Donald Trump/Billy Bush transcript: Do you think Billy Bush should be on permanent suspension for what he said?

Apparently he knew about the tape this summer and bragged about it at the Olympics but didn’t tell his employers. His bragging to others prompted Hollywood Access to dig around and find the tape. Whether his employers were mad that they didn’t have the inside scoop or truly were offended, I haven’t got a clue.

“Permanent suspension” will never stand up in court.

If they want to fire him, then fire him.

But to keep him as an employee but suspend him without pay is slavery – restraint of trade, and his ability to make a living. Permanent suspension is simply not legal.

That said, why should he be fired? His role was to get close to celebrities and report on them. And to do that, he had to befriend them. I’d say that Billy Bush did his job superbly well. He spoke to a newsworthy person and made headlines. He did his job well.

The only reason they’re canning him is to get republican pressure off of NBC.

If I were Billy Bush, I would sue NBC for everything they’ve got.

[Which is not to say I agree with Trump, far from it. But Trump is the bad guy. Not Bush.]

Permanent suspension = “He sure as shit ain’t gonna work for us anymore, but we can’t exactly fire him until our legal department works though some contract shit”.

Why should he be fired?

Because it’s their company, their dime and they can fire you for just about any reason they want (outside a few protected statuses). That’s what at-will employment means.

I saw the tape and read the text. It wasn’t the locker room bullshit that got me. I was the way these two guys behaved toward each other that almost made me gag. The dominant/submissive body language and tone, the lightly veiled put-downs by Trump and the groveling by Bush.

This guy is 45 years old and still calls himself Billy Bush professionally. Too cute. And he acts like a teen. I don’t think I’ve seen a better demonstration of a groveling sycophant in my entire life until I saw him walk through the bus with Trump. I almost puked. And Trump treated him like a puppy and insulted him every chance he could in front of Zucker—and Bush ate it up? Fuck. I would have broken Trump’s fucking jaw. This is the kind of guy that Trump surrounds himself with. A lapdog that is ecstatic at the idea of sloppy seconds that Trump continuously dangles before him. Fuckng sick, both of them.

Bush is beyond bimbo. The dumbest bimbo knows when she’s being insulted and will at least weakly protest. But Bush appears to be a natural born BDSM submissive. And to enjoy having a grown man groveling before you like Trump does, just shows how fucking sick he is. They are made for each other.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bush family eventually had this little twink lobotomized and shut away in an asylum ala the Kennedy’s.

He heard Trump tell him about how The Donald abused women, then BB got the girl to gives hugs to him and Donald. He enabled.

Good grief. I wish I could post a meme I saw today. Bill Clinton and Robert Kennedy were having a good laugh; the caption read, “I drowned a girl” “I raped several of them” ” Good thing we don’t talk dirty.” I wish I could post a picture but I don’t see a way to do it.

I know women are just so insulted, but 80 million of them bought Fifty Shades of Grey. Women talk and read dirty….................they love that stuff. What people do is important. What trash people talk in private is not. I’ve heard worse than this in the women’s bathroom at the country club.

@Darth_Algar At-will employment means hiring and firing without cause. You don’t have to have or provide a reason to fire someone, as it should be. Providing a reason when you fire someone is how wrongful termination suits are born in at-will states. That is something to argue.

If you think the issue with the Trump/Bush conversation was in the language then you. are. clueless. Sometimes it’s what you say not how you say it.

As an employee of the Today Show, Billy Bush likely had an iron clad contract, a tad bit different than an at will employee.

Different perspective, I guess, here. I was more disgusted by the fact that Billy Bush, right after that conversation, compelled that young woman to hug Trump. And before people start saying “she wasn’t compelled, she could have refused” remember that she was on camera at her job greeting a guest and could well have been fired for refusing. It doesn’t matter that she hadn’t heard the conversation, this is exactly the sort of unnecessary thing that makes women uncomfortable, a form of lesser harassment that is so pervasive.

Yeah, Trump’s a grotesque ass, but Billy Bush is just as bad for putting her in that position.

@jca

A tad different, but these companies make sure their contracts can be fairly easily severed if they wish, so they’re not exactly iron-clad ether.

The “iron-clad” contract likely has a clause in it that covers the option of termination if he makes the brand look bad, a “morals” clause, if you will.

@canidmajor

Yep, that’s pretty common. And most usually have a period of “indefinite” or “permanent” suspension before the contract is actually legally terminated.

Billy Bush? Haha, shoulda hedged his bets & kept his gob shut.

“Said”

What the fuck is the would coming to?

This isn’t an admission of contract murder caught on tape by law enforcement.

@SecondHandStoke: Show me where anyone talked about arresting these people? Geez

The point here is that in a bus full of people, these things were said at all. The complete lack of discretion, (the conversation in front of others that are not your intimate buddies) whether or not a mic was live, is the point.

And BTW, whether or not these men have behaved or would behave in this way is also not the point. The conversation shows a gross lack of respect for a large number of people with whom these men have worked. We are not the thought police, if these guys feel this way, well yuck. But to say it out loud, within earshot of others, crosses a line.

I was hoping he would bag the gig as prez if only to hear his security when the inevitable assassination attempt goes down…”Donald…Duck!!”

I heard today on the radio that NBC is giving Billy Bush 10 mil to buy him out. They said the CEO of NBC ordered Billy Bush’s office to be cleared out and all traces of him removed from the building at Rockefeller Center.

10 million. Poor baby. That business is unbelievable.

@JLeslie

That’s usually how these things work. An athlete/actor/TV personality/whatnot, says/does something that makes his employers not want to be associated with him anymore, but he’s under contract so he can’t just be fired. That contract must be legally severed, and that severance usually includes a “buy-out” of the contract. In these buy-outs both sides usually agree to a portion of what’s owed under the contract in exchange for an immediate, unconditional severance of that contract.

I read an article online that said that Billy Bush’s attorney stated that if Billy Bush had told Trump to go fuck himself or said something that would offend Trump (the show’s guest), Billy Bush would have been fired the next day. I agree with that. Billy Bush’s job was to make the guest feel comfortable so the guest would give him a good interview.

I also heard on the radio coming home tonight that Melania Trump said she blames Billy Bush for egging Donald on by encouraging him to participate in the dirty talk (her words).

Billy Bush’s job was not to act like a groveling sexual submissive. That was genuine. There are many ways he could have reacted to Trump with some dignity without insulting him. A good example was the way Zucker behaved.

Whatever. At work, we were discussing this today and all agreed we’re very happy that all of the conversations we’ve had in our lives were not audio taped.

@jca “Whatever. At work, we were discussing this today and all agreed we’re very happy that all of the conversations we’ve had in our lives were not audio taped.”

Except that Trump and Billy Bush were both fully aware that they were being taped, yet they still chose to talk in such manner.

@Darth_Algar: Yes.