I did not think at the time Mr Trump thought of impeachment, but more as a kind of life insurance against assassination. But of course, smooching with the religious fundamentalist must have been his main motive.

I believe you thought that about Reagan while he was in office because I thought it too. There’s a video of him meeting Queen Elizabeth, and he clearly didn’t have a clue what was going on and Nancy is prompting him. I remember that at the time, and that’s when I was sure.

Also, I was in high school when he became president, and my best friend and I wrote a letter about how worried we were that someone whose mind was clearly not all there should be in control of the nuclear button. That was in 1981, so we were thinking that early in his first term too.

Yeah. I don’t think of him as a hero. He’s an honourable man, doing a job that’s he’s good at.

Hannity and Trump have been big buddies for a while, and Fox likes the connection because it gives them an “in” with Trump. Hannity isn’t the only one, though he’s probably the closest to Trump. His show was little more than an infomercial for Trump from the time he started running. Since Trump got into office, he’s been a propaganda outlet. He’s happy to lie for Trump for what he thinks is the Greater Good. Hannity is a very committed Christian, though Catholic rather than Evangelical I think.

There are people saying that Trump selected Pence as his VP as a brake on impeachment. What they mean is, the thought of Pence as prez is so bad, they’d rather keep Trump. I think that’s unlikely. I doubt Trump thought he would be impeached. I think he thinks the rules shouldn’t apply to him because he’s Donald Trump, and he’s too important to have to follow things like laws. Rules are for other people. I think Pence got the job because he’s an Evangelical and Dominionist, and it’s a way to suck up to his base who are the same.

Yes, thanks for defending Steele. He collects info, and several of his operators do that at quite some risk.
He also did not present all of his findings as facts, he has always been careful to mention some of his info might not be fully correct. However, most of it appears to have been corroborated and confirmed later.
I would not go as far as calling him an unsung and much maligned ‘hero’, but he clearly is a much maligned ‘Honest Broker’. Thumbs up for Steele.

I hope Mr Cohen will ‘flip’, he must have quite a bit of ‘interesting’ info.
The defense of Mr Hannity re Mr Cohen makes no sense, if his dealings with Mr Cohen were only about some ‘real estate advice’, why would he actively try to hide his connection? ‘Baloney’ (?) as they say in the US.
Mr Hannity and Mr Trump are revealed to be very close buddies. How can any news channel, even Fox, still maintain him as a commentator? Is there no rule or guideline there?

The whole Mr Trump presidency is a farce and a tragedy. It would be a comedy if the damage that this usurper has done were not so catastrophic. The worst of it is that if Mr Trump will be impeached (which appears increasingly likely) the world is saddled with the repugnant ayatollah called Mr Pence. Woe on all of us.

Still I think that no’s 2 and 3 (voter disenfranchisement and counting fraud) are crucial, especially in the coming ‘midterm’ elections. We are predicting a landslide, but how much of these factors have been eliminated, if at all?
Some articles in Esquire:
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a54474/voter-suppression-jeff-sessions/
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a15912246/north-carolina-voter-suppression-tactics/
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a43950/voter-suppression-wisconsin/
Or from Greg Palast:
https://www.facebook.com/GregPalastInvestigates/posts/10154714207232128
http://www.gregpalast.com/election-stolen-heres/
I fear that the predicted ‘landslide’ in November will not happen. I do not see the circumstances have substantially changed. Only a dramatic turn-out may overwhelm the stakes and provide that highly hoped for landslide.
As I contended many times before, and still do contend, I think Mr Trump is an usurper. Not only did he lose the popular vote, but he won the EC only by voter disenfranchisement and plain counting fraud.

You are absolutely right Diane, the second from the left is ‘Lady Bird’ Johnson indeed, not Pat Nixon, how could I not have recognised her. Shame on me. I think Pat Nixon died earlier. In my (feeble) defense: I said I wasn’t sure about her.

Yes, his mind was going, that must have been hard indeed. I remember thinking (no, this it not hindsight, I thought and said it at the time) that Mr Reagan had early Alzheimers while in office. (Yes, I have it in my family, my ‘ouma’ (granny). my mother, and an aunt, so I’m kind of sensitive to it.) On the other hand, Indeed, Nancy, with her astrological ventures, was a bit feeble-minded herself (albeit not clear Alzheimers), something I think the other first ladies did not suffer from.
I’m not sure about Mr Trump, he shows quite a few signs, but there are clearly so many other mental issues with him, clouding a diagnosis of Alzheimers. I mean, I guess he has, but there is much more, he’s so clearly ‘not normal’ (as my daughter would euphemistically say*) to begin with, making the Alzheimers diagnosis difficult.

* in plain language: he’s a ‘psycho’.
She’s quite sharp, observant, she called my now seven year old (her little brother -she’s old enough to be his mother) ‘not normal’, well before he was diagnosed with ADHD, and well before anyone (including myself) noticed.

Nancy Reagan, Lady Bird Johnson, Hillary Clinton, Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford, Barbara Bush. 🙂

Watching AC360 today, they had all the lies that are being told to voters about Mueller etc, They get picked up and spread, and people believe them. Sean Hannity hasn’t been fazed by what’s happened to him, and is spreading rubbish, like Mueller being responsible for keeping people in prison to hide Whitey Bulger’s link with the FBI. By the time I was watching, Congress had Comey’s notes and so did the press. I’m just watching a discussion that was recorded about an hour ago, but I has to pause to take a Skype call.