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Scott Monty's avatar

It would be embarrassing for him, if he had the ability to feel shame. It's astounding that a former POTUS would act this way. But given his pedigree and the brand he's built, it's entirely consistent.

I'm still horrified that we elected this person as president.

P.S. click on my profile to check out my Timeless & Timely newsletter, where I write about issues of character and values with respect to leadership.

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smartalek's avatar

Well...

for certain values of "we."

WE may take some consolation in recalling that:

he never won a popular vote

even in the GOP-leaning Gallup poll, he never, not even once, not even for one day, hit (let alone topped) 50% approval; his term avg was 41%; his final-day rating, 34%

A MINORITY [o, the irony!] "president" from beginning to end

And now (12/16/22) even among Thuglican voters, a minority are his supporters; DeSantis is polling better, as is the Party as a whole

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KathyintheWallowas's avatar

DeSantis I think is using Trump as cover for right now.

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Tina Foster's avatar

Thanks so much for great research but also acting so quickly.

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Bo's avatar

A great many of these companies appear to have been the means through which MTG raised many millions in small $ donations of $200 or less too. Maybe we should rethink these States incorporation laws?

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Cy_Guy's avatar

Great piece. still misses one key point - in addition to grifting his rubes, the NFT's make a perfect money-laundering operation in themselves because they accept crypto-currency payments and only require an email address as identification, ie they don't require identification and anyone on the planet, from say China, Russia, or Saudi can buy the NFTs without it ever being traced back to the source of the funds.

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Travelingexec's avatar

Exactly. Shady as the entities are, the source of funds is the real issue. Payment for those nuclear secrets in plain sight. No way the piss poor MAGA's have 45 wallets buying 45+ NFT's each

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Rita Parker's avatar

Brilliant reporting. Thank you.

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Kurt Eichenwald's avatar

Thanks so much!

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Laura Beverage's avatar

I absolutely cannot believe the toxicity of this meglomaniacal narcissist. As Scott Monty says, I am horrified he was ever in our WH, let alone have access to (and feel he could steal) top secret documents and the nuclear codes. This wretched individual doesn't deserve to be a dog catcher.

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Rick Keeney's avatar

Money laundering scheme. Payments from Saudis and Putin and others can flow at anytime through the secondary market fee. Just trade a pile of cards back and forth between shell owners to send money to Trump.

Anytime people are paying way more than its really worth for something, its a red flag for Money laundering.

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Travelingexec's avatar

NFT is shady, but the real issue is the source of $$ buying the NFT's. Gimme a break, 250+ wallets bought more than 45 NFT's each? Saudi and Russian money flowing in. MAGA's may be gullible, but they are piss poor too. Payment for those nuclear secrets ... https://dune.com/domo/trump-digital-trading-cards

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Ian Mark Sirota's avatar

Excellent research. Well done--I wish that some of his gullible supporters would read this.

On another note, is it just me or does he look (in these NFT photos) just like Vigo the Carpathian, from Ghostbusters II?

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Kurt Eichenwald's avatar

That's exactly what I thought!

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Laura Beverage's avatar

None of his sycophants would take the time to read through something of this ilk, and researched so thoroughly (if, indeed, they could process it after reading it). And, even if by some miracle any of them did, they are so far down the rabbit hole they would never think this wasn't all made up to make their precious leader look bad. No, sadly, we just have to make sure Trump is crushed going into 2024. There is simply no other option.

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John Norris's avatar

That's exactly who they prey on. The GOP's defunding of education has paid them dividends. (They call it privatization).

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Wang yoon's avatar

That’s the GOP playbook that they’re running with and going to die playing now. Pander to any idiot who believes any dumb conspiracy — no corner of the dark web is off limits … pander to the most gullible and enlist them to join your mission to rob them blind and steal everything they own most importantly their votes.

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KathyintheWallowas's avatar

He's toasted. I'd beware of DeSantis, and be watching for misuse of federal funds (covid shots given to donors outside of the priority list) and other legal liabilities, as he seems to be arm in kneecap with Abbott's abduction of immigrants who had just filed at the border.

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KathyintheWallowas's avatar

Trump is already pretty crushed, though there are some ribbons to tie up.

DeSantis et al are actually of more concern.

But I do think this week some House/Senate GOP allies are going to go "through some things" now that the elections are past.

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Paula Sharp's avatar

Shell companies need to be outlawed.

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Doris Murphy's avatar

I thought he has some kind of CPA type person overseeing his stuff now from the NYC lawsuit? Of course none of this is surprising at all. He's as dirty as the come, nothing every is legal or above board. thanks for the info...

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Kurt Eichenwald's avatar

He's not just dirty - he's an idiot.

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Doris Murphy's avatar

I'm beyond ready to see him & the rest of the GOP frog marched into court. that would make my Christmas and new year's a whole lot better.

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Laura Beverage's avatar

Yours and about 220,000,000 million others in the country.

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Laura Beverage's avatar

And a narcissitic one of the first order. What adult male has to make himself look like some ripped super hero with a......ahem......."package" to match. So totally ridiculous.

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Doris Murphy's avatar

Stormy certainly had a very different description. He's a joke. it's pathetic to think he represented this country & continually makes a mockery of all of it all to pad his bank account. He must really be broke to stoop this low. But then, I don't really think we have even begun to see just how low he can go.

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Laura Beverage's avatar

Agreed. Just when you think you've scraped the bottom of the barrel, the barrel grows a whole other layer......or 1,000 layers.

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Wang yoon's avatar

They’re eating the barrel itself now

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Joseph Bond's avatar

There is no bottom. None. And no shame whatsoever...

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Jennifer Van Amburgh Moody's avatar

It really puzzles me how Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christians can support this fraud, or so many other frauds in office. Do they simply pretend none of it is true? If 2-3 Republican frauds run for same office, how do they choose?

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Stargazer2023's avatar

.maybe an idiot, but very clever one. He is savant in grifting.

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KathyintheWallowas's avatar

That's for the Trump Corporation... I wonder if this was done inside or outside that context? Back to read the article again.

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Tim Tuttle's avatar

I want to be shocked. I truly want to be shocked.

But nothing with the trumps shocks me any longer. And that’s not good.

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Janna's avatar

National Registered Agents, Inc. (the registered agent for CIC) registered and incorporated a variety of entities ... including an Arizona computer security firm 🤔

Could that particular firm be the infamous Cyber Ninjas??

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Dorje Sylas's avatar

Late comment to this. No. Cyber Ninjas was (he is trying to juggle to a new company) a Florida based digital tech company. Doug Logan is still desperately trying to avoid the outstanding fines and court penalties due in Arizona and to The Arizona Republic/American Oversight lawsuit. He was never a local Arizona firm.

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KathyintheWallowas's avatar

Or one of Rudy Giuliani's projects?

Before he got involved in all the Trump stuff, he owned international security orgs or projects all over the world. I looked it up 5 years ago to see where his fingers were... Just now went back to the map. Yup, one of them is in AZ. http://www.giulianisecurity.com/services/

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Becky Evans's avatar

This grift and all the other schemes are so convoluted that I am having difficulty following it, but I suppose that's exactly the point. Hard to trace, hard to prosecute.

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Laura Beverage's avatar

Brilliantly researched, presented and incredibly quickly. Thank you, Kurt!

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Susan Christensen's avatar

Great work!

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