W. Niederhut

Ben, This MAGA pearl-clutching about Trump's Stormy Daniels hush money case is simply astonishing. Let's think for a moment about Donald Trump's brazen hypocrisy. Do you remember when Donald Trump brought some of Bill Clinton's former sex partners/accusers to one of his debates against Hillary Clinton in 2016? At the time, Trump was simultaneously paying off Stormy Daniels to remain quiet about their affair! And, at the time, Fox News-- Trump's Ministry of Propaganda-- buried the Stormy Daniels story.

Ron, I think I have discovered why Trump's Waco crowd was so subdued. 🤥

Belzer's source for the De Mohrenschild murder is Mark Lane. (op.cit.)

Jonathan, Mark Lane noted at the coroner's inquest that the audio tape indicated that an intruder had entered the house (triggering a security alarm) shortly before De Mohrenschildt was murdered. See Hit List. Sky Horse. (2013) Richard Belzer & David Wayne. pp. 236-37.

Chris, Stop hijacking our thread with your puerile, deflective ad hominem nonsense. Lisa Morgan was never the source of my psychiatric observations about Trump's use of stage hypnosis techniques-- something that I first mentioned long ago in the context of reviewing George Estabrooks 1943 Hypnosis textbook. I merely referenced Morgan as a person who has, apparently, written a book on the subject. If you want to read and review Morgan's book, by all means, get back to us with your findings. But don't spam this thread with Trumplicon YouTube videos and erroneous attacks on forum members. If you do, your posts should be removed to one of the designated MAGA threads.

No hijacking/MAGA spam allowed on this thread, Chris. Incidentally, if people study the history of the 56 Years thread, they will discover that you were the original MAGA spammer/highjacker on that thread. You started posting moronic, non sequitur right wing memes about Joe Biden on the 56 Years thread in 2020-- even before Ben Cole and Mathew Koch started swamping that thread with MAGA spam.

Yes, David, talk about your schadenfreude. It's a pleasure to watch Trump mock Rupert Murdoch's favorite 2024 GOP Presidential candidate. Murdoch and his Fox talking heads have been fluffing Anti-Woke Fox hero Ron DeSantis for the past three years. As for Steve's post today, I confess that I am one of those who has utterly failed to recognize Marjorie Taylor Greene's "brilliance." I'm picturing a 2025 Trump Cabinet with MTG as Secretary of State, Ted ("I Want My Money Back") Nugent at Defense, and Lauren Boebert as Secretary of Education... 😂

Pedophile pants-soiling draft-dodger Ted Nugent kicks off today's Trump rally in Waco by calling Ukrainian President Zelensky a "homosexual weirdo." He's an ideal spokesman for the Trump 2024 campaign. And notice that Nugent still hasn't figured out that Trump and Pompeo surrendered to the Taliban at Doha in 2020. He "wants his money back." 🙄

Two other references on the subject are Gary Sick's 1991 book, October Surprise, and former Reagan/Bush staffer Barbara Honegger's 1989 book of the same title. Oliver Stone, reportedly bought the move rights to Gary Sick's book. October Surprise: America's Hostages in Iran and the Election of Ronald Reagan https://www.amazon.com/October-Surprise-Americas-Hostages-Election/dp/0812919890/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2DQZ4007WJGTM&keywords=october+surprise+book&qid=1679763618&sprefix=October+Surprise%2Caps%2C389&sr=8-1 October Surprise https://www.amazon.com/October-Surprise-Barbara-Honegger/dp/0944276466/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2DQZ4007WJGTM&keywords=october+surprise+book&qid=1679763820&sprefix=October+Surprise%2Caps%2C389&sr=8-4

The GHWB/William Casey "October Surprise" in 1980 deserves an Education Forum thread or board. It is back in the news this week, because of Ben Barnes, and Jon Schwarz at The Intercept just published a good review article. A SHORT HISTORY OF EVERYONE WHO CONFIRMED REAGAN’S OCTOBER SURPRISE BEFORE THE NEW YORK TIMES A lot of people beyond Ben Barnes have said that Reagan’s 1980 election campaign conspired to keep American hostages in Iran. Everyone Who Confirmed Reagan’s October Surprise on Iran (theintercept.com) March 24, 2023

Mark nailed it. I will only add that the recent Republican efforts to re-define JFK and RFK as heroes of the MAGA-verse are simply ridiculous. It is true that the Kennedy brothers sought to reign in the Deep State, and were murdered as a result, but, ideologically, they had very little in common with the 21st century right wing, militant, anti-woke, anti-government Trumplicons of the MAGA-verse. This revisionist Republican history began with the 2017 Trump/Fox propaganda narratives to blame Trump's misconduct on the "Deep State." And let's recall that Tucker Carlson said nothing when Trump nixed the release of the JFK records in 2017 and 2018.

Chris, What opinion? If you read my original post referencing Lisa Morgan, I never claimed that she was a psychologist, psychiatrist, or academician. I have attended only one stage hypnosis show in my life, (in Mexico circa 1973) and the hypnotist-- not a mental health professional-- was quite skilled, IMO. I have directly observed some Trump rallies (on television) since 2016, and I independently observed Trump's use of some of the hypnosis techniques Morgan has, apparently, described. I never read her book. As for Trump's cult rally in Waco today, historian Heather Cox Richardson published this yesterday in her Letters From an American... "Tomorrow, Trump will hold a rally in Waco, Texas, where a 1993 government siege to extricate the leader of a religious cult who witnesses said was stockpiling weapons led to a gun battle and a fire that left seventy-six people dead. Although a Republican investigation cited “overwhelming evidence” that exonerated the government of wrongdoing, right-wing talk radio hosts jumped on the events at Waco to attack the administration of Democratic president Bill Clinton. Rush Limbaugh stoked his listeners’ anger with talk of the government’s “murder” of citizens, and Alex Jones dropped out of community college to start a talk show on which he warned that the government had “murdered” the people at Waco and was about to impose martial law. After the Waco siege the modern militia movement took off, and Trump is clearly using the anniversary to tap into domestic violence against the government to defend him in advance of possible indictments."

This is classic ad hominem garbage, Chris-- posting a YouTube video in lieu of discussing the specific observations of the author about Trump's use of stage hypnosis techniques. It belongs on your MAGA Water Cooler board. Have you read Lisa Morgan's book about Trump? Tell us what she has written about the subject of my post.

This white powder could turn out to be corn starch for all I know-- but I do believe that Trump's latest calls for violence are another example of what some have referred to as "stochastic terrorism"-- random, unpredictable acts of violence within a population that are caused by the incendiary rhetoric of demagogues. If this is legal behavior, we need to pass laws against stochastic terrorism. I believe that the El Paso Walmart Massacre was an act of stochastic terrorism, precipitated by the incendiary rhetoric of Donald Trump and Fox News.

Leslie, It's an interesting subject-- Trump and hypnosis. Some of our forum members got very angry at me a while ago (on my George Estabrooks thread) for suggesting that Trump uses stage hypnosis techniques during his mass rallies. I haven't read author Lisa Morgan's book about Trump's use of hypnotic techniques, but I have observed some of his rallies in which people seemed to be switching into trance states. Once they are in trance states, Trump typically makes hypnotic suggestions to his fans, and even asks for pledges of loyalty and obedience. Comply with Me: Trump's Hypnosis Toolkit Exposed: Morgan, Lisa: 9781916346017: Amazon.com: Books Here's an article from 2021 on the subject on Trump, hypnosis, and Lisa Morgan's book. Donald Trump's 'hypnotic handshake' and 'secret weapon' he uses to win people over - Mirror Online

Trump is losing his marbles. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton has a question... 🤥

Dear Guest, Thanks for posting your decidedly erroneous opinion about the (original) 56 Years thread in the context of your history of voting twice for Donald Trump and your "remaining a firm Trump supporter." That speaks volumes about your perceptions and judgments about American history and politics. I'm always wary of people who refer to Democrats as "leftists"-- although, to your credit, at least you didn't refer to us in hyperbolic Trump-ian terms as, "the radical left." 🙄 Most Fox News-watching Trumpsters in America today consider anything left of right field to be "leftist." Yet, many Democrats are centrists or slightly left of center. I was discussing this subject a few years ago on a different forum, and I took a few minutes to rate my political views on the Political Compass test. I was surprised, as an alleged "radical leftist," to find that I scored very close the exact center on the Political Compass (ever so slightly left of center.) Where are you on the Political Compass? The Political Compass As for the 56 Years thread, I consider myself to be a reasonably good judge of academic quality. It was an excellent thread for a long time, before it got swamped with Fox/MAGA spam in 2022.

Are these kind of racist public threats against a DA legal? It's appalling to see Trump engaging, with impunity, in this kind of felony-menacing-by-proxy.

With the burgeoning alliance between the ayatollahs and the dictators Putin, Xi, and Kim Jong Un, our Putin apologists no longer need to worry about democratic "full spectrum dominance." (The Totalitarian Asian Axis of Gulags, exfiltration, and civilian bombings is another matter.) Hopefully, the Putinistas will eventually overcome their confirmation biases and learn more about the grim realities of Putin's FSB police state.

And WaPo reports that Trump has collected $1.5 million in the past three days from his "imminent arrest" fund raiser.

It looks like this thread is now the last refuge on the Education Forum for informed (and satirical) commentary by Douglas Caddy and our original 56 Years thread community. I would like to explicitly request, at the outset, that the administrators not allow Benjamin Cole, Mathew Koch, et.al., to hijack this thread with MAGA spam, (e.g., Daily Caller, Fox/Tucker Carlson, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, et.al.) as they hijacked our other community discussion threads. Ben has, apparently, harangued the administrators into shutting down or banishing our other EF community discussion threads (56 Years, Trump Links, etc.) Going forward, let Ben confine his posts to his own MAGA Water Cooler threads. That said, historian Heather Cox Richardson has published an incisive summary of Trump's historic case in NY this week. Worth reading. LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN Open in app or online March 22, 2023 HEATHER COX RICHARDSON MAR 23 SAVE ▷ LISTEN This week, news has been focused on the former president’s possible indictment for paying $130,000 in hush money to adult film performer Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their 2006 affair before the 2016 election. The information currently being thrown about has been shaped by Trump himself and is obviously suspect (among other things, he has apparently raised $1.5 million since he claimed he would be arrested on Tuesday). Although Republican lawmakers have no more idea than any of the rest of us do what the Manhattan grand jury might have seen, or what charges might be brought against Trump, they have tried to gloss over the scandal by claiming it is about a non-disclosure agreement or that it happened seven years ago or that its investigation is “a political witch hunt perpetrated by one of the far left radical socialist district attorneys,” as Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said. But as journalist Aaron Rupar and Noah Berlatsky explained today in Public Notice, the payment was a big deal in the larger scheme of American democracy. Trump bought Daniels’s silence because he was willing to break laws in order to get elected. Then–Trump fixer Michael Cohen paid Daniels for her story in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement. Cohen testified that he paid her through a shell company to keep Trump’s connection to the payment hidden. Then Trump reimbursed Cohen for “legal fees.” That’s a problem with regard to business filings and tax fraud. It is also a problem for the campaign finance laws intended to protect clean elections. Cohen’s payment was a contribution to the Trump campaign because it was made “in order to influence the 2016 presidential election.” The payment was intended to make sure voters didn’t hear another sex scandal in October 2016, just after the Access Hollywood tape came out in which Trump talked vulgarly about sexually assaulting women, when it might have hurt his chances at election. The $130,000 contribution was far above the individual limit of $2,700, and the Trump campaign did not disclose it. This is not small potatoes. When the issue came to light, Cohen pleaded guilty for his role in the payments, and he was sentenced to three years in prison. Cohen testified that he made the payments at Trump’s direction. This is also not an isolated incident. Trump has proved himself more than willing to cheat to win elections. In the 2020 presidential election season, before he tried to overthrow the election altogether, he tried to strong-arm Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky into announcing an investigation into the son of the Democratic candidate about whom he was most worried: Joe Biden. Trump knew that the media would run with an announcement of an investigation, wounding Biden’s candidacy by keeping the story in the news even without any real investigation behind it. The Trump campaign had done much the same thing in 2016. According to the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee, which investigated the ties between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives, Trump’s people were willing at the very least to work alongside Russian operatives to weaken Trump’s Democratic opponent, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Trump campaign also boosted Trump’s standing in the 2016 election season with the recurring refrain of the investigation into Secretary Clinton’s emails, convincing voters—falsely—that she had committed crimes. The pending issue of the hush-money payment is not just about 2016, and it is not just about Trump. That today’s Republican leaders have not condemned any of his attempts to cheat speaks volumes about the party. As Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) pointed out today, when “Cohen was arrested, indicted, convicted, and went to prison for participating in an illegal hush money payment scheme to Stormy Daniels, not a single Republican leader complaining now said a thing about what happened to Michael Cohen.” So why the rush to defend Trump in the same case? It appears Republicans have gotten to the point that they don’t believe they can win a free and fair election, and in their conviction that Democrats will destroy the country, they believe cheating to win is justified. They cannot condemn Trump because he delivered what they wanted: a victory. In a democracy, the way parties are supposed to win elections is by making a better case for being in power than their opponents do. Losing elections is supposed to make leaders think deeply about how better to appeal to voters. That system keeps all parties constantly honing their policies, thinking through problems, benefiting their constituents. Our election laws are designed to try to hold the playing field level, and a party should want to keep the system fair in order to keep itself healthy. But if a party is willing to cheat to win, it no longer has to work on policies that appeal to voters; it can simply game the system to dismantle the competition on which democracy depends and instead create a one-party state. There are many legal problems in Trump’s front yard these days. Some, like his theft of documents with markings bearing the highest level of classification and his attempt to overturn the Georgia results for the 2020 presidential election, are heating up fast, and their significance is clear. But for all that the case we are currently hearing so much about seems less serious on its face than the other things charged to Trump's account, a hush-money payment to silence someone whose story might have affected the 2016 election is no laughing matter.

Dear Colleagues, I owe the forum a sincere apology. It has come to my attention that the man fleeing from the police in a golf cart in the above photo is not, in fact, former President Donald Trump. Apologies, again, for interrupting this endlessly engrossing debate about the putative martyrdom of MAGA spammer Mathew Koch. Mr. Koch's gallant defenders have raised an important question-- Should spam be removed from the menu merely because it is unpalatable? NOTE: THIS THREAD WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE "FREE SPEECH"/JFKA FORUM THREAD BUT HAS BEEN MOVED BY THE ADMINISTRATORS TO THE GOVERNMENT/ POLITICAL DEBATES BOARD

Thread transferred out of context.

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