Trump 31: Parody of a Presidency

[Audrey2]

I don't think I've seen this yet.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/doctor-says-trump-dictated-letter-health-000553950.html

 

Quote

Donald Trump may not be the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency” after all.

Capping a bizarre day for the president’s former personal physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein told CNN Tuesday that he didn’t write the glowing 2015 assessment of Trump’s health that carried his signature. 

“He dictated that whole letter. I didn’t write that letter. I just made it up as I went along,” Bornstein told CNN.

The Trump campaign touted the four-paragraph letter, which stated “his health is excellent, especially his mental health.” 

“If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency,” the original letter concluded. 

I know, we all knew the letter was garbage when it was released, but even the doctor is outing Trump. I wonder how Donny Dummkopf will respond to this...

Quote

Bornstein’s assertion that then candidate Trump had instructed him what to tell the media about his health came the same day that another story involving the doctor made headlines.

Wow! I wonder what Trump had on Bornstein, to force him to instruct the media what to say about Trump's health. It sounds to me like someone should lose his medical license (I don't know if it is grounds or not, but, in my opinion, it should be.

[AmazonGrace]

I hope he's ready to retire... Letting Trump goons rifle through patient files sounds like a HIPAA violation and signing a false doctor's statement is bad practice too. How is anyone to trust any statement signed by him now.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AnywhereButHere]

10 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

I don't think I've seen this yet.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/doctor-says-trump-dictated-letter-health-000553950.html

 

I know, we all knew the letter was garbage when it was released, but even the doctor is outing Trump. I wonder how Donny Dummkopf will respond to this...

Wow! I wonder what Trump had on Bornstein, to force him to instruct the media what to say about Trump's health. It sounds to me like someone should lose his medical license (I don't know if it is grounds or not, but, in my opinion, it should be.

I saw the interview the doctor gave during the election. I’m pretty sure he’s been self-prescribing some good meds. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/the-fix/wp/2018/05/01/the-crazy-raid-of-trumps-doctor/

Spoiler

Bornstein said he didn't realize what all the fuss was about when it came to Trump taking Propecia. “I couldn't believe anybody was making a big deal out of a drug to grow his hair that seemed to be so important,” he told NBC News. “And it certainly was not a breach of medical trust to tell somebody they take Propecia to grow their hair. What's the matter with that?”

That's a little Pollyannaish. Everyone has a right to medical privacy, even the president. And regardless of Trump's lack of disclosure, perhaps an angry reaction was to be expected.

But that doesn't necessarily justify the “raid” that ensued. Nor do we know why Trump's aides seized the records rather than filing a complaint against Bornstein. It's not too conspiratorial to say Bornstein was disclosing things that Trump didn't want disclosed, and they sought to stop it — using muscle.

...

We've long had reason to believe Trump didn't treat his medical records and status with much thought or care — and perhaps that the doctors treating him had been infected with a kind of “Trumpitis,” picking up on the president's own penchant for hyperbole.

This suggests, though, that Trump has taken an acute and controlling interest in what his doctors say (and don't say) about him — so much so that he may be willing to launch a little shock-and-awe operation that might have been illegal.

Could this idiot’s sensitivity over using hair loss medication lead to another opening for Muller and his team? 

After all of the serious political and financial laws he’s skirted/broken and gotten away with; he could be brought down in the end by hair loss and a porn star. It’s almost fitting, in a way...

[AmazonGrace]

Question: while the Moron capitalizes every other Noun he leaves setup and trap untouched by the holy Shift Key. Why is that? it is a Mystery

[AmazonGrace]

When you'd like to quote your surrogates that you see on TV but you can't really make out all the fancy words they're using:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I really like Dana Milbank, one of the opinion writers for the WaPo. He has a nice snarky streak and despises the TT with a passion. "President Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech"

Spoiler

“President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize.”

— South Korean President

Moon Jae-in

“No-bel! No-bel! No-bel!”

— Audience at Trump’s Michigan rally Saturday

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH OF PRESIDENT TRUMP

OSLO, DEC. 10, 2018

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, distinguished members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee:

I have received a lot of honors — like, a lot. I was on the cover of Time more than anybody else. I went to the best schools. I was elected president on my first try. It was the biggest electoral college landslide since Reagan. But people tell me this is a big honor — the biggest, maybe. And I think this is very good for you, because your ratings are going through the roof right now. This crowd is much bigger than Obama’s was.

People don’t know this, but some other top guys like Nelson Mandela have won this award before. He’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, even though South Africa is a crime-ridden mess that is just waiting to explode — not a good situation for the people! Anyway, with me, you’re breaking all the records. You’re welcome.

I love Norwegians! I want more immigrants from Norway and others who have the same merit-based complexion that Norwegians have. Why are we having all these people from shithole countries? Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out. They all have AIDS.

I thought I was going get this peace prize when I told your prime minister in January that I was sending Norway some F-52 fighter jets. People laughed and said the F-52 only exists in the video game “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.” But they aren’t laughing anymore, because we also sent Norway barrels full of Xbox Ones.

You’re going to need those F-52s because there are a lot of bad hombres in Europe. You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? They’re having problems like they never thought possible. Germany is a total mess. Brussels is a hellhole (although, I admit, Belgium is a beautiful city). Have you seen the videos of destructive radical Islamic terrorism in Britain? Paris is no longer Paris.

The haters and the liars say I don’t deserve this award. They make up fake news about how I invented the country of Nambia, shoved the prime minister of Montenegro, thought the prime minister of Singapore was from Indonesia, mistook New Zealand’s prime minister for Justin Trudeau’s wife, called Israel’s Holocaust memorial “so amazing,” admired Brigitte Macron’s body, rewrote the history of Napoleon’s Russia invasion, substituted a porn actress’s name for the British prime minister’s, mixed up the names for China and Taiwan, and had missile talks while guests at Mar-a-Lago listened.

Wrong!

I was, like, really smart, when I made peace with Rocket Man. By calling him short and fat and saying I would totally destroy him with fire and fury from my big and powerful nuclear button, I got him to negotiate. He still hasn’t given up his nuclear weapons, but he has agreed to stop calling me a dotard. In exchange I have agreed not to attack him, and I have given California to North Korea.

I am bringing peace to the rest of the world, too — peace from terrible, horrible and disgusting deals like the Paris accord and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The world’s shipping lanes are now more peaceful and quiet. Trade wars are good, and easy to win! I might give people peace from other stupid deals: the insane Iran nuclear deal, the terrible Cuba exchange deal, the worst ever Australia refugee deal, bad-joke NAFTA and obsolete NATO. We have also made air travel more peaceful by making sure people from Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Yemen don’t visit America.

On my way to the Nobel Prize, I knocked the hell out of the Islamic State, sent nice, new, smart missiles into Syria and dropped the Mother of All Bombs on Afghanistan. But those are only a tiny, tiny fraction of the countries I could have bombed.

I did not bomb Mexico even though they’re murderers and rapists. I did not bomb Canada, even though they are disgraceful about trade. I didn’t bomb Pakistan, even though they have given us nothing but lies and deceit. I didn’t bomb China, even though they are raping our country. And I have strongly supported the leaders of Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and Russia, as they promote peace by silencing noisy dissidents.

Your Majesties and Highnesses, people who worked for me once said “do not congratulate!” — but I fired most of them. So come on, get up and applaud. You are so lucky that I gave you that privilege.

 

[Dandruff]

11 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

I hope he's ready to retire... Letting Trump goons rifle through patient files sounds like a HIPAA violation and signing a false doctor's statement is bad practice too. How is anyone to trust any statement signed by him now.

I wonder if that's the idea - perhaps there are other things in those records that someone didn't want seeing the light of day, and they don't want the doctor (credibly) testifying?

[AmazonGrace]

15 minutes ago, Dandruff said:

I wonder if that's the idea - perhaps there are other things in those records that someone didn't want seeing the light of day, and they don't want the doctor (credibly) testifying?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/05/01/trumps-former-doctor-says-presidents-bodyguard-lawyer-raided-his-office-took-presidents-medical-file/569612002/

Quote

Bornstein, who says he was Trump's personal doctor for more than 30 years, claims he wasn't given a form authorizing the release of the records and called it a "raid." He said they took the only copies of Trump's charts and also records of visits when the President would use a pseudonym, NBC reported. 

If he went to see his doctor as David Dennison or John Barron or something like that he was either using illegal drugs or asking for STD test. JMO

[fraurosena]

An Emoluments Case Arrives in the Second Circuit

Quote

On President Trump's first working day in office, he was sued by CREW for violating the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses. Through the first half of 2017, CREW was joined by a number of private plaintiffs who compete with the President's properties and are therefore injured by his practice of accepting emoluments.

In December 2017, however, Judge Daniels granted the President's motion to dismiss this case. He concluded that the plaintiffs lacked Article III standing; that their claims did not fall within the "zone-of-interests" of the Emoluments Clauses; that the plaintiffs' claims present a political question entrusted to Congress; and that the plaintiffs' claims are not yet ripe. This opinion attracted substantial criticism, including posts by Michael Dorf, Jed Shugerman, and Dan Hemel & Leah Litman.

Last Tuesday, the plaintiffs filed their opening brief on appeal to the Second Circuit. (Disclaimer: I am among counsel to the plaintiffs, along with my colleagues at Gupta Wessler PLLC). Following below, you can read their "summary of argument."

Yesterday, a formidable coalition of amici filed briefs in support of the plaintiffs:

• Niskanen Center, Cheri Jacobus, Evan McMullin & Republican Women for Progress (brief here)
• Legal Historians
• Members of Congress
• National Security Officials
• Separation of Powers Scholars
• Former Government Ethics Officials
• Federal Courts Scholars

[links to briefs included in article]

These amicus briefs address many interesting and important issues in the litigation. They are well worth reading. Together, they make an extraordinarily powerful case in favor of reversing the decision below, which rested on multiple, fundamental errors.  

The President's brief in the Second Circuit is due on May 29, 2018. 

[Excerpt from the opening brief on appeal in CREW v. Trump]

It looks like the Emoluments Clause case that was originally thrown out, will be picked up by the Second Circuit. This time around the plaintiffs address more important issues in the litigation. 

[AmazonGrace]

And another one gone another one gone... 

We're getting ready for impeachment huh

[fraurosena]

Is Mueller getting closer, presidunce dear, and is your ass puckering painfully? Is that's what's gotten you so riled up today?

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

How does anyone believe anything he says any more

[fraurosena]

Sweet Rufus. Alfred Nobel will be turning in his grave if he is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and they can stop issuing it ever after, because it will have lost any and all standing.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

A good op-ed: "President Trump is sowing the seeds of his own demise"

Spoiler

Doug Sosnik, a Democratic political strategist, was a senior adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1994 to 2000.

How President Bill Clinton managed the threat of removal from office has become a model in effective crisis management. Despite his impeachment, he left office with a 65 percent approval rating .

Nearly two decades later, President Trump is setting a new standard on what not to do. In the face of rapidly spreading legal investigations, Trump’s words and actions are sowing the seeds of his demise.

So what makes Trump’s crisis so different from Clinton’s? Simple: It is the man behind it.

Conventional wisdom tells us Clinton was simply adept at compartmentalizing the threat he was facing while, at the same time, leading the country. That response is not only overly simplistic but also flat-out wrong.

In reality, the investigation hovered over the White House every minute of every day. It was Clinton’s performance as president, the management of the West Wing and his legal teams that enabled him to prevail over his Republican opponents.

There were three core principles that drove all the words and actions of the president, as well as the administration’s day-to-day operations and decision-making.

First, while the urgency behind managing the crises was clear, the majority of the White House continued to focus on tackling the problems faced by everyday Americans, as well as the policy solutions that would improve their lives. Meanwhile, a team of legal, communications and political staff managed the investigations.

Second, the crisis-management team would never pursue any strategy or activity that could in any way threaten the president’s legal position. There was no communications gain or political victory worth running the risk of increasing the president’s legal exposure. While the crisis-management operation was driven by the legal team, it was fully integrated with the political and communications operations.

Third, the president and White House staff always understood they could not, in any way, convey that they were consumed by the swirling scandal, nor could the president ever appear as though his personal problems were affecting his ability to carry out his official responsibilities. To the extent possible, every communication and action was about conveying leadership, stability and normalcy.

Since taking office, Trump has taken a quite different approach. He has yet to build a White House structure and team that can perform even the basic functions of government. His second-rate and understaffed legal team seems overwhelmed by the widening and deepening scandals.

Trump’s impulsive and incendiary statements and his childish, off-the-cuff remarks and tweets have only magnified his legal exposure. The foundation for many of the questions that leaked this week that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III would like to ask Trump came from the president’s own mouth.

Rather than trying to minimize the impact of the scandals, Trump seems to look for new opportunities to introduce his personal problems into the Oval Office. His words and actions simply serve to remind the public how obsessed he is with the accusation that his campaign colluded with the Russians during the 2016 election, as well as with the criminal investigation of his personal lawyer.

These mistakes will increase pressure on his Republican congressional supporters — particularly in the Senate — to disavow him at a time when Trump can least afford it. No matter how well the Democrats do in November’s midterm elections, Trump’s fate will ultimately be determined by Republicans in Congress. They are the only ones who could put enough political pressure on the president to either leave office or decline to run for a second term.

So far, congressional Republicans haven’t had to pay a price for supporting Trump. That is likely to change if Republicans, as is expected, suffer significant losses in November. And as uncomfortable as the past 15 months have been for most GOP elected officials, 70 percent of his four-year term remains. The legal terrain will only get more complicated for the president.

As former campaign advisers, administration officials and possibly even his longtime personal lawyer potentially accept deals to avoid personal prosecution (on top of the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort), it will become increasingly difficult for congressional Republicans to stand by the president. This is especially true if Democrats regain control of the House and initiate two years of investigations and public hearings. Even Vice President Pence, who has largely avoided the White House drama while campaigning for the midterms, may eventually be forced to choose between damaging his own future political ambitions and standing by Trump as pressure mounts.

Despite the difficult circumstances faced by past presidents during previous scandals, they all retained respect for the rule of law and regard for governmental institutions. Trump has shown respect for neither , and as a result, he is not only sowing the seeds of his demise but also threatening the long-term future of the Republican Party.

 

[AmazonGrace]

I think they're a little late for this year anyhow and who knows if he's even touchable next year. But can't blame a guy for ass kissing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Peace_Prize

 

Quote

Nominations must usually be submitted to the Committee by the beginning of February in the award year. Nominations by committee members can be submitted up to the date of the first Committee meeting after this deadline.[10]

Why didn't Ryan, Nunes and Rohrabacher sign?

[fraurosena]

4 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

Why didn't Ryan, Nunes and Rohrabacher sign?

Because it's not a Russian prize of course.

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

Sweet Rufus. Alfred Nobel will be turning in his grave if he is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and they can stop issuing it ever after, because it will have lost any and all standing.

Trump's on justification for getting the  Nobel: Waaaaaa waaaaaa! Obama got one so I want one! Gimme gimme gimme.

[Dandruff]

4 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/05/01/trumps-former-doctor-says-presidents-bodyguard-lawyer-raided-his-office-took-presidents-medical-file/569612002/

If he went to see his doctor as David Dennison or John Barron or something like that he was either using illegal drugs or asking for STD test. JMO

Were there no electronic records or did they get those too?  And if they did, wouldn't they need a password?

[Cartmann99]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I couldn't agree more: "Trump’s medical deceptions should be a scandal"

Spoiler

“Trump disseminated false medical records to fool the public about his health.” That is a headline you have never seen, though you should have.

If you’ve gotten tired of hearing how something President Trump did would have been a major or even career-ending scandal for any other candidate, I sympathize. But that fatigue is exactly the problem, because from the beginning of his run for president, Trump has been treated not just by different rules but by rules that indulge his most dangerous tendencies.

At the same time, we allow him to manipulate us into chasing false charges that he makes against other people. And if we don’t realize how pernicious this is, we’re going to keep making the same mistakes, especially in 2020 when Trump will have a Democratic opponent to slander.

As you may have heard by now, NBC News reported:

In February 2017, a top White House aide who was Trump’s longtime personal bodyguard, along with the top lawyer at the Trump Organization and a third man, showed up at the office of Trump’s New York doctor without notice and took all the president’s medical records.

That “New York doctor” is Trump’s former physician, Harold Bornstein, the source of the account. The “longtime personal bodyguard” is Keith Schiller, at the time a White House staffer.

This appears to be a clear violation of the law. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), they would have had to present Bornstein with a special form in which Trump authorized them to receive copies of his records, which they reportedly didn’t. They certainly wouldn’t be allowed to rifle through a doctor’s records and seize the originals, which is how Bornstein described what happened, calling it a “raid.”

Bornstein himself may have committed a HIPAA violation when he told the New York Times that he had prescribed a hair-growth drug for Trump. That article ran two days before Schiller’s visit to his office, suggesting the article (and Trump’s inevitable rage over it) is what prompted the visit.

The White House insists that this is no big deal. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: “It would be standard procedure for the newly elected president’s medical records to be in possession by the White House medical unit, and that was what was taking place — is those records were being transferred over to the White House medical unit as requested.”

But that doesn’t seem true either. They could have just asked for a copy of Trump’s records to be sent over so that he could be properly treated by the White House medical unit. Sending Trump’s bodyguard to New York to seize the originals is an entirely different matter.

In addition, Bornstein now admits that when he wrote a letter in December 2015 attesting to Trump’s good health, he was actually taking dictation from Trump himself.

Now here’s why this is important. At the time, everyone understood that was exactly what happened. The letter was not something any trained physician would write, and it was written in Trump’s distinctive sixth-grade braggadocio. It said “Mr. Trump has had a recent complete medical examination that showed only positive results,” that Trump’s blood work was “astonishingly excellent,” that “his physical strength and stamina are extraordinary,” and finally, that “if elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” It could not have been more obvious that Trump was the actual author of the letter if it had been signed “Donald J. Trump, I mean Harold Bornstein.”

If Hillary Clinton had done that, we would have been apoplectic, and rightfully so. But at the time, everyone treated the whole thing almost as a joke. Trump should certainly be more forthcoming, reporters said, but here’s this wacky-looking doctor with long hair writing this absurd letter — isn’t that hilarious?! Well, yes, it was comical. But a presidential candidate was hiding his medical situation from the public. And not any candidate, but the candidate who would become the oldest president ever elected, and who seems to eat nothing but fast food.

Yet at the very same time, the press not only treated Clinton’s health as a matter of utmost seriousness; it also was quick to accuse her of being overly secretive and dishonest about it.

You may remember that in September 2016, Clinton had a bout of pneumonia. At a Sept. 11 memorial event on a hot day, she got lightheaded as she was headed toward her car, stumbling and being caught by aides. The reaction from the press was to treat it as an absolutely momentous event that not only raised profound questions about her fitness to be president but also showed how sneaky and deceitful she was for not announcing the illness to the press the moment it was diagnosed.

“Hillary Clinton Is Set Back by Decision to Keep Illness Secret” said the front-page headline in the New York Times the next day. On that day, the cable TV networks ran a total of 13½ hours of coverage of Clinton’s health. Fox News went into paroxysms of speculation about the varieties of brain ailments Clinton might be suffering from. Politico published a photo gallery entitled “Hydrated Hillary: 9 times Clinton quenched her thirst,” just to show her bizarre water-drinking behavior that surely must have been concealing something.

All this demonstrates the shifting standards candidates are treated with, which somehow kept working to Trump’s benefit. On one hand, there’s a presumption that politicians tell the truth most of the time, so the things they say should be treated with a basic level of respect. Which means that when someone like Trump comes along telling obvious, constant lies, those lies just get passed on to the public over and over. Any particular lie gets discussed for a while, then set aside with a chuckle and a shake of the head. We sure are living in crazy times!

Yet when he makes false charges about others, as he regularly does, they’re given what is functionally the same respect as any other statement, to be passed on and repeated until concrete evidence emerges to prove they’re false.

Trump understands all this perfectly well. As he once told his then-toady Billy Bush when Bush called him out (privately) for lying about how great the ratings for “The Apprentice” were: “People will just believe you. You just tell them, and they believe you.”

While this is something that should concern us each and every day, we need to be particularly on guard when the 2020 election begins. Trump is going to run a scorched-earth campaign against the Democratic nominee, not just of sneering ridicule but also of innuendo and outright slander. One way we can prepare for it is to stop treating the lies Trump tells — such as putting out false letters about his medical condition — as though they’re anything less than the scandal they ought to be.

 

[AnywhereButHere]

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/05/02/politics/giuliani-hannity-comey/index.html

Quote

Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that President Donald Trump paid back his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, the $130,000 in hush money that was used to pay off Stormy Daniels. 

The payment is going to turn out to be "perfectly legal," Giuliani said in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity. 

"That money was not campaign money, sorry," Giuliani said. "I'm giving you a fact now that you don't know. It's not campaign money. No campaign finance violation."

 

 

I swear - none of them have the sense god gave a goat. You just admitted your client has been LYING! (I mean, not that we all didn’t know that already...) In an effort to keep his client out of the fire, Giuliani just shoved him into a different frying pan. These people can’t get out of their own way. One of these days they’ll all fall. Right? Please?

[CTRLZero]

13 minutes ago, AnywhereButHere said:

You just admitted your client has been LYING!

Trump has what - 3000 or so lies and counting in his presidency?  Maybe they are going for a shock factor in telling a truth, then twisting it around as, oh well, it wasn't illegal.  Meanwhile, his base is just giving a collective shrug because he can do nothing wrong.  Sigh.

 

[AmazonGrace]

Is Trump broke or did he do it in installments to avoid having to report it? 

Mueller: I...worked...for this story for a year....and he just blurted it out...

Rudy: I told you I'd end this investigation on two weeks didn't I

I love this season of stupid Watergate

[AmazonGrace]