The official 2024 GOP Presidential Candidate Clown Car thread!

[Francisco 2.0 32543]

Meanwhile, over on the Fox Trump town hall: 

Trump apparently provided "services" to foreign governments while President.

 

 

 

 

[Underdog 29101]

He was doing “services” or was Ivanka? 

[cactusflinthead 27626]

 

[Blotto 23974]

2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

It has to be driving her nuts, given how at ease she is in front of cameras, while he’s that scared little 8 year-old in the school play shitting his pants that he’ll forget his one line,

She should just stroll out on stage wearing the strap-on everyone knows is the cornerstone of their marriage and just beat him viciously like a dog with it. "there's a new sheriff in the GQP, folks."

Worst case, she can probably be dotards VP, if she can handle the orange saggy balls.

Edited January 11 by Blotto

[atomheartbevo 90545]

Daddy Trump has turned on Vivek and is blasting him.

Here’s the plot & it’s hiding in plain sight:  

1. Narrow this to a 2-horse race between Trump & Haley.

2. Eliminate Trump.

3. Trot their puppet into the White House.  

I respect the hell out of Trump. He’s the best President of the 21st century. I’ve defended him at every step against the unjust persecutions. I filed a Supreme Court brief this week laying out the winning legal arguments to overrule Colorado’s disastrous ruling. I’ve filed FOIA demands against the Biden administration. I went to Miami to rally outside the courthouse against Joe Biden and Merrick Garland’s unjust federal indictment of Trump.

I’ve called on every Republican to remove themselves from the ballots of Maine & Colorado if they remove Trump.  

But OPEN YOUR EYES to the hard TRUTH: this system will stop at nothing to keep this man away from the White House.   Just because it’s wrong doesn’t mean it won’t happen & we owe it to our nation to take America-First forward.

------

Trump is pissed off at Vivek.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-criticizes-ramaswamy-publicly-1st-time-ahead-iowa/story?id=106355596

"A vote for Vivek is a vote for the "other side," Trump said.

With just two days left until the Iowa caucuses, former President Donald Trump has started to criticize Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as the two have appeared to maintain a friendly relationship on the campaign trail up until this point.

"Vivek started his campaign as a great supporter, "the best President in generations," etc. Unfortunately, now all he does is disguise his support in the form of deceitful campaign tricks," Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Saturday.

The criticism marks the first time Trump and his team have made direct, public attacks against Ramaswamy.

It stemmed from shirts that Ramaswamy's campaign is handing out that say 'Save Trump, Vote Vivek' on them. Ramaswamy posted a photo with a group of young men wearing them after his event in Rock Rapids, Iowa, on Saturday, which caught the former president's attention.

"Very sly, but a vote for Vivek is a vote for the "other side" — don't get duped by this. Vote for "TRUMP," don't waste your vote! Vivek is not MAGA," Trump added.

[Fastbreak 4012]

What is the name for an Indian Uncle Tom?

[Underdog 29101]

When you’re too greasy & sleazy even for Trump. 

[WhatTheBuck 28904]

Ramasmarmy.

[Biff Tannen 46061]

I will never cease to be amazed at how these people JUST.  DON'T.  GET.  IT.  They cannot cozy up to dotard.  He only cares about himself.  They cannot get in on the grift like he has.  He will crush anyone who tries to share in the scam.

[6th Street 6653]

6 hours ago, Fastbreak said:

What is the name for an Indian Uncle Tom?

Uncle Tarun

 

[TheStoicPaisano 9948]

 

[Blotto 23974]

I guess vivek couldnt handle the shame of disappointing daddy. He's probably curled up at his feet already as I type this. 

[tbone_ 14409]

I had the misfortune of watching some of dotards speech last night, which I haven’t done in a while because I can barely stomach it.

JFC is all I can say. This country is a very different place than I always assumed it was up until a few years ago.

And I know this isn’t new groundbreaking analysis. But damn.

[Pancho 46053]

This dude is a fucking punk ass bitch

 

[Francisco 2.0 32543]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/09/trump-oil-industry-campaign-money/

Quote

As Donald Trump sat with some of the country’s top oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club last month, one executive complained about how they continued to face burdensome environmental regulations despite spending $400 million to lobby the Biden administration in the last year.

 

Quote

Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.

Giving $1 billion would be a “deal,” Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people.

 

Quote

Trump’s remarkably blunt and transactional pitch reveals how the former president is targeting the oil industry to finance his reelection bid. At the same time, he has turned to the industry to help shape his environmental agenda for a second term, including rollbacks of some of Biden’s signature achievements on clean energy and electric vehicles.

 

Spoiler

The contrast between the two candidates on climate policy could not be more stark. Biden has called global warming an “existential threat,” and over the last three years, his administration has finalized more than 100 new environmental regulations aimed at cutting air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, restricting toxic chemicals, and conserving public lands and waters. In comparison, Trump has called climate change a “hoax,” and his administration weakened or wiped out more than 125 environmental rules and policies over four years.

In recent months, the Biden administration has raced to overturn Trump’s environmental actions and issue new ones before the November election. So far, Biden officials have overturned 27 Trump actions affecting the fossil fuel industry and completed at least 24 new actions affecting the sector, according to a Washington Post analysis. The Interior Department, for instance, recently blocked future oil drilling across 13 million acres of the Alaskan Arctic.

Despite the oil industry’s complaints about Biden’s policies, the United States is now producing more oil than any country ever has, pumping nearly 13 million barrels per day on average last year. ExxonMobil and Chevron, the largest U.S. energy companies, reported their biggest annual profits in a decade last year.

Yet oil giants will see an even greater windfall — helped by new offshore drilling, speedier permits and other relaxed regulations — in a second Trump administration, the former president told the executives over the dinner of chopped steak at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump vowed at the dinner to immediately end the Biden administration’s freeze on permits for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports — a top priority for the executives, according to three people present. “You’ll get it on the first day,” Trump said, according to the recollection of an attendee.

The roughly two dozen executives invited included Mike Sabel, the CEO and founder of Venture Global, and Jack Fusco, the CEO of Cheniere Energy, whose proposed projects would directly benefit from lifting the pause on new LNG exports. Other attendees came from companies including Chevron, Continental Resources, Exxon and Occidental Petroleum, according to an attendance list obtained by The Post.

Trump told the executives that he would start auctioning off more leases for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a priority that several of the executives raised. He railed against wind power, as The Post previously reported. And he said he would reverse the restrictions on drilling in the Alaskan Arctic.

“You’ve been waiting on a permit for five years; you’ll get it on Day 1,” Trump told the executives, according to the recollection of the attendee.

At the dinner, Trump also promised that he would scrap Biden’s “mandate” on electric vehicles — mischaracterizing ambitious rules that the Environmental Protection Agency recently finalized, according to people who attended. The rules require automakers to reduce emissions from car tailpipes, but they don’t mandate a particular technology such as EVs. Trump called the rules “ridiculous” in the meeting with donors.

The fossil fuel industry has aggressively lobbied against the EPA’s tailpipe rules, which could eat into demand for its petroleum products. The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, an industry trade group, has launched a seven-figure campaign against what it calls a de facto “gas car ban.” The campaign includes ads in battleground states warning that the rule will restrict consumer choice.

“Clearly, if you are producing gasoline and diesel, you want to make sure that there’s enough market there,” said Stephen Brown, an energy consultant and a former lobbyist for Tesoro, an oil refining company. “I don’t know that the oil industry would walk in united with a set of asks for the Trump administration, but I think it’s important for this issue to get raised.”

Although the repeal of the EPA rule would benefit the fossil fuel industry, it would probably anger the auto industry, which has invested billions of dollars in the transition away from gasoline-powered cars. Many automakers are under increasing pressure to sell more EVs in Europe, which has tightened its own tailpipe emissions rules, and they are eager to avoid a patchwork of regulations around the globe.

“Automakers need some degree of regulatory certainty from government,” said John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Toyota and other car companies.

“What has emerged instead is a wholesale repeal … and then reinstatement … and then repeal again of regulations every four or eight years,” Bozzella said in an email.

Biden’s EV policies have also sparked opposition in Republican-led rural states such as North Dakota, where there are far more oil pump jacks than charging stations. A key figure leading the Trump campaign’s development of its energy policy is North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), who has been talking extensively to oil donors and CEOs.

At a fundraiser on Saturday in Palm Beach, Fla., Burgum told donors that Trump would halt Biden’s “attack” on fossil fuels, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by The Post.

“What would be the No. 1 thing that President Trump could do on Day 1? It’s stop the hostile attack against all American energy, and I mean all,” Burgum said. “Whether it’s baseload electricity, whether it’s oil, whether it’s gas, whether it’s ethanol, there is an attack on liquid fuels.”

Burgum also criticized the Biden administration’s policies on gas stoves and vehicles with internal combustion engines, claiming that they would prevent consumers from buying both technologies. While the Energy Department recently set new efficiency standards for gas stoves, they would not affect the stoves in people’s kitchens or those currently on the market.

“They’ve got some liberal idea about what products we need,” Burgum said. “You all need EV cars. You don’t need internal combustion. We’ll decide what kind of car you’re going to drive, and we’re going to regulate the other ones out of business. I mean, it’s just in every industry, not just in cars, not just in energy. They’re telling people what stoves you can buy. This is not America.”

The Biden campaign initially declined to comment for this article. After it was published, however, Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said in a statement that “Donald Trump is selling out working families to Big Oil for campaign checks. It’s that simple.”

“It doesn’t matter to Trump that oil and gas companies charge working families and middle-class Americans whatever they want while raking in record profits — if Donald can cash a check, he’ll do what they say,” Moussa added.

Burgum — a possible contender to lead the Energy Department in a second Trump term — has pushed harder to address climate change than many other Republicans. He set a goal in 2021 for North Dakota — the third-largest oil-producing state — to become carbon-neutral by 2030. He has stressed, however, that the goal won’t be achieved via government mandates or the elimination of fossil fuels, and he has cultivated deep support among oil donors.

Despite Trump’s huge fundraising ask, oil donors and their allies have yet to donate hundreds of millions to his campaign. They have contributed more than $6.4 million to Trump’s joint fundraising committee in the first three months of this year, according to an analysis by the advocacy group Climate Power. Oil billionaire Harold Hamm and others are scheduling a fundraiser for Trump later this year, advisers said, where they expect large checks to flow to his bid to return to office.

One person involved in the industry said many oil executives wanted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or another Republican to challenge Biden. But now that Trump is the nominee, this person said, they are going to embrace his policies and give.

Dan Eberhart, chief executive of the oil-field services company Canary and a Trump donor, said the Republican onslaught of donations was not surprising.

“Biden constantly throws a wet blanket to the oil and gas industry,” Eberhart said. “Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ philosophy aligns much better with the oil patch than Biden’s green-energy approach. It’s a no-brainer.”

Alex Witt, a senior adviser for oil and gas with Climate Power, said Trump’s promise is he will do whatever the oil industry wants if they support him. With Trump, Witt said, “everything has a price.”

“They got a great return on their investment during Trump’s first term, and Trump is making it crystal clear that they’re in for an even bigger payout if he’s reelected,” she said.

 

[Red Five 41594]

This is sure to provoke a bunch of “you sweet summer child” responses, but it seems like asking for a billion dollars should be against some campaign finance laws.

[Smax 3800]

52 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/09/trump-oil-industry-campaign-money/

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

The contrast between the two candidates on climate policy could not be more stark. Biden has called global warming an “existential threat,” and over the last three years, his administration has finalized more than 100 new environmental regulations aimed at cutting air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, restricting toxic chemicals, and conserving public lands and waters. In comparison, Trump has called climate change a “hoax,” and his administration weakened or wiped out more than 125 environmental rules and policies over four years.

In recent months, the Biden administration has raced to overturn Trump’s environmental actions and issue new ones before the November election. So far, Biden officials have overturned 27 Trump actions affecting the fossil fuel industry and completed at least 24 new actions affecting the sector, according to a Washington Post analysis. The Interior Department, for instance, recently blocked future oil drilling across 13 million acres of the Alaskan Arctic.

Despite the oil industry’s complaints about Biden’s policies, the United States is now producing more oil than any country ever has, pumping nearly 13 million barrels per day on average last year. ExxonMobil and Chevron, the largest U.S. energy companies, reported their biggest annual profits in a decade last year.

Yet oil giants will see an even greater windfall — helped by new offshore drilling, speedier permits and other relaxed regulations — in a second Trump administration, the former president told the executives over the dinner of chopped steak at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump vowed at the dinner to immediately end the Biden administration’s freeze on permits for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports — a top priority for the executives, according to three people present. “You’ll get it on the first day,” Trump said, according to the recollection of an attendee.

The roughly two dozen executives invited included Mike Sabel, the CEO and founder of Venture Global, and Jack Fusco, the CEO of Cheniere Energy, whose proposed projects would directly benefit from lifting the pause on new LNG exports. Other attendees came from companies including Chevron, Continental Resources, Exxon and Occidental Petroleum, according to an attendance list obtained by The Post.

Trump told the executives that he would start auctioning off more leases for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a priority that several of the executives raised. He railed against wind power, as The Post previously reported. And he said he would reverse the restrictions on drilling in the Alaskan Arctic.

“You’ve been waiting on a permit for five years; you’ll get it on Day 1,” Trump told the executives, according to the recollection of the attendee.

At the dinner, Trump also promised that he would scrap Biden’s “mandate” on electric vehicles — mischaracterizing ambitious rules that the Environmental Protection Agency recently finalized, according to people who attended. The rules require automakers to reduce emissions from car tailpipes, but they don’t mandate a particular technology such as EVs. Trump called the rules “ridiculous” in the meeting with donors.

The fossil fuel industry has aggressively lobbied against the EPA’s tailpipe rules, which could eat into demand for its petroleum products. The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, an industry trade group, has launched a seven-figure campaign against what it calls a de facto “gas car ban.” The campaign includes ads in battleground states warning that the rule will restrict consumer choice.

“Clearly, if you are producing gasoline and diesel, you want to make sure that there’s enough market there,” said Stephen Brown, an energy consultant and a former lobbyist for Tesoro, an oil refining company. “I don’t know that the oil industry would walk in united with a set of asks for the Trump administration, but I think it’s important for this issue to get raised.”

Although the repeal of the EPA rule would benefit the fossil fuel industry, it would probably anger the auto industry, which has invested billions of dollars in the transition away from gasoline-powered cars. Many automakers are under increasing pressure to sell more EVs in Europe, which has tightened its own tailpipe emissions rules, and they are eager to avoid a patchwork of regulations around the globe.

“Automakers need some degree of regulatory certainty from government,” said John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Toyota and other car companies.

“What has emerged instead is a wholesale repeal … and then reinstatement … and then repeal again of regulations every four or eight years,” Bozzella said in an email.

Biden’s EV policies have also sparked opposition in Republican-led rural states such as North Dakota, where there are far more oil pump jacks than charging stations. A key figure leading the Trump campaign’s development of its energy policy is North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), who has been talking extensively to oil donors and CEOs.

At a fundraiser on Saturday in Palm Beach, Fla., Burgum told donors that Trump would halt Biden’s “attack” on fossil fuels, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by The Post.

“What would be the No. 1 thing that President Trump could do on Day 1? It’s stop the hostile attack against all American energy, and I mean all,” Burgum said. “Whether it’s baseload electricity, whether it’s oil, whether it’s gas, whether it’s ethanol, there is an attack on liquid fuels.”

Burgum also criticized the Biden administration’s policies on gas stoves and vehicles with internal combustion engines, claiming that they would prevent consumers from buying both technologies. While the Energy Department recently set new efficiency standards for gas stoves, they would not affect the stoves in people’s kitchens or those currently on the market.

“They’ve got some liberal idea about what products we need,” Burgum said. “You all need EV cars. You don’t need internal combustion. We’ll decide what kind of car you’re going to drive, and we’re going to regulate the other ones out of business. I mean, it’s just in every industry, not just in cars, not just in energy. They’re telling people what stoves you can buy. This is not America.”

The Biden campaign initially declined to comment for this article. After it was published, however, Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said in a statement that “Donald Trump is selling out working families to Big Oil for campaign checks. It’s that simple.”

“It doesn’t matter to Trump that oil and gas companies charge working families and middle-class Americans whatever they want while raking in record profits — if Donald can cash a check, he’ll do what they say,” Moussa added.

Burgum — a possible contender to lead the Energy Department in a second Trump term — has pushed harder to address climate change than many other Republicans. He set a goal in 2021 for North Dakota — the third-largest oil-producing state — to become carbon-neutral by 2030. He has stressed, however, that the goal won’t be achieved via government mandates or the elimination of fossil fuels, and he has cultivated deep support among oil donors.

Despite Trump’s huge fundraising ask, oil donors and their allies have yet to donate hundreds of millions to his campaign. They have contributed more than $6.4 million to Trump’s joint fundraising committee in the first three months of this year, according to an analysis by the advocacy group Climate Power. Oil billionaire Harold Hamm and others are scheduling a fundraiser for Trump later this year, advisers said, where they expect large checks to flow to his bid to return to office.

One person involved in the industry said many oil executives wanted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or another Republican to challenge Biden. But now that Trump is the nominee, this person said, they are going to embrace his policies and give.

Dan Eberhart, chief executive of the oil-field services company Canary and a Trump donor, said the Republican onslaught of donations was not surprising.

“Biden constantly throws a wet blanket to the oil and gas industry,” Eberhart said. “Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ philosophy aligns much better with the oil patch than Biden’s green-energy approach. It’s a no-brainer.”

Alex Witt, a senior adviser for oil and gas with Climate Power, said Trump’s promise is he will do whatever the oil industry wants if they support him. With Trump, Witt said, “everything has a price.”

“They got a great return on their investment during Trump’s first term, and Trump is making it crystal clear that they’re in for an even bigger payout if he’s reelected,” she said.

 

 

 

and they will end up paying it too

[Brandywine 1326]

31 minutes ago, Red Five said:

This is sure to provoke a bunch of “you sweet summer child” responses, but it seems like asking for a billion dollars should be against some campaign finance laws.

It feels like it should have a greater outrage. But the people on the right don't seem to care as long as it's from their side. The more outrages and crazy the greater. 

[Js1 86937]

Yeah Biden is sooooooo bad for oil 🙄 

[speed817 19844]

https://jalopnik.com/trump-to-oil-execs-give-me-1-billion-and-you-can-wrec-1851467438

Spoiler

Donald Trump told some of America’s top oil executives that he is willing to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental policies and stop new ones from being enacted on his first day of presidency, if the oil companies agree to raise $1 billion to return Trump to the White House. The Washington Post spoke to people with knowledge of the meeting on the condition of anonymity for this news.

Trump, the guy who currently owes over a half-billion dollars in fines and fees from his array of court cases, is obviously in desperate need of money for his personal expenses and for his reelection campaign. He is willing to risk exacerbating the climate crisis and creating a more dangerous world for his own children just so he can make money. Like Trump, oil companies are proponents of perpetuating humanity’s centuries-old dependence on fossil fuels despite climate change’s rapidly accelerating and devastating effects on humanity.

Oil companies have lobbied against eco-conscious legislation for decades to continue to capitalize on the world’s dependence on fossil fuels and earn more money. As a car enthusiast, I’m trepidatious about the future of the automobile, but as a 28-year-old who hopes to enjoy many more years on this planet, I’m deeply concerned about the impacts of climate change. The Washington Post reports,

As Donald Trump sat with some of the country’s top oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club last month, one executive complained about how they continued to face burdensome environmental regulations despite spending $400 million to lobby the Biden administration in the last year.

Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.

Giving $1 billion would be a “deal,” Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people.

Trump’s remarkably blunt and transactional pitch reveals how the former president is targeting the oil industry to finance his reelection bid. At the same time, he has turned to the industry to help shape his environmental agenda for a second term, including the rollbacks of some of Biden’s signature achievements on clean energy and electric vehicles.”

President Biden calls climate change an existential threat, and his administration has finalized 100 new environmental regulations aimed at cutting air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and more, despite oil companies spending $400 million to lobby for Biden last year. At this dinner, Trump vowed to auction off more leases for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico on day one of his presidency, should he get elected. He also vowed to immediately end Biden’s freeze on liquified natural gas (LNG) exports and said he would reverse restrictions on drilling in the Alaskan Arctic, several hot-button topics holding oil companies back from potentially earning billions of dollars.

Trump, who has frequently called opponents puppets controlled by other forces, is straight up telling oil companies he will be their puppet if they give him enough money. Politics aside, humans want to continue living happy and healthy lives for many generations in the future. I want to continue living a happy and healthy life for as long as possible, and I don’t see increasing Gulf oil drilling operations or Alaskan Arctic oil pipelines contributing to the longevity of our species.

 

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13618]

"I can't be corrupted because I'm financing my own campaign."

[Red Five 41594]

"I can't be corrupted because I'm financing my own campaign."

/how it started, how it’s going.

“Give me a billion dollars and I’ll do whatever you want.”

[Brisketexan 106617]

10 minutes ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

"I can't be corrupted because I'm financing my own campaign."

 

6 minutes ago, Red Five said:

/how it started, how it’s going.

“Give me a billion dollars and I’ll do whatever you want.”

....and the Trumpanzees masturbate furiously to both - completely inconsistent - statements.  Because stupidity is king.

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

it was always the stupidest argument.  rich people famously shun getting more money.

[Underdog 29101]

Biden should counter offer $500 million just to fuck with trump. 

[Biff Tannen 46061]

On 5/10/2024 at 10:45 AM, Js1 said:

Yeah Biden is sooooooo bad for oil 🙄 

Well, but you see, they can’t just dump the leftovers DIRECTLY into the water supply like they really want to, so it’s not fair!!!

[pacman 7488]

[BevoAbyss 2165]

As I have said here before:

— The New York Times has long been a spin-doctor, propaganda machine that enables/normalizes fascism and theocracy, among other things, in the name of supposedly “objective” and “fair" journalism—#bothsides. It simply does not want to lose corporate advertisers and it’s mainstream (Christian) liberal and conservative readers. 

— Calling that out in polite company cost me a good friendship with a former business exec at the NYT. We have not talked in over 15 years. 

Bottom line, the New York Times cannot be trusted on any significant issue.