A game of dominoes

[sabotabby]

 It's heartening to see a stream of thinkpieces about how this is it for Cheeto Benito this time, for realsies, it's all coming crashing down. I want to believe this is the case.

But I lived through four years of the Honourable Wifebeater here in Toronto, and I just have no more confidence left that there is anything too outlandish, treasonous, or debased for the American far-right.

I do want to see Kushner go down, though. Sounds like he's next. I have a particular hatred for Jews who pal around with neo-Nazis, what can I say?

Comments

[smhwpf]

I suspect that Mueller is going to come up with some pretty damning stuff about Trump. But yes, I share your skepticism that evidence of Russia collusion will be enough to persuade enough Republicans to vote for impeachment. Though if Mueller actually indicts Trump for crimes, or indicates that there is sufficient evidence to indict him, were he not President (as it is unclear whether it is possible to indict a sitting President), that would be pretty earth-shattering...

I wonder if he may be even more vulnerable on financial stuff than on Russia collusion. If Trump has not been involved in money laundering (in particular facilitating it through real estate), I would eat my hat. There must be a pretty good case that he was criminally negligent in letting money laundering happen through his tower in Panama, for starters.

I'm pretty sure we've not seen the last indictment, at any rate...

[sabotabby]

Has anyone gone down for money laundering lately? I feel like first there were the Panama Papers, and then the Paradise Papers, and two days later, all is forgotten.

The sheer audacity of all of it is what makes me cynical.

[smhwpf]

People do go down for money laundering, and I would guess there will be cases resulting from the Panama and Paradise papers. But such cases tend to be loooong and complex, and it wouldn't necessarily be people we'd heard of getting caught. Oh, wait, Mossack and Fonseca themselves have felt a hand on their shoulders. Hahaha. Ooh, and 6520 people were being investigated as of a year ago in connection with the Panama Papers.

Unfortunately, the aggressive tax avoidance that is one of the most egregious aspects is, as its apologists incessantly proclaim, entirely legal.

[kore]

I think a lot's going to depend on whether or not people think he can be indicted, and if it happens. If all we get is another impeachment show trial designed to make the President resign that turns into a battle of wills, that will be an ACTUAL Constitutional crisis. I want to see him go to jail. I don't know if it will ever happen.

[sabotabby]

As someone said elsewhere, I won't feel relieved until he's in handcuffs being perp-walked down Pennsylvania Ave.

And they have to get all of them. That's vital.

[franklanguage]

Kushner owns a good deal of real estate in my neighborhood—fortunately not my building, but I know at least one person who lives in a Kushner building—and he's a predictably insufferable landlord.

Hanging's too good for him, IMHO.

[sabotabby]

For full justice, someone needs to play soccer with his head.

[franklanguage]

I'd pay to watch that!

[franklanguage]

Excuse me, I meant to say slumlord. No matter what rent he charges, he's got a whole coalition of tenants fighting him just to stay afloat.

[fidget]

Don't ask me where I'm getting this from, but I've always had the impression that Jared and Ivanka's marriage is little more than a business merger between two New York real estate families. They don't actually love -- or even like -- each other. Ivanka only converted to Judaism as per the contract terms, and in private she's about as spiritual as a brown paper bag. And not even one of the cool lunch ones that has Hello Kitty on it or something. No, just a plain brown paper bag with a mayonnaise stain on it.

When Jared goes down, she's going to help sink his ship. She doesn't have loyalty to him. And I'm almost sure that she'd throw her own children under the bus to save Daddy.

Maybe I'm totally out of line saying this. Or maybe I've just written the opposite of fanfiction.

[sabotabby]

No, I don't get the impression that any of them have anything approaching actual human feelings towards each other. I'm pretty sure you're right.

[kore]

Kushner just freaks me the fuck out because he looks like the kid from the Omen all grown up and like he's trying to figure out how to blow us up with his mind.

At least he's not in charge of helping all the poor suffering opioid junkies anymore! No, that now goes to Kellyanne 'I Crawled Out of a Crypt, What's Up' Conway.

[sabotabby]

I'm sure she'll be very helpful in this regard.

The uncanny valley factor with the Large Adult Sons is strong. Kushner is the least creepy looking compared to the Trump boys, but they're all straight out of a horror movie.

[minoanmiss]

Yeah. I think we're stuck with him for at least 7 more years and/or until WWIII.

[sabotabby]

I think everyone's assumption that there will be elections in 2020 is sweetly naive.

[minoanmiss]

I keep wondering -- will the elections just be cancelled (and how entertainingly terrifying will conservatives' explanations and defenses of that be) or will they happen but be so full of voter suppression and intimidation and other shenanigans that the results have pretty much nothing to do with the actual truth?

I never wanted to live in times this interesting.

[mistersmearcase]

Voter suppression. It's effective and it doesn't risk offending the libertarians as canceling the elections might.

[xturtle]

Looking at the wildly unpopular tax bill passed last night, the idea that getting rid of Trump even solves anything is laughable. Not one of the assholes in that room gives a damn about the people they represent, and the people are too stuck on dumb shit to care.

[sabotabby]

Basically every Republican needs to be jailed and/or shot. That's a vital step in restoring democracy.

[xturtle]

Pretty much. Such criminal, much lies. Wow.

[mistersmearcase]

Yeah, I just cannot imagine this is it for 45. He seems pretty indestructible, because his supporters don't give a fuck about anything and the near right is terrified of his supporters. His approval rating on 538 has hovered around 38% for at least six months, during which time he has committed abomination after abomination. 38% of people are fine with him: grabbing women by the pussy, wagging his dick at dictators of nuclear powers, giving the thumbs up to actual Nazis, I can't even begin to superficially catalog the horrors. And on the left, such as it is, we all know that even if we somehow got him out, Pence is same story, less dementia. Absolutely the only hope is the midterm elections, and I can't bring myself to get my hopes up about those, so really all I'm doing is holding my breath that Ruth Bader Ginsburg doesn't fucking die and we don't get into an actual nuclear war for the next THREE YEARS.

[sabotabby]

My experience with Ford's trajectory suggests that our best hope is cancer. He'd have won a second term if he hadn't died.

[rdi]

Sadly that’s congruent with the ~30% of people who have an authoritarian personality and will fall in line behind any strong leader who offers simple explanations and a scapegoat.