Is it time to watch the mud stick with TFG? Watch this space!

[Roussette]

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4396017-Big-Bird-may-be-innocent-but-who-can-vouch-for-Elmo?page=40&reply=120171921

Previous thread!

This thread is now full, here is the link to the new thread www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4912378-trump-gets-gagged-mccarthy-gets-booted-whats-next-in-trumpworld? (added my MNHQ)

*unwillingness

Wallaw
but if you're arguing that Cameron, R-M and Johnson don't have in common the willingness or ability to accept responsibility for their actions I will have to disagree with you.

I wasn't. (Did you mean unwillingness, there?) I was suggesting that it is possible to be an Old Etonian and not resemble the nastiest examples of that school's output.

(Or even to have been sent to boarding school at the age of eight and not turned into a waste of space by the experience! I look at the Jesuit "give me a child to the age of seven and I will give you the man" phrase, and note that boarding schools in England do not, except in very unusual circumstances indeed, accept pupils under the age of eight.)

But this thread is about Trump, so I won't derail it further, except to add that his upbringing was not a much better environment!

I think that Trump's general god-awfulness tends to be attributed to his parents, in particular his father, rather than to his schools; and while I know nothing about Cameron's father, it can hardly be argued that Johnson Senior is not just a little shady! Rees-Mogg's father often seemed quite a reasonable person, but he may have been an absolute stinker at home.

Sorry, I now see that you had changed it already to "unwillingness", but I didn't notice before I posted that there was was another page. Apologies.

I look at the Jesuit "give me a child to the age of seven and I will give you the man" phrase, and note that boarding schools in England do not, except in very unusual circumstances indeed, accept pupils under the age of eight.)

But the fact remains that while I don't know for certain if R-M boarded at Westminster Prep, although I would assume he did as the family home is in Somerset, we do know that both Johnson and Cameron were shuffled off to boarding school by 8 (and while fewer people choose that option now, of course plenty of boarding schools here still take kids at 7 or 8) and both have displayed a remarkable ability to land an entire country in the shit and walk away having looked out for themselves and with no apparent remorse.

And, yes, of course it's possible to be an OE and not turn into a pathological liar. As I've said, we have plenty of OE friends who are lovely. But it's a bit like arguing it's possible to be raised by an abusive alcoholic and be just fine. Of course it is, it's not necessarily destiny, but at the same time we understand that many people raised in this situation are more likely than other to have some specific characteristics in common as adults.

Article by the author of Sad Little Men

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/aug/08/public-schoolboys-boris-johnson-sad-little-boys-richard-beard

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

Apologies - Boris remained under the tender loving care of Stanley until the ripe old age of 11 before being shuffled off. And iirc it was a fairly chaotic childhood and his mother had a nervous breakdown before he was sent off, so a combination of events and circumstances that might explain quite a bit.

Trump may not be an OE, but he's certainly a product of the elite/upscale private school environment. So as far as mindset I'd put those mentioned in the same bucket. Not the 'all of them are like this' bucket because all privately educated people aren't arseholes . But in the 'I went to an elite school so 'de facto' I am better than you' bucket.

Kew Forest Prep currently $38 - 44k per year
New York Military Academy (boarding) $50k per year.

Above is tuition only, doesn't include 'extras'.

I vaguely remember reading that Trump was thrown out of at least one school, and was sent to another which was the equivalent of Borstal For The Moneyed Classes. Also that he didn't bother to take his own exams – an accusation which has also been made against one fairly notable OE now resident in America...

Anyone watched clips of Trump's interview with Fox's Brett Baier?
Hard to follow as Trump does his usual talking over the interviewer.

His latest excuse is that he didn't return the documents as he was "too busy" to go through the boxes. And that the documents were all mixed up with personal stuff like trousers and golf shirts and shoes!
Frankly the prosecution just needs to play the interview...

https://twitter.com/ByDonkeys/status/1670750346396958720?s=20

The Murdoch Succession

Borstal for the Moneyed Classes in the US are basically the private military academies. They aren't Borstal like the 'bad kid bootcamps' you read about, but they are run according to military rules and traditions and with military discipline and punishments.

For someone used to Veruca Salt-like "I want it now!" and Daddy being able to buy your way out of trouble it can probably feel like Borstal. Most of them don't really give a shit who your parents are, you're still going to 'take your licks' as far as rule-breaking goes. And by the time a parent sends their precious angel there, they're probably more than happy to leave them to the school's discipline.

Come to think about it, it wasn't an uncommon here 'in my day' for many parents to threaten their sons with "I'm going to send you to military school!". Girls got told they'd be sent to 'convent school' as military schools were 'boys only'. I remember my mum telling me that once, and we weren't even Catholic!

Trump documents trial date set for August 14
(MSNBC)

It is my opinion that Trump is a star witness for Jack Smith's prosecution of Trump. All Smith has to do is encourage him to go on TV and blow his big yap...

(Even Fox TV is now saying to his face that he lost the last election.)

I blame the golf shirts.

www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/donald-trump-all-but-confesses-mishandling-classified-docs-fox-news-bret-baier-1234774379/

Not often that the same witness provides evidence for Defence and Prosecution

Yeah, you know for 'Joe Q Public' this would be an open and shut case. But with Doofus, all bets have to be taken off the table. Not just because of 'who he is' personally, but because he's a former POTUS. We all say 'No one is above the law" but this case will be a litmus test for how true that really is when it comes to public figures.

I think most of us (especially us 'small towners') know of at least one situation where a local 'rich and powerful' person got away with (not always literal) murder because of 'who they are'. For my small town it was an embezzlement that (behind closed doors) rocked the town, for DH's it was a death that should have been a drink driving vehicular manslaughter where the driver walked away scot free. Of course, the small town shit isn't 'out there' in the mainstream media like Trump's is and hopefully that will make the difference.

But I'm still sticking with Yogi Berra; "It ain't over, til it's over".

Read a great comment on YouTube
The J in Donald J Trump stands for Donald Jail Trump

Trump's legal team now has a list of the people who are going to be called as witnesses against him in one of the cases, and they also have an injunction that those people's names are not under any circumstances to be made public.

On the other hand, they can't very well prevent Trump from knowing who they are: he needs to be warned about what he may be up against.

Does anyone want to start a sweepstake on how long it will be before Trump is quite unable to keep himself from openly mentioning those people by name as traitors to him? I think I will give it three days; two if he has a public appearance before three days are up.

Or claiming he never knew them, while mentioning them by name

I don't think he has the self control to stop himself.
If Mark Meadows has testified against him, Trump will denounce him as a feeble brained traitor Communist by 3am Florida time

I don't really understand the pre indictment /grand Jury process. What happens if someone gives testimony - under oath - for GJ to consider but then declines to testify in court?

They'd be subpoenaed to testify and face charges and jail time if they refused. If they altered their testimony they'd be charged with perjury.

I'm thinking that many of the people who testified before the GJ are 'Trump Insiders' and most likely have 'cut deals' in exchange for immunity or reduced charges. Deals that would be negated if they then refused to 'cooperate' (ie; testify during the trial). A negated deal would also mean that anything they said during the GJ would then become evidence in their own prosecution.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime You couldn't get me to take that bet for all the tea in China.

And I agree that all we need to do is pay attention to who he attacks in future. Either by name coupled with the word 'disloyal' or other pejoratives involving their intelligence or physical appearance. Or more likely by hints as to 'people who have vendettas against Trump or hate Trump' (being as he speaks of himself in the 3rd party).

Thank @AcrossthePond55 for explanation.

Not only does Trump refer to himself in the 3rd person, he occasionally does so as "Trump"... Like Don Jr, he doesn't really understand quote marks!

Randy Rainbow...

@BruceAndNosh

thank you thank you thank you!! I LOVE Randy and was hoping he'd soon pop up. He's hilarious.

I don't know about TFG, but Mike Pence seems to be a little, well, confused....

"So I want to say from my heart, every Republican candidate for president should support a ban on abortion before 15 weeks as a minimum nationwide standard."

Would abortion after fifteen weeks be ok, then?