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Absolutely huge and will no doubt upset Trump/GOP
Unsurprisingly, massive financial fraud
and will no doubt upset Trump/GOP
Quite the opposite, they now have a battle to fight which will garner them support. The timing of this by the NY DA is absolutely stonkingly incredibly ****ing idiotic. This is as big a gift for Trump as Comey reopening the email investigation last time out.
The fightback starts today, I might have a bet on Trump now before it gathers pace while the odds are good. This, and a couple of interviews by Biden and that lead will evaporate.
Surely if she had evidence of fraud the thing to do is prosecute the fraudsters. Trying to shut down an organisation because office bearers had their fingers in the till just looks political.
eeesh. Like the intent, hate the way this will play out. She and the Democrats need to tread VERY carefully here, making clear that the NRA will reimburse its members for the money that was misused, and reinforcing that people can keep their guns. Being the AG for New York (liberal coastal elite) will make it tougher to get the message out, mind
Potentially very dumb. Trump is on his knees...why not leave him there?
I disagree
NRA will have less energy and more importantly money to mobilise pro trump gun folk.
It'll go either way and it'll have a massive impact for the winning side.
The case will not elicit any more support for the NRA; it's a polarising entity and that won't change.
They are already on the slide and this will accelerate the process.
I've spent the past 3 hours reading the charge sheet and it's difficult to see any compliance with legislation or their own stated processes;
internal controls - ignored or subverted; division of responsibility - ignored; effective management - absent; an audit committee which didn't have an internal audit team.
Fraud, looting, kleptocracy, nepotism for decades; LaPierre is a perfect example of a 'fish rotting from the head'.
In a 4 year period to 2018 their finances declined by $64 million - from $28 million surplus to $36 million deficit; much of that can be directly attributed to the theft perpetrated by LaPierre and his inner circle but the true scale of their crimes is massively more.
The timing of the case is both deliberate and perfect.
Don't forget it's the same AG who forced the closure and dissolution of the trump foundation.
Predictably, the NRA have stated their intention to counter-sue the AG; they clearly haven't read the charge sheet and supporting facts.
It depends so much on how it gets framed. Obviously a lot of people will be Cold Dead Hands- I mean ffs, wearing a facemask and washing your hands somehow got lumped in with 2A rights, and then run with by the president. (there's probably an argument for not avoiding the fight- if anything can be made into a 2A issue then you can't avoid it so you might as well do it properly)
But if they can target it well and get the message out- these people are stealing from you- then it's potentially huge. Because, dur, they are and have been for years. And so is the president.
Any semi competent journalist will be able to cherry pick the most incriminating parts from the charge sheet and frame it to paint LaPierre and the others for what they are; self-serving, amoral, looters and thieves.
To them their members - or more importantly, their donations and subscriptions have been nothing more than a vehicle to facilitate their kleptocracy.
Remember Oliver North from the Iran-Contra controversy?
He was LaPierre's choice as NRA president and was appointed in 2018 but wasn't prepared to be docile; didn't like what he saw and started asking pointed questions.
LaPierre forced him out in 2019.
North is 'Dissident 1' in the charge sheet.
The case will not elicit any more support for the NRA; it’s a polarising entity and that won’t change.
Trump was even losing shedloads of the NRA membership and supporters, died in the wool Republicans are against Trump, but they are not for Biden. The dems campaign is really based on Trump negativity, no one is voting for Biden. This just gives those republicans, who were voting for Biden with a heavy heart (of which there are a lot) an excuse to flip back to their tradition.
Yeah - I think that the wider NRA membership recognize the leadership of the organisation to be corrupt, and would support charges being brought against individuals, and even widespread organisational change being mandated.
However, expecting them to support the dissolution of the whole organisation is quite different. This is incredibly ill-conceived and couldn't have come at a worse time for the democratic campaign.
And yeah, an open-goal for trump: "look - The democrats are going to take your guns away". It's basically his wet-dream headline..... the AG bringing the suit is even black, he probably can't believe his luck.
Trump will use this ammo 😜 to galvanise his base.
H
If he can turn this into a culture war issue it could well win him the election
Don’t agree that this will bring new support to the NRA. The NRA tried to launch their own TV station. That’s a story worth reading up on. Not a success. There’s a whole host of other, smaller pro-gun groups that are more extreme and recently have been more successful at raising money from the gun nuts and pro-trumpers. They’re less successful/ more fragmented in terms of their lobbying though. So while Trump might frame the issue successfully, if the case succeeds it will remove a well structured lobby.
Don’t agree that this will bring new support to the NRA.
Nobody said it would, that point is irrelevant. It is about the gop being able to use it as a battle cry, claim it is an attack on the 2nd amendment and every Republican now being able to state "they are coming for your guns, they are coming for your police, they are coming for your freedom" etc It will revitalise the presidential campaign in simplistic terms that are insanely successful in the US.
Fox news and the rest of the right wing blowhards (which make up the majority of US media consumption) will repeat nothing else for the next 3 months.
The NRA aren't the organisation they used to be. I think we on this side of the pond don't see the other Pro-gun groups that lobby hard (like SAF, redneck revolt and the various states open carry supporting groups) that are much more radical and uncompromising. NRA is, and has been for some time, a bit of lame duck.
The gun lobby got to Sir Alex Ferguson as well?
The gun wobby got to Sir Alex Ferguson as well?
FTFY.
NRA gave 30 million to trump. They won't be able to now
The NRA is not the 2nd amendment. It's a lobbying organisation and is more about the manufacturers than the red necks with their battle flags.
Yeah that’s true.... but what’s the truth got to do with anything in politics? The trump campaign will weaponise this successfully against Biden and the democrats
NRA gave 30 million to trump.
Sure, but even the dimmest of rednecks know that the NRA is a front for the gun industry. That's how it's operated for ages now, and that's the perception of the organisation. it's lobby groups like the SAF* (Second Amendment Foundation) that are doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of 2nd amendment rights.
*been around for 46 years, and most folk this side of the Atlantic have never heard of them.
Quite the opposite, they now have a battle to fight which will garner them support. The timing of this by the NY DA is absolutely stonkingly incredibly **** idiotic. This is as big a gift for Trump as Comey reopening the email investigation last time out.
The fightback starts today, I might have a bet on Trump now before it gathers pace while the odds are good. This, and a couple of interviews by Biden and that lead will evaporate.
Its an interesting point.
I'd hope they would have thought it through, Trump is Enemy #1 to everyone in the centre and left in the US. Biden has been tweeting categorically that he will work to ban assault weapons and if the Dems take the White House and Senate he can do it.
With this be a coup de grâce for Trump, or save his Bacon?
Another shoe-in for Trump support. They play into his tiny hands
Surely if she had evidence of fraud the thing to do is prosecute the fraudsters. Trying to shut down an organisation because office bearers had their fingers in the till just looks political.
The NRA is registered as a not-for-profit in New York state. NFPs have a raft of compliance to follow, including what they do, how they do it and how they spend their money. This is likely a normal part of the proceedings when dealing with a NFP in New York state.
The NRA went from a profit to deficit with the difference being $64m over 3 years. Reporting on the corruption has been going on for years. This is likely the culmination of years of investigation. Gun owners are stepping away from the NRA and have been doing so for a long time, so this won't get them more members. Also, Biden is a practicing Catholic and a gun owner. Trump's noise won't go far beyond Fox and all the viewers there will vote for him anyway.
Biden is a practicing Catholic
That doesn't help at all with trump's base. That thing about Biden and the Bible was a dog whistle for his Klan followers.
Trump is the son of a Klansman.
batfink
SubscriberAnd yeah, an open-goal for trump: “look – The democrats are going to take your guns away”.
Point being that he's been saying that for years anyway.