Obviously the NDAs are unenforceable. But they can make someone wonder if they really want to deal with the hassle and expense of a drawn out legal fight, and decide to keep quiet.
If I was a recently fired White House employee – let’s say I’m a staff secretary with domestic violence in my past, or a body man with a gambling problem:
On one hand, I have a potential big money payday by spilling what I know.
On the other, an unenforceable and unconstitutional NDA.
I’d agonize over that choice for maybe 2 nanoseconds, but that’s just me.
Your patience in considering all the ramifications does you proud.
Next Trump tweet: Never heard of Cambridge Anaglypta. They’re just trying to take credit for our unprecedented landslide victory in the electoral college. Fake News!!!
He sent flowers. The card said they were from Melania, but we know different.
Where you run into a problem is classified information. If the WH can claim that the former staffer is in danger of jeopardizing state secrets, they can be gagged. Everything they say will have to be vetted/redacted by federal agencies, which have no FOIA deadline for clearing information. They can just drag their heels until there is some sort of impartial oversight put in place to vet their vetting. Though, the actual NDAs are kind of irrelevant. Former staffers should use great caution in relating stories.
The passive-aggressive voice…
I laughed.
“To move on …” would have been infinitively more effective.
So, the general consensus, among a bunch of non-lawyers or constitutional scholars, is that White House employees were forced to sign an illegal agreement to commit illegal acts as a condition of employment.
I used to wonder what it was like to live in a ‘banana republic’.
Agreements to disagree were made.
Milk has been inadvertently snorted.
A dead horse was flogged, revived, and promptly flogged to death again.
Trump told everyone again and again that the election was rigged, and we just scoffed. Of course he neglected to say rigged in his favor, but that was just an oversight, I’m sure.
You wish it was a banana republic; at least you’d be able to count on getting bananas now and then. This is more of a MLM republic. And NOBODY’S downline performs well enough to qualify for the discount on the mandatory tape series on “Building Your Downline.”
No they weren’t!
Twenty bucks says if a video surfaces, Trump immediately calls it FAKE NEWS! and there will be a significant number of his followers who believe it.
Heck, there are plenty of people who are still right there with him regarding his “who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?!?” claim about his inaugural crowd size.
And his retroactive denial of the “I grab them by the pussy… I don’t even wait” [for consent] tape.
It takes a seriously compulsive liar to apologize for something on air, then later claim the tape was faked and the whole thing was made up.
For values of “everyone” which EXCLUDE prediction markets. As they have done for more than a century, prediction markets outperformed respected pollsters and statisticians.
I’ll make a prediction: During the next exciting election campaign, Dopers will be applauding the skills of professional pundits and belittling the prediction power of markets.
Wow that completely misses the point of what I was saying in every possible way.
But his ax has a really shiny edge now.