I am normally highly critical of President Trump's Twitter usage but his latest Tweet is actually legit:
@realDonaldTrump
Venezuela should allow Leopoldo Lopez, a political prisoner & husband of @liliantintori (just met w/ @marcorubio) out of prison immediately.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/832016501657968640
Mr. Lopez should be released as I'm fairly certain he did not incite violence through the use of subliminal messages.
The outcome of the trial was unsurprising. The justice system in Venezuela has long been at the service of its authoritarian government, which has grown increasingly brazen in its efforts to sideline the opposition as confidence in President Nicolás Maduro has plummeted.
The charges against Mr. López, a Harvard-educated former mayor of one of the municipalities that make up Caracas, were scurrilous. Mr. Maduro ordered his arrest in February 2014 and charged him with stoking violence as demonstrations against the government were spreading. The government, in its criminal complaint, preposterously claimed that Mr. López had incited Venezuelans to violence through subliminal messages.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/14/opinion/free-venezuelas-leopoldo-lopez.html
I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member

That explains his latest tweet bashing US Healthcare in a way as if he were still campaigning and making crazy promises.
Everyone on here especially Trump sycophants should be required to have a Twitter following Trump. He bashes the Hell out of the US in every way just like the anti-American spoiled rotten Trumpists.
Formerly Self-Appointed_Digby_Scout

Eh, the facts of the story are not being disputed. President Trump is holding a campaign event this weekend and that was the only facet of the story I was interested in. 'Embellishments' and the source are pretty much irrelevant to the point I was making. The campaign season is too long and basically never ends now.
I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member

It depends on what kind of donations he is soliciting.
The Federal Election Commission has strict rules about what federal candidates can and can't do with leftover campaign money, and the biggest directive is that they can't pocket it for personal use.
Here's what a campaign committee is allowed to do with any lingering cash: it can donate the funds to charities or political parties; it can contribute $2000 per election to other candidates; and it can save the money in case the candidate chooses to run again. However, those regulations don't apply to the relatively new super PACs (Political Action Committees); this is only the second election where they have played a role, and there are currently no rules to stipulate what happens to that money beyond that it cannot go to fund another federal candidate. Much of that money tends to be returned to its original donors, used to wrap up the failed campaign, or donated to back a state-level candidate. The goal, however, is always to spend all of that money.
I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member

a possible re-election bid in 2020. Trump wrote that his filing, "
does not constitute a formal announcement
," but as a result,
he is able to collect donations
.
What happens to those donations collected if he does not run?
Into an account with the GOP for next one up?
Trump lies:
Mexico is going to pay for the wall.
I can stop federal funds.

Congratulations. You are the Kellyanne Conway of the Clintons.
Leftist philosophy and policies deny both human nature and reality

So? They made all that money giving speeches and investing. Fair and square.

I think the scale is different. The Clintons went from "broke" to mega-rich in a few years from their public office. Trump's benefits from events at Mar-A-Lago are tip money in his world.
The Clintons are the crooked televangelists of the political world.
Leftist philosophy and policies deny both human nature and reality

President Trump may end up giving the Clintons a
run for their money
. You have to love how Trump is essentially funneling tax dollars to himself via Mar-A-Lago every single time he goes down there. Which is now 3 weekends in a row, right?
Don't confuse this for a defense of the Clintons. I never much cared for them and the only good thing that has come out of President Trump's win is hopefully the end of Hillary's political career. IMO.
I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member

No one has ever exploited their public offices more than Bill and Hillary Clinton. Broke in 2001, 9-figures mega rich today.
Leftist philosophy and policies deny both human nature and reality

I guess President Trump is finally dropping the 'I can't be bought because I'm self-funding my own campaign' nonsense.
I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member

Trump wrote that his filing, "does not constitute a formal announcement," but as a result, he is able to collect donations.
I'm not even shocked or disgusted. It's very Trumplike, he's an excellent conman.
~
Goodbye Soapbox, Hello Reddit
https://www.reddit.com/user/rouge6/

I am not 'kidding' myself. As I stated above:
I don't care if it's President Obama, President Trump, Republican, or Democrat. These endless campaigns are just too much.
I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member

Don't kid yourself. For the Democrats the 2020 Presidential election started the minute Trump went over 270 electoral college votes he needed.

As I said, I would have preferred for the TPP to be renegotiated rather than just completely scrapped. But sh!t happens. I agree that it was flawed and gave way too much power to transnational corporations. But the US economy, and the agriculture sector(I work in Ag hence why I keep bringing it up) needs some kind of new trade deal(s) with those 11 countries. I have very little faith in President Trump but hopefully he cobbles something together with those countries sooner rather than later.
I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member

Scrapping the TPP, scrapping the ability of multi-national corporations to regulate the US government, was preferable to having corporations control US government regulations.
If we had Hillary's "gold standard" of trade deals TPP pass, we would have had more US job losses, but even worse, more corporate control over government. If the TPP had passed, like Obama wanted, then you could essentially say goodbye to the EPA, food safety regulations, and most any other regulation which protected US citizens from dangerous corporate products.

"All great truths begin as blasphemies."

• George Bernard Shaw

Citizen's United was a travesty for Democracy, what was left of it.
No argument there.
That being said, we may have a champion of the people in President Trump.
Agree to disagree I suppose.
He already killed the TPP.
Eh, I would have preferred for the TPP to be renegotiated rather than just completely scrapped. Oh well. There are talks of China replacing the US in the TPP so it could very well still move forward for Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. Hopefully, the Trump administration comes up with something to replace this deal sooner rather than later. Agriculture specifically needs this trade deal or something similar to it.
I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member

My sentiments exactly.
Citizen's United was a travesty for Democracy, what was left of it.
That being said, we may have a champion of the people in President Trump. He already killed the TPP. Hopefully he will keep fighting for the people.

"All great truths begin as blasphemies."

• George Bernard Shaw

I don't care if it's President Obama, President Trump, Republican, or Democrat. These endless campaigns are just too much.
I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member

Obama was forced to do it early too. That being said, he didn't have nearly the same amount of media hatred directed his way as Trump does.
The amount of corporate oligarchical media opposition Trump is facing is rather unprecedented.

"All great truths begin as blasphemies."

• George Bernard Shaw

It's too much. Seriously. Who has time for actual governing when you have to hit the campaign trail 3 years and 9 months before the election
I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member

Campaign season? Again?!!!
Well, that is one reason to not mind the demise of this board.
God knew he was good and God did look the other way that day.