If this were a movie, nobody would believe it...

[Slyfox696]

There's really no good place to begin...

Donald Trump wins an election. Russia is confirmed by intelligence agencies to have worked on behalf of Trump. Trump fires the FBI Director for investigating the "Russia thing". Justice Department appoints Special Counsel Robert Mueller, former FBI Director, to take over the investigation.

Concurrently, a porn star named Stormy Daniels reveals an affair with President Trump which occurred back in 2006, shortly after the birth of Trump's youngest son. Daniels claims she didn't come forward because she was intimidated into signing a $130,000 non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with longtime Trump attorney, Michael Cohen. Former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal also comes forward, alleging an affair with President Trump and also has signed a $150,000 non-disclosure agreement with Michael Cohen. Both Daniels and McDougal unknowingly used the same attorney, Keith Davidson, to sign the NDA.

During the course of Mueller's investigation, he turns over to federal prosecutors potential crimes of Michael Cohen. The FBI raids Michael Cohen's places of business and living. Afterwards, it comes out that Michael Cohen had worked with Keith Davidson AGAIN on a different NDA (3 different NDAs, that we know of), this time a $1.6 million agreement for RNC Deputy Finance Chair, Elliot Brody, who had an affair with a Playmate, impregnated her and had her get an abortion.

But yesterday is the real kicker. After the FBI raid, Michael Cohen went to court to try and prevent federal investigators to search his records, claiming attorney client privilege. Cohen claimed 10 client, but could only show three actual clients. After several hours of Cohen's attorneys basically pleading with the judge not to, the judge ordered Michael Cohen to reveal the name of his third client, which just so happened to be Fox News entertainer, and Trump adviser/cheerleader, Sean Hannity.

Seriously, even the WWE could not have written a more ridiculous story. And they've tried.

https://v.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/E120889F4E1211480686876614656_38101e20c1e.3.1.6772 149812656746849.mp4.jpg?versionId=0s6.cLldNuMhxHBs bMAa_ptEbiR_lfXi


Welcome to America.

[Big Nick Dudley]

No way this could be a movie. A 36-part series, maybe.

[JGlass]

Why is this ship sinking so slowly?

[Fallout]

Trump's presidency is a fucking farce.

Can we get Elizabeth Warren in for 2020? A Democrat who isn't entirely blinded by optimism or bought out by corporations?

[Big Nick Dudley]

Why is this ship sinking so slowly?

Because half of the country... I don't know. Pick your criticism.

[Big Nick Dudley]

Can we get Elizabeth Warren in for 2020? A Democrat who isn't entirely blinded by optimism or bought out by corporations?

They'll hate her as much or more than Clinton. Give me Biden. He will get down in the mud with a far less intelligent Trump. Biden is also really good at sounding stupid while not actually being stupid, which may win him a battleground state or two.

[klunderbunker]

See, Trump is clearly the better candidate. He didn't sign the NDA and screwed a bunch of good looking blondes, but he didn't have emails about recipes. That makes him better.

[Jack-Hammer]

There's some new scandal regarding Donald Trump, those close to him, those appointed by him or some combination of all of that almost on a weekly basis.

I don't think Trump is mentally incompetent, I just think that his ego is of such tremendous proportions that he genuinely thought he'd come into the White House, citizens from all walks of life would embrace him without question and he'd govern as if he were a medieval king with limitless power. For instance, Trump just can't go in and overrule court rulings that he doesn't like, he can't force agencies like the FBI and CIA to conduct investigations against his political enemies, he can't force members of congress to go along with the notion that he's some master of the art of the deal, he can't force news organizations to not discuss stories about him that paint him in a negative light, etc. and it absolutely drives him batshit crazy. Trump has been master of his own universe most of his adult life in that he's run his companies and his businesses in exactly the way he's wanted but he's discovered that's not how it works in politics, especially politics on a national level. The POTUS is always going to be influential, there's no mistaking or doubting that, but Trump can't simply just do whatever he wants and that the judgment and motivations of other people within the government, some of whom have political ideologies that oppose his, carry a lot of weight and influence as well.

[JGlass]

I don't think Trump is mentally incompetent, I just think that his ego is of such tremendous proportions that he genuinely thought he'd come into the White House, citizens from all walks of life would embrace him without question and he'd govern as if he were a medieval king with limitless power. For instance, Trump just can't go in and overrule court rulings that he doesn't like, he can't force agencies like the FBI and CIA to conduct investigations against his political enemies, he can't force members of congress to go along with the notion that he's some master of the art of the deal, he can't force news organizations to not discuss stories about him that paint him in a negative light, etc. and it absolutely drives him batshit crazy. Trump has been master of his own universe most of his adult life in that he's run his companies and his businesses in exactly the way he's wanted but he's discovered that's not how it works in politics, especially politics on a national level. The POTUS is always going to be influential, there's no mistaking or doubting that, but Trump can't simply just do whatever he wants and that the judgment and motivations of other people within the government, some of whom have political ideologies that oppose his, carry a lot of weight and influence as well.

I think having an ego so large that you can't understand that you're not allowed to be an emperor means that you're mentally incompetent to be POTUS.

[Stone Cold Tea]

I'm sat here high right now wondering how the fuck Donald Trump is POTUS!

[Big Nick Dudley]

The Reality Show President has literally turned our political system into a reality show. I am waiting for a nightly Tweet telling us to TUNE IN TOMORROW!!

[Fallout]

The Reality Show President has literally turned our political system into a reality show. I am waiting for a nightly Tweet telling us to TUNE IN TOMORROW!!

I know you're being sarcastic, but quite frankly, it's horrifying that politics has turned into this.

Every political philosopher from the past would be turning in their graves, from Marx to Machiavelli.

[SSJPhenom]

I miss the old days where someone asked me; "Did you hear what the president said? Did you see what the president did?", I could actually say no.

[Big Nick Dudley]

His favorite line is "I don't know, we'll see what happens." Reality. Television.

[Slyfox696]

Donald Trump right now, after his attorney Rudy Guilliani admits Trump paid Cohen to pay off Stormy Daniels:

https://78.media.tumblr.com/ee33240cd04f433c7a0cb23d028e4493/tumblr_mn9l448ThR1qgr0y2o1_250.gif

[klunderbunker]

....the word DUH comes to mind.

[Big Nick Dudley]

If Trump cared about what people say about him, this would be a big deal. He doesn't. He doesn't care to make himself look better because he doesn't care about how he looks. We have been slammed with so many awful stories about him over the past three years that this is just another drop in the bucket. The whole thing is really disheartening. This administration makes me sick.

[klunderbunker]

All this does is give him more attention, which is all that matters to him.

[Fallout]

If Trump cared about what people say about him, this would be a big deal. He doesn't. He doesn't care to make himself look better because he doesn't care about how he looks. We have been slammed with so many awful stories about him over the past three years that this is just another drop in the bucket. The whole thing is really disheartening. This administration makes me sick.

Not that I'm defending Trump, but this has been a self-fulfilling prophecy from the mainstream perspective. We've had him being compared to Hitler, Mussolini and other actual fascists for the past few years, so this seems smaller by comparison, even though there is far more substance to these accusations.

[Big Nick Dudley]

His strategy - stay in the news 24/7 - is seemingly really stupid, given almost all of it is negative, but in reality, it has exhausted people and they seem to care less and less with each passing day. He is the dumbest genius in human history.

[EnviousDominous]

The President is having a tough time with not being able to resort to his usual strategy of stonewalling CNN journalists and extolling Fox News' most low brow programming by immediately tweeting about what he saw on Fox and Friends.

Here's a wild idea, hire an introvert to be your lawyer. I get that Mr. Cohen would have likely been held in contempt if he didn't cough up Sean Hannity's name, but Mr. Giuliani brain farted his admission that Mr. Cohen had been reimbursed for what was obviously hush money only so that he could downplay the severity of the payout. So, he pretty much shot himself in the foot with an atom bomb.

These are very offbeat times, it's as if someone from the WrestleZone Prison is the President, and we're only able to comment on their low-brow approaches to serious issues. The potential North-South Korea peace thing is wonderful, but let's not forget that The President's approach to the issue was to tweet a not-so thinly veiled nuclear threat against another country. I don't want to see someone get the Nobel Peace Prize for boasting about having a larger stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.

Kanye is involved in the mix as well, because why the fuck shouldn't he be?

The worst that I can see coming of Stormygate is if it's proven than Mr. Cohen's payout to Ms. Daniels was an undeclared campaign contribution. Which I understand would result in fines from the Federal Election Commission and The Department of Justice.

While most of the President's voting base are too busy trying to figure out a catchy new way to be a racist asshole that they can't be bothered with investing any of the precious few brain cells they have to develop an informed opinion regarding the President's deplorable behavior, enough centrists seem to have come to the rational conclusion that they're being fed bullshit on a daily basis to where The Rock could easily be our next President in 2020.

[Slyfox696]

enough centrists seem to have come to the rational conclusion that they're being fed bullshit on a daily basis to where The Rock could easily be our next President in 2020.Three years ago, I would never have wanted The Rock as a President.

Today I'd be thrilled as hell...plus it'd be fun watching The Rock asking Putin if he wanted to go horse riding shirtless.

[Cereal Killer]

So do you guys still believe Trump colluded with the Russians? I think the Americans need to accept that they'll likely have Trump until the end of 2024.

Also, when I used to post on WZF I always got the vibe that Sly was a Republican. Man was I wrong haha

[EnviousDominous]

So do you guys still believe Trump colluded with the Russians? I think the Americans need to accept that they'll likely have Trump until the end of 2024.

Also, when I used to post on WZF I always got the vibe that Sly was a Republican. Man was I wrong haha

Collusion is a very difficult thing to prove, and I'm one of those individuals that's all about facts over speculation. I don't think that Donald Trump colluded with Russian officials to undermine the 2016 election, I think that Donald Trump is an attention whore who wanted to exploit his name and image in as many ways possible and that included bumping elbows with Russian oligarchs. Up until the massive shift in momentum where the likelihood of being elected completely flip-flopped between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, Trump was already screaming about how the election was rigged and he implied that when Hillary wins it will be because she gamed the system.

I honestly don't expect Donald Trump to win in 2020, but I didn't expect him to win in 2016 and look what happened. I think that the shock to everyone's system is still wreaking havoc on our nervous systems.

[Yaz]

If Trump wins in 2020 it will be because the Democratic party screwed themselves again. While I do think Trump has some ties to Russia and they did influence the election (not outright rigged), the best thing Trump has going for him in terms of a reelection bid is a combination of Democrats refusing to take a stand and giving people a worthy candidate, and the left constantly eating each other alive with infighting.

In 2016 they played the "Well of course we aren't fear mongering bigots" card instead of doing real work and it cost them, and they will get the same results in 2020 unless they give people a viable candidate, not just some entitled faux progressive.

[Jack-Hammer]

There are good people in the area where I grew up, genuinely great people, but there are also, quite frankly, a lot of ignorant hicks there as well. They're ignorant as to what the issues are, they're ignorant as to who many of the candidates running really are, they don't really even try to take the time to think about it for themselves and they're extremely proud of it. These are people that the Republican Party especially targets because all the GOP has to do is thump the Bible, say that being gay is against God, Coal is the future and they have the lined up just waiting to vote for them. They're fools because their parents raised them as fools just as their parents raised them to be fools and they want to keep it that way as much as possible. I'm ashamed to say this but during the 2008 election, my own father didn't know what the issues were, never did know what they were, didn't care what they were, didn't even know the names of the candidates but he said he wasn't going to vote for the "black feller", as he put it. A LOT of the older generation and many of their kids are the same way, they're not at all political but they'll definitely get out and vote to keep someone of color, a different religious belief or sexual orientation from getting elected into a public office if they can.

I think Trump has a shot to be reelected next year. There are some GOP voters who don't necessarily like him but, for some reason, prefer him to a Democrat, it's the same with some Independent voters, but Trump's base will be there without question. His approval rating percentage has consistently been in the high 30s, sometimes a bit higher but that seems to be the norm for him, and you can bed that nearly all of them will stand with him next year as well as they damn near believe he can walk on water. Just relying on Trump to be a buffoon won't be enough because that's what he did throughout his campaign and what he's done during his first term, so the blue team is going to have to rally behind someone and put all they have into it and, personally, I'm not sure that a couple of other white men well into their 70s is the way to go given that the make up of elected Democrats is becoming more diverse than ever.

[Slyfox696]

So do you guys still believe Trump colluded with the Russians? I think the Americans need to accept that they'll likely have Trump until the end of 2024.

Also, when I used to post on WZF I always got the vibe that Sly was a Republican. Man was I wrong hahaI'm not a Democrat, but sure as hell not Republican.

And yes, we know for a fact Trump/campaign colluded with Russians. We've been explicitly told by Robert Mueller there was collusion. As I posted elsewhere:

If only Americans had any evidence of collusion...

Like every American intelligence agency finding Russia worked to influence the election in Trump's favor
Or Russia hacking the DNC
Or Russian spies meeting with Jeff Sessions multiple times without being reported by Session
Or Russian assets meeting with foreign policy advisor George PapaD to arrange meetings between the Trump campaign and Russian officials
Or Russian assets telling Trump campaign foreign policy advisor about Russia having hacked materials related to Clinton "dirt"
Or the Russian government explicitly offering the hacked Clinton "dirt" to the Trump campaign
Or the Trump campaign accepting a meeting to get Clinton "dirt" hacked by Russia
Or the Trump campaign meeting with Russian officials to get hacked materials and not reporting it to the FBI
Or Trump organization negotiating a Trump Tower Moscow during the campaign
Or Trump's personal attorney making multiple trips to Russia to negotiate a deal
Or Trump's campaign chairman engaging in discussions with Russian oligarchs and lying about it
Or Trump's foreign policy advisor Carter Page making trips to Russia and talking to Russian spies
Or candidate Trump standing on a stage, while Trump Tower negotiations were ongoing, and asking Russia to find Clinton emails
Or Russia hearing Trump ask for Clinton emails and within 24 hours begin trying to hack Clinton servers
Or Roger Stone coordinating timing of release of Russian hacked materials
Or Roger Stone, while coordinating time of release of Russian hacked materials, being in constant contact with "senior members" of the Trump campaign
Or foreign policy advisor and incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn secretly and illegally promising Russia relief from sanctions imposed because of Russia's interference on Trump's behalf


If only we just had ANY evidence at all of collusion...