Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

[Ziggy Stardust]

That looks incredibly photoshopped to me. It doesn't look like legitimately handwritten text (and clearly not Trump's handwriting in any case, which you can find plenty of examples of online), it looks like a typeface. While the photo is working its way through various news outlets, citing the AP, I'm having a hard time believing that the photo is accurate. That's not even a natural way to hold a note in your hand.

[Lost Soal]

That looks incredibly photoshopped to me. It doesn't look like legitimately handwritten text (and clearly not Trump's handwriting in any case, which you can find plenty of examples of online), it looks like a typeface. While the photo is working its way through various news outlets, citing the AP, I'm having a hard time believing that the photo is accurate. That's not even a natural way to hold a note in your hand.

Take a look for yourself This is at just after the 50min mark where he's picking them back up off the floor, he took them out at about 3:30, whilst you can't read the specifics on the video (or I can't) it is the same type of writing as in the photo.

[Napoleon the Clown]

That looks incredibly photoshopped to me. It doesn't look like legitimately handwritten text (and clearly not Trump's handwriting in any case, which you can find plenty of examples of online), it looks like a typeface. While the photo is working its way through various news outlets, citing the AP, I'm having a hard time believing that the photo is accurate. That's not even a natural way to hold a note in your hand.

While it's certainly possible that it's photoshopped, watch Trump drink a glass of water. There are many things he does not do in a natural way.

[Ziggy Stardust]

Take a look for yourself This is at just after the 50min mark where he's picking them back up off the floor, he took them out at about 3:30, whilst you can't read the specifics on the video (or I can't) it is the same type of writing as in the photo.

Maybe you have better eyes or a better monitor than me, but at least on my computer I can't make out the writing well enough from that video to see anything other than the fact that there is something written on them. I can't make out the typeface or anything more specific.

In any case, I'm not trying to dispute that Trump is callous and heartless enough to need something like this list, I'm only saying that the picture as originally posted looks kinda fake. But if it's not then just throw this on the ever-growing pile of horrid things Trump has done.

[Civil War Man]

That looks incredibly photoshopped to me. It doesn't look like legitimately handwritten text (and clearly not Trump's handwriting in any case, which you can find plenty of examples of online), it looks like a typeface. While the photo is working its way through various news outlets, citing the AP, I'm having a hard time believing that the photo is accurate. That's not even a natural way to hold a note in your hand.

The twitter thread Crossroads linked has two different pictures of the cheat sheet, with Trump holding it in different ways for each one.

It looks legit to me. The spacing is not consistent between letters and words, and the text justification is uneven. There is also variation between the appearance of individual letters, especially with the lowercase e's and r's. It doesn't look like his handwriting, but he's not the type of person who would write his own cheat sheet.

In order for it to be a photoshop, the people behind it would had to have gotten a really skilled and dedicated photoshopper, who could both put those little details into their edit while also making the edit appear the same across multiple pictures.

[Ziggy Stardust]

Fair enough.

[FireNexus]

Holy. Fucking. Shit. Hope Hicks is out, Mueller is asking what Trump knew, and Trump made me not hate him for an hour by rhetorically farting in Pat Toomey’s face during a photo op meeting with lawmakers.

I’m fucking scared of what comes on Friday this week...

[The Romulan Republic]

And Sessions basically told Trump "fuck you" on television. And Kushner's security clearance is gone.

Yeah, its been a good couple of days. The White House is self-destructing, fast.

Just hope they can nail the Orange Fucker before he steers us into war with North Korea as his hail Mary pass.

[Khaat]

Hope Hicks is "gettin' while the gettin's good", as well.

Edit - hopefully, she's already played her only cards with Mueller.

[The Romulan Republic]

Yeah. There's definitely a "rats jumping the sinking ship" vibe here. Though apparently, it was also triggered by Dickless blowing up at her and calling her stupid for admitting that she had told lies on his behalf to Congress.

Personally, I Hope Hicks goes to jail.

[The Romulan Republic]

Oh, and don't forget Paul "Russian Agent" Manafort's trial date being set for September. Which means that there's basically going to be daily breaking news from Manafort's trial all through the final month and a half leading up to the Congressional elections in November.

Beautiful.

[Simon_Jester]

Yeah. There's definitely a "rats jumping the sinking ship" vibe here. Though apparently, it was also triggered by Dickless blowing up at her and calling her stupid for admitting that she had told lies on his behalf to Congress.

Personally, I Hope Hicks goes to jail.

Remind me again why she should go to jail rather than, y'know, come clean and indict her boss in exchange for amnesty?

I mean... Does she share complicity? Yes, but the Trump White House provides us with a cornucopia of victims, most of whom are higher on the "should have known better" and "had enough status to stand up to Trump" scales than a twenty-nine year old media consultant.

I'd much rather see her out of jail and, say, Manafort in jail than the other way around.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, yeah, if she cuts a plea deal that's a different matter.

Manafort's fucked regardless though. The real question is weather they can nail the Donald himself, now.

[Crossroads Inc.]

In other news, Trump in a recent meeting on gun control manages to first confuse then insult everyone in the room. From NPR

In a freewheeling meeting with lawmakers on efforts to curtail gun violence, President Trump appeared to throw his support behind a number of conflicting measures, including some that are opposed by the powerful gun lobby.

Conservatives and allies of the president were angered by such signals on Wednesday, while others have begun to sound the alarm that Trump is continuing to demonstrate an unfamiliarity with basic policy proposals and a misunderstanding of the legislative process.

During the gathering at the White House of both GOP and Democratic lawmakers, the president showed an openness to expanding background checks, possibly raising the age to purchase AR-15 rifles and also overriding due process, if necessary, to take guns away from mentally ill people or those who have been red-flagged as potential dangers, as the admitted shooter in Parkland, Fla., two weeks ago had been.

Trump bluntly told GOP lawmakers that any effort to include a concealed-carry reciprocity measure with a gun bill would effectively sink its chances — which is because of firm opposition from Senate Democrats. But there were other moments where the president showed a naiveté of the lawmaking process, claiming that it would be easy to get 60 votes for a bill to pass the Senate, suggesting merging some incompatible ideas and chiding lawmakers for being too beholden to the National Rifle Association — a group from which he has enjoyed broad support and with whose leaders he remains particularly chummy.

The fallout from the meeting already has one pro-Trump news website turning on the president.

"Trump the Gun Grabber: Cedes Dems' Wish List— Bump Stocks, Buying Age, 'Assault Weapons,' Background Checks..." was the headline on Breitbart News afterward.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters the White House meeting did little to advance the debate in Congress over legislation aimed at curbing gun violence.

"It's still unclear to me what can actually pass, and my experience is these things are harder to do than they sound. So I think we'll sleep on it and see where we are tomorrow," he said.

The president repeatedly challenged long-standing GOP orthodoxy on gun policy in Wednesday's meeting, leaving legislators bewildered by what happens next and what, precisely, Trump actually supports.

"I think everybody is trying to absorb what we just heard," Cornyn said. "He's a unique president and I think if he was focused on a specific piece of legislation rather than a grab bag of ideas then I think he could have a lot of influence, but right now we don't have that."

Lots more in the link from the meeting. The more you read the more unbelievable it becomes. Trump calling lawmakers afraid of the NRA while calling them brave patriots... it just gets more surreal

[The Romulan Republic]

Trump does this shit deliberately: constantly contradict himself to confuse the opposition.

That, and he just doesn't give a shit about anything other than himself.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Doing it to confuse others implys forward thought on his part which is dubious at best.
As I always I maintain Trump basically says whatever he wants whenever he wants if he feels it will make himself look good at that one singular moment

[Lost Soal]

If you haven't already seen just how stupid he is, here he is claiming that all these weapons used in mass shootings can only be bought on the black market.

[Dalton]

McMaster on his way out

https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/969317139919392768

[Khaat]

Doing it to confuse others implys forward thought on his part which is dubious at best.
As I always I maintain Trump basically says whatever he wants whenever he wants if he feels it will make himself look good at that one singular moment

This. He runs on the premise "never apologize for anything", so it's natural that he can't admit he doesn't know, or when he's caught in a lie, that there was a misunderstanding of objective fact on your part, not his. His speech is often that neuro-linguisitic schlep: "this is what it is [it really isn't], you know this is what it is, it is, so ... [whatever highly improbable crap he's about to spin on the foundation he doesn't have]."

[The Romulan Republic]

Doing it to confuse others implys forward thought on his part which is dubious at best.
As I always I maintain Trump basically says whatever he wants whenever he wants if he feels it will make himself look good at that one singular moment

Trump acts stupid about a great many things, but this man does have some understanding of how to play the media. Seeing him as just a randomly-flailing moron is, in my opinion, dangerously underestimating him.

He is a thin-skinned childish narcissist, and often barely coherent. And yet he manages to get tens of millions of people to buy into his bullshit again and again.

He's either smarter at playing the media than most people give him credit for, or he's the luckiest asshole on the planet. Though I don't think there's enough luck in the world to protect him from the Wrath of Mueller.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Ok so.. I know these days it is sometimes hard to keep track of just how many onerous scandals Trump is involved in... But remember the payoff to hush up Porn Actress Stormy Daniels? The legally binding non disclosure document she signed? Apparently TRUMP DIDNT

Stormy Daniels Suing Trump Over Nondisclosure Agreement
The suit claims Trump himself never signed a "hush agreement."
By Sarah Ruiz-Grossman and Nick Visser

Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels), who claims she had an affair with Donald Trump, is now suing the president.

According to a lawsuit Clifford filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, Trump didn’t sign a nondisclosure agreement with the former adult film star, which blocked her from disclosing their 2006 relationship. According to the suit, Clifford and Trump’s lawyer signed the document, but Trump did not, allegedly making the agreement “null and void.”

According to Tuesday’s suit, Clifford and Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen both signed what it calls a “hush agreement” and a side letter agreement on Oct. 28, 2016, just 11 days before the presidential election. The documents are appended to the lawsuit.

The 2016 “hush agreement” detailed that $130,000 would be paid to Clifford’s then-attorney in exchange for Clifford not disclosing any confidential information about Trump or his sexual partners. The suit claims Clifford and Trump’s intimate relationship started in the summer of 2006 and went “well into the year 2007.”


“This relationship included, among other things, at least one ‘meeting’ with Mr. Trump in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel located within Los Angeles County,” the suit claims.

Clifford’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, released a copy of the complaint for declaratory relief on Twitter on Tuesday.

In January, The Wall Street Journal reported that Clifford had an affair with Trump in 2006, the year after he married Melania Knauss on Jan. 22, 2005, and a few months after their son, Barron, was born on March 20.


The suit claims that Trump “aggressively sought to silence Ms. Clifford as part of an effort to avoid her telling the truth” through the intervention of Cohen. The report said Clifford was paid $130,000 to sign a nondisclosure agreement and not discuss the relationship.

At the time of the Journal’s report, Clifford’s lawyer released a statement from the actress denying the affair. But Tuesday’s lawsuit said Clifford was forced into signing that denial by Cohen through “intimidation and coercive tactics.”

Clifford also claims that Cohen had tried to block her from talking about the affair as recently as Feb. 27.

“Put simply, considerable steps have been taken by Mr. Cohen in the last week to silence Ms. Clifford,” the claim reads. “The extent of Mr. Trump’s involvement in these efforts is presently unknown, but it strains credibility to conclude that Mr. Cohen is acting on his own accord.”


After Cohen told The New York Times last month that he had in fact paid Clifford $130,000 in 2016, Clifford said she was free “to tell her story” because Cohen’s discussion of the agreement invalidated it. Cohen at the time did not say what the payment was for and said that neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign reimbursed him for the payment.

The White House has denied the affair.

This was done 11 days before the election, just 11 days. A hush firm to silence a porn star about an affair... and trump failed to sign it.

[TheFeniX]

Anything that gets Trump's approval lower in the next 8 months is solid. It's long odds against Cruz and Sessions, but those fuckers need to hang their hat in Tennese or some shit because I want to make some kind of Texas reference. I'd be glad to see Abbott out as Gov, but that's the least important on my list. So the more I can tie Sessions and Cruz to the Trump dumpster fire, the better.

Trump seems to have the Obama effect in some ways. Republicans support him more than other Republicans. So, being tied to Trump, who can maintain some semblance of "popularity" through this own insanity, will hopefully dissuade conservative Texan votes and embolden liberal/moderate voters. Because, unless you're Trump, being associated with Trump is not doing you any favors politically.

Despite Trump’s poor poll numbers, Republicans aren’t necessarily better off without him on the ballot. Asked for whom they would vote between a generic, non-Trump Republican and a generic Democrat, 42 percent of voters pick the Democrat, but only 28 percent choose the Republican. More than three in 10 voters, 31 percent, are undecided.

Beto O`Rourke.... can't find anything I don't like about the guy.

[Crossroads Inc.]

In other news, Trump Jr is getting a divorce as his wife just filed separation papers. like father like Son!

Vanessa Trump filed for divorce from her husband, Donald Trump Jr., on Thursday afternoon, according to multiple reports.

Vanessa filed for an uncontested proceeding with the Manhattan Supreme Court, Page Six reported. The outlet initially reported on the pair’s marital problems on Wednesday, citing multiple unnamed sources who claimed the couple “have been living separate lives.”

The couple released a joint statement later on Thursday, confirming their separation.

“After 12 years of marriage, we have decided to go our separate ways,” the statement said, according to CNN. “We will always have tremendous respect for each other and our families. We have five beautiful children together and they remain our top priority. We ask for your privacy during this time.”

Sources told the New York tabloid that friends were increasingly concerned over Trump Jr.’s online behavior, including liking tweets by conspiracy theorists criticizing a teenage survivor of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting.

President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law was hospitalized in February after a Massachusetts man sent an envelope of white powder to the couple’s Trump Tower residence in New York City. Upon examination, the powder was discovered to be non-hazardous.

Shortly after his wife’s hospitalization, Trump Jr. left for India on a Trump Organization trip.

Although the businessman has not taken an explicit role in his father’s White House, Trump Jr. has made a number of appearances on behalf of the first family. He met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a closed-door meeting in February and made several stops in Pennsylvania this month to campaign on behalf of Republican congressional candidate Rick Sacconne.
The couple’s marital issues seem to have been exacerbated by the powder incident and Trump Jr.’s travels, which have left Vanessa “increasingly lonely,” based on Page Six reports.

Vanessa Trump, 40, and Donald Trump Jr., 40, have five children and have been married since 2005. An “uncontested” filing means the pair anticipate an amiable separation, without a legal battle over child custody or assets.

The White House did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

This article has been updated with a joint statement from Vanessa Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

Just one big happy family!!!

[Ace Pace]

Yeah, pay no attention to a quick uncontested divorce that lets them quickly move assets away. This could be a serious divorce or also a "trick" to move assets around.

[Elheru Aran]

I wouldn't be that quick to assume it's a trick. Trump Jr has been travelling a lot, and she got herself a hotshot lawyer.

That said I wouldn't trust anybody within Trump's circle further than a hen can spit, so...