The Trump Presidency | Biden Inaugurated

Status
Not open for further replies.
The only way a President will go to jail is if he literally pulled the trigger to murder somebody.

Otherwise it would just set a slippery precedent.
 
Boycott said:
The only way a President will go to jail is if he literally pulled the trigger to murder somebody.

Otherwise it would just set a slippery precedent.
Click to expand...
I think the procedure it already agreed upon. If the charges are constitutional it goes through congress and senate hearings. If they're not, there would sealed indictments which would only get tried after the president finished their term or resigns.
 
Silva said:
I think the procedure it already agreed upon. If the charges are constitutional it goes through congress and senate hearings. If they're not, there would sealed indictments which would only get tried after the president finished their term or resigns.
Click to expand...

He was a powerful man before entering politics. Powerful, rich men get away with criminal charges so there's that factor and him being President now adds another factor. Richard Nixon never had to testify regarding watergate because Ford pardoned him. Why did he do so? In his words Ford and the senior public officials felt a President being on criminal trial would set a precedent where it raises the question where do you draw the line? Every president could be accused of breaking the law. There is legitimacy and public support in wanting Bush and Blair put on trial for war crimes but it's not going to happen.

Impeachment is very possible I agree and I don't think on this mechanism Donald Trump will be protected. Removal from office is very different from criminal conviction. Though I always find it a little funny the reasoning behind impeaching Bill Clinton while Reagan didn't get impeached for what could be interpreted as act of treason.
 
Silva said:
He's old, fat, has a horrific diet and is in one of the most stressful jobs in the world. It's going to take a minor miracle for him to come out of this in good health.
Click to expand...

The worst ones always survive the longest.
 
He's going to dream one night that he has woken up struggling with someone while they are injecting a massive dose of Adrenalin in his eyeball.
 
Boycott said:
He was a powerful man before entering politics. Powerful, rich men get away with criminal charges so there's that factor and him being President now adds another factor. Richard Nixon never had to testify regarding watergate because Ford pardoned him. Why did he do so? In his words Ford and the senior public officials felt a President being on criminal trial would set a precedent where it raises the question where do you draw the line? Every president could be accused of breaking the law. There is legitimacy and public support in wanting Bush and Blair put on trial for war crimes but it's not going to happen.

Impeachment is very possible I agree and I don't think on this mechanism Donald Trump will be protected. Removal from office is very different from criminal conviction. Though I always find it a little funny the reasoning behind impeaching Bill Clinton while Reagan didn't get impeached for what could be interpreted as act of treason.
Click to expand...

A future president would have to pardon him though, otherwise impeachment would open him up to criminal prosecution. The question becomes, would Pence or Ryan be willing to tarnish themselves like Ford did to pardon Trump, if it was proven he had commited crimes against America. The political landscape is very different these days, and a pardon could seriously damage their own presidency.
 
Kentonio said:
A future president would have to pardon him though, otherwise impeachment would open him up to criminal prosecution. The question becomes, would Pence or Ryan be willing to tarnish themselves like Ford did to pardon Trump, if it was proven he had commited crimes against America. The political landscape is very different these days, and a pardon could seriously damage their own presidency.
Click to expand...

If Pence ascends to the presidency then I believe he would given he was recommended by Manafort who has gone down with the Russia investigation. Pence strikes me as a bootlicker. Ryan and Trump don't like each other and I strongly believe Trump wants him replaced so Ryan would have the opportunity to stick the knife in if it ever comes to it.
 
Kentonio said:
A future president would have to pardon him though, otherwise impeachment would open him up to criminal prosecution. The question becomes, would Pence or Ryan be willing to tarnish themselves like Ford did to pardon Trump, if it was proven he had commited crimes against America. The political landscape is very different these days, and a pardon could seriously damage their own presidency.
Click to expand...
Ivanka will when she takes over in 2024
 
MrMarcello said:
Anyone noticing the heart likes and retweets are surging upward on Trump lately?

Those bots must be in overdrive now.
Click to expand...

Yeah, someone put a tweet from some data scientist or something a few weeks back highlighting there's been a huge upsurge in recent weeks of bot account creations from sources that have supported him before.
 
Raoul said:
I'm going to guess this will be a big week. He's due back from Asia in a few days so it will be interesting if something drops before that and he freaks out overseas.
Click to expand...

I have to be honest, I thought it would be a little while until the next big news hits. I’ll be surprised if this is a big Russia story dropping tonight.
 
entropy said:
Stay tuned for the next episode of "the real housewives of Pyongyang"
Click to expand...

I guffawed a bit at this one.

Probably tempered by his advisers strongly telling him not to directly insult the supreme leader.
 
oates said:
It's all very passive aggressive isn't it? "oh I didn't name anyone" - just accuses a nebulous 'They' or 'All' with no actual responsibility for any accusation.
Click to expand...
I believe the proper term is 'fools and haters'.
 
Christ...
Duterte, who is sometimes described as the “Trump of the East” because of his brash style, was due to meet the US president on the sidelines of the summit on Monday.

The United States and its former colony, the Philippines, have been strategic allies since the second world war. But their relations have been strained by anti-US outbursts from Duterte and his enthusiasm for better ties with Russia and China.

More than 3,900 Filipinos have been killed in a war on drugs that Duterte declared when he took office last year. His government says the police act in self defence, but critics say executions are taking place with no accountability.

Duterte said last week he would tell the US president to “lay off” if he raised the issue of human rights when they met.

But Trump, who has been criticised at home for neglecting rights issues in dealings abroad, praised Duterte in May for doing an “unbelievable job on the drug problem”.
Click to expand...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...philippines-duterte-sings-love-song-for-trump
 
So, Trumps (Russian) bots have now reached Denmark. In a recent Facebook poll made by news outlet, BT, people were asked whether they thought Trump had done a good job. There were surprisingly many that thought he had. A guy who was surprised by the result looked closer at the ones that had marked the poll with a heart (i.e. good job) and almost all of those had very weird names by Danish standards:
bt-zou3.JPG


It's a bit frightening that these bots now include Europe as well
 
Rob said:
So, Trumps (Russian) bots have now reached Denmark. In a recent Facebook poll made by news outlet, BT, people were asked whether they thought Trump had done a good job. There were surprisingly many that thought he had. A guy who was surprised by the result looked closer at the ones that had marked the poll with a heart (i.e. good job) and almost all of those had very weird names by Danish standards:

It's a bit frightening that these bots now include Europe as well
Click to expand...


Incredible that they made the journey. I wonder if it was boat or plane? Who funded it?
 
I don't get it... Why are grown adults taking these bots seriously? Who gives a flying feck about internet polls, any 'conference level' hacker can manipulate them. Who cares how many fake likes Trump gets? And why do educated sensible grown ups listen to those who do care?

I know i'm a social media outcast (this account being my only real participation in it at the moment), but for fecks sake. We can laugh and worry about or be condescending towards Trump all we like, but vast swaths of the rest of society has become ridiculous too, and the longer this goes on the more I think having someone like Trump as president is just the inevitable result of this trend, rather than the cause.

(Apologies if this belongs in the mental health / depressed thread)
 
Abizzz said:
I don't get it... Why are grown adults taking these bots seriously? Who gives a flying feck about internet polls, any 'conference level' hacker can manipulate them. Who cares how many fake likes Trump gets? And why do educated sensible grown ups listen to those who do care?

I know i'm a social media outcast (this account being my only real participation in it at the moment), but for fecks sake. We can laugh and worry about or be condescending towards Trump all we like, but vast swaths of the rest of society has become ridiculous too, and the longer this goes on the more I think having someone like Trump as president is just the inevitable result of this trend, rather than the cause.

(Apologies if this belongs in the mental health / depressed thread)
Click to expand...

In a word, Trump. He craves approval.
 
Abizzz said:
I don't get it... Why are grown adults taking these bots seriously? Who gives a flying feck about internet polls, any 'conference level' hacker can manipulate them. Who cares how many fake likes Trump gets? And why do educated sensible grown ups listen to those who do care?

I know i'm a social media outcast (this account being my only real participation in it at the moment), but for fecks sake. We can laugh and worry about or be condescending towards Trump all we like, but vast swaths of the rest of society has become ridiculous too, and the longer this goes on the more I think having someone like Trump as president is just the inevitable result of this trend, rather than the cause.
Click to expand...

It has nothing to do with 'educated sensible grown ups' listening to silly things. The bot operation on Facebook/Twitter etc is nothing less than a highly sophisticated exercise in propaganda and group psychology.

We're a social species who inherently want approval and agreement from our peers. Things that have huge numbers of followers or supporters create a hype that draws in new people who would never have been interested unless they thought it was popular. If someone who doesn't have a particularly strong feeling either way sees an internet poll saying something like '78% of people say Trump is doing a great job!' then that information can become basically a fact to that person, especially if its frequently reinforced. Best of all is if they can get people sharing polls and memes, because if you see something on a friends page you're even more likely to adopt it as true, because people tend to trust their friends and family.

No-one wants to think they are influenced by this stuff, but we all are. It's the reason advertising and marketing work. I was reading an article on Mail Online (blurg) earlier about Russian trolls influencing the Brexit vote. The comments section was full of people saying 'Nothing I read online influenced me!!' and 'No sensible person could be influenced by a Facebook post!' which is bullshit basically, this stuff is a hugely effective way of swaying vast numbers of people. If you're not on social media then you can honestly claim to not be influenced, but basically all the rest of us are to some extent and in whatever direction.
 
Kentonio said:
It has nothing to do with 'educated sensible grown ups' listening to silly things. The bot operation on Facebook/Twitter etc is nothing less than a highly sophisticated exercise in propaganda and group psychology.

We're a social species who inherently want approval and agreement from our peers. Things that have huge numbers of followers or supporters create a hype that draws in new people who would never have been interested unless they thought it was popular. If someone who doesn't have a particularly strong feeling either way sees an internet poll saying something like '78% of people say Trump is doing a great job!' then that information can become basically a fact to that person, especially if its frequently reinforced. Best of all is if they can get people sharing polls and memes, because if you see something on a friends page you're even more likely to adopt it as true, because people tend to trust their friends and family.

No-one wants to think they are influenced by this stuff, but we all are. It's the reason advertising and marketing work. I was reading an article on Mail Online (blurg) earlier about Russian trolls influencing the Brexit vote. The comments section was full of people saying 'Nothing I read online influenced me!!' and 'No sensible person could be influenced by a Facebook post!' which is bullshit basically, this stuff is a hugely effective way of swaying vast numbers of people. If you're not on social media then you can honestly claim to not be influenced, but basically all the rest of us are to some extent and in whatever direction.
Click to expand...

I agree with you that we need to know how much this has affected things, I just don't agree that the bot operation is very sophisticated, but I guess that makes no difference to its effectiveness, which is evident. It's just so frustrating that people's opinions are swayed so easily, especially given all the reliable sources of information available.

Edit: I still think its ridiculous that grown ups who have had the privilege of an education should follow this stuff. They are being silly. (Not the ones investigating it, the ones falling for it, I can't respect their opinions anymore than those of religious nutters etc.)

Edit Edit:
@senorgregster yes that's one danger that I wasn't aware of. Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.