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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/04/19/day-455/
Day 455: Clean up the mess.
1/ Michael Cohen dropped a pair of libel suits against Buzz Feed and Fusion GPS over the publication of the dossier that details alleged ties between Trump and Russia. The dossier claims Cohen met with Russian operatives somewhere in Europe to "clean up the mess" created by the public disclosures of Trump associates' ties to Russia. Pursuing the suit would require Cohen to "face a discovery process that would have forced him to defend his reputation and address the allegations of the Steele dossier under penalty of perjury." (Politico / Washington Post)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/19/michael-cohen-drops-buzzfeed-fusion-lawsuit-537327
2/ Trump's legal advisers warned that Michael Cohen would flip and cooperate with federal prosecutors if faced with criminal charges. "They're going to threaten him with a long prison term and try to turn him into a canary that sings," Alan Dershowitz said, who met with Trump and his staff over two days at the White House last week. Jay Goldberg, who represented Trump in the 1990s and early 2000s, told the president not to trust Cohen, and on a scale of 100 to 1, where 100 is fully protecting the president, Cohen "isn't even a 1." (Wall Street Journal / Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/18/trump-michael-cohen-flip-536926
3/ Trump's allies threatened to impeach Rod Rosenstein if he didn't provide them with documents about the FBI's conduct related to the Russia probe and the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server. Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan said Rosenstein could also be held in contempt of Congress if he doesn't satisfy their demands for documents. Critics say the two Republicans are attempting to build a case against Rosenstein in the hopes of closing the Mueller investigation. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump: We'll put sanctions on Russia "as soon as they very much deserve it," adding that "there has been nobody tougher on Russia than Donald Trump." The third-person comment capped a four-day stretch of confusion over whether the Trump administration would punish Moscow for its role in a recent chemical attack in Syria. (The Hill)
poll/ White evangelical support for Trump is at an all-time high, with 75% holding a favorable view of the president and 22% holding an unfavorable view. (Public Religion Research Institute)
https://www.prri.org/spotlight/white-evangelical-support-for-donald-trump-at-all-time-high/
Notables.
Trump will skip his summit with Kim Jong Un if he thinks the talks aren't going to be "fruitful," but said he'll "remain flexible." (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/18/trump-north-korea-talks-536444
More than two dozen House and Senate Republicans have refused to endorse Trump's bid for re-election. Trump immediately announced his reelection bid after taking office. (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/19/politics/congress-republicans-trump-second-term/index.html
43 House Republican incumbents have raised less money than their Democratic challengers in the first three months of 2018, and 16 Republican incumbents have less cash on hand than their Democratic challengers. (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/19/house-republicans-fundraising-2018-midterms-493823
Trump tweets
that he will not pay for California's new deployment of National Guard troops after Gov. Jerry Brown said the troops will focus on combating transnational crime and drug smuggling and not immigration enforcement on the Mexican border, as Trump envisioned. (Los Angeles Times)
Across Midwest, Farmers Warn of G.O.P. Losses Over Trump’s Trade Policy
“If he doesn’t understand what he’s doing to the nation by doing what he’s doing, he’s going to be a one-term president, plain and simple,” said Mr. Runck, a fourth-generation farmer who voted for Mr. Trump. Pausing outside the post office in this town of 2,300, Mr. Runck said the repercussions could be more immediate for Representative Kevin Cramer, a Republican whose bid against Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, has been complicated by the proposed tariffs.
“If it doesn’t get resolved by election time, I would imagine it would cost Kevin Cramer some votes,” he said.
Stern warnings are coming from all over the Midwest about the political peril for Republicans in Mr. Trump’s recent course of action, in which the tariffs he slapped on foreign competitors invited retaliatory tariffs on American agriculture. Soybeans are America’s second largest export to China, and that country’s proposed 25 percent duties on the crop would hit hardest in states like Iowa, Kansas and Minnesota — where there are highly competitive House races — as well as Indiana, Missouri and North Dakota, whose Senate contests may determine control of the chamber.
By proposing the tariffs, Mr. Trump has moved to fulfill a central promise of his campaign: confronting those countries he believes are undermining American industry. Yet his goal — to revive the steel and aluminum industries, thereby aiding the Rust Belt states that were crucial to his election — has effectively prioritized one element of the Trump political coalition over another, larger bloc of voters. That larger segment, the farm belt, is essential to Republican success in the midterm elections and beyond.
From the still-thawing soybean fields of North Dakota and Kansas to the corn and pork farms of Iowa, voters across the political spectrum say the president’s attacks on American economic rivals could do grave damage to an already unstable commodities market...
... “This is the first time it’s in your face, especially to us in the Midwest,” said Ed Schafer, a Republican former governor of North Dakota who was agriculture secretary under George W. Bush.
There may be no other race in America that is at once as significant as the Senate contest here and as shaped by whether China’s tariffs take effect this year. Most of North Dakota’s votes are in the eastern end of the state, in the Red River Valley — a region that also happens to be home to the three largest soybean-producing counties in the nation.
Senator Heitkamp won her seat by fewer than 3,000 votes in 2012. She remains personally popular, a valuable asset in a state with just 570,000 voters, but North Dakota has turned sharply away from Democrats in recent years.
But Mr. Trump has now handed her what may be a political gift.
“Senator Heitkamp will jump on the big, bad Trump and the stupid policy that’s coming out of Washington hurting our farmers,” Mr. Schafer said. “That’s a strong message in North Dakota.”
Or as Rob Port, a conservative talk radio host and columnist in the state, put it: “This is the perfect issue for her. Her base eats up the Trump bashing, but it’s also an economic argument that’ll have rural Trump voters saying, ‘Maybe blind allegiance to Trump isn’t such a good thing.’”
Ms. Heitkamp is already testing out such a message against her rival, Mr. Cramer.
“Clearly he sees his role is to be a vote for President Trump in the United States Senate,” she said. “And I believe my role is to be a vote for North Dakota in the United States Senate.”
edited 19th Apr '18 10:47:53 AM by megaeliz
Rather than do another super long post, I'll just note that today's WTF Just Happened Today news dump
is on the bottom of the last page
Holy shit, even Fox News posted an article critical of Hannity not disclosing his personal connection with Cohen
. That's a pretty clear indicator of "You dun goofed" if I've ever seen one.
Did Fox News know about this? The prime-time host said his relationship with Cohen never rose to the level that he felt he had to inform his bosses.
Here’s the problem: Hannity needed to inform his viewers.
Even if his relationship with Cohen was merely that of a friend who informally provided some legal guidance, Michael Cohen has been very much in the news. He is under investigation in the Mueller probe. He and Trump are embroiled in a lawsuit over Cohen having paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep her quiet near the end of the 2016 campaign.
When the FBI raided Cohen's office and hotel room last week, Hannity took to the airwaves to defend him.
"Keep in mind that Cohen was never part of the Trump administration or the Trump campaign," Hannity said on his show. He declared that "this is now officially an all-hands-on-deck effort to totally malign and, if possible, impeach the president of the United States."
But his viewers didn't know he was talking about a friend who has given him legal advice. That was a mistake.
The network issued a statement Tuesday: "While Fox News was unaware of Sean Hannity's informal relationship with Michael Cohen and was surprised by the announcement in court yesterday, we have reviewed the matter and spoken to Sean and he continues to have our full support."
Alan Dershowitz, the liberal lawyer who has become a Trump defender, challenged the host on Hannity's show Monday night.
"I really think you should have disclosed your relationship with Cohen," Dershowitz told him. Hannity described the relationship as "minimal."
"I understand that, and you should've said that," Dershowitz said. "You were in a tough position because, A, you had to talk about Cohen, and, B, you didn't want the fact that you had spoken with him to be revealed."
Hannity responded that "I have the right to privacy. It was such a minor relationship." Dershowitz stood his ground.
Hannity has talked about his relationship with Cohen in the past. As The New York Times noted, when Cohen appeared on his radio show shortly before the inauguration, Hannity said: "Full disclosure: a personal friend of mine, long before this election ever started."
Had he done that, and mentioned the legal advice, when he started discussing Cohen as the New York lawyer became enmeshed in various Trump controversies, there would have been no issue. Viewers and listeners could factor in the friendship in evaluating Hannity's commentary.
edited 19th Apr '18 10:54:14 AM by ironballs16
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"I mean, Cult of Personality is absolutely a thing, but it rather misuses the word "cult."
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.Trump isn't running a cult.note But there are some behaviors in common between his hardcore followers and cult members. But it's not as though cult-like behavior is new (or limited to them); there's some cult-like behavior found in Trekkies, too.
That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - SilaswAfter being sued by angry parents, Alex Jones has now decided that the Sandy Hook shooting happened after all
.
What a scumbag. I've always wondered to what degree he buys his own bullshit.
Maybe he's claiming that to make others stop complaining/suing?
Speculating on people's motives and thoughts is always problematic, as the same behaviour can have many different explanations and people suffer from confirmation bias and cherrypicking when evaluating.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanThe DOJ has referred their findings on Mc Cabe to federal prosecutors. Now this could mean anything from "charge him" to "drop the case and maybe use him as a witness for other stuff", but we'll see.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/19/politics/justice-mccabe-criminal-referral/index.html
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Jones' primary objective is to sell his Snake Oilesque products and keep his rates up.
edited 19th Apr '18 1:15:57 PM by Rationalinsanity
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.![]()
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Agreed, although I'm glad he changed his tune. Not because it speaks well of him, but because it means one less person speaking that damn conspiracy.
edited 19th Apr '18 1:15:37 PM by MrAHR
Read my stories!For the sake of humanity in general, it's good to know that there's some point at which he can be persuaded to be truthful. I mean, we all know he's selling a narrative to his gullible customers, but there's always been some question as to how much of it he honestly believes.
Edit: I'm not giving Jones any sort of benefit of the doubt. He's the kind of slimeball that makes other slimeballs embarrassed. But if he doesn't actually believe all of what he's saying, that says... something. I don't know what, exactly.
edited 19th Apr '18 1:34:02 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Alex Jones is political kayfabe, plain and simple. This Majority Report segment looking at his "meltdown" over Trump bombing Syria pokes at that.
He's still got issues, though, such as with the way his ex-wife and lost custody case keep creeping into his topic. But they're just more mundane, rather than legitimate tinfoil hat-wearing.
edited 19th Apr '18 1:53:47 PM by Eschaton
Alex Jones probably has radical political views similar to what he declares, though is not a true believer of his own conspiracy theories per se.
In a court of law his lawyer did claim he was an actor pretending to be crazy and Jones didn't claim this was false.
Leviticus 19:34Re: Alex Jones flipping his opinion on Sandy Hook: AHAHAHAHA
Turns out he doesn't believe in his conspiracy theories as much when someone takes him to task on them, threatening his bottom line.
I wonder how many of his fans turned on him because he changed his opinion. (Or possibly expressed his real opinion on the tragedy)
Do not obey in advance.

I'm honestly curious to see what would happen if Trump was prevented from watching Fox for, say, a month.
Like, on the one hand, no more feedback loop, but on the other, not having it to prop up his ego could make him considerably more erratic.