This is VERY big!! A VERY detailed article from the NY Times . Will it make a difference? Who knows. But Somebody is going to be very angry...
NY TIMES -The president has long sold himself as a self-made billionaire, but a Times investigation found that he received at least $413 million in today’s dollars from his father’s real estate empire, much of it through tax dodges in the 1990s.
I felt compelled to read the whole article last night before going to bed. It is full of damning details about how the entire family has spent decades gaming the system to underpay taxes. In my opinion it just shows that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree and that there is an ingrained culture of cheating the authorities within this family. It is no wonder that the president thinks he can get away with whatever he wants if he has been doing this for decades. I don’t think this will change anyone’s mind, but it casts a spotlight on his siblings that they will find unwelcome and provides more context for how we arrived at the current situation. I understand that the administration has already issued a statement condemning the article. Expect more distraction in the near future!
From my listening to Rachel Maddow and Morning Joe, the statute of limitations for criminal charges is past, however not for civil penalties, which is what the State of New York is now pursuing. This, in conjuction with other state investigations, is likely what will bring down the "Trump Empire" financially.
I wonder if Trump's base can handle the fact that they got conned. Some voted for him because he was a successful businessman, billionaire, and would make great deals. In fact, he's a trust fund baby, a multi-time bankrupt businessman, and a con artist who's convinced many that he's really a successful brander and businessman.
I guess all they are going to have left is "draining the swamp" and "he's not a politician". And Mueller is the one draining the swamp.
Trump's base will never leave his side. The problem with his current supporters is they are either reaping the financial benefits from him(1%) or just love the "white men are persecuted, down with the women and brown people" rhetoric(the other 99%).
People who voted for him could have done so for many reasons but anyone who still sticks by him with nothing to personally gain is just a racist, misogynist, or has been fully brainwashed and this wont stop them. Anyone with a mind of their own has left the Trump GOP and become independant.
That said, image is everything to him and this is going to really piss him off. Hes stupid to begin with but when he gets pissed, the stupid intensifies exponentially, which will lead to his downfall.
Jeanne, do you see, in the future, that there will be another right-wing wave similar to the one we see in 2016? Will it lead to a third world war?
Jeanne, he will definitely fall. Hitler fell because he got impatient and fought a 2 sided war(some say parkinsons caused that but I think it was him seeing ineptitude in his allies and getting power greedy). Trump will fall faster and harder because he doss not have the intellect Hitler did. Hitler was much more dangerous to succeed than Trump ever was because Trump is too stupid to be able to still pull it off when people start revolting. Hes Mussolini at absolute best.
Jeanne, he will definitely fall. Hitler fell because he got impatient and fought a 2 sided war(some say parkinsons caused that but I think it was him seeing ineptitude in his allies and getting power greedy). Trump will fall faster and harder because he doss not have the intellect Hitler did. Hitler was much more dangerous to succeed than Trump ever was because Trump is too stupid to be able to still pull it off when people start revolting. Hes Mussolini at absolute best.
There's also a historical argument that Hitler was tweaked out on amphetamines starting in the early 30s. If true, he would have been even more paranoid and aggressive, which explains a lot.
Jeanne, do you see, in the future, that there will be another right-wing wave similar to the one we see in 2016? Will it lead to a third world war?
Enkasongwriter, Thanks for your question. If you mean by right-wing wave, an election that gives the GOP a majority in Congress or executive branch - then we are still in the midst of a right wing wave now and I think we will see it continue, although blue is rising. We might see more blue representatives in the House, but I can't tell yet if the House will have a blue majority. That is because the election system in the U.S. is heavily biased towards the GOP. The only way we can get a blue wave in the election result is to have (1) a landslide for the blues at the polls to overcome the GOP voter suppression and redistricting , and (2) no hacking of votes in the polls by the GOP. I read recently that the GOP legislatures are already working on more voter suppression techniques.
Bluebelle sees a blue surge to the polls which might mean that we'd have the blue landslide we need to push the blues into the majority. I have seen a purple House and I pulled the Star Card (thoth tarot) which is all blue and purple. But it's not for sure in my mind until I see it. Bright Opal is another of our more reliable readers. She isn't sure either whether there's a blue win in the House. I think we need to put our heads together and read it one more time before the Midterms.
When we actually read the preferences of the U.S. population, we get a blue wave of preference. But as I said, that's not easily turned into a blue majority in Congress because the election system is not one person-one vote in this country. The U.S election system is the most biased towards the right in the free world.
We haven't even gotten to the question of poll hacking (changing votes after they are cast) which we don't know for sure is happening, but we know it is easy to do. And I believe the GOP will do anything they can to hold their power. But we have to do everything we can to get people to the polls, and to get them to get a paper copy of their ballot (which means in some states, they have to vote early or vote absentee ballot).
I don't think we will have a world war, though. I haven't seen it yet anyway in my meditations.
If anyone reading this gets discouraged, please don't! We have our work cut out for us. We will overcome this situation. It took a long time to get this bad, and it will take a lot of effort to turn it around. But it will eventually turn around. The lower the GOP goes, the more they dig their party's grave. My feeling is that by the time we finally get a blue Congress and Executive branch, we will be re-constructing our whole election system. We might even eliminate the Senate so we no longer have the unrepresentative government we now have.
But I felt that would start in 2028 -- the complete turnaround and surge upward towards the light. Then there is all the migration we will be seeing and the rise of local government with climate change dominating the national agenda.