWartenberg2016
and he’s using “charities” to try and cover up his for-profit shit again.
Trump breaks all these rules because nobody ever really stops him. He just gets enough lawyers to mess up the field until the other side gives up, and then he’s already moved on to the next con game.
Villago Delenda Est
@jeffreyw: The irony here is that Secretariat was so great because he was a freak of nature with a heart many times larger than the average thoroughbred. Which kinda demonstrates the fallacy of the theory.
PaulWartenberg2016
@PPCLI:
so at least Trump is clarifying that it has to be a “good piece” of ass to justify adultery, divorce, hypocrisy, venality, etc.
Corner Stone
Does anyone really think this dalliance with Fidel’s Cuba is going to actually register anywhere?
PaulWartenberg2016
@Felonius Monk:
Oh please. PLEASE let this lead to arresting Trump and dragging him off in handcuffs within the next two weeks.
liberal
@Betty Cracker: Unfortunately, it was very common (even among “progressives”) in the US (I think late 19th/early 20th century). And if you look around the internet, it’s very common today.
singfoom
@Felonius Monk: It’s funny how the general belief seems to be that the Clintons use their Foundation as a personal piggy bank, yet there’s no evidence and then Trump has been shown via public documents reported in a major newspaper of multiple instances of self-dealing and other misuses of his foundation.
Yet, somehow, a majority of rubes continue to think the Clinton Foundation is bad and Trump’s use of his is ok. I wonder what could be causing that disconnect? Mayhaps the media? It does certainly seem like they are coming around recently, but unfortunately the year plus of the Clinton Foundation bullshit seems to be sticking within a lot of people’s brains.
And of course, Schneiderman is a partisan blah blah blah. How many days are left in this shitshow?
Chyron HR
@liberal:
Ladies and gentlemen, a “liberal”.
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone: Miami.
liberal
@Corner Stone: Some people say it might in FL.
Corner Stone
@Villago Delenda Est:
I love, love, love how this has “leaked” out. And one of the things they are unhappy about is that it is damaging the “business”.
So good. So very good.
Trollhattan
@Villago Delenda Est:
I approve of the Lolita addition. Trump Trump can play Humbert Humbert, with
90100% less literature professor.jeffreyw
Miss Congeniality
liberal
@Chyron HR: Fuck off. What she said is idiotic, and if you want to put forward a theory that all life should freeze until the election is over, go die in a fire.
Villago Delenda Est
@liberal: It was very common THROUGHOUT HUMAN HISTORY.
Jeeze.
You’re as boneheaded as Samantha Powers you know with her “conquer all of Syria” statement.
PaulWartenberg2016
@Corner Stone:
I live here in Florida, and spent nine years down in Broward County and dealt with a lot of Miami-Dade Cubans. I met a few at events back when I was still a registered Republican.
There are a ton of politically active Cubans still down there, and they do not take kindly to anybody dealing with Fidel.
Granted, the younger Cuban generation won’t think much of it, and for what I know support Obama’s attempts at reopening relations. But the older Cubans, the ones the GOP relies on to keep the scales balanced in a toss-up state, they do not forgive. And considering how Trump’s open disdain for Latinos reflects on even Cubans, Trump doesn’t have a lot of wriggle room here.
Waldo
@Corner Stone:
Could move the dial a fraction of a point in Florida — which might be all that’s needed.
James E Powell
@redshirt:
Rubio is not a country problem anymore. He’s a Florida problem.
Iowa Old Lady
Back from voting. It felt excellent.
The more you look at the Trump Foundation and business the more it looks like a loosely run, sloppy family effort that’s kept afloat by inherited money.
Trollhattan
At the rate Trump allegations are spewing from the history pinata the pool of “undecided voters” for the next “town hall” debate will comprise an Amish community and four Alzheimer’s facilities.
singfoom
@liberal: Can you elaborate your objection a little more? It’s pretty clear given the last couple of years that the Syrian government headed by Assad is not a good actor. What to do about the Syrian civil war is a giant big question. Can we do anything to unfuck it at all?
If we do anything, does it fuck it up anymore? Those are all valid paths of discussion. Not approving of a government that’s dropping barrel bombs and civilians, etc isn’t bad in and of itself.
Villago Delenda Est
@jeffreyw: BURRRRRRN!
Waynski
@Jeffro:
I’m convinced his entire campaign is a strategy to keep him out of jail. If he wins, he can shut all the investigations down. If he loses, it’s pretty good odds that Hillary would pardon him, because it would look unseemly and third-worldish for her to arrest her former opponent, and it would be a massive distraction from her agenda.
Calouste
@? Martin: So, considering that whiny loser kept “upgrading” his wives, that would mean that Tiffany is better than Uday, Qusay, and Lolita, and Barron is better than the lot of them?
James E Powell
@Corner Stone:
If I ever start talking like I understand Florida politics, please tell the bartender to cut me off and call me a cab.
jeffreyw
@Corner Stone: Trump’s business is his brand, Forbes says he’s down $800MM since he announced his run.
Villago Delenda Est
@Iowa Old Lady: More like inherited illiquid assets that can’t be converted to cash fast enough to maintain the crass, vulgar lifestyle to which they’ve become accustomed.
So they’ve resorted to grifting to keep up appearances.
scav
Oh, I’m slow, I know, but now we have to worry about exploding washing machines alongside the combusting phones?! The Holy Free Market taking care of things all on its inerrant lonesome is in fine fettle. “Models sold outside North America are not affected by this issue, a spokesperson said.” See, we really are special.
Brachiator
@Corner Stone:
In Florida? Hell, yes.
Betty Cracker
@liberal: I’ve always thought the U.S. intervening militarily in Syria was a mistake. But it’s dishonest to conflate all anti-Assad forces with AQ/AN, and it’s unbelievably naive to believe that Russia is acting out of humanitarian impulses.
Trollhattan
@jeffreyw:
Delicious. New Yorkers sure love them some Donald.
Villago Delenda Est
@Betty Cracker: With Russia, “warm water ports” is the go to answer under all circumstances.
jeffreyw
@Waynski: I don’t see a pardon, I do see her, maybe, quashing federal investigations, but she will stand aside for the various state AG and let those chips fall.
OGLiberal
10 more stories like this could come out and we’ll still see at least 47% of American voters casting their vote for Trump in November. But if something like this results in Hillary winning Florida by even just one vote then I’ll take it – because if she wins Florida it’s more than game over. And Trump can have Ohio and Iowa – so sick of them being so obsessed on anyway. Of course, we know the media obsesses on them because they are some of the only places where “real” Americans live. (well, excluding Cleveland) Be happy to swap them out for Viriginia.
Hillary can get to 272 with CA, OR, WA, CO, NM, WI, MN, MI, IL, PA, NJ, MD, DE, DC, VA, RI, CT, NY, MA, NH, VT and 2 of ME’s electoral votes. She doesn’t need OH or IA or NV or NC or Omaha. She doesn’t even need Florida. Now, I don’t want it to be anywhere near that close because we’ll hear from everybody how she doesn’t have a mandate and all America did was pick the lesser of two very evils by a very small margin but, whatever…Supreme Court.
I just don’t see an electoral path for Trump – and the above is like a nightmare scenario for Clinton.
Corner Stone
@Brachiator: How so? Just how many of the old Cuban guard can there still be? Their grandchildren celebrated Obama’s movement toward opening Cuba. And the rednecks in the panhandle clearly have to heavily outweigh any old Cubanos still holding a grudge.
And they would believe Trump if he said he pissed champagne and shit out Russian caviar. And not care a good god damn about the Russian part.
Brachiator
@scav:
Spin cycle, then Fire cycle?
scav
@Brachiator: I’m also wondering about some of the really olds getting sudden qualms — but then, seeing how they’ve swallowed Putin so eagerly, perhaps Castro will slide down just as easily. But Castro is still the real deal, the one and only original and not with a veneer of capitalism love and a shiny religious enforcer badge.
Trollhattan
@OGLiberal:
Sam Wang flipped Florida from D to undecided today, taking Hillary’s count under 300. Expect we’ll see post-debate volatility for the rest of the week. NYT nudged her from 70 to 72% today.
jonas
I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of US companies were up to similar shenanigans, trying to get their feet in the door before sanctions are fully (and inevitably) lifted. But the CEO’s of those companies aren’t running for President and aren’t running around Miami telling Cuban audiences how anti-Castro they are.
jeffreyw
“Say no more!”
Villago Delenda Est
@PPCLI: ZOMG! If Hillary makes a campaign commercial out of that, she’ll be mean to Teh Donald!
Trollhattan
@Brachiator:
Dispenses with the need for that dryer thingie entirely.
redshirt
@OGLiberal: If Maine splits EV, it will be 3-1. Trump apparently has really good numbers in the super rural district of Maine.
I went to the Cumberland County Fair yesterday and saw a disturbing number of Trump hats.
jeffreyw
@scav: Oh fuck! I washed my Note 7 by accident and burnt down the apartment block.
Hal
The opposition to lifting the embargo by some American Cubans is perplexing to me. The Castro brothers won’t be around for that much longer and once they’re gone, how much impetus is there to continue the old regime, especially with the newfound economic development lifting the embargo will bring.
Betty Cracker
@redshirt: Well, the state did elect that racist lunatic of a governor…
Kay
The “lock her up!” yard signs are looking funnier and funnier as Trump’s various business dealings are exposed.
If conservatives are smart they’ll take them down now and maybe no one will remember that was the theme of his campaign- calls to lock people up.
Villago Delenda Est
@Hal: It’s all pure spite on the part of the original exiles, who, thank FSM, are slowly dying out now. Their kids and grandkids have assimilated, have no desire to go back to Cuba to take back the old family properties that were seized during and after Castro took over.
Villago Delenda Est
@Kay: Well, there you go. John Stuart Mill nailed these assholes over a century ago.
Jeffro
@OGLiberal:
That is at least 3% too high. Trump is not going to get Romney-esque numbers, not with the way he’s underperforming almost all demographic groups. He’ll be luck to get 45.7% like McCain did. Probably more like 42-43% is my guess. And that’s as of this moment – we still have a month of exposes, Cuba scandals, and two more debates to go.
lollipopguild
@James E Powell: You are a cab.
Chip Daniels
This is not a game changer in itself, but it is another wedge to pry apart the GOP coalition.
It separates the bitter Cuban deadenders from the Trumpistas who don’t give a shit about Castro or what happened in 1961.
So yeah, it might toss a precinct or two into the blue column which might be just what we need.
jeffreyw
Well, except for that veto part of it, I mean…
Brachiator
@Corner Stone:
That’s my working hypothesis. If reporters do some actual reporting and refute it, I got no problems.
The core of Trump supporters may not be reachable, but even this is debatable according to some polls. In any event, the name of the game now is containment, and possibly reaching those who might be on the fence. And this might make a difference in a swing state like Florida.
Villago Delenda Est
@jeffreyw: /rollseyes. Mitch, you are a fucktard. No other way to put it.
debit
@Kay: When I went to go drop something off at my parents’ house on Saturday I didn’t see a single Trump sign in their very conservative neighborhood. I did see one Hillary for Prison 2016 sign, which made me laugh as it could be mistaken by the casual observer as just a Hillary sign.
LAO
@jeffreyw: I really enjoyed reading that today. I mean, really? Are there no adults left in Congress (and shame on the democrats as well)?
@Villago Delenda Est: seconded
Turgidson
@redshirt:
Even worse, he got his ass kicked by an orange short-fingered vulgarian who is the most ignorant major party nominee in the nation’s history and one of the most ignorant candidates, period (Michele Bachmann probably has him beat, but not by very much)…in his HOME STATE. And he’s probably going to beat a perfectly credible, well-informed candidate (Murphy isn’t my ideal candidate, but he’s about as good as Florida Dems can do right now, I suppose) to stay in the job he has admitted, without shame or remorse, that he fucking hates and was saying as recently as a few months ago that he didn’t want anymore. What a weird fucking election.
Brachiator
@Trollhattan:
Instead of fluff and fold, it’s fluff and fry.
SFAW
@jeffreyw:
Let it dry out, then try rebooting, the block might come back to its pre-conflagration point.
lollipopguild
@jeffreyw: My senior senator in action. He really seems to have no clue how stupid this makes him look. No planning, no thinking anything thru, just pull the trigger. Senator Mitch must be taking the same STOOPID PILLS(TM) that Trump is on.
Kay
I think they’re overplaying the 3rd Party thing to make the race look closer than it is and because it fits the theme that everyone hates Clinton.
He ended up with 1% of the vote in 2012.
He’s at about 7 now. No one made a big deal about 5 in 2012. Why is 7 such a big deal? I’m just reading the head to heads from now on. This 3rd party thing is looking more and more like bullshit.
scav
Setting asside the whole specific to Cuba aspect, it does just re-enforce the lying to the public record plus the obeying rules are for the little people aspects of his personality. Plus the pattern of hiding cash-flow to accomplish dubious purposes detail clearly rhymes with the DT we mostly know all too well but others have been blissfully ignorant of and who now must work harder and harder to maintain the pretense thereof. (I’m staring at my Reverend Aunt here.)
geg6
@Corner Stone:
I think it will in Florida. Don’t know about anywhere else, but it certainly fills in the picture of his being a lawless, grifting piece of shit. And I think that resonates everywhere.
lollipopguild
@Turgidson: Little Marco needs a JOB!
Emma
@Corner Stone: There are still enough. My father informed me recently he was voting for Hillary Clinton. And I quote: “she might be a goddamn Democrat but she’s not crazy.”
the Conster, la Citoyenne
The very conservative Republican lawyers in my office are in despair and just had a very lively discussion about who to write in. After watching Trump beclown himself on Monday, that Johnson interview last night was a deal killer for them as an option. Since it’s Massachusetts, they know they could vote for Trump who will lose here, but the fact they actually can’t vote for either of the two hairballs the white males coughed up to run for president, and Hillary isn’t an option, makes me think that this scenario is playing out around the country. White males in disarray!!
SFAW
@jeffreyw:
Buncha morons. “That black guy shoulda done TOLE us it were a bad idea! Why’n’t he TELL US?”
OK, Mitch, you fucking imbecile, here’s the latest from your President: Don’t drink anti-freeze.
I can’t believe this is America in the 21st century. Fucking depressing, sometimes.
geg6
@liberal:
Not sure that’s as idiotic as you seem to think. There are parts of Syria that are under the control of the Kurds and the other insurgents. So go ahead and tell me who is the idiot here?
germy
Trump fans won’t care. They’ll just point to “Obummer” and say he opened up relations with Cuba, and hugged Fidel or something,
Felonius Monk
@lollipopguild:
There are still a few openings for Rentboys down in Florida. He’d probably still qualify.
nonynony
@jeffreyw: Nice. Obama explained pretty clearly why he was vetoing it. He wrote them a carefully worded letter and everything. That McConnell didn’t bother to read it or rebut any of its points is pretty much par for the course for the last 6 years.
McConnell is an idiot. But I knew that. Are any of the Dems that went along with this having a bit of buyers’ remorse about it? Or are they standing by their decision? I can see an argument to be made about this, but that argument has to be understood before it can be made.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
Maybe liberal is Portland Bob in disguise.
Villago Delenda Est
@Felonius Monk: He needs to be sure to wear those boots for the interview.
OGLiberal
@redshirt: I see nothing but Trump signs in the rural areas in the area of Northeast PA I’m in. I did, for the first time, see a Hillary sign yesterday – says something like Rural Voters for Hillary. He won’t come close to winning my county because it includes Scranton but he’ll easily win the more rural surrounding counties. One thing about the rural homes that have the Trump signs. They’re aren’t rundown double-wides or shacks. They are very nice homes on a lot of property – some are working farms but others just big yards or horse ranches. These people aren’t for Trump because they are salt-of-the-earth yeoman farmers or laid off factory workers (the latter live in Scranton and are voting for Hillary) – these are upper class and rich folks who don’t want to pay taxes and think those “other” people (with whom they have no contact – very, very white around her, even in the heavy blue areas) get too much free stuff from the government.
shomi
Doesn’t matter because Al Gore is still fat and Al Gore is the central issue in this entire election. Nobody cares that the drumpster fire is shady and volating laws left and right. What matters is what happened in the 2000 election because Al Gore lost so of course that means exactly the same thing will happen to Hillary.
That is the logic I read right here on Ball Juice and most of the people saying that in Ball Juice comments are presidential campaign experts (apparently) so it carries a LOT of weight.
Villago Delenda Est
@geg6: That would explain the HODOR! quality to his posts…
lollipopguild
@Felonius Monk: He looks like a bottom and Trump kicked his ass for him and kicked him to the curb at the same time.
Some Guy
@liberal:
samantha Powers is truly an idiot. Hope she will be shown the door, but instead will most likely be kicked upstairs under the next admin.
germy
Kurt Eichenwald tweeted that he and Newsweek were threatened by Trump & his lawyers. They told Trump & Co. to take a hike.
lollipopguild
@Villago Delenda Est: Little Marco zipperboots.
jeffreyw
Cuban overture by Trump has Fla GOP in something of a dither.
germy
@lollipopguild: Will he run for president in 2020? Battle it out with Ted Cruz for the nomination?
FlipYrWhig
@geg6: “liberal” mostly likes to take strutting victory laps about how much he’s already opposed to the next war.
FlipYrWhig
@OGLiberal:
In other words, Republicans.
James E Powell
@nonynony:
He’s not an idiot, he’s evil. And his strategy did not make Obama a one-termer, but otherwise it worked perfectly.
redshirt
@OGLiberal: Yeah, on the way to the fair I drove through some farm country and there were big, handmade billboards in the fields all along the way.
It appears from a sign perspective that Trump voters are far more fired up than Romney voters were in 2012.
Every sign pains me, and saddens me.
Shell
@Villago Delenda Est: Its amazing that McConnell remembers how to breath.
germy
“Raise your hand, Christian conservatives, everybody. Raise your hand if you’re not a Christian conservative. I want to see this, right. Oh, there’s a couple people, that’s all right. I think we’ll keep them. Should we keep them in the room? Yes? I think so.” – Donald Trump at an Iowa rally today.
lollipopguild
@germy: He may win Florida Senator job but I think that is it for him. I think a lot of people in the GOP were rooting for him this time around and they saw how light as a feather he is. He might run but this was his chance and he blew it.
Some Guy
OMG, the Syrian government wants to defeat Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham and reclaim sovereign control over Syria?
those monsters!
germy
@lollipopguild: Interesting how it all boils down to personality and optics with them. Their actual views and opinions are 99% identical (lower taxes, less regulations) so it’s all about how they act.
Villago Delenda Est
@OGLiberal: If one travels down I-5 from Portland heading to Sacramento, the farther south you go the more Drumpf signs you’ll probably see. The thing is, there are exactly five, maybe six, counties in Oregon that decide statewide elections. No matter how red everything east of the Cascades are, all those vast spaces add up to the population of just one of those five or six counties that decide things. Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Marion, Benton, Lane. Mostly solid deep blue.
Corner Stone
Can’t decide who I change the channel faster when I see them, Steve Cortes, Boris Epshteyn (sp) or Hugh Hewitt.
Corner Stone
Why in the fuck would HRC have to address the Bill Clinton’s discretions questions head on, Kate Snow?
What in the ever loving fuck is wrong with you.
Gelfling 545
Wow. I read that the Trumplings are complaining that the campaign has been bad for business and it looks less like they’re right about that. At this rate they’re going to end up being investigated by just about everybody.
bemused
Trump and family are stupid, white privileged people. It didn’t occur to them that daddy and their scamming business methods would be intensively scrutinized, at least eventually by a few reporters with chops. It didn’t occur to them that Daddy and the family could land themselves in deep shit. It didn’t even occur to them that they could lose business/money even before all the dirt got more eyeballs. Even now they and certainly Daddy probably don’t believe they will suffer any repercussions at all.
Shell
Was it Betty Cracker who dubbed him “a walking cream cheese sculpture?”
germy
@Gelfling 545: They had a good life, big game hunting and grifting and running the various businesses… until the old man got it in his head to try for the Big Prize. Who needed this fucking spotlight?
Corner Stone
@bemused:
“No such thing as bad publicity.”
/Trump
Hmmm, wonder where his kids may have got the idea that simply running for president would be magical for “business”?
lollipopguild
@germy: In many cases their stated and long held views change in an instant if they see a political advantage to be gained. Back in the 70’s Gop’ers always said they could not support a divorced person for President and then Reagan came along and they changed their tune instantly, Too many examples to go into here.
Doug R
@OGLiberal: Trumps demo is actually guys who make a little more than average. They subconciously realize how lucky they are and are afraid of it ending. Ties nicely into the racism and sexism as well.
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone: Given that Drumpf has stated that much of his net worth is his brand, and the brand is tanking, this means that he’s an even less wealthy phony billionaire than he used to be.
trnc
@Keith P.:
They probably won’t be too crazy about the direct confirmation of his law breaking, either.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/conway-view-trump-cuba-embargo
SRW1
@Villago Delenda Est:
They still haven’t found their Bagdad Bob.
squid696
I live in a fairly well-off part of suburban Houston and I have not seen a single Trump sign in my neighborhood or any neighborhood nearby. It really is amazing. This is fertile ground for Republicans and I saw a large number of Romney signs in 2012. No Hillary love here, either, but I would not expect it here.
Ian
@Corner Stone:
In South Florida it will. Cubans are a major Republican leaning block and care a lot about this.
A friend of mine was doing some guess work at crossover voting. He thinks if Clinton wins by 5% or more in IA, PA, NH, NC, or FL then the R senators are toast. Unfortunately it looks like even if Clinton wins OH we will still be stuck with Rob Portman.
germy
@SRW1: campaign response
PJ
@Villago Delenda Est: It looks like the Cuban Communists want to manage a transition to capitalism, a la China, without any democracy intruding along the way. It is a desperately poor, extremely corrupt country which has been kept afloat by remissions from the US for 50 years, and it’s not going to be the campesinos who will be getting rich when foreign investment is opened up. How long the CP will be able to keep a lid on things is anybody’s guess, but the Chinese have managed to do it for 30-odd years.
Calouste
@Kay: My theory is that third-party supporters are more fanatic and thus more likely to respond to polls. When you have a response rate for phone polls that is in the high single digits, that influences the numbers. Somewhat similar to seeing Sanders do well in the caucuses in some states while getting his ass whooped in primaries. Washington state was a fine example of that, caucuses were 80-20 Sanders or so, and the primary roughly 55-45 Clinton.
bystander
@Shell: I believe Betty’s use of the word “ambulatory” adds to impression of lingering illness and undiagnosed ailments.
germy
What it’s like being a female reporter covering the trump campaign
Enhanced Voting Techinques
@? Martin: Good to see that Trump is such an idiot he doesn’t get evolution works across populations. They certainly didn’t breed The Donald for intellectual curiously so their might be a flaw in the old Trump eugenics program.
Botsplainer
@Hal:
Because the moment the embargo is lifted, the sons and daughters of the corrupted first wave of emigres, who were told from birth about their entitlement, will dust off the yellowed deeds and contracts and fly to Old Havana. They’ll be met at the airport by the cheering offspring of their parent’s servants (affectionately named Tio Juan and Tia Maria), to be taken to the family homestead and restored to their deserved status atop Cuban society, pushing out all the interlopers…
Corner Stone
@squid696: Sugarland?
SFAW
@Villago Delenda Est:
Can you explain that whole thing of yours re: Hodor? I mean, I know he is/was a GoT character, and probably is/was not the brightest bulb in the tree, but I feel like I’m missing your meta-message when you apply it to posters like “liberal” and some others whom I won’t name. I mean, based on comments from others, I thought he was a good guy? So I are confused.
No, I’m not going to Google it to try to discern the meaning, because I’ll end up down the rabbit hole.
Corner Stone
@germy: That is some straight up Pravda shit right there.
Amir Khalid
@scav:
First it was smartphones blowing up, now it’s washing machines. I know phones have lithium-ion batteries that can catch fire, but what do you build into a freaking washing machine that could explode?
SFAW
@germy:
What a bunch of morans.
SRW1
@germy:
Does that mean the campaign has B. Bob working in its PR group, but isn’t yet deploying him on TV to keep his face fresh for the epic endfight?
Trollhattan
Gary Johnson: Super Genius!
Villago Delenda Est
@SFAW: It was something of a BJ meme to respond to BiP’s direct from Russia Today posts denying that Ukraine had any right to exist as an independent entity to respond only with HODOR!, as that is Hodor’s only line in GoT. He was a good guy, but his only line was HODOR!
Gelfling 545
@shomi:
“That is the logic I read right here”
What is becoming increasingly apparent is that you rarely, if ever, read anything “right here”. Say whatever you like by all means but please stop pretending to base it on anything you read here.
catclub
@SRW1: I have noticed that Steve Bannon has disappeared from any news coverage. Paul Manafort showed up all the time. That is an improvement for the Trump campaign.
So I hope the present team gets fired for screwing up the debate prep. Also for eating the strawberries.
catclub
@Amir Khalid:
leads for 220V power.
Villago Delenda Est
@Trollhattan: Geeze. Doesn’t he know the right answer is “Vladimir Putin”? Geeze, what an imbezil! What a maroon!
germy
@Corner Stone: @SFAW: @SRW1: It’s a fabricated lie.
SFAW
@Villago Delenda Est:
Much obliged.
Trollhattan
@Villago Delenda Est:
H/T to Pogonip for picking the ideal rejoinder to BiP’s endless pasting of RT text while yelling “Ukrainians are the real Nazis!” ad nauseam.
Sooo much typing time saved.
Very pleased we’re not enduring column-yards of him bleating about the unfair Dutch revealing the BUK missile launcher’s path from Russia to Ukraine to launch point back to Russia. Nazi trickery.
Enhanced Voting Techinques
@PPCLI: If Trump’s such the awsome and huuugge deal makeer, wouldn’t he get the hottie and keep the wife,like a certian ex-president,..?
(yes Jimmy Carter, I am looking at you)
bemused
@Corner Stone:
Well, the Trump theory of their ‘superior race horse genes’ explains a lot. What could possibly go wrong with those genetics?
nonynony
@germy: I prefer my lies to be artisanal constructions, carefully wound together by only the finest of craftsmen.
These fabricated lies that are being put out today are putting the small business liar out of work, I tell you!
Turgidson
@Some Guy:
Doubt it. She did call Hillary a monster in the 2008 campaign. They apparently hugged it out, but I doubt Hillary has her on any Cabinet or high-profile diplomatic post short lists.
burnspbesq
The embargo was stupid, but it hardly seems likely that Trump was engaged in principled civil disobedience.
Turgidson
@Trollhattan:
All the while William Weld was sitting right next to him, and you can almost see on his face “why the fuck did I agree to be this moron’s #2?”
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@shomi:
I hear that not only is Al gore fat,he also has a big, energy consuming house and flies on planes.
And he lost his home state, too!!!!
bystander
Also, hearing about how upset the Three Stooges are about Daddum’s campaign and what it is doing to The Business made me wonder: I get Uday and Qusay. They’ve got nothing else. But Lolita married into a very, very wealthy real estate family. Which made me wonder, what the hell kind of prenup did she sign?
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
It’s a toss up between Boris and Hugh, both are repugnant and mendacious, almost every word they utter is a lie. Hugh is calmer so may seem more reasonable, Boris is a bully like Trump and just steamrolls everyone, but strikes me as less persuasive since he is abrasive. Steve is a light weight how usually gets his lunch eaten.
Calouste
@bystander: That’s not true. I think both Uday and Qusay have excellent movie careers ahead of them playing Nazi First Lieutenants (and other assorted evil henchmen) who have two lines of script and then get shot in the first encounter with the good guys.
And if your father-in-law was Donald Trump, how thick would the prenups be that you have his spawn sign?
Steeplejack (tablet)
@germy:
That’s got the right Baghdad Bob tone.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
My thought exactly, who out there is wondering what Hillary has to say about the women her husband had affairs with. I imagine she thinks their skanky bitches and her husband is a horny asshole. She was the victim, when they chose to have affairs with him they knew he was married, what is she supposed to feel sorry for them? Is she supposed to say she regrets saying bad things about them? They were willing participants in behavior that left her as the injured party, do you think that Bill doesn’t get an earful when he fucks up, even today? Kate Snow STFU. Carry on.
hovercraft
@Villago Delenda Est:
Good luck with that, when this is all over.
Immanentize
@LAO: I cannot believe Congressional Republicans are this craven. Oh, I actually mean, I expect no less than this type of craven shit from these jerks.
I wonder if they will pass another bill rejecting the first one. Uh, no — they wanted the international crisis this will create.
Brachiator
@Trollhattan:
Johnson is making me reconsider voting to legalize marijuana.
Villago Delenda Est
@Trollhattan: Well, the Dutch after all were Nazi allies during WWII, you know.
Kay
The music store owner is my favorite Trump victim, because he’s so tenacious :)
James E Powell
@Ian: Staying away from Trump was a good move. Not sure whether Strickland was the best candidate.
lollipopguild
@catclub: The mess stewards ate the strawberries.
AnotherBruce
@Iowa Old Lady: Is Iowa going to come around to Clinton? I say this as an Iowa native. It would kill me to have the state go to Trump.
Immanentize
@Some Guy: I think that they want to decimate the Judean Popular People’s Front.
Gindy51
@Villago Delenda Est: And it wasn’t his sons who passed on the speed. It was his daughters…
lollipopguild
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: What is this that I hear about flies on planes? You let flies on planes and pretty soon they are going to want a baked potato with their steak!
Miss Bianca
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: I suppose it’s useless to ask them why they can’t just hold their noses and vote for the only competent, non-insane candidate. Democrat, woman, Crooked Hillary, sigh…these are suppopsed to be educated guys?
2liberal
@Villago Delenda Est:
Won’t change anything…the leopard himself cannot change his stripes, and they can’t fire the leopard.
leopard spots
leopards have spots, not stripes
philadelphialawyer
@Felonius Monk: Not sure about the legal niceties, but isn’t what is alleged a great deal more serious than mere “self dealing?” Self dealing, as I understand it, would mean instances like when the
Trump Foundation rents out Trump properties for its events. Trump’s charity is funneling money back into Trump’s and Trump-owned entities’ pockets. The Foundation is thereby “dealing” with the man who created it. To that man’s profit.
What we have here, instead, is, it seems to me, more like outright fraud. IE the Trump Foundation, allegedly a charity, contributions to which are tax deductible on the basis of that allegation, is actually paying for business expenses incurred by Trump and/or his for-profit entities.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, now we have instances in which money owed to Trump’s for profit entities was paid to the Foundation. Which means a fake tax right-off for whoever owed the money, and, more importantly, means that Trump’s company didn’t pay taxes on it either. Which matters because we now know that the Foundation’s assets were used to pay business expenses.
Villago Delenda Est
@2liberal: (that’s a component of the joke)
The Lodger
@Calouste: Will there have to be a remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark just to give these two jamokes a job?
Felonius Monk
@philadelphialawyer: I agree this appears to be big time illegal. I think if and when the heavy-duty investigations are done, there will be multiple felonies. I can’t wait for this to take off.
Original Lee
@Villago Delenda Est: Trust that was snark, given that the Germans just kind of rolled in and took what they wanted.
Chris
@Corner Stone:
No. No one cares about Cuba except geriatric exiles. Some of whom may turn against Trump, but it seems just as likely that they’ll say Obama is worse because Trump violated the embargo but Obama ended it. They’ve had over fifty years since the Bay of Pigs to learn that Democrats are Satan.
MattF
Eichenwald has tweeted some documentary proof of Trump’s Cuba venture.
Chris T.
@Enhanced Voting Techinques: There are many, perhaps infinitely many, flaws in eugenics.
One really big and really obvious one is that even if it works, things that are good are also bad. Being tall is good, right? Except, on average, short people live longer. This is true across a wide spectrum of mammals: within any one species, smaller is usually better.
Villago Delenda Est
@Original Lee: Need to get my snark font fixed.
JR in WV
@lollipopguild:
If Obama is against it, Mitch MUST be for it. Rule of nature, like gravity, or the speed of light.
And, if Obama is in favor of it, Mitch MUST fight it with every fiber of his being!
Just how the universe swirls. Ask anyone in Kentucky!
OT am I the only person in the nation who laughs when they see the abbreviation for Kentucky in certain contexts? I mean KY Jelly? Really! Or how about KY bourbon? Slides down so smooth…
I break me up.
redshirt
@Chris T.: Living longer is not the measure of evolutionary success. Only breeding successfully and passing on genes matters. So if being tall gets you more chances to breed but leads to a shorter life, it’s still a winner.
Bill Arnold
@? Martin:
The thing is, who in the family is doing the mate selection, and what exactly are they selecting for? E.g. many horse breeders are women, and
Bill Arnold
@Enhanced Voting Techinques:
I’ve been struggling for the 15 minutes to puzzle out exactly what they were selecting for in their breeding program, if they think that they succeeded with The Donald. Any guesses, anyone?
Villago Delenda Est
@Bill Arnold: “How can we produce the most narcissistic asshole in the history of narcissistic assholes?”
SFAW
@Villago Delenda Est:
Besides, the proper expression is “The frog cannot change its spots”
[And don’t you go looking to see if there is such a thing as spotted frogs!]
SFAW
@Villago Delenda Est:
If Mendel had any idea that the result of his work would be Trump, he would have weed-whacked all the pea plants before he got started.
And then salted the ground
And then killed himself
redshirt
@Bill Arnold: The ultimate narcissist?
SFAW
@Immanentize:
And then, if they do, Obama should veto it.
“Fuck me? No, FUCK YOU!!”
Chris T.
@redshirt: You’ve missed the point of eugenics (or the lack of a point has missed you): The eugenicists claim that there’s some Better Thing (like being taller, or bluer of eye, blonder of hair, whiter of skin, no hooked “Jewish” or “Arab” noses allowed, you can’t have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!) that, gosh, if we just bred the right people, we’d get the best results!
My point is that even if you accept that there is a “better” or “best”, you’ve bought very badly into a “for _____ (fill in the blank)” and forgotten that “best for X” is often “worst for Y”. Not many people want to live shorter lives, even though many want to be taller.