Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse



Nearly four decades ago, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trump-lied-to-me-about-his-wealth-to-get-onto-the-forbes-400-here-are-the-tapes/2018/04/20/ac762b08-4287-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html (Donald Trump deceived me) into including him on the first Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans. He claimed a net worth of $100 million but was actually worth less than a tenth of that. Last week, President Trump declared a national state of emergency to bypass the constitutional budgeting powers of Congress and divert money to build a wall on the border with Mexico. What do these acts have in common? Only that they are the first and latest entries on the continuum of cons that have defined Trump’s success.

A real estate insider told me back in the 1980s that Trump’s win-at-all-costs father, Fred, “loves a crook and he loves a showman.” Donald Trump has built his extraordinary career by exhibiting the characteristics of both. He is a self-promoter willing to lie, swindle and destroy to advance his insatiable self-interest. I am not the first journalist to observe that for Trump, the “Art of the Deal” has been the art of the con. But as the first journalist to enable the consummate con man’s career-boosting deceptions, I have a completist’s view of the pernicious racket that is his playbook. Here, in roughly chronological order, are the six essential cons around which Trump has built and sustained his success:

Con No. 1: To borrow billions, Trump lies to inflate his net worth. ...

Con No. 2: To avoid taxes, Trump lies to deflate his net worth. ...

Con No. 3: To be a winner, Trump makes losers of those he does business with. ...

Con No. 4: To win in politics, Trump makes voters believe that his presidency benefits them. ...

Con No. 5: To avoid accountability, Trump makes the media, and truth, the “enemy of the people.” ...

Con No. 6: To stoke fear, Trump recasts perpetrators as victims. ...

Fear of a fascist future is what led me to write my new dystopian novel, “https://www.amazon.com/America-2034-Utopia-Jonathan-Greenberg/dp/0999341952/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= (America 2034: Utopia Rising),” a spinoff of “1984” set in Trump’s nightmarish fifth term as President for Life. The story opens by describing how Trump declares his second state of emergency the day before the 2020 election, ordering a communications blackout to take control of polling places nationwide. This cautionary tale reflects what I fear may be Trump’s seventh, and most far-reaching, scam: conning Americans out of our democracy.
 
UNHAPPY ENDINGS
https://claytoonz.com/2019/02/23/unhappy-endings/

Friday was a busy day for sex crimes.

A federal judge ruled that Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta and other federal prosecutors acted illegally in making a plea deal with accused child sexual abuser and billionaire Jeffrey Epstein before speaking with his victims.

Then-U.S. Attorney Acosta failed to charge Epstein under federal trafficking laws, which could have put Epstein away for life. Instead, he pleaded guilty to far lesser prostitution-related charges and served only 13 months in a private wing of a county jail but was able to leave 6 days a week for 12 hours at a time. Donald Trump responded, “That seems like a long time ago.”

In Chicago, where the police have been busy, singer R. Kelly turned himself in after being indicted on four sexual abuse charges, three of those involving minors.

In Florida, the owner of Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft, was charged with solicitation of prostitution in Jupiter, Florida. His arrest was connected to an investigation of several massage parlors in Florida suspected of involvement in human trafficking. Insert your deflated balls jokes now.

A spokesman for Kraft said, “We categorically deny that Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity,” despite police saying he was videotaped on two separate occasions engaging in a sex act with an employee at Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter. Trump said it was very sad but wanted to point out that Kraft has denied it.

Trump complains publicly when championship teams refuse to visit the White House and eat his hamberders, but he may encourage Kraft to stay home. Trump would rather be seen with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un than the owner of the NFL champions.

In a case where nobody was abusing women (except for the company who made the shoe), Nike’s stock dropped after one of their shoes exploded live on primetime television while being worn by Duke’s Zion Williamson, injuring his knee.

This is going to be a very bad weekend for anyone wearing Nikes with a Tom Brady jersey while singing “I believe I can fly.”

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President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen, facing jail in just over two months, has been speaking with and providing information to federal prosecutors in New York, according to three people familiar with the matter.

According to those sources and public statements, Cohen was questioned about a donor to the president’s inaugural committee, Imaad Zuberi, who is a political fundraiser with a history of donating to both Republican and Democratic candidates.

In addition, the sources said Cohen has discussed matters relevant to the Southern District of New York’s investigation into certain members of the Trump Organization and the Trump Inaugural Committee, investigations that have previously been reported publicly.
 
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