Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

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FrankLotion
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Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by FrankLotion »

Just wanted to wish everybody in the U.S. to stay safe, shit’s getting scary today.

If anyone is in Portland, Oregon try and avoid going downtown if possible today, people have been saying there might be another Proud Boys parade tonight.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Holden »

A young woman has died. Seriously everyone, stay safe.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Nick »

If you had told me in 2016 that the Trump era would end with a pandemic, an attempted coup, and a riot in the Capitol building, I would have totally believed you.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by jamieW »

Nick wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 1:29 am If you had told me in 2016 that the Trump era would end with a pandemic, an attempted coup, and a riot in the Capitol building, I would have totally believed you.
Yep. Four years ago, when I was so stressed about him winning the election, my dad asked me what my "writer's imagination" had happening. I said, "He loses in 2020, claims it was 'rigged,' and urges the armed morons who believe all of his lies that they need to defend him." Sadly, close enough.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Holden »

Four people died in the Capitol riot. And it accomplished nothing (actually it accomplished something in the direction the rioters didn't want, fewer senators voted against the certification than had planned). Thank goodness it accomplished nothing, but those four people died for no reason at all. A really dark day.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Jirin »

Just out here being even more embarrassed for my country. Wondering how the hell after five years of half the country saying correctly that Trump is a bigoted, narcissistic fascist and Trump proving it true at every opportunity, the other half still doesn't believe it.

He ran an ad saying we should ban Muslims from the country, and that they should have to register as Muslim. He called countries s***holes and Mexicans rapists. He praised dictators while withdrawing from national agreements and alliances with democracies. He villainized the media, he denied a deadly virus existed, prevented us from taking any real action to stop its spread then tried to take credit for the vaccine. He called protestors treasonous and justified the murder of civilians. He rounded up immigrants, put them in torturous conditions with no access to legal representation, put up barriers to legal application for asylum from people fleeing murderous gangs and dictators. He spent two years insisting the democrats would commit voter fraud just so he could claim they did if he lost, then pushed voter fraud claims with zero evidence, threatened members of his own party to try to abuse their power to overturn the result of the vote. Then he incited a riot in our nation's capital. And over 40% of the country still want him to be president.

What the **** is wrong with these people?!
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by FrankLotion »

Jirin wrote: Fri Jan 08, 2021 4:18 am Just out here being even more embarrassed for my country. Wondering how the hell after five years of half the country saying correctly that Trump is a bigoted, narcissistic fascist and Trump proving it true at every opportunity, the other half still doesn't believe it.

He ran an ad saying we should ban Muslims from the country, and that they should have to register as Muslim. He called countries s***holes and Mexicans rapists. He praised dictators while withdrawing from national agreements and alliances with democracies. He villainized the media, he denied a deadly virus existed, prevented us from taking any real action to stop its spread then tried to take credit for the vaccine. He called protestors treasonous and justified the murder of civilians. He rounded up immigrants, put them in torturous conditions with no access to legal representation, put up barriers to legal application for asylum from people fleeing murderous gangs and dictators. He spent two years insisting the democrats would commit voter fraud just so he could claim they did if he lost, then pushed voter fraud claims with zero evidence, threatened members of his own party to try to abuse their power to overturn the result of the vote. Then he incited a riot in our nation's capital. And over 40% of the country still want him to be president.

What the **** is wrong with these people?!
:text-goodpost:

But seriously I've never been so ashamed of living in this country, which is saying a lot.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Henry »

Please share any thoughts you have about the LA Times report that Ariel Pink (Ariel Marcus Rosenberg) has been dropped by his label after confirming he attended the Trump rally that led to a mob violently storming the Capitol.

“Im not maga,” Pink tweeted in December, responding to a Twitter user questioning his support of the president. “i simply think that trump is the only thing standing in the way of total collapse. the lying media psychos gunning for Biden/Harris presidency are more terrifying to me.”

Apparently, John Maus also participated in the rally on Wednesday.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by ValenN »

Henry wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 4:59 am Please share any thoughts you have about the LA Times report that Ariel Pink (Ariel Marcus Rosenberg) has been dropped by his label after confirming he attended the Trump rally that led to a mob violently storming the Capitol.

“Im not maga,” Pink tweeted in December, responding to a Twitter user questioning his support of the president. “i simply think that trump is the only thing standing in the way of total collapse. the lying media psychos gunning for Biden/Harris presidency are more terrifying to me.”

Apparently, John Maus also participated in the rally on Wednesday.
Disappointing for sure. Granted, I'm not huge into Ariel Pink, but the one song I have of his (Round and Round) is one of my all-time favorites, helped me through some tough times. I certainly won't feel the same listening to it again.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Henrik »

Trump wrote 57 000 twitter posts before he got banned. That’s 10 times more than I (or anyone) have written in this forum!!! :o
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by FrankLotion »

Henrik wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 9:50 pm Trump wrote 57 000 twitter posts before he got banned. That’s 10 times more than I (or anyone) have written in this forum!!! :o
Ugh, it’s unbelievable that it had to take a literal coup attempt for him to get banned when probably 50,000 of those tweets should have been enough.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by FrankLotion »

Out of curiosity, I’m wondering how people outside of the U.S. are reacting to this? Living through these last few years here has made this kind of seem inevitable but I know I would be stunned if I heard there was an attempted coup in any of the other high-development countries.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Nick »

Henrik wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 9:50 pm Trump wrote 57 000 twitter posts before he got banned. That’s 10 times more than I (or anyone) have written in this forum!!! :o
Assuming an average word count of 10 words per tweet, this would mean the sum of his Twitter activity is roughly as long as War and Peace.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Hymie »

I'm ashamed to say that several of my aunts and uncles, cousins, and even my jerkoff brother are Trump supporters. Two close friends too, and none of them have dropped Trump even after this week. It's very disheartening.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by jamieW »

I'm not surprised that about 40% of the country would be susceptible to a cult leader. What does surprise me a bit is that it isn't even a clever, charismatic, skilled cult leader, but a bumbling fool who can't even speak in coherent sentences. It seems all it took was for someone to vocally hate the same people they do, from minorities to politicians on the other side. Disheartening is certainly a good word for it.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Hymie »

jamieW wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 1:16 pm I'm not surprised that about 40% of the country would be susceptible to a cult leader. What does surprise me a bit is that it isn't even a clever, charismatic, skilled cult leader, but a bumbling fool who can't even speak in coherent sentences. It seems all it took was for someone to vocally hate the same people they do, from minorities to politicians on the other side. Disheartening is certainly a good word for it.
I'd say he's charismatic, but not clever or skilled. It just shows you the level of the dopes who fell for it. Here's a good example of one of them.

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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by FrankLotion »

I really didn’t think I’d be putting another PSA on here so quickly but people have been quite vocal that they’re planning armed protests at all 50 state capitols starting on the 16th and going through to the 20th.

I have to imagine that there’ll be a lot of this going on in the non-capitol big cities too so be mindful of that if you live in the States.
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Post by Nick »

So it's almost certain that Trump is going to be impeached for the second time in his presidency tomorrow.

This would be the fourth time a US president has ever been impeached. The first two presidents were Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. The third time was also Trump.

And I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but it looks like there's at least a decent chance that the Senate will vote to convict.
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FrankLotion wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 1:12 am all 50 state capitols starting on the 16th and going through to the 20th.
I work in Albany, so I'm sure you can guess how thrilled I am about this... :/
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Nick wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:32 am
And I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but it looks like there's at least a decent chance that the Senate will vote to convict.
All it takes is 17 honest Republicans. Or 16, as we can be fairly sure Romney will vote the same way he did last time.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Hymie »

Holden wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:58 am
Nick wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:32 am
And I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but it looks like there's at least a decent chance that the Senate will vote to convict.
All it takes is 17 honest Republicans. Or 16, as we can be fairly sure Romney will vote the same way he did last time.
If McConnell announces that he'll vote to convict we'll get the 17.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Holden »

Hymie wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 3:11 pm
Holden wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:58 am
Nick wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:32 am
And I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but it looks like there's at least a decent chance that the Senate will vote to convict.
All it takes is 17 honest Republicans. Or 16, as we can be fairly sure Romney will vote the same way he did last time.
If McConnell announces that he'll vote to convict we'll get the 17.
I’ve seen a few reports saying he’ll convict. I don’t know why he wouldn’t, it’s not like he likes Trump. Trump cost him the majority leader position.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

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It's really disappointing for me to hear about Ariel Pink being there cause I've listened to Pom Pom on and off since it came out and think it's a fun album. I've looked forward to listening to some of his other albums which I'll still do probably, but between him and Kanye, I'm getting tired of having such problematic artists on my phone. Also, two local grocery store chain owners where I live took pictures of themselves at the riot, so we've had some noticeable local blowback where I live. It feels like it's gonna be a dirge to inauguration day.
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Post by Nick »

Nick wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:32 am So it's almost certain that Trump is going to be impeached for the second time in his presidency tomorrow.

This would be the fourth time a US president has ever been impeached. The first two presidents were Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. The third time was also Trump.

And I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but it looks like there's at least a decent chance that the Senate will vote to convict.
And it's official, Donald Trump has just been impeached for a second time. If the Senate votes to convict, then Mike Pence will become president. Either way, Joe Biden becomes president one week from today.
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Nick wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 9:51 pm If the Senate votes to convict, then Mike Pence will become president.
Can't happen, the senate will not start the trial until after Biden is in.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Nick »

Hymie wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:08 pm
Nick wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 9:51 pm If the Senate votes to convict, then Mike Pence will become president.
Can't happen, the senate will not start the trial until after Biden is in.
Good point, I just saw that.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Hymie »

Holden wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 3:13 pm
Hymie wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 3:11 pm
Holden wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:58 am

All it takes is 17 honest Republicans. Or 16, as we can be fairly sure Romney will vote the same way he did last time.
If McConnell announces that he'll vote to convict we'll get the 17.
I’ve seen a few reports saying he’ll convict. I don’t know why he wouldn’t, it’s not like he likes Trump. Trump cost him the majority leader position.
McConnell is the least emotional politician around. If he thinks that acquitting Trump is the better move to get himself back in as majority leader, that's what he'll do. If he decides that convicting Trump is better, that's what he'll do. He's never liked Trump, but he backed him all along until the last couple of weeks. It's not about his feelings, it's about what he thinks will work better to help him achieve his goals for the future.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Jirin »

I would be totally fine with a six day Pence presidency. He’s a horrible person but can at least he trusted not to burn down the country.

Only six more days until I can finally breathe the air of a country with a satisfactory President again.

I am doubtful McConnell will vote to convict when fully half of republicans still think the insurgents did nothing wrong. The only reason I can think he would is because Trump endangers his party’s pipeline of corporate donations. I can see big businesses and big investors scared an unstable country will harm their bottom line and putting pressure on their manservant McConnell to do away with Trump.
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Post by Nick »

Jirin wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 9:45 pm I would be totally fine with a six day Pence presidency. He’s a horrible person but can at least he trusted not to burn down the country.
I agree completely. Pence is a politician who I have extremely seriously disagreements with. Trump is an idiotic mentally unstable psychopath. An enormous difference.
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Post by Hymie »

Nick wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 9:55 pm
Jirin wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 9:45 pm I would be totally fine with a six day Pence presidency. He’s a horrible person but can at least he trusted not to burn down the country.
I agree completely. Pence is a politician who I have extremely seriously disagreements with. Trump is an idiotic mentally unstable psychopath. An enormous difference.
Pence would just be your normal Republican president.
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Post by Holden »

Hymie wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 10:46 pm
Nick wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 9:55 pm
Jirin wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 9:45 pm I would be totally fine with a six day Pence presidency. He’s a horrible person but can at least he trusted not to burn down the country.
I agree completely. Pence is a politician who I have extremely seriously disagreements with. Trump is an idiotic mentally unstable psychopath. An enormous difference.
Pence would just be your normal Republican president.
I feel like he would be relatively normal, but he has some radical religious views that I definitely don’t want normalized by a full term as president. But a week would be very uneventful with him.
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They're saying tonight that Trump considered resigning but that he won't because he doesn't trust Pence to pardon him.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Jirin »

I’m imagining what a Trump resignation speech would look like.

“I wanted to make America great again, I accomplished more than any other President on history, but then America showed it has no interest in greatness. So I have resigned the Presidency as America is no longer up to my high standards. America, you’re fired.”

A full Pence presidency would be a disaster as he’d spend it on the warpath against LGBT rights and anti-discrimination laws. While still rubber stamping McConnell’s corporate deregulation agenda and saying we don’t need health care when we have prayer.

But five days would be fine.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

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Jirin wrote: Fri Jan 15, 2021 3:43 pm I’m imagining what a Trump resignation speech would look like.

“I wanted to make America great again, I accomplished more than any other President on history, but then America showed it has no interest in greatness. So I have resigned the Presidency as America is no longer up to my high standards. America, you’re fired.”
An of course he'd mention that he really won the election.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

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In three more days we'll either have an acceptable president, or a military dictatorship with Emperor Trump I.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

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22 hours and 29 minutes!
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15 hours and 22 minutes. I think right after John Roberts pronounces Biden president, I'm going to queue up Americans by Janelle Monae to play.

Don't try to take my country! I will defend my land!
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4 hours and 13 minutes now. I remember where I was when I realized that Trump would win. I was at an election day watch party at my friend's house watching the Florida results come in and realizing to my horror that Trump would win the state. That was around 9 PM on November 8th, 2016. And ever since then I've lived with this hole in my stomach. It's hard to believe that in just over 4 hours that hole will be forever closed up.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Holden »

The inauguration has begun!
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Post by Holden »

They got started a bit early, Biden is president!!!!
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Nick »

Holden wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 4:49 pm They got started a bit early, Biden is president!!!!
From my understanding the actual swearing in is just ceremonial, and Biden isn’t technically president for another 9 minutes.
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Nick wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 4:51 pm
Holden wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 4:49 pm They got started a bit early, Biden is president!!!!
From my understanding the actual swearing in is just ceremonial, and Biden isn’t technically president for another 9 minutes.
Yup sorry about that lol, but Biden is president now!
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Donald Trump is now an ex-president without legal protections.
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Post by Nick »

Congratulations PRESIDENT BIDEN!!!
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Live in Phoenix wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 5:03 pm Donald Trump is now an ex-president without legal protections.
Soon to be indicted.
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Trump is a lot like his mentor, my cousin Roy Cohn. Now he's leaving like him, in disgrace.

Gael Zane - USA Today


Cohn was disbarred, shamed and defeated by a disease he denied. He was Trump's mentor, but the departing president failed to learn some key lessons.

My cousin Roy Cohn taught Donald Trump the art of denying, deflecting and distracting. While Trump mastered all those, he failed to learn Roy’s most important lesson: A lifetime of bullying and cheating has a way of catching up with you.

As Trump seems to shrink before our eyes, I’ve been thinking of Roy’s final months, in 1986. By then, Roy was a recluse, his body wracked by disease, his mind reeling from dementia. His friends abandoned him. Emboldened, his enemies sought revenge.

To understand how far he fell, you had to see Roy Marcus Cohn at his zenith. For several decades, he seemed invincible, first as a prosecutor of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, then as the red-baiting aide to Sen. Joe McCarthy in the 1950s, then as a powerbroker and Mafia lawyer, and finally as a key supporter of President Ronald Reagan.

Bold, unethical and successful

When he first met Trump in 1973, at Le Club on the Upper East Side, Roy was already known as an attorney who relied less on the formalities of the law than on shady connections.

Trump, then 27, asked Roy for advice: The U.S. Justice Department was suing him for violating the Fair Housing Act and discriminating against Black tenants. Roy came up with a typically bold, unethical plan: Even though the government had damning evidence, Trump should countersue for $100 million.

The bluff worked: Trump settled without admitting guilt and crowed about his victory — for the first of many times.

Roy imparted three strategies to his favorite apprentice: When you’re attacked, counterattack harder. Find someone weaker than you to scapegoat. Daze and confuse everyone with a fog of lies.

My father was Roy’s first cousin. In 1985, a year before Roy died, I started shadowing him for a magazine story. Roy boasted about his work for Trump. Through City Hall contacts and Mob ties, Roy had recently ensured that Trump Tower was built in spite of a concrete workers’ strike.

Corruption: Trump's pardons show his separate justice system for friends and allies

Like Trump, Roy grew up with parents who had a dysfunctional marriage. Like Trump, he needed adulation. I watched politicians and developers waiting for an audience with him, sitting in the hallways of the six-floor townhouse off Park Avenue that doubled as Roy’s office and home. Regular visitors included Roger Stone and Terence Cardinal Cooke, the archbishop of New York. And John Gotti, aka “the Teflon Don” — before he was convicted of five murders.

On New Year’s Eve 1985, shortly before Roy turned 59, he threw a party thatI and the other guests sensed would be his last. Carmine DeSapio, the Tammany Hall boss, mingling with Norman Mailer, William F. Buckley and Steve Rubell. Andy Warhol stood in a corner. As usual, Trump arrived late and stayed just long enough to give a toast and get photographed for the gossip columns.

Never a bottom: The defining phrase of Donald Trump's presidency was 'new low'

Trump boasted that he kept a photo of Roy in his office, to intimidate people. “Roy is a terrible lawyer,” he told the laughing crowd. “But I only need to mention his name and people are too scared to challenge me.”

Roy shuffled unevenly, clutching his young partner, Peter Fraser. No one mentioned the rumor that Roy denied, but that all of us knew to be true: He had AIDS.

Disbarred for deceit and fraud

Soon after, the epidemic that Roy had scoffed at caught up with him. He fell asleep in the middle of conversations. He tried to overdose but couldn’t open the pill bottle. New York tabloids — the Twitter of the 1980s — stopped featuring him.

In June 1986, New York’s top court disbarred Roy for dishonesty, deceit and fraud. Roy went ahead and hosted a private dinner, but Trump and other close friends didn't show. He died in August with only one person by his side, Peter. It was far from the sendoff Roy had envisioned, with senators, judges and celebrities cheering him.

If Roy’s carelessness about the AIDS epidemic led to his demise, Trump’s cavalier attitude about the COVID-19 pandemic brought about his downfall. Now, after a humiliating election defeat, plummeting approval ratings and two impeachments, even corporate America has acknowledged Trump’s toxicity.

Although Trump is not known for introspection, in stressful times he has wondered aloud, “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” Here’s the answer: Your Roy Cohn died in ignominy. He’s buried in my family’s mausoleum, behind a marble slab marked "LAWYER AND PATRIOT." Every so often, one of us pushes open the heavy door to leave flowers or notes for a beloved relative.

No one leaves anything for Roy.
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Live in Phoenix »

Coincidentally, today is maybe the only time I can think of that "Walking on Sunshine" came on the radio and I didn't think "This song is way too happy."
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mileswide
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by mileswide »

Hymie wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:36 pm Trump is a lot like his mentor, my cousin Roy Cohn. Now he's leaving like him, in disgrace.
I never knew Cohn and Trump crossed paths but, considering Cohn encouraged McCarthy to ramp up the Lavender Scare, driving gay people to suicide, all the while having immunity from the Scare regarding his own thinly closeted homosexuality, they could well be as contemptible as each other. Time for celebration, though, I and the rest of the world are toasting America tonight!
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All I got inside is vacancy!
Hymie
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Re: Attempted Coup: U.S. Edition

Post by Hymie »

This is pretty good, but you have to be signed into Facebook to see it.

https://www.facebook.com/10000071573252 ... 980052787/
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