What has Trump done now?

[old man emu]

I loved Xi's expressionless face when he was with Trump. Or should I say very expressive face. Every time I saw Xi's face, I just read, "If I give this fwit enough rope, he'll hang himself." Xi was the stereotypical "inscrutable Asian gentleman".

[old man emu]

Meanwhile, back in Washington D.C., the defrauding of the US taxpayer goes on.

 

A famous landmark in Washington is the Lincoln Memeorial reflecting pool 

The pool is basically a concrete lined wading pool. It is only about 60 cm deep. To be honest, as anyone who has owned a pool of this construction knows, eventually the base cracks and the pool leaks. That is what has happened. The pool was in bad shape and leaking huge amounts of water each year. So it has to be fixed. It's a big job with realistic cost of around $US10 million. As with all governments work like this should be granted by tender. However, Trump had the contract made without going to tender. The successful contractor was, in Trump's intial statement, " a guy who's unbelievable at doing swimming pools". 

 

During his Oval Office press conference, Mr Trump said the project would cost "less than $2 million". But the project contract actually turned out to be for $US6.9 million ($9.7 million). And earlier this month, it was hiked up to $US13.1 million ($18.3 million). Trump's reason for not calling for tenders was that the job needed to be done as quickly as possible so as to be finished before the 250th Anniversary celebrations in July. A "no-bid" contract was given to a company called Atlantic Industrial Coatings. The contract was awarded under an exemption meant for urgent situations to prevent "serious injury, financial or other, to the government". Called out on this no bid deal, Trump wrote, "I didn't give out the contract, 'Interior' did, to a contractor I did not know, and have never used before".

 

Then there is the colour.  The pool's dark basin, a signature feature" since it opened in 1924, was designed that way to create  the illusion of greater depth and a more profound reflection.  Trump says the precise shade he has requested for the pool surface is "American flag blue". It's a big area to be painted and anyone who has painted large areas knows it takes lots of paint and the colour can change between batches. "'Splotchy blue' is how I would describe the colour," said Mike, a local video producer. Trump's chosen blue "is more appropriate to a resort or theme park" "Trump has shown no respect for history," said Mike, the video producer. 

 

A local non-profit, the Cultural Landscape Foundation, has filed a lawsuit to halt work, arguing proper processes were not followed.

 

Trump is the "boy named sue".

[rgmwa]

We'll he's certainly leaving his mark everywhere, just like a seagull does.

 

[facthunter]

" Trump will fix it" Remember?.  A person who bears witness unto himself , cannot be trusted. How many Proven LIES now?  Nev

[Marty_d]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

" Trump will fix it" Remember?.  A person who bears witness unto himself , cannot be trusted. How many Proven LIES now?  Nev

It's far easier to count the number of times he's told the truth.

You don't even need to take your shoes off.

[facthunter]

Who else would GET AWAY with such behaviour???  What a dreadful example HE sets. Nev

[old man emu]

One day there will be no Trump. What will we do with this thread then?

[Marty_d]

3 minutes ago, old man emu said:

One day there will be no Trump. What will we do with this thread then?

What a lovely thought!

Let's just hope the next White house resident is more like Obama, and not a Trump-like replacement.

[rgmwa]

He's just dropped his $10B lawsuit against the IRS for releasing his tax return information a few years ago. He's withdrawn it `with prejudice' just ahead of the deadline so that the judge in the case can't dig any further into his dubious legal justification for bringing the case in the first place. In fact, she had already gone and obtained opinions from three independent legal firms that basically said that Trump didn't have a leg to stand on, so she could probably have gone after him for bringing a frivolous case or some other contempt charge. If he had withdrawn it `without prejudice', she could have pursued it further. 

 

In fact the IRS didn't release his tax returns. An independent contractor working for the IRS gave them to the New York Times, so he was blaming the wrong entity anyway. Also, the statute of limitations had already run out before he sued, but he claimed he only discovered what had happened fairly recently despite numerous posts confirming that he knew it was a contractor years ago.

 

Now, having blocked the judge from doing any further investigation on her own authority, it looks as though he's got a $1,776B slush fund approved as an out of court settlement in his favour. To add insult to injury the odd amount is a reference to the date of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He apparently wants to use it in part to compensate the convicted Jan 6 rioters to boost his argument that the election was stolen and that his loyal supporters were patriots and unfairly convicted until he pardoned them. In practice he will most likely find a way to keep most of the money himself. Of course the fund will be paid for by the hapless US taxpayers.

 

The blatant corruption, lawlessness and cynicism on display should disgust most Americans, but that's who they voted for. No doubt he'll face some legal challenges to his slush fund, but if past experience is any guide he will quite likely get away with it.  

 

Edited 9 hours ago by rgmwa

[rgmwa]

Just to clarify the above, he sued the IRS for not doing enough to stop his tax returns from being released. Very hard to see how that was worth $10B.