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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNEWS -- Sen Sheldon Whitehouse tells me Dems are likely to investigate revelations about Trump soliciting $1 billion
Glad to see Whitehouse onto this.
NEWS --> Sen Sheldon Whitehouse tells me Dems are likely to investigate revelations about Trump soliciting $1 billion from Big Oil execs while corruptly vowing to fulfill their biggest policy demands.
This would be via the Budget Committee. 1/
Link to tweet
The phrase that instantly came to mind as I was reading the story was quid pro quo, Sen Sheldon Whitehouse tells me about WaPo report on Trump's $1 billion Big Oil shakedown.
This would be extension of Budget Committee hearings into oil industry. 2/
https://newrepublic.com/article/181493
Link to tweet
..................This is practically an invitation to ask more questions, Whitehouse told me, describing this as a natural extension of the investigation already underway.
Theres plenty to explore. As the Post reports, an oil company executive at the gathering, held at Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort last month, complained about environmental regulations under the Biden administration. Then this happened:
Trumps response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Bidens environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.
Giving $1 billion would be a deal, Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people.
Obviously industries have long donated to politicians in both parties in hopes of governance that takes their interests into account, and they explicitly lobby for this as well. But in this case, Trump may have made detailed, concrete promises while simultaneously soliciting a precise amount in campaign contributions. .........................................
.................
cally
(21,606 posts)Kick
RainCaster
(11,043 posts)Remember that? Are you believing it still?
RandomNumbers
(17,729 posts)Same thing with corrupting someone who's already 100% corrupt.
et tu
(1,119 posts)so corrupt that he doesn't realize or know what it is to be honest.
working for so long in the muddy waters of 'business' has him waterlogged
and stained for life- definitely a swamp critter~
SupportSanity
(313 posts)What he really said was he couldnt be corrupted any more than he already was.
Whew! Glad we got that out of the way.
Quanto Magnus
(924 posts)because he was already corrupt...
ShazzieB
(16,983 posts)The only people who ever believed that in the first place were MAGA moron Trump worshipers. So yeah, they may still believe it. The rest of us? Not so much!
RandomNumbers
(17,729 posts)I was thinking, can we go back to the time when you couldn't just say that stuff out loud at least?
Very thankful Whitehouse is pursuing this. Someone sure as hell should.
DENVERPOPS
(9,113 posts)is that Trump and the Republicans are now saying it publicly, with no fear of prosecution especially during a presidential election year....That is even more than frightening, or should be, for all of the U.S. Citizens......
The only reason, they would be so blatant and flagrant about all their proclamations, is that they have already determined the outcome of the 2024 election will be Trump. What corrupt plans do they have lurking in the shadows to drop on the elections that will, by hook or by crook put Trump back in the White House.........I am also thinking that many down ballot Senate and House elections will be tampered with, allowing the Republicans complete Domination. With Trump, they will have the Executive Branch, They already have commandeered the Judicial Branch, and with control of the Legislative branch of government, they will have a 100% slam dunk. A perfect trifecta.... At that point, the voters will no longer matter for ever more. At that point, the Republican Party will be able to legally throw out Democracy, and the Constitution, and install a tyranny......
soldierant
(7,155 posts)but hope you are wrong. The only scenario I see in which you might be wrong would be if the media have gotten so slanted for Trump** that they don't believe that voters care. (And, sadly, many don't.)
NJCher
(36,098 posts)Here we are on a thread discussing one of our most competent representatives and you paint a doomsday scenario that is a paragon of learned helplessness. Do you know what learned helplessness is? It's a term pioneered by Martin Seligman, a psychologist and professor at the University of PA. You really should read up on it because everything you just wrote is an example of it in practice.
I scoff when people say I should be terrified. I'm not about to jump into emotional mode and be "terrified." What the hell good is that going to do? Nope, I'm going to use my common sense and think it through, using the vast amount of reading I've done on the politics of this country over the past 23 years I've been on this board.
Now, using my common sense and looking at your post, my inclination is to tell you that you can never get into someone else's head and ascribe motive, such as you did in your first paragraph. You should have learned that in your first or second year college writing class. Your assuming a motive says more about you than it does trump and the republicans. It says to me you feel powerless.
Now I'd like to look at your points and refer to the facts.
You're saying they're so confident they're going to win that they're out saying crazy shit like give me a billion dollars and I'll trash all the environmental laws we've passed to date. I'll get rid of electric cars. Has it occurred to you that the reason they say stupid crap is that they might be desperate, not confident? Their fearless leader is in court, not campaigning. Meanwhile, Biden and the Democrats have, as of April 2024, accumulated $34,572,441. Republicans filed that they had $16,221,286. (FEC Form 3X)
That's less than half what the Democrats have. Yet according to you, they're going to win.
Where it's being spent is also important. Democratic party money is going for ads, public relations, forming coalitions with unions, etc. Republicans are bailing their guy out by paying his legal bills. Yeah, real effective. No voter wants to see their candidate in court for sleazy behavior like what we saw this week. This precludes spending money strategically. I even read that in Florida they have one person to work on that state. Yes, one person!!
Most ludicrous is your last two sentences. In your scenario they already have the House and the Senate. Well guess what: Their margin in the House is so pitiful their own speaker has to be bailed out by the Democrats.
And I won't even go into who is winning elections, the trend of which is Democratic, not Republican.
Your post makes no logical sense whatsoever, but it speaks to fear real well. Get out of emotional mode and look at the facts. The opposite of "learned helplessness" is self-efficacy. That is what representatives like Sheldon Whitehouse demonstrate. Not only is he confident and good at what he does, he enjoys it. Watch his face when he discusses what he's going to investigate or what actions he's going to take. He smiles and there is a twinkle in his eye. Now that is confidence and self-efficacy.
Mr. Mustard 2023
(144 posts)Since 2018, Dems have been winning nearly every election. The only time MAGA came out in force was January 6th and notice they didn't bring their "precious" machine guns?
Notice how the "oh so tough" white militias who've been training in woods for decades never show up? It's because they're paper tiger cowards.
The media lies to us about a horse race for eyeballs. They're now in the polling business, and notice how the polls no longer are accurate? It's because they want the horse race effect.
The Deadbeat Republicon declared there would be violence if he was arrested and then convicted for the E Jean Carroll trial. None happened.
I could go on, but won't because NJCher's explanation is far superior to mine.
Yes we must take their threats seriously, but those cowardly white boys and idiot fake Christians aren't going to do a damn thing.
C_U_L8R
(45,087 posts)Senator Whitehouse sets a fine example.
dalton99a
(82,121 posts)KPN
(15,725 posts)Hound them all the fucking way to their graves.
Think. Again.
(10,085 posts)redqueen
(115,113 posts)He gives me hope.
Captain Zero
(6,991 posts)Let me be the first to say it.
He works like a laser beam if you ask me.
Uncle Joe
(58,916 posts)Thanks for the thread riversedge
Beartracks
(12,897 posts)dchill
(38,738 posts)FakeNoose
(33,427 posts)... because the Repukes have no clue what the word "leadership" means.
dchill
(38,738 posts)SupportSanity
(313 posts)and we save the planet?
DEAL!
Its amazing how many people without morals and shame there are.
Trump has found them all.
JanMichael
(24,931 posts)tanyev
(42,939 posts)Nor has he ever wanted to learn. He would rather break every law on the books and then create a thin veneer of appearing to follow the rules.
ChazInAz
(2,607 posts)Isn't that described as "soliciting a bribe"?
I have the impression that some people consider that to be kind of illegal.
FakeNoose
(33,427 posts)... they'd be stupid to give him a $ billion just to piss away on a loser like that.
agingdem
(7,946 posts)I think "soliciting a bribe" is beyond Trump's realm of comprehension...I do think he would understand "tit for tat"...
Diraven
(602 posts)Any prosecution would be years from now at best, and if Trump wins everyone will get a pardon.
LiberalFighter
(52,127 posts)Send him back in time to the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem and tell them he is Jesus.
jayschool2013
(2,340 posts)to around 5%.
But we now know that about 40% of the electorate is unmoved by genuine news of corruption.
raging moderate
(4,346 posts)They think they are the only real Americans, and the only real human beings. When they complain about "corruption," they are complaining about anything good happening to anybody who is not one of them.
DBoon
(22,521 posts)Corruption is anything that challenges the domination of white male christians..
COL Mustard
(6,139 posts)See what a shrewd businessman he is??? Sleepy Joe could never do that!!!
Geechie
(874 posts)History doesnt repeat but it rhymes
Hekate
(91,656 posts)republianmushroom
(14,659 posts)GreenWave
(7,261 posts)3Hotdogs
(12,672 posts)Takket
(21,903 posts)But seriously.... call all the execs before congress and ask them all under oath if drumpf bribed them.
Let's go
mjvpi
(1,471 posts)Not to mention their conscious driving of global warming. Evil scratching is own back. A Fascist circle jerk.
Evolve Dammit
(17,091 posts)ArkansasDemocrat1
(1,510 posts)COL Mustard
(6,139 posts)Hes his own worst enemy, except for everyone else who wants him in prison!