Michael Cohen Secretly Taped Trump

[Leonhard]

There is a big difference between what Bill Clinton did and what Trump did. This is not to excuse Trump, but let's at least talk apples versus apples.

I imagine the big thing that haunted the rest of his Presidency was his open lying about it. He got a direct question, and lied in a very direct way. If he had told the press to stick to their knitting, or just never addressed it, or just plain old told the truth, I doubt it would have come as far as it did.

That being said taking advantage of someone when you're in a position of power is a sleazy thing no matter who you are.

[Charles]

I appreciate the irony. I'll give you an "amen" if you can explain why your post is hypocritical.

So another ad hominem.

[shunyadragon]

Trump's problem is not his hedonist life style, but his payments to the women to hide the fact during the election, and election laws. Too many presidents and famous Americans also live hedonist life styles, and Benjamin Franklin is the most notorious hedonist in USA history, and it was commonly known.

Lying under oath is another legal problem subject to prosecution under Federal and state law.

[Terraceth]

I imagine the big thing that haunted the rest of his Presidency was his open lying about it. He got a direct question, and lied in a very direct way. If he had told the press to stick to their knitting, or just never addressed it, or just plain old told the truth, I doubt it would have come as far as it did.

That being said taking advantage of someone when you're in a position of power is a sleazy thing no matter who you are.

The problem wasn't even him lying to the public about it; that's not impeachable (if so, pretty much every president of the last half century or so would have been impeached). It was the fact he did so under oath, which is a felony. Though I think he tried to weasel out of it by claiming the what he denied was that he had sex with her, but since it was oral, he technically told the truth.

At any rate, if he just admitted it, he would've gotten some criticism and had some jokes made at his expense, but then everyone would have moved on and it'd mostly be a footnote today.

[Leonhard]

It was the fact he did so under oath,

Yeah that.

[Mountain Man]

I imagine the big thing that haunted the rest of his Presidency was his open lying about it. He got a direct question, and lied in a very direct way. If he had told the press to stick to their knitting, or just never addressed it, or just plain old told the truth, I doubt it would have come as far as it did.

That being said taking advantage of someone when you're in a position of power is a sleazy thing no matter who you are.

Bill Clinton had many more skeletons than just the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Remember the "Bimbo Eruption" war room?

[Leonhard]

Bill Clinton had many more skeletons than just the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Remember the "Bimbo Eruption" war room?

I didn't follow American politics that much back then. We did hear about Monica Lewinski in Denmark. Everyone thought it was weird that he had been asked about it, sounded like something that should be handled behind the scenes, but everyone also agreed that when he was asked about it he should have said the truth.

I remember a hilarious discussion we had in English class - our teacher often brought news to be discussed to practice our english, when we weren't discussing litterature -, in broken danish english, about whether oral sex counted as sex.

I doubt the insight of a room full of danish teenagers are interesting to you, but the answer was almost unanimously yes.

[rogue06]

I didn't follow American politics that much back then. We did hear about Monica Lewinski in Denmark. Everyone thought it was weird that he had been asked about it, sounded like something that should be handled behind the scenes, but everyone also agreed that when he was asked about it he should have said the truth.

I remember a hilarious discussion we had in English class - our teacher often brought news to be discussed to practice our english, when we weren't discussing litterature -, in broken danish english, about whether oral sex counted as sex.

I doubt the insight of a room full of danish teenagers are interesting to you, but the answer was almost unanimously yes.

A year or two after the Lewinski incident I was working about a block away from where my niece went to day care (she was in 2nd or 3rd grade at the time) and would often give her a ride to where her mother worked. She always trusted me to give her a straight answer since she knew I was always open and honest with her and talked to her like she was a person not a little kid (who adults tend to talk down to). One day, out of the blue, she asked, Uncle "rogue", what's oral sex?" Did I say she was in 2nd or 3rd grade (somewhere around 7 or 8 years old)?

Somehow, managing to somehow not swerve into on-coming traffic and without blinking an eye (I really have a great poker face), I told her that it's when two adults kiss really passionately. When we got to her mom's I of course told her what happened and understandably she was quite upset. I reminded her that it had been in the news a lot and urged her to remain as calm as possible when she talked to her about it.

Many years later, when my niece was a mother herself, I brought up that that particular drive to her mom's. She told me that she didn't remember it and said that I gave her a good answer. I told her it was the only time I wasn't completely honest with her but she agreed that was for the best.

[rogue06]

I am concerned as someone who was once bought and sold by the idea of "family values" That the republican party did put Bill Clinton on Trial for something very similar. And yet on the platform of family values the Republicans voted Donald Trump in, who has shown himself to have no family value at all. He has proven himself to be worthless as a person, and sells out to ideals which I really want to have no party in as a Christian. I can't stomach it at all. The economy would be doing just fine under someone else who was of better moral character and knew better how to run this country.

The problem with Clinton was he lied under oath in a court of law. While many people excused it at the time by saying that everyone lies about sex just keep in mind that everyone poops too. But if you do it in a courtroom you can expect to get in big trouble for it.

Still, the Republicans do represent themselves as being for family values which is why they usually get slammed especially hard when they act hypocritical about it. Trump has been a noted exception but then he never campaigned on that.

[Mountain Man]

The thing I find most ironic is that the "me too" movement which was ostensibly a response to Trump has taken mostly liberal scalps. The latest is Disney rising-star and liberal darling Tim Gunn.

https://www.breitbart.com/big-hollyw...an-old-tweets/

[Starlight]

The problem with Clinton was he lied under oath in a court of law. While many people excused it at the time by saying that everyone lies about sex just keep in mind that everyone poops too. But if you do it in a courtroom you can expect to get in big trouble for it.

That there is a constitutional right to privacy with regard to sexual matters is pretty well established under US precedent. IMO, the very asking of such a direct question in a legal setting where the answer is under oath is a violation of the right to privacy, and can put the person answering in an impossible position. With the asking of the question itself being unconstitutional, in my view this renders the legality of the answer moot. While I think you could consider impeaching the person who was asking the question for their violation of the right to privacy, the person answering the unconstitutional question then has the freedom to make the best they can of an impossible/illegal situation.

I will acknowledge that in my country there is a much stronger cultural belief in a right to privacy than there seems to be in the US. And hence a much stronger belief here with regard to politicians' right to privacy in their personal lives than there is in the US, but here the public would totally not tolerate politicians being asked direct questions about their sex lives. Someone who did that would be booed out of the room and would make the front page of the newspaper about how shameful their behavior was in asking such a question. So I find the common assumption in the US that it was legitimate to ask Bill Clinton direct questions about his personal sexual activities under oath to be totally bizarre to me... of course that's not okay, it's a gross violation of the right to privacy and the person asking the questions should have been censured for misconduct.

[Tassman]

The thing I find most ironic is that the "me too" movement which was ostensibly a response to Trump has taken mostly liberal scalps. The latest is Disney rising-star and liberal darling Tim Gunn.

https://www.breitbart.com/big-hollyw...an-old-tweets/

Oh you and your fantasies about liberal persecution. How you lap up that dishonest Breitbart crap!

The Me Too Movement didn’t begin as a response to Trump per se. It began as a movement against sexual harassment and assault in general and in the workplace in particular. It developed soon after the sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein, not Trump. Although the evidence is that Trump is just as bad as Weinstein.

[Mountain Man]

Sorry, it's James Gunn, not Tim Gunn.

At any rate, you really think "Me Too" would have gained traction if it wasn't for liberals hypocritically trying to take down Trump for what is now in hindsight comparatively mild "locker room" talk?

And it looks like liberals just took/lost another scalp: Rick and Morty creator Dan Harmon was recently outed for posting a "joke" video about baby rape to his Twitter account.

Liberals are a sick bunch, aren't they? This just seems to confirm what conservatives have suspected/known for years: liberalism is a mental illness.

[Tassman]

Sorry, it's James Gunn, not Tim Gunn.

At any rate, you really think "Me Too" would have gained traction if it wasn't for liberals hypocritically trying to take down Trump for what is now in hindsight comparatively mild "locker room" talk?

Well no, this is factually incorrect. Trump is certainly one sexually sick pussy-cat but the "Me Too" Movement gained traction after the shocking sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein, not Trump.

And it looks like liberals just took/lost another scalp: Rick and Morty creator Dan Harmon was recently outed for posting a "joke" video about baby rape to his Twitter account.

Liberals are a sick bunch, aren't they? This just seems to confirm what conservatives have suspected/known for years: liberalism is a mental illness.

Ah, good ol' Breitbart again, where would you be without it? Do you really think anyone, anyone at all, finds baby-rape jokes funny or appropriate.

[Roy]

Nobody is excusing Trump's infidelity. I only said that what he did wasn't illegal.

You'll have to try harder, my signature already contains something even dumber than that.