Why would he start suffering for it now? He’s never suffered for it before.
Yeah. I’m not thinking it would have anything to do with statecraft though. It would need to be something that would personally embarrass him. An attack on his fragile ego. Something emasculating.
Trump Organization overcharged the Secret Service to stay at Trump properties on at least 40 occasions, including once instance in which they charged the agency $1,185 per night to protect Donald Trump Jr. when the government rate was $201.
The Trump Organization charged the Secret Service at total of $1.4 million to accommodate agents protecting the president and his family, which means $1.4 million in taxpayer money went directly to the president’s private company. Trump visited his properties constantly while in office, including making 145 trips to Mar-a-Lago
Wasn’t that a fairly major topic of conversation every time he left the White House? He never stayed anywhere that wasn’t a club he owned and the USSS always had to pay incredibly high prices. Hell, they had to rent the golf carts to follow him around on the course, too, at extra fees (and I’m wondering if they were the superfast carts like his or the regular ones). I think he also made the AF personnel transporting supplies to … somewhere … Afghanistan? stay at a golf club he owned in the UK that was nowhere convenient to their landing field and was about 10x (I’m probably exaggerating) the cost of the hotel that was Right. AT. The. Airport.
I think the club was hard to get to, too. Not on a bus line, no car rentals available, and no transportation provided by the club.
And, of course, J&I infamously refused to let the detail protecting them to use the bathrooms in their personal house because eewww! so the SS had to use porta potties. That they had to rent. And I think they weren’t allowed to be installed on J&I’s property, too.
One word: emoluments. (I know that doesn’t apply here, but he profited greatly at his resorts when he had foreign visitors staying at them.)
Remember how absolutely beaten-down Trump looked after his 2018 private meeting with Putin (at the Helsinki summit)?
Here’s a refresher for anyone who’s forgotten:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/18/opinions/these-pictures-tell-story-of-trump-and-putin-ben-ghiat/index.html
Anyway, I would bet actual money that what happened in private was Vlad showing Donald a slickly-produced English-language video ad, plus documentation of the fact that the ad would be shown five times per hour, all day, every day, on Fox News.
And the content of that ad would be narration plus copious shots of evidence proving that Donald’s father had bankrolled him far more than Donald ever has admitted and bailed him out of far more business disasters than Donald has ever admitted. And then proof of how Donald has destroyed, through incompetence and stupidity, every business venture he’s attempted since Daddy’s death. And THEN the tax returns that show that every time Donald claimed he was worth some huge figure, he was actually worth just a teensy tiny fraction of that figure.
And then Vlad gently said:
'It’s all ready to go, Donald. Heavy rotation on the channels your fans watch. Everyone will know you are a complete and utter LOSER LOSER LOSER LOSER LOSER LOSER LOSER.
‘Unless, of course, you pull the USA out of NATO by _______ and end all other friendly relations with European allies and [fill in the blank]…’
So Donald had a look rare for him when he left that meeting: as if he were actually thinking.
How I wish such a scenario were workable! It could stil lbe used today to force the clown out of public life. The problem, though, is that jackass himself believes the lies about him.
The bit about bnakrolling him, while it should be embarrassing and would be to a normal person, holds no sway over Tan’s followers. They simply see it as his father being a smart investor (because, of course he’s smart; you can tell because he’s investing in Tan the Conman’s crud) and Tan being a smart businessman by declaring bankruptcy so he doesn’t have to pay out to his creditors. Of course that’s not exactly how bankruptcy works, but we’re not dealing with people with a great propensity for understanding logic, truth, and reality.
The bit about tax returns just shows to Tan the Conman’s followers how he’s so skillful at “putting it over on the man” by not paying his hard earned dollars to the evil IRS that’s out to get him.
Nothing will sway the True Believers and the Number One True Believer is Tan the Conman.
Personally, what I think happened and what caused the look of exhaustion was Putin’s attempt at getting Tan to actually understand something and Tan getting frustrated that not everyone in the world, most notably at the moment Putin, was absolutely entrhalled by him.
Another entry in the “Trump is a child” column: it took three weeks for him to get served the NY fraud lawsuit and eventually the judge just said to send it and not wait to hear back as to whether or not it was received. Because Trump thinks that if he just pretends he doesn’t see the lawsuit they can’t get him. He is seriously a toddler that was never disciplined. I bet he never has to eat his vegetables either.
This may have been covered as the thread is tl;dr: Is he talking and taking up oxygen anywhere where I might inadvertently hear it? Yes, well then he’s pissing me off all day everyday.
From Truth Social:
I’m sure his fans are very confused about the wall part of this statement. So he got it done, it made a big difference and set record lows on illegals pouring in. That should have been the end of it, magnificent accomplishment. So how is the border now wide open with hundreds of thousands of illegals pouring in everywhere? Without him as president, did the wall just disappear? They must wonder how this could be.
Ok. Enough sarcasm. I actually agree with this part: Dopey Paul was bad news.
The Emperor’s New Wall!
Simple. It’s Biden’s fault.
Actually, it’s Schrödinger’s Wall: exists or doesn’t exist depending on which narrative is more useful to get votes / pwn the libs / grift the rubes.
Yes, I know that wasn’t the point of Schrödinger’s “thought experiment.”
It apparently really is both at the same time. From several reports over the last couple years many segments, especially the poorly considered privately funded ones, have either collapsed or are on the verge of collapse.
Turns out that grifters don’t really consult with experts (security or engineering) when all they really want is to grab the cash and run.
Well, there’s a surprise.
The art of the steal. He never misses a chance to squeeze a nickel out of any given situation. I’m surprised he doesn’t prowl the streets stealing from the buskers.
Jumping to conclusions again, I see.
Speaking of buskers, I’ve had an odd day.
I found a hat full of money on the sidewalk, then I got chased by a guy with a guitar.
If so, why has Trump consistently worked so hard over the years to keep his returns out of the public eye? If their release would enhance his standing with his fans, why resist?
I still think that Vlad’s hypothetical video-ad would have the power to scare little Donald into submission. (The “LOSER” branding alone would pickle his liver.)
But I suppose we’ll never know for sure what the actual content of that meeting was…