"Who among us hasn't paid 3X mean US income to cover up one f**k before?"

[bigtree]

emptywheel @emptywheel 34m
2008 GOP: Eliot Spitzer paying $80,000 for repeated sex acts is disqualifying.

2023 GOP: Donald Trump paying $130,000 for one lay is a sign of his virility.

emptywheel @emptywheel
The thing I can't get about the GOP's lockstep support for Trump is they're basically saying, "Who among us hasn't paid 3X mean US income to cover up one fuck before?" As if everyone in the GOP pays $130,000 every time they get laid.

Link to tweet

[liberal N proud]

1. At one time republicans tried to hide their hypocrisy and disdain for the Constitution

But with the dawn of the trump republican, they are open about the hate for anyone not supporting him and the constitution.

[House of Roberts]

2. Fewer than you'd think.

"Who among us hasn't paid 3X mean US income to cover up one f**k before?"

I think getting married cost me far more than that amount, and I'm not even the least bit rich.

[RockRaven]

3. He ended up paying a hell of a lot more than that, b/c of the convoluted way he tried to hide it.

By routing the money through Cohen, TFG ended up out of pocket something like twice as much. Because he paid Cohen enough so that after taxes he would be netting the 130K which Cohen himself was out of pocket, plus a fat fee.

And then because TFG made monthly payments he ended up increasing his discrete criminal acts by an order of magnitude because each check was its own fraud.

[Midnight Writer]

4. I don't care about him paying money to cover up his "affair".

They are both consenting adults, and they both knew all along exactly what was going on. A "victimless crime", in my mind.

But he had his own lawyer jailed for this. He apparently committed fraud (I haven't seen any indictment and don't know what the specific charges are). I would not be surprised if the "Stormy Affair" is the least of the charges against him, merely the most salacious. My speculation is that the cover-up is the rub. And I wonder if his financial shenanigans with his fraudulent business practices will be part of this case. It seems a slam-dunk to prove that he was overvaluing his properties for loans and undervaluing them for taxes. That could be established by the legal records from these transactions.

I'll be astounded if he spends a single night in jail over this. The "meat and potatoes" will come if he is indicted for his crimes against our democracy.