I think the reason it isn't a bigger story is most people realize Trump was never faithful to ANY of his wives and acts more like a Mafia Crime Boss instead like you see in movies. Not only that anyone doing any research realizes he has been doing business with Italian Mafia Members and Russian Mafiya members all along. In fact, I learned last night something new. The Russian Mafia is controlled by Putin. Any Russian Mafia Members who aren't loyal to Putin are just shot on sight. This is how it really is outside of Russia. So, because of Trump's Association with Italian and Russian Mafia figures he owes them (maybe his life and the lives of his family)? Under these circumstances if he doesn't do their bidding Trump and his family will all be "Rubbed out". Think about this for a moment.
The longer answer is also I don't know -- but I have a few ideas.
The
first is that the Journal is the only mainstream media outlet with this
reporting on Cohen, the payment and the private company. (CNN has not
independently confirmed the details.) Cohen has denied any relationship
between Trump and Daniels. There may be some trepidation -- by the media
and the public -- to dive too deeply into the story given those twin
realities.
The second is that it's, well, somewhat icky. A porn star. The President. Aliases. Odd details from Daniels' interview with In Touch magazine,
including the President's alleged fear of sharks. (Side note: That fear
makes total and complete sense to me. Sharks are terrible.)
The
third -- and to my mind, the most likely -- explanation is that the
American public is somewhat inured to reports about Trump's conduct with
women.
Remember that during the
campaign more than a dozen women came out alleging that Trump had acted
inappropriately with them over the years. As did a tape in which Trump is heard insisting he can have his way with women
because he is rich and powerful. Trump dismissed the tape as "locker
room talk" and insisted all the women making allegations against him
were liars.
Then, he won. And,
whenever issues about women making allegations against him has come up
in the Trump's presidency, his aides and lawyers have dismissed them as
yesterday's news that voters have already decided they either don't
believe or don't care about.
"The President has addressed these accusations directly and denied all of these allegations," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in December.
"And this took place long before he was elected to be President. And
the people of this country, at a decisive election, supported President
Trump, and we feel like these allegations have been answered through
that process."
While that contention is not entirely true -- according to exit polling,
50% of 2016 voters said that Trump's treatment of women bothered them
"a lot" -- the fact remains that this Daniels allegation feels like more
of the same for lots and lots of people. The reaction seems to be
something like, "Sure, there's another allegation that Trump behaved
badly. What else is new?"
Stormy Daniels shared her story in 201103:17
While
I understand that "meh" response, I think this story merits more than
that. After all, the Journal is not exactly a fly-by-night media company
prone to blowing things out of proportion. And its reporting makes very
clear that a) Cohen formed this shell company and b) the company made a
payment of $130,000 to Daniels just before the election.
Unless
I've missed it, Cohen hasn't denied either of those two facts. (Denying
Trump and Daniels had a relationship is not the same thing.) So, if
Cohen is on the record saying the Trump-Daniels relationship is a myth,
it seems to me he still owes an explanation of why he formed the
company, why he did so in Delaware (a state renowned for its loose laws
on corporate transparency) and, most importantly, why a $130,000 payment
was made to Daniels.
Whether you
like Trump or hate him, it's hard to argue that an unexplained
six-figure payment from his personal lawyer to a porn star in the runup
to the election doesn't warrant more attention -- and more answers --
than we are currently getting.
analysis
Stormy Daniels shared her story in 2011 03:17While I understand that "meh" response, I think this story merits more than that. After all, the Journal is not exactly a fly-by-night media company prone to blowing things out of proportion. And its reporting makes very clear that a) Cohen formed this shell company and b) the company made a payment of $130,000 to Daniels just before the election.Unless I've missed it, Cohen hasn't denied either of those two facts. (Denying Trump and Daniels had a relationship is not the same thing.) So, if Cohen is on the record saying the Trump-Daniels relationship is a myth, it seems to me he still owes an explanation of why he formed the company, why he did so in Delaware (a state renowned for its loose laws on corporate transparency) and, most importantly, why a $130,000 payment was made to Daniels.Whether you like Trump or hate him, it's hard to argue that an unexplained six-figure payment from his personal lawyer to a porn star in the runup to the election doesn't warrant more attention -- and more answers -- than we are currently getting.
