Week one of the first Trump trial

Early Friday afternoon in week one of the hush trial in New York City, the six alternate jurors were selected for the first trial of Donald Jonathan Trump.

[He hates when his middle name is used, so I used it!]

After some legal matter such as whether Trump can be used as a witness, the trial should begin on Monday in the second week.

[Trump testifying could be harmful for him as he obviously has a history of exaggeration and lies. If he takes the stand there will be plenty of side-bars to decide whether some (or most) if his testimony will be allowed or stricken.]

The prosecutor is introducing a motion to sanction Trump for his three social media posts they allege violate the judge’s gag order. The prosecutor told the judge they are seeking permission to hold Trump in contempt for violating the gag order and sanction Trump $1,000 for each of the three posts that violate the order. The prosecutor also said that prosecutors want the judge to take down the three posts and to remind the defendant that “further violations could result in jail time.” The judge hasn’t decided on this yet. At one point in the first week, Trump ignored the gag order seven times.

[Normally $3,000 should be “chicken feed” for him but with all his legal expenses.]

Judge Merchan said he will hold a hearing on the district attorney’s motion to sanction Trump for his social media posts, according to pool reports.

Seems Trump was bored in the first week of the trial during jury selection. It was reported that Trump actually dozed off during the first day. After the reporter mentioned it publicly, Trump gave the reporter a look.

Trump wants to take part in sidebars, which could put him very close to jurors. Defendants rarely get involved in sidebars with judges during jury selection.

Trump’s attorney asked the district attorney’s office to share the first three witnesses they plan to call, noting that opening arguments and the first witness testimony could begin very soon. The Assistant District Attorney refused but acknowledged that courtesy is often extended. But because Trump has been posting on social media about their witnesses, he said with a shrug, “We’re not telling him who the witnesses are.” Merchan said he couldn’t fault prosecutors for that. Trump visibly shook his head over the exchange.

Evidence that will be allowed:

• Judge Juan Merchan said he will allow a series of National Enquirer stories attacking Trump’s opponents into evidence.
• Testimony from Karen McDougal will also be allowed, but Merchan said it is not necessary for the jury to hear that Trump continued his affair with McDougal while his wife, Melania Trump, was pregnant and after she gave birth. McDougal is a model and actress who has said she had a months long affair with Trump in 2006 and was paid $150,000 to keep quiet about it by the National Enquirer. Trump has denied the affair.
• Merchan will allow testimony of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s guilty plea to campaign finance violations with the proper foundation. He said prosecutors cannot tie that guilty plea to Trump.

What will not be allowed:

• Merchan said he still believes the “Access Hollywood” video in which Trump brags about groping women should not be shown to jurors because it’s so prejudicial.
• The judge also denied prosecutors’ request to bring into evidence the allegations of sexual assault against Trump that came out after the “Access Hollywood” tape. He said he will not allow Trump to be prejudiced by a “rumor.”
• Merchan additionally said he doesn’t think the deposition of E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexual assault, should be brought in because it would be “building in a trial into a trial.”

Barron Trump’s graduation is on a court day but Merchan hasn’t decided to allow Trump to go to it. Although that’s later in May.

[Trump will probably go berserk if he can’t. Although knowing enough of him, he’d do campaigning as well.]

Remember how Trump was complaining that he couldn’t get a fair trial in heavily Democrat leaning New York City? Trump was asked what he thought of the first seven jurors selected. He answered to ask him again in two months [when the trial could be over]. So he’s not complaining now about a fair trial.

[Of course if he loses, he will bring up the unfair trial crap and if he wins, he won’t mention the unfairness. Note that his illegal activities related to this trial took place in New York City. So where else can it be done?]

While he is in court and can’t get out of being there, Trump’s vice-president candidates are on TV and radio trying to help him. They are J.D. Vance, Elise Stefanik, Doug Burgum [a long shot as from a small state and mostly unknown], and Vivek Ramaswamy.

[With some of the candidates, they could hurt him more than help.]

At some rally in some small town in Pennsylvania, Trump said “Gettysburg, what an amazing, horrible, just incredible, classy, terrible thing, really beautiful. I kinda went there, but had the wrong address. Robert E Lee a war hero that wasn’t captured, loser on the hill, but we miss him, really a great guy, believe me.”

[Lee was a war hero and “really a great guy, believe me” – Trump is that old to know him? The GOP were always ranting about President Biden’s age.]

The Supreme Court seemed deeply divided over a challenge to a federal law that prosecutors used to charge more than 350 people who were part of the Trump Insurrection mob that attacked the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Several conservatives expressed concern about giving prosecutors broad power that they suggested would allow the government to target peaceful protesters or hecklers who disrupt a court proceeding.

The court’s ruling, likely to land in late June, has the potential to undo the convictions and sentences of those who have gone to trial or pleaded guilty, and upend the charges still pending for many more. It could also clear Trump of some charges.

[So the justices want those disturbing the court to be allowed to?]

Jimmy Kimmel delivered another monologue making fun of Trump. The morning after, Trump claimed that at the Academy Awards in March, it was Kimmel, not Al Pacino, who said should of said “and the Oscar goes to” or at least “and the winner is.” Kimmel was the host that night. See here. [particularly at about 47 seconds in. “In fairness to our former President, many stable geniuses confuse me with Al Pacino….,” Kimmel wrote late that afternoon on Twitter.

[Can’t Trump get this right? Did he or have someone to verify the message sent? I guess not.]
Trump’s campaign is asking Republican candidates and committees using his name and likeness who fundraise to give at least 5% of what they raise to the campaign. Trump’s campaign managers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, said in a letter dated April 15, “Beginning tomorrow, we ask that all candidates and committees who choose to use President Trump’s name, image, and likeness split a minimum of 5% of all fundraising solicitations to Trump National Committee JFC…”

[You think anyone will give more than 5%?]

The LA Times goofed, claiming a “typographical error” when in the obituary for OJ Simpson, Donald Trump’s name was used instead. “Long before the city woke up on a fall morning in 2017, Trump walked out of Lovelock Correctional Center outside Reno, a free man for the first time in nine years,” the Times’ obituary read. “He didn’t go far, moving into a 5,000-square-foot home in Las Vegas with a Bentley in the driveway.”

Voting technology company Smartmatic and the far-right network One America News said that they had settled a defamation lawsuit stemming from the outlet’s lies about the 2020 election. Because of a confidential agreement, no details were revealed. Smartmatic filed its lawsuit against OAN in 2021, alleging that the right-wing conspiracy network “victimized” the company and spread lies about its role in the 2020 election to “increase viewership and revenue.”

The DJT stock continues to drop at one point. Maybe related to the fact that they began selling 2.1 million more shares which diluted the stock [which reduces Trump’s percentage in the company] and then announced they want to go into streaming as well. Streaming a notoriously cost-intensive business in which media behemoths like Disney have struggled to turn a profit. Since the height of DJT stock, it has dropped 70% as of April 16th but over the past three days, it has shot up a bit.

It is suggested that its streaming network could host live news, religious programming and family-friendly shows, movies and documentaries that “has been cancelled, is at risk of cancellation, or is being suppressed on other platforms and services.”

[So I guess content could include Beverley Hillbillies, Dukes of Hazard, moonshine experts, a cookie show on how to make deep fried Oreos….]
Trump repeatedly ranted about wind power during a fundraising dinner with oil and gas industry executives recently, claiming that the renewable-energy source is unreliable, unattractive and bad for the environment.

[Talking about sucking up. Just remember that he was pushing dirty and environmentally unfriendly coal when it was being used less and less. How anyone can think that renewable-energy source is bad for the environment must be crazy. He is.]

Only it now came out that disgraced former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December after being ordered to pay $148 million for falsely accusing two poll workers of cheating in the 2020 election. This week, the former Trump attorney sat for an hours-long deposition behind closed doors in the case, as his creditors seek to recover their money — with his treasure trove of assets revealing how they might be paid.

Still more legal fun in Trumpland

A New York court handed Donald Trump a lifeline as time ran out for Trump to secure a bond covering the $454 million loss for his recent fraud case. A panel of appellate court judges gave Trump 10 days to secure a far smaller $175 million bond just hours before New York’s attorney general could legally begin the long, slow process of seizing his assets. The reduction in the bond amount does not reduce the total $454 million fine Trump will ultimately be expected to pay if an appeals court upholds the judgment. Rather, a bond works as assurance that Trump will pay the fine’s full amount if his appeal is unsuccessful.

Along with the fine, Trump also faces a ban from running any company based in New York and obtaining loans from any banks in the state for the next three years. The appellate judges agreed to halt both bans as the court decides on the appeal. A court-appointed monitor, who has been overseeing the Trump Organization’s financial reporting over the last few years, is expected to continue oversight of the company for another three years as part of the judgment.

[Effectively, almost no major banks can obtain a loan because just about any bank in New York are head quartered there or generally the US primary branch.]

Trump’s lawyers have said it’s impossible for him to do that for the original amount. They said underwriters wanted 120 per cent of the judgment and wouldn’t accept real estate as collateral. That would mean tying up over $557 million in cash, stocks and other liquid assets, and Trump’s company needs some left over to run the business, his attorneys have said.

New York Judge Juan M. Merchan, has scheduled an April 15 trial date for Trump in what will be the first criminal case involving an ex-president, involving allegations that he falsified business records during the 2016 presidential campaign. Merchan made the ruling, but not before scolding Trump’s lawyers as he weighed when to reschedule the trial, after a last-minute document dump caused a postponement of the original date. Merchan had bristled at what he suggested were baseless defence claims of “prosecutorial misconduct.” “Why did you wait until two months before trial? Why didn’t you do it in June or July [2023]?” Merchan asked a Trump lawyer.

Merchan has imposed a gag order on Trump, limiting him from making statements about potential witnesses in the criminal trial relating to hush money payments scheduled to begin next month. Merchan also said that Trump can’t make statements about attorneys, court staff or the family members of prosecutors or lawyers intended to interfere with the case. Trump is also barred from making statements about any potential or actual juror.

Trump attended a pre-trial hearing, where Merchan swiftly rejected the motion seeking sanctions against the district attorney’s office, setting the trial date for April 15. Afterwards, Trump went to his 40 Wall Street building nearby, speaking to reporters to attack the case against him, Merchan and one of the prosecutors on Bragg’s staff who previously worked for the Justice Department, Matthew Colangelo. Then on his social network platform, Trump continued attacking Colangelo, baselessly claiming that the prosecutor was sent to the district attorney’s office to go after Trump as Attorney General Merrick Garland’s “right hand.”

Trump complained that the gag order issued was “illegal, un-American, unConstitutional.” He said that Merchan, a veteran Manhattan jurist, was “wrongfully attempting to deprive me of my First Amendment Right to speak out against the Weaponization of Law Enforcement” by Democratic rivals.

Trump claimed that Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, whose firm has worked on campaigns for President Joe Biden and other Democrats, had recently posted a photo on social media depicting her “obvious goal” of seeing him jailed. In a statement, a spokesperson for New York’s state court system said that claim was false and that the social media account Trump was referencing no longer belongs to Loren Merchan. It appears to have been taken over by someone else after she deleted it about a year ago.

Trump is officially selling a patriotic copy of the Christian Bible for $60 themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, “God Bless the USA.” “As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless The USA Bible,” Trump said. Inside, it has the words to “God Bless the USA” and the text of The Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and other historic American documents. Promotional material for the Bible shows Trump alongside Greenwood. Various clergy didn’t take long to object to the use of the Bible.

It is also quite expensive for a copy of the Bible. The FAQ section of the “God Bless America” Bible website clarifies that no proceeds from the sales of the Bible will go towards Trump’s presidential campaign. The FAQ goes on to say Trump’s name, likeness and image are under “paid license from CIC Ventures LLC which is linked to Trump.” However, there is no mention of whether any proceeds could be put toward his personal legal troubles. However, there has been no word on where the profits are going to.

[Trump is not a religious man. He rarely attended church – except maybe when someone well known died.]

Jeff Yass, the billionaire Wall Street financier and Republican mega donor who is a major investor in the parent company of TikTok, was also the biggest institutional shareholder of the shell company that recently merged with Trump’s social media company.

[Now we know why Trump wasn’t to keep TikTok around.]

The Trump campaign said they will have their own super event in Florida on April 6th where they claim they will raise $33 million. This is to out-do the star studded even on March 28th for President Biden that also included Presidents Obama and Clinton which raised an estimated $26 million.

[The campaign already know how much? Sounds like a Russian election where you know that the true leader has won before the election day.]

Trump’s presidential campaign has established titles for the various levels of donations his new joint fundraising operation with national and state Republican Party committees is seeking – as Trump races to find campaign cash for the general election. The levels are:

• “Ultra MAGA” and is designated for individuals who donate $814,600.
• “Team Trump 2024” for those who donate $250,000.
• “Team America First” for $100,000 contributions.
• “Club 47” at $50,000.
• “MAGA 24” at the $24,000 level.

It seems, Trump also has to pay money in the UK. A London appellate justice refused Trump’s request to appeal the dismissal of his case against retired British spy Christopher Steele’s company over his controversial 2016 dossier. Trump had sought permission to appeal Judge Karen Steyn’s February judgment that Trump’s data privacy case — which argued that Steele harmed his reputation by peddling “egregiously inaccurate” claims about his Russian ties — lacked merit and should be thrown out. Steyn also ordered Trump to pay £300,000 [about $513,000] in legal fees to Steele’s company, Orbis Business Intelligence, which Trump requested to be stayed.

Former Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called the January 6, 2021 [a.k.a. The Trump Insurrection], attack on the US Capitol “unacceptable” after years of deflecting on the issue. She said that the Capitol riot “doesn’t represent our country. It certainly does not represent my party…. We should not be attacking the Capitol; we should not be having violence,”. Asked why she didn’t offer such condemnation as RNC chairwoman, McDaniel responded, “When you’re the RNC chair, you kind of take one for the whole team. Right now, I get to be a little bit more myself.”

[A coincidence that she said something after been tossed to the curbed from a coup headed by Trump?]

McDaniel, right after her ouster at the RNC, got a $300,000 a year job at NBC News but other [real] journalists and anchors started a revolt and McDaniel has lost her job.

[Part of the backlash stemmed from her supporting Trump’s 2020 denial and then taking a $300,000 a year contract when staff is being cut across various NBC divisions. As well, even though she was the head of the RNC, she wasn’t friendly with the more moderate Republicans like Mitt Romney and Nikki Haley.]

Sen. Lisa Murkowski won’t rule out bolting from the GOP. She was one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial amid the aftermath of January 6, 2021, is done with the former president and said she “absolutely” would not vote for him. “I wish that as Republicans, we had … a nominee that I could get behind… I certainly can’t get behind Donald Trump.” Asked if she would become an independent, Murkowski said: “Oh, I think I’m very independent minded… I just regret that our party is seemingly becoming a party of Donald Trump.”

A California judge recommended that conservative attorney John Eastman be disbarred in the state over his role in developing a legal strategy to help Trump stay in power after his 2020 election loss.

Melania Trump sponsored her mother to immigrate to the United States through a family-based process that Trump aggressively sought to end, according to federal immigration records. The records detail for the first time the full path that the former first lady’s mother, Amalija Knavs, followed from Slovenia to the United States — and how the Trump administration’s policies would have made that far more difficult for others.

Melania Trump used a legal pathway that her husband and his top advisers had repeatedly disparaged as “chain migration,” the right of US citizens to bring their parents to the United States. During his presidency, Trump endorsed a bill called the Raise Act that would have limited priority sponsorship to the spouses and minor children of US citizens, taking parents off the fast-track list.

Did you know that Melania Trump arrived in the United States from Slovenia in 1996 for modelling work and obtained a green card around 2001 based on her “extraordinary ability” as a model.

[Ability?]

The mid-terms didn’t go his way… phew!

Note: Some of the information below was picked up prior to the mid-term elections.

Donald Trump is “furious” about the lacklustre midterm showing, tossing his ire at Dr. Mehmet Oz and blaming his wife Melania for advising him to endorse the TV celeb. Trump is also pointing the finger at Fox News star Sean Hannity, his pal and unofficial adviser. Supposedly Trump was livid and screaming at everyone. See here.

Trump is on the outs with his wife, Melania Trump, after a post-election day news report said she got the brunt of his ire after Oz’s loss in his run for the US Senate. Trump was soon apologizing on Truth Social to her for what he called “made up” stories about her involvement. Of course!

On election night, Trump told an interviewer, “I think if [Republicans] win, I should get all the credit. If they lose, I should not be blamed at all.” Huh? You can’t have it both ways…

Trump is taking the blame from Republicans for disappointing performances by many of the candidates he backed. This could postpone his announcement to run in 2024 on November 15th. Some of his long-time allies are pushing him to delay. In particularly after his arch rival, Florida “governor” Ron DeSantis won in a landslide. Trump hinted darkly, “I know more about him than anybody, except perhaps his wife.” But in a Fox News interview 24 hours after the election, he cast doubt on a delay, saying: “We had tremendous success. Why would anything change?” So his huge ego will win.

“I think last night was the biggest indicator that Donald Trump should not be the Republican nominee in 2024. He cost Republicans winnable seats by boosting poor quality candidates,” said Sarah Matthews, former deputy White House press secretary under Trump.

Meanwhile Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner don’t want to be anywhere near government politics and will most likely not campaign for Trump or be part of a potential future administration.

Trump’s recent speech at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, contained at least 58 false or misleading statements, and he added at least another 24 distinct falsehoods at another speech in Latrobe, Pa., according to a Washington Post analysis.

Trump is already gearing up for a battle with Florida “governor” Ron DeSantis [some people call him “DeSATANis”] for the Republican nomination where Trump told the crowd as he read alleged poll numbers off a screen. “There it is, Trump at 71 (percent), Ron DeSanctimonious at 10 percent.” I’m surprised Trump wasn’t at 91% [do the math].

Trump claims he did vote for DeSantis in the mid-term election even though they will probably be competing against each other in an expected nasty race for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2024.

Trump posted on social media to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the midterm election in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania. “Here we go again!” he wrote. “Rigged Election!” Trump’s supposed evidence? An article on a right-wing news site [they have to be 100% accurate!] that demonstrated no rigging. Rather, the article basically raised suspicion about absentee-ballot data the article did not clearly explain. The Republican-controlled state legislature has refused to pass a no-strings-attached bill to allow counties to begin processing mail-in ballots earlier than the morning of Election Day.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas commented that “Why is it only Democrat blue cities that take ‘days’ to count their votes? The rest of the country manages to get it done on election night.” PolitiFact noted, some Republican counties in Cruz’s state of Texas – do not complete their vote counts on the night of the election. In fact, it is impossible for many counties to have final counts on election night.

On Fox last week, prime-time host Tucker Carlson made an argument about Pennsylvania’s Senate race – suggesting people should not accept a Fetterman win because it would be “transparently absurd” for a candidate who has had difficulties with public speaking and auditory processing since a stroke in May to legitimately prevail.

In the political battleground of Lehigh County, in Allentown, PA, a legal group linked to Trump sued to slash the hours of the only around-the-clock ballot drop box, arguing someone could stuff it with fakes votes. So what does curtailing the time on when you can vote? Unless there is someone monitoring the box every minute, some could still stuff the box [with GOP votes]. However, wouldn’t it be the people who are opening the ballot envelope would be the one to verify the vote is legitimate?

Trump agreed at one point to make his posts exclusively available on Truth Social for eight hours before he could share them elsewhere. The agreement offered exceptions for “political messaging, political fundraising or get-out-the-vote efforts,” which he could do anywhere at any time. So what else would he post other than something political in nature? The weather?

Trump’s lawyers provided a more detailed explanation in a court filing as to why they say the former president had the authority to personally declassify sensitive government documents, though they again stopped short of saying Trump actually declassified materials that he kept after leaving the White House.

Trump Organization Controller Jeffrey McConney reiterated he followed instructions from former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg and other high-level Trump Org. executives to tack on fringe benefits to their salaries in bonuses that were ultimately not reported to tax authorities. McConney also cut bonus checks via 1099 tax forms meant for independent contractors – a method that does not withhold taxes on the employer’s end. Those employees then did not report those bonuses as income on their personal taxes, so they took the money tax-free over several years.

What Trump almost said

“This election is now over. Congress has certified the results,” Donald Trump was to tell Americans on January 7, 2021, but it was removed from his speech. As well, “I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election is over.”

Trump’s political committees, Make America Great Again PAC and Save America PAC, have paid nearly $2.2 million this year to six law firms whose attorneys have represented witnesses before the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Trump Insurrection. If you remember, these PACs have pulled in hundreds of millions supposedly to defend him and allies but this amount comes out to less than 1% of what the PACs raised so far. In fact, very little money accumulated has been spent on defending allies as well as getting allies re-elected.

A firm that employs several former Trump campaign lawyers and former White House lawyer Stefan Passantino has received about $1.6 million so far. The firm at one point represented a key hearing witness, Cassidy Hutchinson. She dumped the firm and then ramped up her cooperation with the panel and delivered bombshell testimony about Trump’s conduct on January 6 at an in-person hearing. Some January 6 committee members are wondering if these law firms, paid by Trump’s PACs are affecting what witnesses are saying.

Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of Trump was convicted of contempt charges for defying a congressional subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Trump Insurrection at the US Capitol. Bannon was found guilty after a trial that lasted around five days in federal court in Washington on two counts: one for refusing to appear for a deposition and the other for refusing to provide documents in response to the committee’s subpoena. He faces up to two years in a federal lockup when he’s sentenced. Each count carries a minimum sentence of 30 days in jail.

“He wouldn’t denounce the Proud Boys because they were fighting for him. If someone was fighting for him, no matter how heinous the people, he wouldn’t denounce them,” former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham said recently. But if you go against him, expect phrases like “I don’t know the person” or other less than positive comments.

“She [press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, her boss] looked directly at me and in a hushed tone, shared with me that the president did not want to include any sort of mention of peace [initially] in that tweet and that it took some convincing on their part,” press aide Sarah Matthews testified after the Trump Insurrection.

Former vice president Mike Pence is endorsing Arizona gubernatorial candidate Karrin Taylor Robson, a developer who has long been involved in Republican politics, instead of Trump’s chosen candidate, Kari Lake, a former TV anchor who continues to falsely claim that the 2020 election was “stolen.” One has been in politics [but on the side line] but the other reported it. Which would you choose?

A Trump administration aide, Garrett Ziegler, who met with the House Jan. 6 committee this week unleashed a 27-minute inflammatory tirade, calling the lawmakers’ investigation into the Capitol riot racist against Christian white people [even though there is at least one visible minority on the committee] and using sexist slurs to describe his former colleagues who also testified. He responded by saying “Total liars! I cherish women” – but I wonder in what way. Considering Trump is the primary aim of the aim, he is no where near what would be called a good white Christian [think adultery, groping, etc.]. The useless aide says he is “the least-racist person that many of you have ever met, by the way. I have no bigotry” but sounds like it.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has subpoenaed Georgia Republican Rep. Jody Hice to appear before the grand jury investigating Trump and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, according to a new court filing. Hice was served the subpoena last month, which called on him to testify before the grand jury this week. Hice went to court regarding the subpoena, and in a new filing, he indicated that he’s trying to move the proceedings from state court to federal court.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is trying to quash a subpoena from Georgia and has argued that his role as a lawmaker should shield him from having to testify. Uh huh.

Families of 9/11 victims are urging Trump to cancel a Saudi golf tournament [LIV Golf] that is to be held at his Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on July 29th. The golf course is very close to the epicenter of the New York attacks. Before taking office, Trump at least partially blamed Saudi Arabia for 9/11. BTW, the Republicans were complaining when President Biden went to Saudi Arabia and first bumped the royals on a diplomatic trip. But this? His Doral course in Florida will host the final even of the season in October.

This is funny: “All of those golfers that remain ‘loyal’ to the very disloyal PGA, in all of its different forms, will pay a big price when the inevitable MERGER with LIV comes, and you get nothing but a big ‘thank you’ from PGA officials who are making Millions of Dollars a year,” Trump wrote. “If you don’t take the money now, you will get nothing after the merger takes place, and only say how smart the original signees were.” And why was PGA disloyal? Meanwhile those golfers that ran to LIV Golf for the big money. They aren’t loyal.

Trump’s Bedminster course was supposed to host the 2022 PGA Championship, a major sign that Trump had finally made it. But in the wake of the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, the PGA voted to strip Bedminster of the tournament, eventually moving it to Southern Hills in Oklahoma.

Trump is encouraging golfers to jump to LIV Golf as when PGA and LIVE Golf merges, they will get nothing. They’re merging? Probably not for a long time, if any.

Donald Trump attended his first late wife’s funeral, Ivanka, by entering the church from a side door. He wore a blue suit.

Melania Trump said “As with all first ladies who preceded me, it was my obligation to record the contents of the White House’s historic rooms, including taking archival photographs of all the renovations. Several months in advance, I organized a qualified team of photographers, archivists, and designers to work with me in the White House to ensure perfect execution” in a recent interview. She was photographing a rug! Grisham, her former chief of staff, revealed a text message exchange in which the former first lady responded to a tweet Grisham had drafted calling for the violence on Capitol Hill to stop as it was happening. If Melania Trump was telling the truth, nobody told her in 3+ hours in what was going on. Seriously?

Melania Trump said “And while Ms. Grisham’s behavior is disappointing, it is not surprising or an isolated incident.” She is claiming that Grisham had caused multiple issues. In response to Trump’s statements, Grisham said, “Everything she said is bullshit and she knows it.” Melania took a page out of her husband’s playbook as Donald Trump would throw anyone under the bus who went against him. If Grisham was a problem, why wasn’t she let go?

Trump knows how to end the war

How Donald Trump would have the US win the war? Trump told a group of Republican donors in New Orleans that the US should paint Chinese flags on its F-22 planes and then use those planes to bomb Russia. “And then we say, ‘China did it, we didn’t do it, China did it,’ and then they start fighting with each other and we sit back and watch,” Trump concluded. His comments were was met with laughter from the crowd of donors. Unsure if laughing at him or with him or thought it was a joke. Of course these are two nuclear powers and Russia can detect the type of fighters going into its airspace. What an idiot.

In the same meeting he said that he also praised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as “seriously tough” and marvelling at how Kim’s generals and aides “cowered” when the dictator spoke to them [that’s called a dictator, Donnie], claimed he was harder on Vladimir Poutine than any other president, claimed Poutine never would have invaded the country if Trump was president of the US, reiterated his false claims that he won the 2020 election, urged his party to be “tougher” on supposed election fraud, disparaged a range of prominent party opponents and called global warming “a great hoax” that could actually bring a welcome development: more waterfront property.

A plane carrying Trump suffered engine failure late Saturday evening over the Gulf of Mexico, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing in New Orleans shortly after taking off from the city and was forced to immediately return to the airport and make the unscheduled landing in Louisiana shortly before 11 p.m. The Dassault Falcon 900 carried a retinue of Secret Service agents, other support staffers, Trump and some of his advisers. The plane belonged to a donor who loaned it to Trump for the evening.

A federal judge, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, denied Trump’s request to countersue magazine writer E. Jean Carroll for violating New York’s law against frivolous defamation lawsuits, criticizing Trump’s legal argument as “futile” and a delay tactic. Trump had asked the judge for permission to use the state’s anti-SLAPP law as a defence to the defamation claims and to countersue Carroll and seek attorneys’ fees, if successful.

The Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit against the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Trump Insurrection, revealing a recent effort by House investigators to unearth information about how the party and the Trump campaign used an email software to spread misinformation about the 2020 election and fuel violence that led to the US Capitol attack.

The lawsuit seeks to stop a subpoena for donor and supporter data from the software company Salesforce, and its public disclosure comes on the same day RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel met with the committee. The Trump campaign and Trump’s PAC in 2020 also used the software, according to the subpoena.

“We have very low debt, are sitting on tremendous amount of cash and have extremely profitable properties,” said Eric Trump. So then exactly why did the Trump Organization require a $100 million loan to pay off another loan?

A new organization, the 65Project — so named for the number of frivolous lawsuits filed seeking to contest the results of the 2020 election — debuted. It announced its mission: Find all the lawyers who violated their professional responsibilities in the wake of the election and ensure they face discipline, including possible disbarment. The group has identified 111 lawyers across 26 states whose names appeared on Trump’s post-election lawsuits.

Former US Attorney General Bill Barr revealed in his new book that Melania Trump saved his job. In One Damn Think After Another, Barr recalls meeting Mrs. Trump, who he called “elegant” and “intelligent.” He also noted an encounter with Donald Trump during which he told him she was the only reason he had a job in the administration.

Two weeks after Melania Trump blasted reports that a charity meant to benefit from her appearance at an April fundraising event was not registered with Florida authorities as “inaccurate, misleading, and outright incorrect,” that same event has been cancelled. She lashed out at the press for reporting on a Florida department of consumer services investigation into whether a charity organization she purportedly raised funds for was properly registered with authorities, accusing reporters of “[cancelling] the hopes and dreams of children by trying to cancel [her]”.

The winner of Melania Trump’s first NFT auction appears to be herself, according to a report. The Bloomberg News analyzed transactions on the Solana blockchain and found links between her — or at least her team members — to the winning bid of 1,800 SOL [the equivalent of $185,000]. In December last year, the Office of Melania Trump announced in a statement that she was starting an NFT “platform, which will release NFTs in regular intervals” on her website. She’s learning from her husband.

“I don’t want my vote or anyone else’s to be disenfranchised. … Do you realize how inaccurate the voter rolls are, with people just moving around. … Anytime you move, you’ll change your driver’s license, but you don’t call up and say, hey, by the way I’m re-registering.” – Mark Meadows, at the time White House chief of staff, in August 2020. Meadows and his wife, Debra, submitted voter registration forms that listed as their residential address a 14-by-62-foot mobile home with a rusted metal roof that sold for $105,000 in 2021. The forms ask for a residential address — “where you physically live” — and are signed “under penalty of perjury.” Except he never lived there.

Things heat up with Trump Insurrection committee

Donald Trump intends to assert executive privilege in a congressional investigation into the Trump Insurrection at the US Capitol, a move that could prevent the testimony of onetime aides. The letter went to at least some witnesses who were subpoenaed by the House committee and it makes clear that Trump plans to invoke privileges meant to protect presidential communications from being shared with Congress. He claims it is “for the good of our Country.” So is getting to the bottom of what happened. At a rally prior to the Trump Insurrection, he told his supporters to “fight like hell.”

Because Trump no longer is in office, he cannot directly assert privilege to keep witnesses quiet or documents out of the hands of Congress. As the current president, Biden will have some say in the matter. However, Trump can assert a form of executive privilege which will probably end up in court. If it heads to the Supreme Count, Trump has a better chance since the right controls it.

An attorney for Trump instructed former advisers, including former chief of staff Mark Meadows, Kash Patel, Dan Scavino and Stephen K. Bannon, not to comply with congressional investigators who have requested information about their activities related to the Trump Insurrection. The House select committee threatened possible contempt charges for Trump’s former advisers if they do not comply with their subpoenas. Scavino and Bannon have already indicated they won’t comply with the subpoenas.

“I will continue to tell the American people the truth about January 6, and I am putting our country and freedoms first through my Fight with Kash initiative,” Patel said in the statement. The initiative is to raise $250,000 “to fund a top-notch legal team.”

Trump directly asked the Justice Department nine times to undermine the election result and Meadows broke administration policy by pressuring a Justice Department lawyer to investigate claims of election fraud, according to the Senate Judiciary Committee report, which is based on witness interviews of top former Justice Department officials.

Trump asked a federal district judge for a preliminary injunction enabling his return to Twitter while his lawsuit against the social media giant continues. It argued that Twitter was “censoring” Trump by indefinitely banning him from the platform, adding that the company “exercises a degree of power and control over political discourse in this country that is immeasurable, historically unprecedented, and profoundly dangerous to open democratic debate.”

[Isn’t this the equivalent of suing a car manufacturer for faulty hardware but still driving the same vehicle the lawsuit came from?]

Trump was recently asked about facing Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis [a.k.a. DeSATANis] in 2024. “If I faced him, I’d beat him like I would beat everyone else,” Trump told Yahoo Finance late last week. After all, at the Western Conservative Summit in June in Denver, DeSantis actually got the most votes (275) among attendees when it came to who they would approve of running for president in 2024. Trump came in second, with 265.

Trump had taken full credit in getting DeSantis to be the governor in 2017 with a glowing endorsement. Trump himself may have been talked out of his candidacy for now as some think it could actually hurt the Republicans in 2022 mid-term elections. Meanwhile, there is a chance DeSantis may bow out of the race as his wife has breast cancer. I’m sure if he does bow out, Trump will claim it was him who forced DeSantis out and not her cancer.

Even after those at the Trump Insurrection yelled to hang Mike Pence, Pence went onto Fox News [a.k.a. former GOP propaganda channel] and claimed the media is out to “demean” Trump voters. Would he be saying that if he was hung?

More from Stephanie Grisham’s book. As communications director and chief of staff for Melania Trump, she saw and heard plenty. Among other things:

• Melania Trump was a fan of reading every little thing written about her, with consistency and frequency. She even had Google alert set up.
• Grisham rarely actually saw Melania except when she needed help on how and if to respond to an article or news story.
• Grisham says thousands of photographs of her time in the White House were pored over and categorized and painstakingly placed into albums — the keeping of which is a longtime hobby of the former first lady.
• Grisham writes that behind the scenes there was tension between the two, often due to Ivanka Trump’s desire to be in the spotlight at public events and on foreign trips. Melania’s nickname for Ivanka is “Princess”.
• Staffers gave Ivana and Jared Kushner the nickname “The Interns”.
• She suggested to Melania Trump to say that Melania should tweet violence shouldn’t happen but Melania replied by text “No”. Grisham resigned 15 minutes later.
• She didn’t vote for Trump in 2020.
• Grisham and another staffer spent time “shopping” in the White House military office “for a good-looking aide” to accompany the first lady to the State of the Union. Melania wanted a military aide to escort her throughout the Capitol because ‘the floors were so slippery,’. More like to make Donald jealous of seeing her with a handsome, uniformed younger man.

As well, Grisham said Donald Trump told her not to have any press briefings in an interview on Good Morning America. She also said it was a mistaking working for him [not her] and “I am terrified of him running for president in 2024… I don’t think [Trump] is fit for the job.”

When Grisham broke up with her boyfriend, Max Miller, seems Melania Trump was sympathetic as he was abusive and had anger issues. Not surprising Donald Trump seemed to “expressed sympathy for him… He was really broken up over things” and endorsed his bid for Congress. Seem Donald Trump “long invested in the view that women usually make up allegations of assault, didn’t want to believe it.” Miller has adamantly denied the charges and on Wednesday filed a defamation suit accusing Grisham of sullying his name.

Are you ready for one heck of a night?

Note: As previously mentioned, since the mid-term elections are on right now but there won’t be much to say until late tonight, I’m send out this blog with all the miscellaneous stuff that came out of Trump [hmmmm] since Friday night. I should have a bit of an analysis sometime tomorrow as the dust settles.

According to one report, to help his ego, if the GOP lose the House, Trump intends to claim victory, arguing his efforts on the campaign trail narrowed GOP losses and helped them hold the Senate. Trump has been tested out other explanations — pointing to historical headwinds for the party of an incumbent president and complaining about a rash of GOP retirements this year. And why did they retire?

To distance himself from a probably big loss in the House, Trump said “My primary focus has been on the Senate.” In the senate, he may pick up a seat.

At a rally in West Virginia a defiant Trump brushed off the prospect of a Democratic House takeover. “It could happen,” he said, adding “don’t worry about it. I’ll just figure it out.” Yes. Blame someone for the loss but not himself.

Should they take the House, Democrats are already plotting to reopen the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. Other committees are plotting aggressive oversight of Trump’s administration and his web of business interests. Some Democrats are looking at using the House Ways and Means Committee to obtain copies of the president’s tax returns after he broke with decades of tradition and withheld them from public scrutiny during his campaign for the White House.

An advertisement aims to motivate Republican turnout by vilifying a group of migrants walking toward the US southern border, wrongly portraying them as invaders and criminals, was pulled by NBC, Fox and Facebook. The advertisement was not submitted to either CBS or ABC. Donald Trump Jr. complained on Twitter that CNN “refused to run” the advertisement.

Trump was not pleased by this marquee closing TV ad his campaign unveiled last week featuring upbeat themes about the economy. Instead, he insisted to aides that his closing argument for the midterm elections would be a hardline anti-immigration message to fire up his core supporters. Seems his campaign people ignored him.

The Trump campaign chose to advertise on “Sunday Night Football” even though Trump whined last year that NFL ratings have dropped over the years. This after players were taking a knee during the American anthem.

At a town hall Trump said “You see how they’ve behaved. You see what’s happening with them. They’ve really become radicalized.” Sure. Donnie. Who posted a racist campaign video only to pull it.

He also said “If Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi gain the majority, they will try to raise your taxes, restore job-killing regulations, shut down your coal mines and timber mills, take away your healthcare, impose socialism, and ERASE your borders.” So what’s left? Wasn’t it Trump who tried to kill the Affordable Care Act which would of removed maybe 32 million citizens from getting healthcare?

“There’s electricity in the air like I haven’t seen since ’16,” he said which basically means the last two years since his election has been boring. True!

Trump shrugged off the prospect of Democrats going after his tax returns if the party wins control of the House in this week’s midterm contests, suggesting he was unbothered by a protracted fight over his financial documents. “I don’t care. They can do whatever they want, and I can do whatever I want,” Trump said. And when they do he will complain about it.

Seems in days before the mid-term election, is Trump getting nervous? “The Democrat Party wants to sign illegal aliens up for free health care, free welfare, free education. And what do they really want? The right to vote. Because they figure that’s the way they stay in office forever,” Trump said. Did he steal some secret memo from the Democratic party? Maybe he had his Russian friends steal it for him.

Trump claims that many of the migrants coming up through Central America has many criminals. Then the Department of Homeland Security somehow figured out that at least 270 of them are criminals. How do they know? Did they ask?

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said that the US military will not be “involved in the actual mission of denying people entry to the United States.”

When asked why Melania Trump wasn’t on the campaign trail, “Due to her schedule as a mother and as first lady, especially with the upcoming holidays and international travel, there are no plans for her to campaign,” Trump’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said. Seriously? Holidays are 8 weeks away. It’s not like she is doing all the ordering, decorating, etc. The mid-term elections is a fixed date election. It was known before her husband got elected. Or maybe there was a[nother] fight between them?

There is a growing list of music acts who have told the Trump not to use their music. The lists includes The Rolling Stones, Guns N’ Roses, Rihanna, The O’Jays, Adele, Queen and Pharrell Williams.

Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, claimed that Trump used racist language in several private conversations. Cohen recalled four times that Trump made denigrating comments to him about black people. In an example, when South African leader Nelson Mandela died, Trump remarked, “‘Name one country run by a black person that’s not a s___hole,’ and then he added, ‘Name one city.'”

A Pittsburgh rabbi told Trump that hate speech led to synagogue massacre. Trump, who has been accused of using anti-Semitic tropes and hateful rhetoric, has repeatedly denied the accusations, noting that his daughter and son-in-law are Jewish. I don’t think he picks who his kids marry. I’m sure he wished his son-in-law converted instead.

The Washington Post claim that Trump had told 1,100 lies and mistruths within the last 7 weeks. That’s averaging 22 per day but has climbed to 30 a day recently [at the rallies are one reason].

According to a 1990 Vanity Fair interview, Ivana Trump [Trump’s first ex] once told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that her then husband, real-estate mogul Trump kept a book of Hitler’s speeches near his bed. Not really shocked. You?

A bit of humor. At an interview:

• Interviewer: “What did you do for the Trump administration?”
• Job candidate: “I was locked in a room in the basement in some old dingy, smelly building looking for any reports that would support Trump’s imaginary theories. It was so bad, we weren’t allowed to eat or go to the washroom. We wore adult diapers.”
• Interviewer: “Did you find any?”
• Job Candidate: “Not very often. Anyone who did was allowed to leave work 5 minutes early but you had to stay an extra 5 minutes the following day.”

The aftermath of Kavanaugh’s confirmation

“I stand before you today on the heels of a tremendous victory for our nation, our people and our beloved Constitution,” Donald Trump told thousands of supporters in Topeka after Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed as a Supreme Court justice.

“You don’t hand matches to an arsonist, and you don’t give power to an angry left-wing mob, and that’s what they’ve [Democrats] become,” he said. Maybe they came “angry” because of the how Trump polarized the country. Can you name any President in US history that has name called the other party, let alone foreign leaders, fellow US politicians, etc.

In the same “I’ve got more Indian blood in me than Pocahontas, and I have none,” he said of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, mocking her claims of Native American heritage. “I have high cheekbones too. Hey maybe I’m an Indian.” Warren is one of the front runners to be the Democrat’s 2020 nominee for President.

Trump tweeted: “The crowd in front of the U.S. Supreme Court is tiny, looks like about 200 people (& most are onlookers) – that wouldn’t even fill the first couple of rows of our Kansas Rally, or any of our Rallies for that matter! The Fake News Media tries to make it look sooo big, & it’s not!” Ya. Just like his inauguration crowd was bigger than Obama’s. As well the [Washington] Capitol Police said 160 protesters were arrested. So all but 40 were arrested?

Trump told reporters aboard the flight he is certain one of Kavanaugh’s accusers, California professor Christine Blasey Ford, named the wrong person when she identified Kavanaugh as the man who assaulted her when the two were in high school. “I’m a hundred percent. I’m a 100%. I have no doubt,” he said. Maybe he knows who did assault her.

Even after Kavanaugh was confirmed and before he was sworn in, Trump continued to go after the Democrats with various non-presidential like comments.

Sometimes we don’t know what Trump was thinking. In addition to be sworn in at the Supreme Court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s swearing in was done a couple of days later at the White House. This hasn’t been done before. Was it for show? At that time he ranted against the Democrats, Kavanaugh’s accusers, etc.

Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic 2016 election opponent, said “What was done last night in the White House was a political rally. It further undermined the image and integrity of the court.” You know that trump will respond to this.

In case you wondered, 51% of Americans in a poll opposed Kavanaugh’s nomination and 41% approved. I am guess the majority of the approvals are Republicans.

Trump said he has no plans to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, delivering a reprieve for the Justice Department official whose future has been the source of intense speculation for two weeks. But as you know, Trump has changes his mind as often as he changes his underwear [hopefully at least once a day on the latter].

He still even managed to thrown in his two favorite words [out of nowhere] in the middle of a sentence that had little to do with it “no collusion”. But Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions career in the government most likely will not go past Trump’s first [and only] term.

Seems Trump has nothing else to do, with Hurricane Michael aiming for Florida and beyond, just barely confirming Kavanaugh, deteriorating relationships with Russia, China and North Korea by deciding to “write” an op-ed piece in USA Today. [Did he really write it?] Trump claims the Democrats want to outlaw private health care plans and taking away freedom to choose plans in something called “Medicare for All” and would cost an astonishing $32.6 trillion during its first 10 years. Now of course Trump selectively likes to choose his information [cherry pick]. For example, the cost is based solely on a single individual’s findings and right leaning.

“Democrats have already harmed seniors by slashing Medicare by more than $800 billion over 10 years to pay for Obamacare.” Even if the amount is correct, he’s been in office for close to two years and has done nothing to fix the problem.

“Democrats would gut Medicare with their planned government takeover of American health care,” except the Democrats are pushing for it as it is based on left leaning ideology.

“The new Democrats are radical socialists who want to model America’s economy after Venezuela.” He really is going for the fear factor isn’t he?

“Virtually everywhere it has been tried, socialism has brought suffering, misery and decay.” Right, like in Canada, Finland, Norway,….

“As a candidate, I promised that we would protect coverage for patients…” He’s already looking at 2020?

Major newspapers such as the New York Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe said they would not have published Trump’s op-ed because of the number of inaccuracies or outright lies. The author would have been given time to correct the issues or it wouldn’t be published.

Trump flew north to Erie, Pennsylvania, while the 150 mph winds of Hurricane Michael raged 1,000 miles to the south, as part of his blitz of key battlegrounds ahead of the midterm elections. “We have thousands of people lined up, so we wanted to make this stop,” Trump told reporters at Erie’s airport. Supposedly, rump had been urged not to cancel by local party officials.

But these rallies are supposed to be for the candidates running in those locations. When Trump attends one, he spends an hour talking or whining about everything and then takes a few minutes to talk about the candidates – some whom he have never met until just prior to the event.

By Trump’s calculation there were somewhere between 32,000 and 37,000 people inside and outside watching the speech in Erie, Pennsylvania on Wednesday. According to the Erie fire chief, there were 9,000 people in the arena and another 3,000 watching outside. So 12,000 total.

The hurricane hit some of the most fertile areas of Trump country — where a massive turnout helped him overturn expectations in the Sunshine State in 2016. So he wouldn’t expect to lose too many Trump voters if he went to a rally elsewhere than monitor the hurricane from Washington or elsewhere.

Is there any relation between Nikki Haley resigning and the Kavanaugh confirmation? Maybe. She “roasted” Blasey Ford one day and the next day gave Trump her resignation letter. Then she officially announces her resignation the day after Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

Unsure if he was joking or not but Trump had commented that maybe his daughter, Ivanka, be appointed to replace Haley. Trump would love that as someone [we assume] he can trust, but it is a position that requires confirmation.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy plans to introduce legislation this week that will fully fund the proposed Trump Wall along the US-Mexico border with a whopping $23.4 billion price tag. As the legislation is still being written, it’s not clear if the package would have any element of the wall paid for by Mexico, as Trump repeatedly promised on the campaign trail. [Does that price tag seem a bit low?]

Aides in both chambers, in both parties, think the fight over wall funding levels after the election could lead to a government shutdown — something Trump himself has advocated as part of a negotiating strategy. Even if the bill passed the House, it would need 60 votes to clear the Senate, an unlikely threshold to reach.

Trump escalated his attack on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increases, asserting that “the Fed is out of control” and blaming it for this week’s plunge in stock prices. While campaigning in 2016, Trump had been highly critical of the Fed, contending that under Chair Janet Yellen, the Fed was keeping rates abnormally low to try to help Democrats. But until this summer, he had lodged no criticism of the Fed’s rate hikes. So I guess they weren’t helping the Democrats.

Hope Hicks, previously one of President Trump’s closest aides, is joining FOX as executive vice president and chief communications officer, which means she will run public relations and other aspects of the TV company. She will not officially start work until early 2019 — because FOX is in the midst of a major corporate transaction. Not bad for a 29 year old!

Rapper Kanye West met with Trump, telling him in an Oval Office meeting before reporters why he supports the Republican. “There was something about putting this hat on that made me feel like Superman,” West said. ” He might not have thought he’d have a crazy mother-f***r like me (supporting him).” No f***ing shit.

In an interview with Fox, “I have a lot of African-American support, and a lot has developed over the last little while with Kanye coming out, and Jim Brown’s been there for a long time.” In a recent interview, just more than 1 in 4 non-white voters approved of the job Trump is doing. “When Kanye came out very strongly a number of months ago, something happened. My polls went up, like, 25%.” Trump makes it as if Kanye is gay.

After Taylor Swift announced that she would support two Democrats in her home state of Tennessee, Trump commented that “I’m sure Taylor Swift has nothing — or doesn’t know anything about her (Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn),” Trump said and then he added, with a laugh: “Let’s say that I like Taylor’s music about 25% less now, OK?”

Seems Swift knows enough about Blackburn [maybe even more than Trump] when she tweeted “She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act….” [and so on].

Trump has either held a rally or visited one of his own properties on 48 of the past 92 days; that is, since June 7. He’s probably played golf on at least 30 of those days, about a third. Over the course of his presidency, the figures are more modest. He’s visited one of his own properties on about 33 percent of days and probably played golf on about 22 percent of the days he’s been president. President Obama played 306 rounds as president, over eight years. In fewer than two years, Trump has probably played 129.

During a rally in Lebanon, Ohio, Trump called Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee “a great general,” and said President Abraham Lincoln “almost developed a phobia” over Lee’s defeat. How does he know this?

Almost two years after Trump’s win, the US Postal Service has been operating on an emergency basis because of a lack of confirmed members.

Melania Trump says she could be one of “the most bullied person” in the world. She doesn’t say how or from whom. Critics have pointed out that her husband routinely mocks people for their looks and for what he says is a lack of talent or intelligence.

She also says there are people in the White House whom she and the husband can’t trust. She didn’t name names but said she let her husband know about them.

When asked in an interview about the alleged affairs Trump has had, Melania said “It is not concern and focus of mine….. I have much more important things to think about and to do.”

From an old interview, we’ve know that Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani is probably a  liar when he said that Melania doesn’t believe Trump had an affair with Stormy Daniels when Melania’s communication director said she never spoke to Giuliani about it.

 

45*’s week in review

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn is willing to testify before federal and congressional investigators in their ongoing probe into Russian meddling in the US elections, but only if he is granted immunity. Both Flynn and Donald Trump commented about how various Hillary Clinton associates received immunity and with Flynn saying “when you are given immunity, that means you probably committed a crime.” Trump doesn’t even mind if Flynn testifies. If you want immunity then you probably did something wrong. But why Trump would let it happen?

Meanwhile, Sean “Garlic” Spicer continues to claim that internal “leaks” [i.e. those anonymous sources] are more important to find than verifying if Russia did hack the country’s democracy. Sure.

Democrats are calling on Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes to recuse himself from an investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, widening a stunning partisan split over the probe. CNN reported that Nunes visited the White House grounds one day before going to the President with evidence that his transition aides’ communications were picked up in surveillance by US intelligence.

Garlic says that Trump has stopped commenting about the wiretapping that happened before the election but at any time. And now it is “surveillance”.

Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is possibly in a bit of trouble as he met with the chairman of a Russian state-run bank, Sergey Gorkov, in December. VneshEconomBank [or VEB] has been under US sanctions for almost 3 years. He was appointed to his job by Russian President Vladimir Putin after eight years at Russia’s biggest state-owned commercial bank. The meeting is raising questions both because of the sanctions and because Kushner spent years as a real-estate developer and was trying to attract financing for a building project of his in Manhattan. VEB confirmed the meeting with Kushner, though described Kushner in his role as head of Kushner Companies, not as a representative of Trump.

Trump signed a sweeping executive order at the Environmental Protection Agency, which officials said looks to curb the federal government’s enforcement of climate regulations by putting American jobs above addressing climate change. The order initiates a review of the Clean Power Plan and rescinds the moratorium on coal mining on US federal lands. Specifically, the order rescinds at least six Obama-era executive orders aimed at curbing climate change and regulating carbon emissions.

“I will also cancel all wasteful climate change spending from Obama/Clinton,” Trump said in October 2016. Bill Clinton’s administration is 20 years old. Hillary had Secretary of State – nothing really to do with the environment directly.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who routinely sued the EPA, argued incorrectly that carbon dioxide isn’t the “primary contributor” to climate change, a comment that goes against most scientific research. So if coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), also known as black lung disease, is bad for them, wouldn’t it be bad for the environment?
“They [coal miners] have not been treated well, but they’re going to be treated well now” said Trump in March. Yup with higher healthcare costs due to CWP.

EPA chief Scott Pruitt said the executive order signed by Trump will undo the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, an environmental regulation that restricts greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants. The 2015 rule has been on hold since last year while a federal appeals court considers a challenge by coal-friendly Republican-led states and more than 100 companies. Pruitt himself has sued the EPA numerous times before becoming the EPA head.

Meanwhile, the amount of coal miner jobs have been decreasing for the last decades under many Democrat and Republican presidents. In addition, various environmental groups are ready to take the government to court.

Steven Mnuchin is under fire promoting Lego Batman as a producer of the movie as he indirectly promoted his movie against ethics laws.

The House voted to block online privacy regulations issued during the final months of the Obama administration, a first step toward allowing internet providers such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon to sell the browsing habits of their customers.

After the Trumpcare disaster, Trump blamed the Democrats but now is putting [some of] the blame on at least a couple of conservative group who voted mostly against Trumpcare. Trump said he believes moderate Democrats could help him in the future. Good luck there.

“The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don’t get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!” tweeted Trump as the Freedom Caucus was one of the guilty parties behind Trumpcare’s failure. The tweet represented a bold strike against the most conservative members of the House GOP coalition, who often come from safe districts and are frequently impervious to pressure from party leaders.

Trump, has reacted to the defeat of health care by predicting that Democrats will be willing to work with him down the road, especially if Obamacare spirals into decline. In his dreams.

Congress must pass and Trump must sign a spending bill that authorizes federal funding to succeed a current temporary spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, the current version of which expires on April 28. If not, there could be a government shutdown on April 29th – Trump’s 100th day in office. Once again, the GOP could be split along the same lines as the Obamacare repealing failure.

More complications if the GOP use the “nuclear option” confirmation of Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch to changing Senate rules to get around a Senate filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. Such a step would inflame passions even more in polarized Washington and likely leave Democrats even more resistant to crossing the aisle and working with Trump.

According to a report, the White House approved almost $1 billion to build 48 miles of a new wall on the border with Mexico and to replace another 14 miles. Considering these pieces of the wall are in areas [Rio Grande Valley region, San Diego] where it is mostly easy to move equipment to, I wonder what the price tag will be like in areas in the wilderness where there is no roads nearby or even a town.

It cost the NYPD and the New York City Fire Department a combined total of $25.7 million to protect President Trump‘s family, private home and office for the 75 days between Election Day and Inauguration Day [about $343,000 per day].

The U.S. Secret Service has also requested an additional $60 million in funding for the next year — $26.8 million of which would go toward guarding President Trump’s family and Trump Tower home [about $74,000 per day].

Finally, each weekend costs an extra $3.3 million per weekend [about $1.1 million per day] to protect Trump (and family) at the Mar-A-Lago location.

While campaigning in 2016 Trump claimed that “I don’t have time” for golf if President. Spicer has defended Trump’s golfing habit by citing the time he hosted the Japanese leader, arguing Trump utilized golf to “foster deeper relations.” And the other 12 times he has golfed [as of the end of March]?

A spokeswoman for the Washington Nationals said that the White House said Trump would not be at next week’s game at Nationals Park against the Miami Marlins because of a scheduling conflict. This breaks a tradition that was started in 1910 where the President through the first pitch to start the baseball season.

Wow! Despite President Donald Trump’s lack of evidence for his claim that millions of votes were cast illegally in last year’s election, some of his supporters are standing by the conspiracy theory. One New Hampshire Trump voter, said he saw “busloads of people” coming into New Hampshire to vote illegally. He did not provide specific details or evidence, but said he thought they were either undocumented immigrants or US citizens coming from other states. Another said he saw cars with out-of-state license plates full of people coming to vote, though he couldn’t provide any more details about them.

Katie Walsh, the White House’s deputy chief of staff, has left the administration but joined a nonprofit group supporting the President’s agenda. Second staff member to exit after disgraced Michael Flynn.

Not surprising LGBQ will not be an option in the next census due in 2020.
Although unknown which model, Trump finally switched to an iPhone but he may still have his Galaxy S3.

While there was a settlement approved in November after the election, where student should get about 90% of their fees back, a Trump university student/victim doesn’t want to settle until she sees Trump in court. The court still has yet to approve the settlement.

Two polls released recently asked Republican voters if what Trump said was true about the wiretapping and 60% believe him. “Trump would have never said that [Obama wiretapped him] unless it was true. That’s too much of a gamble for him to take. His reputation, you know?” said a senior in Ohio. Reputation? Trump?

A group of Democratic members of Congress are playing the clever acronym game again. One of the latest to be introduced and to target the Trump administration: the “Making Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness Act.” Yes, the “MAR-A-LAGO Act.”

The legislation would require the publication of White House visitor logs, something that was done regularly by the Obama administration but has since ended since President Trump took office. It would also mandate the release of visitor logs at other locations where the president conducts business — for example, Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida resort that he has recently called the Southern White House.

After claiming she would be one of the most photographed people in the world after threatening any media from claiming she was a high priced escort, she rarely steps outside of Trump tower in New York. Even at gatherings [from a White House luncheon to celebrate International Women’s Day to reading a Dr. Seuss book at a school], the media have been ordered to leave the premises when she speaks [hiding her accent?].

The hashtag #FreeMelania is now a pillar of Twitter-speak, while questions about the Trumps’ marriage inspire headlines such as “Melania’s Struggle,” an Us Weekly yarn that claimed the first lady is “secretly miserable.”

After Melania finally did something as First Lady by doing a keynote speech at a conference empowering women, her hubby claims her polling numbers went through the roof. Of course there wasn’t any poll. Of course he could have been joking. [She probably would have better polling numbers than he does and she’s basically done almost nothing.]

If you walk into Trump Tower in New York, you can find Ivanka Trump’s jewelry line is on display in the lobby. Visitors can find books, coffee mugs and after-shave lotion bearing the name and visage of him. Can imagine what they charge.

While campaigning in 2016 Trump claimed that “I don’t have time” for golf if elected president. Spicer has defended Trump’s golfing habit by citing the time he hosted the Japanese leader, arguing Trump utilized golf to “foster deeper relations.” And the other 12 times he has golfed [as of the end of March]?

[Note: “45*” is the 45th President of the United States. The asterisk is borrowed from the days when Roger Maris had an asterisk besides his name (for some) when he beat Babe Ruth’s then homerun record in a season but played more games to do it.]

 

So un-presidential is Tump

After keeping quite quiet for two weeks, the dark side of president-elect Donald Trump has come out.

First even with large enough leads in the three states that would make it impossible for Hillary Clinton to capture any of the states, it still bothers Trump that he has to lash out at anyone who wants a recount.

Trump announced that he is leaving his family’s business to concentrate on being the President but gave no details. His s three eldest children – Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka – are expected to run the operations. How he is going to do this will be a mystery as he may have requested top security clearance for the three and Ivanka’s husband. In addition, Trump owns golf clubs, office towers and other properties in several countries. He holds ownership stakes in more than 500 companies. He has struck licensing deals for use of his name on hotels and other buildings around the world. [If you think the supposedly connection between the Clinton Foundation and the state department (that Trump claimed during the election) could be an issue, wait until this progresses.] Ethics experts have pushed for Trump to fully exit the ownership of his businesses using a blind trust or equivalent arrangement.

Experts say Trump may have to sell off his stake in his new luxury Trump hotel down the road from the White Shack. It was originally the central post office and is still government property. Trump too a 60 year lease but part of the lengthy lease documents say anyone in public office can not own or lease the building. Trump put $200 million of his money [supposedly] into renovating the building.

“In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally” tweeted Trump. I wouldn’t consider the outcome a landslide [particularly if by some fluke the recounts in the three states went to Clinton.] Trump first alleged hat “millions” of undocumented immigrants voted against him and later directed the inaccurate charges at California, Virginia and New Hampshire. California is one state where he had no chance of winning. So unsure why he would even bother complaining about that state anyways. [That and most immigrants probably wouldn’t vote for him anyways.] Trump may have used the information tweeted by Gregg Phillips of True the Vote, whose baseless allegation was later picked up by some fringe media outlets.

“Serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California – so why isn’t the media reporting on this? Serious bias – big problem!” Trump tweeted.

Tom Rath, the former attorney general of New Hampshire said “This will probably cost me my spot in the Cabinet but there was no fraud, serious or other, in this election in NH. There just wasn’t.”

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla hit back at Trump, tweeting that his “unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in California and elsewhere are absurd.”

In 2012, he tweeted: “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy” and yet he accepts his win from it. But right after his win he said “The Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Campaigning is much different!”

Trump continues to ignore advisors and his national security briefings. The latest mess has him accepting a call from the President of Taiwan – considered a no-no to appease the Chinese. He could be just turning up the heat a bit as he went after China throughout the elections.

Trump continues to whine in his tweets against Saturday Night Live after the show made fun of him over his diplomatic goof with Taiwan. I’m sure Trump will sign an executive order killing the show in January – if he could. So presidential.

A petition has started on change.org as New Yorkers don’t want to pay the estimated $1 million per DAY security bill [and other costs] to have Melania Trump in New York.

President-elect Donald Trump is “irritated” with top aide Kellyanne Conway’s public campaign against Mitt Romney’s potential nomination as Secretary of State. There is an internal feud between Conway and chief of staff Reince Priebus, specifically about the choice between Romney and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani for the nation’s top diplomatic position. She said that Trump supporters felt “betrayed” by Romney’s consideration. Conway and others have pointed to the vicious personal attacks Romney lobbed at Trump throughout the campaign as being different and more severe than many other. Will she still be in the administration by January? New York Rep. Chris Collins called Romney a “self-serving egomaniac.”

Seems that that Donald Trump will have both the technology and the Constitutional authority to send a Tweet, should he wish to, to every phone of every American whenever he wants.

Meanwhile, Trump uses an Android phone. Probably not secure for his position. [I sure hope his Android phone is made in America. 🙂 ]

A CNN survey released last week found that Trump’s favorability rating had gone from 36 per cent a few weeks before the election to 47 per cent 10 days after the vote. A little less than half of Americans said Trump’s actions since the election had made them more confident in his ability to serve as president.

A Quinnipiac poll released last week found that nearly 6 in 10 Americans thought Trump should shut down his personal Twitter account. More than half were concerned that Trump might veto legislation that’s good for the nation if it hurt his business interests.