Wall Street Journal: Trump personally orchestrated hush payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/11/09/wall-street-journal-trump-per.html

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I believe that there’s been some speculation about what happens now that Jefferson Beauregard III and Rod Rosenstein are no longer standing between Trump and Mueller.

Perhaps this is a clue.

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Of course that chiseling cheapo was involved. That’s the kind of “businessman” he is. If there’s going to be a payment to be made for any reason to anyone he has to be satisfied they’re going to be cheated to one degree or another.

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This is one of those Trump scandals where I have to pause to remember “is this something we already knew or just something we all assumed from the beginning and only now found proof of?”

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If you’re hoping this sort of revelation will somehow damage Trump in the eyes of his base, please keep in mind that Trump’s base probably views him as a poster child for the sort of rotten behavior they accept as normal. Perhaps 30% of the American public routinely lies, cheats, steals, and just generally acts in disorderly ways. Trump does these things and gets away with it, so he’s their golden boy. Never mind that he escapes the consequences of his actions only because of money and connections – the crooked 30% aren’t necessarily bright enough to comprehend or care.

So, for instance, we read the New York Times article about how Trump has been criminally evading taxes his entire life and we feel disgust. But when Trump’s base finds out about this, they feel something akin to gleeful admiration because he got away with it.

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“Yeah, I was thinking about that,” Mr. Trump said. “Maybe he gets hit by a truck.”

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Nope, never that; some suckers are just born to be conned, and there’s no helping them.

I’m hoping that this is more hard evidence for federal or state charges, and future indictments.

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"Yeah, I was thinking about that,” Mr. Trump said. “Maybe he gets hit by a truck.”

Man, this guy is so stupid. He doesn’t even make any sense here (surprise, surprise)

  • David Pecker has the Enquirer buy the rights to these stories
  • David Pecker no longer runs the Enquirer
  • Kill David Pecker?

a) what?
Even if this did make sense, I guess he’d have to kill both models as well…

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That is the good shit.

We have no idea what Mueller has. But I had suspected that Trump had to have a few hits under his belt, what with all the mob connections.

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“Yeah, I was thinking about that,” Mr. Trump said. “Maybe he gets hit by a truck.”

Is this a joke? Like, this is not something a normal business person would say to their lawyer unless it’s either A) a joke, or B) within the realm of actual possibility… a tacit hit order.

This man is our president.

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This is news?

Oh, I see. To the Wall Street Journal, it’s news.

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It reminds me of when Spy magazine sent a bunch of people personal checks for like a buck, to see who would cash them. Trump did. So they sent a few follow-up checks, each with a reduced amount until they got down to a few cents; Trump was one of two people to cash all the checks.

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Ditto, but until Jan. 3rd the amount of evidence needed to get anyone to take action is way higher. Buckle up, it is going to be a bumpy holiday season. :frowning:

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Dunno… sounds to me like he’s saying “that secret stuff is now owned by Pecker. What becomes of it if he gets hit by a bus?”

I understand the impulse to read it as a threat, but frankly it makes more sense this way.

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Yeah, he’s not actually saying “let’s kill Pecker” in mob-speak. He’s saying he was thinking about what’d happen to all the files and dirt he”d paid Pecker to suppress if he died or was no longer in control of the Enquirer and they still had copies of said files and dirt - which would be bad for Trump because they might run the stories or he’d have to pay-out all over again.

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Ah I see… that makes more sense. But the way it’s phrased is weird… It’s not, “What if he gets hit by a truck?” But as always with Trump, there’s a big gap between the spoken word, the transcript, and the ultimate meaning.

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But, Obama had campaign finance violations! Why isn’t anybody talking about those? /s

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Lock him up.

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