Trump, CPAC embrace Hungary’s authoritarian leader at Budapest conference
In a videotaped tribute Trump called Viktor Orbán “a great man”. He and “so many patriots in Hungary are proudly fighting on the frontlines of the battle to rescue Western civilization.”
Orbán greets Conservative Political Action Conference in Budapest
CNN: Orbán has centralized power by dismissing judges, changing election rules to favor his party, cracking down on charities he doesn’t like and appointing loyalists to once private institutions and companies. He tightened his grip on state media, reducing space for non-state journalists. He has promoted a Christian nationalist view of Hungarian society, passing laws restricting transgender rights and adoption by same-sex couples, redefining marriage in the constitution to only cover unions between a man and a woman, and banning materials related to LGBTQ issues in schools.
Steve Bannon described Hungary as “an inspiration to the world” and called Orbán “one of my heroes in the world today, in addition to President Trump.
MORE ON CNN: “The American right’s growing embrace of Orbán builds upon millions of dollars that his government has spent on lobbying in the US, and new connections between Hungarian and American conservative think tanks.”
Along those same lines, Cleveland’s Darcy opined in March
https://www.cleveland.com/darcy/2024/03/trump-orban-2024-darcy-cartoon.html
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Tuesday, former President and 91 felony count defendant Donald Trump clinched the GOP nomination for President. Friday he had hosted at Mar-a-Lago his de facto running mate, Viktor Orban, fellow puppet of Putin and Prime Minister of Hungary. Did they dine on devouring democracies? Orban is well on his way of doing that in Hungary.
Another Authoritarian sequel is now being made, to Ridley Scott’s Napolean, it’s called Trumpolean. But unlike Napolean’s battlefield conquests, Trumpolean gets deferments due to bone spurs and orange bronzer skin pealing.
Trump’s admiration of Orban follows his fandom of other Autocrats like Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and worst of all, Adolf Hitler. Trump’s former Chief of Staff, John Kelly is on the record recalling Trump more than once claiming “Hitler had done some good things.” Trump’s late ex-wife also wrote about him keeping a book on Hitler’s speeches bedside.
In addition to vowing to be a Dictator on day one, upon election, Trump, Orban said, has vowed to end U.S. aid to Ukraine. Orban has long opposed European Union and NATO aid to Ukraine.
The Grand Old Party of Lincoln has now desecrated Lincoln by nominating a 4-time indicted insurrectionist intent on desecrating this democracy following the likes of odious Orban.
colbert’s other news last night about Donald Von ShitzInPantz
While Donald Trump snoozes in court, his former lawyer Michael Cohen is mocking him on TikTok. Elsewhere, Governor Kristi Noem tried to explain away her puppy murder story, and another Boeing aircraft lost a crucial part mid-flight.
and kimmel goes on record
We are officially part of the record of the People vs Donald Trump, prosecutors entered into evidence a series of text messages between lawyers for Trump and Stormy Daniels about our show, Trump has been encouraging supporters to come to the courthouse and support him and was greeted by a single fan, he is very upset about reports that say he’s been sleeping during the trial, the courtroom sketch artist appears to hate him, today he tried to float the idea that because of the gag order he’s not allowed to testify, he played shows in Wisconsin and Michigan yesterday where he fired up the crowd telling them everything’s a disaster and America is dead, we have a new water pressure edition of Drunk Donald Trump, the state Senate in Arizona finally voted to repeal their antiquated and crazy abortion law from 1864, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem went on Hannity last night to do damage control after she revealed she shot her puppy, and This Week in Unnecessary Censorship.
A Failure of Imagination About Trump
American minds are not ready to think about how fast democracy could disintegrate.
By Tom Nichols — The Atlantic free link
Last call for Jockeys
Pat d – Fiercenesss, Just a Touch, Stronghold (Oaks, Tarifa & Leslie’s Rose)
IvyGreen – Dornoch
Jamie – Fierceness, Forever Young, Just a Touch
Renee – Fierceness
Pogo – Sierra Leone, Fierceness, Catching Freedom
Craig – Catching Freedom
Blue Bronc – Forever Young
Sturgeone – Forever Young
Dave B – Just A Touch
I like Forever Young cause that’s what everybody is; and because it’s one of the TOP FIVE—HIT PARADE—TOP ONE HUNDRED MINUS NINETY-FIVE best songs Dylan ever wrote. It’s a beautiful thing to say to a kid. So run hard, young horsie
Run hard.
You might win and you might lose, but hell—at least you got to race.
HOPE HICKS TAKING STAND NOW!!!
Ain’t every horse got its own song.
Just remembered Hope Hicks dated Corey Lewindowski before he dated Kristi Noem. Ewwww.
“Oh Sh*t
May 3, 2024 –
Are you incontinent? Does your family hate you? Is your lawyer testifying against you? Do you face decades in jail?Then is there ever a product for you! Trump Diapers allow you to spend hours in a freezing courtroom when the judge won’t let you use the restroom every time they scare the shit out of you.”
“This ad will run in West Palm Beach this weekend on NBC during the Kentucky Derby coverage and on FOX News Sunday morning. It will also run digitally at Mar-A-Lago.”
“We know Donald ‘Von ShitzInPants’ Trump will hate that this commercial is going to be seen by all his top donors this weekend as they do Apprentice-style tryouts with potential Vice Presidential picks,” said Rick Wilson, Lincoln Project co-founder. “He’s farting and falling asleep in the courtroom because he’s lost control of his faculties. When his donors see this ad, they will see him for what he is: weak and feeble.”
Diaper Don Von ShitzinPants
Preliminary, establishing questions for Hope Hicks right now. The key is whether she can say anything about his knowledge of the payments to Cohen as actually cover for payments to Stormy. Prosecutors have gotten a lot done to show the conspiracy narrative but they need to start nailing down proof of intent and knowledge on the false filing charges. But also be helpful if she can testify he did all this for the campaign, not to protect his family.
Hicks confirms Trump is a micro-manager, saying “We all just followed his lead” — counters defense narrative he was above the fray, left Stormy details to Cohen
All reports are Hick is so likeable on the stand, acknowledged shes “nervous”, and clearly not hostile to Trump. I’m wondering how defense handles cross if she is damaging. Won’t be easy, without backfiring.
Hicks fully confirms they were in panic mode over Access Hollywood tape, including Trump, and he was personally directing the response. Intended to support prosecutor claim this provoked Stormy payment, and Trump’s direct involvement.
white-supremacist Christo-fascism will look at lot worse in our multi-cultural American society that it does in Hungary
…a lot of state-sanctioned discrimination on basis of race, religion, and lifestyle in employment, education, and housing is what it will look like
(pardon me, Mr. C, i’m
following your trial live-blogging 👀 🫡)
It’s hard for the fray to be above the fray ain’t it?
Now she’s confirming the National Enquirer scheme. She remembers participating in phone calls with Trump and Pecker, including after the National Enquirer published a piece about Ben Carson and “medical malpractice” (the sponge left in brain lie) Hicks remembers Trump praising the reporting and telling Pecker it was “Pulitzer worthy;” she remembers a similar call after the Enquirer ran a story about Ted Cruz’s father and Lee Harvey Oswald. She remembers Trump praising Pecker for “great reporting.”
Before lunch break she confirmed Pecker told her they paid off McDougal, so far not much about Stormy. After lunch, she continues until trial day ends at 3:45, so might not be time for cross examination.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/03/uk/britains-conservatives-losses-local-elections/index.html
“Conservative losses were not exclusively gains for Labour. Parties across the political spectrum, including the new populist right-wing Reform UK, benefited from the Conservatives’ poor performance.”
*Is Reform UK just British MAGA?
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his party trail by a distance are correct. It also means that if a general election were held tomorrow, the opposition Labour Party would almost certainly win power. What these results don’t tell us is when the general election will take place. That decision rests solely in the hands of Sunak, who has until December 17 to call an election.”
“The advantage of a summer election, proponents say, is that Sunak can tell a better story than he has been able to for some time. His flagship immigration policy, under which asylum seekers are flown to Rwanda to have their claims considered there, is finally getting off the ground.”
“Earlier this week, the government sent out a press release celebrating that immigration officers had rounded up people destined for Rwanda. Photographs showing asylum seekers in handcuffs and being locked in the back of vans were met with mixed responses, but the intended message was clear: We are serious and our plan is working.”
*All asylum seekers are flown to Rwanda? Their “stop the boats” campaign is like “build the wall” and remain in Mexico.
Folks are fleeing wars and starvation, but they aren’t being met with Christian charity in countries that make so much of religion in their societies.
Well, it’s racism. I can’t imagine the Brit’s turning away a gaggle of Swedes.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/kristi-noem-meeting-kim-jong-un-book-1235014802/ “I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all).” *Ummm, she lied AND she implied the little, Christian children she taught were tyrants. “While Noem did take a trip to China with the committee in 2014, according to a North Korean expert interviewed by The Dakota Scout — Kim did not leave North Korea until 2018, almost a decade after assuming leadership of the nation.” “It’s difficult to believe that Noem confused Kim Jong Un with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but an imagined meeting with one of the world’s most notorious dictators isn’t the only international anecdote she may have fabricated.” _____ “While in Paris, I was slated to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron,” Noem also writes. “However, the day before we were to meet he made what I considered a very pro-Hamas and anti-Israel comment to the press. So, I decided to cancel. There is no place for pro-Hamas rhetoric.” “According to conversations between The Dakota Scout and Macron’s office, Noem at no point had a “direct invitation” to a meeting with the French president and there was no scheduled event involving the two on his calendar.” “According to conversations between The Dakota Scout and Macron’s office, Noem at no point had a “direct invitation” to a meeting with the French president and there was no scheduled event involving the two on his calendar.” ————- “I’m pretty sure I was just threatened by Nikki Haley. It was clear that she wanted me to know that there was only room for one Republican woman in the spotlight. It was weird,” Noem wrote. “…Haley spokesperson Chaney Denton told Politico. “She called Governor Noem in 2020 to encourage her when she was criticized for keeping her state open during Covid. How she would twist that into a threat is just plain weird.” “Despite the myriad issues plaguing Noem’s upcoming book — from puppy killing to invented anecdotes — the governor seems committed… Read more »
Michael Flynn tells Steve Bannon he has given it a lot of thought and consideration and he is now willing to serve as Trump’s running mate since the country needs him.
Video —
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1786457609693769898?t=-8jsR_HGGhsg46Xqut-36w&s=01
Hicks says Trump was concerned about effect of Wall Street Journal McDougal revelation on his wife, wanted to make sure the newspapers were not delivered to their residence that day
You don’t need to worry about Cruella DaKota (i feel like that’s a good one ⭐️): in a nation of dog-lovers, not even dipstick is dumb enough to put her on the ticket
Trump Flynn ’24 – the felony wing of the Republican party.
Hicks testified that she didn’t believe Trump when he claimed that Cohen paid off Stormy with his own money out of the kindness of his heart, she then began to cry shortly thereafter and the judge took a break in the trial.
Hicks on paying off Stormy: “It was Mr Trump’s opinion that it was better to be dealing with it now and that it would have been bad to have that story come out before the election”
Slam dunk?
Listening to the commentary from former prosecutors, they think the Dumbass trial is going as well as they could hope it could if they were litigating it and they should continue to keep things quick and crisp and get their witnesses an and off quickly.
Yep Pogo. Might be a case for applying the old prosecutor motto: Slim to Win!
They have proven intentional election interference, and Trump’s knowledge of the payments. Get the the false filings on the record, put Cohen on and rest the case.
I don’t see any need to complicate things and risk messy cross-examination by putting Stormy and McDougal on the stand.
Does Hicks saying he wanted the WSJ to be kept from his wife give any weight to the defendant’s claim?
I’m not sure I am buying the Hope Hicks reluctant witness in tears who still respects her boss routine. I think she went in there to sabotage him. So much of her testimony she did not have to say, could have kept it to herself without perjury. And she never said she couldn’t remember something as a witness protecting the principle might do.
This private text to a friend about Trump provoking/tolerating the riot, unearthed by the Jan. 6 committee, seems to me more like the real Hope Hicks:
She and Trump never spoke after that came out two years ago.
Anybody in his world who finally tells the truth — it’s either by accident or self serving
Hope’s revenge?
BlueID, yes the protect family defense got some support from Hicks. But the quick answer to that is you don’t have to falsify your business records to protect Melania.
Former Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissman (who was in court):
Craig, thanks, I appreciate your post and trial updates today. I’ve been out of the loop all day. Not loopy, just in an alternate loop. Looks like a lot happened today.
Hope Hicks is a trauma-bonded victim. It is a terrifying and painful ordeal to betray such a bond – in testifying against the abuser – as she did today. Her tears were real and were from fear; she’s still scared of the unknown repercussions, as she should be (or has every right to be.) The victim is loyal to the abuser but the abuser is never loyal to them.
As with all whistleblowers, it takes an unusual courage. Or duress.
When The Rise and Fall of the Trump Reich is finally written, it’s going to read a lot like its 1960 precursor by William L. Shirer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Third_Reich
Plumpty is a “bean counter.” With all of the beans that are being spilled, there’s many more that are still in the bag.
And he hates beaners.
https://slate.com/technology/2024/05/boeing-deaths-whistleblowers-suicide-rumors-foul-play.html
“Joshua Dean, 45, had worked for Spirit AeroSystems, a key subcontractor in the production of 737 Max airliners. He died Tuesday after suddenly becoming ill.
His death came less than two months after John Barnett, a 787 Boeing production-quality manager–turned–whistleblower, was found dead in his truck with a gunshot wound.”
“Dean and Barnett were two of many who challenged Boeing’s claim that the company really does put safety first. The fact that there’s speculation and worry brewing around their deaths, among people online and those closer to Boeing alike, is in and of itself a concern.”
“The two lawyers who represented Dean and Barnett are calling for thorough investigations. “We’re asking them to produce everything for us. Video and test results, autopsy, forensic testing. We’re asking for them to show the video at the hotel and the video of the police body cams,” Turkewitz said. “We want to make sure they did an honest investigation.”
Sami Sage (guest on 11th Hour) is trying to tell Stephanie Ruhle about the trauma-bond thing, but she’s not listening.
Thanks for the play-by-play commentary, Craig. I followed all day on MSNBC, and last night Lawrence O’Donnell just trashed Hicks for lying about Trump’s actions a couple times. Her crying jags are a mystery, too…phony or just real from nervousness and maybe shame. O’Donnell ripped her for just being a person born to wealth who declined to join forces to do good in the world and instead, standing with Trump in cases like separating kids and parents at the border. L.O.D. has a harsh opinion of her.
The Night Watchman hasn’t gone away. All’s well. 0322 AM, Derby Day.
Jamie: Dornoch for me, Jason Werth, ownership conglomerate.
NEW THREAD