Posts Made By: Rod Kaufman

Sound like anybody we know?
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4345693-seven-delusions-plaguing-the-mind-of-the-trump-base-voter/

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

I’m now home recuperating from out patient surgery today for the same kind of injury that the chain gang ref sustained in last Sunday’s Lions/Saints game. I just didn’t have a 235 lb. football player land on it. When I saw it happen I cringed as I saw the pain in the refs face before the cameras cut away. I’ve never experienced anything as painful as this injury. When the doc saw it today he was taken aback by how it still looked 10 days since it happened. Looks like all went well and I now need to have it in a brace to keep it straight for the next month before I start rehab. Thank god for pain meds.

Glad to know you're at home and doing well after your surgery. I hope your recovery goes smoothly and quickly. Keep us posted on your continuing progress.

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

Dodgeball Davis strikes again. I have never called anyone else on this forum a name, I only reserve that right for you.

 Now, care to comment on all of the terrorist attacks that you predicted will happen?

"care to comment on all of the terrorist attacks that you predicted will happen?"
He won't so I'll do it for him. More cruise missile/drone attacks against civilians and their infrastructure in Ukraine by Putin's orders. More barbaric and atrocious acts committed by his troops in their march across eastern europe. But Rich and his fellow cultists aren't concerned about that. Nope, they"re all worried about the peasants being apprehended at the southern border who are "invading us"...

"The White House touted remarks Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) made in an interview Sunday in which the Utah lawmaker said House Republicans had no evidence to support their effort to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden."
“I think before you begin an impeachment inquiry, you ought to have some evidence, some inclination that there’s been wrongdoing. And so far, there’s nothing of that nature that’s been provided,” Romney said,..."
“And we’re not going to impeach someone because of the sins of their kids.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4352620-white-house-touts-romney-criticizing-gop-impeachment-inquiry-efforts/

Of course, none of that will phase the right wing lunatics who inhabit the house and have collectively managed to pass ZERO legislation that helps the American people or anyone in their districts. But they get their faces on Faux and they follow the edict of Trump to impeach Biden so...

"Hannah Giles, the chief executive of Project Veritas, said Monday she has stepped down from her role at the right-wing group “effective immediately,” after discovering evidence that the organization has engaged in “past illegalities.”

“Though I had high hopes when I joined the organizations, I stepped into an unsalvageable mess — one wrought with strong evidence of past illegality and past financial improprieties,” Giles wrote in a post on X. “Once such evidence was discovered, I brought the information to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.”


"The edited videos published by Project Veritas often champion disinformation and conspiracy theories — and have been further circulated by Fox News and other right-wing media organizations to help grow the group’s sphere of influence."

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/11/media/project-veritas-hannah-giles-quits/index.html

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

Well done Gramps, er, I should say Comrade.

I fear for this country.

Reagan must be spinning in his grave like a centrifuge.
With Trump leading in all the polls, Biden ought to pull out and a centrist Democrat should run instead. We can't afford the chance of Trump winning again and the country will be irrevocably harmed by a second Trump autocracy...

Originally Posted by James Brown

Hi Rod:  

I do not want Trump to win.  As you know, I'll vote for anyone who can possibly beat him in the primary and I'll vote against him in the general.  That said, Trump may want to be an autocrat, no denying that, but he does not have the means.   He has no support in the bureaucracy, he does not control the military, the media, or the police.  As far as dictators go, Trump is at best a weak wanna-be.   The press has been hyperventilating recently with dictator stories.  Arguably, Trump trolled then into it with his dictator on day one comment.  Frankly, all the dictator stories come across as a desperate overreaction to me, given that Trump does not have significant allies in the military, press, courts, police or bureaucracy.   I personally am afraid the overheated rhetoric is making Trump's election all the more likely.

I would love to see Biden pull out to be replaced by a centrist D.  That would be manna from heaven.  I am more worried every day that Trump might win, and even though I know the country will not be irrevocably harmed by a second Trump shit-show, I do not want this country to have to go through the nonsense, ridicule, and division Trump will generate.  All that said, even if he wins we will not devolve into a dictatorship.  I guarantee it.

I liked this opinion piece from last week.   https://unherd.com/2023/12/why-all-this-trump-hysteria/  Let me know if it resonates with you at all.  The author grew up in Cuba:

The last paragraph:  "So relax. Trump is too old, too isolated, and too ADD to have a shot at dictatorship — and if he tried, the result would be comedy rather than tyranny. You still want to join the ranks of the anti-Trump resistance? Hey, that’s wonderful. You want to do battle against authoritarianism? I’m there with you. Just don’t mix up the two. I promise it will make you clearer of mind and healthier of body, and it will free us to begin to call our politicians by those vile names that actually fit."

Here's the part that, regrettably, will prove to be false: "...does not have significant allies in the military, press, courts, police or bureaucracy."
Trump's people, via the Heritage Foundation, are already pre-screening Trump loyalists who will replace non-partisan career government employees in his second term. This will affect every level of govt:
https://www.axios.com/2023/11/13/trump-loyalists-2024-presidential-election
A primary example would be Trump putting a conspiracy theorist like Kash Patel as a deputy in charge of the CIA:
"He’d force out CIA Deputy Director Vaughn Bishop, replace him with Patel, and if Haspel quit in protest, then Patel or another loyalist would lead the CIA."
https://www.axios.com/2021/01/16/kash-patel-cia-gina-haspel
As far as the press goes, more people still watch Faux than MSM so it's Trump's bogus messaging that gets the most viewed air time with Faux news propagandists eager to promote it.
As far as the using the police/military to do his bidding, we already saw him do it in his first term with his AG:
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/01/867532070/trumps-unannounced-church-visit-angers-church-officials
What he'll do next will likely be magnitudes greater.
As far as the courts go, you can see what's happening NOW: his lawyers are manipulating the courts with bogus arguments and appeals to stop his trials until after he's elected so they can't proceed and if, by some act of reasonable jurisprudence, a case were to be heard and he is found guilty, he'd self pardon himself. 
I'll be very interested to see how Smith's emergency request to SCOTUS goes on Trump's bogus claim of immunity is concerned. That ought to be a slam-dunk but if the majority of cons on the court find in favor of him, then all bets are off on what he can and will do...

Originally Posted by James Brown

Of course Trump will replace government officials with loyalists where possible, but the government is a whole lot bigger and has a whole lot more inertia and a whole lot more law abiding public servants than you are giving it credit for.   Also, more importantly, the last time Trump's so-called "loyalists" displeased him and "disappointed" him mightily.   See Mike Pence or the revolving door of AGs.   No one in government "did Trump's bidding" as is necessary to be a genuine autocrat.  From the article (did you read it?):  "What would happen if Trump ordered the FBI or the 101st Airborne Division to start shooting Democrats? Homeric laughter would happen. And if Trump is training a militia somewhere off the 18th hole at Mar-a-Lago, not even the Times has heard about it." 

None of your other examples are even remotely examples of totalitarian maneuvering.   These are examples of petty acts.   "unannounced church visit angers officials"  Big deal.  This is nothing compared to the IRS visiting Matt Taibbi's home the day he testified before congress, and you won't find me claiming Biden is or wants to be a dictator (Even though I think Biden is far more effective at petty authoritarian acts than Trump ever could be.)    Trump had/has no one as viciously loyal and competent as Jack Smith for example.   Not saying that Trump won't try - I am saying that he is a clown, not a Stalinesque mastermind.  Trump lacks the intelligence, influence, and absolute iron will to be an autocrat, even if he has the ego.

Jim

Well, I see we obviously going to agree to disagree on this one, albeit huge, issue.
I'd think you'd do well to consider the words of Liz Cheney:

"Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., warned Monday that if Donald Trump is elected president next year for a second term, he will try to remain in power beyond those four years."

"There's no question," Cheney said about that possibility in an interview on NBC’s “TODAY” show with host Savannah Guthrie in advance of the release Tuesday of her book, "Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning."

"Asked if she believes Trump would try to stay in power forever, Cheney said, "Absolutely. He's already done it once," referring to his efforts after the 2020 presidential election to overturn Joe Biden's victory and to stop its certification on Jan. 6, 2021."

"The U.S. could become a dictatorship if Trump is re-elected, Cheney warned. "I think it’s a very, very real threat and concern."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/liz-cheney-warns-trump-will-never-leave-office-elected-president-rcna127889
PS:Coming back on topic, Trump's statement that "I don't give a shit about NATO" must be music in Putin's ears...

Originally Posted by James Brown

Sort of.  We don't disagree that Trump, if elected, could, "try to remain in power beyond those four years." 

We disagree completely on the issue of whether Trump has the aptitude, skill, will, infrastructure, and intelligence to actually stay in power after his term is up. 

I am not sure why you think he could do it.  I don't believe Liz Cheney actually believes he could do it.  I think the speculation over an imminent dictatorship is pure political sloganeering - and I worry it is backfiring.

With respect, I have to ask, if you really truly think a Trump dictatorship is plausible; 

(a) do you have so little faith in the US institutions and the US Constitution which are designed entirely to prevent a dictatorship, and
(b) do you really think Trump has the talent, will, and skill to subvert these institutions and jettison the Constitution?   

I am extremely  confident the Constitution and the institutions established by the Constitution defeat any wanna-be Trump dictatorship, because I am extremely confident Trump is a buffoon whose real talents are insult and self-aggrandizement, rather than Trump being a Stalinesque mastermind who might, for example, motivate the military to support an unconstitutional power grab. 

Jim

First, I do take comfort in your confidence that Trump, principally because of constitutional safeguards, will not be able fulfill his ambitions to become a dictator but given his attempts to stay in power in his initial term by proclaiming the election was rigged and, as has been demonstrated today, was fully aware of the fake electors plot to keep him in office, the insidious efforts to return him to power are already in place and these include local electoral supervisors who have signified their intent to elect Trump no matter what the voters say in their districts. 
Please see:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/13/politics/trump-2020-oval-office-fake-electors-recordings/index.html
As you read this, keep in mind the GOP is embarking on a bogus, Trump-driven "impeachment inquiry" of Joe Biden that has no basis in fact or in the law.
Finally, just breaking, SCOTUS is inexplicably going to hear an appeal of the obstruction law used to prosecute January 6th perpetrators and that includes Trump! I have faith in that law as you do in the constitutional safeguards but now even that is under threat:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/13/politics/capitol-rioter-supreme-court/index.html
When Trump's appointees/sycophants), either on SCOTUS or in the federal courts (exs Cannon,Thomas, Alito), have synergistic legal rulings that enable Trump to elude the rule of law, then the constitutional safeguards erode and fall by the wayside by way of their ministrations...

"...why is it inexplicable that the Supreme Court would hear that appeal?  According to the article the Federal Appeals Court divided on the interpretation of the law."
Because it was a 2 to 1 vote with Nichols, a Trump appointee, dissenting, and they, the cons on the court, are taking his argument, based upon some nonsensical hair splitting, and running with it.

PS: As far as the Biden stuff goes, the GOP has been "investigating" him for years and have come up empty. Even their own witnesses have said they do NOT have evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors for impeachment.