The Fruit of the Tree

Matt wrote in 7: 15-20 that a tree is known by its fruit.
Behold the fruit of the Trump tree as depicted by and further described in Trump sons on the stand: Darcy cartoons – cleveland.com


Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump took the stand in the trial of the Trump organization for fraudulent appraisals.Jeff Darcy

and

Don Jr. mistaking G.A.A.P. accounting standards for the GAP clothing chain.Jeff Darcy

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Sturgeone
1 year ago

They’re winning…….if only because after all this they haven’t lost yet.

🎵🎶. Fiddle De dee.

craigcrawford
1 year ago

Some scary stuff going on in Trump world plans for another term. NYT and WAPO have recently laid it out.

NYT: “Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025The former president and his backers aim to strengthen the power of the White House and limit the independence of federal agencies.”

Washington Post: “Trump and allies plot revenge, Justice Department control in a second term. They are circulating plans to deploy the military to quell unrest in response to plans many critics call dangerous and unconstitutional.” 
https://wapo.st/49mZXWU

Trump’s transition team has a website detailing the takeover plans. Voters can’t say they couldn’t have known:
https://www.project2025.org/policy/

This is how autocrats take over governments and end democracy. Trump’s idol in Hungary is a good example. Initially Orban got elected (with Putin’s help) to “reform” government. Voters didn’t know that meant creating a dictator and by the time of the last election his opponent wasn’t allowed media coverage because Orban now controls the media.

Sturgeone
1 year ago

An all out assault on democracy includes use of media…..and polls.

Blue Bronc
1 year ago

There is something that I have not heard in years, many years, going back to sometime in the Obama administration, assassination attempts.  Is there some embargo on letting anyone know if there has been one by the Secret Service?  I cannot imagine someone or some group has not tried to toss a bad french fry in the orange bloats fry pile. Or a flat tire on President Biden’s bicycle.

craigcrawford
1 year ago

Now we’ve got at least two of the best Dem strategists around saying Biden should step aside, Carville and now David Axelrod, responding to yesterday’s NYT poll showing him behind in battleground states:

On X: “It’s very late to change horses; a lot will happen in the next year that no one can predict & Biden’s team says his resolve to run is firm. He’s defied CW before but this will send tremors of doubt thru the party–not “bed-wetting,” but legitimate concern. … The President is justly proud of his accomplishments. Trump is a dangerous, unhinged demagogue whose brazen disdain for the rules, norms, laws and institutions or democracy should be disqualifying. But the stakes of miscalculation here are too dramatic to ignore. … Yes, there also is risk associated with changing course now, as there is little time left for a primary campaign–and campaigns are how we test candidates. But there is a lot of leadership talent in the Democratic Party, poised to emerge.”

On CNN: “As I’ve said for like a couple years now, the issue’s not — for him is not political, its actuarial. You can see that in this poll and there’s just a lot of concern about the age issue, and that is something I think he needs to ponder. Just do a check and say, ‘Is this the right thing to do?’ Is this the best path? I suspect that he will say yes, but time is fleeting here, and this is probably the last moment for him to do that check, and it’s probably good if he does”

Sturgeone
1 year ago

Well, I’ll be darned. It’s deja vu all over again.   

blueINdallas
1 year ago

Honestly, if POTUS Joe weren’t running, the only Dem that I can see everyone coalesce around is Michelle Obama.    
 
The Dem bench is deep; Elizabeth Warren, Pete B, Amy K, Jon Ossoff, etc., but not everyone will be on board.

What does any other candidate offer that’s different than Biden?  Exactly.   It’s just ageism, folks. 
 
Biden/Harris 2024

Bink
1 year ago

Well, I’ll be darned. It’s deja vu all over again.   

A whole year more of this, too! 

Pogo
1 year ago

Presidential meme for today:

Pogo
1 year ago

Judge Engoron isn’t amused.  WaPo.

Before a break in the proceedings, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron suggested that he might remove former president Donald Trump from the witness stand if Trump did not adhere to court rules by answering questions directly.
 
Shortly after that warning, Engoron raised his voice to a pair of Trump lawyers, Christopher Kise and Alina Habba, when they stood up to argue that the former president should be able to make his case without restriction. Kise said the civil business fraud trial is a “unique situation” that calls for Trump to have leeway to elaborate.
 
“Mr. Kise, Ms. Habba, sit down!” Engoron said, his voice booming through the gallery.
 
Trump appeared exasperated as he waited for the legal bickering to end. Then, unprompted, Trump used the witness stand as a platform to gripe.
 
“This is a very unfair trial. Very, very. And I hope the public is watching,” he said.
 
Engoron said that if he removed Trump from the stand, he might find “negative inferences” against Trump on the subjects of the examination by Kevin Wallace, an attorney with the New York attorney general’s office.
 
A negative inference can be made when a person on the witness stand fails to provide their expected evidence or testimony. It allows the court to presume that the individual avoided providing evidence or testimony because it was unfavorable to one of the parties.
 
“I beseech you to control him if I can’t,” Engoron said to Kise. “If you can’t, I will excuse him and draw any negative inference that I can.”
 
After the break, Trump returned to the courtroom and, at least initially, gave more direct answers to the questions he was asked.

But it is still early in the day.

Bink
1 year ago

deja vu

IvyGreen
1 year ago

He needs to be locked up. 

IvyGreen
1 year ago

He should not be allowed to get away with this. It’s a bad example for the kids. 

Blue Bronc
1 year ago

Wrapping up with the orange moron coming soon I am looking forward to the Ivanka testimony.  Is the judge going to provide punishment from the bench?  That would be fun, “hey stupid, you can’t be in NY anymore.  Go away, and by the way leave the keys with the bailiff.”

Sturgeone
1 year ago

Commandments 
 

craigcrawford
1 year ago

Dramatic change in that NYT battleground poll when asked about conviction. Same poll, same respondents who gave Trump the lead without the conviction factor.

Bink
1 year ago

This guy articulates everything i’d rather not on a phone keyboard:

“Hey Democrats, Let’s Have a Serious Talk About Joe Biden
A New York Times poll shows Biden trailing Trump in five of six major swing states. Time to panic? Yes, sort of!

Michael Tomasky
November 6, 2023“

https://newrepublic.com/article/176670/new-york-times-poll-biden-trump-democrats-tough-conversations

“For my part? I think Biden has been a great president. All—and I mean all—of my good friends agree. They all might not use the word “great,” but they’d concur that his accomplishments have been beyond expectations. He passed bipartisan bills on which Republicans agreed to spend money on public investments. He stood with autoworkers as they got their best contract in recent history. He’s been stalwart on abortion rights since Dobbs. His leadership on Ukraine has been, at times, nothing short of inspiring. My friends and I are more mixed on his handling of the current Middle East crisis, but that’s an almost impossible situation that isn’t his fault, and at least his current position in support of a two-state solution and for Israel to abandon the status quo in Gaza (or make it worse) is the right one. But overall, the assessments of him are very positive.

But the disgruntlement obviously isn’t limited to foreign affairs. Of course, it’s partly inflation. The inflation rate is way down. And those of us who read economic reports know that when it was bad, it was worse in the EU, and it largely wasn’t Biden’s fault (it was pandemic-related supply chain issues). But most people don’t understand that; they just know that their kids’ cereal went from $4.89 to $6.19.”

“Then there’s the border. And crime. Those two issues really lead us into a discussion about the media, because what we have in this country, as I’ve written repeatedly, are two medias—a mainstream media and a right-wing media—and they are not remotely balanced. That is, the mainstream media report on Biden’s victories and setbacks in the traditional way of Western journalism, while the right-wing media savage him every single day over every single thing.”

Bink
1 year ago

…the most important point:

 
The problem in sum is this: We are staring down the business end of a massive chasm between the way high-information liberal voters and lower-information swing voters see Biden, like nothing we’ve ever seen in modern politics.

-from same Tomasky piece

craigcrawford
1 year ago

Bink, that is some keen analysis by Tomasky. Every time I think about Biden’s situation I get around to yearning for the Eisenhower vibe: competent and steady, boring and old but, darn it we really like him.

IvyGreen
1 year ago

“The road apple doesn’t fall far from the horse’s patootie.”

Sturgeone
1 year ago

Sturgeone
1 year ago

At 19 minutes in, Old Berman addresses those polls.
Many salient points.