Donald Trump the Megathread part II - mod warnings in OP, Updated 18/03/25

”Every vote matters” is a Democrat slogan - I don’t think his ego will allow him say that

Im well aware that why hes instead saying "we lost by a whisker" etc

Is there a correlation between how much he pushes the rigged voting line vs how worried he might be, behind the scenes I wonder - my view is that if he’s constantly pushing this line between now and the election his data is telling him he’s behind or too close to call.

I'm not sure I'm agree. It should definitely not be ignored, but I think an awful lot of people are really sick and tired of negative campaigning and living in fear.

I certainly am.

I like that the democrat campaign is trying to focus on the future in a positive way instead. And every so often they brush Trump and Vance aside as a weird irrelevance that they have to deal with.

I’m reading that differently- I can’t for the life of me guess why MAGA supporters accept anything Trump spits out no less the man himself- but Democrats in the main still expect their candidate to do all the normal boring things like talk about policy the economy security etc

I don’t think it’s “double standards” - I just think Harris is behaving like all normal presidential candidates are expected to behave. Recent polling from undecided voters stated lack of policy detail as on of the reasons they’re still on the fence- now why the feic anyone would be on the fence in this election is beyond me- but if there’s a chance she can persuade even these numbnuts to get off their arses to vote her on the day, then it’s worth reiterating her policies especially at the debate - I don’t think it can hurt her and may help her

I might offer that a vote for Trump isn't based on anything rational. Just like a vote for Brexit, voting for him is based on feeling and nothing much else. Of course, some voters can't actually own up to voting on something so very reckless as just their feelings. So when challenged they might come and say "Well…I've got to see Harris' policy on XYZ…" But in reality, they're going with a feeling.

That's my guess based on little more than….well my gut-feeling ironically…but I get the sense that many Trump voters know very well that Trump is a stupid choice for President…but they like the feeling of choosing him.

If Judge Chutkan were to decide to authorise the release of the transcript today before the weekend [or tomorrow] when courts will be quiet, it would be the optimum time for the newspapers to get hold of more unpublished information and print it up, even if they had a short debate at editorial and owner level. Weekends are great for newspapers to print breaking news headline stories. The NYT published the Pentagon Papers on a Sunday morning. Publish and be damned.

The WWW is no different. Different sites would be happy to get it out. Once it got onto the net, there is nothing SCOTUS or any friend of Trump could do about the public commentating on it in conversations, as it is borderless. Trump would definitely have a meltdown greater than any other president ever had before about the judge interfering with the electoral process.

Yeah I get that - look Harris has had a mountain to climb since becoming the chosen one for the democrats and she’s done pretty darn well so far - I guess there’s a natural inclination to make sure she’s doing everything she can - polls had Biden trailing in many instances - now it’s such a close call - a mis step by Trump usually gives him more votes not less - a mis step by Harris and she may not hold on to some voters. Yes it’s non sensical in a way but its a reality that can’t be ignored - she can do what she ever she feicin well likes when she wins 😀

I imagine him disintergrating quickly too.

You mention him having considerable reasources, and currently yes; he does. However a lot of what he currently has access to in terms of money and influence are contingent on what happens in the next couple of months:

• I suspect that the GOP itself is now keeping the lights on in many of his properties.
• He's paying himself from campaign donations to the election as well as money coming in for his various legal defence grifts. Both of which might stop upon him losing.
• His Truth Social gambit might only get him some millions when he attempts to see his stock.
• I suspect he was also laundering Russian cash prior to 2016, and with the current state of the Russians I somewhat expect that tap has now dried up for him.
• He faces a lot of Trump Org getting liqudiated to pay his outstanding taxes to New York state. (Including possibly Trump Tower)
• He faces an increasing defamation tab to pay out to in the Carrol case.
• All manner of individuals, cities and states may come after him personally for all of the Trump-rally bills he never paid.
• Not to mention the tower of legal fees he faces now and into the future.
• As well as an eventual divorce settlement with Melania. The filing of which I expect to happen shortly after an election loss.

Donnie lives on a massive and poorly balanced house of playing cards. The only thing that keeps a light gust of wind from toppling the whole thing is the hope that he can win the election and become an untouchable dictator. If he loses…it's all gone, and possibly quite quickly.

I hope a rake of those right wing shills, like Gorka and Bongino are caught up in this big mess. He certainly looks worried

OK. So for fair play justice across the board Judge Chutkan has to give Trump's team a right to respond with time-space first if she proposes to make the transcript available to the public so they can get a friend of his to shut her down from a higher position within the same justice system.

It seems that for the public to have a fair reading of what the Trump team want to hide from them is for some good old "Watergate-style" investigative journalism alongside a deep throat insider [interested in the best interests of the US] leak to ensure the truth is known.

Sometimes I think Mario Puzo got it right when it came to the undertaker "for justice we must go to the Don" even if that last word is not appropriate to the situation. The book also talks about the Don having judges in his pocket like so much loose change.

Looking at the published wish list for his next office term, Elon Musk in the cabinet means curtains for democracy. Hopefully his testosterone-filled ambitions would be too much for the men in the GOP. One thing is reasonable to consider, and that is that Elon is being helpful to Trumps campaign funding at some level or another, all within the law of course.

Meh.

Making him an 'Efficiency Czar' sounds about as toothless as when Trump already in his first term appointed Musk to not one, but two of his Business Advisory Councils - which Musk fcuked off from after he ripped up the Paris Accord.

https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/01/news/elon-musk-resigns-trump-adviser/index.html