Author Topic: Trump won't make Clinton's mistake  (Read 3409 times)

TheDrake

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Trump won't make Clinton's mistake
« on: January 23, 2018, 05:00:52 PM »
Clinton was a lawyer. Clinton tried to walk a careful fine line with his "meaning of the word is" sophistry.

Trump regularly coughs up statements contrary to established fact - whether you believe it is intentional or not, or how serious it is, or whether it matters at all. You can argue that he is often mistaken or engaging in hyperbole.

I very much doubt there is any scenario where he has a discussion under oath or otherwise. The odds that he can come up with a statement that could be disproven - whether as a partisan twisting of his intent or as a bold denial (like Clinton's), simply suggests there would be nothing in it for him. I don't believe he can be compelled.

Of course, we can't really know what he will do, since he seems to wax and wane on whether he is "100%" willing to talk under oath, or "we'll see what happens", or "it seems unlikely".

rightleft22

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Re: Trump won't make Clinton's mistake
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2018, 05:30:16 PM »
I had a great strategy for winning an eight-ball tournament. I sucked so bad I failed to make any shots, but I wasn’t so bad as to scratch. Eventually my opponent would scratch as my balls got in the way.
Trumps communication style is equivalent to not sinking any shots, the intent is to keep everyone off balance. Eventually a skilled player will come along and Trump will be seen for what he is. 

TheDrake

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Re: Trump won't make Clinton's mistake
« Reply #2 on: January 25, 2018, 02:17:42 PM »
Yesterday...

“I would love to do it, and I would like to do it as soon as possible,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I would do it under oath, absolutely.”[/quote]

scifibum

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Re: Trump won't make Clinton's mistake
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2018, 06:13:32 PM »
Luckily he never says anything untrue or breaks a promise.

TheDrake

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Re: Trump won't make Clinton's mistake
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2018, 02:51:39 PM »
Well, nobody tells Trump what to do. It is being reported that he's overriding all the sensible people around him and is eager to... ugh

I've been had again. It's just stupid CNN, which I forgot to verify anywhere else before I started writing.

Seriati

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Re: Trump won't make Clinton's mistake
« Reply #5 on: February 07, 2018, 03:05:15 PM »
There's just no good result from one of these interviews.  It's no mistake that "lying to the FBI" has been the charge in the two revealed indictments.  It's no mistake that Clinton's answers were pretty much always some version of "not to my recollection."

If he's going to do this interview, under oath or otherwise, I'd advise that he not given any definitive answer.  For all you know, they have two recordings that appear to conflict, and will use which ever one you don't endorse as proof of a lie. 

On the other hand, he's been deposed before, and I honestly don't believe he has anything to hide on the whole Russian manipulation point.

TheDrake

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Re: Trump won't make Clinton's mistake
« Reply #6 on: February 07, 2018, 04:24:36 PM »
There's just no good result from one of these interviews.  It's no mistake that "lying to the FBI" has been the charge in the two revealed indictments.  It's no mistake that Clinton's answers were pretty much always some version of "not to my recollection."

If he's going to do this interview, under oath or otherwise, I'd advise that he not given any definitive answer.  For all you know, they have two recordings that appear to conflict, and will use which ever one you don't endorse as proof of a lie. 

On the other hand, he's been deposed before, and I honestly don't believe he has anything to hide on the whole Russian manipulation point.

It's unclear if he's coachable. Certainly he's been deposed before, but in civil matters that can generally just become more negotiating if he weakens his case. The good that could come of it would come from full disclosure, not something that his staff have been very good at. They get caught in something and they quibble it away "that wasn't important" or "I forgot"

I have an electronic calendar going back years. If I were going to be deposed about people I met with, I'd scrub it down with a fine comb and name anything remotely relevant.

For Trump, he'd likely say, "I never discussed the matter in any way shape or form." Then you get Carter Page and others taking a plea and revealing "oh sure, we talked about it". Thus the "not to my recollection" or "not to my knowledge" boilerplate responses. That's not Trump's way of talking. Even if he were coached, I suspect based on some public interviews, he would chafe and get so irate everything would blow out the window.

Bill Clinton got caught in his trickery over whether the affair was past or present tense. As if anyone were asking as of right that moment. "No, I am not having sexual relations with that woman right this very moment."

But Trump has "one of the greatest memories of all time" and "the best words" - which doesn't leave a lot of room for "I forgot" or "I misunderstood".

He's randomly bragged that he met Putin in the past - recorded on Letterman and otherwise.

So have they met or not?

The only way out of that line of questioning is to admit that he was lying all those other times about meeting Putin to make himself look grand, or to admit that he had met a number of times and then have to enumerate them and what he discussed.

Seriati

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Re: Trump won't make Clinton's mistake
« Reply #7 on: February 07, 2018, 05:26:56 PM »
The other problem I have with that is the asking of irrelevant questions.  While it's not on Mueller to tell what he's investigating, it is on him to constrain himself to matters on which he's reasonably pursuing a crime.  This should not be a fishing expedition.

If the only charges that come out of such an interview are "lying to the FBI" charges, frankly I'm of the view that the whole prosecutorial team should be disbarred.

Wayward Son

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Re: Trump won't make Clinton's mistake
« Reply #8 on: February 08, 2018, 10:51:17 AM »
I, too, would be very angry if "lying to the FBI" are the only charges from this whole investigation.

But I strongly suspect that they are the plea deals that bought the cooperation of those charged, for information leading to, I expect, more serious crimes.  Which may be the reason Muller may ask questions that don't seem to be related to the investigation at hand...

TheDrake

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Re: Trump won't make Clinton's mistake
« Reply #9 on: February 08, 2018, 12:35:37 PM »
That was the only thing to come out of the Whitewater investigation, was it not?

And even less out of voluminous Benghazi testimony.