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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"It's simple ...The Trump Org made money through shady deals with corrupt criminals. Done."
Adam Davidson at the New Yorker is one of the smartest, most plugged-in journalists around, especially on Eastern Europe.
He hints that journalists know a lot more than has been reported. And that the President is going to go down. Hard.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/985145755726999552.html
@adamdavidson
On the day Bush was on the USS Lincoln with the Mission Accomplished sign, I was in Baghdad, standing outside the Republican Palace hoping to talk to the Americans in charge.
I couldn't. There weren't Americans in charge.
1/
For reporters on the ground in Baghdad, it was hilarious, maddening and a bit terrifying that people in the U.S. actually thought the occupation of Iraq was going well.
We knew. We saw with our eyes: the looting, the chaos, the complete lack of plan among the Americans.
2/
Much later--in June when I came back to NY on vacation--even some of my lefty friends didn't believe me and Jen that the occupation was a complete disaster. It was still in the pundits-yelling-at-each-other phase on TV.
3/
That was a moment where I didn't feel like I was predicting the future. I was merely stating the clear, observable truth.
I felt the same in late 2007, after I spent a few weeks studying C.D.O.s, those toxic assets at the heart of the financial crisis.
4/
Once I knew how they worked, I knew there was a massive financial crisis underway. (I was late to it, others figured this out long, long before me.) But it took another nine or ten months for the entire world to see it. By then, of course, it was too late.
5/
There are many reporters who, now, know a lot about Donald Trump and his ties to shady oligarchs around the former Soviet Union.
We know that Michael Cohen was central to those relationships.
6/
It feels, to me, that we are in the same place we were around the time of that Mission Accomplished sign or the quiet before Bear Stearns and Lehman.
This isn't about opinions anymore. Every single person who has looked at the business knows in a simple, clear way.
7/
In fact, this one is a lot simpler and clearer than the Iraq occupation or the financial crisis.
The Trump Org made much money through shady deals with corrupt criminals. Most of it will come out. It will be uglier and, somehow, also more pathetic than most realize.
8/
Remember Bush and the Iraq war were polling at 70% on the day of that Mission Accomplished move.
It was still common for pundits--like Kudlow--to say there was no crisis in January, 2008, when the fire was burning all around us.
9/
This is no time to be complacent, of course.
But the broad outline of this show is already written. It ends badly, very badly for insiders, not great for the rest of us either.
10/end
wasupaloopa
(4,516 posts)I think there is still a chance that trump is going to get out of all this.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)There is a lot of info. about this around the net, from reliable people. And it is patently obvious that Mueller is aiming to take down the whole cabal.
Trump will squeal the longest and loudest. I want to save it as a ringtone.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)If all of the available evidence points to Trump being a habitual con man and a person who has engaged in many types of financial fraud, we can reasonably assume that he is a thief.
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)But I guess it's good at least some news reporters know it too.
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)So when reporters hint at stuff, it's generally a little more valid than the average citizen. But we shouldn't OVER interpret it.
dalton99a
(81,084 posts)vlyons
(10,252 posts)Going back at least 20 years
kentuck
(110,950 posts)...in the crash of 2008.
And now he is the Economic Advisor to Donald Trump?
Can we guess what might happen next?
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,790 posts)There is a big boil on the American body politic and Mueller along with journalists is working hard to lance it. The first aid, remediation and long term healing will be difficult but ultimately confidence in the system will be restored. I think that will happen by the 2030s and in time for the US to provide a stable counterbalance to China or with China.
I expect Mueller will make a report presenting Obstruction of Justice against tRump in the next few months. I'm sure he will release a second report, perhaps a few months later, detailing the Conspiracy against the USA (commonly called "collusion" ). I think both reports have already been written more or less and are being constantly updated and refined as more details accumulate and are discovered. I think Mueller probably has a "dead-hand" switch in place so that if he is fired then both reports will be released and all the sealed indictments will be unsealed.
As Davidson says, the information will come out. The corruption is so large it can't be hidden. It won't be pretty.
It could lead to the collapse of the Republicon Party. Certainly Democrats have an opportunity and duty to keep the Trump and Republican/GOP brands glued and welded together as they actually are. Ryan is leaving now for good reason. He would be smart to hand over the Speaker's gavel now and go silent and fade away, unless or until he is hauled into court, which he may be.
McCONnell is probably guilty as sin of heavy duty crimes because he knew the fix was in when he blocked Merrick Garland from the SCotUS, AND when he refused to warn the states' electoral commissions by telling Obama he would lie if Obama did so himself.
Participants like Sessions, Priebus, Cohen, Manafort, and probably Pence will be completely and utterly disgraced and should get jail time if there is justice, though they will always have believers who to proclaim they are pure as the driven snow.
People like Pruitt, Mnuchin, and Carson are trying to make their ride as cushy as they can for as long as they can. They won't be implicated so much but won't have much of a career afterwards. Ideologues like deVos and Perry will end up being judged stupid.
Mueller will probably increasingly hand off to District offices side crimes that are discovered, particularly business crimes like Michael Cohen's taxi business and Trump's business mess. There will be economic repercussions when tRump's empire crumbles, but the direct effects are likely to be small. Of larger consequence is the stock market which I think has begun a major correction that has a substantial way to go down yet. Trump's family will never be poor but will not be in the 0.01% they think they are entitled to be in.
The most committed ignorant Trump supporters will resort to some violence which may ripple out for a few years after. Part of this may be as a consequence of anger against damage to the NRA gun runners and part will be racism and bigotry that they will be unable to suppress any longer.
Prepare yourselves. Winning the Blue Wave of 2018 is top priority for the foreseeable near and medium term. Higher priorities could take center stage for periods on the road to Nov. 2018.
Maintain a calm poised stance and work to advance Democratic power and American democracy whenever possible.
Turbineguy
(37,212 posts)GW Bush was far better connected within the institutions of the US Government. He could do a deeper form of damage. Trump is an outsider and what's more, does not understand how things work. The Banking system is on a much stronger footing now than the 2008 crisis.
The Trump presidency ends and life goes on.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,790 posts)BadgerMom
(2,766 posts)Chilling because of its honesty.
BigmanPigman
(51,432 posts)Mueller has "obstruction" almost done it seems. That leaves "collusion" and money laundering/financial crimes". The documentation is all he needs to convict him of that (not witness testimony as much) and more and more of that will be coming out. I don't know if Mueller will wrap up one area and hand it to Rosenstein or is he waiting for all three to be finished being investigated, tied in a neat bow, then handed over but this will take longer to complete.
meow2u3
(24,745 posts)The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
nitpicker
(7,153 posts)I think that actually, Trump is ""AFLOAT" because of those deals. I think he didn't want to reveal his taxes because it would show (1) he is less wealthy than he claims, and (2) his income/reliance on those shady deals.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)... lacking in loyalty to the fundamental principles of American democracy, greedy, and barren of honor. Shame on them and Dirty Donny, their ignoble republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief.
Deplorable.