maybe i live in a political bubble or something.

but i have zero interest in this shit outside of whether there was legal wrongdoing regarding the payment right before an election.

nobody around me personally or professionally talks about this shit.

but the media seems obsessed with this shit. not even really focused on the potential illegality of the payment. but the gossip column shit like condom usage questions, comparisons to ivanka, general celebrity affair/scandal, etc.

is this shit really gaining/holding traction with the people on the same level its getting play from the media?

her interview on 60 minutes was the highest rated since obamas 1st interview (now in a much more difficult ratings environment) so maybe i already have an answer lol.

But yea that's all i care about

I mean any other president this wouldve been a huge scandal

But this era after 'grab her by the pussy' its ho humm
____________

Dallas Cavericks LETS GO!!

which is rare nowadays.

good to see her getting rewarded for it.

like Cohen.

but in terms of trump fucked a porn star then gave her money, I kind of don't care, and I don't really know anyone who does other than joking around about it.

her story about Tom Shady threatening her in a parking lot sounded like a bad soap opera scene. i can't really tell if the whole "a shame if something happens to her" line was something she made up or maybe it actually is something one of Trump fixer's cornball operatives would say.

>like Cohen.

those cohen/stormy dealings could potentially be part of the reason for the cohen investigation/raid...since prosecutors are focused primarily on cohen financial crimes and corruption.

i think there is also a possible shakedown scheme that might get exposed...where cohen sends in another lawyer (keith davidson) to make contact with women, convince them to hire him, and then compel them to make nda settlements with cohen clients.

beyond the tabloid entertainment value some folks might get or the occasional prude there's no substance to the non legal issues it's not changing the minds of his base at all.. the only thing that will actually matter is if he can be charged or if the investigation goes on long enough that the midterms work out as hoped/anticipated and there might be folks willing to impeach for legitimate reasons as opposed to the we don't care we've got the power contingent that currently is up there...

but I don't really know... I'm just watching you guys suffer through the madness

how many stories / incidents / questionable acts happened before this one AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

there have been no real tangible consequences for the public to chew on.

>there have been no real tangible consequences for the public to chew on.

there have been tangible consequences in elections.

which is what i think we need to start telling each other to focus on. this expectation of some external messiah bringing the administration down is prolly wishful thinking. we gotta get him/them out the old fashioned way...voting.

There would be zero repercussions at all. I don't know why he didn't just claim it.
At this point, I think most Americans would be shocked that he wasn't out smashing porn stars. The evangelical right has found a way to love him despite his moral failings.

Of course that was then (when the story first broke). Now it is tied up in a web of lies and shady money. It's hard to come back from that rabbit hole.

like they deny the entire thing. then the entire thing is proven to exist. then they deny the circumstances under which the thing took place. then that turns out to be a lie. and so on.

first there was no agreement, no payment, we dont know the girl. then theres an agreement, a payment, but trump wasnt in on it. then theres a likely money trail to the trump organization along with a logical reason/connection for the payment, but we are suing her for violating the original agreement we said didnt exist lol.

and his cult continues to believe the next lie, then the next one, etc. they dont even care about the fact that the 1st few versions of the story were indisputably confirmed to be lies. they think the current one will hold up. just constant goalpost moving. like they completely accept that the affair took place and stormy was paid now...they just think trump didnt personally pay for it lol.

>Of course that was then (when the story first broke). Now it
>is tied up in a web of lies and shady money. It's hard to come
>back from that rabbit hole.
>
>


If there was going to be some type of political fallout, we would've had it by now. Once Bill & Monica's story broke it seemed like they had Bill on the stand in a matter of days.

it's not any different than what conservative outlets learned when they saw the ratings they were getting for attacking liberals.

i wouldn't go so far as fake news (there's smoke...), but that's why it's on repeat.

Old rich dudes cheat on their wives, and/or trick on younger women. Porn stars and rich dudes tend to get together and do what porn stars and rich dudes do. At the time they both had some level of b-list "fame", so they probably took a few pictures together and knowing HIM, he said some slick shit just to see what was really good. She went for it, they got down. A few years later he wanted it to go away, and paid her off. Shit happened. It's not really news, IMO. He's a sleazy motherfucker, to be sure, but yeah. I don't care.

unless they get him on some money shit tho..

nothing gonna come from it.

It's tabloid journalism at best. Only people who get their news from TMZ and outlets like that are interested in this shit.


(I hate the term "distraction", btw. It comes with the implication that people aren't intelligent enough to follow two stories at once. Nothing against YOU, my dude. I just hate when people yell "it's a distraction" when something breaks on the news.)

It comes with the
>implication that people aren't intelligent enough to follow
>two stories at once.

I don't think his BASE is intelligent enough to follow two stories at once. I also think the more mainstream media tries to smear #45 with non-political stuff it creates a facehugger (alien) syndrome, whereas the more people try to pry his base away, the tighter they squeeze.


People are really simple bro.

Really.

the less damage it does. it registers in peoples minds like theyre spectators to an inconsequential soap opera that has no effect on their daily lives. when the media covers real political issues, then people react to the personal impact.

trump was getting his longest approval slides when he and repubs were getting beat up in the healthcare and tax debates.

the media could be covering how people are figuring out the tax cuts were a sham and its back to polling in the mid 20s (republicans were supposed to run on it for the midterms but they already abandoned it...like in the pa-18 election). or the media could be covering the debt/deficit we are piling up under this administration (we are the only advanced economy that will increase our debt-to-gdp ratio in the next 5 years). or they could cover obamacare premium increases (remember when people cared about them?) that resulted from trump/repub sabotage.

but nah we get stormy daniels and the comey book tour.

This is what 45 has been about since he's been in the public eye. It's no surprise.

But one of my favorite aspects of it is the hypocrisy from the evangelicals.

> But one of my favorite aspects of it is the hypocrisy from
>the evangelicals.

As a waffling Christian it's not surprising and sad to see much of the Church, at least White Christians, lap up 45's obviously weak-hearted measures towards being contrite about his personal mistakes.

It's easy to see why non-believers call out Christians for hypocrisy and disingenuous values.

>maybe i live in a political bubble or something.
>
>but i have zero interest in this shit outside of whether there
>was legal wrongdoing regarding the payment right before an
>election.
>
>nobody around me personally or professionally talks about this
>shit.
>
>but the media seems obsessed with this shit. not even really
>focused on the potential illegality of the payment. but the
>gossip column shit like condom usage questions, comparisons to
>ivanka, general celebrity affair/scandal, etc.
>
>is this shit really gaining/holding traction with the people
>on the same level its getting play from the media?
>
>her interview on 60 minutes was the highest rated since obamas
>1st interview (now in a much more difficult ratings
>environment) so maybe i already have an answer lol.



I understand and agree what you are saying about all the side shit.

The larger point is how this ties into Trump/Russia. It establishes a pattern by Trump of how easily he can be blackmailed. Trump pays Daniels $130,000 to stay quiet (she wasn't the only one), what would he do if Putin has something on him (Moscow Ritz tapes)? Refuse to enforce sanctions or drop them altogether?

which if *45 wasnt a complete idiot or psychopath, he would acknowledge as the walls are starting to close in


that, and if they legally maneuver to break the NDA, then the 10 other women might come fwd


~~
idk what comey thinks he's doing on a press circuit
but he did have the best soundbite with the 'how could your wife have only 99% doubt that you were with hookers getting peed on in moscow"

but the putin-approved-&-regulated syrian strike happened later that evening, so that was the last u heard of that