I think this is the most relevant part of it.  I underlined one key point:  

While the specific charges in the Manhattan case against the former president remain unknown, Mr. Bragg’s case centers on a $130,000 hush-money payment to Ms. Daniels.

Mr. Trump’s longtime fixer, Michael D. Cohen, made the payment in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Mr. Trump later reimbursed him, signing monthly checks while serving as president.
Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors appear to have zeroed in on the way Mr. Trump and his family business, the Trump Organization, handled the reimbursement to Mr. Cohen. In internal documents, Trump Organization employees falsely recorded the repayments as legal expenses, and the company invented a bogus retainer agreement with Mr. Cohen to justify them.
Mr. Cohen, who broke with Mr. Trump in 2018 and later testified before Congress as well as the grand jury that indicted Mr. Trump, has said that the former president knew about the phony legal expenses and retainer agreement.
In New York, it can be a crime to falsify business records, and Mr. Bragg’s office is likely to build the case around that charge, according to people with knowledge of the matter and outside legal experts.
But to charge falsifying business records as a felony, rather than a misdemeanor, Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors must show that Mr. Trump’s “intent to defraud” included an effort to commit or conceal a second crime.
That second crime could be a violation of election law. Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors might argue that the payment to Ms. Daniels represented an illicit contribution to Mr. Trump’s campaign: The money silenced Ms. Daniels, aiding his candidacy at a crucial time.

Personally, in my opinion, if the above is accurate, it still seems like a stretch to move this up from a misdemeanor to a felony.  It reminds me of the way law enforcement goes after known gangsters.   

The misdemeanor charge is probably a slam dunk.  Trump's lawyers might argue that others who are not running for office make these types of payments to protect their reputations frequently.  They might even demonstrate that Trump made this type of payment to other people at other times before he became a candidate for office.  It makes sense that the law would raise the stakes when someone becomes a candidate for public office rather than a reality TV star.  But it might come down to a judgement call for 12 jurors.  How comfortable are the 12 jurors with raising the stakes that way?  Depends how the judge sets up the arguments and instructions to the jury.

Sure, except the statute of limitations on that is 2 years. He would have paid a fine and be done with it, but they can't even charge him for that now. Nothing in that article undermines what I've said we know. He is probably guilty of a misdemeanor, and they are trying to tie to campaign finance fraud that could literally be framed to make him look guilty no matter what. It's a scam to get a felony charge and circumvent the statute of limitations on the misdemeanor charge. The big deal is the blatant corruption, but you guys keep letting the establishment do whatever they want. It's working out great.

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Another Idiot that will end up looking like a fool.......... Well, a Bigger fool than he already is when you consider the Russia Thing he championed.........

Former FBI Director James Comey reacts to Trump indictment: 'It's been a good day'
A Manhattan grand jury that had been hearing evidence about hush money payments voted to indict Trump on Thursday

Former FBI Director James Comey praised the unprecedented indictment of former President Trump by a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday, by tweeting, "It's been a good day."

Trump was indicted after Manhattan District Attorney Alivn Bragg had been investigating Trump for hush money payments made leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

Comey, who was fired by Trump in 2017 and one of the central figures involved in the Russia collusion case against Trump and the Steele dossier, echoed comments made by other Trump opponents on Twitter.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/former-...t-good-day

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You know trouble is right around the corner when your best friend tells you to hold his beer!!

The misdemeanor charge is probably a slam dunk.  Trump's lawyers might argue that others who are not running for office make these types of payments to protect their reputations frequently.  They might even demonstrate that Trump made this type of payment to other people at other times before he became a candidate for office.  It makes sense that the law would raise the stakes when someone becomes a candidate for public office rather than a reality TV star.  But it might come down to a judgement call for 12 jurors.  How comfortable are the 12 jurors with raising the stakes that way?  Depends how the judge sets up the arguments and instructions to the jury.

Sure, except the statute of limitations on that is 2 years. He would have paid a fine and be done with it, but they can't even charge him for that now. Nothing in that article undermines what I've said we know. He is probably guilty of a misdemeanor, and they are trying to tie to campaign finance fraud that could literally be framed to make him look guilty no matter what. It's a scam to get a felony charge and circumvent the statute of limitations on the misdemeanor charge. The big deal is the blatant corruption, but you guys keep letting the establishment do whatever they want. It's working out great.

It's New York State.  Everyone is who does any business at all is guilty of something. In this case, a misdemeanor. 
But he was running for office and the misdemeanor was related to his chances of winning. Like I've said, my feelings are mixed. 
Because New York State law was apparently written by corrupt people trying to perpetuate their patronage, the bare fact that Trump violated it would actually make me root for him.  It would make me wish these legal procedures would result in entire sections of state law becoming unenforceable.  
But the fact that he hid everything, and lied to the public, speaks to a more universal kind of guilt, and I hope he is thoroughly punished.  And if that means scores of other politicians should be punished by the same letter, so be it.

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

Sure, except the statute of limitations on that is 2 years. He would have paid a fine and be done with it, but they can't even charge him for that now. Nothing in that article undermines what I've said we know. He is probably guilty of a misdemeanor, and they are trying to tie to campaign finance fraud that could literally be framed to make him look guilty no matter what. It's a scam to get a felony charge and circumvent the statute of limitations on the misdemeanor charge. The big deal is the blatant corruption, but you guys keep letting the establishment do whatever they want. It's working out great.

It's New York State.  Everyone is who does any business at all is guilty of something. In this case, a misdemeanor. 
But he was running for office and the misdemeanor was related to his chances of winning. Like I've said, my feelings are mixed. 
Because New York State law was apparently written by corrupt people trying to perpetuate their patronage, the bare fact that Trump violated it would actually make me root for him.  It would make me wish these legal procedures would result in entire sections of state law becoming unenforceable.  
But the fact that he hid everything, and lied to the public, speaks to a more universal kind of guilt, and I hope he is thoroughly punished.  And if that means scores of other politicians should be punished by the same letter, so be it.

I love how you and the NYT write out things like "fact" when it's not. It does the real job they are trying to of merely associating Trump with a crime rather than actually proving he did anything wrong. It's nothing but plain old mudslinging.

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

It's New York State.  Everyone is who does any business at all is guilty of something. In this case, a misdemeanor. 
But he was running for office and the misdemeanor was related to his chances of winning. Like I've said, my feelings are mixed. 
Because New York State law was apparently written by corrupt people trying to perpetuate their patronage, the bare fact that Trump violated it would actually make me root for him.  It would make me wish these legal procedures would result in entire sections of state law becoming unenforceable.  
But the fact that he hid everything, and lied to the public, speaks to a more universal kind of guilt, and I hope he is thoroughly punished.  And if that means scores of other politicians should be punished by the same letter, so be it.

I love how you and the NYT write out things like "fact" when it's not. It does the real job they are trying to of merely associating Trump with a crime rather than actually proving he did anything wrong. It's nothing but plain old mudslinging.

Payments were made related to Stormy Daniels in 2016.  The public did not know until 2018.   It was hidden, and he lied.  Those are facts.

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

Cohen's payments were his monthly retainer, there's no paperwork that shows it was reimbursement for anything. There's also quite the smoking gun in that the alleged recipient of this hush payment swore in a written and verbal statement that there was no affair to cover up and the only person who claims there was is a discredited and disbarred attorney who both lied to and cheated Daniels. This case is something only a partisan or a moron could accept as legitimate, so we understand why there's celebration in the streets today.

If you claim a payment is a business expense, the burden of proof is on you to show that it was connected to your business, and part of the ordinary course of your business and similar businesses, and that your business is paying that expense from revenues streams that themselves are legal and reported to the tax man.
Because as you know, if it's not a business expense, it comes from post tax income rather than pre tax income.  This is not a part of the law to be trifled with.

This is So So True along w/the fact the payment denomimation increased as such.

Enquiring Minds.

NH3...

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"AZANE"

I love how you and the NYT write out things like "fact" when it's not. It does the real job they are trying to of merely associating Trump with a crime rather than actually proving he did anything wrong. It's nothing but plain old mudslinging.

Payments were made related to Stormy Daniels in 2016.  The public did not know until 2018.   It was hidden, and he lied.  Those are facts.

Lol. Keep chugging that kool aid.

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

I love how you and the NYT write out things like "fact" when it's not. It does the real job they are trying to of merely associating Trump with a crime rather than actually proving he did anything wrong. It's nothing but plain old mudslinging.

Payments were made related to Stormy Daniels in 2016.  The public did not know until 2018.   It was hidden, and he lied.  Those are facts.

No [BLEEP]. It doesn't prove intent, though. Not even close. It's almost impossible to prove intent in a court of law. That's why this case is a sham. Not only that, the intent could just as easily be reversed. Please, tell me, that if Trump HAD paid his lawyer with campaign funds, that you don't believe this DA would think that was on the up and up. Lol, no... they would just say that he can't use campaign funds to fund a private matter. What's that? This DA is noble and true? Dream on, brother.

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Payments were made related to Stormy Daniels in 2016.  The public did not know until 2018.   It was hidden, and he lied.  Those are facts.

No [BLEEP]. It doesn't prove intent, though. Not even close. It's almost impossible to prove intent in a court of law. That's why this case is a sham. Not only that, the intent could just as easily be reversed. Please, tell me, that if Trump HAD paid his lawyer with campaign funds, that you don't believe this DA would think that was on the up and up. Lol, no... they would just say that he can't use campaign funds to fund a private matter. What's that? This DA is noble and true? Dream on, brother.

Well FSG says it didn't even happen.
Not sure if the laws in question say intent has to be proven.
If Trump had paid Daniels with campaign funds and properly reported it, it would have been publicly known before the election.  Not sure how they draw the line between campaign funds and personal funds, not going to dive into your hypothetical that deep.
The moral of the story is don't have people in your life whose silence you might want to buy.  Buying silence is going to run afoul of many different laws unless the silence is regarding trade secrets or something of that nature.

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

No [BLEEP]. It doesn't prove intent, though. Not even close. It's almost impossible to prove intent in a court of law. That's why this case is a sham. Not only that, the intent could just as easily be reversed. Please, tell me, that if Trump HAD paid his lawyer with campaign funds, that you don't believe this DA would think that was on the up and up. Lol, no... they would just say that he can't use campaign funds to fund a private matter. What's that? This DA is noble and true? Dream on, brother.

Well FSG says it didn't even happen.
Not sure if the laws in question say intent has to be proven.
If Trump had paid Daniels with campaign funds and properly reported it, it would have been publicly known before the election.  Not sure how they draw the line between campaign funds and personal funds, not going to dive into your hypothetical that deep.
The moral of the story is don't have people in your life whose silence you might want to buy.  Buying silence is going to run afoul of many different laws unless the silence is regarding trade secrets or something of that nature.

I don't know if it did, and neither do you, that's why I laugh at your "fact" statement. You've already adjudicated what happened without actually knowing anything about it. You've not seen the receipts, you've not seen Trump's books, you've not seen anything at all. Yet you've gulped down what Bragg and the Dems want you to believe for no other reason than you want to believe it. And when this falls apart, again, you'll be wondering why they just can't get him on all these criminal things you just KNOW he did. Lol.

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

I do not necessarily care if they go after Trump if they applied the laws equally and fairly. But they don't, I mean just look at the whole Quid Pro Quo impeachment. Going after Trump for allegedly threatening to withhold aide, aide that was eventually sent. However they legit have Biden in video bragging and getting applause for withholding aide to the same country if they don't fire the prosecutor who is going after the same company his son works for, then bragging that the guy got fired and they got paid.

Look at all the Hunter Biden payments and emails and evidence yet no case, no prosecution for Hillary for starting the Russia Collusion, the hatred displayed by Martha's vineyard for the illegals bring sent to their town. Double standards are everywhere, but when it's a Republican they throw the book at them.

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"Don't argue with an idiot, people watching may not be able to tell the difference."

I do not necessarily care if they go after Trump if they applied the laws equally and fairly. But they don't, I mean just look at the whole Quid Pro Quo impeachment. Going after Trump for allegedly threatening to withhold aide, aide that was eventually sent. However they legit have Biden in video bragging and getting applause for withholding aide to the same country if they don't fire the prosecutor who is going after the same company his son works for, then bragging that the guy got fired and they got paid.

Look at all the Hunter Biden payments and emails and evidence yet no case, no prosecution for Hillary for starting the Russia Collusion, the hatred displayed by Martha's vineyard for the illegals bring sent to their town. Double standards are everywhere, but when it's a Republican they throw the book at them.

+100

I owe you 99 more..

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I do not necessarily care if they go after Trump if they applied the laws equally and fairly. But they don't, I mean just look at the whole Quid Pro Quo impeachment. Going after Trump for allegedly threatening to withhold aide, aide that was eventually sent. However they legit have Biden in video bragging and getting applause for withholding aide to the same country if they don't fire the prosecutor who is going after the same company his son works for, then bragging that the guy got fired and they got paid.

Look at all the Hunter Biden payments and emails and evidence yet no case, no prosecution for Hillary for starting the Russia Collusion, the hatred displayed by Martha's vineyard for the illegals bring sent to their town. Double standards are everywhere, but when it's a Republican they throw the book at them.

It's amazing how an audience will applaud when they agree that you are broadly working in the interests of the United States and NATO.  Weird how they withhold their applause when they think you're just trying to win the next election. Sad!

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

I do not necessarily care if they go after Trump if they applied the laws equally and fairly. But they don't, I mean just look at the whole Quid Pro Quo impeachment. Going after Trump for allegedly threatening to withhold aide, aide that was eventually sent. However they legit have Biden in video bragging and getting applause for withholding aide to the same country if they don't fire the prosecutor who is going after the same company his son works for, then bragging that the guy got fired and they got paid.

Look at all the Hunter Biden payments and emails and evidence yet no case, no prosecution for Hillary for starting the Russia Collusion, the hatred displayed by Martha's vineyard for the illegals bring sent to their town. Double standards are everywhere, but when it's a Republican they throw the book at them.

It's amazing how an audience will applaud when they agree that you are broadly working in the interests of the United States and NATO.  Weird how they withhold their applause when they think you're just trying to win the next election. Sad!

Are you ok? It sounds like you're choking on something there.

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

It's amazing how an audience will applaud when they agree that you are broadly working in the interests of the United States and NATO.  Weird how they withhold their applause when they think you're just trying to win the next election. Sad!

Are you ok? It sounds like you're choking on something there.

Upton Sinclair wrote that it is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
What he wrote is still true, but, it seems a salary isn't strictly necessary.  Trump just makes you feel good I guess, and that's worth a lot to you. It's as if he's paying your bills.  You gave it away cheap.

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

Are you ok? It sounds like you're choking on something there.

Upton Sinclair wrote that it is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
What he wrote is still true, but, it seems a salary isn't strictly necessary.  Trump just makes you feel good I guess, and that's worth a lot to you. It's as if he's paying your bills.  You gave it away cheap.

With the money he saved us and pumped back into our economy, it felt like he was paying our bills.. Unlike Pedo Peter and the Funky Bunch, you want to talk about giving it away?!? lolololol

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I do not necessarily care if they go after Trump if they applied the laws equally and fairly. But they don't, I mean just look at the whole Quid Pro Quo impeachment. Going after Trump for allegedly threatening to withhold aide, aide that was eventually sent. However they legit have Biden in video bragging and getting applause for withholding aide to the same country if they don't fire the prosecutor who is going after the same company his son works for, then bragging that the guy got fired and they got paid.

Look at all the Hunter Biden payments and emails and evidence yet no case, no prosecution for Hillary for starting the Russia Collusion, the hatred displayed by Martha's vineyard for the illegals bring sent to their town. Double standards are everywhere, but when it's a Republican they throw the book at them.

It's amazing how an audience will applaud when they agree that you are broadly working in the interests of the United States and NATO are too stupid to question the narrative that is fed to them.  Weird how they withhold their applause when they think are told you're just trying to win the next election. Sad!

Ftfy. You believe what you want to believe.

Look, based on what we know of the indictment hearing, I am giving you the benefit of the doubt they have at least enough evidence to suggest that Trump created that misdemeanor. But EVERYTHING about the campaign finance side requires intent to prove, which they did not do at the hearing based on what we know. So every single one of you that just assumes that intent is doing so because you're either told to do it or preconditioned to want to believe it. There is nothing "factual" except that's what they are using to bring him to trial. It's ridiculous.

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I legit do not understand all the Trump hate. I mean I could get it if all the allegations against him were actually proven true. Russia was shoved down everyone's throat for years, yet it's been proven false. That alone should get people to go "wait a second, the media told me Trump was a spy, and was a stooge for Putin...but now it's proven to not be true".

The quid pro quo debate as I stated above, any sane person should be able to look at that and even if you don't like how Trump handled it, how can anyone just blow off Bidens video admission.

I am not saying Trump is perfect, he's a rich dude who probably has done some shady stuff, so what, do you really think he's the only one?

I remember when that audio clip of Trump saying he can go up and grab them by the privates surfaced. My buddies and I were on discord when the media was mocking Trump for saying that's locker room talk and the pundits were all saying that's not true. I tell you what if some of the stuff I've said on Discord to my friends ever got out lol yikes. I've heard some pretty intense stuff.

Trumps home gets raided when the feds knew he had the documents. No one barely mentions Biden having thousands of documents from several years scattered all over his properties.

Like Trump or hate Trump I cannot see how sane people cannot see the double standard.

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"Don't argue with an idiot, people watching may not be able to tell the difference."

I legit do not understand all the Trump hate. I mean I could get it if all the allegations against him were actually proven true. Russia was shoved down everyone's throat for years, yet it's been proven false. That alone should get people to go "wait a second, the media told me Trump was a spy, and was a stooge for Putin...but now it's proven to not be true".

The quid pro quo debate as I stated above, any sane person should be able to look at that and even if you don't like how Trump handled it, how can anyone just blow off Bidens video admission.

I am not saying Trump is perfect, he's a rich dude who probably has done some shady stuff, so what, do you really think he's the only one?

I remember when that audio clip of Trump saying he can go up and grab them by the privates surfaced. My buddies and I were on discord when the media was mocking Trump for saying that's locker room talk and the pundits were all saying that's not true. I tell you what if some of the stuff I've said on Discord to my friends ever got out lol yikes. I've heard some pretty intense stuff.

Trumps home gets raided when the feds knew he had the documents. No one barely mentions Biden having thousands of documents from several years scattered all over his properties.

Like Trump or hate Trump I cannot see how sane people cannot see the double standard.

No one is blowing it off.  What Biden did was news in 2015.  It wasn't hidden.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/poli...785620002/
Many articles have been written about this.  Have you read them?  Start.
The IMF wanted it done.  The EU wanted it done.  Various political parties in Ukraine wanted it done.  It wasn't just Biden.  The timeline had nothing to do with Hunter Biden's time on the Burisma board.  And the man was only in office for 6 weeks.  His words, actions, and inactions angered a lot of people for a lot of reasons. 
It's one thing to take a US-centric view and say "this happened because they like us" or "this happened because they don't like us".  Such views of events are just self-flattery and they are generally wrong.  But you're taking it a step further and saying "this happened because Ukrainians like Democrats" or "This happened because Ukrainians don't like Republicans." But think for a minute, why would a Ukrainian know or care about the difference between Joe Biden and Donald Trump? It's hasn't been relative to their lives.  Many of them grew up under Soviet control.  Most of them don't speak English.

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

I legit do not understand all the Trump hate. I mean I could get it if all the allegations against him were actually proven true. Russia was shoved down everyone's throat for years, yet it's been proven false. That alone should get people to go "wait a second, the media told me Trump was a spy, and was a stooge for Putin...but now it's proven to not be true".

The quid pro quo debate as I stated above, any sane person should be able to look at that and even if you don't like how Trump handled it, how can anyone just blow off Bidens video admission.

I am not saying Trump is perfect, he's a rich dude who probably has done some shady stuff, so what, do you really think he's the only one?

I remember when that audio clip of Trump saying he can go up and grab them by the privates surfaced. My buddies and I were on discord when the media was mocking Trump for saying that's locker room talk and the pundits were all saying that's not true. I tell you what if some of the stuff I've said on Discord to my friends ever got out lol yikes. I've heard some pretty intense stuff.

Trumps home gets raided when the feds knew he had the documents. No one barely mentions Biden having thousands of documents from several years scattered all over his properties.

Like Trump or hate Trump I cannot see how sane people cannot see the double standard.

No one is blowing it off.  What Biden did was news in 2015.  It wasn't hidden.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/poli...785620002/
Many articles have been written about this.  Have you read them?  Start.
The IMF wanted it done.  The EU wanted it done.  Various political parties in Ukraine wanted it done.  It wasn't just Biden.  The timeline had nothing to do with Hunter Biden's time on the Burisma board.  And the man was only in office for 6 weeks.  His words, actions, and inactions angered a lot of people for a lot of reasons. 
It's one thing to take a US-centric view and say "this happened because they like us" or "this happened because they don't like us".  Such views of events are just self-flattery and they are generally wrong.  But you're taking it a step further and saying "this happened because Ukrainians like Democrats" or "This happened because Ukrainians don't like Republicans." But think for a minute, why would a Ukrainian know or care about the difference between Joe Biden and Donald Trump? It's hasn't been relative to their lives.  Many of them grew up under Soviet control.  Most of them don't speak English.

My point was why did Trump go through the impeachment process and the negative news over his QPQ, but Biden gets applause and cheers on video. Had there been investigations and impeachment done to Biden then I have no issue with it being done to Trump. The problem is, it's not. I think that is what's upsetting people on the right is we have blatant lies being brought up about Trump (Russia for instance) and no one does anything to the liars. However we have obvious influence being done by China on Hunters laptop and no legal issues were done. I am not trying to debate each instance, I am simply saying how can any sane person not see that the media, social media and government will go after Republicans but look the other way for Dems. 

Now to be clear I do know there is more of the look the other way going between democrats and republicans, however Trump gets no special treatment because he is not part of the establishment. I mean this dude didn't even take a salary for being President...Both parties in my opinion want to see Trump fail, the Republicans just need to be more secretive because Trump holds the base.

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"Don't argue with an idiot, people watching may not be able to tell the difference."