What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Savonarola]

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.

Let's hope this is only an academic question, but I think Trump would more likely pressure the DOJ to investigate the Republicans who voted to impeach him (especially Representatives Kinzinger and Cheney) and those who voted to convict him.  Trump's personal philosophy is revenge and those are the ones who "Betrayed" him.  This is why Trump's most bitter (one-sided) feud has been with John McCain for his vote against the ACA repeal.

[Valmy]

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

Based on the last time when he promised investigations and locking people up, I think we can expect him to talk much and do nothing.

[Sheilbh]

Based on the last time when he promised investigations and locking people up, I think we can expect him to talk much and do nothing.

I think he's probably learned and has said repeatedly that he wants a "killer" or his RFK in Justice. I think the combination of Mueller and the lack of reprisals against his enemies makes it likely that Trump will really focus on who is AG is.

[The Minsky Moment]

Have to admit that I never cared much for the Presidential Memoir genre.  I kind of like Trump's high school yearbook take. It would have been even better if he teamed up with Kavanaugh.  Sure "Fuck Pelosi" is good fun but it would be so much better with some boofing and quotations from squee.

[Zoupa]

Have to admit that I never cared much for the Presidential Memoir genre.  I kind of like Trump's high school yearbook take. It would have been even better if he teamed up with Kavanaugh.  Sure "Fuck Pelosi" is good fun but it would be so much better with some boofing and quotations from squee.

[Valmy]

Based on the last time when he promised investigations and locking people up, I think we can expect him to talk much and do nothing.

I think he's probably learned and has said repeatedly that he wants a "killer" or his RFK in Justice. I think the combination of Mueller and the lack of reprisals against his enemies makes it likely that Trump will really focus on who is AG is.

Yeah sure. This guy has spent his whole life doing little and talking much but now at age 70+ he is really going to get serious.

[The Larch]

Now that's a presidential headline. 

Trump denies flushing documents down White House toilet
The former president has long shown a disregard for the preservation of records.

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday denied a new report that he may have flushed official documents down a White House toilet while in office, rejecting the latest accusation of mishandling of presidential records.

According to a forthcoming book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, staff in the White House residence periodically found that pieces of paper had clogged a toilet, leading them to believe Trump attempted to flush documents he had ripped. The details from Haberman's book were first reported by Axios.

In a statement, Trump referred to the allegations as "another fake story," calling them "categorically untrue and simply made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a mostly fictitious book."

Trump has long shown a disregard for the preservation of presidential records. In 2018, POLITICO reported on his habit of tearing up papers after he was done with them, as well as the efforts of government officials tasked with taping together the remains of the documents.

But Trump's treatment of records from his presidency has come under greater scrutiny in recent days. The National Archives and Records Administration confirmed on Monday that it retrieved 15 boxes of documents and other items from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate last month that belong to federal record-keepers.

On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported that the National Archives asked the Justice Department to examine Trump's handling of presidential records, suspecting he had possibly violated laws concerning the management of government documents.

In his statement on Thursday, Trump disputed negative descriptions of the National Archives' records seizure last month, saying the federal agency "openly and willingly arranged with President Trump for the transport of boxes that contained letters, records, newspapers, magazines, and various articles."

The records "were given easily and without conflict and on a very friendly basis, which is different from the accounts being drawn up by the Fake News Media," Trump said. "In fact, it was viewed as routine and 'no big deal.'"

But Trump also insisted without evidence that he may have a legal claim to the documents, adding: "In actuality, I have been told I was under no obligation to give this material based on various legal rulings that have been made over the years."

[Razgovory]

So now we know why he kept bitching about lo-flow toilets in his speeches.


https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/07/politics/trump-americans-flushing-toilets-intl/index.html

President Donald Trump on Friday had a lot to say about toilets, sinks and showers.

The President claimed Americans are flushing their toilets "10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once" and argued that they are having difficulty with washing their hands in what appeared to be a tangent about low-flow sinks and toilets.

"We have a situation where we're looking very strongly at sinks and showers and other elements of bathrooms where you turn the faucet on – and in areas where there's tremendous amounts of water, where the water rushes out to sea because you could never handle it, and you don't get any water," the President said during a roundtable with small business leaders about deregulatory actions.

"You turn on the faucet and you don't get any water. They take a shower and water comes dripping out. Just dripping out, very quietly dripping out," the President continued, lowering his voice as he spoke about the drips. "People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once."

It wasn't entirely clear what he was talking about but it appeared to have to do with bathroom fixtures with low-flow appliances. He said the Environmental Protection Agency was looking into the issue on his suggestion.

"They end up using more water. So (the) EPA is looking at that very strongly at my suggestion," Trump said, though he did not give details on what suggestions, if any, he made. Video of the President's comments has been viewed more than a million times online.

Trump, speaking in the Roosevelt Room of the White House amid an impeachment inquiry, then turned his attention to Americans attempting to wash their hands.

"You go into a new building or a new house or a new home and they have standards only you don't get water. You can't wash your hands practically, there's so little water comes out of the faucet. And the end result is you leave the faucet on and it takes you much longer to wash your hands," Trump said.

He went on: "There may be some areas where we'll go the other route – desert areas – but for the most part you have many states where they have so much water – it comes down, it's called rain. They don't know what to do with it," to laughs from around the table. "So we're going to be looking at opening up that I believe. And we're looking at changing the standards very soon."

It is also unclear what standards Trump was referring to or how they could be changing. The EPA has a voluntary program that labels efficient fixtures, such as showerheads, called WaterSense – similar to EnergyStar for water, which helps conservation. A 1992 law also regulated showerhead pressure, but it was implemented through the Energy Department, not the EPA.

The EPA said it is reviewing relevant federal programs. "EPA is working with all federal partners including Department of Energy to review the implementation of the Federal Energy Management Plan and how it's relevant programs interact with it to ensure American consumers have more choice when purchasing water products," EPA spokesman Michael Abboud told CNN.

NN has reached out to the Energy Department for comment.

Touting his administration's decision to change energy standards on lightbulbs, Trump also claimed energy-efficient bulbs don't "make you look as good."

"Being a vain person, that's really important to me," he said. "It gives you an orange look, I don't want an orange look." The President has made similar comments before, and the Department of Energy has moved to rescind Obama-era rules on energy efficiency.

And of new car models, Trump added: "Frankly they don't work very well," because of standards which California put in place. "Right now the cars are made out of papier-mache, and ours are actually, we allow steel content," he said.

In the past, the President has crusaded against windmills and wind energy. He has claimed that they create "bird graveyards" and the noise they produce "causes cancer."

[Caliga]

"Being a vain person, that's really important to me," he said. "It gives you an orange look, I don't want an orange look."

[Sheilbh]

Yeah sure. This guy has spent his whole life doing little and talking much but now at age 70+ he is really going to get serious.

That's not really relevant though - he doesn't need to do anything. He just needs to not avoid - in his view - a coward like Sessions again. I think that's probably the biggest lesson he learned from his first term was he needs an AG he can trust utterly.

[Jacob]

Yeah I expects he wants to use the AG to drive politically motivated prosecutions and ensure that any vote tampering or other acts to reverse any embarassing election results will be supported regardless of the damage it does to American institutions.

[Savonarola]

Melania Trump launches third NFT collection commemorating Trump presidency

Former first lady Melania Trump is back in the NFT game, auctioning a new set of assets that commemorates moments from husband Donald Trump's presidency.

The "POTUS TRUMP NFT Collection" goes up for sale on February 21 — Presidents Day — she announced on Twitter Thursday. It will commemorate events like Christmas at the White House and the Trumps' visit to Mount Rushmore, according to the announcement.

But bidders won't know exactly what they're purchasing until they've bought it.

"Collectors will enjoy an element of surprise, as the artwork of each collection is revealed only after purchase," the announcement said. "Of course, collectors can make multiple purchases to own the entire POTUS TRUMP collection."

The collection features 10,000 NFTs, each costing $50. The auction will be run on the Solana protocol.

Melania Trump provided creative direction for the NFT set, according to the announcement. "I look forward to collaborating with others to offer truly special, authentic parts of U.S. history," she said in the statement.

This is the third NFT endeavor from the model-turned-first-lady. Trump's first NFT, launched in December, was a digital version of "Melania's Vision," a watercolor painting of Trump's eyes.

Her second effort, dubbed "Head of State," featured items from the Trumps' 2018 state visit with French President Emmanuel Macron, including a painting and the white hat Melania Trump wore. But that auction flopped, coming at a time when cryptocurrency values were plummeting and garnering just five bids, according to media reports. And the funds for the winning bidder came from the NFT's own creator, Vice and Bloomberg reported. Trump's office denied it bid on its own assets.

Trump is just the latest celebrity to join the NFT craze. The market for these digital collectibles has swept up everyone from sports stars to major brands to whistleblower Edward Snowden. Descendants of Pablo Picasso have created a digital spinoff of the Spanish artist's work, and Nike is building NFTs to be used in a virtual universe on the platform of Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook.

Last year, a cryptocurrency company bought an NFT of a $95,000 Banksy artwork and then burned the original.

An NFT, or non-fungible token, is a unique proof of ownership over digital assets — essentially a receipt for a specific item. Because each NFT is unique, they can be bought, sold and exchanged like trading cards. Some collectors buy NFTs for the bragging rights, while others hope to make money from their investment.

Trump's announcement met with mixed reactions.

"I love you both, but WHY NFTs?!" said one Twitter user.

Others questioned the ethics of a former politician profiting off items created during their time in office.

"Trump selling the PEOPLE'S HOUSE archives?!!" tweeted Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former adviser to the first lady. "Is this Legal?"

Here's her first NFT (I ain't nothing but an art thief who must be stopped):


And the white hat painting from her second (It's all about making that G(rand)T(heft)A(rt)):


The concept for this third collection combines bubblegum cards and NFTs.  While I view NFTs as a scam (and that the Trumps are hawking them has done little to change this perception); I'll give whoever came up with the idea credit, it's a good way to hype them.

[The Larch]

The Trump presidency, the grift that keeps on grifting. 

She Took the White House Photos. Trump Moved to Take the Profit.
The former chief White House photographer made plans to publish a book of Trump photos. The former president had other plans.

WASHINGTON — As President Donald J. Trump's tenure came to an end, the chief White House photographer, who had traveled the world with him and spent countless hours inside the White House snapping pictures, notified Mr. Trump's aides that she intended to publish a book collecting some of her most memorable images.

This was hardly a radical idea: Official photographers from every White House since President Ronald Reagan's have published their own books. Barack Obama and George W. Bush were so supportive that they wrote forewords for them.

But like so much else involving Mr. Trump, the plan by his chief photographer, Shealah Craighead, did not follow this bipartisan norm.

First, aides to Mr. Trump asked her for a cut of her book advance payment, in exchange for his writing a foreword and helping promote the book, according to former associates of Mr. Trump.

Then Mr. Trump's team asked Ms. Craighead to hold off on her book project to allow the former president to take Ms. Craighead's photos and those of other White House staff photographers and publish his own book, which is now selling for as much as $230 a copy.

That the profits from Ms. Craighead's labor are now going into Mr. Trump's pocket has left several of Mr. Trump's former aides upset — but not exactly surprised.

"Shea's a very talented photographer and this was really all of her hard work," said Stephanie Grisham, who served as the White House press secretary for Mr. Trump and wrote her own book, referring to Ms. Craighead by her nickname. "I just keep thinking: What a shame that he is actually now profiting off of it. But then again, this is the guy who is hawking caps and all kinds of stuff right now to raise money for himself."

Eric Draper, who was the chief White House photographer during Mr. Bush's tenure, said the move was disrespectful to Ms. Craighead.

"It's a slap in the face," Mr. Draper said, adding that he had spoken with Ms. Craighead last year about her plan to do her own book. "I would be disappointed if I were in her shoes."

Taylor Budowich, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, did not dispute that an aide had discussed the possibility of Mr. Trump writing a foreword for Ms. Craighead's book and perhaps taking a cut of her advance. Her tentative deal with a publisher involved an advance in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, one industry executive said.

Instead, Mr. Budowich said, Mr. Trump decided to first do his own book, a separate deal that came with a much bigger, multimillion advance.

"President Trump has always had an eye for beautiful and engaging curation, which came alive through the pages of his book," he said in a statement.

Ms. Craighead, in an interview, said she did not want to publicly comment on matters involving a former client. But she did confirm that she has decided, at least for now, to kill her own book project.

"I stay apolitical as possible, as I am a neutral historical documentarian," she said. "By staying neutral I am able to remain a keen observer."

The 317-page book Mr. Trump published in December, titled "Our Journey Together," includes no photo credits. It does not mention any of the photographers who took the images until the last page, where he briefly offered a "grateful acknowledgment" to "all the phenomenal White House photographers," listing them by name, including Ms. Craighead, whose pictures make up much of the book.

There is no legal prohibition on Mr. Trump assembling and publishing photographs that a White House staff member took during his tenure; under federal law, those photographs are considered in the public domain and not subject to copyright. There is a public Flickr account, now managed by the National Archives, that has 14,995 photos from the Trump White House, a third of them listing Ms. Craighead as the photographer.

But in dealing with Ms. Craighead, Mr. Trump appears to have become the first former president to try to make money from a book planned by a former White House photographer, said John Bredar, a documentary filmmaker and author who has studied the history of the White House photographers. (Profits from the book published by George H.W. Bush's chief photographer, David Valdez, were donated to his presidential library, Mr. Valdez said in an interview.)

The first volume of the memoir written by Mr. Obama after leaving office included a selection of nearly 50 photos taken by the White House photographer who served during his tenure, Pete Souza. George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also published autobiographies that included some White House photos.

But there has been a long tradition of former White House photographers separately assembling their work into books.

"It's valuable for each chief photographer to do a book just for the historic record and put it together in a way that it tells sort of their story and contextualizes images," said Mr. Souza, who worked as a White House photographer under Mr. Reagan as well as under Mr. Obama, and who has published several books of White House photos.

Ms. Craighead had served as a White House photographer during the tenure of George W. Bush and was known for her work with mostly Republican politicians including Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Joni Ernst of Iowa.

But unlike most of her predecessors, who had built relationships with presidents before they arrived at the White House, Ms. Craighead had not worked closely with Mr. Trump when she was hired just before his inauguration after his first pick for the job fell through.

Mr. Trump at times would say insulting things about Ms. Craighead, telling other White House guests that he questioned her skills as a photographer, surprising other White House officials and photographers present.

Mr. Trump, former White House aides said, was intensely involved in selecting photos of himself that would be released to the public, with Ms. Grisham recalling how during long flights on Air Force One, he often set aside time to review folders of photographs, after demanding that they be first printed so he could hold them, and pick winners one at a time.

Since leaving office, Mr. Trump has sought multiple ways to monetize his presidency, from charging supporters to attend an event and take photos with him to selling MAGA merchandise. He also has a long history of disputes from before his political career with business partners and over the years faced regular accusations that he did not properly compensate contractors.

The plan to publish "Our Journey Together" came together quickly, after Ms. Craighead had already selected a book agent and negotiated a contract to publish her own book and secured a commitment from Mr. Trump to write the foreword, former White House officials said.

Ms. Craighead herself had some questions about whether she wanted to move ahead with her own book, telling others she was not comfortable publishing a book that would be seen as an endorsement or a disparagement of Mr. Trump.

It was while Ms. Craighead was debating this question that she heard from a representative for Mr. Trump that he would no longer be able to provide her right away with a foreword to the book, because Mr. Trump had a "noncompete" clause with his own publisher.

Donald Trump Jr. and Mr. Trump's campaign apparatus soon started to send out emails to his political fund-raising list, urging his supporters to buy "Our Journey Together" perhaps as a Christmas gift — an example of how Mr. Trump has mixed his political efforts and his pursuit of personal profit since he left the White House.

Mr. Trump's book was published by Winning Team Publishing, a company only incorporated in October, and which was co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. and Sergio Gor, a former Capitol Hill aide and Republican campaign operative.

Mr. Gor said the company had sold out the first 300,000 copies — which at $75 a piece for the unsigned version suggests gross sales of at least $20 million, assuming many were not given away. In addition to his advance payment, Mr. Trump is likely to earn a share of all book sales.

The book is not the only way that the Trump family is cashing in on photos by White House photographers. On Presidents' Day, Mrs. Trump opened sales of a series of digital images from Mr. Trump's White House tenure — photos of Mr. Trump at Mount Rushmore, exiting Air Force One and in a tuxedo for a White House dinner — for $50 a piece.

This week, after The Times asked his office questions about the book, Mr. Trump called Ms. Craighead. It was the first time they had spoken directly since he left the White House. Mr. Trump told her he was still prepared to write a foreword for a photo book they could do together in the future, Mr. Budowich said.

"It would be fun to do so," Mr. Trump told her.

[CountDeMoney]

The only thing Trump hates more in this world than uppity cunts that don't know their place is someone trying to make a buck off of him that he can't make himself. 

[Razgovory]

I suppose you all head about Trump again asking Putin for dirt on Joe Biden.