Wednesday, January 11, 2017

DONALD TRUMP MUTES THE PRESS

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     When is Donald Trump going to appear Presidential?

     As President Barack Obama prepares to leave office...his approval rating - according to a new Associated Press poll - is at an impressive 57 percent.  That number equals President Bill Clinton's rating after he also completed two terms in The White House.

     Meanwhile...Gallup says the incoming tenant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has an embarrassingly substandard favorable rating of only 37 percent.  The Pew Research Center says that for a President who is about to take office...that's the lowest such rating in modern history.  Such a piddling percentage means that a great amount of Americans who voted for Donald Trump...now have a different opinion of him.  

     Let us remember that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in the November 8th, 2016 election.  More Americans cast their ballots for the former Secretary of State than any other defeated Presidential candidate in U.S. history.  Nearly 3-million more people chose Mrs. Clinton over Trump.  But Donald - who I continue to call him - won the Electoral College voting because of a total of approximately 80-thousand Democrats in three states - Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - who voted for President Obama in 2012, but who did not go to the polls to pull the lever for Secretary Clinton. 

     If Donald Trump's press conference on Wednesday, January 11th, 2017 is a peek - a disturbing indication - at how he is going to act...and be...once he takes the chair behind The Oval Office desk...then the media...and the public overall...are in big trouble.

     Is Donald going to continue to put down members of the media...reporters - both broadcast and print - of America's free press?  To belittle and demean any journalist - whether it's CNN Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta (or anybody else) - in front of his colleagues...and on national television...shouting at him...refusing to let him ask a question because "you are fake news"...is disgraceful.  Trump sunk to the bottom of the barrel - as he did towards others, time and time again throughout the campaign - by blasting and humiliating Acosta...calling him "terrible" and to be "quiet."  Therefore...I go back to the word that I and others have used for a year or more...temperament.  Does Donald Trump have the temperament...to be President of the United States?  After his harrowing behavior at the press conference...I remain convinced that he is not.   

     I have made some attempts - in recent columns - to give Trump the benefit of the doubt...in the hope that he will surprise me and not remain the obnoxious and rude individual that we witnessed throughout Campaign 2016.  But his appalling press conference performance was undeniably unsettling.

     That being said...Donald Trump is fickle.  One day, he likes you...one day, he doesn't.  Trump will castigate you today...praise you tomorrow...and chastise you the next day.  Donald admits that he is driven by revenge.  On December 15th, 2014, he tweeted a quote by legendary motion picture director Alfred Hitchcock.  "Revenge is sweet and not fattening."

     As I wrote in my January 2nd, 2017 column...Donald Trump only needs to be loyal...to Donald Trump.  If I live to be one-thousand years old, I will never understand why nearly 63-million Americans voted for him.

     We still don't know positively...definitively...if Trump...and/or any of his campaign staff...had direct...or indirect contact...with Vladimir Putin...and/or others in Russia... in an effort to some way affect the outcome of the election between Hillary Clinton and Trump.  We may never know for sure.

     In less than nine days...Donald Trump will be taking the Presidential oath of office.  Will those Americans who don't trust him now...ever be able to do so?  Perhaps, but not likely.  But I genuinely hope - yes...I really do hope - that we someday can.  Because that would be best for our country...the country that I - along with hundreds of millions of other Americans - truly love.  But it will be up to Trump to change for the better.  When he continues to speak offensively towards other U.S. citizens - as Donald did at his January 11th press conference...and as he has done for more than a year and a half - that causes me - and I'm sure others - to have serious doubts.  I can only pray...that at some point...he will do good by me... and for the United States of America...and by doing so...change my mind. 

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.

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12 comments:

  1. Gary, you don’t get it. It doesn’t matter that Clinton got more votes; none of us know how the election would have turned out if it was a race for the highest national totals. Trump didn’t campaign in NY or Massachusetts or California, or many other states because he knew those would go to Clinton so did many Republicans in those states so they may not have voted. The election was for 270 electoral votes, that is what he campaigned for and that is what he won (306). I don’t think that many people that voted for him have a different opinion today than they had November 8th. Many who voted for him didn’t have a high opinion of him then but they had a lower opinion of Hillary. Many of us who voted for him did because they didn’t want a person who wants to legalize and give US citizenship to 13,000,000 illegal aliens, allow in hundreds of thousands of refugees into our country, in our opinion had a terrible foreign policy record, wants more give aways and higher taxes and one of the biggest is a more left wing Supreme Court. For those reasons and of course the question of her honesty and trustworthiness and scandal ridden career many people had no choice but to vote for Trump. One thing I agree with you on is the mainstream media is in big trouble, they will not be able to set the tone, he with give it right back to them when they print “fake news” or lies. He will also tweet directly to the American people so the media cannot put their bias spin on things. You said “If I live to be one-thousand years old, I will never understand why nearly 63-million Americans voted for him” well its easy many people were more afraid of Hillary Clinton becoming President then having Trump with all his faults. As for whether or not President-elect Trump or any of his staff had any contact with Putin or any others in Russia about the hacking is “fake news”, there is no proof what so ever, not even a breadcrumb of a trail, this is all made up by anti-Trump sore losers! As for trusting President-elect Trump, if he brings back jobs, gets the economy growing again, strengthens the military, cuts taxes, repeals and replaces Obama care with something that works, not going bankrupt like the ACA, with better care and cheaper costs, fights terrorism, and makes America respected and feared around the world, he will be here for a long time and trusted maybe not liked but respected.

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    1. My response to the above reader will be in three parts.

      PART ONE OF THREE

      Let me break down your points and show you how wrong you are about so much. Because unlike you...I do get it.

      1) The fact of the matter is that Hillary Clinton did win the popular vote and it's the largest popular vote in history for a candidate who did not win the electoral vote. Donald Trump was never going to get more votes in New York, Massachusetts and California if he had campaigned there everyday for a year. Furthermore...the Electoral College will be abolished at some point. Watch and see.

      2) You can think what you want, but every polling outfit in the country has stated that if the election was TODAY...Hillary Clinton would win. Trump has the lowest approval rating for any person in modern U.S. history who is just entering the Presidency. Only 37 percent of the country currently approves of Trump, which means only 37 percent of the nation wants Trump to be President.

      3) I won't even comment about your differences about Secretary Clinton. Your remarks are not accurate. I'm tired of repeating myself with Republicans like you, but Mrs. Clinton has never be guilty of any "scandal." She is honest and trustworthy, but you and other conservatives would have been against Hillary Clinton if she was George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.

      4) Donald Trump will never build a wall. Congress will never authorize the funding...and Mexico will NEVER pay for a wall. The 11-million (not 13-million) undocumented immigrants should be legally allowed to become citizens and someday they will be.

      5) As for the U.S. Supreme Court...as I have stated in past columns, there is a strong likelihood that there will not be more than an 8-Justice bench for the next four years if Trump doesn't nominate someone who is acceptable to the Democrats in the Senate. Chuck Schumer will sway 3 moderate Republicans and, therefore, the GOP will not have enough Senators to confirm. So Trump needs to pick someone who is not as right-wing as you are hoping.

      GBD

      END OF PART ONE OF THREE

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    2. PART TWO OF THREE

      6) You obviously didn't read my paragraph correctly. I did not say that the "mainstream media is in big trouble." What I wrote was this..."If Donald Trump's press conference on Wednesday, January 11th, 2017 is a peek - a disturbing indication - at how he is going to act...and be...once he takes the chair behind The Oval Office desk...then the media...and the public overall...are in big trouble." What I mean is that Trump was so despicably offensive and rude towards the press that our country cannot have a President who treats the media in such a disgraceful manner. CNN did not report "fake news." They did not broadcast the entire memo that Buzzfeed did. What Trump did to Jim Acosta of CNN was harrowing...inappropriate...unacceptable...and NOT what should be expected by someone who will soon take the oath of office as President. And I've got to tell you...the press...and those in the public who do not approve of Trump will not put up with it. The more Trump acts in a belittling and demeaning manner, the more this country will remain divided.

      7) Trump MUST stop tweeting. If he has any brains at all...he MUST stop tweeting. His tweeting could - as I have written in my columns - be the demise of Donald Trump. For you to say that the media puts a "bias spin" on things, just goes to prove how wrong you are, but how you would not agree with anything the media says as truth...even if they stated that the sky was blue...when it was.

      8) I still will never understand why anyone voted for Trump...especially women. It is now many women who have changed their tone and who are now not accepting Trump. Where the hell were they on November 8th?

      9) There is no question that Vladimir Putin and the Russians did hack American computers - including the Democratic National Committee - and what they did...and what WikiLeaks did to release that information...that meddling did influence and affect the outcome of the November 8th, 2016 election. As I noted in my column...whether Trump and/or any of his staff were in collusion with Putin and the Russians...we may never know the facts on that for sure...but...the idea of such was not "made up by anti-Trump sore losers" - as you seem to think. However...I will say this...if there is even an inkling of proof...discovered down the road...Trump will be impeached, convicted and removed from office as fast as he can say "Richard Nixon." And as we all know...Nixon knew he was going to be impeached, convicted and removed from office, thus that is why he resigned.

      GBD

      END OF PART TWO OF THREE

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    3. PART THREE OF THREE

      10) I too have stated in two, three or more columns since election day that I hope Trump is successful. I do not want our country to suffer. I love the United States of America and, therefore, would never wish the country to be troubled because of my opposition to Trump. So I hope he achieves success with the economy and with keeping America safe. Since I don't know who you are or what kind of income you earn - as you refuse to identify yourself - I have to believe that you are someone who falls in to the category of the top 2 percent of the country. That is...that you earn more than 200-thousand dollars a year. Your taxes will be cut under a Trump plan. But the middle-class and poor will end up paying higher taxes. Sad, but true.

      11) As for the Affordable Care Act...it will not be "repealed and replaced" as you and other Republicans may want. As President Obama said the other day...if the Republicans can come up with a better healthcare plan...where premiums, deductibles and out of pocket maximums are lower...and better overall...then he would be the first to applaud the Republicans. I don't think it can be done...and the Republicans in Congress will never approve anything that causes 20-million of their constituents to lose healthcare for one moment. Just remember that the Affordable Care Act is President Obama's signature legislation and no previous President was ever able to get a healthcare bill passed. If you think that Donald Trump and this Republican Congress can do this year what took forever to finally be accomplished by President Obama...then I hope you're right. I doubt it can be done better than what it is. And let me tell you...the Affordable Care Act has its flaws, but at least 20-million people who never had insurance...now have it. And for somebody like me...who has pre-existing health conditions... without President Obama...I wouldn't have health insurance.

      12) Unless Donald Trump does what I specified in the above column and other columns I have written recently...he will not be trusted or respected by the country as a whole. If he does what I noted in all the aforementioned commentaries...I will be the first one to congratulate him in a banner headline and editorial. Unfortunately - as I have said - I have my doubts. Therefore...I won't hold my breath. But to Donald Trump, I say..."Donald...please prove me wrong."

      GBD

      END OF PART THREE OF THREE

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    4. I’m glad you have a crystal ball and that you know that Trump wouldn’t have gotten any more votes in those states. As for the polling outfits, they all said Hillary was going to win on November 8 and she lost. Can you please define “guilty of any "scandal" I said she has had a “scandal ridden career” that is a fact, from Whitewater, Travel gate, Missing law firm billing records (found in the White House), Benghazi, emails, the list goes on and on, true or false they are or were scandals. Your unwillingness to comment about my statements about her is telling, because they are all facts. As for the illegal aliens they should NEVER be given US Citizenship, if they have no other crimes they have committed and pay all back taxes and fines they should be granted a green card and resident status but NEVER granted the honor of US Citizenship, they broke the law coming here and that should be the penalty. I wouldn’t expect you or the left to honor the law the left only honors it when it suits them. The Supreme Court will be at 9 before the summer recess with a new Originalist Justice. I never said “right-wing” an Originalist is one who believes in the US Constitution and honors its meaning. I guess we were watching different press conferences, I felt that it was Jim Acosta from CNN (Clinton News Network) was the one to use your words “inappropriate...unacceptable” he was rude, disrespectful and offensive to the President-elect. Trump will not stop tweeting in today’s climate it is the only way he can get an unfiltered, unbiased message out, if left to the mainstream media and the left they will pick out words, take things out of context and in many cases forge documents and or outright lie. I gave you the reasons many people, men and women voted for Trump, Hillary Clinton was more dangerous to their core beliefs then Donald Trump, do I need to say it again because they didn’t want a person who wants to legalize and give US citizenship to 11,000,000 illegal aliens (could be 13 million could be as many as 20 million), allow in hundreds of thousands of refugees into our country, in our opinion had a terrible foreign policy record, wants more give aways and higher taxes and one of the biggest is a more left wing Supreme Court. The ACA will be repealed and replaced with something cheaper for most better coverage and fairer, as for President Obama’s comments unless it was a leftwing giveaway he would never applaud it. The left will never respect or trust a President Trump because he is not one they can get give aways from and because he beat your beloved Queen Hillary!

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    5. My response to the above reader will be in three parts.

      PART ONE OF THREE

      I get dizzy with you Republicans. 'Round and 'round we go. The spin of Republicans.

      1) A crystal ball is not needed. Donald Trump would never have won New York, California or Massachusetts.

      2) The polls had Hillary Clinton winning the election by several points before FBI Director James Comey's letter that he sent to Congress 11 days before the election. By the way, count on Comey losing his job after the Inspector General's investigation. Comey will resign, but it will really be a firing. However, it will be officially labeled a resignation

      3) Scandal does not equate to guilt. There was no proof of any wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton regarding the issues you note above. You do not state any facts.

      4) All undocumented immigrants should be granted U.S. citizenship. Period. America has welcomed immigrants - your great-grandparents, your grandparents (possibly) and even your parents (possibly). Perhaps even you. Since I don't know who you are, I don't know if you born in the United States. No further discussion needed.

      5) Senator Chuck Schumer will do whatever he can to sway 3 moderate Republicans if he and the Democrats are not happy with Trump's choice for a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. If the Democrats are not happy...or, at least, content with the nominee then the High Court will remain with 8 Justices for the next four years.

      GBD

      END OF PART ONE OF THREE

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    6. PART TWO OF THREE

      6) Once again, I have to approach another Republican with a word I "hate" having to use...but YOU are a hater. Jim Acosta of CNN (Cable News Network NOT Clinton News Network) was in no way "rude, disrespectful and offensive" towards Trump. As I described in my column, it was Trump who was absolutely wrong in his behavior towards the press - especially towards Acosta - at the press conference. It was Trump who was "rude, disrespectful and offensive" and the press is not going to accept his bully pulpit anymore. Just watch.

      7) Trump must stop tweeting. If he continues to do so, it will be his demise, as he will - at 3 o'clock in the morning when he's on a rant - say something that could wind up being treasoness. He has to stop tweeting...and he will.

      8) Once again, YOU ARE A HATER. To say that the press "pick(s) out words, take(s) things out of context and in many cases forge(s) documents and or outright lie(s)" is in and of itself...a lie. A lie stated by YOU...a hater.

      9) The reason Trump became an Electoral College winner was because of the Russians, James Comey and that 80-thousand Democrats who voted for President Obama in 2012...didn't come out to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016. That is the truth. Your laundry list of nonsense is just that...nonsense.

      GBD

      END OF PART TWO OF THREE

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    7. PART THREE OF THREE

      10) I'm going to repeat what I said to another reader (or perhaps it's you - I never know since you all hide in the shadows of "anonymous")...the Affordable Care Act will not be "repealed and replaced" as you and other Republicans may want. As President Obama said the other day...if the Republicans can come up with a better healthcare plan...where premiums, deductibles and out of pocket maximums are lower...and better overall...then he would be the first to applaud the Republicans. I don't think it can be done...and the Republicans in Congress will never approve anything that causes 20-million of their constituents to lose healthcare for one moment. Just remember that the Affordable Care Act is President Obama's signature legislation and no previous President was ever able to get a healthcare bill passed. If you think that Donald Trump and this Republican Congress can do this year what took forever to finally be accomplished by President Obama...then I hope you're right. I doubt it can be done better than what it is. And let me tell you...the Affordable Care Act has its flaws, but at least 20-million people who never had insurance...now have it. And for somebody like me...who has pre-existing health conditions... without President Obama...I wouldn't have health insurance.

      11) Based on everything you are saying...Democrats will never "respect or trust" Donald Trump.

      12) Once again...YOU ARE A HATER. When you spew your vulgar venom by calling Hillary Clinton "Queen Hillary"...that equates to you being a hater.

      I said this to another reader (or perhaps it was you, the other day). Why do you read my columns if all you do is trash the facts that I write? Go away. Don't read me. I welcome all intelligent individuals to debate issues, but when you simply go against everything I say, just to be against the Democrats and me...and to be hateful...then don't read my columns. As for this one...we are done here. There is no reason for you to reply.

      GBD

      END OF PART THREE OF THREE

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  2. Cry all you want but Obamacare is going bye bye even if there isn't anything to replace it.

    People voted for Trump because he's the best person for the job. Clinton was garbage. Trump isn't perfect but given the choice between the two he was the better candidate, and that's exactly why he won. You keep crying about how Clinton should have won and she won the popular vote... waaaaaa waaaaa waaaa... she lost. Get over it. Popular vote means nothing when the election and the campaigning is based on the electoral college. It's like you're saying a football team should have won the game because they had more yards even though they didn't get as many touchdowns... boohoo...

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    1. As usual, it's Republicans like you who just don't seem to get the crux of my column. You mention issues that are not even noted in my commentary. And you cherry-pick items that are similar to the subplot of a play or movie, yet you overlook the main story of the production.

      The Affordable Care Act was never mentioned in the above column. So your remark to "Cry all you want but Obamacare is going bye bye even if there isn't anything to replace it" was only said by you to be cruel and heartless. I can absolutely guarantee you that the Affordable Care Act will never be repealed unless there is something already engraved in granite to replace it so that 20 million Americans do not lose their health insurance. I'm a two-time cancer survivor with other pre-existing conditions. No U.S. Senator worth his or her salt - Democrat or Republican - is going to take away my insurance without giving me something else. And I'm still of the thinking that the ACA will not get repealed at all. You must be an insensitive, horrible person to make a statement as you did above.

      You are a HATER. There is no other word for you. To say "Clinton was garbage" makes you garbage. You can disagree with her politics, but to make a despicable comment like that puts you in a category that I find disgusting.

      The pivotal point of my column above had nothing to do with Hillary Clinton and the popular vote. As I said, you felt it was necessary to speak out with nonsense like "waaaaa waaaaa waaaa...she lost." But that was not the basis of my editorial. I notice, however, that you didn't comment on the FACT that Donald Trump has the lowest approval rating of any incoming President in modern U.S. history. Only 37 percent of the country approve of Trump. But you don't dare express any thoughts about that...right? I wrote the commentary to criticize Donald Trump's rude and offensive behavior towards the press. And yet...as usual with some of my conservative readers...you just want to put your own spin on everything. You and others like you nauseate me. I'm going to stop writing now because I need to go vomit.

      GBD

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    2. I was commenting on your previous comments where you did bring up the popular vote and Obamacare... Obamacare WILL be repealed and you will be crying about it just like you are now crying that Trump won the election even though it looks like you spent months posting about how there's no way he could win. Your record for predicting things is 0/1 and is about to be 0/2.

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    3. I'm going to repeat what I said to another reader (or perhaps it's you - I never know since you all hide in the shadows of "anonymous")...the Affordable Care Act will not be "repealed and replaced" as you and other Republicans may want. As President Obama said the other day...if the Republicans can come up with a better healthcare plan...where premiums, deductibles and out of pocket maximums are lower...and better overall...then he would be the first to applaud the Republicans. I don't think it can be done...and the Republicans in Congress will never approve anything that causes 20-million of their constituents to lose healthcare for one moment. Just remember that the Affordable Care Act is President Obama's signature legislation and no previous President was ever able to get a healthcare bill passed. If you think that Donald Trump and this Republican Congress can do this year what took forever to finally be accomplished by President Obama...then I hope you're right. I doubt it can be done better than what it is. And let me tell you...the Affordable Care Act has its flaws, but at least 20-million people who never had insurance...now have it. And for somebody like me...who has pre-existing health conditions... without President Obama...I wouldn't have health insurance.

      The reason Trump became an Electoral College winner was because of the Russians, FBI Director James Comey and that 80-thousand Democrats who voted for President Obama in 2012...didn't come out to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016. That is the truth. The polls had Hillary Clinton winning the election by several points before Comey's letter that he sent to Congress 11 days before the election. By the way, count on Comey losing his job after the Inspector General's investigation. Comey will resign, but it will really be a firing. However, it will be officially labeled a resignation.

      I am not keeping score - as you seem to think. If - as I said above - the Russians and Comey had not done what they did, then a total of 80-thousand Democrats in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin would have gone to the polls and voted for Hillary Clinton. Those 80-thousand Democrats would have given Mrs. Clinton the electoral votes necessary to win in those three states, thus she would be the 45th President of the United States of America.

      By the way...my column has nothing to do with keeping a "record for predicting things."

      GBD


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