Category Archives: Donald Trump

For most of his 76 years on earth, Donald Trump has famously refused to engage with two popular modes of communication: emails and text messages. In 2007, in sworn testimony, he said he didnt have a computer at home or at the office. And on the 2016 campaign trail, he called himself not an email person, saying he was not a believer in it. Later that year, aides told Politico they had never received a text message from him, and during his testimony before the January 6 committee, Donald Trump Jr. told the panel his father doesnt text.

Setting aside that this aversion to technology made Trump look like a luddite, its actually served him incredibly well by preventing him from creating an electronic paper trail of his (potentially) criminal acts. (Literally shredding documents and possibly flushing them down the toilet helped on the actual paper front.) But apparently the siren song of LOLs and ROTFLMAOs has finally become too strong for him to resist.

The New York Times reports that Trump has at last become a texter, according to a trio of people familiar with his new hobby. According to reporters Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, the ex-presidents text messages have recently shown up in the phones of surprised recipients, and while most of them have apparently been innocuous, such as new year greetings or political observations, some of his associates are concerned and fearful about what he might say. Like, for instance, something about doing another January 6 if the 2024 election doesnt go his way, or revealing that he took top secret documents from the White House as some kind of insurance in the event hes ever prosecuted by the federal government. Things like that!

Indeed, as the Times notes:

The former presidents [previous] resistance to texting frustrated investigators for the House Jan. 6 committee as they tried to track his thoughts and actions when he worked to overturn the 2020 election.

For years, people corresponding with him sent him text messages, which always went unanswered. He was unreachable by email. He sometimes asked aides to send electronic messages to reporters, referring to the missives as wires, like a telegram. People who have worked for Mr. Trump in the White House and in his private business say he has prided himself on being smart for leaving almost no documentation of his communications and discussions in meetings. Those who have witnessed firsthand his visceral aversion to record-keeping said they were shocked to learn about his new electronic habit.

For those of you wondering how Trumps prior lack of 21st-century communications habit jived with his very modern Twitter obsession, that was apparently an exception. As the Times reminds us, The former aide who helped set up his Twitter account once told Politico that when Mr. Trump, who initially relied on aides to write his posts, began to tweet on his own, it was akin to the scene in the film Jurassic Park when the velociraptors learned to open doors.

Anyway, good for the former guy for embracing new things. Would be a terrible shame if it accidentally led to him actually being held responsible for his actions for once!

Maybe next hell spray them with Agent Orange or place land minds around the Capitol

Excerpt from:

Report: Donald Trump Is Armed, Dangerous, and Text Messaging

1. Donald Trumps Truth Social posts bode ill for his return to Facebook  The Guardian US
2. Facebook was a cash cow for Trump. It could end up being a 'bronze goose.'  POLITICO
3. Trump is returning to Facebook and Instagram after 2-year ban  CNN

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Donald Trumps Truth Social posts bode ill for his return to Facebook - The Guardian US

A spokesperson for Donald Trump would not say if the former president knew a notorious Philadelphia mobster, after the two men were photographed together at a Trump-owned golf club earlier this month.

President Trump takes countless photos with people, the spokesperson told the Philadelphia Inquirer, which obtained the picture of Trump and Joseph Skinny Joey Merlino standing together and making thumbs-up gestures.

That does not mean he knows every single person he comes in contact with.

The Inquirer said the picture was provided by a source who requested anonymity. It shows Trump with two men, one unidentified, the other Merlino.

Merlino, the paper said, was once a leader of a violent crew on his way up to being boss of an organised crime operation active in Philadelphia and Atlantic City the latter city one where Trump had casino interests.

Merlino was convicted on racketeering charges in 2001, and spent a decade in prison. He was imprisoned again in 2018, after pleading guilty to a gambling charge, then released in 2020.

Merlino and Trump, the Inquirer said, share an affinity for golf and an aversion to cooperating witnesses who flip to help federal investigators.

Trump made his view clear in 2018, when his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who went to jail on campaign finance charges and for lying to Congress, began to cooperate with investigators looking into Trumps links to Russia.

Its called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal, Trump said then. Its not a fair thing, but thats why he did it. He made a very good deal.

The same year, after being sentenced, Merlino said: President Trump was right. They need to outlaw the flippers.

Trump has regularly been compared to a mafia don, given his penchant for threatening those who do not do his bidding and links to New York organised crime figures including, notoriously, Anthony Fat Tony Salerno.

Speaking to CBS in 2013, Trump was asked if he had ever knowingly done business with organised crime.

He said: You know, growing up in New York and doing business in New York, I would say there might have been one of those characters along the way, but generally speaking I like to stay away from that group.

I have met on occasion a few of those people. They happen to be very nice people.

He added: You just dont want to owe them money. Dont owe them money.

Three years later, Trump won the presidency. He lost it in 2020 but is now the only declared candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

His campaign has been dogged by controversy, not least regarding extensive legal jeopardy over his business practices, his attempt to overturn his 2020 defeat, his retention of classified documents and an allegation of rape by the writer E Jean Carroll, which he denies.

Soon after Trump announced his 2024 campaign, last November, he ran into trouble when it was revealed he had dinner with the rapper Kanye West, who has expressed extreme, antisemitic views, and Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist activist.

Trumps defense was that he did not know Fuentes.

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Trumps golf course photo with Philadelphia mob boss raises ...

Donald Trump is seeing the tide turn on some of his actions and behaviors. A federal judge in Florida is making him face monetary consequences for a lawsuit he brought against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee, and other party leaders who he claimed tried to hurt him in the 2016 election by leaking information about his ties to Russia.

The ruling calls out the former president for weaponizing the legal system against his perceived enemies and U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks was not happy. This case should never have been brought, the judge wrote, via The New York Times. Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start. No reasonable lawyer would have filed it. Intended for a political purpose, none of the counts of the amended complaint stated a cognizable legal claim.

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It doesnt sound like Judge Middlebrooks is much of a fan of Donald Trumps antics at all because he called him a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries. He didnt stop there either, adding, He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process, and he cannot be seen as a litigant blindly following the advice of a lawyer. He knew full well the impact of his actions.

He believes that Donald Trump needlessly harmed the 31 people and organizations who were named in the suit. As a result, the former president, his lawyer, Alina Habba, and her firm, Habba Madaio & Associates, are to pay $937,989.39 in sanctions for wasting everyones time. It also points out the falsehoods behind Donald Trumps absurd conspiracy theories something he leaned into heavily with his voter base. Donald Trump has not responded to the case yet, but it adds another wrinkle to his ongoing legal struggles while he tries to run for president for the third time.

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Launch Gallery: 16 Photos of Bill Clinton & Hillary Clintons Family of Three Over the Years

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Donald Trump Is Being Ordered to Pay $1 Million in a Lawsuit ...

1. Could Trump Run to DeSantis's Left in 2024?  New York Magazine
2. Trump Is Plotting How to Kick DeSantis In the Nuts. Heres His Playbook, So Far  Rolling Stone
3. Trump is heavy favorite in GOP 2024 primary: poll  The Hill

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Could Trump Run to DeSantis's Left in 2024? - New York Magazine

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The biography for President Trump and past presidents is courtesy of the White House Historical Association.

Donald John Trump was born in Queens, New York, on June 14, 1946. His father, Fred Trump was a successful real estate developer. Trump was educated at the New York Military Academy and the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1971, he took over his fathers real estate company, renaming it the Trump Organization. The business soon became involved in variety of projects, including hotels, resorts, residential and commercial building, casinos, and golf courses. His first of many books wasThe Art of the Deal, published in 1987. In 2004, he launched the reality television showThe Apprentice.

In 2005, Donald Trump married Melania Knauss. They have one son, Barron. Trump also has four adult children from previous marriages: Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric, and Tiffany.

During the 2016 primary, Trump defeated more than a dozen rivals to win the Republican nomination. While he lost the popular vote, Trump defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the general election by winning a majority of Electoral College votes. His campaign slogan was Make America Great Again.

Without previous elected political experience, President Trump used unconventional methods to communicate his priorities. Most notably, he used the social media platform Twitter as a primary mechanism for direct communication with the American public, other politicians, and the press corps.

As president, he signed a major tax reform bill into law and oversaw a reduction of federal regulations. His protectionist trade policies included tariffs in foreign aluminum, steel, and other products. The Trump administration also renegotiated trade agreements with Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, and South Korea. Other domestic priorities included Supreme Court and federal judiciary appointments, increased military budgets, aggressive border and immigration control, criminal justice reform, and the reduction of prescription drug prices.

In foreign policy, the Trump administration moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and brokered normalization agreements between Israel and a number of countries. In 2018, President Trump attended a summit with Kim Jong Un, marking the first time a sitting president met with a North Korean leader.

In 2018, there was a partial government shutdown as Trump disagreed with Congress over funding for a border wall between the United States and Mexico. The funding lapse lasted thirty-five days before it was resolved.

In 2019, a federal whistleblower filed a complaint that Trump had pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Bidens son Hunter, who had served on the board of Bursima Holdings, a natural gas company in Ukraine. Later that year, the House of Representatives impeached President Trump based upon allegations of obstruction of Congress and abuse of power. In 2020, the Senate acquitted Trump on both articles of impeachment.

The first confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported in the United States on January 20, 2020. The remainder of Trumps presidency was consumed with the coronavirus pandemic. Critics argued that Trumps response to the pandemic was delayed and did not sufficiently encourage public health practices to reduce the spread of the virus. However, the Trump administrations program Operation Warp Speed assisted in the private sector development of two approved vaccines. Nonetheless, by the time Trump left office, more than 400,000 Americans had died of COVID-19.

Trump lost reelection to Democratic candidate Joe Biden, but publicly claimed widespread voter fraud had affected the outcome. Supporters of President Trump traveled to Washington, D.C. for a Save America rally on January 6, 2021. Trump spoke to the large crowd on the Ellipse near the White House and encouraged attendees to protest the counting of the Electoral College votes in Congress. The rally turned violent when the presidents supporters overwhelmed law enforcement, breaching the United States Capitol and disrupting the vote count. Five people died as a result of the violence, and the Capitol complex suffered millions of dollars in damage.

On January 13, 2021, Trumps actions resulted in the House of Representatives approving another article of impeachment: the incitement of insurrection. He is the only president in American history to be impeached twice by Congress.

Learn more about Donald Trumps spouse, Melania Trump.

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Donald J. Trump | The White House

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Former President Donald Trump will be joined by two of his highest-profile South Carolina supporters U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Gov. Henry McMaster at the first public campaign event of his 2024 White House bid later this month in the early voting state.

Trump will be at the Statehouse in Columbia on Jan. 28 and will unveil his South Carolina leadership team, according to a person familiar with the plans. That person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person wasnt authorized to speak publicly.

Trump's campaignhad previously confirmedthe South Carolina event but hadn't provided details.

The event will also include members of South Carolinas congressional delegation, as well as state lawmakers, according to the person.

U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, who with Trump's supportousted U.S. Rep. Tom Ricein a primary last year, told the AP on Tuesday that he would be at the rollout.

FILE - Former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at Mar-a-lago on Election Day, Nov. 8, 2022, in Palm Beach, Fla. Trump will be joined by two of his highest-profile South Carolina supporters at the first public campaign event of his 2024 White House bid later this month in the early voting state. Gov. Henry McMaster and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham will be with Trump on Jan. 28 at the Statehouse in Columbia, where he will unveil his South Carolina leadership team. . (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, who defeated a Trump-backed opponent in her own GOP primary last year, told AP she would not attend the event, and that she would wait to endorse a 2024 candidate once the field is set."

Until then, my powder is dry," she said.

According to South Carolina government officials, the Trump campaign has blocked off 3 a.m. to 10 p.m. at a variety of sites inside and outside the Statehouse building, planning for 500 attendees.

Reservation information shared with AP promotes the event "as an opportunity to exemplify the strong support from elected officials in the state as we approach the one-year mark to South Carolinas Republican Presidential Primary.

Some operatives and elected officials in South Carolina have been receiving calls from Graham asking for their support for Trump's reelection bid. At least two of the people asked had turned down the request, according to the person, who spoke with the pair.

Since announcing his latest presidential runin November, Trump has limited his public campaign appearances to events at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida before an invited crowd or in a virtual setting.

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Trumps visit to South Carolina comes as two of the states top Republicans mull 2024 bids of their own.

Nikki Haley,a former governor and on-time U.N. ambassador, said she would take the holiday season to considera White House campaign.

U.S. Sen. Tim Scotthas been making visits in other early-voting states and launched a political action committee that could become a presidential campaign vehicle. A Scott spokesperson did not immediately comment Tuesday when asked if the senator would attend Trump's event.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Donald Trump to be joined by Graham, McMaster at SC campaign rally

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2024 presidential campaign: Donald Trump to be joined by Graham ...

Prince Harry says the Queen asked Meghan about Donald Trump in first meeting  Hindustan Times

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Prince Harry says the Queen asked Meghan about Donald Trump in first meeting - Hindustan Times

Its been an eventful few weeks for Donald Trump when it comes to tax returns, a faltering 2024 presidential campaign, and legal fights. From the looks of it, 2023 might not be his year either as the former president is reportedly struggling to get the media to cover his public appearances.

His annual New Years Eve party at Mar-a-Lago in prior years would bring out throngs of press, eager to film his every word. This year, a media availability invite was largely ignored by even the most conservative news outlets, according to Raw Story. However, the conservative video site, Rumble, did offer coverage of his appearance with Melania Trump, dressed in a sparkling silver gown, by his side. There were no microphones on Donald Trump, so the audio quality started poorly as he greeted the reporters with Happy New Year. I hope you enjoy yourselves at Mar-a-Lago.

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Once the audio situation was straightened out, he spoke about his wishes for the country in the new year and dodged a question on supporting a national ban on abortion. Melania held his hand throughout the short press conference (no swatting this time) and did not speak while her husband answered questions. With FOX and Newsman skipping this press opportunity for their formerly favorite politician speaks volumes as to where the Republican Party now stands with Donald Trump.

New York Times reporter Peter Baker told MSNBC that the former presidents New Years Eve press conference demonstrates how desperate he is for attention at this point. He added, via Raw Story. I dont think he has got the attention that he thought he would after announcing that he is running again. I think the attention, of course, has mostly been negative in the form of this Jan. 6 committee, his taxes being released, continued investigation by the Justice Department. By trying to change the subject and to get attention in a positive way, Donald Trump is probably hoping Americans forget all of the negative headlines, but it seems that even his former favorite news networks have turned their attention elsewhere

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Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Malia Obama, Sasha Obama

Launch Gallery: Donald & Ivana Trump's Life in Photos: A Timeline of Their Marriage & Divorce

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Donald Trump Is Finding It Harder to Get Media Coverage After News ...

1. Trump attacks McConnell, wife over GOP turmoil after McCarthy fails to win Speakership  The Hill
2. Kevin McCarthy's Embrace of Trump Backfired  The Atlantic
3. Trump mum on whether he still supports McCarthy for House speaker  NBC News

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Trump attacks McConnell, wife over GOP turmoil after McCarthy fails to win Speakership - The Hill