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Trump's sideshow fizzles out

 

The president tried to turn debate day into a trial of the Biden family's allegedly shady business dealings. It didn't go smoothly.

 

In the end, the Nashville debate was more about Tony Fauci than Tony Bobulinski.

 

Trailing by nearly 10 points in the polls, and facing the potential for the greatest repudiation of an incumbent president since Jimmy Carter in 1980 — a 400-plus electoral vote victory is possible for Joe Biden — Donald Trump arrived at the final debate of the 2020 campaign seized by an issue that was never really discussed.

 

One of the hallmarks of the Trump era has been his penchant for pushing fringe characters peddling dubious stories into the center ring of our political circus. In the past he has been an effective ringmaster.

 

Whether it’s retweeting conspiracy theorists (that guy who recently alleged Osama bin Laden was still alive), elevating people who believe drinking water is tainted with Prozac that is causing shrimp to commit suicide (Alex Jones), or putting fringe GOP operatives banished from presidential politics on the payroll (Roger Stone), Trump has often delighted — and benefited politically — from turning the sideshow into the main show.

 

Trump worked overtime to do that again on Thursday, but it did not go particularly well, before or during the debate. His campaign organized a press conference earlier Thursday at which Bobulinski, Hunter Biden’s former business partner in a failed Chinese investment venture, stood awkwardly in a tight-fitting suit and tie and alleged that Joe Biden knew details about the enterprise.

 

Bobulinski took a page from Trump and his associates: At a press conference, the president once displayed piles of manila folders filled with papers he said included corporate documents proving he had relinquished control of his companies to his children, but he refused to allow reporters to inspect them. In a recent video, Rudy Giuliani sat at a desk strewn with folders that he asserted contained damning evidence about Hunter Biden’s laptop.

 

Bobulinski did something similar: He showed reporters three old cell phones with purportedly incriminating information that he claimed he would hand over to the authorities, but he didn't let reporters access them.

 

His next stop was the Nashville debate hall, where he was an invited guest of the president of the United States. This was all announced with great fanfare by the Trump campaign and accompanied by breathless coverage on Fox News and in The New York Post, the only two large news outlets to run with the story.

 

But so far the Bobulinski allegations seem like bubkes. At 10:47, minutes after the debate ended, the Wall Street Journal, part of the same media empire as Fox News and the Post, reported, “Text messages and emails related to the venture that were provided to the Journal by Mr. Bobulinski, mainly from the spring and summer of 2017, don’t show either Hunter Biden or James Biden” — the former vice president’s brother — “discussing a role for Joe Biden in the venture.”

 

Even if Bobulinski is telling the truth, that Joe Biden knew about the China enterprise, it’s not clear what the scandal is — he was a private citizen at the time and not yet running for president.

 

Trump has elevated an unsubstantiated assertion that Biden had knowledge about his son’s legal and failed business venture to a “crime” for which he “should be in jail.”

 

To put in context how absurd this allegation is, one of the first things George W. Bush did after he left the White House was deliver a paid speech in China. Somehow he remains at large.

 

This isn’t the first time that Trump has made this kind of political miscalculation this year. Before people like Giuliani convinced him that attacking Hunter was the key to a comeback, he was obsessed with defining Biden as a mentally impaired septuagenarian who was so “gonzo” he had to hand control over to the far left. At the first debate this caricature was easily defused by Biden simply standing there and speaking relatively cogently.

 

In Nashville, it lost more of its effectiveness when Biden repeatedly pointed out that he had defeated Bernie Sanders and other more left-wing candidates in the Democratic primaries, distancing himself without any qualms from the people Trump alleges he’s taking orders from.

 

Similarly, the Hunter bombshell has so far been defused because Trump’s exaggerations and over-the-top allegations bear no resemblance to the available facts.

 

The candidates spent little time on the issue and instead had what in 2020 passes for a substantive debate. Trump was polite and disciplined and sometimes even seemed in command of the issues as they sparred over the pandemic, energy policy, race, and health care. He was a version of the candidate who more than held his own against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

 

He pressed Biden aggressively on his responsibility for the mass incarceration of African Americans as a result of the 1994 crime bill. He scored a few points pushing Biden to seemingly acknowledge he wanted to phase out U.S. oil production.

(“Would you close down the oil industry?” Trump asked. Biden responded, “I would transition the oil industry, yes.”) And on immigration policy, he forced Biden to defend the Obama-Biden administration’s spotty record on family separation.

 

It makes you wonder what Trump could have accomplished this year against Biden if he had focused on what’s front and center to voters and didn’t get so distracted and preoccupied by the sideshow.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/23/hunter-biden-wins-the-debate-431558

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7 hours ago, alfajambo said:

Russian Collusion Delusion; Kavanaugh Circus: Impeachment Farce; ACB Theatrics.

Other associated misdirect and lies, its not up for debate, it’s a declaration of fact.

Is it, aye?

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2 hours ago, Sharpie said:

I just watched some of the video of the 60 Minutes interview.  Trump whines throughout about being asked difficult questions. If you know your job and decisions you have made and are making there is no such thing as a tough question, the only thing thats difficult is trying to cover up your lack of knowledge. Twice the interviewer asked about statements Trump made he denied making them, he was shown tape of him saying the alleged things, caught again in a lie. He was asked about the Supreme Court decision on Obamacare, he claims as he has done often that he has a Health Plan ready to go, but his waffling proves that this claim being made for an extended time without any proof of a plan suggests at the least another blatant lie. 

 

Surely if you are intelligent enough, which doesn't take a lot I prove so every day by using a computer you cannot honestly believe what this terrible man says, and you must instead be some kind of strange individual who takes joy that with anonymity he/she can troll a group of persons who give their honest views on such an important to all subject

 


I find it fascinating how he’s managed to get this far without being challenged on his plans. Everything is two weeks from being the best plan ever that’s going to be so beautiful. Oh and you will never have seen such a great thing/plan. It’s total nonsense. 
 

Trump was great in the beginning for ratings and the establishment snobbery decided he could never win so he was tolerated. 

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I P Knightley
8 hours ago, alfajambo said:

Russian Collusion Delusion; Kavanaugh Circus: Impeachment Farce; ACB Theatrics.

Other associated misdirect and lies, its not up for debate, it’s a declaration of fact.

 

8 hours ago, alfajambo said:

The despicable charade was based on a fake dossier funded by Clinton INC.

A declaration of fact and not up for debate.

And who is declaring it's a "fact", given that there is no evidence to support it being so?

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9 minutes ago, I P Knightley said:

 

And who is declaring it's a "fact", given that there is no evidence to support it being so?

Who else but 'Donald' of course....that's a fact well at least as good a fact as most he claims

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10 minutes ago, I P Knightley said:

And who is declaring it's a "fact", given that there is no evidence to support it being so?

 

This is coming from someone who thinks a snake talked to and tricked a woman into eating a magical, forbidden piece of fruit from a special, magical tree, in a special, magical garden 6,000 years ago, sooooooo . . .

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11 minutes ago, Des Lynam said:


I find it fascinating how he’s managed to get this far without being challenged on his plans. Everything is two weeks from being the best plan ever that’s going to be so beautiful. Oh and you will never have seen such a great thing/plan. It’s total nonsense. 
 

Trump was great in the beginning for ratings and the establishment snobbery decided he could never win so he was tolerated. 

 

You need only take what he said about his tax returns, in 2016 Trump said they were being audited, 2020 and they were still being audited.

The media should have been pressing him about them at every presser, if he was in the UK he wouldn't get away with it, the media would all over him.

 

As much as I don't like the woman, I'd love Trump to be disrespectful to the likes of Kay Burley, she'd have him on toast, in fact he'd probably end up banning her.

Surely America has journalists like her, who are not afraid of anybody.

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11 minutes ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

You need only take what he said about his tax returns, in 2016 Trump said they were being audited, 2020 and they were still being audited.

 

There is nothing to prevent anyone releasing tax returns even while being audited.

Edited by JFK-1
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16 minutes ago, Justin Z said:

 

This is coming from someone who thinks a snake talked to and tricked a woman into eating a magical, forbidden piece of fruit from a special, magical tree, in a special, magical garden 6,000 years ago, sooooooo . . .

  Who?  Trump?

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3 minutes ago, Lovecraft said:

  Who?  Trump?

 

:lol: The irony is, Trump most definitely doesn't believe that story, and probably couldn't recite a single line from the Bible, from memory.

 

Edit:

 

Snake in the White House | Snake, How to memorize things, Snake in the grass

 

Edited by Justin Z
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Just now, Justin Z said:

 

:lol: The irony is, Trump most definitely doesn't believe that story, and probably couldn't recite a single line from the Bible, from memory.

 

He can't even come up with a favorite passage. When asked for one his reply was "there are so many"

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1 minute ago, Justin Z said:

 

:lol: The irony is, Trump most definitely doesn't believe that story, and probably couldn't recite a single line from the Bible, from memory.

 

Edit:

 

Snake in the White House | Snake, How to memorize things, Snake in the grass

 

Oh, you are saying our Trump conspiracy poster is?

 

Now it all makes sense with the random babbling.

 

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Lovecraft said:

Oh, you are saying our Trump conspiracy poster is?

 

Now it all makes sense with the random babbling.

 

image.png.22d09ae804e8d6646abbd90b796849bb.png

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Genuine question for JFK-1 and Justin Z. Can Trumpet win? Have we all be taken in by the polls? Has he played a blinder and caught everyone out? 

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9 minutes ago, EH11_2NL said:

Genuine question for JFK-1 and Justin Z. Can Trumpet win? Have we all be taken in by the polls? Has he played a blinder and caught everyone out? 

 

I was supremely confident that Hillary was going to stroll it in 2016, so this is a really hard question to answer.

 

In fact, maybe that's the best answer. I'll just be glad when it's over.

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6 minutes ago, Justin Z said:

 

I was supremely confident that Hillary was going to stroll it in 2016, so this is a really hard question to answer.

 

In fact, maybe that's the best answer. I'll just be glad when it's over.

 

When will it be over? i.e when will we know for absolutely sure? Barring Trump-tantrums and lawsuits if he loses?

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1 hour ago, JFK-1 said:

 

There is nothing to prevent anyone releasing tax returns even while being audited.

 

Then all the more reason why the American media should have been pressing him at every opportunity.

 

It was said years ago on this thread that Trump gets an easy time of it from the American media.

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11 minutes ago, Boof said:

 

When will it be over? i.e when will we know for absolutely sure? Barring Trump-tantrums and lawsuits if he loses?

 

Even that is up for debate. If it's a landslide, we may know the night of. Or if a massive, normally red state like Texas goes to Biden early, you can be 99.9% assured he's won.

 

But it could very well be several days after election night, 3 November, before it's entirely clear.

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The preliminary result of the vote will be apparent on the night itself, or the following days when the electoral colleges give their results.

Then the lawsuits begin and it could drag on for weeks.

 

Then there's the civil war when Donny and the militias attempt an armed coup.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Justin Z said:

 

This is coming from someone who thinks a snake talked to and tricked a woman into eating a magical, forbidden piece of fruit from a special, magical tree, in a special, magical garden 6,000 years ago, sooooooo . . .

 

1unm8g.jpg

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33 minutes ago, Justin Z said:

CNN Fact-Checker Rips Apart Donald Trump’s ‘Bombardment Of Dishonesty’ In Final Debate

 

"President Trump was better behaved tonight, but he lied more. This was just a bombardment of dishonesty...about subjects big and small.... It was just on and on."

 

 

I don't think Trump ever learned that a constant torrent of lies not only doesn't help but is actually detrimental  when you're trying to attract votes from outside a base who don't care that you're lying.

And right now no one is interested in his fantasies about Hunter Biden's laptop or failed business ventures in China. Yet that's all Trump wants to talk about. What's even an issue about a failed business venture in China?

What people are interested in are the virus, the economy, jobs, healthcare etc. All things Trump doesn't want to talk about. That's the "tough" questions he was whining about in the 60 minutes interview. The real issues.

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41 minutes ago, Cade said:

5220.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=forma 

 

:wtf:

 

Da fuq has Mitch McConnell been doing that his mooth and hands are in that state? 

Fake news!

 

He is fine.

 

Nothing to see here.

 

That's just what normal hands look like.

 

 

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I P Knightley

I don't normally gamble but if I knew how to, I would place a substantial sum on Biden getting 334 electoral college votes. I'd put a slightly lesser sum on 350.

 

There you go. Fill your boots. 

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Kalamazoo Jambo
2 hours ago, Cade said:

The preliminary result of the vote will be apparent on the night itself, or the following days when the electoral colleges give their results.

Then the lawsuits begin and it could drag on for weeks.

 

Then there's the civil war when Donny and the militias attempt an armed coup.

 

 


Speed to announce results will vary from state to state (due to varying laws and processes) but in some states results will come in from in person, on the day voting before absentee ballots. All other things being equal, that would give Republicans an early edge in the vote count, given Dems are leaning heavily towards absentee ballots this election. We can’t for sure say if actual results will be clear on election night. I hope so though.

 

There’s only one electoral college, so not sure what you mean by that.

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A Boy Named Crow
6 minutes ago, I P Knightley said:

I don't normally gamble but if I knew how to, I would place a substantial sum on Biden getting 334 electoral college votes. I'd put a slightly lesser sum on 350.

 

There you go. Fill your boots. 

Tasty, for why?

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Kalamazoo Jambo
3 hours ago, EH11_2NL said:

Genuine question for JFK-1 and Justin Z. Can Trumpet win? Have we all be taken in by the polls? Has he played a blinder and caught everyone out? 


There’s virtually no chance of Trump winning the popular vote. There is, however, a small but realistic chance of his winning 270 Electoral College votes, which is what ultimately matters.

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3 hours ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

Then all the more reason why the American media should have been pressing him at every opportunity.

 

I think in large part they have. And he just keeps repeating the same old line while sometimes deliberately others not deliberately creating further sideshows for them to talk about.

For example if he said people should drink bleach to ward off coronavirus are you going to talk about that or his taxes when you know the same old line will be trotted out again? It's been a circus since day one when they produced the "alternative facts" line.

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17 minutes ago, Kalamazoo Jambo said:


There’s virtually no chance of Trump winning the popular vote. There is, however, a small but realistic chance of his winning 270 Electoral College votes, which is what ultimately matters.

 

Absolutely no chance of winning the popular vote. And currently all pollsters are suggesting little chance of winning the electoral college.

Saw one pollster say on TV today that if they got it wrong again, if Trump won again, his profession is finished. 

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23 minutes ago, Kalamazoo Jambo said:


There’s virtually no chance of Trump winning the popular vote. There is, however, a small but realistic chance of his winning 270 Electoral College votes, which is what ultimately matters.

 

And incidentally I read today that an estimated 52 million votes have already been cast. I couldn't say who they were cast for but I do know that Democratic voters have been energised to vote early because they know every dirty trick in the book will be employed to negate their vote.

By means of allegedly arriving too late, allegedly being incorrectly filled out, and more. I believe they can check online whether or not their vote has been registered. In that way they could discover if it had been negated for whatever reason and vote again.

Who thought it would ever come to this in a major Western democracy? Fears of vote tampering from the sitting administration.

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3 hours ago, Justin Z said:

 

Who threw that stone?!

 

“Look, I had a lovely supper, and all I said to my wife was that piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah.”

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Kalamazoo Jambo
22 minutes ago, JFK-1 said:

 

And incidentally I read today that an estimated 52 million votes have already been cast. I couldn't say who they were cast for but I do know that Democratic voters have been energised to vote early because they know every dirty trick in the book will be employed to negate their vote.

By means of allegedly arriving too late, allegedly being incorrectly filled out, and more. I believe they can check online whether or not their vote has been registered. In that way they could discover if it had been negated for whatever reason and vote again.

Who thought it would ever come to this in a major Western democracy? Fears of vote tampering from the sitting administration.


The other (bigger) reason for Dems voting early is that (in general) they believe COVID is real and dangerous and therefore don’t want to deal with crowds on Election Day itself. Republicans are much less concerned about that.

 

The ability to track absentee ballots varies from state to state but I was able to track mine today in Michigan. So my ballot has been received. That’s not the same as being counted however. If the election officials think my signature doesn’t match what’s on file, for example, they have to contact me to confirm. But again, that’s just Michigan. It’s hard to overstate how much rules vary across the country.

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58 minutes ago, Kalamazoo Jambo said:


There’s virtually no chance of Trump winning the popular vote. There is, however, a small but realistic chance of his winning 270 Electoral College votes, which is what ultimately matters.

 

Trump's best-case scenario seems to be a repeat of 2016, where he finishes behind in the national popular vote but has an edge in enough key states to stay ahead in the electoral college.  If the gap between Trump and Biden narrows and Trump holds any one of Wisconsin, Michigan or Pennsylvania he should still win.  But if there's a slight swing to Biden in other states that might not be enough for Trump, because the polls are showing that states like Arizona and North Carolina are balanced on a knife edge.  Right now, Biden is more or less where Clinton was at the same point in the 2016 campaign in the most crucial battleground states, and slightly ahead of Clinton's position nationally. 

Edited by Ulysses
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Kalamazoo Jambo
9 minutes ago, Ulysses said:

 

Trump's best-case scenario seems to be a repeat of 2016, where he finishes behind in the national popular vote but has an edge in enough key states to stay ahead in the electoral college.  If the gap between Trump and Biden narrows and Trump holds any one of Wisconsin, Michigan or Pennsylvania he should still win.  But if there's a slight swing to Biden in other states that might not be enough for Trump, because the polls are showing that states like Arizona and North Carolina are balanced on a knife edge.  Right now, Biden is more or less where Clinton was at the same point in the 2016 campaign in the most crucial battleground states, and slightly ahead of Clinton's position nationally. 


The good news for Biden is that there are fewer undecideds than in 2016 and that there’s already 50+ million votes made. But at the end of the day, it’s only the battleground states that matter. My worst fear is that this goes to the courts which are growing more and more right-wing (and with that, often pro- voter suppression) in their makeup.

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1 hour ago, Kalamazoo Jambo said:


Speed to announce results will vary from state to state (due to varying laws and processes) but in some states results will come in from in person, on the day voting before absentee ballots. All other things being equal, that would give Republicans an early edge in the vote count, given Dems are leaning heavily towards absentee ballots this election. We can’t for sure say if actual results will be clear on election night. I hope so though.

 

There’s only one electoral college, so not sure what you mean by that.

I suspect he was meaning the various entities that are the electoral college

 

Edited by Sharpie
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1 minute ago, Kalamazoo Jambo said:


The good news for Biden is that there are fewer undecideds than in 2016 and that there’s already 50+ million votes made. But at the end of the day, it’s only the battleground states that matter. My worst fear is that this goes to the courts which are growing more and more right-wing (and with that, often pro- voter suppression) in their makeup.

 

We wait and see.  If Trump loses I have a feeling that there might be a lot of strop-throwing and Twitter-ranting, but not much more than that.  If Trump gets the kind of result that the pundits are currently predicting, the Supreme Court won't touch it with Brett Kavanaugh's.

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SectionDJambo

The bad news is that if he loses, he’s expected to leave the United States and live in .......

Scotland.

On one of his golf courses.

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8 minutes ago, Ulysses said:

If Trump gets the kind of result that the pundits are currently predicting, the Supreme Court won't touch it with Brett Kavanaugh's.

 

I was thinking along those lines too. If he loses his blatant corruption is going to come even more to the fore when he can't interfere with investigation. Who in their right mind will want to be associated with him in any way?

Negate an election result everybody knows is legitimate? That's going way too far for anybody who wants to retain a shred of credibility. What's more likely to happen is anybody touched by him will be distancing themselves from him as much as they can.

Staffers Worry That "Trump Stink" Will Prevent Them From Getting Jobs If Trump Loses 
 

 

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22 minutes ago, SectionDJambo said:

The bad news is that if he loses, he’s expected to leave the United States and live in .......

Scotland.

On one of his golf courses.


With Stormy Daniels? It wont be Melania. And when those loans come in chances are they wont be his golf courses.

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SectionDJambo
16 minutes ago, JFK-1 said:


With Stormy Daniels? It wont be Melania. And when those loans come in chances are they wont be his golf courses.

Can’t see Melania appreciating those north east winds or going for a wee dip in the North Sea.

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A Boy Named Crow
1 hour ago, I P Knightley said:

Well, gambling is a mug's game and I fear I'd become addicted to it.  

Aye, but winning that bet could set you up.  Think of the odds you'd get, be daft not to.

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3 hours ago, I P Knightley said:

I don't normally gamble but if I knew how to, I would place a substantial sum on Biden getting 334 electoral college votes. I'd put a slightly lesser sum on 350.

 

There you go. Fill your boots. 

 

I don't gamble either but I do know how to do it. No gambling allowed on the election in the US but in Britain the bookies will take a bet on anything you can come up with.

Go into a bookie, explain the bet, they will offer odds.

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7 hours ago, Justin Z said:

 

This is coming from someone who thinks a snake talked to and tricked a woman into eating a magical, forbidden piece of fruit from a special, magical tree, in a special, magical garden 6,000 years ago, sooooooo . . .

 

Is that what this guy is about? Trump cultist because Trump pretends to be a religious nut?

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J.T.F.Robertson
1 hour ago, SectionDJambo said:

Can’t see Melania appreciating those north east winds or going for a wee dip in the North Sea.

 

But he's her beloved husband, she worships the ground coming to him.

 

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