For those who claim Trump believed his own lies.

[Kingofalldems]

Does he know when he's cheating at golf? Of course he does.

He also knows he's lying about voter fraud. Lock him up.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. My father was a golfer.

He believed you could never trust a golfer who cheated -- for anything.

[gab13by13]

5. I play with an 89 year old golfer who feels the same way.

We play the ball down, don't touch it until it's on the green. He keeps score and if someone plays with us and he moves the ball, my friend doesn't write a score down.

He didn't move up to the senior tees until he was 76 years old, he told me he felt ashamed to move closer. I have a year and a half to go before I turn 76, so I still play from the back tees.

[KPN]

22. Gotta love that. And kudos to you for respecting

your friend’s standard.

[luvtheGWN]

28. My wise father always said:

When you cheat, the only person you're cheating is yourself.

[Baitball Blogger]

8. Different generation.

That's how they were raised back in the day. But today we have articles written in military magazines talking about the dishonesty among officers!

It's all changed.

[Kingofalldems]

9. That is absolutely true.

[Phoenix61]

2. If he believed the election was stolen there would have been an Election Defense Fund.

The fact there never was is the tell.

On edit:
Liz Cheney is a perfect example of, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”… for the moment.

[Roy Rolling]

16. Just the Accusation of Fraud

That’s all he needed to start a $250 million scam. No proof needed, fundraising off the lie.

[Rebl2]

30. Yep

Too all those testifying over the last year, you should have come out while tfg was still in office, after Biden had won, and denounced his lies-his stop the steal lie. All those like Mr. Barr who are now saying he was delusional at that time, you should have said something at that time.

[purr-rat beauty]

3. He knows - he just thinks everyone stupid

That's how narcissists work - they may know they have their shortcomings but ALWAYS believe they are 2 steps ahead of everyone

He's squeezed his lard ass out of many tight spots so has been enabled for so long he believes he is untouchable

[KPN]

23. That about sums it up. Re: thinking everyone's

stupid. The entire GOP organization believes most people are stupid and count as well as act on it. Far to often and to our chagrin, their voters prove they are right.

[KPN]

26. That about sums it up. Re: thinking everyone's

stupid. The entire GOP organization believes most people are stupid and count as well as act on it. Far too often and to our chagrin, enough voters prove they are close enough to right about “most people”.

[greenjar_01]

4. It's so odd that we've gotten to a place where this is the defense

"You can't indict the former President. He wasn't actively seeking to defraud. He was just delusional!"

Good grief!

[Captain Zero]

21. If they play the delusional card, he's unfit for

Any public office. If he's delusional he's not competent to hold any office.

[Ferrets are Cool]

6. If I am going 65 and the speed limit drops to 35 but I don't notice...

I will still get a ticket if I am stopped. It doesn't matter if a person is ignorant or has a certain set of beliefs.

[thesquanderer]

14. But some of what Trump is accused of does depend on his state of mind/motivation.

While speeding is speeding regardless of what was in your mind, that's not always the case. What someone believes can definitely matter. Shooting someone in cold blood is legally different from shooting someone who you legitimately believed was about to hurt/kill you... regardless of whether that belief turned out to be true or false.

[gab13by13]

7. People who call trump stupid

play right into his hand. Pretending to be stupid is his defense against criminal intent.

Plus he raises money off of it.

[Kingofalldems]

10. He's cunning.

[Scrivener7]

11. He's not smart. But there is some glitch in his brain stem that makes

him excellent at cheating and manipulating people through their insecurities.

It's like the way a cat always lands on its feet. You're not going to have philosophical discussions with Toonces, but he always lands on his feet and that's something you and I could never replicate.

[leftyladyfrommo]

13. Idiot savant. He is amazingly good at conning people

but really doesn't know and doesn't care about much else if it doesn't affect him personally.

He is such an empty shelf.

[Scrivener7]

35. Exactly. He's like a different species from humans.

[leftyladyfrommo]

36. He is a really odd person. I have never seen him

display one redeeming grace. It's like reading those children's names at the NRA convention and doing a victory dance. That's just plain awful. But he never notices because he is just empty . The only thing he feels is horrible anger and the need for revenge.

I worked for 40 years in real estate. Greed is the mover and shaker in real estate but I never knew anyone as empty and awful as he is.

[Sympthsical]

37. That's what I think it's all about

An attempt to defuse intent in his actions. If anything ever comes of this with him, that will be the play of his lawyers. Guaranteed.

[OneGrassRoot]

12. His recorded call to Raffensberger speaks to this clearly, imo...

NYT 1/3/21 - President Trump pressured Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to “find” him enough votes to overturn the presidential election and vaguely threatened him with “a criminal offense” during an hourlong telephone call on Saturday, according to an audio recording of the conversation.

“I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Mr. Trump said during the conversation, according to a recording first obtained by The Washington Post, which published it online Sunday. The New York Times also acquired a recording of Mr. Trump’s call....“The people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry. And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated.”

[Maine Abu El Banat]

15. There's a difference between

Believing your own lies, and feeling that lying is your right as a rich white male. I think he does believe the latter.

[leftyladyfrommo]

38. It could have started out just lying and then the pressure

got so great that he began to live in his own delusions. It happens.

[Lonestarblue]

17. While Barr claimed that Trump had lost touch with reality, it's all an act.

Trump has been a charlatan his whole life, and he had an early mentor in his father for setting up companies to cheat on taxes. He had another mentor who taught him that nasty politics is good politics, and that was Roy Cohn, known for his unsubstantiated accusations against political opponents. Cohn was both Trump’s attorney and coach in unethical behavior. Indeed, Cohn was disbarred for unethical behavior.

As a master liar, Trump knows that if you tell a lie often enough, some people will believe it. And that is his lifelong pattern—that and fraudulent behavior. He has been able to get away his crimes because of his money and because he enjoys getting away with things—makes him feel special, I’m sure.

[Wounded Bear]

25. Barr is trying to cover his own ass...

He'll always be the guy who lied about the Mueller Report to me. That makes him a trump enabler and what he has done lately is no rehabilitation. He saved Reagan's ass in Iran-Contra and he saved trump's ass in the Mueller investigation. He's slime.

[trusty elf]

18. ...

[twodogsbarking]

19. He isn't normal. You can't use normal to evaluate him.

Facts and truth are no concern to him. Just getting what he wants is paramount.

[malthaussen]

20. Personally, I think it's irrelevant.

Why should "belief" mitigate criminal action? If I truly "believe" I am unfairly deprived of the money in the bank, and go in there with a pistol to take it, am I excused liability because of my belief? He believed it, and that (allegedly) led him to commit criminal acts, for which he should be held accountable.

-- Mal

[Tanuki]

24. He's always known when he cheated on his wives. Like everything else

in his life, he does as he pleases at the moment, and then lies about it. He has no personal morals or convictions. He doesn't care about the law or the well-being of our country, and tried to flush our democracy down the toilet to stroke his own ego and maximize personal wealth.

[Ohioboy]

29. He knew what he was doing would take pardoning people

Right?

[Kingofalldems]

31. Yes.

[Snackshack]

32. I believe DT

Really does believe his lies. DT knows there was fraud because he committed it. He and those around him like Kushner, Barr others had ensured that DT would get about -75million votes. Enough to win and claim historic victory…what they did not count on was 81million voters saying enough with the drama queen president DT.

[Fiendish Thingy]

33. So far, no witness has testified that Trump acknowledged voter fraud was a lie

All the testimony has been of examples of Trump refusing to accept his staff telling him there was no evidence, or challenging the explanations for what he claimed was voter fraud. Not a single example from anyone of Trump winking and saying “I know it’s not true, but we have to say it is for me to stay in power”.

So, it appears to be a case of what the TV lawyers call “willful blindness”, of reaching a conclusion to meet a preconceived narrative, and rejecting all evidence that contradicts the narrative.

Such blindness doesn’t exempt Trump from criminal liability.

[LogicFirst]

34. In today's world, parents teach their children how to cheat - and lie, steal, etc.

[Irish_Dem]

39. Trump is a long time con artist. Con artists know they are lying.

They think everyone else is a stupid loser and will buy the lies.