ETTD -- Trump's New Media Partner Takes A Bath

 

Sad!

A listed special purpose acquisition company linked to former President Donald Trump is on track to post a massive weekly decline.

Digital World Acquisition (DWAC) closed down nearly 7% Friday to just under 68 a share. This means it fell 28% this week.

Indeed, it is on track to finish more than 61% off its all-time high of 175, which it reached last Friday. 

Earlier this week Trump outlined his plans for social media site Truth Social. He boasted he will offer a "Big Tent" platform as he locks horns with the likes of Facebook (FB) and Twitter (TWTR). [snip]

Digital World Acquisition skyrocketed last week on the news it will serve as a vehicle to take the Trump Media & Technology Group public via a merger.

Beyond the Malignant Loser's magic touch,  it's possible DWA's collapse is partially a result of an issue with making the =snicker= "Truth Social" =snicker= software's source code public.  If it's not done in 30 days, it'll have its software license revoked, resulting in failure to launch.  

That would follow the Malignant Loser's short- lived micro blog attempt "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump" (which folded in less than a month), his failing Jason Miller- fronted social media platform "GETTR," as well as Business Hall of Shame entries Trump University, Trump Steaks, real estate losses associated with his toxic brand, multiple bankruptcies, and serious exposure to criminal and civil charges related to the corrupt shell of the Trump Organization, just to hit the lowlights.

No matter,  the effort will certainly earn a spot in this Donald J. Trump Library, perhaps in the Everything Trump Touches Dies (ETTD) gallery.

Trump Stiffing Giuliani On Legal Fees

The flatulent leader of the Elite Strike Force Power Ranger Legal Kraken is finding out what so many others before him have learned the hard way:

Though Trump has been exceptionally furious with Vice President Pence, his relationship with lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, one of his most steadfast defenders, is also fracturing, according to people with knowledge of the dynamics between the men.

Trump has instructed aides not to pay Giuliani’s legal fees, two officials said, and has demanded that he personally approve any reimbursements for the expenses Giuliani incurred while traveling on the president’s behalf to challenge election results in key states. They said Trump has privately expressed concern with some of Giuliani’s moves and did not appreciate a demand from Giuliani for $20,000 a day in fees for his work attempting to overturn the election.

[Muffled hysterical laughing]  Lawsuits to follow!

It couldn't happen to a more deserving, possibly soon- to- be- disbarred mouthpiece.  Imagine being such a mook that you potentially trash your license to practice law and don't even get reimbursed for your humiliating antics.

Georgia Republican Debacle: Everything Trump Touches Dies

The instant analyses of the stunning Democratic victories in Georgia and the civil war in the Republican Party have begun.

Here's Axios' fairly vanilla take on Mango Mussolini's suicide cult:

• The party has now lost the House, Senate and White House on his watch.
• He leaves Democrats in full control of Washington's agenda, with only the Supreme Court's conservative majority as a counterweight.
• As a curtain call for Trumpism, approximately a dozen senators and 100+ House Republicans today will publicly support an idea that many of them think is idiotic and doomed to fail, as they protest congressional certification of President-elect Biden's victory.

  What Senate control means for Dems and Joe Biden:

• They can try to do big spending and tax hikes via budget reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority.
• They can jam through nominees and judicial picks if they stay united.
• They control what comes to the floor and when. [snip]

  A big winner: Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost her 2018 race for Georgia governor, galvanized Black voters and became the face of yesterday's massive Democratic turnout.

  The big loser: Top Republicans blame Trump for sabotaging what should have been two easy wins — turning off suburban voters with his chaos and craziness, and sowing distrust of the Peach State election machinery with base voters.

Tom Sullivan at Hullabaloo says, even if the filibuster remains in place (thanks, conservaDem Sen. Joe Manchin!), Democratic control of the Senate opens the door to many more possibilities:

... President-elect Joe Biden will have legislative opportunities he did not have hours earlier. He will have months to beat back the coronavirus pandemic; alleviate its economic impact on Americans; improve health care; strengthen voting rights; raise the minimum wage; lead criminal justice reforms; roll back the worst of Trump’s economic, environmental and foreign policy damage; and more. It’s exhausting just typing it up.

Its the kind of exhaustion we like!

The Washington Post's Karen Tumulty tells Republicans that the Georgia results should make them finally realize something:

It is time for Republicans to face an uncomfortable but increasingly obvious truth.

President Trump is just not that into you.

He never has been.

To Trump, the party of Lincoln was a rental vehicle, one that he took for a joyride and is getting ready to turn back in, with trash jammed under the seats and stains covering the upholstery. Also, the tank is empty, and there’s a crack in the windshield.

Democrat Raphael Warnock has won his Senate race in Georgia, defeating Republican Kelly Loeffler, a billionaire who had reinvented herself as a Trumpist, right down to the trucker cap that she started wearing atop her expensively styled blond locks.

If Democrat Jon Ossoff’s lead over David Perdue, whose Senate term expired Sunday, holds up in the remaining Georgia Senate race, Republicans will have managed to lose the presidency, the House and the Senate during Trump’s four years in office.

Quite the trifecta.

Greg Sargent has an important reminder not to let Republicans rewrite the history of this time:

The bloodletting has begun.

With Democrats close to recapturing the Senate, Republicans allied with Mitch McConnell are raging at President Trump for his role in this debacle. In their spin, the Senate Majority Leader and other Republicans piously wanted their two Georgia senators to run on issues and the economy, but Trump dragged them into a cesspool of conspiracy theories and personal grievances, costing them the suburbs.

Don’t let Republicans get away with this massive rewrite of recent history. At stake here is not just getting the story of these elections right, but also whether we will hold the right people accountable for the disastrous assault on our democracy Republicans waged for the last two months, the future damage of which could prove substantial.  [snip]

... In reality, McConnell and his team did all they could to harness the very same conspiratorial and deeply destructive impulses among GOP voters that Trump was feeding, and even went as far as they thought possible in feeding those impulses themselves.

Let’s not forget that McConnell and many other Senate Republicans spent weeks refusing to say publicly that Trump had lost the election. They did this for purely instrumental purposes: Because maintaining the deception that Trump’s hopes were still alive might keep his voters energized in the runoffs.

That Moscow Mitch McConnell (arguably having caused more damage to American democracy and the general welfare in recent years than the incompetent Mango Mussolini) will soon be in the minority and in a diminished role in the Senate, thanks to his doomed, cynical partnership with Mango Mussolini, is perhaps the ultimate example of the expression coined by Never Trumper Rick Wilson, "Everything Trump touches dies."

This is a death worth rejoicing.

Dr. Birx, Latest Victim Of "Everything Trump Touches Dies"

Dr. Deborah Birx exchanges what's left of her reputation and credibility for access to a Giant Toddler:

The White House has pressed the CDC, in particular, to work with states to change how they count coronavirus deaths and report them back to the federal government, according to two officials with knowledge of those conversations. And Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the administration’s coronavirus task force, has urged CDC officials to exclude from coronavirus death count reporting some of those individuals who either do not have confirmed lab results and are presumed positive or who have the virus and may not have died as a direct result of it, according to three senior administration officials. 

Officials inside the CDC, five of whom spoke to The Daily Beast, said they are pushing back against that request, claiming it could falsely skew the mortality rate at a time when state and local governments are already struggling to ensure that every person who dies as a result of the coronavirus is counted...

We certainly hope the scientists at the CDC continue to hold to their standards in the face of this assault by Dr. Birx and other Giant Toddler flunkies who are trying soothe the Giant Toddler's fee- fee's and aid his campaign to "re-open America" precipitously.  Whatever stabilizing effect she thought she was bringing to the coronavirus task force has been completely undercut by the decisions being made by states, with the Giant Toddler's blessing, to "re-open" without regard to the task force's guidelines.  Now that a second wave is likely in the offing, Birx wants to tamp down the death count, not in the public interest, but in the interest of serving the sociopaths that are determined to re- start the economy before the election, to hell with the cost in lives.

We've already seen Birx be a Giant Toddler fluffer and, worse, an enabler of his dangerous opinions. Now that she's finally entered Dr. Ronny Jackson/ Dr. Harold Bornstein territory as a "Trump doctor," Birx should not be treated as an honest broker and taken seriously by anyone.  The stakes are too high.

Gentlemen, Stop Your Engines!

Everything Trump touches dies:

The Daytona 500 has been postponed by rain for the first time since 2012, dampening NASCAR's season opener that started with a ballyhooed visit from President Donald Trump.  [snip]

The first delay of the day came moments after the presidential motorcade completed a ceremonial parade lap around the 2 1/2-mile track. Trump's armored limousine nicknamed ''The Beast'' exited Daytona International Speedway, and the sky opened for a brief shower that forced drivers back to pit road.

The start already had been pushed back 13 minutes to accommodate Trump's trip. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. eventually led the field to the green flag and was out front for the first 20 laps before heavier rain soaked a racing surface that takes hours to dry.

Sad times for Trump- loving NASCAR and its treason- flag- waving racin' fans, who had to wait hours to get through security only to see their hero make brief, fourth- grade- level remarks, take a lap in his limo, then skedaddle off with the Third Lady while they got soaked.

Twitter was quick to notice the #ETTD pattern:

Trump attends Daytona 500 and it gets rained out #ETTD @TheRickWilson

— Dean Woodside (@DeanWoodside1) February 17, 2020

He ruined Daytona.#ETTD

— Stella McLaren (@MclarenStella) February 17, 2020

Turns out Trump's last appearance at Daytona was in 2001.Know what else happened that day? #ETTD #DaytonaDay #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/iZzR95OsU9

— Niedermeister (@mjn1129) February 16, 2020

BONUS I: Fox Sports cut away from Dear Leader's remarks and his car ride, and the Trumpanzees are furious!

BONUS II: Trump's grifting campaign manager Brad Parscale couldn't resist lying about the event, using a photo from George Bush's appearance 16 years ago. Lots of empty seats yesterday. Busted!

Here's the original tweet and the replacement tweet. pic.twitter.com/1Sq2XBuszL

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 17, 2020

BONUS III:  Apparently, Trump's triumphant lap around the track was interrupted by a well- placed ad on the teevee:

[The lap] was also bumped for a commercial, specifically a campaign ad for Mike Bloomberg that mercilessly mocked the president. The ad depicted Trump as a broken-down race car that nobody loves.

Bwahahahaha.

Deutsche Bank Boss Tied To Trump Loans Apparent Suicide

The favorite bank / money launderer for corrupt demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump has been Deutsche Bank. Over the past 20 some years, as American banks closed their doors to the frequently bankrupt Trump as a poor credit risk, Deutsche Bank kept the money flowing to allow Trump to keep his organization afloat, possibly with the help of Russian oligarchs tied to Putin. Recently, the bank has been the target of investigations into money laundering and has subpoenas from Congress specifically directed at customer Trump's apparent endless credit line.

So it was disturbing to see the news that Tom Bowers, the chief of the bank's American wealth-management division, who had signed off on the multiple loans to Trump over the years had reportedly committed suicide on November 19 in California. Bowers was the supervisor of Rosemary Vrablik, Trump's personal wealth manager, who managed the $100 million loan for Trump's purchase of his bedbug infested Doral resort. Bowers left Deutsche Bank in 2015, but was a key executive during the years when Trump borrowed some $2 billion from them. House committees and the New York State Attorney General's office are investigating Trump's curiously friendly relationship with the bank.

Bowers' suicide could have nothing to do with the Trump loans, but:

"Bowers isn’t the first Trump-connected Deutsche exec to commit suicide. In 2014, Deutsche derivatives analyst William S. Broeksmit, who reportedly had links to Trump and Russia, hung himself from a dog leash at his home in London."

Some things are coincidences, others are not, particularly when they are tied to Trump's finances.

Everything Trump Touches Dies: Pompeo Edition

As numerous witnesses from the State Department obey lawful subpoenas from the House Intelligence Committee for the impeachment inquiry, dangerous sociopath and crime family boss Donald "Impeachable Me" Trump is reportedly fuming at Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for not obstructing their testimony.

Pompeo, who is widely seen as a die-hard Trumper with future political ambitions, had to watch as Ambassador William Taylor, Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent, and former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich dismantled any arguments that Trump wasn't engaged in bribery and extortion of a foreign leader for his own political benefit. From NBC:

Inside the White House, the view was that Trump “just felt like, ‘rein your people in,’” a senior administration official said.

Trump particularly blames Pompeo for tapping Ambassador Bill Taylor in June to be the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, the current and former senior administration officials said.

Up until the impeachment inquiry, Pompeo was seen as one of Trump's closest Cabinet officials:

"But the impeachment inquiry has put Pompeo in what one senior administration official described as an untenable position: trying to manage a bureaucracy of 75,000 people that has soured on his leadership and also please a boss with outsized expectations of loyalty.

'He feels like he's getting a bunch of blame from the president and the White House for having hired all these people who are turning against Trump,' an official familiar with the dynamic said of Pompeo, 'and that it's the State Department that is going to bring him down, so it's all Pompeo's fault.'”  (our emphasis)

Cue tiny violins, please. With State Department employees coming forward to testify that they overheard Trump and clueless donor Gordon Sondland talk about "investigating" the Bidens, the heat on Pompeo will only increase. It doesn't help that Pompeo refused to support his diplomatic team, and is now the object of loathing within his own Department:

“Pompeo is hated by his building,” a person close to the secretary said, adding that he “feels the heat a great deal and feels it’s personal at state.”

He's getting it from both sides, because everything Trump touches dies.

(photo: The touch)