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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/...teflon-in-private-they-worry-about-the-future

In Public, Aides Say Trump Is Teflon; In Private, They Worry About The Future

President Donald Trump has maintained a relative calm in the face of the Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort drama, but aides are worried that he will inflict further damage on himself through angry tweets, and that his associates’ legal issues will lend credence to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.

According to a Wednesday Washington Post report, Trump gathered his top lieutenants — Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, counselor Kellyanne Conway and Deputy Chief of Staff Bill Shine — to give him a damage assessment.

Since then, his surrogates have hewed closely to talking points that the Manafort conviction is separate from Trump and that the Cohen plea deal does not set anything in stone—and that overall, neither of the cases are related to Russia collusion.

Sanders reeled off those points repeatedly at her press briefing Wednesday.

“I don’t think it’s the atomic bomb that others have suggested,” Republican strategist Josh Holmes told the Washington Post. “I don’t think anybody who is a Trump supporter has been sitting around for the past six months banking their support on the president’s denial of his relationship with Stormy Daniels.”

Staffers have been trying to distract Trump with his favorite activities like golfing and campaign rallies, to keep him from watching TV.

Nevertheless, many feel that Trump’s composure and two sentences of talking points can only last so long.

“This Cohen stuff is an earthquake,” Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor and Trump supporter, told the Washington Post. “Cohen is admitting that Trump told him to commit a crime. A lot of people in Trump world have been spinning and spinning. How do you spin a fact?”
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I was just thinking...

As bad and fucked up as Trump is there has to be some shit on Pence. Like that muthafucka has got to be knee deep in some bullshit that we don't fully know about. Has to be. As horrible as the Republican party is we know that they aren't that fucking dumbs and oblivious. They're evil as fuck but they're smart enough to know that at any time they could've easily got Trump the fuck up outta here and put Pence in. Pence is everything the Republican party is trying to tell you Trump is. Why would they subject themselves to Trump for this long and risk irreparable damage to their party long term? It has to be because they know that even beyond Trump that their party is in some deep shit. Trump may actually be the tip of the iceberg which is amazing in itself.
 
Los216 said:
I was just thinking...

As bad and fucked up as Trump is there has to be some shit on Pence. Like that muthafucka has got to be knee deep in some bullshit that we don't fully know about. Has to be. As horrible as the Republican party is we know that they aren't that fucking dumbs and oblivious. They're evil as fuck but they're smart enough to know that at any time they could've easily got Trump the fuck up outta here and put Pence in. Pence is everything the Republican party is trying to tell you Trump is. Why would they subject themselves to Trump for this long and risk irreparable damage to their party long term? It has to be because they know that even beyond Trump that their party is in some deep shit. Trump may actually be the tip of the iceberg which is amazing in itself.
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The Republicans in Congress will do nothing against Trump because Trump is the people's champ of the GOP voting block.......going against him is a surefire way for them to not get re-elected in certain districts and they are putting their own self-interests above the country. I do believe there are a several GOP members working behind closed doors to put Pence as the main guy but its a long shot
 
https://www.mediaite.com/online/tx-...ra-are-accomplices-in-mollie-tibbetts-murder/

TX Lt. Governor Dan Patrick: CNN, MSNBC and Geraldo Rivera Are ‘Accomplices’ in Mollie Tibbetts’ Murder

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick (R) tore into various Democrats, Republicans, and media outlets in a shocking Fox News appearance on Thursday — saying all were complicit in the death of Mollie Tibbetts.

Speaking on America’s Newsroom Thursday, the Texas politician blasted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and others for not passing new immigration laws.

“On the left, it’s pure politics,” Patrick said. “They’re playing with people’s lives. Again, American citizens and people who legitimately want to come here aren’t criminals. They’re playing with their lives for politics.”

From there, Patrick turned his ire on the media.

“You know, again, the CNN, MSNBs, most of the print media, and Democrats are all accomplices in the death of this young girl and the death of everyone else.”

Patrick also singled out Geraldo Rivera.

“Even Geraldo Rivera,” Patrick said. “I’ve never met the guy. Seems like he has a good heart. I saw him on Fox saying, ‘I feel badly about this but…’ There is no ‘but.’ I’ll be happy to debate Geraldo Rivera any time, any place, anywhere on this issue.”
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313 Wayz said:
The Republicans in Congress will do nothing against Trump because Trump is the people's champ of the GOP voting block.......going against him is a surefire way for them to not get re-elected in certain districts and they are putting their own self-interests above the country. I do believe there are a several GOP members working behind closed doors to put Pence as the main guy but its a long shot
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Nah man. Trumps base is way smaller than the media likes to portray. The love to paint this picture like Trumps base is the majority in the country or something. It's not. His base doesn't even make up 10% of the Republican party and a larger amount of that 10% were already Republicans before Trump even ran. On an International scale our Republican party is a disgrace. Not even worth saving. Trump has cast a dark cloud over where The United States stands on the world stage. Republicans know that and you know they aren't happy. They already know that a blue wave is coming. They could've stopped this shit at any point. Pence being dirty is the only reason for them to be afraid to pull the trigger.
 
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/nyt-devos-may-let-states-use-tax-dollars-to-buy-teachers-guns

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/22/us/politics/betsy-devos-guns.html

NYT: DeVos May Let States Use Tax Dollars To Buy Teachers Guns

The Department of Education and its leader, Betsy DeVos, may let states and school districts use money from a federal grant program intended to keep students “safe and healthy” to buy teachers guns, the New York Times reported Thursday, citing multiple unnamed people familiar with the plan.

Unnamed DOE officials acknowledged to the Times that it would apparently be the first time “a federal agency has authorized the purchase of weapons without a congressional mandate,” in the paper’s words.

Specifically, the department is considering authorizing states to use funds from “Student Support and Academic Enrichment” grants. According to current DOE guidelines, those grants are supposed to achieve one of three ends: “1) provide all students with access to a well-rounded education, 2) improve school conditions for student learning, [or] 3) improve the use of technology in order to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy of all students.”

DOE officials have determined that the purchase of firearms would fall under the second category, improving school conditions, the Times said, citing department officials.

Unlike other federal programs, the Times said, SSAE grant guidelines don’t explicitly prohibit the purchase of guns.

A spokesperson for the department, Liz Hill, did not deny the report, saying instead that “the department is constantly considering and evaluating policy issues, particularly issues related to school safety” and that “[neither] the secretary nor the department issues opinions on hypothetical scenarios.”
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Arming teachers w/ guns.. I'm sure nothing will go wrong...
 
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/...to-shift-conversation-from-manafort-and-cohen

Team Trump Tries To Use Mollie Tibbetts’ Murder To Shift Conversation From Cohen And Manafort

As President Donald Trump and his administration try to weather one of the most damaging weeks of his presidency, they’ve been casting about for a topic to change the subject — and seem to have settled on the brutal murder of Mollie Tibbetts, a college student in small town Iowa.

Tibbetts had been missing for a month before her body was found in a cornfield Tuesday, and Fox News had been covering the case extensively until the discovery. In addition to its wall-to-wall coverage on Fox News, the conclusion to the grisly case made it amenable to the Trump administration’s hard line on immigration: Tibbetts was murdered by an undocumented immigrant.

As Tuesday’s Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort bombshells dropped, Trump and his top lieutenants seized on the tragedy to change the national narrative.

Vice President Mike Pence tweeted about the murder Tuesday afternoon while the world waited for Cohen’s hearing where he would plead guilty to eight counts and implicate the President in campaign finance criminality.

“We commend the swift action by local, state, & federal investigators working in Iowa in apprehending an illegal immigrant, who’s now charged with first-degree murder,” he wrote. “Now, justice will be served. We will never forget Mollie Tibbetts.”

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski tweeted around the same time. “We MUST stop illegals from coming to our country and killing innocent people – this is non negotiable,” he captioned a story about Tibbetts’ death.

In the aftermath of the news, as reporters chomped at the bit to ask questions about the Cohen and Manafort trials, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made the murder one of her primary points as she opened up a rare press briefing Wednesday.

“The nation has watched for over 30 days as local, state, and federal officials have searched for Mollie, a rising sophomore at the University of Iowa,” she said. “Sadly, the individual believed to be responsible for the murder is an illegal immigrant, making this an unfortunate reminder of why we need to strengthen our immigration laws.”

Trump himself then joined in the spin, tweeting a video on Wednesday.

“A person came in from Mexico illegally and killed [Tibbetts],” he said in the video. “We need the wall, we need our immigration laws changed, we need our border laws changed, we need Republicans to do it because Democrats aren’t going to do it.

Some of Tibbetts’ grieving family members have voiced their objection to the blatant politicization of the young woman’s slaying.

“I don’t want Mollie’s memory to get lost amongst politics,” Tibbetts’ aunt Billie Jo Calderwood told CNN. “It’s not about race, it’s about people joining together to do good.”

But for Trump, the shift to an illegal immigration focus—in the Tibbetts case and outside of it—has proved a move he likes to make.

Though the GOP initially planned to run in the midterm elections on their tax bill and the robust economy, Trump has muddied the message discipline by repeatedly choosing to talk about illegal immigration instead.

Ever since the campaign, he’s brought up the wall at nearly every rally he’s had. He hosted a public event for the families of people slain by undocumented immigrants. He likes talking about MS13 and accusing Democrats of being weak on borders.

The discovery of Tibbetts’ body came on a day that the Trump administration desperately needed a distraction, and they used it repeatedly. But based on Trump’s actions so far, it will be far from the last time the President and his party leverage incendiary stories about undocumented immigrants to either deflect damage or rile up their voters for the midterms.
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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblo...mp-is-the-least-surprising-thing-in-the-world

Pecker Rolling on Trump Is the Least Surprising Thing In the World

Josh Marshall

The latest news is that National Enquirer chief David Pecker also “flipped” and agreed to cooperate in the Cohen/Trump case. This was pretty clear in the Cohen Information document, though it was not stated explicitly. For what it’s worth, this seems like the least surprising thing in the world.

If you read the Cohen Information, which is essentially the charging document, it makes clear that the Trump/Enquirer arrangement wasn’t just a friend keeping an eye out for his friend – the way the relationship and modus operandi had been portrayed in the media. It was a very specific arrangement: The Enquirer would troll for Trump-damaging stories, which there were obviously going to be a lot of, buy them and then sell them to Trump. The last part is key; and we didn’t know that until Tuesday. This wasn’t just being a pal. It was a specific, standing financial arrangement. The Enquirer would essentially act as a cut-out, buying stories on Trump’s behalf without the seller of the story knowing what was happening.

It was a great convenience. It’s obviously inherently difficult to Trump to purchase stories about his affairs from former mistresses or sex partners. Obviously he did that too. But in many cases it was going to be easier for the Enquirer to trick the sellers by making them think they were selling their story to a publisher rather than Trump.

It’s one thing to do something like this as an individual. But the Enquirer was doing this as a company, with multiple employees involved. Given the various ancillary crimes involved and the potential forother crimes that remain uncharged, that’s a big problem and a real threat to the company.

I see zero reason why Pecker would not turn on Cohen and Trump more or less immediately. He’s a big time operator in his own right. He definitely does not need this crap. There is potentially real legal jeopardy for him and AMI Media. And he may have more information to share than we yet realize.
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