Support NeoGAF

[Karsticles]

Wow I went on r/The_Donald for the first time. If there was ever a pool of human excrement, this would be it. It's like youtube comment section in /r form.

I check it now and then to see what the nutjobs of the world are thinking.

 

[slit]

Dont feed the troll

How the hell is that a troll?

 

[RPGCrazied]

It is fine. Don't think to much of it.

Yeah, but it would have done wonders if he would have said he didn't tell the President he wasn't under an investigation 3 times.

 

[BFIB]

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/12/comey-declines-to-testify-before-senate-committee-238337

He won't testify before Congress. Is this bad or is this just not good?

Its a smart move. Comey finally realizing its best to not get involved. He's holding a high favor of most after his meddling before. Testifying now wouldn't do anything but bring unneeded slants for the GOP, questioning his motives being fired, etc. Plus, there is still probably a lot (if not most) that he can't discuss since he's under an NDA.

Let the dust settle, wait for more to be released that he can back up with proof later.

 

[Joe]

r/the_donald is in no way completely organic. It is heavily influenced with pre-scheduled posts, bots, and paid commenters.

 

[super-heated plasma]

You know, something occurred to me last night. Why is Trump so friendly towards the Russians, and willing to placate to them and deny the facts everyone can see? Ego and hubris, sure Thats a big part of it. But I will suggest one other thing:

Fear.

If all of the rumors are true about his ties to Russian mafia, he may just be afraid. Not necessarily for himself, but for his family. He knows Putin is a killer. He knows the Russian mob is not something to mess with. Maybe they even threatened him and his family at some point. So he does what he's told like a good grinder monkey, not wanting to put his family and children at risk. As horrible as Trump is, you can at least see that he has a soft spot for children.

If fear for his familys' safety is the case he's unwilling to take on Russia, then that explains a whole lot.

 

[smokeymicpot]

Yeah, but it would have done wonders if he would have said he didn't tell the President he wasn't under an investigation 3 times.

We wouldn't even know what he said since it was a closed door meeting.

 

[saizo]

Yeah, but it would have done wonders if he would have said he didn't tell the President he wasn't under an investigation 3 times.

But with no evidence, what good will it do? It would simply be a situation of his word against Trump's. Each side will believe what they already believe and nothing will change.

 

[KHarvey16]

Yeah, but it would have done wonders if he would have said he didn't tell the President he wasn't under an investigation 3 times.

It was for a closed session so we wouldn't have known his answer anyway.

 

[TAJ]

thanks for the untagged spoilers in a completely unrelated thread on a show thats still airing.

A spoiler for the first 15 minutes of a 73 hour series. How awful.

 

[ape2man]

Super interesting!!! Maybe trump will go down for racketeering

https://zembla.vara.nl/dossier/uitzending/the-dubious-friends-of-donald-trump-the-russians

 

[Gattsu25]

Super interesting!!! Maybe trump will go down for racketeering

https://zembla.vara.nl/dossier/uitzending/the-dubious-friends-of-donald-trump-the-russians

Please pull some quotes before linking to unknown websites.

 

[Tahnit]

Wow I went on r/The_Donald for the first time. If there was ever a pool of human excrement, this would be it. It's like youtube comment section in /r form.

They are the stupidist people ive ever seen. And they won't ever comment on the bad things trump is doing. Fuck them. Worst of humanity. They are actively reporting people to ICE.

 

[smokeymicpot]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/financ...hare-records-in-trump-russia-probe-1494625140

Financial-Crimes Monitor to Share Records in Trump-Russia Probe

WASHINGTON—A Treasury Department unit that specializes in combating money-laundering will share financial records with an expanding Senate probe into possible ties between Russia and President Donald Trump and his associates, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Senate Intelligence Committee requested the records from Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, late last month, these people said. The people familiar with the matter didn’t specify the nature of those records. One person said that without them, though, the committee wouldn’t be able to reach a conclusion on whether there was collusion between Trump associates and Russia during last year’s campaign.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), a member of the intelligence committee and also the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said in an interview Friday that he is particularly interested in information about shell companies, money laundering and the use of property transfers that may be germane to the committee’s Trump investigation.

 

[ape2man]

Super interesting!!! Maybe trump will go down for racketeering

https://zembla.vara.nl/dossier/uitzending/the-dubious-friends-of-donald-trump-the-russians

Please pull some quotes before linking to unknown websites.

ok, zembla.vara.nl is not really a unknown site in the netherlands. ZEMBLA is the current research journalist program of VARA. The program aims to inform a broad audience with independent journalism.

Its about "THE DUBIOUS FRIENDS OF DONALD TRUMP"

"Trump’s business and personal ties to oligarchs from the former Soviet Union. Powerful billionaires suspected of money laundering and fraud, and of having contacts in Moscow and with the mafia."

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Why would Rosenstein not want a special prosecutor? Even if McCabe is going to carry on in the spirit of Comey, they still need to find a replacement. That replacement sure as hell will want to bury the investigation.

 

[plagiarize]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/financ...hare-records-in-trump-russia-probe-1494625140

Financial-Crimes Monitor to Share Records in Trump-Russia Probe

WASHINGTON—A Treasury Department unit that specializes in combating money-laundering will share financial records with an expanding Senate probe into possible ties between Russia and President Donald Trump and his associates, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Senate Intelligence Committee requested the records from Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, late last month, these people said. The people familiar with the matter didn’t specify the nature of those records. One person said that without them, though, the committee wouldn’t be able to reach a conclusion on whether there was collusion between Trump associates and Russia during last year’s campaign.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), a member of the intelligence committee and also the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said in an interview Friday that he is particularly interested in information about shell companies, money laundering and the use of property transfers that may be germane to the committee’s Trump investigation.

Collusion doesn't need money though, of course.

Because the deal could well have been 'do us these favors and we'll get you votes'.

 

[KernelPanic]

Collusion doesn't need money though, of course.

Because the deal could well have been 'do us these favors and we'll get you votes'.

That's a money trail of evidence that they can charge him with racketeering.

Collusion with Russia may be much harder to prove in court.

What he's guilty of and what will stick in court are two different things.

Al Capone went down on tax evasion charges.

 

[smokeymicpot]

Invitation to Comey came either the day or or day before the dinner, source says--just as Sally Yates was warning the WH about Flynn.

https://twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC/status/863154403972403200

Every time someone get's close they get fired.

 

[plagiarize]

That's a money trail of evidence that they can charge him with racketeering.

Collusion with Russia may be much harder to prove in court.

What he's guilty of and what will stick in court are two different things.

Al Capone went down on tax evasion charges.

I don't think Trump will be caught for collusion. I don't think he's guilty of it.

But I do think he's impeachable for his conflicts of interest and his handling of firing Comey. Personally I think it all comes from his insecurity and his inability to accept that he isn't above questioning like he was when he was running his own company. That there are people who can and will stop him doing whatever he wants.

Will any of that rise to the level of a crime? I've no idea. But it's already clearly risen to the point of where it's plainly obvious that he isn't fit to lead the country.

But the GOP are going to ram through what they can while the getting is good sadly enough.

 

[Deku Tree]

If they record everything then Why doesn't someone in the WH leak some tapes? They leak everything else.

 

[jstripes]

When the big arrests happen, if they happen, it wont be during the day. and it wont be one by one.

It'll be 3 am when marshalls, fbi, and alphabet agencies arrest a ton of people. imho and everyone will wake up to breaking news

This. No one's getting arrested today. The arrests will all be simultaneous, because if you get just one the others will take that as a signal to flee.

if Rosenstein was so pissed off that Comey's firing was more or less blamed on him, why would he do a complete 180 like that to appease Trump? i don't buy it. i don't think Comey wanted a special prosecutor because he has full faith in McCabe and the rest of the FBI that they're far enough along in this investigation to get somewhere and i think Rosenstein knows that.

This is what I assume is going on. The Steele dossier probably gave the IC a massive head start in knowing which rocks to look under, and from there they've likely found plenty more.

Remember a couple of months ago the FBI raided a casino somewhere in Asia? One that had staggering income, in the billions, for such a small scale operation? One that had ties to people involved in all this?

Paul Ryan is such a pussy. The entire party is.

Actually, that press release was remarkably neutral in tone, which I find very interesting.

 

[KernelPanic]

If they record everything then Why doesn't someone in the WH leak some tapes? They leak everything else.

I could definitely see him recording at the WH. There's stories about how all phones at Mar-A-Lago are tapped. I wonder if he switched it off when Russians came by.

 

[pigeon]

I don't think Trump will be caught for collusion. I don't think he's guilty of it.

But I do think he's impeachable for his conflicts of interest and his handling of firing Comey. Personally I think it all comes from his insecurity and his inability to accept that he isn't above questioning like he was when he was running his own company. That there are people who can and will stop him doing whatever he wants.

Will any of that rise to the level of a crime? I've no idea. But it's already clearly risen to the point of where it's plainly obvious that he isn't fit to lead the country.

But the GOP are going to ram through what they can while the getting is good sadly enough.

I'm not sure whether Trump is himself guilty of collusion.

However, at this point, and indeed for a while now, he's clearly guilty of obstruction of justice.

 

[TestOfTide]

Collusion doesn't need money though, of course.

Because the deal could well have been 'do us these favors and we'll get you votes'.

Nah. Trump clearly got paid money in some way or another. Otherwise he wouldn't have been so determined to start Trump TV.

Trump TV is proof that Trump thought he was going to lose.

 

[Real Hero]

You know, something occurred to me last night. Why is Trump so friendly towards the Russians, and willing to placate to them and deny the facts everyone can see? Ego and hubris, sure Thats a big part of it. But I will suggest one other thing:

Fear.

If all of the rumors are true about his ties to Russian mafia, he may just be afraid. Not necessarily for himself, but for his family. He knows Putin is a killer. He knows the Russian mob is not something to mess with. Maybe they even threatened him and his family at some point. So he does what he's told like a good grinder monkey, not wanting to put his family and children at risk. As horrible as Trump is, you can at least see that he has a soft spot for children.

If fear for his familys' safety is the case he's unwilling to take on Russia, then that explains a whole lot.

'russia' are not going to murder trump's children, Jesus Christ this taking a conspiracy too far

 

[Jenov]

It's probably not that big of a deal that Comey turned down the meeting. They would all just ask about the firing, the stupid "tapes" tweet and for reassurances about the investigation (which was already done by McCabe). There has been plenty of reporting already, including sources "close to" Comey, that have shown Trump's lies. Better for Comey to wait and see who becomes the new Director and step in when needed for bigger issues, instead of wasting public attention on petty lies.

 

[super-heated plasma]

'russia' are not going to murder trump's children, Jesus Christ this taking a conspiracy too far

Didnt say they would. But if they made him believe it? Hence the word 'fear.'

 

[Mully]

That's a money trail of evidence that they can charge him with racketeering.

Collusion with Russia may be much harder to prove in court.

What he's guilty of and what will stick in court are two different things.

Al Capone went down on tax evasion charges.

Manafort's real estate dealings right before he joined the Trump campaign raise some serious questions.

NPR's WNYC reported on three properties that Manafort mortgaged at twice their worth just before he joined the campaign. All three properties were mortgaged through a Trump associate. It's as if he was laundering money.

 

[Aaronology]

Didnt say they would. But if they made him believe it? Hence the word 'fear.'

It's an incredibly silly notion, all the same.

 

[Megasoum]

This was posted already?

 

[BeforeU]

This was posted already?

Ya few pages back. Shocking none the less

 

[Mully]

Here's some excerpts from my post above about Manafort's suspicious real estate purchases and mortgages at double the price of the home, just before he joined the Trump campaign.

http://www.wnyc.org/story/paul-manaforts-puzzling-new-york-real-estate-purchases/

Real estate and law enforcement experts say some of these transactions fit a pattern used in money laundering[/b]; together, they raise questions about Manafort’s activities in the New York City property market while he also was consulting for business and political leaders in the former Soviet Union.

Between 2006 and 2013, Manafort bought three homes in New York City, paying the full amount each time, so there was no mortgage.

Then, between April 2015 and January 2017 – a time span that included his service with the Trump campaign – Manafort borrowed about $12 million against those three New York City homes: one in Trump Tower, one in Soho, and one in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

Manafort’s New York City transactions follow a pattern: Using shell companies, he purchased the homes in all-cash deals, then transferred the properties into his own name for no money and then took out hefty mortgages against them, according to property records.
]

 

[HotHamBoy]

The logic in their arguments is non-existent. "This guy said there was no collusion! He's also not trustworthy and a liar"! "The president didn't move fast on Flynn cause he needed documentation! He received documentation on Comey and moved Quickly. He also didn't fire him because of the documentation!" I mean the lies are so numerous they can't keep anything straight. Yet they continue to try to weave some narrative bound by inane logic. Based on their own presentation of the pieces, these items, or at least parts, are pure fabrications.

At this point I feel like that's their strategy. Everyone around Trump has realized that he's guilty and is not going to stop this lying bullshit and twitter tantrum stuff, so their only option is to keep lying so much and so often that it muddies the waters to the point that no one can ever know what the actual facts are in the case. Then when the media reports on the latest bullshit that they say, they can come out and point to the contradictory lies that they told and further the "fake news" narrative among their base, which is all they have left at this point.

That's exactly what Putin and Russia have been doing for years.

H Y P E R N O R M A L I Z A T I O N

https://youtu.be/-fny99f8amM

Please watch Adam Curtis's documentary from last year if you want a better understanding of Team Trump's antics.

In Russia, Vladimir Putin and his cabinet of political technologists create mass confusion. Vladislav Surkov uses ideas from art to turn Russian politics into a bewildering piece of theater. Donald Trump used the same techniques in his presidential campaign by using language from Occupy Wall Street and the extreme racist right-wing. Curtis asserts that Trump "defeated journalism" by rendering its fact-checking abilities irrelevant.

 

[dickroach]

Ya few pages back. Shocking none the less

is it though?

 

[RaidenZR]

Paul Ryan is such a pussy. The entire party is.

What a coward. He's "decided" not to acknowledge the garbage that is our President or that the rails of US democracy are eroding right in front of us. He and the rest of the players in power are complicit opportunists and they can all rot in a ditch somewhere for all I care.

 

[plagiarize]

What a coward. He's "decided" not to acknowledge the garbage that is our President or that the rails of US democracy are eroding right in front of us. He and the rest of the players in power are complicit opportunists and they can all rot in a ditch somewhere for all I care.

It says so much that he won't comment on things the President says. Writing them off as 'the tweets of the hour'.

 

[jellies_two]

That's exactly what Putin and Russia have been doing for years.

H Y P E R N O R M A L I Z A T I O N

https://youtu.be/-fny99f8amM

Please watch Adam Curtis's documentary from last year if you want a better understanding of Team Trump's antics.

A big fan of this documentary.
However I don't think there is a Surkov inside the trump administration. Trump is a clown and chaotic and entirely unqualified and his aides are running around like headless chickens.

Compare that to Surkov who had an office with a phone with a button for each leader of each faux political faction he had created. His operation was a swiss watch compared to the trump train wreck.

Trump may be doing a sort of performance art version of Surkov in the US but it is like watching a dog with a ruffle stand up on his back legs versus the bolshoi ballet. Which is why I still think he is very much doomed and it won't be because of the superior checks and balances in the US it will be because he left his run for greatness 10 years too late, his mind melted several years ago.

 

[Zolo]

What a coward. He's "decided" not to acknowledge the garbage that is our President or that the rails of US democracy are eroding right in front of us. He and the rest of the players in power are complicit opportunists and they can all rot in a ditch somewhere for all I care.

The standard GOP response when these things happen:

 

[Joe]

Here's some excerpts from my post above about Manafort's suspicious real estate purchases and mortgages at double the price of the home, just before he joined the Trump campaign.

http://www.wnyc.org/story/paul-manaforts-puzzling-new-york-real-estate-purchases/

Might be an example of Russian-esque corruption. Overpay with the excessive profit margin funneling through multiple companies. This excerpt is from PBS documentary "Putin's Way":

NARRATOR:
Kolesnikov says he used to run one of Putin's gifting schemes and explains how it worked. A business put money into a charity— in this case, Pole of Hope. Kolesnikov's company, called Petromed, took the money to buy medical equipment purchased from Siemens. But the profit margin was huge, around 40 percent. That money was funneled through a myriad of other companies, ending up in something called Rosinvest.

Kolesnikov owned 2 percent of Rosinvest, but he says 94 percent was owned by Vladimir Putin.

SERGEI KOLESNIKOV:
[through interpreter] All investments, all projects of Rosinvest, were only implemented if Putin said yes to it. So no activity would have been possible without his acknowledgement.


NARRATOR:
Kolesnikov says, in the beginning, the money raised was for a $20 million retirement home for the president.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/putins-way/transcript/

 

[DrForester]

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/12/comey-declines-to-testify-before-senate-committee-238337

He won't testify before Congress. Is this bad or is this just not good?

Says to me he's a loyal traitor who won't turn on the man he helped elect, even with the threats. And with Congress not giving a shit about Trump committing crimes that's that. Congress will never subpoena him so long as Republicans are in charge.

Investigation is, for all practical purposes, over until at least 2018, and that's if the democrats somehow take control. Plenty of time for the new FBI undermine any future investigation.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

I wish a reporter had said something like "So this is the type of leadership we can expect from the GOP? Just burying your head in the sand every time something bad happens?"

Apparently being good looking is all you need to be speaker of the house.

 

[KHarvey16]

Says to me he's a loyal traitor who won't turn on the man he helped elect, even with the threats. And with Congress not giving a shit about Trump committing crimes that's that. Congress will never subpoena him so long as Republicans are in charge.

Investigation is, for all practical purposes, over until at least 2018, and that's if the democrats somehow take control. Plenty of time for the new FBI undermine any future investigation.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

[plagiarize]

Says to me he's a loyal traitor who won't turn on the man he helped elect, even with the threats. And with Congress not giving a shit about Trump committing crimes that's that. Congress will never subpoena him so long as Republicans are in charge.

Investigation is, for all practical purposes, over until at least 2018, and that's if the democrats somehow take control. Plenty of time for the new FBI undermine any future investigation.

LOL.

Sure, that's a reasonable position. At least if you ignore everything else being reported since the firing.

 

[KingV]

Wow I went on r/The_Donald for the first time. If there was ever a pool of human excrement, this would be it. It's like youtube comment section in /r form.

If you want a look at how the right views trump. I prefer red state. It's actually pretty mixed, and they now have editorial commenters essentially calling for his impeachment (or at least suggesting that he will end up impeached).

However you slice it, I think the worm has started to turn, even among his base. The Donald Reddit is definitely curated in a way to remove dissent.

 

[thepotatoman]

Ya few pages back. Shocking none the less

It's been reported on for a while. January 11th example here.

I know there is way too much of trump stuff to keep track of, and It is surprising he hasn't changed law firms yet.

 

[HotHamBoy]

Posted in the Raid thread:

Interesting thread on Twitter that makes alot of sense.

https://twitter.com/Broadsword_Six

THREAD: 1.Buckle up, get your coffee, spark dat spliff, pour your wine. Here we go. The FBI raid of Strategic Campaign Group yesterday was a

2. two pronged attack. One Manafort & Stone are both linked to that firm by way of their old lobby firm BKSH. BKSH went on to become what

3. Prime Policy group which is the firm Manafort was using to work with Ukraine. Prime Policy Group helped Victor Yanukovic a Putin bag man

4. Get elected. Prime Policy also put out a press release some time ago stating Manafort, & Stone were Trump campaign advisors. Lots of

5.Evidence was taken yesterday. Hard drives, files, etc. Manafort still has not registered under FARA which makes me think he may have

6. Flipped on Trump. But I'm not 100%. He's fallen off of everyone's radar for a while. Here's where it gets interesting. Strategic Campaign

7. Also has ties to Trump & the Taj Mahal casino. Strategic Campaign registered with Maryland lobby website on behalf of Prince George's

8. Racing Ventures. PGRV is also known as Penn Natl Gaming. A man named James Perry ran PNG before he went to work for Trump. Perry worked

9. for Trump Entertainment Resorts. One of which was Trump Taj Mahal. All of this happened ONE DAY after the Senate Intel Committee asked

10. Treasury Dept. to release info on all of Trump's finances. See where I'm going here? Follow the money. The money will lead them to the

11. truth. Taj Mahal was a money washing front for the Russian mob for YEARS. Trump is starting to come undone. He has never before acted so

12. Nervous and unhinged in a public area before because he knows they are on the money trail. There are 2 EXCELLENT expose's done by a

13. Dutch news team documenting the money trail very well. I will post links. I highly suggest you take the time to watch them. There's a

14. Man subject in the story named Felix Sater. He's a lynchpin in the money laundering operation. Read about him, and his daddy. As recent

15.Last year Sater worked for Trump as a senior advisor to his company. All roads lead to the money

16. Trump cannot stop or interfere with the investigation the NYS AG has opened on him. Schiederman is a rabid pit bull and has a hard on

17. For all things Trump. Get familiar with the term "Enterprise corruption" you'll see it's important. Trump's presidency is already dead

18. He knows that. That's why he's behaving the way he is, and explains his latest twitter melt down. At this point it's just a matter of

19. how much longer he's there. I'll post links shortly. @realDonaldTrump can you feel me now? Harder? Deeper? #GsUpHoesDown

And here's the links to the Dutch story.

https://t.co/Mbxmcg3zaa

https://zembla.vara.nl/dossier/uitze...ng-of-diamonds

I didn't know Rachel Maddow posted on GAF!

 

[jellies_two]

.. The Donald Reddit is definitely curated in a way to remove dissent.

I think the untold story of the social media groups around trump especially on Facebook is just how many are heavily moderated and directed by hordes of mods who are not, lets say, honest actors. By honest actors, I mean, they are not even US voters if you get my drift. They may be secretly paid by someone/somewhere.

 

[sc0la]

I didn't know Rachel Maddow posted on GAF!

Needs 20 posts of tease first.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

I didn't know Rachel Maddow posted on GAF!

Needs 20 posts of tease first.

Is this what the kids call fire, lit?