Exactly. I honestly, genuinely do not care if Trump or Clinton or Bush or Obama paid a sex worker for, er, sex. That’s not at all surprising, especially for a guy like Trump who’s been a lifelong philanderer and bragged on tape about molesting women. Legitimately paying a hooker is somehow less skeezy than, say, raping his wife and then cheating on her.
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I had thought Daniels was doing it for the money, because it seemed obvious.
But it seems she’s more interested in being able to speak for herself and control her portrayal in the media, instead of having the story (which leaked without her help) be told by everyone but her. Sounds like one of the other people who knew of the affair and are named in the NDA (and presumably were also paid hush money by Cohen), blabbed, and now she’s trying to get a narrative that is largely about her back under her control.
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THIS.
I would have argued it might be shocking if Obama had done it…not scandalous…just would have assumed from the outside looking in that he and Michelle seemed to have a fairly complete relationship.
I tend to think (rightly or wrongly - assumptions on my part here) that many people paying for sex work simply do not have a satisfying sexual relationship, or to delve further are not able to explore their own kinks and fetishes within the confines of their relationship.
In 45’s case…I don’t think it’s that…it’s just about abusing power.
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So… should I waste x minutes of my life on this or no?
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The important part of the story is that Cohen may have made an illegal campaign contribution and someone on Trump’s staff may have threatened Stephanie Clifford’s life. Trump may have been involved in all or part of this. More investigations are needed.
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We impeached a president for fingering an aide less than 20 years ago. So technically it was for lying about it later (the famous “what is the definition of sexual relations?”), but what does sending someone out to scare the witnesses count as? Or will it even matter once the Mueller investigation reaches its conclusion?
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I appreciated that Stormy Daniels made it very clear that she’s not trying to hop on any sort of #metoo bandwagon. “I’ve never said I’m a victim. This was a business transaction.” She’s coming forward because of all the incredibly sketchy stuff that happened later.
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She was not paid for the sex is my understanding. Just her silence. Really, in many regards it is a run of the mill story of infidelity.
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WE didn’t…the GOP did. And if you recall it didn’t go anywhere.
@anon75430791 @nungesser Agree with both of you. I say “sex worker” because she is an adult film actress. Not that she prostituted herself to 45. And the “crime” in this case is absolutely not the infidelity…it is the cover up. The phrase that applies here so aptly…“It isn’t the crime that gets you, it’s the cover up”
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The cover up is almost always worse than the original issue.
That’s a very consistent theme in our political history. The bigger scandal is almost always about the cover up than whatever it is that was being covered up.
I’m not sure why he even bothered trying to hide this one. Based on everything else that came out during the campaign, this probably wouldn’t have mattered that much to his supporters. The cover up however, is more likely to have an impact.
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They got the impeachment. They were just surprised that it didn’t lead to a resignation. It happened so late into his lame duck period that it wouldn’t have made much difference anyhow. They scored their political points and it played well in the next election which is all they wanted in the first place. We managed to avoid what would have certainly been a disaster of environmental protection and fiscal responsibility under a Gore presidency.
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“By the very definition, you can’t rape your spouse.”
That’s his defense? By the very definition you can. And by the very definition, it’s illegal.
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Actually, if you wanted to find GOP sex scandals, all you had to do was hang out in an airport men’s room looking for the guy with the “wide stance,” become a male page in DC, go see Miss Mona Sinclair perform at a drag bar, cruise Grindr, or look for the married guy hanging out cheap motel rooms with 17 year old boys. (To name only a few of the recent options.) Now, it seems that the GOP are trying to reclaim straight sex scandals.
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Hmmmmm…
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Here’s why it’s relevant for all of us: Anyone who resorts to NDAs, hush money paid through shell companies and hired goons just to keep one of his many affairs secret is a person who is vulnerable to blackmail.
If he’ll do all that to keep an affair with a porn star quiet then what would he do to keep someone like Putin from releasing video of even more disgusting sex acts?
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Well, it wasn’t illegal in the us until, like … 1994. And I’m pretty sure this whole administration is stuck in 1938 so that would explain it.
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.
It matters.
It’s not legal and ordinary people selling or buying sex would be punished under the law. The leader of the country should be ahdering to the laws or have the character to advocate for change if they disagree with them. Simply breaking the law because they can is deeply hippocritical.
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Does anyone know how many people (if any) they have actually managed to ruin financially over the years? It would be good to know the actual probability of them making good on a threat.
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cc @Brainspore
So to this point…
Here’s why it’s relevant for all of us: Anyone who resorts to NDAs, hush money paid through shell companies and hired goons just to keep one of his many affairs secret is a person who is vulnerable to blackmail.
Well, yes but that IS NOT what I said was not a concern…now was it. Paying a sex worker for his/her services (or in this case having an affair with a porn star) is not nor should be an issue. Paying hush money and making threats IS…which is what I said. So I do not follow how your reply is anything more than trying to apply I said something I didn’t.
As for this…
It’s not legal and ordinary people selling or buying sex would be punished under the law.
That depends on where you are and what the “services” paid for were. So blanketly stating “It’s illegal, and just because he is POTUS he isn’t above the law” except he was NOT POTUS when he had the affair/arrangements with Daniels, and it is legal in some places. Even paying hush money for a the NDA isn’t technically illegal…the issue in this case was him and his campaign paying the money and not reporting it which makes it a campaign finance breach. The threats afterward only compound the issue.
I guess what is bugging me here is both replies quote me in a manner that suggest I am giving him a free pass or have no issue with 45’s actions. Which is not the case.
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