What's Trump Done This Time Catch-All

Quintin_Stone wrote:
lunchbox12682 wrote:

I think every US politician goes to Israel at least once now.
If I recall correctly, the issue for Romney was sticking his foot in his mouth over the London Olympics, not that he went over there.

Romney ruffled feathers when he declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel. The US, like most nations, technically recognizes Tel Aviv as the official capital.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...

Right, I forgot about that one. Still it was the foot in the mouth rather than the travel specifically.

I seriously don't want to wade through his speech to find it, but the last iteration of THE WALL included him mentioning it would have technology to make it impossible to dig under or go over.

I would like to see some drawings of these technologies. And then I'd like to make fun of them.

Roo wrote:

I seriously don't want to wade through his speech to find it, but the last iteration of THE WALL included him mentioning it would have technology to make it impossible to dig under or go over.

I would like to see some drawings of these technologies. And then I'd like to make fun of them.

Laser fences that shoot down into the core of the earth, and laser cannons on the top. Pew pew!

Tyops wrote:
farley3k wrote:

Donald Trump Has Not Yet Paid Several Top Staffers

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has run an unusually cheap campaign in part by not paying at least 10 top staffers, consultants and advisers, some of whom are no longer with the campaign, according to a review of federal campaign finance filings.

Those who have so far not been paid, the filings show, include recently departed campaign manager Paul Manafort, California state director Tim Clark, communications director Michael Caputo and a pair of senior aides who left the campaign in June to immediately go to work for a Trump Super PAC.

... but he pays himself a salary.

I can't believe Manafort didn't get paid...

Unless Putin was paying him. Then that makes sense. This is not intended as snark, by the way. I can't believe a real life version of Futurama's 80's Guy didn't make something off that venture.

Stengah wrote:
Roo wrote:

I seriously don't want to wade through his speech to find it, but the last iteration of THE WALL included him mentioning it would have technology to make it impossible to dig under or go over.

I would like to see some drawings of these technologies. And then I'd like to make fun of them.

Laser fences that shoot down into the core of the earth, and laser cannons on the top. Pew pew!

They will dig the deepest wall, in the first day.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Crb66RjW8AA7OXt.jpg:large)

??

Trump refuses to rule out legal status for undocumented immigrants

Donald Trump on Monday refused to rule out granting legal status to undocumented immigrants who remain in the United States, breaking with an immigration proposal he laid out just last week.
But asked Monday aboard his plane whether he could rule out a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants, Trump declined.
"I'm not ruling out anything," Trump said. "We're going to make that decision into the future. OK?"
Trump's answers came as reporters repeatedly pressed the Republican nominee over his position on providing a pathway to legal status to some undocumented immigrants living in the US.

By saying you "rule nothing out" you become the blank slate on which others can write their own beliefs. And apparently the back of this saying says your lucky numbers are 3, 7, 14, 12 and 6.

Trump Held Fundraiser For Pam Bondi At Mar-a-Lago After She Dropped Investigation

In March 2014, Donald Trump opened his 126-room Palm Beach resort, Mar-a-Lago, for a $3,000-per-person fundraiser for Pam Bondi. The Florida attorney general, who was facing a tough re-election campaign, had recently decided not to investigate Trump University.
The use of Mar-a-Lago alone was a donation of some value. Space at the resort is expensive to rent, and Trump has charged his own presidential campaign roughly $140,000 per event for use of the mansion.

In contrast, the Republican Party of Florida paid only $4,855.65 for the Bondi fundraiser, cutting a check on March 25, 2014. It was a “small event on the lawn ... featuring snacks and refreshments, attended by about 50 people,” a Bondi campaign staffer told The Huffington Post.

But Clinton was investigated by the FBI! The FBI, Carl!

Well by Obama's FBI as I saw one headline call it.

It isn't like there's a Bondi staffer who said that Bondi met with Trump specifically about the trump university stuff and then the trump foundation made a large and illegal donation to a PAC dedicated to keeping Bondi the AG that would have taken a number of crazy coincidences to actually be a mistake and then Bondi dropped the TU investigation and then was thrown a fundraiser by Trump 8 months later. It's not as if Trump has bragged about buying politicians for his entire career up until a month ago.

If there's smoke, there's fire but only if it's Hillary Clinton.

oilypenguin wrote:

It isn't like there's a Bondi staffer who said that Bondi met with Trump specifically about the trump university stuff and then the trump foundation made a large and illegal donation to a PAC dedicated to keeping Bondi the AG that would have taken a number of crazy coincidences to actually be a mistake and then Bondi dropped the TU investigation and then was thrown a fundraiser by Trump 8 months later. It's not as if Trump has bragged about buying politicians for his entire career up until a month ago.

If there's smoke, there's fire but only if it's Hillary Clinton.

To be fair with Trump there's only fire and fire is awesome.

“Deal from strength or get crushed every time,”

Pretty sure they stole that line from 'Frozen.'

the group’s manager, Jeff Popick, is now suing the Trump campaign, claiming it reneged on a verbal agreement to pay for travel and expenses.

The group's manager was an idiot not to get it in writing.

Chairman_Mao wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:

It isn't like there's a Bondi staffer who said that Bondi met with Trump specifically about the trump university stuff and then the trump foundation made a large and illegal donation to a PAC dedicated to keeping Bondi the AG that would have taken a number of crazy coincidences to actually be a mistake and then Bondi dropped the TU investigation and then was thrown a fundraiser by Trump 8 months later. It's not as if Trump has bragged about buying politicians for his entire career up until a month ago.

If there's smoke, there's fire but only if it's Hillary Clinton.

To be fair with Trump there's only fire and fire is awesome.

This is the best. I'm not afraid to say that if we make it to 2020 I'm going to be disappointed if the candidates are only mundanely bizarre.

farley3k wrote:
the group’s manager, Jeff Popick, is now suing the Trump campaign, claiming it reneged on a verbal agreement to pay for travel and expenses.

The group's manager was an idiot not to get it in writing.

Probably, but given Trump's history of screwing over people supplying him with goods or services, the numerous lawsuits about that, etc... I suspect he's not going to have much trouble winning this case.

Unless Trump bribes some more judges.

farley3k wrote:
the group’s manager, Jeff Popick, is now suing the Trump campaign, claiming it reneged on a verbal agreement to pay for travel and expenses.

The group's manager was an idiot not to get it in writing.

This story has been repeated so many times, with so many people on the "not-Trump" side that at this point if I was a judge I think I may accept the argument that "If an individual doesn't get a written agreement to be paid by Trump, given his reputation that is accepting that they will never be paid by Trump and their services are actually a gift."

And honestly I'd also have to think long and hard about "If an individual does get a written agreement to be paid by Trump, given his reputation that is accepting that they will never be paid by Trump and their services are actually a gift."

If you are working with Trump get paid in advance people, learn from the hundreds of people that are still waiting for their checks.

If you shake hands with Trump, count your fingers afterwards.

"I didn't get rich by writing a lotta cheques."

Trump pays his companies $1 million after getting access to the RNC coffers.

In all, just shy of $1 million went out the door on May 18. More than $600,000 of that went to Trump-owned businesses, with $423,000 of it going to Mar-a-Lago alone, which hosted that March 15 party, an earlier one on March 1 and a news conference on March 11.

It’s unclear from Federal Election Commission filings what other expenses, if any, that payment covered ― it is listed as “facility rental/catering,” and the resort does not appear to have hosted any other campaign events. Trump’s campaign would not provide an explanation. Had Trump instead chosen to hold those events at the nearby West Palm Beach Marriott, he likely would have spent no more than $45,000 for all three, based on its estimates for catering the number of people who attended his parties.

What’s more, the two-month delay in reporting those expenses may have violated Federal Election Commission rules, which require an expense to be disclosed in the same reporting period ― in Trump’s case, in the same month ― as it was incurred, said a campaign finance law expert.

Also includes this lovely tidbit:

Trump’s preference for expensive venues that he happens to own has also extended to his campaign airplane: his 25-year-old 757 jetliner that, thanks to its older, less efficient engines, burns some $10,000 in fuel every hour. That helped Trump rack up among the highest travel costs of all the presidential candidates, despite having kept one of the lightest campaign schedules.

If Trump had used his smaller Cessna business jet (he does, on occasion, when his destination does not have a runway long enough to accommodate the 757), he could have cut his $5.6 million in private air travel costs thus far in half.

I have to ask, are there ever any actual penalties for breaking FEC rules?

Alien Love Gardener wrote:

I have to ask, are there ever any actual penalties for breaking FEC rules?

The sincere disappointment of the handful of informed American citizens that find out about it?

Alien Love Gardener wrote:

I have to ask, are there ever any actual penalties for breaking FEC rules?

You can't check out movies from Blockbuster. Unfortunately the oompf behind that punishment has lessened.

Alien Love Gardener wrote:

Also includes this lovely tidbit:

Trump’s preference for expensive venues that he happens to own has also extended to his campaign airplane: his 25-year-old 757 jetliner that, thanks to its older, less efficient engines, burns some $10,000 in fuel every hour. That helped Trump rack up among the highest travel costs of all the presidential candidates, despite having kept one of the lightest campaign schedules.

If Trump had used his smaller Cessna business jet (he does, on occasion, when his destination does not have a runway long enough to accommodate the 757), he could have cut his $5.6 million in private air travel costs thus far in half.

While I'm not disputing any of this, how do you put a dollar-value on the optics of turning up in your own damn airplane with your name in big letters on the side? Sure, he could have saved $2.8 million, but did using the less efficient and more impressive plane get a PR bump that was cheap at that price?

Because you know who turns up in their own airplane? Presidents, that's who. *

Spoiler:

* Also, rich arseholes, but you take my point.

Donald Trump Admits He Could Release His Tax Returns ‘Immediately’ If He Wanted

But when O’Reilly pressed him about releasing his tax returns despite them being under audit, Trump attempted to turn the tables on Clinton ― and ended up unwittingly admitting there was nothing prohibiting him from doing so.

“When is she going to release her emails? She probably knows how to find it,” he said. “Let her release her emails and I will release my tax returns immediately.”

So he could do it if Clinton found her emails...so the IRS would accept her missing emails as settlement for his audit?

Jonman wrote:

While I'm not disputing any of this, how do you put a dollar-value on the optics of turning up in your own damn airplane with your name in big letters on the side?

Trump does put a dollar value on that, and it's the majority of his assets. Just how he does it is a mystery to everyone, and it varies depending on his mood.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Jonman wrote:

While I'm not disputing any of this, how do you put a dollar-value on the optics of turning up in your own damn airplane with your name in big letters on the side?

Trump does put a dollar value on that, and it's the majority of his assets. Just how he does it is a mystery to everyone, and it varies depending on his mood.

I think it is because at this point he isn't using his own money, the "campaign" is paying for it which is donations and RNC money.

Alien Love Gardener wrote:

I have to ask, are there ever any actual penalties for breaking FEC rules?

The three Senators on the FEC board that are members of your party don't get angry with you, they just get disappointed.