A Perfectly Reasonable Amount of Schadenfreude about Things Happening to Trump & His Enablers (Part 2)

Or maybe whatever oil is left under it.

They can have that, too, as long as they take him in body as well as visage.

Stranger

The privilege of crossing the East American Ocean*. That big body of water to the west of America is the West American Ocean*. How can anyone not know that?

*How soon before the felon gets the “bright idea” of charging foreign vessels for crossing American oceans?

There was some other right-wing idiot with a history of railing about paying property taxes who recently suddenly declared he would “pay anything” for some private firefighters to save his house. Can’t remember his name and can’t be bothered to care, but he seems to be someone semi-famous. But, you know, some schadenfreude anyway.

Iowa. Lots of pigs there. But the US will get cheap Danish bacon in return.

He apparently deleted his originally post, but other users helpfully made copies:

And yes, this same guy railed against local taxes (in a completely douchey manner) which, among other things, pays for firefighters.

I’ve long advocated for the USA to give Texas to China in exchange for them wiping out our debt to them.

Remember the guy who stormed into Comet Pizza with an AR15 to liberate the nonexistant child sex slaves?

He was shot dead over the weekend after pulling a gun on the cops during a traffic stop.

My oldest daughter lives in that town.

The street where that maniac committed suicide-by-cop is one of the main roads in the town, and a state highway.

Trump Stiffs Donors on Inaugural Perks: ‘Space is Limited’

[Emphasis mine]

There have been so many wealthy donors to Donald Trump’s inaugural committee that the president-elect has run out of perks to offer them, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The committee’s haul of $170 million is a record, the publication notes, and includes money from those who have since been placed on wait lists or been told the V.I.P. access to Trump was unlikely. Trump meticulously pays attention to who financially supports him and who doesn’t—and many of the wealthy donors are keen to avoid any possible retribution once he takes office.

Hm… Pay money so that nothing bad happens to you. I seem to recall there’s a name for that.

The thing is, you’d think they’d resent having to come up with millions to keep the extortionist from going after them.

But they don’t, because the wealth/asset chasm between them and the 99% is so vast that writing a $5,000,000 check to Donald is virtually meaningless. Their wealth is so massive that $5 mill is only a tiny hint of a fraction of a portion of a drop in their particular bucket.

Most of them are used to paying bribes of that scale overseas; the only novelty is that they’re paying it to a US President. It’s no big deal to them.

Campaign staff of President-elect Donald Trump were promised jobs in the incoming administration, but… The report said that the “well-liked” insiders of Trump’s world got first pick of positions.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/no-clarity-trump-team-said-to-be-waiting-for-promised-jobs-that-haven-t-manifested/ar-AA1wRu4a

Pick your job. Not “We will hire who best fits the position.”

To be expected by thinking people. Some of these ‘Pick your job’ folks may be a bit disapointed.

Consider this:
If you have $10 billion, and you can manage just 5% annual returns, you’re pulling in $500 million a year.

I mean, I know I’m stating the obvious (simple math), but for me when you actually consider the sheer amount it’s astounding.

The US$277M he spent to back Trump’s presidential campaign—as ethically and legally suspect as is is, as well as how little it accomplished toward that goal—netted him an increase in valuation (based almost entirely on Tesla stock and SpaceX holdings) of nearly US$140B, about a 500x increase in wealth, not to mention the intimate influence it has bought him with Trump to give preference to his business interests. Spending more than a quarter of a billion dollars on a political campaign is the best ‘investment’ that Musk has ever made, at least thus far. I think the lesson is that buying politicians is cheap, and great insurance against legislation that may be adverse to business interests.

Stranger

And now, this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/10/trump-sentencing-hush-money-case/

“Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you pursue your second term in office,” Justice Juan Merchan said after a statement explaining his rationale.

What is even the point if zero effort is going to be made in holding Trump accountable? Al this did was give him another platform to rant about how unfair the courts, the country, and the world has treated him while he’s handled with kid gloves and given a hall pass for life.

Donald Trump: serial business failure, con man, rapist, buffoon, imbecile, would-be fascist demagogue, and convicted felon who apparently will never be held to account for so much as a parking ticket. What the ever-loving fuck?

Stranger

I think most of us feel like this…

Tell me about it.

If I were the judge, I would have imposed a prison sentence, given the nature of defendant’s misconduct, its impact on a national election and his ongoing and defiant lack of remorse, but stayed its imposition until Trump leaves office. Have that hanging over his head for the next four years.

Why am I not surprised? The kind of guy who would charge into a pizza place with an AR-15 is pretty much exactly the type of person who would pull a gun on a cop.

Click for off-topic aside

(Although I also think it was wrong for the cops to shoot him for brandishing a weapon. But that is a separate topic.)

Exactly. This would have been a way to sentence Trump to a penalty commensurate with what any other person convicted of these felonies would face while also recognizing the fact that he has been elected president.

The judge instead made a mockery of the whole proceeding. I have no idea what the hell he was thinking or why he would think this was a fair and just outcome.

“Complying in advance”, it seems:

Stranger