This is hilarious:
The Trump campaign built a large policy shop in Washington that has now largely melted away because of neglect, mismanagement and promises of pay that were never honored. Many of the team’s former members say the campaign leadership never took the Washington office seriously and let it wither away after squeezing it dry.
Donald Trump often brags about having experts and senior former officials advising him. Wednesday night in a forum on national security, he said, “We have admirals, we have generals, we have colonels. We have a lot of people that I respect.” It’s true that Trump is getting high-level policy advice on a regular basis from senior experts such as Rudy Giuliani and retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn. But Trump has never acknowledged the policy shop based in Washington that has been doing huge amounts of grunt work for months without recognition or compensation.
Since April, advisers never named in campaign press releases have been working in an Alexandria-based office, writing policy memos, organizing briefings, managing surrogates and placing op-eds. They put in long hours before and during the Republican National Convention to help the campaign look like a professional operation.
But in August, shortly after the convention, most of the policy shop’s most active staffers quit. Although they signed non-disclosure agreements, several of them told me on background that the Trump policy effort has been a mess from start to finish.
“It’s a complete disaster,” one disgruntled former adviser told me. “They use and abuse people. The policy office fell apart in August when the promised checks weren’t delivered.”
Awesome.
amk
Isn’t this an old story?
The Moar You Know
Fill magazine, rack round, aim at testicles, pull trigger until magazine empty. Drop magazine and check chamber to make sure no ammunition remaining. If round remains in chamber, aim at nearest guy trying to help out and pull trigger.
No, it’s not firearms training, it’s the Trump campaign manual. All of it.
randy khan
“The promised checks weren’t delivered” has to be the most unsurprising line of the entire article.
Gin & Tonic
@amk: With a new house and all the animals you can’t expect Cole to keep up, can you?
Daoud bin Daoud
So Donnie Littlefingers stiffed his campaign staffers? LOSERS! {Oh, the schadenfreude, the schadenfreude!}
amk
@Gin & Tonic: yeah right, balme the critters.
ET
I don’t feel bad for the fools. It isn’t like there aren’t stories of him welshing out on $$$ and it has been obvious since long, long before he got the nomination that he has no interest in policy.
scav
@amk: I also seem to remember rumblings about the foreign shop earlier, but that probably dates to the Aug event — I’d just assume that things are leaking more now, especially as the threat of a win decreases value of a tell-all increases.
Besides, so many of the stories share the same arc (and lack of checks).
John Cole
@amk: Month ago but new to me.
Joel
Well if there is any set of assholes who had it comin’…
geg6
Local high school (actually, my niece’s high school) has not yet been paid for the Trump rally held there earlier in the month. I realize they usually get 30 days to pay, but I told my sister that the school district should kiss that money goodbye. Also too, apparently the okay to hold the rally there was decided by two of the school board members who did not talk to or ask for input from the rest of the 9 member board before okaying the event. I am told one of the board members who were behind this scheme actually contacted the Trump campaign and offered the use of the field house.
Major Major Major Major
@scav: the deadbeat arc of the universe is long, but it always bends towards not paying your bills.
Hal
Conservative friend is bitching on Facebook about Hillary daring to start a post-election transition plan. Arrogant! How dare she have some basic plan in place rather than wait until after the election. Apparently this will come back and bite Clinton in her rear for having the audacity of being prepared.
Gin & Tonic
@geg6: Don’t know about PA, but under RI’s open meetings law this could be the subject of a citizen complaint to the state AG’s office.
PaulWartenberg2016
for all the talk about Trump TV, who the hell will go work for a Trump organization that repeatedly fails to dole out paychecks and wages?!
amk
@John Cole:
sure. sure.
also. too. why do you get to have a colored background ?
Face
@randy khan: I think it’d be harder to find examples of contractors he’s paid on time and in full than those he’s stiffed or shorted.
Serious question: does he have any major projects where all the contractors and subs were all paid as promised?
amk
@PaulWartenberg2016: yup, that’s why I dismissed it as a total bs when that meme started.
JPL
@Hal: Trump has 100 people working on his transition plan.
Iowa Old Lady
Can you imagine the frustration of writing policy for Trump? OTOH, how can you watch the man in action and think he’ll pay any attention to your work? Or pay you? To quote Trump, how stupid are they?
ETA: As I recall, Christie is heading Trump’s transition team.
Oatler.
@geg6: Shucks, and he was waiting at the Field House with red hat, all oiled up and presenting…
Jerzy Russian
That is quite funny indeed. By the way, since when is Rudy Giuliani a “senior expert” on anything?
NorthLeft12
@Hal: Apparently, intelligence and preparation are Un-American according to Deadbeat Donald’s supporters. I can just imagine what these guys must be like as employees.
Tokyokie
Somebody should inform these policy shop folks that a nondisclosure agreement without consideration (i.e., pay) is invalid and unenforceable.
peach flavored shampoo
@amk:
Wait….I thought John was 100% Caucasian, as were his parents?
jonas
So you worked for Trump and got stiffed, eh? Quelle surprise. Paying employees is for losers. Winners like Trump pay who they what when they want as little as they want.
As a number of us were saying here earlier last summer, *any* vendor doing work for the Trump campaign better ask for cash up front. Otherwise, you ain’t getting shit.
The Moar You Know
@geg6: Send the bill to the two board members who did this without permission. Put a fucking lien on their assets if they don’t pay. Because Trump is never going to pay that bill.
ETA: In CA that’s a violation of the Brown Act and could send the two to jail. I expect PA does not have a similar law.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
And the tool who said this found this to be a surprise why? I mean, really, this is news to these people? Why would they think Trump, or anybody he has anything to do with, would treat them well?
Bobby Thomson
@amk: yes.
Fair Economist
@amk:
I don’t think it’s bs. I think it’s what he always was aiming for. I agree it will probably be a flop but reality doesn’t enter into his delusions.
Also, don’t misunderestimate his chances – so far he HAS found suckers for virtually all his projects, including this presidential run.
dmsilev
@Hal:
Explain to your friend that Romney set up a transition team in August of 2012. Obama and McCain both did more or less the same thing in 2008. Etc.
Probably a waste of time, I know, but at least there will be a bit of “I tried” satisfaction.
Patricia Kayden
@Hal: LOL! So he expects her to start from scratch after she wins? Isn’t it comforting to know that Secretary Clinton is a well prepared, disciplined person who plans stuff in advance? You really have to laugh at some people’s silliness.
Patricia Kayden
@PaulWartenberg2016: Hannity for one. Perhaps Alex Jones too. It will all end badly like The Blaze cable channel.
Nina
I wouldn’t be surprised if Hillary already had a full slate of Cabinet nominations ready to present to the Senate on November 9th. Although, considering the exquisite timing that the staff has had so far, she might also have a pre-set calendar with contingencies of cabinet nominees to announce and strawman nominees to announce to move the Overton Window towards the person she really wants, if the Senate gets stroppy.
peach flavored shampoo
Because Trump is a nice, honorable man with great business acumen and stuff. Everything bad said about him are lies told by the libtard media and the rigged system.
Honestly, that’s what they believe, because that’s what Fox tells them, and they dont dare attempt to process a free thought or apply logic to those concepts.
The Moar You Know
Had a job a while back where the owner was a dirt poor guitar builder trying to build his biz. Every payday, it was a race to the bank. That wasn’t the worst part. He’d late-paid his vendors so bad we’d been put on “cash only” status with them. We were probably about six months out from being wiped off the face of the earth when the owner, in what would be virtually the only flash of sanity he’d ever had, hired a business manager. He didn’t like it. The manager was telling him what to do! But he did it, and one year later we were still in business, had full credit terms, and the employees weren’t running to the bank anymore.
Moral: DON’T STIFF VENDORS.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@amk: It’s his web site.
Jack the Second
@randy khan: To be fair, the staffers obviously delivered subpar work — after all, they failed to make Donald look Presidential — and therefore deserved to be stiffed.
gvg
I wonder how he manages to operate his regular business if he doesn’t pay? He has to pay someone or he wouldn’t even have his licensing operation, I think. I wonder if there is a way to measure what % of his people he didn’t pay over time, that is year by year. My hypothesis is he found out he could get away with it, and has been pushing it more and more with time. another possibility is that he is really getting senile and all his bad traits are getting worse.
This is the problem for republicans thinking they could control his and conservatives convincing themselves its for the supreme court. this guy does not keep basic promises and also won’t take good or useful advice. He has no loyalty.
Hal
@Patricia Kayden: I’m pretty sure this is his last gasp. Hates Clinton, claims to hate Trump too. Evangelical christian, but hey, Trump will appoint justices to the SC that will overturn Roe V. Wade. I feel like telling him Reagan, H. Bush and George W. were all supposed to do the same, also. So far that hasn’t worked out.
SFAW
@Hal:
“Arrogant”? She’s not “uppity”? I wonder if there might be any reason for that word choice.
I guess we should be thankful that she wasn’t called “bitchy,” “shrewish,” “harpy-like,” or “shrill.” This time, that is.
catclub
@Hal: Actually there was an article (New Republic) on the only interesting email in John Podesta’s stolen emails. It was about the Obama campaign in September or early October having a list that correctly named all the major economics appointments.
So yes, getting ahead of the game matters, and is important.
randy khan
@Face: I have to agree – the odds that he paid everyone for something are essentially zero. (And I can say for sure he didn’t pay everyone on the D.C. hotel project, since my wife works with somebody that Trump stiffed.)
SFAW
@Jack the Second:
I must be getting old or feeble — when I first scanned that, I read it as “they failed to make Donald Duck Presidential.”
WereBear
I’ve worked as a manager in high Trump areas. These are the folks who call in sick all the time, take half hour bathroom breaks, and when they are ultimately fired, they moan and whine that “You can’t do this to me because/I need this job/I got kids/my grandma’s sick!”
Nightmares on so many levels. Just utterly no conception of cause and effect. I am somewhat sympathetic since their parents never taught them anything; how to be on time, how to balance a checkbook or pay bills, how to manage their emotions and realize obligations and what is professional behavior. I’ve hired high school graduates who turn out to be hopeless at filing alphabetically — there’s a stack of documentation we’ll never get back.
They have flailed around their entire life and at a certain point it really needs to become their fault. That’s why the Clinton Job Corp was such a good idea and have really saved a bunch of kids I know. They need basics, from somewhere.
Peale
@Hal: What is he talking about? Trump just gave a HUUUGE speech in Gettysburg about his “first 100 days.” Chris Christie is somehow in charge of the transition when he isn’t meeting with his lawyers about Bridgegate. Are we back to “Hillary wants a coronation, and not an election.”
piratedan
@NorthLeft12: well, we already had 8 years of “whocouldanode?” as the de facto presidential policy, think a few folks would just as soon not return to that methodology.
SFAW
@peach flavored shampoo:
I believe the current Trumpettes-approved term is “lugenpresse.” (With an umlaut over the “u.”)
Peale
@SFAW: Pushy. She’s just so pushy.
amk
now, the polls about the polls too are RIGGED!!!
geg6
@Gin & Tonic:
Oh, yes. This was highly illegal. No way this decision should have been made without a quorum of the board. Should also have been brought up in a public meeting, with public input. Some people are pretty pissed about the whole thing, my sister being one of them. There will be screaming at the next board meeting, for sure.
geg6
@PaulWartenberg2016:
Curt Schilling.
OzarkHillbilly
@Hal: @dmsilev:
Oh screw that. Tell him that she doesn’t even have a transition team, everybody in the Obama admin has already agreed to stay on after the election. Not only that, but in fact you read that she is suspending her campaign altogether because… Who needs it anyway? The fix is in! You know how you know? Because they let women vote! Can you imagine that? And what is more, they allow ni**ers to vote too! And you saw a video of busloads of beaners coming across the border and driving directly to polling stations! And….
Just go with the flow.
ETA italics fail
geg6
@The Moar You Know:
Don’t know about them going to jail, but this is a major no-no under our sunshine and open meeting laws.
scav
@Hal: All the best, most sucessfullist businessmen have learned to utterly refuse to hire anyone that is so recklessly arrogant to have a plan about what they could do in the position As has been noted repeatedly in this thread, all the best conservative plans are entered blindly. Certainly Trump has never be so foolish as to actually marry a woman that had any conception of what was really coming after the dotted line was actually signed.
252man
@Tokyokie: Perhaps this is what Roger Stone was talking about.
The Moar You Know
@WereBear: Thank you for blaming the correct individuals. My wife’s a teacher. They could get the kids to do these things, rather easily, but the parents simply will not let them. Flat-out will not do it.
prob50
Let’s see: You sign a Non-disclosure agreement with some asshole who then turns around and stiffs you. Whoda thunk Trump might do that? It’s truly amazing that ANYONE could ever vote for this jerk.
SFAW
@WereBear:
Clearhead O’Keefe, but without Clearhead’s intelligence.
amk
@OzarkHillbilly: and throw in the ‘fact’ that on the day after inauguration, tim kaine will quit and the kenyan will take over as veep. another term of obama, just as trump had warned.
NJDave
@geg6: I’ll get the opinion of a couple of folks “in the business” so to speak. One heads up a teachers union in PA while another is professionally interested in public schools. Also, my dad was on the school board of a small PA school and I recall them chaffing at public meeting rules. If mere discussions were supposed to be public, how could a decision not be? Probably IOKIYAR, although my dad was nothing like today’s R’s (hated Nixon, voted against Reagan, …)
ETA: spelling
gratuitous
I’m not a lawyer, but usually both sides have to uphold their end of a contract for its provisions to be legally binding. If these staffers weren’t paid, they are under no obligation to respect any non-disclosure aspects of the contract, unless it was written in such a way that non-disclosure survived a neutron bomb (or non-payment of compensation). Which should be a red flag for anyone reading the contract. “Say, Mr. Trump? If I’m reading this right, I don’t have any recourse if you don’t pay me, but I can’t complain about it publicly no matter what.”
SFAW
@Peale:
I knew I had forgotten something. Thanks!
scav
@amk: Zombie Replicants have invaded our shores and may even replaced some of your friends, your nearest and dearest who may now be denying Trump his win. Trust No One. Search behind their ears for the radio transmitters constantly.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Win.
Tom Levenson
@Hal: Does your friend know that soon-to-be-felon Chris Christie heads Donald Trump’s transition planning team? And has since May. (Politico link)
ETA: much covered upthread, unsurprisingly.
oklahomo
@Jerzy Russian: The expert who built his disaster command center halfway up a high rise in the same complex that had been attacked before.
dmsilev
Data journalism at its best: The 281 People, Places and Things Donald Trump Has Insulted on Twitter: A Complete List.
The list is long. I kind of like this one:
and this is also good:
Edit. To be fair, I kind of agree with this one:
blackcatsrule
I was planning on wearing green as the opposite color of “Trump voter” red but now have to reconsider my wardrobe choices.
amk
Matt McIrvin
@Hal:
They did, mostly–there just haven’t been quite enough of them.
cmorenc
@amk:
It’s not an old story to the many of us who missed hearing of it until now – I consider myself a relatively “high-information” voter and regularly follow several good news and political sites, but neither I nor many others can get to every shiny object that comes along in the firehose of political news.
Chyron HR
@amk:
HILLARY’S PEAKING EARLY
DEMOCRATS ARE COMMITTING SUICIDE ON THE STEPS OF THE
TRUMPSCION PALACE!liberal
@geg6: Someone should hammer those pondscum at the next school board election and chuck their fat asses off of it.
different-church-lady
Trump campaign statement yesterday:
Today: one of those three shows Clinton ahead, and another has them tied.
liberal
@Hal:
Of course! Democratic presidents are ipso facto illegitimate.
dedc79
OT, but interesting:
liberal
@The Moar You Know: I thought late-paying vendors is really common in the business world. (Not that I think that makes it OK.)
MazeDancer
@Hal:
While not planning in some way would be irresponsible, and every candidate in history except Trump has done so, actually, Hillary is not starting publicly to plan transition, herself. Her campaign is planning to plan. A small staff is working in DC. And Kaine appointed some transition staff that will get to work publicly after election.
Robby Mook will not allow any transition talk at Brooklyn HQ. Only focus on campaign. Hillary is of the knock wood and carry on about winning school of public action:
NorthLeft12
@gratuitous: I cannot believe that the non-disclosure agreement would include not being able to tell anyone you did not get paid as contracted. And I also would not believe it would cover general descriptions of how disorganized and dysfunctional the organization was.
It should only cover such factual information that could be used to give some competitor a material advantage.
liberal
@different-church-lady: Yeah, but Trump costumes are outselling Hillary costumes.
Snarki, child of Loki
If Trump didn’t pay, then the NDAs may well be invalid, according to that old-timey “offer+acceptance+consideration” formula.
…and I see that it’s been addressed @62. Love to see ’em fight it out, though.
different-church-lady
@liberal: maybe that’s the third poll.
randy khan
@dmsilev:
I refuse to believe that 281 constitutes a complete list of people Trump has insulted on Twitter, unless it’s just since last Tuesday.
Shell
Color us shocked.
Wonder if Trump masks are a big item this Halloween?
Humdog
While I think it is very wrong to hire people for a job and then not pay them for it, I have to wonder about anyone hired to do policy for today’s Republicans. They sign up to find new ways of saying cut taxes for the rich and send block payments to the states regardless of the merits of these policies. It is as if they are used car salesmen and everyone knows that car don’t run right. Any new policy thinkers are shunned. It is a marketing scam and they got scammed themselves.
randy khan
@dedc79:
I was in a Facebook comment thread with someone (an acquaintance, but not a friend or even Facebook friend) who kept saying that the sausage-making aspects of the hacked emails were shocking or appalling or somesuch. I kept wanting to tell him that there wasn’t anything that had been released that hadn’t been said in every campaign since the beginning of the Republic – it’s just that you email leaves a record of it. The Sanders reaction is pretty much what I would expect from anybody with any real experience in politics.
Just One More Canuck
@liberal: there’s a big difference between late paying and not paying at all
Villago Delenda Est
@randy khan: The correct response to someone that dull witted is “how is it that you remember to breathe?”
kindness
I would have liked to have read that link but I maxed out my free WaPo articles a couple weeks ago. Same thing happens to me with the NY Times.
amk
After keeping the senate 50/50 for a long time, sam wang today updated to 51D.
The Moar You Know
@liberal: It’s actually not. The only people who’ve late paid me consistently over the last 13 years (my latest and current job) are non-profits. So we don’t do much business with them anymore. Even the federal government pays on time unless there’s a disputed charge, which does happen sometimes. But when it gets hashed out, they pay.
amk
@kindness: Clear your cache often.
Fair Economist
@randy khan:
The Sanders reaction is pretty much what I would expect from anybody with any real experience in LIFE. Who doesn’t whine privately about even good friends and close family on at least an occasional basis? Even the best people sometimes do things that merit complaint, and we all lose our temper occasionally, or slip up and gossip.
Amir Khalid
@kindness:
Always remember to open stories from NYT/WaPo in a private window. That way, it won’t count against your monthly free quota.
hovercraft
@different-church-lady:
Not just three polls, the three most important and accurate polls!!
It’s true, Donald told me so.
nonynony
@dedc79:
Not shocked at all to find out that Sanders is a grown up who knows how this stuff works.
Patricia Kayden
@dmsilev: Dogs get fired? Strange Erick Erickson tweet.
catclub
@amk: Or open up a different (Chromium versus Firefox versus other) browser.
nonynony
@Fair Economist:
I make sure that nothing like that is done in e-mail or via text or on Facebook. Really it’s a good habit to get into – don’t say anything via e-mail or in a text message that you wouldn’t want on the front page of the New York Times. Keep the catty remarks to in person conversations (and if I were a public figure I’d b worried about being recorded – it’s not easy being a public figure these days).
slag
There oughtta be a law!
Patricia Kayden
@different-church-lady: Now even the non-rigged polls are rigged!! Sad!! The Horror!! Benghazi!!
WaterGirl
@kindness: Use private browsing, or whatever your browser calls it. Then you can read all the articles you want.
Lurker Extraordinaire
My husband worked on Trump’s plane. Pretty sure they got paid, or they could put a lien on the aircraft. Will double check.
amk
amk
@Patricia Kayden: LOL.
Patricia Kayden
@amk: The Kenyan, Communist, Muslim Witch Doctor is doing alright.
Humanities Grad
@liberal:
Well, yeah, no kidding. That’s because a Trump costume is WAAAAAAY scarier than a Hillary costume.
Matt McIrvin
Ohio seems to be trending redder again. Has Hillary pulled back a little there because of the lack of competitive down-ballot races? It’d make some sense–she doesn’t need the state, though it’d be nice.
Matt McIrvin
@dedc79: St. Bernie is a politician who allows politics in his political campaigns? Say it isn’t so!
Pest Bog Mummy, Frakensteinbeck
@randy khan:
That, and the Sanders campaign’s top level people were caught – repeatedly – saying seriously nasty things about Clinton with no need to go into their emails to find it. For some reason, those stories did not get much attention.
Humanities Grad
@Matt McIrvin:
It’s been an annoyance, for certain, but Clinton’s field operation is still very active here. My wife & daughter have been canvassing for the last several weekends, I’ll take over for the wife this weekend.
I’m _hoping_ (not basing this on a ton, but that’s what hope does) that so long as Clinton can keep it close (within a point or so) that her superior organization & turnout operation might manage to put her over the finish line first. If Trump’s numbers continue to collapse, that would obviously be very good, too, as that might prompt some Republican voters to stay home.
Kropadope
@Pest Bog Mummy, Frakensteinbeck: They didn’t? Maybe it’s my source selection, but I heard about them endlessly.
Immanentize
@liberal: As Itzkoff tweeted —
I thought President Slutty Nurse was responsible for a lot of sensible health care improvements….
The Moar You Know
@Lurker Extraordinaire: Not his plane. Leased.
amk
@Humanities Grad: OH has been yo-yoing around 1 to 2 % for a long time now. As you rightly say, it’s the GOTV that will matter in the end, just like FL in 2012.
chopper
you don’t think trump got rich by writing a lot of checks, do you?
Jay C
There are always exceptions, though: a good friend of mine in the leasing business said his sole experience working with Trump’s organization was just fine: decent, amiable people, and he got his bill paid in full, and on time with no problems.
I guess any big organization has to let a few mistakes slip by from time to time….
Steeplejack
@kindness:
Open in private or incognito tab/window.
Spider-Dan
@Fair Economist: I think a lot of people have been underestimating the potential for Trump TV to fleece conservative viewers. Why wouldn’t Trump voters be interested in Trump Gold Bullion, Trump Survival Kits, or Trump Coral Calcium?
chopper
@randy khan:
it’s so funny to watch people hitting the fainting couches over this shit. they should know that the sort of people tossing ten-pound cusses all day are the ones you want working for your campaign cause those fuckers get shit done.
Enhanced Voting Techinques
@amk: Better yet, Obama as Veep, but it’s just a place holder until Hilary can do a Vince Foster on Chief Justice Roberts and appoint Obama in Roberts’ place. After that the Liberal Master Plan(tm) of having Obama spending the next thirty years lecturing Red state governors will be in place.
hovercraft
@gvg:
He has been involved in something like 35,000 law suits, I don’t think that number is typical. His MO is to stiff people and then just have his lawyers drown the plaintiffs lawyers in paper, he knows that most people can’t afford a long drawn out litigation process, so they usually give up. This is his business model. Apparently it’s cheaper than paying up. It also has the added advantage of him being able to content himself with the knowledge that he won, and they lost. Sad, pathetic loser of a man.
NorthLeft12
@The Moar You Know: I worked for a chemical company that had as a policy that all bills got held [not even opened] for sixty days, then held by the Accounting Manager for another thirty days before being released for the start of the payment process.
This outfit was convicted of price fixing by the US government, fought constantly with their union employees, the Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Labour, and our neighbours, and lied to our customers regarding quality and delivery of our products.
I took a 20% pay cut to leave that horrible place, and was the least shocked person in Ontario when it went bankrupt and was sold to a competitor [who shut it down for good]. Good riddance. Worst work culture I have ever been in. They did pay well though.
JDM
What – besides using taxpayer money to fund trysts with your mistress – is Rudy Giuliani an expert in? Buying radios that make communication between first responders impossible? Installing a city’s emergency headquarters unit in the city’s major terrorist target?
lemongingerporkstirfrychopsticksoptional
@Spider-Dan: I hope he does do it because it will fail like everything else he does besides real estate.
hovercraft
@catclub:
Mrs Greenspan tried to make this a thing, asking if they were showing signs of overconfidence, panel said it was normal. She asked if the new focus on downballot was a sign of complacency and a mistake, again panel says she is trying to form a governing team. Who knew campaigning for and supporting people running in your party on the same ticket as you was novel?
Bess
@prob50:
Would failure to pay nullify the agreement? If one party in the contract fails to fulfill their end of the contract is the other party held to the terms of the contract?
Weaselone
@Jay C:
My guess is that Trump reserves most of this crap for smaller businesses that either have to stretch to fill his request, or simply lack the resources to pursue their case in court. He probably would avoid doing this with businesses with deeper pockets unless the potential for return was great, or companies that have his organization over a barrel, i.e. they can deny him access to a key asset if he stiffs them.
hovercraft
@amk:
There are only three honest and mostest accurate polls.
Rassmussen
IBT
LA Times
Scratch the LA Times, she must have gotten to them too, but they were the most accurate before today.
prob50
@Bess: Bess, I’m not a lawyer but I would guess that it very well could. It MIGHT depend on the law(s) of the particular state.
ruckus
@The Moar You Know:
There was a recession in the early 80s and some financial mag published an article that stated that a small business owner should pay the bills in 90 days or longer as that was good business practice. I read that and my first thought was I’ll be out of business before the 90 days are up because all my vendors would have cut me off.
NorthLeft12
@nonynony:
I was talking to my BIL and SIL about this last week. We are all Engineers in multinational corporations. We are all pretty gobsmacked by how unprofessional the politicians and their people are on emails. None of us have ever written or received any work related email that could conceivably be construed to contain a personal attack of any kind. It’s just not done, and you would think in “business” like politics that is so dependent on personal relationships and goodwill, that insults, etc would be completely counterproductive. Do they really believe that these personal attacks will only be seen by the people the emails were sent to?
Jay C
@Weaselone:
Well, my friend in the leasing business is a one-man shop – can’t get much “smaller” than that. We both think his experience working with “Trump people” (even those WAY down the totem pole from The Donald’s penthouse) was probably atypical, but, since the check cleared, it’s all moot.
The Pale Scot
@kindness:
Set your browser to privacy, and turn off javascript, bingo
If you don’t turn off JS, it will give the ten article max, just turn off your browser and do it again.
The Pale Scot
@catclub: Using another browser doesn’t work anymore, I think they use a combo of IP and MAC addresses besides cookies. Clearing the cookies by itself use to work too.
PaulWartenberg2016
@Patricia Kayden:
who in the what now?
JustRuss
@dmsilev: I’ve watched Samuel Jackson play golf, and I don’t recall being offended by his swing. Although to be fair, I was mostly thinking “Holy crap! That’s Samuel L. Jackson!”
hovercraft
@liberal:
A Trump costume is scarier, just sayin.
dww44
@Patricia Kayden: Erick Erickson has a new blog. He was anti-Trump from the get go and has paid a price for it. Plus he’s had major personal and family health issues.
While anti-Trump and attacked by Trump’s alt-right supporters, Erickson s still as way conservative as always.
hovercraft
@randy khan:
I’m sure that they are shocked to hear that there is gam b ling in Vegas.
Uncle Cosmo
@Face:
Not at all. Any contractor owned or controlled by the Mafia will have been paid in full & on time.* Wuerstfinger Trumpolini is not quite stupid enough to risk a ride in a trunk to a free tour of the continental shelf in concrete waders without benefit of breathing apparatus.
(* In fact any contractor he’s ever paid on time in full ought to be examined for mob connections.)
The Ancient Randonneur
So, the check ISN’T in the mail, AND he won’t respect you in the morining. Sad.
artem1s
@geg6:
please tell me that school is in a swing state, preferably Ohio
Lurker Extraordinaire
@The Moar You Know: Ah, I see! Either way, the repairs on that aircraft have to be paid for, or else a lien goes on it. Somebody is paying for those repairs! And really, the last people you wanna piss off are the folks maintaining your aircraft. (Not that anybody would risk their license for Trump…)
randy khan
@chopper:
Well, of course.
I’m generally pretty gentle with this guy because he lives in my neighborhood and is a gay Republican (so clearly he has other issues), but this sort of stuff just makes me shake my head.
Botsplainer
Failure to pay is a material breach of an essential term of the agreement, and would whack the NDA provisions (which are incompetently overdrawn and unenforceable to a great extent anyhow).
randy khan
@Jay C:
Maybe the Trump people figured that having the plane go down would be bad for business. They might have a different view today.
aimai
@JDM: Amazing how that went down the memory Hole! Also, as far as I know, the closest Rudy ever came to foreign policy was foisting his criminal asshole buddy Kerik on Bush. The idea that he serves as an advisor about anything is just laughable.
The Moar You Know
Failure to pay is a material breach of an essential term of the agreement, and would whack the NDA provisions (which are incompetently overdrawn and unenforceable to a great extent anyhow).
@Botsplainer: You are correct on both counts, but that NDAs really are not enforceable is not common knowledge. Yet ’tis true. Found that one out the hard way during a lawsuit.
Gelfling 545
@SFAW: That would be a much easier task!
trollhattan
@Hal:
Perhaps a gentle reminder of the kickass transition plan executed by President Cheney. Now that’s a man with a plan.
trollhattan
@amk: Let’s reach out dream target of 27%. Winning.
hueyplong
The Trump target number for me is 37.4.
Because McGovern got 37.5.
Talk all you want about the influence of third party candidates, etc., etc. I want Trump a notch below McGovern.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
I don’t understand how even Trump supporters, dumb as they are, can believe this election is being rigged. He has run a terrible campaign on a shoestring. He has barely a skeleton crew even in many of the battleground States, has no analytics team, and no get out the vote operation. Compound those errors of laziness and cheapness with a candidate who says things that offend virtually every voting block that isn’t both male and white and there’s no way the guy should be ahead in the polls, which he isn’t. Nominate a terrible candidate who is lazy and cheap, and you’re bound to lose a fair election.
Eugene in Eugene
@Patricia Kayden:
It’s the remake of “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Her Lover” we neither asked for nor deserve!
Brachiator
@Hal:
dmsilev
Ask your friend if Hillary should wait until Trump concedes the election.
Uncle Cosmo
@The Moar You Know: I worked in a small office for what was essentially a high-tech consulting company for over 15 years– 25,000+ employees in offices across the nation– & I was told by our admin assistant that the higher-ups had several times been so dilatory in paying our utility bill that we’d come within 48 hours of having them cut off. Meanwhile this company would scream bloody murder at its creditors demanding payment as soon as the bill had been sent, days before it had a chance to arrive. One wonders how significant the “float” was to corporate profits.
Aleta
Just how much taxpayer money is guaranteed to Trump’s “transition team?” Does this law have limits on the definition of who can be on the transition team, how many can be on it, etc?
I wonder if Trump will now try to blame election “fraud” for his failure to pay workers. Is it too farfetched to wonder if he might try to stall his creditors by bringing some chiseler lawsuit against the federal government, trying to claim it swindled him out of their pay by stealing the election.
Brachiator
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
The average person doesn’t know anything about this. They assume that all candidates more or less run the same kind of campaign. And there are rarely news items that talk about the nuts and bolts of the campaign, the successes and failures in any but the most basic, bird’s eye view terms (e.g., Clinton does/not not spend money campaigning in Ohio).
Plus,when there are stories about Trump campaign miscues or inefficiencies, his surrogates pop up like stupid magpies to deny everything and declare him to be the most perfect campaigner ever.
Vhh
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: But it is being rigged to lose. By Trump himself.
Aleta
It would be in character for Trump to refuse to pay field office staff because their work was inferior.
Matt McIrvin
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: It’s the same illusion that befell a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters: thinking that big, raucous rallies and a passionate base mean that the candidate is winning, and only cheating could stop him. If you drove around my neighborhood taking the Peggy Noonan lawn-sign survey you’d think Trump was crushing in Massachusetts.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@liberal:
President Elsa has been great on climate change action.
catclub
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
There was a Politico roundtable of Trump biographers. One thing they mentioned was that Trump has no leadership skills, i.e. skills at leading any large team project, and coordinating the various parts – kind of like running a campaign. That was one of the key achievements of Obama that could be pointed to – he ran a superb campaign in 2008.
PatrickG
@NorthLeft12:
Thank you! I feel the same way (as a consultant developer working internationally). Hell, I proofread my emails three times to make sure semi-colons are in place, because obviously! If my fellow devs and I need to clear the air, vent, or otherwise be snarky, we do it in informal “catch-up sessions” after the main (recorded) meetings.
This is no comment on the nastiness of politics in general (where’s that fainting couch), but people seem to give a pass to behavior by paid professionals that might lead to disciplinary action in any other setting. As you say, in such a contentious and target-rich environment, this has always struck me as very weird.
Xenos
I don’t know about whatever jurisdiction is controlling for these empty!payment contracts, but wage theft gets you a criminal prosecution from the Mass. AG office right quick. I had client who relied on loan sharks rather than risk that. Igoogled him a couple years after we went out separate was, and sure enough, he soon ran into serious trouble and narrowly avoided jail time for failing to show up with paychecks one Friday.
opiejeanne
@nonynony: I am very careful about family stuff online. I got called out on another forum by Matt Welch for posting about him here. He must google his name and it must have cut him. That other forum contains people who know and like both of us so it was embarrassing.
Of course, he hit me in a thread where I couldn’t hit back, couldn’t answer back because it was closed by the time I saw it (a prediction game we used to play before every baseball game). He posted just minutes before it closed. I apologized for my transgression on that forum but he did not apologize for his; meh. I also apologized to John, because I worried that this might cause a kerfuffle here.
burnspbesq
@Tokyokie:
Consideration? They got consideration in the form of a yuuuuuuuge and spectacular qual that they can put on their resumes and parlay into a looooocrative career on K Street.
/desperate Trump lawyer trying to come up with a non-frivolous argument
burnspbesq
@Botsplainer:
You know this how, exactly? Have you seen the agreements in question?
Glidwrith
@Shell: In our Halloween store it is called the Combover President mask.
Spider-Dan
@hueyplong: There are three relevant numbers for establishing Trump as an historic loser:
1) lowest % for a major party candidate- Taft hit the low 20s in 1912, so Trump isn’t going to get that
2) lowest % for a major party candidate in a 2-way electoral college- 34.2% (Cox, 1920)
3) lowest % for a Republican in a 2-way electoral college- 36.5% (Landon, 1936)
I’ll happily settle for #3.
Ken
@Spider-Dan: Numbers are all very well, but to me the important thing is that for the rest of his life, Trump thinks of this as getting beaten by a girl.