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Comment by gamblor956 | Hacker News Reader

As am American citizen, that is quite possibly the stupidest thing Germany could do. Please, for the sake of the world, keep this information confidential until after the election.

Publishing the emails, calls, and efforts Trump made to secure an exclusive virus would just play into his hands and provide a huge boost to his political campaign. As past scandals have shown, there is no such thing as bad press for him.

So deny him the press and the coverage and let this blow over quietly until Nov 4. And then go nuts publishing all the details.

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Bullcrap. As an American citizen I want that dangerous clown of a president we have exposed to hell and back.

He's already been exposed, many times. Made no difference to his base or to a large swath of independents.

His actions on this matter won't change anyone's mind already opposed to him, but it might get a few supporters off the couch in November.

He can always be exposed again November 5th. As the impeachment demonstrates, the threat of exposure is far more damaging to Trump than the exposure itself.

Babylon 5, S05E02: The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari, @29:53

G'Kar: To the Narn Homeword, of course. You came with ships, and guns, and mass drivers. You plucked asteroids out of near orbit and sent them plunging down onto our cities, killing men and women and children. Onto the sick and the infirm and the innocent.

Londo Molari: It was not my idea. I didn't even know. It was Refa. It was not my fault. I said ...

G'Kar: You said nothing. You said Nothing. You said NOTHING. Nothing.

Londo Molari: Leave me alone.

G'Kar: No. Look at me.

Londo Molari: I can't.

G'Kar: LOOK AT ME.

G'Kar: Do you remember this place?

Londo Molari: Yes.

G'Kar: I was tortured in this place. I as whipped. Emperor Cartasia wanted to hear me scream.

Londo Molari: Yes, and if you did not scream, the 40th stroke of the whip would kill you. And your people would be slaves forever. Yes.

G'Kar: You remember.

Londo Molari: Yes.

G'Kar: You were there.

Londo Molari: Yes!

G'Kar: And you said ...nothing.

Emperor Cartasia: Thirty four. Thirty five. Thirty six.

G'Kar: Nothing.

Emperor Cartasia: Thirty seven. Thirty eight.

G'Kar: Nothing!

Emperor Cartasia: Thirty nine.

G'Kar: AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

G'Kar: One word, Molarri. One word was all that was required of you.

Londo Molari: It would not have mattered. It wouldn't have changed anything. It would not have stopped.

G'Kar: You're wrong, Mollari. Whether it was me or my world, whether it was a total stranger, or your worst enemy.

YOU WERE A WITNESS!

IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THEY'D STOP!

IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THEY'D LISTEN!

YOU HAD AN OBLIGATION TO SPEAK OUT!!!

Londo Molari: I couldn't.

G'Kar: And that's why you don't deserve to be Emperor. And that's why you don't deserve to live.

I'm not saying that they should never release the details.

I'm saying they shouldn't release the details right now because right now those details are great for Trump.

Irresponsible disclosure is just as bad as non-disclosure.

Londo Mollari finally spoke out AFTER the Narn homeworld was destroyed. A lot of good that did.

You're perpetuating the myth that Trump is invincible, that "there is no such thing as bad press for him", and echoing his enablers who are whining that "now is not the time for finger pointing and talking about the past, there will be a time for that later", at the same time that Trump himself is doing nothing but finger pointing and talking about the past.

If finger pointing and talking about the past is so ineffective and off-limits, then why is Trump doing it so much, why are his allies breathlessly admonishing everyone else not to do it, and why do you think at the same time that Trump is so invincible?

I don't really care what happened in a work of fiction.

As for paragraph two, it's not a myth. It's been the last 4 years of reality. One more minor scandal won't make a difference compared to the things he's already gotten away with, and in this respect we disagree on whether it's actually a scandal for him (which you believe) or it's pandering to his base (which I believe).

It's not about making the past off-limits, it's about taking away a campaign point from Trump. What Trump tried to do is not a scandal to him. It is not a bad thing to his supporters. THEY WANT HIM TO DO STUFF LIKE THIS. And publicizing that is just giving him free publicity that will make his supporters more motivated to show up to re-elect him in November. Is that what you want?

> "there is no such thing as bad press for him"

I mean, there's been almost 5 years of bad press for him (discounting everything before late 2015) and it hasn't really affected how the GOP treat him (like a king) or how his base seem him (like a saviour king.)

> Trump is invincible

Until the media and the GOP start doing a better job, yeah, he pretty much is, unfortunately.

Bullshit.

"As an American citizen" - buddy we are not known for our intelligence or our honor so I don't know what relevance you think that has.

And yes there is such a thing as bad press before an election. That's why politicians go to huge lengthsto bury stories before elections.

""As an American citizen" - buddy we are not known for our intelligence or our honor so I don't know what relevance you think that has."

Speaking as an American citizen, that cracks me up.

If the revelations that Trump has fantasized about incest with his own daughter, cheated on all of his wives, had sex with pornstars and paid them off, bribed government officials, has gone bankrupt multiple times, has been sued by fraud multiple times, is enriching himself using public funds, is accepting money from foreign governments and making political decisions based on that, has attempted to coerce a foreign government into acting against a US citizen, has interfered with criminal investigations, has covered up and destroyed evidence of criminal actions, and is possibly suffering early on-set dementia isn't enough bad press...

What do you think are going to be the actual repercussions, in the US, of learning that the US president is trying to secure exclusive US control of a vaccine for COVID19 for priority distribution in the US?

They aren't going to be any. Indeed, to his base, stuff like this is exactly why they voted for him. (If Trump had succeeded in securing that vaccine solely for the US, he would win in November in a landslide.) And that's pretty much the extent of the calculations that went on in his head when he attempted this stunt.

It's a good thing he failed. But let's be responsible about disclosure and time it so that he can't derive any political benefit from it.

"In a normal presidency, any one of these scandals would have sunk it but with Trump, we get a new one every week and nothing." (I forget but probably someone on Lawyers,Guns,Money.)

[edit: too many "any"]

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