Does the accusation of the 2016 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels by Donald Trump seek to shut down the former US president or catapult him directly to elections 2024?

Donald Trump, farther or closer to the White House?

By Raúl Antonio Capote

 

The New York court grand jury investigating the case of the 2016 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels by Donald Trump recently voted to indict him on criminal charges.

The indictment makes the former president the first former president to face criminal charges in U.S. history.

Michael D. Cohen, Trump's lawyer and troubleshooter who pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance violations in August 2018, admitted that he helped arrange the payment to Daniels, in addition to another payment to a former Playboy model, to help Trump's presidential bid, on Trump's orders.

The payment made to Daniels sought the actress' silence ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Faced with the Court's accusation, Trump's response was immediate: "Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history," he said in a statement, according to La Opinión.

Adored by extreme right-wing groups and followers of the most irrational conspiracy theories, Trump began his run for the Republican Party's candidacy for the presidency with low scores in the polls.

Some analysts even predicted his defeat against other opponents; however, in the face of the possible indictment by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the tycoon has climbed in the polls.  According to the Fox News poll, Donald Trump has doubled his lead over Ron DeSantis by 30 percentage points.

In view of the situation created, questions arise in many people.  Does the accusation seek to shut down the former president or catapult him directly to the elections?  Is it a matter of enforcing justice in the United States, for the first time, in the case of a former president?

It happens that when we take a look at the process we find several interesting elements.  It is true that when Trump was campaigning for the presidency, his team negotiated a confidentiality agreement with Daniels, in exchange for $130,000.  However, the payment to the actress was made by Michael Cohen, and he has testified that he obtained the money from his home equity line of credit and that the amount was later reimbursed to him, which can be well exploited by his lawyers.

Another element that may work in favor of the defendant is the lack of precedent.

For more than two centuries, presidents - even those who have been affected by scandals - while in office have had immunity from prosecution, even enjoying that privilege when they leave office.

In U.S. elections, marked by setbacks and low blows to opponents, many things can happen.  In addition, the 45th president of the United States is under indictment for possible crimes of insurrection, withholding classified documents and obstruction of justice in a national security case.

In the face of all that, being indicted for paying for the silence of a porn star doesn't seem so bad.

Source

America is now on its way to becoming a mendacious autocratic kakistocracy!

TRUMP BEYOND POLITICS:

By Gilbert Morris -

What we are witnessing - extended from the very beginning of the Republic - is a civil war.  One both within the Republican Party and one between that party as it will emerge and the Democrats.  Make not mistake, Paul Ryan and others - blind and spineless as they have been - haven't a clue about what a tiger they have latched onto.

Again, I am a free market, small government, self-help, strong military, balance-of-power realpolitik true believer; who believes in a green future, advance technology efficiencies and transparency in government.  I reject secrecy in government, love term limits, and believe in Main Street over Wall Street to use an American term.

I believe in the rule of law, and a strong well-funded police, and severe penalties for police officers who - using bias of any kind - abuses the public trust.

Above all, I believe in human value and the application of politics to secure the same; with a capacity for political ruthlessness, not because someone criticizes you, but when they employ resources seeking to undermine you and your office then prudence demands you release hell upon such vipers with unrelenting relish.

But this is not what is motivating the current political upheaval in America.

When I warned about Mr. Obama in May of 2008, many good friends - speaking kindergarten sweet sounding nonsense - told me I should "be positive".

I tell you now, Trump will not turn America around.  The economic numbers do not project it and his concept of the US economy is not merely wrong, but a 19th century concept.  Trade is NOT THE PROBLEM for America.  The problem is technology is eliminating jobs faster than they can be replaced.
It is telling that Mr. Trump has children in their 20s and 30s who should be able to speak on the impacts of technology; and yet not once have we heard from them a statement of the high tech digital future, environmental options for green energy development, sympathy for any distressed peoples or anything original or life-giving.

They seem cold and merely suckling on their father's businesses.  They are not partners with people like Elon Musk or Zuckerberg or the Google boys.  Nothing!  The central reason - I suspect - is those people I named are supremely talented, and are inventing the future, as Trump's children merely work in a business daddy created and have not between them advanced a single innovation we know of.

This does not mean they are not intelligent or even nice.  However it is telling, even if compared for instance with the young men of the same age that inherited the Fiat fortune in Italy; who by comparison are in innovation design, charities, arts and culture, breaking the mould.

What this means is there is no one to tell him differently, and one must not expect Giuliani or Gingrich - two men, whatever their talents - who live on the fringe of political lackydom and what they have not compromised in the venal personal lives, they have slaughtered in defending utter flaming bullshit for Trump.

Humans can become overwhelmed by moments and find in themselves in grace and power to make the world better.

Mr. Trump has a talent for self-promotion and to the extent that that has helped him produce nice very very shiny buildings, it always leaves a wreckage of abuse, broken contracts and cruelty behind it.

Then he uses media and the courts to muddy the situation until his victims give up.  That is his factual record.  Call it "good business" or "genius" if you like, but it is hucksterism and a hustler's ethic. Microsoft created over 1000 millionaires and a dozen billionaires, changed way of lives function; so did Google and certainly Apple.  Warren Buffet did so almost single handedly - giving $32 billion - 16 times Trump's net worth - in one go, when he began with nothing and Trump began with $40 million.

That is good business.

What you will have in a Trump administration is an ongoing Republican fight that has NOTHING to do with changing America, and people of the most divisive record and hateful deeds and language presented as managers of the levers of the American state over the very people they have demonized, vilified and marginalized.

I say, Hilary would have been awful in many ways, and many Democrats are as venal.

It does not take away that America is now on its way to becoming a mendacious autocratic kakistocracy!

From Gilbert Morris - Facebook

The crime against the Democratic Congresswoman

Reflections of Fidel

(Taken from CubaDebate)

AS is known, the state of Arizona, a territory that was snatched from Mexico by the United States together with many other expanses of land, has been the scene of painful events for the hundreds of Latin Americans who die trying to immigrate to the United States in search of work or to join parents, spouses or other close family members who are there.

In that country, it is they who do the hardest jobs and live under the constant fear of arrest and forced deportation. Despite drastic measures, the number of people dying in the attempt is growing every year and those expelled to their countries of origin annually are in the hundreds of thousands.

The number of U.S. citizens opposed to that abuse is also growing, like those who supported and, for the third time, elected the young Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

The state of Arizona is currently one of the richest in the United States on account of the minerals extracted there, especially copper and molybdenum; large-scale cotton and meat production, which utilizes huge expanses of its land; the beauty of its landscapes, including the Colorado River Grand Canyon, considered one of the loveliest on the planet, and one of the three major indigenous communities. The state is annually visited by 30 million national and foreign tourists. Approximately 30% of its population is of Hispanic-American origin.

On the other side, the Tea Party, constituted by the most reactionary and politically backward elements of society, is trying to drag the Republican Party into extremist and warmongering positions which, in the midst of the crisis and disappointment over the promises that Obama has not wanted or has been unable to fulfill, would take the country into the abyss. The relevant conclusions can de drawn from the debate that will obligatorily have to take place.

As for the state of the Congresswoman's health, the Spanish press website El Mundo, published:

"The bullet entered the back part of the Democratic congresswoman’s head, […] crossed the left hemisphere of the brain and exited the front. After a two-hour operation, in which they extracted the remains of the bullet, part of the dead cerebral tissue and approximately half of her cranium – which they have kept to re-implant later – surgeons at the Medical Center attached to the University of Arizona, Tucson […] are expressing ‘cautious optimism.’

"It would seem that the surgery went well, according to Dr. Peter Rhee, head of Traumatology at the hospital, who explained that, despite the patient being sedated and on a respirator, which means that she cannot talk, she has been able to communicate with gestures and respond to simple commands, ‘like squeeze a hand or raise two fingers,’ something which indicates the existence of ‘cerebral function.’"

"Dr. Francisco Villarajo, head of Neurosurgery at the Niño Jesús Hospital and La Luz Clinic and with experience in this kind of surgery, explained to El Mundo: ‘What is most dangerous for the congresswoman at this point is brain swelling, given that, in its passing, the bullet has taken with it portions of bone, which could result in inflammation. A risk that is further increased after surgery, as the area is highly sensitive.’"

I hope that world public opinion will learn clearly and precisely the real condition of the congresswoman as soon as possible. It is a matter of interest to everyone.



Fidel Castro Ruz

January 10, 2011

7:11 p.m.

Translated by Granma International

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