#tr*mp surrounded by greedy sycophants

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+ Business Insider first reported on Thursday (6-10-2021) that the donation page on Donald Tr*mp’s website for his “Save America” political action committee (PAC) is trying to pull a fast one over on his supporters. + The leadership PAC’s donation page automatically ticks two boxes that might go unnoticed while a user is trying to send Tr*mp cash. The first reads, “Submit your name on the Official Founding Member Donor List by making this a monthly contribution!” + The second box prompts users who send donations to help “surprise” the former president with a “RECORD BREAKING FUNDRAISING DAY” on his birthday on June 14 by donating the same amount again on that date. + Neglecting to uncheck these boxes would triple the amount Tr*mp will be able to debit a supporter’s bank account or payment card over the next month. For example, a user who sent in $500 today (June 10) without reading the fine print would be billed $500 again on June 15 and $500 again on July 10, as well as the 10th of every month after that. + This is a method that falls under the category of “dark patterns,” a broad umbrella of various technical and UI tricks that website and app operators use to mislead users into authorizing unforeseen or recurring charges, hand over personal data, sign up for contact lists, or any number of other things. Dark

patterns are used by everyone from Amazon (making it difficult to stop a Prime subscription) to mobile game developers (making it as easy as possible to keep buying jewels).  In this case, the pre-clicked boxes and the “wish Tr*mp a happy birthday” banalities of the text make it easy to miss that the additional donations are opt-out, not opt-in. + Anyone who has signed up to a mailing list or even just visited the website of a campaign candidate, political party, PAC, or nonprofit knows that they’ll be hit up for cash — that’s just the nature of the beast.  It’s not particularly unusual for them to be annoyingly thirsty, spamming mail, email, and phone lists with frustrating regularity.  But Tr*mp’s operation is particularly aggressive even by those standards. + Throughout the month of May, according to the Independent, Tr*mp supporters received at least one text a day asking for donations to the “Tr*mp Make America Great Again Committee.” That organization splits funds with the Republican National Committee (RNC), Tr*mp’s Save America PAC, and Tr*mp’s 2020 presidential campaign (which ended 2020 with nearly $10.75 million cash on hand and over $2.7 million in debt, half of it owed to a shell company operated by Tr*mp campaign officials). + Despite a disastrous one-term presidency that ended with a devastating pandemic, two impeachment trials, and a failed coup on Jan. 6 that resulted in multiple deaths, Tr*mp has signaled he intends to run for office again in 2024 and isn’t skipping a beat using that as an excuse to gobble up as many donations as possible.  Save America PAC was created the day after Tr*mp lost the 2020 elections and raised over $31.2 million by the end of the year, mainly billing itself as a vehicle to fund his long-shot, failed bid to overturn the election results via a series of failed lawsuits (and eventually, the attempted insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 that resulted in multiple deaths). + One likely reason Tr*mp’s team is boosting the PAC, in particular, according to Business Insider, is because it is under no obligation to share funds with the RNC, which distributes funds to Republican congressional candidates.  The logic goes that if Tr*mp is able to starve the RNC of funds while building his own war chest, that places him to maintain his considerable leverage over the Republican Party as an institution. That has the additional benefit of ensuring that the funds remain entirely under Tr*mp’s control, with little in the way stopping him from dipping into them personally. + The Independent reported Save America PAC’s most recent Federal Election Commission filings showed it has at least $85 million in cash.  Although it’s not able to fund Tr*mp’s anticipated 2024 bid directly or pay down remaining debts from his 2020 campaign, both CNN and Business Insider reported Tr*mp could use the funds to pay for himself and allies to host and travel to pro-Tr*mp rallies across the country, pay himself or family members salaries, or throw events at Tr*mp-owned or operated facilities, where revenue would flow into his own pockets. + This would be entirely legal, Common Cause vice president of policy and litigation Paul Ryan told CNN.

#Donald Dunce #crooked donald fails to accept u.s. presidential election results #bogus claims of 2020 U.S. presidential election fraud #tr*mp WH most corrupt regime in U.S. history #Dunce and his swamp #tr*mp did not drain swamp #tr*mp brought swamp into national politics #Tr*mp PAC profiteering #GOP hypocrisy #GOP sycophants #tr*mp surrounded by greedy sycophants

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+ Michigan Circuit Court Judge Kevin Elsenheimer dismissed a case brought by a voter in in rural Antrim County who said that fraud had taken place in the November contest, ruling that an audit conducted by the Michigan secretary of state's office satisfied a state law that provide's avenues for voters to request such counts. + "By deciding this motion, the court is not saying that there were no problems in the way that Antrim County conducted its November 2020 elections.  The clerk has admitted that there were challenges and problems in the elections, although the hand count ultimately of the presidential election showed results largely consistent with the canvass totals that were entered by the state and

reported by the county," Elsenheimer said in delivering his ruling.  "I am saying that, as pled, the plaintiff's request for an audit is not available." + The ruling is the latest in a string of defeats for those who maintain election fraud marred the 2020 race. + Tr*mp cited the case in a statement last week as "the major Michigan Election Fraud case," and Republicans for months cited the narrow margins of Michigan's results in November in their arguments that the tallies warranted further examination. + While challengers to the election have lost virtually all of their lawsuits in swing states across the country, concerns over the integrity of the November election remain rampant in the GOP.  Several polls have shown that the majority of Republicans don't believe President Biden's victory was valid, and House Republicans last week booted Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her leadership post over her denunciations of Tr*mp's voter fraud claims.

#bogus claims of 2020 U.S. presidential election fraud #Iran & Russia aim to influence 2020 U.S. presidential election #Donald Dunce #another court denies crooked donald bid to void 2020 presidential election results #tr*mp lies constantly #Tr*mp lies--says one thing does another #Drumpf is worst US president ever #Drumpf is Putin's best weapon against democracy #Putin's puppet #after emigrating from Germany Drumpf changed named to Tr*mp #GOP hypocrisy #tr*mp surrounded by greedy sycophants

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+ According to Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, who read portions of the plea agreement during a virtual hearing, prosecutors at sentencing intend to raise Broidy's lobbying efforts involving a Middle Eastern client in "its alleged support of terrorist activities." ... + Prosecutors alleged in court filings that Broidy and his cohorts' goal was to "make millions of dollars by leveraging Broidy's access to and perceived influence with the Presi-dent and his administration." + Broidy was paid $9 million, a prosecutor said, and had an additional arrangement for a success fee as high as $75 million, which he never received. Broidy said he paid one of his co-conspirators $2.4 million. 

#Elliott Broidy a GOP fundraiser #tr*mp brought swamp into national politics #Elliott Broidy a figure in tr*mp 2016 inaugural group #Elliott Broidy admits foreign lobbying conspiracy #Elliott Broidy admits to graft #tr*mp lies constantly #Tr*mp an embarrassment to the USA #Tr*mp administration a disaster - believe me #tr*mp surrounded by greedy sycophants