You think that Trump taking $2.5Mil in Park Services money for his 4th of July rally was low? That was just the warm up. Check this out.
(1) Fireworks CEO meets with Trump in Oval Office to oppose tariffs. (2) CEO announces ‘donation’ to Trump’s 4th of July event. (3) *That same day* Trump announces delay to very same tariffs. https://t.co/UDUSOm7mCB
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) July 3, 2019
If true, this could be a bribe or attempted bribe of @realDonaldTrump by CEO @brucezoldan and Phantom @Fireworks.
cc:@FBI https://t.co/5RcizxlsT7
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) July 3, 2019
Note the cc: on Ted Lieu’s tweet to the FBI.
The Inauguration is under investigation and it looks like the 4th of July ticketed-political- event-disguised-as-Independence-Day-celebration will be next in line, right behind it. Even for TrumpWorld, this beyond the pale. The misappropriation of the $2.5Mil from money earmarked for repair of parks was bad, but if the fireworks were procured by accepting a bribe from a lobbyist who sells fireworks — that is going to do more than raise eyebrows. That is a felony.
Still and all, it’s not even remotely unthinkable. Trump has lived his entire life paying no attention to the law. Why would it be a surprise if he committed a felony in order to get some pizazz for his followers at his 4th of July rally? He probably didn’t even think twice about what he was doing. Alternet:
And, as ABC News noted, the company got its wish last week. Trump decided to hold off on levying $300 billion more in tariffs against Chinese goods, which would have slammed the fireworks business.
“This is another example of how private companies attempt use their money to influence the government by stroking the president’s ego,” Jordan Libowitz of the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington told ABC News.
The company, of course, denied there was any political motivation behind the donation, and the administration declined to comment. Whether any actual quid pro quo arose between Trump and the company may be hard to prove or indeed false, but this question actually may not be relevant. As long as companies think there’s a possibility that their donations may make a difference in policy, and Trump does nothing to dissuade them from this view, then he can reap the benefits of de facto corruption. And even the perception of these kinds of conflicts of interests is damaging to the government.
It’s a standing joke that in TrumpWorld there’s a new outrage du jour each and every day. That is not hyperbole, that is literal truth. This administration is so corrupt that even the criminality isn’t simple. It’s layered, like an archeological dig. Trump seems to be constitutionally incapable of doing anything whatsoever in a straightforward and honest manner. He wanted to hold a rally on the 4th of July and get a lot of attention and donor money. Rather than simply do so, he schemed every which way to divert funds and grift together the elements for his horse and pony show. It will be interesting to see how much this spectacle costs when all is said and done — and that’s assuming that it goes forward at all. There’s a 50% chance of rain in Washington D.C. Thursday night. Maybe God is trying to send a message to Donald Trump. Although personally? I think it would be better if the event goes forward and nobody shows up. That’s the message I’d like to see him get. Nobody.Likes.You.
I’d like him to get that message too.
You know what’s funny? I just read a short blurb that Trump’s aides are not sure that the VIP section seats will be filled. They’re giving tickets away, to fill it. I’m waiting to see what develops further, but it will be hysterical if, after all this effort and high drama, (not to mention horrific expense) Trump can’t even fill the VIP section, let alone the entire venue. God, I hope this washes out big time. How funny if it happens that way.
Why are they having trouble figuring it out? Everyone else had their plans set at least two weeks ago, if not earlier.
This just pisses me off so much. Can we get rid of this piece of garbage soon? I was hoping yesterday that our wish had come true. No such luck.
Yesterday? Oh, you were thinking that because Pence-y came running back to D.C. it was because something that happened to Trump? No, we don’t want it to go down that way. The best thing that could happen to Trump is that he becomes more and more irrelevant, gets voted out, and nobody pays any attention to him. As a narcissist, that will kill him. They live for attention, even negative. That’s the fate I want for all of them, Jared, Ivanka, every last one of them — except for Tiffany, who hasn’t given offense. She’s living her own life and Barron is too young. But Trump and his three older spawn? Let them go from notoriety to complete obscurity, I say.
And same for Pence. I think that Pence will be finished in politics when this is through. Maybe he’ll become a lobbyist, like all the other dinosaurs. And maybe Hucky Boo Boo can join him. And now Heather Nauert. Man, a lot of people are biting the dust. Rick Wilson was right, everything that Trump touches, dies.
At this point, I don’t care anymore how he is gotten rid of. I just want him gone.
Screw obscurity. I want them all behind bars. After all the pain and suffering they’ve caused this nation? Obscurity is too good for them. Let them rot in prison.
Prison would be the ultimate obscurity. The press won’t be dropping by with cameras to do interviews when they’re in the House of Many Doors.
They won’t have their tweeters available, either.
I think Barron needs a better home – he’s at least salvageable.
Indeed, Ursula…it’s the same logic employed by Bane against Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Rises. Make him watch his entire world collapse and THEN he will have my permission to die.
He no longer even tries to hide his crimes.
I would bet money on this — Trump didn’t know that what he was doing was a crime. When you’ve been crooked your entire life, it seems normal to you. Somebody will now inform him that it’s a felony, oh drat, but I’m sure that at the time it just sounded like a great idea and he didn’t think a jot about it. I really believe that.
You are most likely right….he thinks that’s the way it is supposed to be done……I haven’t seen this story on the networks yet……I hope it lands there today!!!
Thanks for the scoop Miss Ursula!!!
Hit the link to the ABC story (on the bottom of the first tweet.) They broke this Tuesday night, I believe. I got it Wednesday.
I am with you. Trump cannot distinguish between legal and illegal. To him it is irrelevant.
Whatever happened to the old, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse”?
Investigation #3724 queued up!
Just the latest in a conga line of investigations and rape accusations. Take a number and wait your turn.
I’d like a sign like the ones at the DMV: now serving [number], estimated wait time [minutes].
BTW, I hope you didn’t get too shaken up this morning. (There were actually two, both R6.4, a minute or so apart.) What a start to the day!
I was still in bed. I was up late last night and the quake happened at 10:30 a.m. Are you here in Los Angeles, or Southern California? We could have lunch.
Chatsworth, out in the NW valley.
And a correction: one 6.4, one 4.5 right after. Lots of aftershocks, some fires in Ridgecrest.
It’s raining at that end of the mall, according to the DC traffic cameras (most of which seem to be working). Most of the people walking seem to be east of there.
http://app.ddot.dc.gov/