this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2024
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Donald J. Trump plans to hold a “general news conference” on Thursday afternoon at his private club and home, Mar-a-Lago, the first such event he has held in months.

Mr. Trump announced the event on his website, Truth Social, on Thursday morning.

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[–] [email protected] 94 points 1 month ago (3 children)

It would be hilarious if he was dumping Vance from the ticket, but I have a hunch this will be something racist - maybe he’s going to accuse Kamala of not being American and we’re going to have to deal with a whole Birtherism 2.0 “movement”

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 month ago (1 children)

we’re going to have to deal with a whole Birtherism 2.0 “movement”

AKA BM 2.0

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Damn - I totally blew the opportunity for BM #2

😭

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I suspect he's dropping out on some pretense, now that the campaign stopped being fun. If there is any chance in hell he could get a deal to get his sentence(s) commuted, I think he'd do it in a heartbeat.

[–] [email protected] 69 points 1 month ago (2 children)

His dropping out seems very unlikely. Not impossible by any means, but unlikely. He doesn't seem like the person who's capable of admitting defeat, especially considering his legal troubles

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I agree, and I think we're working from the same priors. I just have a funny little hunch.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Heh, I get it. Let's see what happens – I'd certainly enjoy the chaos that Trump dropping out would cause. Republicans would go fucking nuts

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think if Trump was projected to lose by an embarrassing margin - I'm talking like 75-25 - he might prefer trying to weasel out of having a legitimate devastating loss on official record. That's not happening though with how big his base is, and with the electoral college being the way it is he is still probably favoured to win - though yes the polls are slipping.

Regardless, I can't see him dropping out now.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think if Trump was projected to lose by an embarrassing margin - I’m talking like 75-25 - he might prefer trying to weasel out of having a legitimate devastating loss on official record.

No way. Trump would just use that as "proof" that the election was rigged. In his mind there is no way people wouldn't vote him into office, so any scenario where he loses, his narcissism would force him to claim there was election malfeasance .

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

He is still in quite a bit of legal jeopardy. I highly doubt he would drop out knowing that some lawsuits have only been held at bay due to the position of power a presidential candidate and the godhead of a cult has.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Not that I believe this is the case AT ALL, but to further this line of thought:

If he was dropping out, it would be because he's already got the party machine going on a new (guaranteed) nominee who would have already promised to pardon trump (and this promise would be assured by some damning fact trump could use as an assurance)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

He won't. The only reason he is running this time is to stay out of jail though I think.

If he drops out, I guarantee he's going to be doing a runner shortly after.

It's more likely he'll use this event to set up things for a civil war

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

0% chance. Narcissists cannot admit defeat.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Can he dump Vance at the moment though? The RNC has already voted and he's already been certified as the VP candidate.
I know Vance could step down and Trump could appoint a new VP, but I'm not sure that Trump has the ability to "fire" him.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

I know Vance could step down and Trump could appoint a new VP, but I’m not sure that Trump has the ability to “fire” him.

Trump would be the type to announce he's firing Vance so he can be The Strong Man™ but it would in reality have to be Vance stepping down. It all works out to be the same result though.

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[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I'm sure it'll be tactful, thought-provoking, revealing, humorous, witty, intelligent, factual, and memorized word-for-word to be recited ala Churchill, JFK, MLK et al for centuries to come.

PS - 'shrooms for sale! DM for info.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

No lies even!

[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Prediction: he's going to announce he's selling golden Trump brand dildos so everyone can go fuck themselves.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

"golden" dildos, at $1000. But if you opt for the "I've always supported you, and believe all your lies" version for $100,000 you can get the ultra special trump bucks dildo, modeled off your savior trump's dick itself*. (*Note: all special versions are the same as the regular, any and all payments are recurring subscriptions and cannot be cancelled except in person)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Why is mine tarnishing? Is this even real gold?

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 month ago (3 children)

"Why aren't you all paying attention to me anymore?"

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

Realistically, no matter what the topic is, this is the core problem.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

My diaper's full and I need changing! 🧷

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Harris should hold a town hall at the exact same time....

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Is it to claim that he has really important news about Kamala’s birth certificate and he’ll be sharing it at a later date?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

But what about the long form birth certificate? /s

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago
  1. Rant and rave about nonsense for an hour (given)

  2. Announce that all "bogus" charges against you have been dropped

  3. In a completely unrelated event, announce that you're dropping out of the race

  4. Fuck off to Moscow forever

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I’d love for Kamala to sue him for defamation.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I still remember hearing that scum sucker Trump talk about wanting to tighten the libel laws before he was president, obviously so people couldn't accurately talk about him as president.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

He needs to pay his bill from EJC suit. Maybe with an actual consequence followed through he will learn to shut his mouth.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I see some people saying he's going to drop out.

Almost having his head turn into pink mist plus slipping in the polls. He can't take it anymore.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That will never happen. His free life depends on him winning and using the DOJ to wipe away the remaining cases against him.

"Judge" Cannon has been buying him time so he can win and erase everything, but she can't drop the cases for him.

That and whatever deal he has with Putin will have him stuck with this. He does in fact want a Trump Moscow hotel after all.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

His ego would never allow it

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

It isn't, but it drives clicks.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

I'm calling my shot: by the end of September, he drops the hard R in public.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

And he's going charge everyone to attend. Just ignore the shithead. Why does it have to be on his own private venue? Just do it in a McDonald's; it's basically his second home

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Maybe it’s finally JFK back from the dead to anoint Trump King of America

Or are we not doing that anymore?

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Let's hope he is dropping out of the race because of mental health issues.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Hes going to abandon Couch Fucker in the middle of Michigan.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I used to watch his bullshit rallies because he'd come up with some funny shit sometimes. I tried to get through that presser, and I was just zoning out. boring AF, from an old, tired has-been.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

NYT:

Trump Tries to Wrestle Back Attention at Mar-a-Lago News Conference In an hourlong exchange with reporters, the former president criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for not doing the same, insulted her intelligence and boasted about the size of his rallies.

17m ago Donald Trump stands behind a lectern in a gold-colored room. Four U.S. flags are behind him, and a group journalists stand in front of him. Former President Donald J. Trump held a hastily scheduled news conference on Thursday at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.Doug Mills/The New York Times Aug. 8, 2024Updated 5:56 p.m. ET

Sign up for the On Politics newsletter. Your guide to the 2024 elections.

Former President Donald J. Trump tried on Thursday to shoehorn himself back into a national conversation that Vice President Kamala Harris has dominated for more than two weeks, holding an hourlong news conference in which he assailed Ms. Harris’s intelligence and taunted her for failing to field questions similarly from journalists.

Throughout the event, held in the main room at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and home in Palm Beach, Fla., Mr. Trump assailed the state of the U.S. economy, described the country as in mortal danger if he did not win the presidential election and falsely described his departure from the White House — which was preceded by his refusal to concede his election loss in November 2020 and the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by a mob of his supporters — as a “peaceful” transfer of power.

Mr. Trump also flashed frustration when asked about the size of Ms. Harris’s crowds while boasting about the attendance at his own rally on Jan. 6, 2021, and insisted that the group of hundreds that stormed the Capitol was relatively small. But he fixated on the size of the crowd that he initially gathered on the national mall, making comparisons to — and declaring it was larger than — the one drawn by Martin Luther King Jr. for his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

“Nobody’s spoken to crowds bigger than me,” Mr. Trump said. “If you look at Martin Luther King, when he did his speech, his great speech, and you look at ours — same real estate, same everything, same number of people, if not — we had more.”

The Trump team has been looking for ways to interrupt Ms. Harris’s momentum as she has quickly consolidated the Democratic Party behind her and risen in the polls. The goal of Mr. Trump’s news conference, which he announced on Thursday morning on his social media site, was to highlight that Ms. Harris has yet to hold a news conference of her own or to give an unscripted interview to the news media.

It was a point he made during his event, arguing that she had avoided doing so because “she’s not smart enough.”

Mr. Trump insisted that he was “not complaining” about the Democratic Party’s late decision to replace President Biden atop the ticket — as he proceeded to lodge a litany of such complaints. He has called the move to replace Mr. Biden with Ms. Harris “unconstitutional,” but when challenged about what section of the U.S. Constitution would prohibit the change in the ticket, he acknowledged that perhaps it was not actually unconstitutional.

At the same time, he said that while the move was unfair to Mr. Biden, it had not affected his campaign. “I haven’t recalibrated strategy at all,” Mr. Trump said.

When a reporter asked about how muted his public schedule has been over the last few weeks, including this past week, Mr. Trump snapped, “What a stupid question.”

Mr. Trump is set to appear in Montana on Friday to help a Republican Senate candidate, Tim Sheehy, who is facing off against Senator Jon Tester in one of the election’s most competitive races.

“What are we doing right now?” Mr. Trump said, citing his schedule of radio interviews and adding of Ms. Harris, “She’s not doing a news conference.”

His wide-ranging remarks were sometimes meandering. Mr. Trump mused that the legal system was unfair to him, described the quick recovery of his ear after last month’s assassination attempt (“I’m a fast healer”) and defended the clemency grants he issued to violent felons and high-level drug dealers as president, when asked how they were different from his characterization of Ms. Harris’s time as a prosecutor in California.

Mr. Trump seemed most uncomfortable when asked specific questions about abortion policy — the issue he views as the biggest political danger for Republicans. He refused to say how he would vote on Florida’s abortion referendum in November, which asks whether voters will support a state constitutional amendment to protect and expand abortion rights.

Mr. Trump instead resorted to his go-to evasion, saying he would be holding a news conference at a later date to announce his position.

When asked if he would direct the Food and Drug Administration to revoke access to abortion pills, he seemed not to understand the question and provided an incoherent answer that did not address it.

“So, you can do things that will be, would supplement, absolutely. And those things are pretty open and humane,” Mr. Trump said. “But you have to be able to have a vote. And all I want to do is give everybody a vote. And the votes are taking place right now as we speak.”

Much of the news conference was consumed by familiar remarks. Mr. Trump laid out an apocalyptic vision of America under Democratic rule — focusing his attacks especially on the economy, crime and immigration.

He also promised that a depression on the scale of the Great Depression of the 1930s would result if Ms. Harris won election. This is also a recycled refrain, one that Mr. Trump used against Mr. Biden in the 2020 campaign.

Mr. Trump declined to elaborate on his comments last week, delivered to a group of Black journalists, in which he questioned Ms. Harris’s ethnicity.

Asked how he could claim, as he did to those journalists, that a woman who attended a historically Black university was only recently claiming to be Black, Mr. Trump said: “Well, you’ll have to ask her that question, because she’s the one that said it. I didn’t say it. So you’ll have to ask her. And I very much appreciate that question, but you’ll have to ask her.”

He added that she was “very disrespectful” to both aspects of her heritage, her Indian mother and her Jamaican father, without explaining what that meant.

But later he tiptoed toward identity politics as he described some of her appeal.

“She’s a woman,” he said. “She represents certain groups of people.”

Taylor Robinson contributed research.

Maggie Haberman is a senior political correspondent reporting on the 2024 presidential campaign, down ballot races across the country and the investigations into former President Donald J. Trump. More about Maggie Haberman

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/08/us/politics/trump-press-conference-mar-a-lago.html

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