UnAmerican Official Presidential Act

File under huh?

Trump Campaign Multilevel Marketing

Today the USA learned: 

If Republican candidates use the Donald Trump’s name, image or likeness on any campaign advertisements, they need to deliver at least 5% of the money they raise back to their party boss' campaign.  

Donald Trump’s main 2024 White House campaign fundraising operation sharply increased spending at the former president's properties in recent months, funneling money into his businesses.

Trump's structured "conflict of interest" profit opportunities are worthy of admiration by the greed and leverage boys, otherwise known as private equity underwriters (PEU).

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  Trump is playing a sincere game of imitation.  Multi-level marketing schemes in politics...who'd have thought it possible?

"Honest Don" Launches the "Don-Don Bond"

The bond put up on behalf of former President Donald Trump by billionaire Don Hankey is "a promise to pay."  Hanky said "I probably didn't charge enough."  Hankey noted Trump provided collateral for the bond via cash in a brokerage account.  Experts say the Trump bond is nonsensical.

I can see Trump reneging on this.  "It wasn't a good bond. I'm not paying.  Ask him for the money."  

Trump did just that with his fellow Truth Social founders, suing them so he could have all the founder shares.  Trump alleges they mismanaged the business and should be stripped of their shares.  Anyone going into business with "Honest Don" should order a full body condom and wear it whenever in Trump's presence.  

Don Hankey is a billionaire in his own right.  He owns car dealerships and provides subprime auto loans.  Hankey is chairman of the board of Bone Biologics, holding nearly 240,000 shares in the company.

Both Trump and Hankey have ample assets as billionaires, so it is somewhat comedic the lengths which the parties have gone to in order to not post a traditional legal bond. 

The Don-Don Bond may hold water if it rests in a glass bowl.  

Update:  The court has rejected the original bond as submitted and the parties have until Monday to show something more substantial.

Update 4-15-24:  The Cayman Islands are worried that connections to the Trump bond may further damage their reputation.

Just as the Cayman Islands financial service industry took a step forward in improving its image by being removed from various grey or black lists, the islands’ reputation is taking another pasting in the American press.

The pasting is from the "Don-Don Bond."

Update 4-16-24:  The "Don-Don Bond" remains contentious.  

Add Another Lie to the Endless Scroll

Got several chuckles this past week from seeing "ethical bitcoin" and "honest Don."  

Oxymorons....both of them.

Update 3-24-24:  The Bible says the following about lying.

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Update 3-27-24:  Former President Trump is now hawking a King James version of the Bible with bonus material, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance.  A former Congresswoman suggested Trump read the passages on adultery.

Update 3-29-24:  When asked why powerful, conservative Red Team supporters won't speak out against Donald Trump, Anthony Scaramucci said "they probably don't like death threats."

Update 3-30-24:  "Lying Straight to Your Face Don" posted a video of a Biden effigy hog tied painted on the back of a pickup truck.  What, no truck nuts?

Update 4-2-24:  "Dastardly Don" Trump celebrated Easter by posting 70 messages on his Truth Social platform.  Don's messages of personal attack, retribution and ceaseless division feel like nails on the chalkboard of Christ's Gospel.

Update 4-3-24:  SEC filings show Truth Social "seeks to prevent illegal and other prohibited content from contaminating its platform. In accordance with Truth Social’s terms of service, illegal and prohibited content includes, but is not limited to, depictions or threats of violence, harassment, incitement of or threats of physical harm."

Update 4-5-24:  A number of former Trump officials vigorously oppose their former boss and are stridently warning against his return to power, offering dire predictions for the country and the rule of law if his campaign succeeds.

Update 4-11-24:  Comedian Jimmy Kimmel did a segment titled "Lying Don" last night:

It's Happening

How it happened then...

"At first, the love of money, and then that of power began to prevail, and these became, as it were, the sources of every evil. For avarice subverted honesty, integrity and other honorable principles and, in their stead, inculcated pride, inhumanity, contempt of religion and general venality. Ambition prompted many to become deceitful; to keep one thing concealed in the breast and another ready on the tongue; to estimate friendships and enmities, not by their worth, but according to interest; and to carry rather a specious countenance than an honest heart. These vices first advanced but slowly, and were sometimes restrained by correction; but afterward, when their infection had spread like a pestilence, the state was entirely changed, and the government, from being the most equitable and praiseworthy, became the most rapacious and insupportable." 

Sallust, Conspiracy of Cataline

And their love will grow cold.....

Saudis Reveal Gropebot

NYPo shared a story on a Saudi built robot.  It groped the female reporter after she called his name.  

Red Team's Hostile Takeover

The Republican National Committee has been acquired by the Trump campaign.  The hostile takeover resulted in mass firings, the installation of pet people and a trashing of old priorities in favor of "All Trump, All the Time."  Petty dictators love control and prize loyalty.  

RNC senior leaders are gone.  Lower ranking people were fired or told to reapply for their jobs.  The new guard wants a leaner, more aggressive operation, one that leverages political experience.

Dang, Americans get enough of this at work, especially if their employer has been taken over by a private equity underwriter (PEU).  

Do assholes have to run everything?  Apparently so. 

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.

Update 3-14-24:  The Red Team is divided amongst itself.  Less than half of House Republicans RSVP'd to an invitation for their annual retreat.  

Ken Paxton Lawless Lawman

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wants to replace elected judges and state representatives from his political party.  Their transgressions?  Asking for the law to apply to Paxton.

The judges in question applied the Texas Constitution, which specifies duties/responsibilities of the Attorney General's office.  Rather than change the Constitution to get the power Paxton desires, Ken wants to get rid of the judges who made the ruling.

Paxton is gunning for elected representatives who voted to impeach him for two indiscretions, an affair and accepting free home renovations from Nate Paul, an Austin private equity underwriter.  Paul employed Paxton's side dish and helped Ken get anonymous Uber rides to see her.

Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick joined Paxton in targeting Texas representatives for replacement.  Abbott visited several times recently to push his preferred candidate, who only speaks briefly at events.  

I want my local representatives to not accept whatever Abbott, Patrick and Paxton want carte blanche.  I want elected officials to act on significant ethical lapses, driven by hubris and political connections.  

The public has the chance to see Paxton's long term lack of character in two upcoming legal cases.  One is from attorneys in the Texas AG office who blew the whistle on Paxton's trading influence for personal benefits.  The other is a long delayed securities fraud trial.  

Paxton is not on the ballot but it is replete with Texas Triumvirate's political tampering.  I hope the Big Three's select candidate is sent packing on Tuesday.  That's my hope and my prayer.

Update 3-6-24:  Citizens in San Angelo and Abilene rejected the Abbott-Patrick-Paxton candidates in yesterday's primary election.  An answered prayer.

Biden's Memory is Voter Issue

The Special Counsel report recommended not charging President Biden for his retaining classified documents after leaving office.  It states:

“Given Mr. Biden’s limited precision and recall during his interviews with his ghostwriter and with our office, jurors may hesitate to place too much evidentiary weight on a single eight-word utterance to his ghostwriter about finding classified documents in Virginia, in the absence of other, more direct evidence."

“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

Poor memory is a common tactic used by CEOs and other powerful people under investigation.  Executive amnesia or boardroom fog has been employed by the likes of:

• BP CEO Lord John Browne after a Texas City refinery explosion killed 15 workers and injured 180.
• Ivanka Trump during the investigation of tax fraud by The Trump Organization
• BP CEO Tony Haywood after the Deepwater Horizon exploded killing eleven people and causing the Gulf Oil Spew

Ghislaine Maxwell could not recall even a single flight on Epstein's private jet with Jeffrey Esptein accuser Virginia Giuffre.

Biden's poor memory in an investigative interview should not alone be reason for concern given its widespread use by influential, powerful people.  That said, Biden's protest may trigger something in families that dealt with Alzheimer's disease or dementia.  

How many people have heard in a raised voice "my memory is fine" or something similar?  

Americans vote on their lived experienced.  Powerful people avoiding responsibility is an everyday occurrence in our country.  Returning an angry elderly man with poor memory to the White House is altogether different deal  

Update:  Blue Team Rep. Adam Smith said Biden’s address to the media was “not the way you want to do it.”

Update 2-16-24:  As for memory problems in investigative cases the judge in Trump's civil fraud trial said of Ivanka:

"Despite being presented with ample emails and other documentary evidence demonstrating the critical role she played in the negotiation, Ms. Trump professed to have no memory of any of the events of the loan negotiation or the agreed upon terms." 

"But the court found her inconsistent recall, depending on whether she was questioned by OAG or the defense, suspect."

Need Break from "Cam Pains"

Former President Donald Trump lives in his own world, one apparently unaffected by legal cases or restitution judgements, which amount to $88 million for E. Jean Carroll.  HuffPo reported:

“Are you thinking of potentially trying to use campaign funds to pay some of the penalties?” a reporter asked the former president at a news conference following his meeting with Teamsters Union leaders in Washington, D.C.

“What penalties?” Trump asked. 

“In the New York fraud cause and the defamation case,” the reporter replied. 

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” said Trump. “I mean, that’s been proven as far as I’m concerned.” 

He claimed that “actually, we won in the court of appeals.”

It's time to turn off the doddering old rivals, Trump and Biden.  The public does not want a rematch but public will rarely drives political organizations.  

We may have to suffer a rematch of the 2020 election but I can wait at least six months before tuning in again.   Maybe, I'll rejoin the race after Labor Day.  That's about the time Trump pretended to be presidential in the last battle.

Trump's insatiable need for adulation and revenge became rancid long ago.  Biden needs to look in the mirror and realize the job no longer fits a man of his age, however connected he may be to society's power structures.

I can't count on Red or Blue political teams to deliver new candidates but I can ignore their respective coronations.  

Update:  Trump disagrees with the DC District Court that refused to grant him King George like privileges.

AI Already Impacting 2024 Race to Bottom

Early adopters of artificial intelligence (AI) include criminals and political campaigns.  A New Hampshire robocall with President Biden's voice encouraged voters not to go to the polls for the Democratic primary.

AI has been used to scam people, steal their passwords, commit fraud and launder money.  

Meanwhile the two people Americans don't want running again have big leads in both political parties.  Please tell me it's just a simulation...

Update 1-25-24:   Fake Taylor Swift porn is the latest AI garbage to flood the internet on X/ex-Twitter.  Trolls should consider Swift took on Carlyle and won.  I'll venture there are far more Swifties than trolls.  It should be an interesting battle and a monumental waste of societal resources.  

Subzero Trump

 USA Today reported his exact words.

"You can't sit home," Trump said. "If you're sick as a dog … even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it."

That's how little your life matters to Donald Trump.