Stormy Weather

Last night on 60 Minutes Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, said she had sex with Donald Trump, aka David Dennison. Raise your hand if you care. I didn’t think so. Now raise your hand if you watched. I thought so.

My favorite part was when she told of how she spanked him with a rolled up magazine that had his picture on the cover.

My next favorite part about this story is the contention from Michael Cohen, Trump’s attorney, that he paid her $130,000 of his own money he raised by taking out a loan from his home equity to keep her quiet. He claimed Trump didn’t know about it and that he did it because he cared about Trump’s family and he considered Trump a friend.   Wow. Have you ever heard of an attorney who not only doesn’t charge for services, but pays your hush money out of his own pocket? No wonder Trump keeps him on, but, of course, he didn’t know anything about it. And it was just coincidence that it was paid a week before the election.

Cohen has threatened to sue Daniels for—is it a million, or 20 million?—I can’t keep track, for violating a nondisclosure agreement that Trump aka David Dennison, didn’t sign. During the campaign Trump denied ever having affairs, called the women who said otherwise liars, and said he would sue them all. So far, that hasn’t happened. Who is the liar?

As Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton can tell you, it’s not the deed, it’s the cover up. Apparently if the $130K was in any way connected to Trump’s campaign funds, that information could go straight to Robert Mueller and he could add it to the ever growing list of dirt he has on the President. If, as Cohen asserts, it came from his own funds, and was connected to assisting the Trump campaign, which it undoubtedly was, then it could be considered an in-kind contribution that wasn’t reported to the Feds and that could be a violation. Either way, I think Cohen needs a lawyer. Preferably one that is a friend that will pay his legal bills out of his own pocket.

In the meantime while we are being titillated by stories of porn stars and Playboy bunnies, Trump has purged moderates from his inner circle and replaced them with ideologues and war hawks. People that think like him. People like John Bolton who think the Iraq war was justified, and advocates for pre-emptive wars with Iran and North Korea. Looks like real stormy weather is just ahead.