The Times has scored some Trump tax information and found that he was basically setting fire to billions in the late 80s-early 90s.

By the time his master-of-the-universe memoir “Trump: The Art of the Deal” hit bookstores in 1987, Donald J. Trump was already in deep financial distress, losing tens of millions of dollars on troubled business deals, according to previously unrevealed figures from his federal income tax returns.

Mr. Trump was propelled to the presidency, in part, by a self-spun narrative of business success and of setbacks triumphantly overcome. He has attributed his first run of reversals and bankruptcies to the recession that took hold in 1990. But 10 years of tax information obtained by The New York Times

Oh, this is ugly.

President Donald Trump on Monday granted a pardon to a former first lieutenant in the US Army who was sentenced to prison in 2009 for killing an Iraqi detainee, according to the White House.
…

Behenna deployed to Iraq in 2007, according to The Washington Post. The following year, two soldiers and friends of Behenna were killed in a roadside explosion and he was on the scene, the newspaper reports.

Shortly after the soldiers’ death, there was an intelligence report saying then-Iraqi operative Ali Mansur possibly helped organize the explosion, the Post reports.

Mansur was interrogated but then freed, the Post reported, because the military did not have conclusive evidence tying him to the

Pelosi isn’t the only one who thinks Trump might refuse to leave if he loses the next election.

Allan Lichtman, a distinguished professor of history at American University, reiterated Pelosi’s worries, telling Salon, “I think Trump will do everything he possibly can to hold on to his power.”

“Remember Trump cannot be embarrassed— cannot be shamed. You can’t appeal to morality, because he has none. You can’t appeal to compassion, he has none. You can’t appeal to the law, he doesn’t care,” Lichtman added. “And if he thinks he can get away with it — absolutely, he will do anything.

Lichtman’s concerns were also echoed by Laurence H. Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb university professor and professor

Trump appears to be laying the groundwork for a coup.

https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1125151549943054336

When I say that Trump is not going to step down in 2021 if he loses, I am serious. His allies are already laying the groundwork. The chances of a coup are real. https://t.co/qVInrsMdRO

— Erik Loomis (@ErikLoomis) May 5, 2019

Trump retweets Falwell's call to extend his first presidential term by 2 years: "Time stolen by corrupt failed coup" https://t.co/g1jChPk1lg pic.twitter.com/g5BShA1Owb

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) May 6, 2019

https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1125270228882079745… Read the rest

Trump is such a genius, nothing escapes his attention. Well ok some things escape his attention, like Puerto Rico and Kim’s missile launches and the dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi and little things like that, but the important stuff is front and center at all times.

The Kentucky Derby decision was not a good one. It was a rough & tumble race on a wet and sloppy track, actually, a beautiful thing to watch. Only in these days of political correctness could such an overturn occur. The best horse did NOT win the Kentucky Derby – not even close!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2019

Of…political correctness? Is the horse who unfairly won a woman? Disabled? Puerto Rican? What’s … Read the rest

Benjamin Wittes urged us to give Barr the benefit of the doubt until he’d had time to act; he now feels burned.

Where Barr has utterly failed, by contrast*, is in providing “honest leadership that insulates [the department] from the predations of the president.” I confess I am surprised by this. I have never known Barr well, but I thought better of him than that.

*By contrast with what he did with the report, which Wittes thinks was not too bad.

The core of the problem is not that Barr moved, as many people worried he would, to suppress the report; it is what he has said about it. I have spent a great deal of time with the

Trump and his corrupt brood are trying to prevent us from discovering what they’re up to.

Donald Trump, three of his children and seven of his companies have filed a US federal lawsuit against Deutsche Bank and Capital One in an attempt to stop them complying with subpoenas investigating his financial dealings.

Well isn’t that just a perfect illustration of why there’s a law against presidents sticking their families into their administrations.

Filed late on Monday in a federal court in New York, the lawsuit stated that demands for records by Democrat-controlled house committees have no legitimate or lawful purpose.

“The subpoenas were issued to harass President Donald J Trump, to rummage through every aspect of his personal finances,

CNN puts it more strongly:

President Donald Trump made an incendiary remark at a rally Saturday night, veering from criticism of Wisconsin’s Democratic governor to a false claim that mothers and doctors have the option to “execute” babies.Speaking at a rally he hosted in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Trump pointed to former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who was in attendance, and said Walker’s successor, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers “shockingly stated that he will veto legislation that protects Wisconsin babies born alive.”

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Evers planned to veto a GOP-backed state bill that could have meant life sentences in prison for doctors who intentionally did not provide medical care to babies born

This is *exactly* the type of rhetoric that motivates people to bomb abortion clinics and murder abortion providers. https://t.co/ji1LG2F5e5

— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) April 28, 2019

He did say it. I just watched the clip in which he says it.

"The baby is born, the mother meets w/the doctor. They take care of the baby. They wrap the baby beautifully. Then the doctor and mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby."

How is this man's mental state not a National Emergency right now? pic.twitter.com/uq2yPoxH3o

— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) April 28, 2019

If you want to skip the part where they all cheer Scott Walker and Walker takes a bow and yadda yadda, skip ahead to … Read the rest

The Guardian points out, in case we’d missed it, that the shooting of the week yesterday doesn’t make Trump look good. You don’t say.

Trump unequivocally condemned the shooting, telling a rally on Saturday evening in Wisconsin: “Our entire nation mourns the loss of life, prays for the wounded, and stands in solidarity with the Jewish community. We forcefully condemn the evil of anti-Semitism and hate, which must be defeated.”

Oh stop. Trump read words that someone wrote for him. He doesn’t “forcefully condemn the evil of hate”; he stokes it every time he opens his mouth or taps his phone.

But the president stated last month, following a hate-inspired mass shooting that left 50 Muslim worshipers dead in

No wonder Trump is agitated. Deutsche Bank is spilling.

Deutsche Bank has begun the process of providing financial records to New York state’s attorney general in response to a subpoena for documents related to loans made to President Donald Trump and his business, according to a person familiar with the production.

Last month, the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James issued subpoenas for records tied to funding for several Trump Organization projects.

The state’s top legal officer opened a civil probe after Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen testified to Congress in a public hearing that Trump had inflated his assets. Cohen at that time presented copies of financial statements he said had been provided to Deutsche Bank.