A newly proposed bill in Congress could make a meaningful difference in the fight to restore free speech protections in higher education. The Restoring Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Act of 2026 would address a practical problem for civil rights and free speech groups suing public universities for the denial of free speech. When universities lose at the preliminary injunction stage, advocates cannot recoup costs and fees. The bill would allow that recovery and, as a result, level the playing field with universities, which can tap public funds to litigate these cases.
We have discussed many cases where universities spend millions in public funds to support anti-free speech policies and actions. A relatively small group of public interest groups have waged these battles with a collection of individual attorneys. Universities know that a case ending in a preliminary injunction will not result in fees or costs being paid to the victorious litigant. This bill would change that.
In my book The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage, I suggest various ways that Congress could reinforce free speech rights, particularly in higher education. This is precisely the type of measure that can help tangibly support that effort.
The problem that we have faced in the free-speech community is that faculty and administrators have created an echo chamber in higher education by purging departments of dissenting voices, particularly conservative and libertarian faculty. Once in control of these universities, officials proceeded to tap into public funds to not only reinforce this ideological orthodoxy but also finance litigation.
Universities routinely lose these free speech cases. However, they know that cases that end at the preliminary injunction stage will often deny litigants the ability to recover fees or costs. In Lackey v. Stinnie (2025), a divided Supreme Court ruled that plaintiffs who received only a preliminary injunction before their case became moot were not “prevailing parties” eligible for fees under federal law.
The result is the use of public funds to drain the resources of free speech groups and advocates. It also adds a coercive element as universities pressure advocates to settle cases by noting that, if they secure a P.I., the university could fold and leave them without any recovery. They are literally using the public coffers to fight against free speech rights supported by the vast majority of citizens.
Congress can close this loophole and level the field. It will not transform higher education, but it will help guarantee that dissenting faculty and students have a fair chance against state universities.
The legislation is also important because, as I discuss in The Indispensable Right and prior columns, public universities are the final line of defense for free speech. Since the First Amendment applies directly to these universities, free-speech advocates have a greater ability to defend free speech and minority viewpoints at these schools. This can offer students an alternative to private universities as they seek environments with a modicum of tolerance (even if forced) for opposing viewpoints.
It is time to pass the Restoring Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Act of 2026.
Jonathan Turley is the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
So, it puts you in the poor house to vindicate your rights in court? What’s the saying on the bumper sticker? “Freedom isn’t free”? STOP YER CRYING, YOU CONSERVATIVE SNOWFLAKES! God bless America.
Great. So if I donate to a free speech litigation, I am financing both sides. It’s time for universities to go away. Anything that needs to be learned can be learned much cheaper via other methods, minus the politics. Good riddance.
I wonder when Turley is going to bring up the Jack Smith hearing. I am pretty sure he was going to write about it because he is a huge critic of Jack Smith. However given the GOP’s monstrous f—up at the hearing I doubt the Professor will bring it up. Because it would be a criticism of Republican incompetence and Fox News will not do that.
Then there’s the Missouri (Sen. Schmitt’s) state gerrymander mess which showed how far Republicans are wiling to go to cheat and subvert their own constituents wishes and defy their own constitutional laws and very Supreme Court. Talk about lawless. Wow.
I suspect Professor Turley will not bring up these subjects because they involve serious Republican criticism that the professor may be loath to bring up. Just sayin.
Back again eh. Spend another 20 hours today writing stupid shite eh George. You got a real hard-on for Turley eh.
How come you can’t write articles like Turley huh? Guess being a nobody really irks you.
George is out on a pass.
Why don’t you address Senator Schmitt’s monumental f-up, instead of criticizing someone who brings it up? Also, there’s the bigger picture–why are Republicans spending time trying to go after Jack Smith because Trump wants them to help him get revenge while they are still in the majority, instead of addressing the real problems that their constituents care about–like the high cost of fuel, groceries, worries about AI and data centers–both of which Trump and his kids are invested in, so nothing will be done about these issues.
Darren Smith, September 30, 2026 at 5:00 PM,
BAN FOR LIFE!
Darren has been fired or quit.
AI—Artificial Intelligence (i.e., SI—Super Intelligence)
Congress has absolutely NO power to regulate the technology and software industry per Article 1, Section 8.
The 2026 technology and software industry in 1789 would have been equivalent to the precision-manufacturing and scientific-instrument industry.
Article I, Section 8, makes no mention of regulating that sector or any similar sector.
Any attempt to regulate AI (i.e., SI) would be irrefutably unconstitutional, understanding that the Constitution limits and restricts government while providing maximal freedom to individuals.
Yeah. AND they took atomic bombs from ordinary citizens too. They have peaceful uses!
This legislation will NOT pass this session. It will have to wait until the next (second) session of the 119th Congress on Janurary 3rd.
EVERYONE please help us restore order and respect for this blog.
DO NOT READ, that means, SIMPLY IGNORE and bypass the two lengthy “Anonymous” posts at 5:35 and 5:00 below.
Scum person polluting this site.
If he gets no feedback, s/he will go away.
On Memorial Day 1927, brawls erupted in New York led by sympathizers of the Italian fascist movement and the Ku Klux Klan. In the brawl, which took place in the Bronx, two Italian men were killed by anti-fascists. In Queens, 1,000 white-robed Klansmen marched through the Jamaica neighborhood, eventually spurring an all-out brawl in which seven men were arrested.
One of those arrested was Fred Trump, of 175-24 Devonshire Road in Jamaica.
This is Donald Trump’s father. Trump had a brother named Fred, but he wasn’t born until more than a decade later. The Fred Trump at Devonshire Road was the Fred C. Trump who lived there with his wife, according to the 1930 census.
The predication for the Klan to march, according to a flier passed around Jamaica beforehand, was that “Native-born Protestant Americans” were being “assaulted by Roman Catholic police of New York City.” “Liberty and Democracy have been trampled upon when native-born Protestant Americans dare to organize to protect one flag, the American flag; one school, the public school; and one language, the English language.”
It’s not clear from the context what role Fred Trump played in the brawl. The news article simply notes that seven men were arrested in the “near-riot of the parade,” all of whom were represented by the same lawyers. No doubt to the chagrin of those in the Klan, the seven faced a Roman Catholic judge.
When news of the old report surfaced last year, Trump vehemently denied his father’s arrest. “He was never arrested. He has nothing to do with this. This never happened. This is nonsense and it never happened,” he told the Daily Mail. “This never happened. Never took place. He was never arrested, never convicted, never even charged. It’s a completely false, ridiculous story. He was never there! It never happened. Never took place.”
Given the politics and cultural constraints of 1927, the Klan wasn’t the sort of thing that a politician would necessarily be asked to condemn. An article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle from that December notes that the Klan would probably weigh in heavily against the potential presidential nomination of then-New York Gov. Al Smith, given that he was a Catholic and a “champion of ‘alienism.’ “
It’s worth noting that Trump’s comments came one day after another Klan brawl, this time in Anaheim, Calif. Thirteen people were arrested and three were stabbed after a Klan rally turned violent. And it’s worth noting, too, as did Jonathan Chait at New York magazine, that Trump’s claim to “know nothing” about white supremacists echoes the language of the 19th-century “Know Nothing” party — a nativist group that supported only Protestants for public office.
Do you really want all of us dregding up idiotic and inaccurate reporting from almost a century ago ?
Almost 20 years before Donald Trump was Born ?
Do you know what your father did every day of his life for 20 years before you were born ?
Fred Trump was arrested and shortly after released.
He was NOT charged.
There is no evidence that he had anything to do with the KKK or any other group in this riot.
Nor would it matter in the slightest if he was a grand dragon in the KKK.
Is there an actual member of the KKK ever that was not a democrat ?
If we are going to dredge up individual conduct of peoples parents from 100 years ago 20 years before they were born – can you stand up to that kind of scrutiny ?
The failure of ideas and political systems a century ago matters.
But we do not place upon children the sins of their fathers – we most certainly do not put upon them random speculation about their fathers.
Absolutely Trump denied this – Do you know whether your father was arrested but not charged 20 years before you were born ?
Now do Ferguson…or better yet Oakland. A bit more recent history.
“[Racial separation] [is necessary], and [though difficult] must be effected by colonization… The enterprise is a difficult one, but ‘where there is a will there is a way’; and what colonization needs most is a hearty will… Let us be brought to believe it is morally right, and at the same time [not against] our interest, to transfer the African to his native clime, and we shall find a way to do it.”
– Abraham Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois, June 26, 1857 (Adapted)
Donald J. Trump?, the only US President without slavers in his ancestry?
Yes, even Obummer and Kackles the clown.
OT:
Judges Gone Wild: Florida Edition
In the latest episode of judges gone wild, a Florida judge discovers that making 900-plus Democrat political contributions is apparently a bit much even for the Florida Supreme Court.
Orange County judge resigns amid discipline case
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – An Orange County circuit judge who was accused of making more than 900 political contributions has resigned from the bench.
Diana Tennis, who has served as a judge in Orange and Osceola counties since 2015, was accused last year of contributing approximately $29,000 to Democratic candidates and political organizations.
The state Judicial Qualifications Commission alleged that the contributions violated Florida’s Code of Judicial Conduct.
Tennis had agreed to a public reprimand, records show, but the Florida Supreme Court rejected the proposed agreement in June.
In a subsequent order, the state’s highest court said it would impose a suspension and fine in addition to the reprimand.
Tennis’ resignation takes effect Friday, according to a court spokesperson. Her term was scheduled to end in January, and she was not seeking reelection.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2026/09/03/orange-county-judge-resigns-amid-discipline-case/
Donald Trump has pursued business deals in Russia since 1987, and has repeatedly traveled there to explore potential business opportunities. In 1996, Trump trademark applications were submitted for potential Russian real estate development deals. Trump, his children, and his partners have repeatedly visited Russia, connecting with real estate developers and Russian government officials to explore joint venture opportunities. Trump was never able to successfully conclude any real estate deals in Russia. However, individual Russians have invested heavily in Trump properties, and, following Trump’s bankruptcies in the 1990s, he borrowed money from Russian sources. Both Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have said that Russia was an important source of money for the Trump businesses.
Efforts to build a Trump building in Moscow continued into June 2016 while Trump was securing the Republican nomination for the presidential election.
In January 2017, BuzzFeed News reported the existence of the then-unverified Steele dossier (also called the Trump–Russia dossier), which alleges connections between Trump associates and Russia. Trump responded the next day, and again at a February news conference, that he has no financial connections to Russia. In response to ongoing questions, White House press secretary Sean Spicer reiterated in May that Trump has no business connections to Russia. Also in May, Trump’s tax lawyers sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee saying Trump had not received any income from Russian sources over the past 10 years “with a few exceptions”.
Trump’s pre-Presidential business dealings with Russia were scrutinized by the special counsel, Robert Mueller.[1]
Becoming well known
In 1987, Trump visited Russia to investigate developing a hotel, invited by Ambassador Yuri Dubinin whom he had met in New York the year before.[2] British journalist Luke Harding alleged in 2017 that this trip likely began a long-term cultivation operation typical of the KGB’s Political Intelligence Department, under written directives initiated by First Chief Directorate head Vladimir Kryuchkov, to recruit politically ambitious Westerners susceptible to flattery, egotism and greed.[2]
In 1996, Trump partnered with Liggett-Ducat, a small company, and planned to build an upscale residential development on a Liggett-Ducat property in Moscow. Trump commissioned New York architect Ted Liebman, who did the sketches. Trump visited Moscow again with Howard Lorber to scout potential properties for “skyscrapers and hotels”.[3] During that trip, Trump promoted the proposal and acclaimed the Russian economic market. At a news conference reported by The Moscow Times, Trump said he hadn’t been “as impressed with the potential of a city as I have been with Moscow” in contrast to other cities had visited “all over the world.”[4]
By this time, Trump had made known his desire to build in Moscow to government officials for almost ten years “ranging from the Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev (they first met in Washington in 1987) to the military figure Alexander Lebed.”[4] Moscow’s mayor, Yuri M. Luzhkov, showed Trump plans for a very large shopping mall to be located underground in the vicinity of the Kremlin. The mayor complimented Trump’s suggestion that this mall should have access to the Moscow Metro, and it was eventually connected to the Okhotny Ryad station. Although the 1996 residential development did not happen, Trump was by this time well known in Russia.[5]
Projects
See also: Trump Tower Moscow
See also: Felix Sater
Trump’s business strategy included Russia in ventures intended to internationally expand his brand. He transitioned in the mid-2000s from building and investing in real estate to simply licensing his name to hotels, condominiums, and commercial towers. Although a strategy of taking a percentage from the sales was successful in other countries, Trump’s terms were not agreeable to Russians and conflicted with their way of doing business with American hotel chains.[4][5]
From 2000 to 2010, Trump partnered with a development company headquartered in New York represented by a Russian immigrant, Felix Sater. During this period, they partnered for an assortment of deals that included building Trump towers internationally. For example, in 2005 Sater acted as an agent for building a Trump tower alongside Moscow River with letters of intent in hand and “square footage was being analyzed.”[4][5]
In 2006, Trump’s children Donald Jr. and Ivanka, traveling with Sater,[4][5] stayed in the Hotel National, Moscow for several days, across from the Kremlin, to see promising partners, with the intent of doing real estate development deals.[4][6][7]
Trump was associated with Tevfik Arif, formerly a Soviet commerce official and founder of a development company called the Bayrock Group, of which Sater was also a partner. Bayrock searched for deals in Russia while Trump branded towers were attempting to further expand in the United States. Sater said, “We looked at some very, very large properties in Russia,” on the scale of “…a large Vegas high-rise.”[4] In 2007, Bayrock organized a potential deal in Moscow between Trump International Hotel and Russian investors.[5]
During 2006–2008, Trump’s company applied for a number of trademarks in Russia with the goal of real estate developments. These trademark applications include: Trump, Trump Tower, Trump International Hotel and Tower, and Trump Home.[8][9] In 2008, he said as a speaker at a Manhattan real estate conference that he feared the outcome of doing business deals in Russia, but he preferred “Moscow over all cities in the world” and that within 18 months he had been in Russia a half-dozen times.[4][5]
In 2007, Trump announced that Trump Vodka would expand its distribution into Russia, his first foray into the Russian market.[10] Trump “Super Premium” Vodka, with bottles glazed in 24-karat gold, debuted in 2007 at the Millionaire Fair in Moscow, but was only successful until 2009. Trump also attempted to create a reality show in St. Petersburg starring a Russian athlete, but the project was unsuccessful.[4][5]
In a 2015 interview, Trump said that his repeated attempts to launch business deals with Russians resulted in contacts with “…the top-level people, both oligarchs and generals, and top of the government people. I can’t go further than that, but I will tell you that I met the top people, and the relationship was extraordinary.”[4][5]
Efforts to build Trump Tower Moscow continued through June 2016, even as Trump was becoming the Republican presidential nominee. In 2018, Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress after having falsely testified in 2017 that these efforts had ended in January 2016.[11] After June 2016, Trump denied several times having business dealings in or with Russia: in July 2016 he denied having employees or investments in Russia, and in October 2016 he said he was not doing any deals there and had nothing to do with Russia.[12] The president’s attorney Rudy Giuliani made some contrary statements about that chronology, but then backtracked.[13]
On July 9, 2019, Sater acknowledged before the House Intelligence Committee that one real estate project between Russia and Trump was falsely presented as a joint defense agreement, but withheld documents concerning direct details and phone records.[14] Following his testimony, Committee chair Patrick Boland announced “Our investigation thus far has revealed that Sater was not a part of any joint defense agreement, and has no basis to assert this privilege over these documents.”[14]
Trump’s responses
On January 10, 2017, BuzzFeed News published the Steele dossier (also called the Trump–Russia dossier), a series of reports prepared by a private intelligence source in Great Britain. The unverified dossier alleged various connections and collusion between Trump associates and Russia before and during the 2016 presidential election.[15] The next day, January 11, Trump tweeted, “Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA – NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!”[16] USA Today evaluated that assertion as “not exactly true”.[17] At a February 16, 2017 press conference, Trump said, “And I can tell you, speaking for myself, I own nothing in Russia. I have no loans in Russia. I don’t have any deals in Russia.”[18]
On May 9, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, “He [Trump] has no business in Russia. He has no connections to Russia.”[19]
515 N. County Road in Palm Beach, Florida, before its demolition
On May 9, 2017, Trump’s tax law firm, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which said a review of Trump’s tax returns for the past 10 years did not find income from Russian sources during that period, save for “a few exceptions”.[20] The exceptions were the 2008 sale of a Trump-owned 6.26-acre (2.53 ha) estate in Palm Beach, Florida, for $95 million to Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev,[21][22] who tore down the 62,000-square-foot (5,800 m2) mansion shortly after and sold 2.72 acres (1.10 ha) of the site for $34 million,[23] as well as $12.2 million in payments in connection with holding the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013, plus a number[quantify] of “immaterial” deals. No independently verifiable evidence was provided, such as tax returns, and it has been noted that even disclosure of tax returns would not necessarily disclose Russian-source income. The letter also said Trump had received undisclosed payments over 10 years from Russians for hotel rooms, rounds of golf, or Trump-licensed products such as wine, ties, or mattresses, which would not have been identified as coming from Russian sources in the tax returns.[24] The letter was a response to earlier requests from Senator Lindsey Graham asking whether there were any such ties.[25]
On November 30, 2018, a day after Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about Trump’s business projects in Russia, Trump tweeted that it was “very legal & very cool” that he did “run for President & continue to run my business”. Trump continued: “Lightly looked at doing a building somewhere in Russia. Put up zero money, zero guarantees and didn’t do the project.”[11]
Timeline of Trump business activities related to Russia
Further information: Timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections (July 2016–election day), and Timeline of post-election transition following Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
1984: Russian mobster David Bogatin bought five condominiums from Trump tower for $6 million. The condos were later seized by the government, which claimed they were used to launder money for the Russian mafia. Bogatin was a convicted gasoline bootlegger, and close ally of Semion Mogilevich, a major Russian mafia boss.[26][27][28]
1986: Soviet Ambassador Yuri Dubinin invites Trump on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Soviet Union.[29][5]
July 1987: Trump and his wife, Ivana, who speaks Russian,[30] make their first visit to the Soviet Union (which included the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic [RSFSR]).[29][2][31][32] They scout potential construction sites for a Trump Tower Moscow.[31][32]
1996: Trump returns to Russia, visits Moscow with Howard Lorber and Bennett S. LeBow[33] to scout potential properties for “skyscrapers and hotels”,[3] registers his trademark, and makes connections with the development company Bayrock Group (which would result in Trump Soho) and Felix Sater, who became crucial to later Trump Moscow talks.[34][32] Trump subsequently announces a plan to invest $250 million in Russia and brand two luxury residential buildings in Moscow, which doesn’t come to fruition.[35][35]: 14
2005: Trump gives Bayrock Group an exclusive deal to build a Trump-branded property in Moscow.[36]
2006: At Donald Trump’s request, Sater accompanies Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. on a Moscow trip, and arranges for Ivanka to sit in Putin’s office chair during a tour of the Kremlin.[37][35]: 17
November 2007: Trump attends the Millionaire’s Fair in Moscow, where he announces that Trump Vodka will expand its distribution into Russia, his first foray into the Russian market.[10][38][39]
Around 2008: Trump Jr. travels to Russia a half-dozen times in 18 months, looking for deals.[40]
July 2008: Trump sells the Palm Beach estate Maison de L’Amitie to Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev for a record $95 million. Trump bought the property for $41.35 million three years earlier and made only minor improvements.[41]
September 2008: Trump Jr., then an executive vice president of the Trump Organization, says, “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets, say, in Dubai, and certainly with our project in SoHo and anywhere in New York. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”[42][43][44]
2010: The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto receives timely financing from Vnesheconombank (VEB), a Russian state-run investment bank.[45]
2013
August: Eric Trump tells author James Dodson, “We don’t rely on American banks […] We have all the funding we need out of Russia”, and says, “We go there all the time”.[46][42][47][48][49]
November 9–11: The Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant is held in Moscow, sponsored by Sberbank.[46] According to various reports, the event’s $20 million licensing fee is paid by a Moscow real estate development firm called the Crocus Group, whose president is Aras Agalarov and vice president is his son, pop singer Emin Agalarov.[10][50] One VIP guest is Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, an alleged Russian mobster and fugitive who was recently indicted for running a high-stakes illegal gambling ring out of a Trump Tower apartment in New York City.[51] While Putin does not attend, the event is attended by Vladimir Kozhin,[51] the head of the Kremlin’s property department,[52] which is responsible for development projects.[53] After the event, Trump tells Real Estate Weekly, “the Russian market is attracted to me. I have a great relationship with many Russians”.[42][54] During the trip, Trump meets Herman Gref, the CEO of state-controlled Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, and other oligarchs close to Putin.[55] Agalarov and Gref co-host a dinner for Trump at the Moscow branch of Nobu, which is owned by Agalarov.[56] Afterwards, Trump tweets to Agalarov, “I had a great weekend with you and your family. You have done a FANTASTIC job. TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next.”[56][57]
November 12: The Moscow Times reports that Trump is in talks with Russian companies to build a new Trump tower in Moscow.[58]
December 23: Trump, Trump Jr., Emin Agalarov, and Kaveladze reach an agreement for the Trump Tower Moscow project under which the Trump Organization would receive a 3.5% commission on all sales.[59][59]: 67–68
2014
Before January 24: The Crocus Group sends The Trump Organization a proposal to build a 194-meter tall building with 800 units at the Crocus City site in Moscow where the Miss Universe pageant was held.[59]: 68
February 1–4: Kushner and Ivanka Trump travel to Russia on a four-day trip at the invitation of Dasha Zhukova, a longtime friend of Ivanka and the wife of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.[60] They attend a gala fundraiser for the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow along with Vekselberg, other oligarchs, Russian government officials, and their families.[60] Ivanka and Emin Agalarov tour the proposed Trump Tower Moscow site at Crocus City.[59]: 68 In 2016–17, Kushner omits the trip from his security clearance applications.[60]
June 3–16: Kaveladze emails Trump Jr. and others about design elements and architectural details for Trump Tower Moscow.[59]: 68
July 7: The Trump Organization sends Crocus Group a set of questions about the “demographics of these prospective buyers” in the area around the proposed Trump Tower Moscow site, the development of neighboring parcels, and concepts for redesigning portions of the building.[59]: 68
August 4: The Trump Organization requests from Crocus Group the specifications for a Marriott-branded tower under construction near Crocus City.[59]: 68
2015
September: A New York architect completes plans for a bold glass obelisk 100 stories high in Moscow, with the Trump logo on multiple sides.[61]
Late September: Felix Sater meets with Michael Cohen on behalf of I.C. Expert Investment Company to discuss building a Trump Tower in Moscow. I.C. Expert is a Russian real estate development corporation controlled by Andrei Vladimirovich Rozov. Sater agrees to find a developer and arrange for financing. Sater later contacts Rozov to propose that I.C. Expert work with the Trump Organization on the project.[62][63][59]: 69
September 22: Cohen forwards a Trump Tower Moscow preliminary design study to Giorgi Rtskhiladze, who then emails it to his associate Simon Nizharadze, writing, “[i]f we could organize the meeting in New York at the highest level of the Russian Government and Mr. Trump this project would definitely receive the worldwide attention.”[59]: 70
September 24: Rtskhiladze emails Cohen a draft letter for the Trump Organization to send to the mayor of Moscow, explaining, “[w]e need to send this letter to the Mayor of Moscow (second guy in Russia) he is aware of the potential project and will pledge his support.” Later that day he sends Cohen a translation of the letter that describes Trump Tower Moscow as a “symbol of stronger economic, business and cultural relationships between New York and Moscow and therefore United States and the Russian Federation.”[59]: 70
September 27: Rtskhiladze emails Cohen a proposal for the Trump Organization to partner with Global Development Group LLC on the Trump Tower Moscow project. He describes Global Development as controlled by Nizharadze and the architect Michail Posikhin. In September 2018 Cohen tells Mueller’s team that he declined the proposal and decided to continue with Sater’s proposed partner, I.C. Expert Investment Company.[59]: 69–70
October 9: Sater emails Cohen about his plans to meet with and persuade Andrey Molchanov to provide the land for a Trump Tower in Moscow.[62][63]
October 12: Cohen has a series of email exchanges with Felix Sater about developing a Trump property in Moscow.[64]
July 24: Rob Goldstone emails Trump’s assistant Rhona Graff, suggesting that Emin Agalarov could arrange a meeting between Putin and Trump. Sater tells Cohen that VTB Bank will fund the project, and that his associates will be meeting with Putin and a deputy on October 14.[62][63]
October 13: Sater sends Cohen a letter of intent signed by Andrey Rozov for Trump to sign in order to move the Moscow project forward.[65][63]
October 28: Trump signs a letter of intent {LOI} to construct a Trump-branded building in Moscow hours before the third Republican presidential debate, a fact made public in August 2017.[66][67][63][68] The LOI proposes that the tower have “[a]pproximately 250 first class, luxury residential condominiums” and “[o]ne first class, luxury hotel consisting of approximately 15 floors and containing not fewer than 150 hotel rooms.” The Trump Organization would receive 1–5% of all condominium sales and 3% of all rental and other revenues, and 20% of the operating profit.[59]: 71
November: Trump associate Felix Sater emails Trump lawyer Michael Cohen: “Michael, I arranged for Ivanka to sit in Putin’s private chair at his desk and office in the Kremlin […] Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin’s team to buy in on this”.[69][10] Sater also tells Cohen that the Kremlin’s VTB Bank is ready to finance a Trump Tower project in Moscow.[46]
November 3: In an email to Cohen, Sater predicts that building a Trump Tower in Moscow will help Trump’s presidential campaign. “I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected.”[64][63]
November 18: IC Expert, the developer for the Trump Tower Moscow project and a signatory to Trump’s letter of intent, receives a non-revolving line of credit from Sberbank for 10.6 billion rubles.[70] IC Expert provides 100% of its equity to secure the line of credit.[70] Sberbank agrees to finance 70% of the project, its largest commercial real estate loan to date.[71]
November 19: Kolokov writes in an email to Cohen that a properly publicized meeting between Trump and Putin could have a “phenomenal” impact “in a business dimension” and boost the “level” of projects if he receives Putin’s endorsement.[59]: 73–74 Cohen rejects Kolokov’s offers, writing, “[c]urrently our LOI developer is in talks with VP’s Chief of Staff and arranging a formal invite for the two to meet.”[59]: 74 [72] In September 2018, Cohen tells Mueller’s team that he rejected the offers because he was already pursuing business with Sater and understood Sater had Russian government connections of his own.[59]: 74
December 2: Trump tells the Associated Press that he is “not that familiar with” Felix Sater and refers questions to his staff.[73][63]
December 10: ABC News reports that Trump denied knowing Sater under oath in a 2013 video deposition even though Sater was involved in several of his high-profile projects. Trump testified, “If he were sitting in the room right now, I really wouldn’t know what he looked like.” On December 30, Sater tells Cohen that he helped bury the story.[63][74][75]
December 19: In an email to Cohen, Sater talks about securing financing from VTB, a Russian bank under American sanctions.[64][59]: 76 Sater also asks for Cohen’s and Trump’s passport information so that VTB can facilitate obtaining visas.[59]: 76 VTB would be issuing the invitation, he writes, because “[p]olitically neither Putins office nor Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot issue invite, so they are inviting commercially/ business.”[59]: 76 He writes that they will be invited to the Russian consulate that week to receive an invitation and visas for traveling to Russia.[59]: 76 Cohen sends images of his own passport but not Trump’s.[63][76][59]: 76
December 21: Sater texts Cohen asking again for a copy of Trump’s passport.[59]: 77 Cohen replies, “After I return from Moscow with you with a date for him.”[59]: 77 In September 2018 Cohen tells Mueller’s team that Rhona Graff provided Trump’s passport to Cohen’s office, but the Mueller Report says the team could not find any evidence of a copy being sent to Sater.[59]: 76–77
December 30: Cohen emails Sater complaining about the lack of progress on the Trump Tower Moscow project. Sater responds that he helped bury an ABC News story in which Trump denied knowing him.[63][74] Cohen tells Sater in a text message that he will set up a meeting with Russian government officials himself.”[59]: 74
December 31: Sater tells Cohen that Genbank (Генбанк [ru]), recently put under U.S. sanctions, will be the new funder for the Trump Tower Moscow project.[63]
Late 2015 – early 2016: Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump are included on emails about the Trump Tower Moscow project. Ivanka Trump recommends an architect.[63][77]
2016
January 14: Cohen emails Peskov atinfo@prpress.gov.ru seeking help to jump-start the Trump Tower Moscow project because “the communication between our two sides has stalled”, but does not receive a response.[64][63][78][79][59]: 74 In August 2017 Peskov tells CNN that Cohen’s email “went unanswered [because it] was solely regarding a real estate deal and nothing more.”[78]
January 16: Cohen emails at Peskov at Pr_peskov@prpress.gov.ru, the correct address he mistyped on January 11, and repeats his request to speak with Ivanov.[63][59]: 74 Later Cohen tells Congress and Mueller’s team that he received no response to this email and abandoned the Trump Moscow Project. He later admits to federal prosecutors that he did receive a response and continued working on the project and keeping Trump updated on progress into June 2016.[80][59]: 74–75
January 20: Peskov’s personal assistant Elena Polikova sends an email to Cohen from her personal account asking him to call her on her personal phone number, which she provides.[59]: 75 Cohen calls her and explains the nature and status of the project, and asks for assistance with securing land and financing.[59]: 75 [63][81] The conversation includes a discussion of giving Putin a $50 million penthouse in the tower as a gift.[63][81] Later Cohen tells prosecutors that Polikova took notes, asked detailed questions, and said she needed to follow up with people in Russia.[59]: 75
January 21: Sater texts Cohen asking for a call. He writes, “It’s about Putin they called today.”[59]: 75 [63] Sater emails Cohen a draft invitation from Genbank for Cohen to visit Russia, which Sater says is being offered at the behest of VTB, and asks Cohen if any changes need to be made.[59]: 75 Sater and Cohen work on edits for the next few days.[59]: 75
January 25: Sater sends Cohen a signed invitation from Andrey Ryabinskiy of the company MHJ to travel to “Moscow for a working visit” about the “prospects of development and the construction business in Russia,” “the various land plots available suited for construction of this enormous Tower,” and “the opportunity to co-ordinate a follow-up visit to Moscow by Mr. Donald Trump.”[59]: 75 [63] In September 2018 Cohen tells Mueller’s team that he didn’t use the invitation to travel to Moscow because he didn’t receive any concrete proposals for suitable land plots.[59]: 75-76
January 26: Sater asks Cohen to take a call from Evgeny Shmykov, who is coordinating their project in Moscow. Cohen agrees.[63]
February 2: Trump comes in second in the Iowa caucuses. In 2017 Cohen asserts that all efforts on the Trump Tower Moscow project ended before this date.[63]
April 20: Sater texts Cohen asking when he is going to travel to Moscow.[59]: 77
May 4: Sater texts Cohen asking when he will be traveling to Moscow. He writes that he set expectations in Russia that it would probably be after the convention. Cohen responds that he expects to travel before the convention, and that Trump will travel after he becomes the nominee.[59]: 77 [81][63]
May 5: Sater texts Cohen that Peskov would like to invite him to the St. Petersburg Forum June 16–19 and possibly meet Putin or Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. He continues, “He said anything you want to discuss including dates and subjects are on the table to discuss.”[59]: 77 [81][63]
May 22: Politico reports on Trump’s past associations and dealings with the American Mafia and other criminal figures, including Sater.[82][63]
June: A former GRU officer arranges for Felix Sater and Michael Cohen to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which Putin regularly attends. Sater wants to use the trip to push forward the Moscow Trump Tower deal. Cohen cancels at the last minute. Sater does not attend the forum.[83]
June 14: Sater meets Cohen in the Trump Tower lobby. Cohen tells him he will not be traveling to Russia (two days before planned departure).[63][84]
July 19:[citation needed] Steele files a dossier memo alleging that during his Moscow trip, Page met Rosneft chairman Igor Sechin, and discussed the possible lifting of sanctions against Russia. In his congressional testimony, Page denies meeting with the Russians named in the dossier. He says he met Sechin’s associate Andrey Baranov, but says “nothing that this gentleman said to me ever implied or asked for anything related to sanctions. Again, there may have been some general reference … but no kind of negotiations in any format”.[85]
July 26: Trump denies having any investments in Russia.[63][86]
July 27: Trump tells a CBS affiliate in Miami, “I have nothing to do with Russia. Nothing to do. I never met Putin. I have nothing to do with Russia whatsoever.” This contradicts his many claims since 2013 to have met Putin and done business in Russia.[87]
August 13: Russian-American Simon Kukes attends a $25,000-per-ticket Trump fundraising dinner at the home of Woody Johnson in New York. Kukes’s 2016 political donations become a subject of the Mueller investigation.[88][89]
October 8: Kushner’s company receives $370 million in new loans, including $285 million from Deutsche Bank, to refinance his portion of the former New York Times building. The size and timing of the Deutsche Bank loan draws scrutiny from the House Financial Services Committee, the Justice Department, and, later, the Mueller investigation. The concern is that the transaction may be related to Russian money laundering through Deutsche Bank.[90][91]
October 11: Trump Jr. travels to Paris to give a paid speech at the Ritz Hotel. The dinner event is sponsored by the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs, a group founded by Fabien Baussart and his business partner. Baussart is openly linked to Russian government officials. Randa Kassis, one of the hosts, travels to Moscow after the election and reports the details of the event to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.[92]
October 15: The National Security Division of the Justice Department acquires a FISA warrant to monitor the communications of two Russian banks as part of an investigation into whether they illegally transferred money to the Trump campaign.[93]
October 30: Cohen and Giorgi Rtskhiladze exchange text messages in which they discuss suppressing tapes of Trump’s 2013 trip to Moscow rumored to be in the possession of Aras Agalarov’s company, Crocus Group [ru]. In May 2018 Rtskhiladze tells Mueller’s team that he was told the tapes were fake but did not relay that information to Cohen.[94]: 27–28 [95]
October 31:
Mother Jones magazine’s David Corn reports that a veteran spy, later publicly identified as Steele, gave the FBI information alleging a Russian operation to cultivate Trump, later known as the “Steele dossier”.[96]
Slate publishes an article by Franklin Foer alleging that a Trump server was in suspicious contact with Alfa-Bank in Russia.[97]
2017
February 9: Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduces a resolution of inquiry in relation to possible crimes relating to Trump’s financial dealings or collusion with Russia.[98]
March 10: Trump fires 46 U.S. Attorneys, including Preet Bharara, whom Trump had recently told could keep his job.[99] Bharara had been prosecuting a money-laundering case against the Russian company Prevezon. Prevezon’s attorney in the case is Natalia Veselnitskaya.[100] The company reaches a financial settlement with the government on May 15, 2017, two days before the trial was scheduled to start.[101]
May 23: Maxine Waters, ranking member of the House Committee on Financial Services, requests Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to release to the House Financial Services Committee any Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) records involving Deutsche Bank, Russia and Donald Trump.[102][103]
May 30: CNN reports on leaked intercepts of conversations between Kremlin officials discussing their potential influence on some Trump campaign members, including financial matters.[104]
2018
January 19: German periodical Manager Magazin reports that Deutsche Bank has presented to Germany’s financial authority, BaFin, evidence of “suspicious money transfers” by Kushner; this information is due to be handed to Mueller.[105] Deutsche Bank denies the report on January 22 and announces that it is taking legal action.[106]
February 12: Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, asks the Treasury Department for documentation related to Trump’s 2008 sale of an uninhabitable Palm Beach mansion to Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev.[107]
2019
April 15: The House Intelligence and Financial Services committees issue subpoenas to Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup demanding documents related to Trump and possible money laundering by people in Russia and Eastern Europe.[108]
April 17: Along with the four banks reported subpoenaed April 15, additionally Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo & Co, Capital One Financial Corp., Royal Bank of Canada, and Toronto Dominion Bank are subpoenaed in Trump finance probe.[109][110]
May 19: Anti-money launders at Deutsche Bank AG recommended in 2016 and 2017 transactions involving Trump and Kushner-controlled entities be reported to a unit of the Treasury Department that polices financial crimes. The report is denied by the Bank that it prevented Trump transactions from being flagged.[111][112][113]
August 8: Per the request for House Financial Services and the House Intelligence Committees; Bank of America, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo turn over documents relating to Russians who may have had dealings with the Trump Organization, and/or Trump and his family. Some of the banks also turned over documents to New York state investigators.[114][115][116]
Recent developments
While no new confirmed real estate deals in Russia by the Trump Organization have been publicly verified since 2019, several journalistic and watchdog reports have continued to scrutinize potential financial flows and international engagements. In 2023, Citizens for Ethics (CREW) published an analysis suggesting that Trump may have earned up to US $160 million from international business activities during his presidency, though not specifically tied to Russia.[117]
Long list of speculative nonsense.
Trump has persued deals all over the planet.
In Russia he Actually hosted a beauty pagent.
That is it.
He absolutely wanted to build things in Russia, just as he has in Ireland and scottland and elsewhere in the world.
But nothing ever actually happened in Russia
Contra left wing nuts like you that is a STRONG sign he was NOT politically connected in Russia.
Conversely the ACTUAL ties of the Clintons to Russia are far longer than this.
And much of the nonsense you posted is the product of Russian spies working with Hillary Clinton to undermine Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump has no ACTUAL connections in russia – Clinton does – Russian Oligarchs paid the clinton foundation hundreds of millions.
Another Russian Oligarch paid the Biden Family 10M to make a ukrainian prosecutor go away.
You left wing nuts ignore the FACT that Russia is currently on its heels in Ukraine for the first time since summer of 2022.
Why ? There are many reasons – but HUGE among them is that Trump has taken out Russias global proxies.
Cuba is isolated , Venzuela is out of Russia’s orbit, and Iran which was supplying Russia with 40% of their ammunition is hording what little it has. Russia is now losing a war of attrition.
So in what world do you think trump is some Russian stooge ?
Your an idiot if you think Trump is Russia’s friend
WOW! that’s a LOT of TDS floating around your skull. Might want to get that looked at. You are the sole reason the MSM exists.
Senate Democrats voted 53-47 against a bill that would have mandated photo voter ID and prohibited stock trading by members of Congress, with all Democrats voting against it.
The proposal would have restricted certain stock purchases by lawmakers, their spouses and… pic.twitter.com/CFLVlbf05v
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) September 30, 2026
It was a vote on whether the Senate would even begin debate. Every Democrat lined up against it.
Why were the two laws joined together on a single vote?
Right – so Republicans could blame the Democrats for voting against the half that Democrats actually support.
Both are great measures supported by 70-80% of the public. It should not have been hard for Dems to support both.
That is how politics works. Democrats invented that tactic. Grow up and get over yourself.
Regardless as others have noted BOTH part of the law have supermajority support.
So democrats are going to get blamed for voting against TWO popular aspects of the law.
i would further note that BiPartisanship often means voting for legislation that does not perfectly reflect your wishes.
You vote FOR something you are not enthusiastic about to get something you are enthusiastic about.
As the Rolling Stones said
You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need.
Politics is inevitably compromise – why ? Because no two people want exactly the same thing.
In this case super majorities of Americans want both parts of this legislation.
Absolutely – 15-20% of the country does not want parts of it.
But I though democrats were FOR democracy.
Are you saying leftys would NEVER stoop to such dirty tactics Mr. high horse?
“Who is Ken Griffin? Hedge fund CEO donating $3B to bring Carnegie Mellon to Miami
Griffin, a GOP megadonor who founded the Citadel investment firm, owns a waterfront home in Miami and grew up in Boca Raton.”
Oh, look, conservatism being stifled. /s
This is the free speech conservatives want – the ability to buy what they cannot otherwise have. CBS. Twitter. ABC. Local news stations. Local newspapers. Local radio stations.
Who owns the Washington Post?
Who are some of NPR biggest donors?
Who does Cali gov Newsome pal around with?
“Who owns the Washington Post?”
Jeff Bezos the oligarch who pals around with Trump.
AI summary:
“Amazon donated $1 million to Trump’s second inauguration fund, and Bezos attended the event in person. Since Trump took office again, Bezos has publicly praised him, describing Trump as “disciplined” and stating that he “has lots of good ideas”. Bezos has attended high-profile events with Trump, including a private state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping and a major technology summit at the White House.”
Jeff Bezos gave to both parties and owns The Washington Post, which attacked Trump and lied about him. One can say Jeff Bezos is seeing the light, realizing that the Democrats have gone crazy.
But when the Democrats were in control, Bezos’ Washington Post supported lockdowns. What did that do for Amazon? Big Profits. What did that do for the mom-and-pop stores and smaller businesses? Bankruptcy.
Dems say they support the little guy, but Walmart and all the big stores remained open and profitable while the smaller, mostly individually run companies were destroyed. How can anyone believe the Democrats support the little guy? Stupidity.
Lots of Billionaires hang arround with other successful billionaires.
Frankly lots of Billionaires hang arround with Presidents if they can.
Bezos has been more politically supportive of Democrats in the past.
he has over more than a decade lost several billion dollars subsidizing Washington Post,
which still continues to publish left wing nut garbage and miss the biggest news stories.
This is NOT the WaPo of Woodward and Bernstein.
I doubt jewish reporters can get a job at wapo anymore the left is so antisemetic.
The 65 Project: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_65_Project
The 68 project, you blow us and we’ll owe you one.
Wikipedia is useless on politics – it is overrun by left wing nuts.
Harris received more money in total and more from Billionaires than Trump did – by about 50% – as did Biden and Clinton before.
It is only very recently that Republicans are getting more political donations – MAYBE than democrats.
Or maybe the democrats money problems are because not only do they waste the publics money when in power, but they waste their donors money too and donors are starting to wise up and donate less or not at all.
Regardless, the left has historically outspent and out fundraised the right – not becaue of small grass roots donors – as we are learning significant portions of supposed grass roots donors on the left are not real. They are foreign contributions or rich democrats trying to hide donations that exceed legal limits.
Why has the left historically raised more money ? Because they engage in far more rent seeking.
Limited government is antithetical to rent seeking.
Very few people are going to donate massive amounts of money to a political party ro politician that promises to reduce the donors opportunities to profit off govenrment.
What is your point ?
With respect to local media or national media – left or right, you can buy whatever you want. But unless people wish to listen to what you are saying you will go bankrupt and it will not matter what way you lean politically.
I doubt that Mr. Griffin is looking to buy alot of stations that no one will watch.
We are also seeing billionaires buying failing left wing nut national MSM outlets at fire sale prices.
They are able to do this because the MSM has gone so far left their audience is shrinking.
Larry Ellison bought CBS and is in the process of buying CNN with Elon Musk.
CBS has fought tooth and nail against Ellison and his choice to bring CBS back Barry Weiss.
Weis is an actual liberal – like Turley – nut a left wing nut progressive and the entrenched left wing nuts at CBS hate her.
But those same left wing nuts should look after their own self interests. Weis is the best hope that SOME of these reporters will have a job in the future.
Regardless YOU rant about supposedly right wing billionaires buying up the media. Missing the point that they are only able to do so at fire sale prices because the left wing nut media has FAILED to hold an audience. Whether it is late night left wing nuts like Kimmel and Colbert or whether it is CBS News and 60 minutes. What used to be profitable flagships of the media decades ago are hemorrhaging money.
Johnny Carson was paid a fortune because he attracted a huge audience that advertisors were willing to pay for. Colbert and Kimmel are losing tens of millions a year.
I doubt that Griffin and Ellison and …. care alot which way the MSM leans politically.
What they care about is MAKING MONEY.
They are looking to get even richer by taking FAILING left wing outlets and making them attractive to larger audiences.
But those of you on the left can not count.
Turley likes to foam and froth over the polls showing large numbers of democrats supporting socialism – and there is a real concern because we have a problem when young people ar so poorly educated they do not know that socialism in EVERY form has universally failed.
Even the nordic socialism that the left likes to rant about – ended more than 3 decades ago when those nations realized it was bankrupting them. While like they like the US are still stuck with socialist programs like medicare and social security which actually destroy the wealth of the working class with false promises in every other way they have abandoned socialism.
In the US PPACA – ObamaCare was supposed to fix the problems with the US healthcare system – it has not only cost us more than $2T/decade in increased federal spending – but despite massive subsidies health insurance and healthcare spending have grown much faster than pretty much anything else, and the left is AGAIN demanding that we FIX a system they broke.
“…. the left is AGAIN demanding that we FIX a system they broke.”
Flat out lie. It was republicans constantly undermining the ACA at every opportunity. They didn’t want it to succeed because it was a better system than what was in place. Now insurance companies are going back to their old habits of denying claims, reducing coverage, and raising prices for less coverage. Republicans WANT a broken ACA to “prove” it never worked. They are the ones who broke it intentionally.
““…. the left is AGAIN demanding that we FIX a system they broke.”
Flat out lie.”
What part is the lie ? Are you claiming PPACA is a success ?
Well sort of – it worked EXACTLY as democrats shilling rent seeking expected.
PPACA destroyed small medical practices accross the US and crushed innovative efforts to find new ways to deliver medical care such as concierge service or medical subscription services that were starting to emerge.
Would these solve our medical costs problems ? Who knows ? When there is a problem and a free market – different people try many different things. Most fail, but inevitably some work and those who came up with solutions that actually work make a fortune.
BECAUSE they built a better mousetrap.
But PPACA drove medical consolidation which destroyed inovation, crushed small providers. Not that long ago nearly all doctors were self employed. Today they are nearly all just worker bees of massive medical conglomerates. Those of you on the LEFT did that.
PPACA is not solely responsible for that – but it is a major force in that direction. And the results ? Less real competion and higher costs,
Higher medical costs, higher insurance costs.
Not only are these the predictable results of PPACA – but they are what I predicted more than a decade ago when it was enacted.
The left has ZERO understanding of Basic Economics. Or more accurately left wing voters. With little doubt left wing politicians and the medicial industrial complex they were beholding to knew EXACTLY what they were doing.
Opposition to PPACA and Institutional medicine disappeared when PPACA was legislatively transformed into a vehcile to destroy competition and innovation. What left wing voters constantly fail to grasp is that the goal of govenrment rent seeking is for large enterprises to come as close to public utilities as possible. Public utilities are guaranteed profits never need to fear competion and have no incentive to inovate or even deliver decent service.
PPACAs continuing failure was predictable – and predicted.
Did Republicans fight tooth and nail against it – Absolutely. It is a boondoggle.
“It was republicans constantly undermining the ACA at every opportunity.”
False – Republicans have constantly RAILED about it. They have not had the power to destroy it – they tried and failed.
It is subsequently failing on its own.
“They didn’t want it to succeed”
Probably not, but that is irrelevant, Whether republicans or democrats wanted it to succeed – it has FAILED badly.
Contra your idiotic claim of being undermined – which si something quite different from being opposed
PPACA has worked EXACTLY as intended – though not as promised. It is a massive wealth transfer of Trillions of dollares both public and private to big medicine and big insurance.
“because it was a better system than what was in place.”
ROFL
Whatever the faults of what existed before – PPACA is WORSE It costs far more. Contra left wing nut promises also known as LIES it has NOT reduced medical costs – but driven them up. While its flaws are not identical – they are very similar to the flaws that have driven the cost of education through the roof while reducing quality.
You can not solve any problem by throwing public money at it. All that ever does is DECREASE quality and increase costs to consume the entirety of that public money for no increase invalue – and as we see a DECREASE in value delivered.
The system that was inplace before PPACA sucked – it was NOT a free market, and like PPACA it was working as the left intended – rewarding those swilling at the public trough and expanding the political power of the left – both with voters and donors.
False promises of free things too often work on voters. But you do not get to lie to mega donors – either you deliver them a MASSIVE return on their investment – or they stop donating. Insurance companies have made a fortune off PPACA. The massive medical institutions that PPACA vastly favored have also profited enormously.
What did NOT happen ? “Millions of lives were not saved” – no ones lives were saved. Again that was predicted and frankly obvious.
The insurance industry spent 70 years trying to prove that medical insurance improved medical outcomes and was absolutely NEVER able to do so. Kaiser and Rand did multi-decade studies – and could not get improved results. Accidental experiements in Medicaid in Oregon established exactly the same thing.
Insurance has NO EFFECT on medical outcomes. Of course it does not take a rocket scientist to understand this.
Auto insurance does not reduce accidents. Fire insurance does not reduce fires.
Insurance is just a form of gambling and its benefits – which are very real are PURELY financial.
While Elizabeth Warren has lied repeatedly about her own study, The actual study is pretty good.
About 1/3 of all US bankruptcies involve medical debt. That is ALL that insurance accomplishes – is reducing your odds of being bankrupted by medical expenses. Of course missing from the discussion of Warrens study was that the average amount of medical debt discharged in bankruptcy was $2500 – not $250,0000 – this problem is SO SMALL that the federal govenrment could pay off all medical debt discharged in bankruptcy every year for less than $1B – not the 200B/year that PPACA costs.
So what is the value that PPACA has delivered that was worth $200B/year in 2013 and rising every year ?
ZILCH, ZIP, NADA – WORSE still the DESTRUCTION of the nascent efforts of the market to reduce medical costs.
Look at the costs of medical services that are NOT covered by Insurance ? Nearly all have been going DOWN for decades.
Plastic surgery – Down, Lasik – Down. Myriads of different medical services that are not covered by medical insurance – the cost is DOWN.
Free markets work. ALWAYS Govenrment money thrown at problems works NEVER
“Now insurance companies are going back to their old habits of denying claims, reducing coverage, and raising prices for less coverage.”
They are and have been from the creation of PPACA doing EXACTLY what PPACA actually required.
Though I would note that your argument is both incomplete and self contradictory. Insurance companies “habbit” is MAKING MONEY FOR THEIR INVESTORS.
Generally insurance is a very low risk business. Insurance companies have massive centuries long experience in predicting costs over large enough pools of people and they are very very good at it. Insurance investors are taking a very low risk and in return they get very small returns on investment. Insurance company profits as a percent of revenue are extremely small – always and everywhere profits are proportionate to risk. This is a LAW of economics – or more accurately it is a law of human behavior.
Any industry in existance that can deliver a high rate return on investment at very low risk will have capital flow to it in a tidal wave,
The resulting competition ALWAYS drives prices and profits DOWN until the risk return ration is restored.
This is just the law of supply and demand as it works for for consumers of investments rather than consumers of goods and services.
Regardless the law of supply and demand is immutable. IT has no work arround.
When prices are rising continuously that ALWAYS means that supply ro demand is being artificially constrained by GOVERNMENT.
The real word and free markets have Occasional “supply shocks” or demand shocks” do to natural occurances, but NEVER sustained.
I would look into the famous Ehrlich/Simons bet in the 60’s – but you can reproduce the same results over any period that is atleast a decade long with any product or resource that is not artificially constrained by government.
REAL Prices ALWAYS GO DOWN – most of the time NOMINAL PRICEs also go down.
Pick ANYTHING that is not artificially interfered with by government and take ANY period longer than a decade and price whatever it is in hours of labor needed to purchase and the results will ALWAYS be less labor over time.
That is litterally the definition of rising standard of living – producing more of what people value with less human effort.
If standard of living has risen – the REAL PRICE of nearly everything has declined.
“Republicans WANT a broken ACA to “prove” it never worked.”
They might – that is not relevant.
It NEVER worked.
I know this is hard for those of you on the left to grasp but
what works and does NOT work is not determined by feelings or politics.
PPACA does not work becauce government subsidies and price controls have never worked anywhere ever.
“They are the ones who broke it intentionally.”
And how did they do that ? By Failing to vote it out of existance ?
What is it that Republicans did to make PPACA fail ? Wish really really hard ?
PPACA has not failed in ONE way – but is MULTIPLE ways.
The cost of medical care has risen not just faster than inflation but faster than before PPACA.
Why ? Because the cost of anything always rises to consume the entirety of any subsidy without increasing the value delivered.
That is literally a permutation of the laws of supply and demand. If you artificially increase what people can pay for something – demand rises while supply does not, and the price rises until demand returns to prior levels at a higher price – and that price will be close to the previous price plus the subsidy.
Separately PPACA intentionally forced consolidation in the medical industry – this is extremely common of govenrment tinkering in the markets.
A robust market REQUIRES producers of ALL Sizes withing the same domain. In produce you want a market with small farmers and medium farmers and big Ag. What you do NOT want is a market with all producers of one size. That reduces in ovation and competition and results in rising prices. We have seen this over and over. The Pharmaceuticals industry has conslolidated long ago – and we have less innovation, many medical issues that could be resolved with drugs are not – because the cost for big pharma to develop those drugs is too high and the profits are too low and there is no small or medium Pharma to take on that market.
This is also one of the obvious idiocies of Bernie Sanders and other socialists.
The left fixates on the benefits of mass production – which are real but NOT the only factor in markets and prices and the benefits of mass production diminish exponentially with increases in production.
Sanders does not understand why it is not cheaper to produce only one type of sneaker, only one type of deoderant.
There are many reasons that people under Mao ran arround in those Mao costumes. But one of those reasons was the mistaken beleif that there were significant economic advantages to mass production on a gargantuan scale – where everyone consumed exactly the same thing.
But in reality markets do not work that way.
The economies of scale are always competing against the diversity of human wants and needs.
Go to the grocery store. Americans pay less as a percent of income for food of anyone in the world anywhere ever.
And we have more choices of food than anyone in the world anywhere ever.
That is not accidental, it is the consequence of TRUE free markets and the rising standard of living that results.
Look in the breakfast Aisle – there are 3 major breakfast cereal producers and each makes a dozen different products -though mostly they compete directly with each other. But myriads of smaller producers provide us all with an enormous number of choices that are mostly significantly different. The price of goods in a niche can be higher – but not ALOT higher or people switch to the major producers.
Nor are the niches of the same scale.
Regardless if you want fair trade gluten free, local, GMO free, pesticide free Kashi you can buy it – and at not much of a premium price.
And if you want fresh Strawberries in February you can buy them – at prices only slightly higher than in season.
At no time before in human history anywhere was that possible – but it is true today in the US.
it is also mostly ONLY true today in the US – not even Europe, but it will eventually be true everywhere as standards of living rise.
in 1917 Food was 41% of a families budget.
Today food is less than 10% And we eat far better than in 1917 and live far longer.
Further in 1917 the basics necescities of live – food, shelter clothing took up nearly 100% of the family budget Today they are less than 50%
No one broke PPACA intentionally – it worked exactly as intended and the results were entirely predictable and predicted.
The laws of supply and demand are immutable.
X keep spraying out the idiotic common left wing nut version of the “no true scottman fallacy”.
Socialism does not work ANYWHERE EVER – not even the nordic countries that abandoned it decades ago when it nearly bankrupted them.
Everything we do must work int he world we have with the people we have.
Not is some fictional left wing nut utopia (dystopia) where people fart rainbows and everyone acts always for the common good not their own interests.
Absolutely socialist garbage like PPACA fails – because we just do not get the right leaders, or because too many people “cheat”
This is one of the reason that socialist systems are so bloody – because when things do not work it is easy to find a scapegoat to blame.
There is always an Emmanuel Goldstein to blame and to hate.
It is the Jews, or the republicans or the capitalist roaders or the oligarchs or the billionaires or the aristocracy, or …
You can always find someone to blame, and when the blame REALLY is on YOU – humiliating them, arresting them, imprisoning them executing them is an easy way to deflect blame.
LEft wing nuts constantly lie that fascism and nazism are not socialism – despite the FACT that they are LITERALLY socialism.
Whether you look at the way the fascists defined fascism – or you look at their public policies – which were litterally socialism.
Just as the Nazi’s blamed everything on jews or homosexuals or gysys or those with disabilities, so did the Soviets and the Maoists and the Khmer Rouge the jacobins in the french revolution.
When socialism fails – as it inevitably must – you blame others and that often shifts towards executing them.
WE saw a permutation of this during Covid – when despite the fact that your idiotic public policies were not going to work – something anyone with a basic understanding of algebra could trivially calculate, still you blamed others – the people who correctly told you that you were idiots experimenting with other peoples lives.
PPACA was always going to fail. I am surprised it has taken this long, but I am also surprised at the extent it has failed.
John Say, you put out a LOT of words without backing anything up. No citations or evidence. Just because you says so its true. Wow.
Republicans have been targeting the ACA on a regular basis since its creation and constantly cut funding for parts of it, sued to have certain parts repealed, etc. They were afraid of it because it had the potential to actually work.
Mamdani is successful because he has done what many of you claim is the reason Trump is ‘successful’. He kept his promises and delivers.
His democratic socialist ideas work because they work elsewhere and people are noticing. You don’t like it because you can’t argue against it while the evidence for successful programs are everywhere.
Trump’s policies are failing and it’s the biggest reason why it’s with near certainty democrats will retake control of congress and cause problems for Trump. Even MAGAs are souring on Trump. Because his policies are actually affecting them as well. It’s all good and dandy when they are not affected except Democrats, now it’s a big deal because his failing policies are much harder to excuse and they are affecting MAGAs themselves.
Republicans culture war agenda has fizzled out and now they nave nothing of substance to campaign on. You’re long winding posts just prove the more you rant on the less certain you are of reality.
Let’s see your pathetic citations
After three dozen responses today, GSX still hasn’t replied to the lie he made the other day. He told me to produce the lie, and then posted, “Still waiting, S. Meyer, letting you know I have not run away.” But he wasn’t waiting. I quoted his lie in my response. Since then GSX failed to reply, so I will take this opportunity to place that response on his earliest reply. today.
“what it is that is a lie.”
GSX writes: “The claim that “Iran never wanted a nuclear weapon” is not media nonsense—it is the consensus of the United States Intelligence Community. The specific information originates from the U.S. Annual Threat”
“Iran never wanted a nuclear weapon” is an outright lie you attribute to the United States Intelligence Community. That is a lie, and it is just one of a vast number. Run away again, GSX.
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/09/29/justice-and-justice-investments-should-be-blind-the-alito-controversy-raises-persistent-problem-on-the-court/comment-page-1/#comment-2674839
They aren’t failing, they are being taken over using ridiculously overpriced leveraged buyouts. The stockholders are making out like bandits. What happens then is they fail. Mainly a problem of being saddled with debt they also collapse when the main talent that maintained them are shoved out. It used to be that CEOs feared getting a call to appear on 60 minutes, now they are begging to be on the newly converted slop show.
“Obamacare” was crippled in negotiations with the Republicans to get their support, which they then pulled back the way of Lucy and the football in the Charlie Brown comic strip. Since then Republican leaders have done their best to harm the people in the states they control by contracting support. The PP-ACA was not supposed to fix the healthcare system. It was to try to get people adequate insurance coverage and it worked.
“The PP-ACA was not supposed to fix the healthcare system. It was to try to get people adequate insurance coverage and it worked.”
How did it work by raising premiums for those without corporate benefits?
I don’t think anonymous people actually read the responses, or they simply run away. Either way, it makes their contributions look foolish and makes them look foolish as well.
Obamacare is a waste. It caused most of the doctors in my area to be owned by corporations. I saw my internist 5 days ago, and today they are trying to schedule me for my annual exam. That is a waste of money and resources. Did my doctor request it? No. They are constantly calling to schedule all sorts of appointments, though my internist decides what I need and when before I leave his office. This is done by corporate management to generate additional billable services based on Medicare codes.
The useless annual well visit mandated under Obamacare is another example of Obamacare’s medical churning, wasting money and physicians’ time that could be spent with sick people.
Why in the world do you care who is buying what and how ? It is not your money they are spending ?
You are perfectly free as you always have been to buy whatever you want with your own money.
As is everyone else.
What happens when “they” fail ? Others swoop in and by the failures at firesale prices and so long as there is a real demand for whatever is being provided they cut costs restructure and deliver what people want at lower costs – because that is how businesses rise from bankruptcy. When does that not happen ? Only when people no longer want the product – no matter how cheap the price.
““Obamacare” was crippled in negotiations with the Republicans to get their support”
ObamaCare passed without any Republican support. That is specifically why after Ted Kennedy died unexpectedly and Scott Brown won his seat Democrats had to play bizzare legislative games to pass PPACA – the house was REQUIRED to pass the Senate version of PPACA unaltered because they could not pass any house changes.
No PPACA was NOT crippled by Republicans. Republicans ENTIRELY voted against it, and with almost no exceptions ENTiRELY voted unsuccessfully to repeal it for years later. After failing to do so they have patiently waited for its inevtiable failure.
REgardless Democrats OWN PPACA in its entirety.
It is NOT bipartisan legislation, it is NOT the product of negotiation with republicans. To the extent it is NOT what SOME democrats wished for – that is because all democrats are not equally stupid.
Regardless Democrats OWN IT COMPLETELY.
“which they then pulled back the way of Lucy and the football in the Charlie Brown comic strip.”
How Can Republicans pull back something they never provided in the first place ?
“Since then Republican leaders have done their best to harm the people in the states they control by contracting support.”
PPACA is failing everywhere – it is also failing WORSE in blue states that went in whole hog.
“The PP-ACA was not supposed to fix the healthcare system. ”
Oh, Really ? Then why the claims it would save millions of lives ? And why the claims that repealing it would kill millions of people .
Last I checked death was a medical problem.
“It was to try to get people adequate insurance coverage and it worked.”
ROFL. It drove up the cost of ALL insurance – even the exchange coverage is now unaffodable.
That is your idea of “it worked”?
It never worked, it was never going to work. Most of its failures were trivially predictable – and people like me predicted them – and it has failed even worse and in more ways than predicted.
I do not think many people – left or right anticipated the massive fraud that would result.
HHS estimates that 40% of the “people” covered by PPACA do not exist – they are like the people who voted for Joe Biden.
“ No PPACA was NOT crippled by Republicans. Republicans ENTIRELY voted against it, and with almost no exceptions ENTiRELY voted unsuccessfully to repeal it for years later. After failing to do so they have patiently waited for its inevtiable failure.”
Nope. They didn’t wait. They purposely dismantled what they could when they could not outright repeal it. It’s what is allowing insurance companies to do what they used to do before the ACA. Republicans manufactured that failure in to “show” it’s failing. You can’t trust Republican to be telling the truth.
We have already seen how the like to cheat with the Missouri gerrymander disaster and the latest in falsely accusing Jack Smith of perjury by seriously bungling a perjury trap in the most embarrassing way possible. Republicans are desperate and that desperation is leading them to seek ways to cheat, steal, and lie to hang on to power. The reality is people are not buying it. Trump’s presidency is one big sham and even MAGAs are noticing. It’s only a matter of time before Democrats once again control all of congress and the executive office and fix things, once again. Because Republicans always fail on the economy and national budget.
” They purposely dismantled what they could when they could not outright repeal it.”
GSX, what did Republicans do to dismantle it? You made the statement, so you should have an answer unless you are lying again.
There are 3 ways you can get what you want.
You can make it.
You can buy it or you can steal it.
If you want the media to reflect your values – create or bu the media that you want and do with it whatever you wish.
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But not the Left fixates on Stealing what they want. Using Government FORCE.
Turley constantly harps on the lack of ideological diversity in colleges and left wing nuts here constantly reply that universities reflect what students want. That would be all well and good – if Students were actually paying for college, but they are not – they are stealing from the people through heavily subsidized government loans as well as billions of additional public dollars funding colleges and universities – and not only do you left wing nuts want this ideological bubble but you want OTHERS to pay for it for you.
I do not care who owns the media – so long as it is not government or bought with government subsidies.
I do not care if the owners of the media tilt things to suit their world view – whether that is Griffin or Sorros, are the myriads of other left wing nut billionaires that subsidize the left.
If Billionaires on the right or left want to take their wealth and light a match to it delivering a tilted world view no one wants to listen to – it is their money and their business.
But what we are seeing in the REAL world is that there is far less demand for left wing nut media than there is supply – hence the MSM is being bought at fire sale prices by people who beleive that they can turn it from something few are viewing into something that can attract more viewers and therefore more advertisers and make more money.
If Griffin or Ellison or Musk or …. are buying up the MSM and can transform it to attract more viewers – then they Deserve whatever profits them make from that.
Those of you on the left keep claiming “you did not build that” – but that is exactly what they are doing. Buying a dilapidated structure almost no one is interested in and transforming it to something that many more people are interested in.
If they succeed they EARNED the money they make doing so – and you have absolutely ZERO right to confiscate their earnings.
Again they will have EARNED that wealth by Giving the rest of us WHAT WE WANT.
With rare exceptions – nearly always involving govenrment rent seeking, people get wealthy by delivering far more value to the rest of us.
Conversely if Griffin and company lose their shirts – then they have misjudged what people want and deserve the loses they experience.
The free market is the most ACTUALLY democratic thing on earth. Each and every one of us gets to vote EVERY DAY hundreds of times a day in the choices we make – in what we choose to view, in what we choose to buy. And producers – Ourselves including respond to the votes of consumers by constantly trying to produce more of what we want and need for prices we are willing to pay.
Left wing nuts F#$King with that are destroying the democracy they claim to beleive in.
Regardless if you do not want Griffin or Musk or Ellison to buy up failing left wing media – buy it yourself, or start a go-fund-me to buy it or persuade your own left wing nut bllionaires to buy it and continue to operate it at a loss.
Of course even left wing nut billionaires are not likely to do so for long. Most or them are billionaires specifically because they are very good at giving people what they really want and are willing to pay for. Fail to do so, and you do not remain a billionaire for very long.