Trump

[TheGlyphstone]

That is what happens when Trump tweets before his staff can proofread it.


Also, I'm a bit confused. The last I had heard, Bannon was still professing to be pro-Trump despite his 'voluntary' separation from the White House staff. What changed to make Donald turn on him this way (aside from Trump being Trump)?

[DominantPoet]

https://www.bnn.ca/canadian-jobs-market-on-fire-as-unemployment-falls-to-41-year-low-1.959888

Read this when I got on facebook today. Is it weird that my first thought was "I wonder when Trump will attempt to take credit for this, too?"

[Orval Wintermute]

So much for the cease & desist order, the book publishers have released the book early at least in the UK where it went on sale at midnight.

[TheGlyphstone]

https://www.bnn.ca/canadian-jobs-market-on-fire-as-unemployment-falls-to-41-year-low-1.959888

Read this when I got on facebook today. Is it weird that my first thought was "I wonder when Trump will attempt to take credit for this, too?"

My guess? He'll attribute it to that pipeline he authorized.

[Oniya]

It really doesn't help that I watched Hopscotch with Mr. Oniya and Little Oni last weekend.  In addition to the whole 'threats to the author make good publicity' thing going on here, I now have Barber of Seville stuck in my head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naQO14SnbUc

[Ket]

So much for the cease & desist order, the book publishers have released the book early at least in the UK where it went on sale at midnight.

Oh they released it early in the US as well. In paper form, it's sold out pretty much everywhere. The brick and mortar stores here in my city didn't even have enough copies to cover their reserved orders, much less anyone else wanting to buy the book. There is now currently a two to four week wait to get one on Amazon, and that's for Prime customers. Basically the only way you can get it right now is through the Kindle edition. I think I may snag one.

[Lustful Bride]

Oh they released it early in the US as well. In paper form, it's sold out pretty much everywhere. The brick and mortar stores here in my city didn't even have enough copies to cover their reserved orders, much less anyone else wanting to buy the book. There is now currently a two to four week wait to get one on Amazon, and that's for Prime customers. Basically the only way you can get it right now is through the Kindle edition. I think I may snag one.

At least its helping keep bookstores in business :)

[TheGlyphstone]

Trump has clearly never heard of the Streisand Effect.

[Beorning]

Something that sprung to my mind right now:

1. According to Wolff's book, Trump ran for presidency with no intention of winning.

2. Britain's former PM, Cameron, went through with the Brexit vote - with, as some sources suggest, no intention for Brexit actually to happen.

So, it seems that current global events are being shaped by irresponsible people who are unable of any kind of foresight regarding their own actions..?

[Various]

Something that sprung to my mind right now:

1. According to Wolff's book, Trump ran for presidency with no intention of winning.

2. Britain's former PM, Cameron, went through with the Brexit vote - with, as some sources suggest, no intention for Brexit actually to happen.

So, it seems that current global events are being shaped by irresponsible people who are unable of any kind of foresight regarding their own actions..?

It takes two to fuck up the global economy. Plenty of candidates with disastrous fringe ideas don't get voted in.

[DominantPoet]

Oh man...oh man oh man, I love this book, I love the man who wrote this book, I love the amount of drama being started around Trump, I love Trump's meltdown over it.

This is a picture the GOP Twitter has up right now. You'll notice it has quotes from both people at CNN and New York Times. Both of which Trump has called "fake news" many a time, and I'm sure will get some of his Razzie awards for the media come Monday. No shocker that they consider it genuine news when it fits their narrative!

This is Trump clearly losing it. Not only does it violate Twitter's targeted harassment three times in one tweet, it's clear Trump is going to rage over this book for some time here.

Especially since the book is apparently selling out everywhere, is back ordered through Amazon, and the only real way to get it right now, it seems, is through services like Kindle ie. digital books.

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/05/politics/border-security-billions-trump-wall/index.html

And the coup de gras, as it were, and I challenge anyone that even slightly supports Trump to honestly state this is a good thing...behold, the current price tag and timeline for THE WALL.

33 billion to secure the border, 18 of which apparently is earmarked for the wall in question. Oh, but it's all good - this is meant to take a decade. Meaning - it will eventually fail and be demolished when Trump eventually loses office, and his power, and just goes to show this entire idea is ridiculous as all get out.

[Shores]

I'm tempted to buy it. It should still be in stock here if we got a shipment of it. Or I might hop over to our neighbouring country to buy it.

I'm afraid that if I get it online, it might be wiped in the event of a lawsuit.

[DominantPoet]

I'm tempted to buy it. It should still be in stock here if we got a shipment of it. Or I might hop over to our neighbouring country to buy it.

I'm afraid that if I get it online, it might be wiped in the event of a lawsuit.

Lawsuits would be frivolous and likely thrown out rather quickly. Unless the courts basically ignore the first amendment, the book isn't going anywhere.

[persephone325]

Lawsuits would be frivolous and likely thrown out rather quickly. Unless the courts basically ignore the first amendment, the book isn't going anywhere.

I do believe that books have been pulled from shelves/banned for less than this, first amendment be dammed.

[Shores]

Yup, Donald Trump might start proceedings under libel laws. He has a lot of money and could hire a team of lawyers to at least halt further printing of the book until the lawsuit is done. Then, just drag the book through a lengthy court process including appeals and the next time we see this book again it'll be years later, when the impact of the words is less important.

[TheGlyphstone]

Yup, Donald Trump might start proceedings under libel laws. He has a lot of money and could hire a team of lawyers to at least halt further printing of the book until the lawsuit is done. Then, just drag the book through a lengthy court process including appeals and the next time we see this book again it'll be years later, when the impact of the words is less important.

It's a lose-lose situation for him. Let the book be sold, and everyone will be reading it. Try to block it, and that will only be extra fuel for the hype and speculation regarding its contents, along with 'leaks' from people with pre-sold copies.

[Shores]

Yup, I just got a copy of it not tied to Kindle. ;D If it's good, I'll buy a physical copy on Monday so I can pass it around my friend circle.

[Norwegian One]

"Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart."

Yes, Donald, that is what a smart person says.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/949618475877765120

[Orval Wintermute]

2. Britain's former PM, Cameron, went through with the Brexit vote - with, as some sources suggest, no intention for Brexit actually to happen.

Well that's hardly a revelation. Holding the Brexit vote had nothing to do with Europe as such, it was about settling internal Conservative party arguments. Of course those arguments haven't been settled they just take a different form. Also calling the referendum wasn't a particularly "bold" move as about five years ago the UK Parliament passed a law that said any future EU Treaty changes had to be ratified by an In\Out referendum, so he was just following the law instead of being some sort of brave political leader.
As for not intending Brexit to happen; nobody thought Out would win, including the Out campaign until the results started coming in. There was one prominent Out campaigner a couple of weeks before the vote said in the press that if it was a close result say 52\48 then the referendum wouldn't be a settled matter and there would have to be another referendum, the result was 49\51 in favor of Brexit and the campaigner suddenly developed a case of selective amnesia about holding further referenda.

[Various]

Oh man...oh man oh man, I love this book, I love the man who wrote this book, I love the amount of drama being started around Trump, I love Trump's meltdown over it.

This is a picture the GOP Twitter has up right now. You'll notice it has quotes from both people at CNN and New York Times. Both of which Trump has called "fake news" many a time, and I'm sure will get some of his Razzie awards for the media come Monday. No shocker that they consider it genuine news when it fits their narrative!

Further, let's say for the sake of argument that this is a sloppy hit piece. These same GOP operatives also had zero issue with the collective 'journalistic' output of Coulter, D'Souza, et. al.

[DominantPoet]

I do believe that books have been pulled from shelves/banned for less than this, first amendment be dammed.

Maybe at state levels. That wouldn't surprise me much, if some overly red states do end up banning the book in libraries or for sale at some point. But nationwide, complete bans, those don't happen very often, and certainly not for reasons like "it makes the President look like a buffoon".

The most notable books that I'm sure most are aware of being banned at some point in the past are things like Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, Communist Manifesto. Most books are generally sought more to be banned because of their usage in education, far as I know. The last predominate book that I recall having a massive outcry over it was the OJ Simpson tell all. You know...that one where he was adamant he didn't do it, but if he had done it, here's how he would have insanity -.-

And that wasn't banned, they just didn't release it ultimately due to the backlash of it even existing. Although I believe it was released in some form later on by a different company.

Anyways, the book is about Trump as President, I would imagine any libel suits would be thrown out purely on that alone. I could very well be wrong, of course. I did read an article about how any suits filed by him had to be filed purely by him, and not as President. It just seems to be me that it's a very grey, murky area, and that he wouldn't have a leg to stand on in so long as he still holds office. He'd never be able to prove that he wants the book banned for libel and defamation against his person, and not because of his position, ie because he IS the government (hopefully that comes out sounding right).

Regardless, the book IS out there, it's doing what it was clearly intended to do no matter what he may try to do legally to get it stopped at this point.

[Lilias]

"Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart."

Yes, Donald, that is what a smart person says.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/949618475877765120

[Regina Minx]

Anyways, the book is about Trump as President, I would imagine any libel suits would be thrown out purely on that alone...

With a heaping dose of forewarning: I AM NOT A LAWYER...

To have committed libel, Wolff and his publishers must have printed a claim of fact that is BOTH false, defamatory (did some kind of damage), and published with actual malice (knowledge that the claim is false or willful disregard for the truth). There is a misconception (and I did see it in your post, DP) that public figures cannot be libeled...here are 6 cases of celebrities suing and winning libel cases. It's not true.

So if Trump and his legal team were able to meet the above-mentioned criteria, they can win a libel case. The hard part is proving damage, but since Trump's net worth is tied up in his 'brand' (and thus public perception of that brand), it's doable.

The problem, of course, is that a lawsuit would lead to discovery, meaning that the president and the people around him would be questioned under penalty of perjury. One thing Steve Bannon and President Trump have in common is that each lies habitually, even in circumstances in which the lie serves no obvious purpose. And one thing serial liars hate is to be put under oath and threatened with criminal sanction FOR lying.

[Oniya]

Whenever I hear that a book has been banned (I want to read it, but that's beside the point), I typically find that it has been banned/challenged specifically as being part of a school's curriculum - such as 'A Handmaid's Tale' being banned from being studied by 11th graders, or 'Catcher in the Rye' being taken out of the 9th grade English syllabi.  (Fun fact: I was assigned CitR in 9th grade, and Little Oni had an option to read 'Handmaid' for her summer assignment this past summer.  She read 1984 instead.)  When I was in school, there was a big fuss about 'banning' Huckleberry Finn (for language reasons) - which is probably the major reason I read it.  (I read 1984 on my own as well, before it was outdated.)

So - 1) Wolff's book probably won't see an official ban.  Possibly very narrow bans, but nothing to the extent of 'illegal to sell'.
2) Talk about a ban is probably going to drive sales even harder.

Also:  https://twitter.com/HamillHimself/status/949548008902770688

[DominantPoet]

I'm no lawyer either *laughs* I'm purely going off what rattles around in my head in what purports to be a brain. But oh, how would I love for Trump to be in court and questioned under penalty of perjury!!! That would be a fine day indeed.

Awesome comment on that Trump tweet by Mark Hamill too :D