What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[The Larch]

Capitol rioter Evan Neumann applies for asylum in Belarus, local media says

MOSCOW — A man who allegedly participated in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 and is wanted by the FBI is now seeking asylum in Belarus, the country's state media reported Monday, presenting him as a "simple American whose shops were burned by Black Lives Matter activists."

Evan Neumann, who appears to have sat down for an interview with Belarusian state television in a segment entitled "Goodbye, America," is wanted in the United States on charges of violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds, as well as for assaulting, resisting and obstructing law enforcement during civil disorder.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry could not be reached for comment.
(...)
Neumann could be welcomed in Belarus as part of the regime's anti-Western propaganda. Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, has said last year's opposition movement was stoked by the United States to unseat him.

In an excerpt of Neumann's interview, the Belarusian state television presenter said Neumann "sought justice and asked uncomfortable questions" following the 2020 U.S. elections. The 48-year-old "lost almost everything and is being persecuted by the U.S. government," the presenter added.

The full interview will air Wednesday. In the preview released Monday, Neumann said he went into hiding once he was alerted that he would be added to the FBI's Most Wanted list. A lawyer recommended he take a trip to Europe, he said. The state television presenter said Neumann had been living in a rented apartment in Ukraine for four months.

Neumann said Ukrainian security service agents started pursuing him, so he then crossed into Belarus on foot through the Ukrainian swamps of Pripyat, near Chernobyl. He claimed to have encountered snakes and wild boars on the journey.

The Ukrainian border guard service said it does not provide information on individual cases.

Belarusian border guards detained him on Aug. 15, according to the state television report. The interview took place in the Belarusian city of Brest.

Neumann said he does not believe he committed any crime.

[HisMajestyBOB]

He'd rather live in Belarus than be sentenced to time served?

[The Brain]

He's running from the law because he thinks he's innocent. Duh.

[Syt]

[The Minsky Moment]

Now would be a good time to start  bringing felony prosecutions under the Logan Act. 

[Savonarola]

Wyoming GOP votes to no longer recognize Rep. Liz Cheney as a Republican
Savannah Behrmann, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The Republican party of Wyoming will no longer consider their sole U.S. House lawmaker, Rep. Liz Cheney, as a member of the GOP, the latest reprimand for Cheney, who is a consistent critic of former President Donald Trump.

She was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in January following the insurrection attempt on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by a mob of his supporters who were attempting to halt the counting of electoral votes, which found Joe Biden to be the victor of the 2020 presidential election.

Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has repeatedly defended her vote to impeach Trump. Last week, she reupped her battle with the former president, calling him a "dangerous and irrational man" who is at "war with the rule of law and the Constitution."

Cheney's press secretary, Jeremy Adler, told USA TODAY in a statement that it is "laughable to suggest Liz is anything but a committed conservative Republican."

"She is bound by her oath to the Constitution," he continued. "Sadly, a portion of the Wyoming GOP leadership has abandoned that fundamental principle, and instead allowed themselves to be held hostage to the lies of a dangerous and irrational man."

The 31-29 vote Saturday in Buffalo, Wyoming, by the state party central committee followed votes by local GOP officials in about one-third of Wyoming's 23 counties to no longer recognize Cheney as a Republican.

The Wyoming Republican Party also voted in February to censure Cheney for her vote to impeach Trump.

She was ousted from House Republican leadership as the chair of the House GOP conference in May for her criticism of Trump.

"I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office," she said after she was stripped her of her leadership post, the third most powerful GOP slot in the House.

Despite her criticism of Trump, Cheney remains one of the most conservative members of Congress. She has a 96% positivity rating from the conservative Heritage Foundation, which rates lawmakers based on their voting records' alignment with the think tank's political arm. According to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight, Cheney voted in line with Trump 92.9% of the time while he was in office.

Liz Cheney: Liz Cheney hits fellow Republicans for following 'dangerous and irrational' Donald Trump

However, Cheney is now facing at least four Republican opponents in the 2022 primary, including attorney Harriet Hageman, who Trump has endorsed.

The Casper Star-Tribune, which first reported the news of the Wyoming GOP's decision, reported that Hageman called the latest state GOP central committee vote "fitting."

"Liz Cheney stopped recognizing what Wyomingites care about a long time ago," Hageman said, according to the Star-Tribune. "When she launched her war against President Trump, she completely broke with where we are as a state."

Cheney is now serving as co-chair of the House select committee investigating the events leading up to and surrounding Jan. 6. She and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., are the only Republicans on the committee.

I've read that, in practical terms, this means nothing.  Cheney can still run in the Republican primary for US Representative.  Also Harriet Hageman looks exactly like what I pictured:



(Though I didn't expect her jewelry to be that large.)  She looks like the high school vice-principal/disciplinarian who has just about had it with your nonsense. 

[grumbler]

Wyoming GOP votes to no longer recognize Rep. Liz Cheney as a Republican
(snip)

I've read that, in practical terms, this means nothing.  Cheney can still run in the Republican primary for US Representative.  Also Harriet Hageman looks exactly like what I pictured:

(snip)

Cancel culture at work, ironically done by people who constantly blubber about how evil cancel culture is.

[Admiral Yi]

$25 even she keeps her seat.

[Maladict]

So apparently Trump had already tested positive before his debate with Biden. Classy.

[DGuller]

More like homicidal.

[Savonarola]

From CNN

Donald Trump quietly making millions from coffee table book

(CNN)A few months ago, former President Donald Trump signed a book deal.

There wasn't the huge fanfare most former presidents receive when they ink deals for a memoir; news of the book, a coffee table tome with pictures detailing Trump's presidency -- retailing about $75 and $230 if signed -- made barely a blip in the media. But the deal, which CNN can confirm included a multimillion dollar advance for Trump, has quickly and significantly plumped the pockets of the former President.

Sales of the book, "Our Journey Together," grossed $20 million in less than two months since it went on sale in late November, two people familiar with the publishing of the book told CNN. Part of the book's popularity among Trump's base is the captions, all of which he wrote himself, and most of which feature unbridled hot takes on his political enemies.

"We did an initial print run of 200,000 copies," said Sergio Gor, a longtime Republican operative who founded Winning Team Publishing to publish the book last fall. Gor's partner in the company is Donald Trump Jr., Trump's oldest son. To date, this is the only book they have published, but Gor says he has signed two more conservative authors, whom he declined to name.

The idea behind "Our Journey Together" was simple: Trump's fan base was hungry for more of the signature firebrand former President. So, give them what they want, said Gor. In less than two days on sale, via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and 45books.com, operated by Winning Team Publishing, the autographed copies of the book were selling into the thousands. Unsigned copies were selling quickly as well.


Trump's coffee table book is called "Our Journey Together."

"We still can't keep up with the customers," said Gor, who says they are now out of books and have issued requests for 300,000 more copies to be printed in three locations in the United States. Those printings are in the works, but people ordering "Our Journey Together" now likely won't see copies arrive until late February or early March, said Gor. A current search for available books on the internet turns up nothing, save for copies being peddled by third parties. A signed copy on Amazon being sold as a "collectible" is listed at $1,749. Other signed copies on the auction website eBay range between $950 and $1,300.
Swear words and memories

While hardly a traditional memoir, "Our Journey Together," is, as Gor said, "pure Trump." The revelations Trump extends in the book are not deep analysis of his time in the White House, but rather his unedited interpretations of events or people, with zero in the way of different perspectives or the opportunity for comment from his hit parade of targets.

Without a Twitter feed (Trump remains banned by the social media platform), the former President seems to be using the coffee table book to extend his post-White House kiss-offs. Next to or below each of the 300 or so photographs is a Trump-authored caption, some even written in his tell-tale handwriting -- a thick, black scrawl of marker, mostly uppercase but with dotted lowercase i's and lots of exclamation points.

"Attempting to listen to crazy Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office -- such natural disagreement," writes Trump next to one photo. For another image of the House speaker, Trump drops a hand-scrawled, semi f-bomb: "She was screaming and shaking like a leaf, she's f***ing crazy, hence the name 'Crazy Nancy.'"


The book includes captions written by Trump, including this one about his meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Adjacent to a picture of the late GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona, one of his noted adversaries, Trump notes, "Asking for a job for his wife and I am smiling but I didn't like him even a little bit."

Not all in Trump's crosshairs are political. Of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Trump writes, "Mark Zuckerberg would come to the White House and kiss my ass. His censorship is terrible for America. His 'campaign contributions' even worse."

Some photos are of Cabinet members Trump appointed himself, like Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. "General Mark Milley looks like he's praying, and 'Yesper' (who said 'yes' to everything,) doesn't know if he's alive," Trump wrote.

"I've never seen a presidential book that's really a hatchet job of other people," said John Reznikoff, founder of University Archives, who has dealt with the buying and selling of hundreds of presidential collectibles over his more than four decades in the auction business. After learning of the book's popularity among collectors late last fall, Reznikoff said he purchased several copies of "Our Journey Together," as he has with every other presidential memoir or book.

'The closest thing to printing money'

The reason a presidential book can range into the high hundreds and thousands of dollars is the autograph.

Reznikoff said books, especially those that are signed, will undoubtedly increase in value exponentially over time. He pointed to former President Barack Obama's 2020 presidential memoir, "A Promised Land," signed copies of which are selling on auction sites for around $600. "It's hard to find a presidential signature at all on anything that goes for less than $100," said Reznikoff.

He said if Trump is a fast signer, using a bookplate of his signature -- a common practice for authors that Gor confirmed Trump did -- then he could get through several hundred books a day. "It's the closest thing to printing money I can come up with," said Reznikoff of the lucrativeness of Trump's signature.

Trump's fan base is big into merchandise, and Trump himself has used his name on everything from steaks and bottled water to ties, perfume, alcohol and mattresses. "Sometimes a book with a signature can become de-valued if that signature is easy to find," said Reznikoff, who cited the ubiquity of books from former President Jimmy Carter, who wrote more than 20.


Another photo from the book shows Ivanka Trump, the former President's daughter who also served as an adviser.

But for Trump, who has never had a high bar for what, when and why he signs his name to something, a coffee table book with fiery captions tracks with the size of the lift the former President was willing to undertake. Whereas most presidential memoirs would devote a chapter or two to describing a meeting with a world leader, Trump doles out the experience in a few sentences.

"Boris is one of a kind!" Trump wrote in a caption with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, letting the big color pictures tell the story. A cerebral diagnosis of the moment -- a picture of the two men greeting each other at a global summit -- and its effect on modern history it is not.

The photos in the book are images taken during his presidency, culled from several hundred thousand, said Gor. About 90% of the images were taken by official White House photographers, which are archived and considered public domain, as they were taken on behalf of the government to document Trump's tenure. Trump's chief official White House photographer, Shealah Craighead, shot most of the book's images. A person with knowledge of Craighead's interest in striking a deal in recent months to create her own book of Trump images -- similar to the one Obama's former chief official photographer Pete Souza published -- said Craighead's idea couldn't find traction via traditional publishers.

"The appetite for Trump-related books these days is pretty low," said the person, who has worked with several politically connected authors. "The market has been saturated." Still, the person noted it's not a surprise Trump fans would be drawn to this book, which is basically Trump personified in glossy, oversized photos.

It's a sentiment echoed by Gor, whose impetus was to start a conservative publishing house solely to sign the former President and capitalize off of his base -- then add other Trump-friendly authors in time. "(Trump) wants to do another book after seeing the success of this one," said Gor, who added that Trump spent several evenings at Mar-a-Lago going through the 8,000-9,000 photos Gor and his assistants had narrowed down for him, and even more nights signing the book when it came out.

The only thing preventing Trump right now from adding his signature to tens of thousands more copies of "Our Journey Together" is, ironically, the supply chain issues for which Republicans have tried to blame his successor. There isn't enough paper available.

It does make sense for a hotelier to have his own branded mattresses; but that still sounds gross.  I see Trump Vodka is still a big seller in Israel 

[Syt]

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/09/16/trump-look-into-barack-obama-michelle-obama-book-netflix-deals/2347036001/

WASHINGTON -- In a series of tweets Monday, President Donald Trump criticized Democrats for their inquiries into his administration, and called for a shift in focus to former President Barack Obama's business moves.

Instead of investigating reports suggesting that Trump is using his presidency to enrich his businesses, Democrats should look at Obama's book and Netflix deals, the president said.

"I have a better idea. Look at the Obama Book Deal, or the ridiculous Netflix deal," Trump tweeted.

[...]

Trump has previously called for an investigation into Barack Obama's book deal, despite it not being unusual for commanders in chief to publish books after their time in office. Former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan all authored books after their terms ended, for example.

In July Trump told reporters, "Let's look into Obama the way they've looked at me from day one... They could look into the book deal that President Obama made. Let's subpoena all of his records."

[Jacob]

I think we can expect a potential Trump administration to pursue a whole bunch of investigations and prosecutions of Democrats.

[Syt]

I think we can expect a potential Trump administration to pursue a whole bunch of investigations and prosecutions of Democrats.

The story I linked is from 2019. I just found it funny that Trump complained about Obama's book deal and then ... well ...

[Jacob]

I think we can expect a potential Trump administration to pursue a whole bunch of investigations and prosecutions of Democrats.

The story I linked is from 2019. I just found it funny that Trump complained about Obama's book deal and then ... well ...

I don't think that changes the likelihood, though.