As this year of disgust - 2017 - comes to a close...more than two-thirds of Americans do not approve of the President of the United States. The year 2017 is a year when 16-term Representative John Lewis - who is commonly referred to as "the conscience of the U.S. Congress" - was strong with his thoughts that an illegitimate president moved into The White House. In a January interview with NBC News Political Director and Meet The Press moderator Chuck Todd, Congressman Lewis was adamant with his words..."I don't see (Donald Trump) as a legitimate president." And for those of you who dispute Lewis' remark, the non-partisan newspaper, Roll Call, praises the Georgia Democrat as "a genuine American hero and moral leader who commands widespread respect in the chamber."
This year, 2017, finds Donald Trump as the only elected U.S. President in history who was not named America's "most admired man" in his first year behind The Oval Office desk. Ironically, however...a Gallup Poll - released on Wednesday, December 27th - has, for the sixteenth consecutive year, identified Trump's 2016 Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, as the "most admired woman" in our country. The former Secretary of State has been crowned with that title a total of twenty-two times. That's more than any other person.
Republican Trump is our nation's 45th President by virtue of an arcane and obscure system of political voting. Even though Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, Trump claimed victory after the November 8th, 2016 election when he successfully achieved the magic number of 270 electoral votes. All that being said...a recent poll by the Pew Research Center says 32 percent - that's less than one-third of Americans - approve of Donald Trump as our country's leader. Trump continues - as he has throughout 2017 - to frequently criticize and chastise...both Mrs. Clinton and former President Barack Obama for a variety of unjustifiable reasons. Yet, according to the Gallup Poll, Trump ranked second place as the "most admired man" in the U.S.A. The top spot - that's first place - goes to our 44th President. Mr. Obama has held the number one position as America's "most admired man" for ten years in a row.
As we suffer through Trump's tirade of tweets and his pathological lies...criminal allegations against him continue to grow. Trump is accused by tens of millions of Americans for being involved in a conspiracy to collude with Russia in order to interfere and influence our 2016 presidential election...and for allegedly obstructing justice when he fired FBI Director James Comey. Comey testified before Congress that he believes he lost his job because Trump wanted to put a stop to the Russia investigation. Trump has all along insisted that the Russia probe is a "witch-hunt"... "a hoax"...and "fake news" that was created by Democrats - and what conservatives call "the liberal media" - because of Hillary Clinton's loss in the 2016 election. No American President can function - let alone succeed - when he's made the working free press his enemy. Collusion will be proved...as will conspiracy and obstruction of justice. And guess what, Donald? It all may be the result of hard work by one or more reporters. Do you remember Watergate? Americans should forever be grateful for Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and the late Ben Bradlee of The Washington Post.
As the year 2017 has progressed...more and more people - mostly Independents and some Republicans - who voted for Trump...have realized this year that they were snookered in to believing Trump's lies. And I am certain that those numbers will increase throughout 2018...and when they do...we will perhaps see three-quarters (or more) of our voting population enraged and turning against Donald Trump. Furthermore, as I wrote in a column back in February 2017, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn will spill the beans and throw Trump under the bus in order to save his own skin. And there may be others who have been...or who are currently... part of Trump's own circle...who will do the same.
On December 28th, 2017, Trump told The New York Times that the Russia inquiry makes the United States "look very bad." No Donald...you make America look very bad. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Americans remain frustrated, concerned and even angry that we are subjected to a President who cares more about reducing taxes for the wealthy than the so-called middle-class and the poor...and that he'd be willing to sign a law that could bring death to millions of people if they lost their health insurance. Thankfully, the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") was not repealed this year.
Early in the presidential campaign, I frequently wrote columns where I labeled Donald Trump "a mentally ill madman"...who is "reckless, delusional and dangerous"... and "totally unfit to serve as President of the United States." I expressed those descriptions long before it became commonplace. It wasn't until November 29th, 2017 when the The New York Daily News published the following. "After his latest spasm of deranged tweets, only those completely under his spell can deny what growing numbers of Americans have long suspected: The President of the United States is profoundly unstable. He is mad. He is, by any honest layman's definition, mentally unwell and viciously lashing out."
In an e-mail I received on September 28th, 2017 from former Vice President Joe Biden, Mr. Biden wrote, in part..."We have an American President who has publicly proclaimed a moral equivalency between Neo-Nazis and those who would oppose their venom and hate." Vice President Biden says Donald Trump "has emboldened white supremacists with messages of comfort and support." I continue to shake my head with wonder how nearly 63-million Americans voted for this man.
Michael Jordan - not the famous basketball star, but someone with the same name - tweeted about Donald Trump on November 28th, 2017. "He is vile, he is vermin, and anyone exposed to him should immediately be provided with some form of disinfectant."
The proverb, "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" is traditionally connected to a 17th Century carving over the door of a Japanese shrine, which depicts three iconic wise monkeys. Today, America could attach the aforementioned proverb to a number of Republican Members of Congress who - for whatever their reasons - have so far...refused to recognize that our country is being led by a paranoid narcissistic maniac who everyday puts the United States in grave danger with his off-the-cuff offensive remarks. Trump's toxic tongue has badmouthed and belittled honorable individuals...and callously offended everyone who won't - in plain English - "kiss his butt." And even then...nobody is really safe from Trump's evil ways.
The impeachment of Donald Trump is on the minds and the lips of numerous Americans...including many in Congress. A Republican-controlled House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton on December 19th, 1998 because Congressmen believed Mr. Clinton was guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice. Those charges were the result of a sexual harassment lawsuit that was filed against our 42nd President by Paula Jones. Wisely, Senators were smarter than House Members and, therefore, on February 12th, 1999, the U.S. Senate refused to convict Mr. Clinton. He was rightfully acquitted. But Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation will eventually take down Donald Trump...and our nation will be better off when Trump is removed from office. I won't predict a specific date, but I am fully confident that Mueller - along with investigations by Congress and an assortment of dedicated journalists - will dig the political grave and metaphorically bury Trump... especially after the 2018 mid-term elections when, I believe, Democrats will regain control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. However...as regular readers of The Controversy are aware...I have stated in other columns that Trump will never be impeached. He will not ever put himself through House impeachment hearings and a Senate trial. However, as was the case with President Richard Nixon...once impeachment proceedings begin, Trump will resign the presidency. The evidence will be clear and Trump's choice will be cut-and-dried. Resign...or be impeached, convicted and removed from office. Trump will choose resignation.
Donald Trump is a spoiled brat who - for most of his life - has gotten whatever he has wanted and has done whatever he has desired. So therefore, in a Thursday, December 28th, 2017 interview with The New York Times, Trump insisted..."I have the absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department." But Congressman Adam Schiff doesn't agree. The California Democrat - who is the Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee and a former Member of the House Judiciary Committee - responded to Trump's bogus claim in a Friday, December 29th tweet. "No you don't. You can do what you want with your golf courses. But the country and its Justice Department belong to the American people." Trump simply doesn't want to accept the fact that the United States does not operate like The Trump Organization. "The Donald" may have been the boss of everything linked to the "Trump" brand...but when it comes to the brand of "America"...the citizens of our nation are the bosses. And in nearly a year since his inauguration, Trump still doesn't seem to get that through his head. And I suppose he never will.
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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