DOES TRUMP ASK HIS AIDES: WILL YOU LIE FOR ME?

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     I'm wondering about the interview process in the mind of Donald Trump.

     At various times throughout the second half of last year, reporters asked everyone from White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders...to Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway...to Donald Trump himself...and many others... whether Trump wanted to have Special Counsel Robert "Bob" Mueller fired.  Each and every time that the question was asked, the answer was that Trump was not considering to dismiss Mueller.

     The fact of the matter is...the President of the United States cannot give Mueller his walking papers.  The Department of Justice rules the roost over Mueller...and since the nation's chief law enforcement officer - Attorney General Jeff Sessions - recused himself from the Russia investigation in March 2017 because it was discovered that he held two undisclosed meetings with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign...the only person who could give Mueller the boot is Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.  But The New York Times - on January 25th, 2018 - published its bombshell report that Trump had indeed given the order that getting rid of Mueller was near the top of his "things to do" list.

     According to The New York Times, Trump approached White House Counsel Don McGahn and gave him the assignment to tell Rosenstein that it was time for Mueller to take a hike.  But the newspaper says that McGahn refused to obey the command and that he threatened to resign if Trump pursued the matter.  Trump reportedly backed off.  And as I've written in the past, if Donald Trump was able to get the Justice Department to fire Bob Mueller, it would be one more nail in Trump's political coffin...and it would ultimately bury his presidency.

     Trump - while in Davos, Switzerland - called The New York Times story, "fake news."  But The Washington Post, NBC News, and other news organizations - including Trump's pet, Fox News - have also confirmed through their own reporting... via sources "close to The White House"...that Trump, in fact, wanted Mueller fired last June.  Therefore, Trump can call The New York Times - and anybody else for that matter - "fake news"...all day long...but there are too many people who have corroborated that it's "real news."

     The only reason to terminate Mueller as Special Counsel is because Donald Trump knows he is guilty of an impeachable offense...and, therefore...he has to do whatever he can to stop the Russia investigation.

     Either Trump was involved in a conspiracy to collude with Russia...to interfere with the 2016 presidential election so that Hillary Clinton would lose...or Trump took a page from the "Richard Nixon playbook" and is part of another White House cover-up.  But who would Trump be protecting?  His son, Donald Trump, Jr.?  His son-in-law, Jared Kushner?  His daughter, Ivanka Trump?  Perhaps all three?  

     Let us remember that two of the three aforementioned Trump family members - Trump, Jr. and Kushner - along with some Russians...gathered together at a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York City...where they allegedly shared secrets with each other about America's presidential campaign.  According to a chain of e-mails - which Trump, Jr. released to the public last year - the plan for the conference was to discuss getting "dirt" on Hillary Clinton.

     And then of course, there's the issue of obstruction of justice.  Twice now there is circumstantial evidence that Donald Trump has attempted to put the brakes on the Russia probe by giving the ax to the person leading the inquiries.

     On May 11th, 2017, NBC News anchor Lester Holt - along with the rest of the world - heard Donald Trump admit that he fired James Comey as FBI Director, in essence, because of the Russia investigation.  The following are Trump's exact words.  "When I decided to do it, I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.  It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won."

     The bottom line is that Trump tried to twist Comey's arm...to end any examination that would tie Trump and/or his campaign to Russia's meddling in our country's election.  But when the former "top cop" wouldn't succumb to Trump's pressure...Trump put the screws to Comey and he was later out of a job.  About a month afterwards - on June 8th, 2017 - Comey testified before Congress in a live television broadcast and he told the Senate Intelligence Committee..."I was fired in some way...to change...or the endeavor was to change...the way the Russia investigation was being conducted.  It's my judgment that I was fired because of the Russia investigation."

     Then, of course - as I noted at the outset of this column - Trump made an effort, seven months ago, to fire Bob Mueller...so, therefore, to once again try to put the lid on the Russia investigation.  But with that cat out of the bag...the first question Mueller should ask Trump - when they finally sit down to talk - is..."Why did you want to fire me?"  

     All of the above being said...I think Donald Trump sees the handwriting on the wall.  It's becoming more and more likely that Mueller will eventually have enough direct evidence to either convince the House of Representatives to impeach Trump with a Senate conviction to follow...or Mueller will push Trump in to a corner that he will have to resign before any impeachment proceedings get underway.  As regular readers of The Controversy are well aware...I have been predicting for more than a year that Trump will resign the presidency before his term is over, as he will not put himself through an impeachment.

     Trump can smirk to reporters and call the media "fake" and the Russia probe "a hoax," but I've got to believe that he is scared to death of Robert Mueller.  Oh he can shout out his arrogant ad-libs...as he did at The White House on January 24th when he told reporters that he is "looking forward" and "would love to" meet with Mueller "under oath"...but Trump's stomach has to be churning whenever he utters such remarks.  After all...Trump is a delusional, narcissistic liar who is mentally unfit to be President...but he's not stupid.  So I really think he knows...that his goose is cooked.

     Whether Trump speaks with Mueller under oath or not...really doesn't matter... because it's a distinction without a difference.  The Federal False Statements Statute...in Section 1001 of Title 18 of the United States Code...makes it a felony to lie to a federal agency.  Therefore, lying to a federal counsel such as Mueller...or a federal agent such as those working with Mueller from the FBI...is against the law. Knowing that...Trump's lawyer Ty Cobb - in a recent interview with CBS News - indicated concern that Trump could be caught off-guard and fall in to a "perjury trap" with Mueller.  But here's my answer to attorney Cobb.  All his client has to do is "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" so help him God.  Americans deserve to hear Donald Trump - the "liar-in-chief" - tell the truth...for once.

     And that takes me back to the beginning of this commentary and my curiosity about the Donald Trump process when he interviews someone for employment. 

     Time and time again, Trump and his sidekicks have denied any plan to remove Robert Mueller as Special Counsel.  Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kellyanne Conway, White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short, and Trump lawyers Ty Cobb and John Dowd...have insisted, in various interviews, that there has never been any consideration by Donald Trump to fire Mueller.  They have looked in to the eyes of reporters...and in to the eyes of cameras...and they lie, lie, lie.  So I do wonder... when Trump conducts a job interview...does he ask the following question?  Will you lie for me?

     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.

Now please express your personal opinions by following the instructions above.  And thank you for reading The Controversy.

Copyright 2018 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.

AMERICA MUST NOT EVER BUILD A WALL. BUT DREAMERS DESERVE U.S. CITIZENSHIP NOW, NOT IN 10 TO 12 YEARS.

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     If Democrats on Capitol Hill accept Donald Trump's Thursday, January 25th, 2018 immigration plan - in its current form - then they can kiss Congress goodbye again come this November's mid-term elections...and the same goes for the presidency in 2020.  Latinos and Hispanics will stay home and not vote.  Why vote if Democrats won't save them from Trump and the Republicans?  And losing those votes may mean the difference in a U.S. Senate or House of Representatives race...and in the presidential election.

     Trump's plan claims to offer a path to citizenship for about two-and-a-half- million undocumented immigrants.  But the deal also demands funding for a U.S./Mexico border wall.  In an impromptu gathering with reporters at The White House on Wednesday, January 24th, Trump laid down his threat..."If you don't have a wall, you don't have DACA."  DACA is the Deferred Action for Childhoold Arrivals program that was created in 2012 under President Barack Obama and that granted about 800-thousand undocumented immigrants the temporary right to live, study and work in the United States.  These young people - known as "Dreamers" - were brought to the United States when they were children by their parents.  Some Dreamers came to the U.S. when they were so young that they probably have no memory of their birthplace.  But on January 25th, Trump threatened further.  The White House says that if Congress doesn't act like Monty Hall and "make a deal" for the wall money...then Trump and his cronies can't guarantee that the Dreamers won't be deported when the current DACA protections expire on March 5th.  One senior White House official told reporters that Dreamers "won't be targeted, but if they fall in to the hands of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents) for some reason" then deportation would be inevitable.  To send Dreamers to foreign lands with no homes and no jobs would be un-American and totally disgraceful.

     Donald Trump's immigration plan disgusts me.  And it's not going to satisfy Americans whose ethnic heritage is Mexican...or, for that matter, any U.S. citizen whose family history stems from any Spanish-speaking nation.

     Trump's insistence...that an arrangement to help undocumented immigrants must include a border wall...is a deal that gives off a racist odor.  As I have written in many previous columns...no matter what...America should not...and cannot...have such a wall.  And when push comes to shove...I am still confident that a wall will never be built.   

     Yet...that being said...Trump wants 25-billion dollars to pay for the wall.  That, however, is really the price tag so that someday - not now, but someday - currently registered "Dreamers" can become United States citizens...along with another 1.8-million undocumented immigrants who the Trump Administration believes will meet the necessary requirements to fit the same status, but who never registered for DACA six years ago.  The Trump plan says all of the aforementioned undocumented immigrants must provide "good moral character" as they go to work and/or school. And The White House says that a person's "status can be revoked in light of criminal conduct, public safety concerns, national security concerns, fraud or a public charge."

     But Trump is in no hurry to help these young people become U.S. citizens, as he told reporters on January 24th.  "We're going to morph in to it.  It's going to happen, at some point in the future, over a period of ten to twelve years."  Why wait that long?  According to Wikipedia..."Research shows that (undocumented - they use the word "illegal" but I refuse to) immigrants increase the size of the U.S. economy, contribute to economic growth, enhance the welfare of natives, and contribute more in tax revenue than they collect"...just to mention a few of the benefits in granting American citizenship to undocumented immigrants .  Furthermore, "there is no evidence" - according to The Washington Post - "that (undocumented) immigrants increase the rate of crime in the United States.  There is a scholarly consensus that (undocumented) immigrants commit less crime than natives."

     So why punish undocumented immigrants?  Every single Dreamer and other undocumented immigrants should be guaranteed U.S. citizenship now...not in ten or twelve years.  In fact, I want to give all 11-million or more undocumented immigrants citizenship in our country.  Let them stay.  As long as they haven't broken the law...let them stay.  Take them out of hiding and give them the freedom to stay in America.  That IS what America is all about.  Freedom.

     DACA Dreamers...and many other undocumented immigrants...have been in the United States nearly all their lives.  Trump should not string them along for an extended length of time.  On January 24th, he told reporters that if the Dreamers do a great job, I think it's a nice thing to have the incentive of, after a period of years, being able to become a citizen."  But Dreamers have gone to school in America...they work in America...and the Pentagon says that 900 Dreamers are currently serving in the U.S. military.  How much more of a "great job" must they do?

     To make things worse...the Trump immigration plan calls for an end to family reunification...which Trump has nastily labeled...our nation's "horrible" system of "chain migration."  Would Trump want his family to be broken apart forever? Immigrants deserve a family reunification visa program so that immigrants who are already living in the United States can bring relatives to America too.  Visas are granted according to a "family tree."  Green card holders or legal residents can petition the Immigration Service with a request...so that their spouses...and their minor children...can be allowed to move to the U.S.  Once the petitioner is granted citizenship, they can then apply to have their parents, married children and adult siblings brought to America too.  It is critical that Democrats in Congress fight to continue family reunification.  

     The U.S. Senate's Assistant Minority Leader, Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin says, "Dreamers should not be held hostage to (Donald) Trump's crusade to tear families apart and waste billions of American tax dollars on an ineffective wall.  This plan would put the Administration's entire hard-line immigration agenda - including massive cuts to legal immigration - on the backs of those young people."  Putting the brakes on family reunification is tragically wrong.

     The majority of Dreamers were born in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.  And I remind you that Mexico and El Salvador were just two of the nations that Trump, on January 11th, called "shithole countries" when - according to The Washington Post (and confirmed by Senator Durbin and others who were in The Oval Office at the time) - Trump uttered that vulgar slur that also attacked every nation in the African continent.  After Trump's vile language, I can't imagine any Latin-American - or any African-American - voting for Trump in 2020...should he not resign or be impeached and removed from office before our next presidential election. Day by day, it's becoming more and more apparent that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is obtaining sufficient evidence that just might evict Donald Trump from The White House. 

     As I've stated for about a year, Donald Trump will be forced to resign should Mueller - upon concluding his investigation - prove Trump's involvement in a conspiracy (and subsequent cover-up) to collude with Russia in an effort to interfere with the 2016 election between Trump and Hillary Clinton...and to then later obstruct justice by firing James Comey as FBI Director in order to put a stop to the Russia probe.  In addition, on January 25th, The New York Times reported that Trump ordered in June 2017 that Mueller be fired.  But the newspaper says that White House Counsel Don McGahn refused to obey Trump's command...to advise the Justice Department...that Trump wanted Mueller given the ax.  As a result - according to The New York Times - McGahn threatened to resign.  And when Trump heard that...he backed off from firing Mueller.  All this is additional ammunition for Mueller to show obstruction of justice by Trump.  And you may recall that Trump told reporters in August 2017 that he never had any thought to dismiss Mueller.  So Donald Trump lied.  Nothing new about that.

     Lying is, after all, par for the course with Trump.  Remember during the presidential campaign when he first began his quest to construct a wall on our southern border...and that Mexico would pay for it?  He lied then too since he now wants America to foot the bill.  And as Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Illinois tweeted on January 25th...Trump's immigration plan is "25-billion dollars" in "ransom for Dreamers."  Meanwhile, Democratic Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico says..."We cannot allow the lives of young people who have done everything right to be used as bargaining chips for sweeping anti-immigrant policies.  The White House is using Dreamers to mask their underlying xenophobic, isolationist, and un-American policies, which will harm millions of immigrants living in the United States and millions of others who want to legally immigrate and contribute to our country."

     But in a January 25th tweet by Angel Padilla of the progressive movement, Indivisible...Padilla echoes what I have been writing about in The Controversy for a very long time.  That Donald Trump's desire for a wall...his profanity and offensive insults towards Mexicans...all Latinos...African-Americans...and other minorities...are all forms of pure racism.  And Padilla says the immigration plan by Trump and his racist sidekicks is "about one thing: white supremacy.  It is about fundamentally changing the makeup of our country by removing people of color and preventing them from coming in the first place." 

     One reader of my January 20th column wrote me this week and accused "the left and the media" of portraying Donald Trump as a racist.  Liberals and the press don't need to do anything to portray Trump as a racist.  He does that all by himself.

     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.

Now please express your personal opinions by following the instructions above.  And thank you for reading The Controversy.

Copyright 2018 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.

AFTER ONE YEAR HE'S STILL IN THE WHITE HOUSE. YET DONALD TRUMP CONTINUES TO BE UNFIT WHILE HE FAILS AS PRESIDENT.

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     On the one-year anniversary of his inauguration, Donald Trump has once again shown our country - as he has all year - that he is unfit to serve as President of the United States.  With Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress, the man who claims to be the master at "the art of the deal"...failed at doing so on Friday, January 19th, 2018...when a crucial spending bill went down in flames in the U.S. Senate.  As a result, America's federal government closed its doors when the clock struck midnight in to Saturday, January 20th.  And why?  Largely because Trump and Senate Republicans preferred a shutdown instead of allowing immigrant families to stay together in the United States.  The House of Representatives had passed their spending measure on January 18th.

     In an official White House statement after the Senate vote, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders relayed a message from Trump that he refuses to negotiate any immigration deal until the government is open for business.  Sanders echoed Trump by calling Democrats "obstructionist losers."

     But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rightfully points the finger at Trump for the shutdown.  The New York Democrat was definitive that "the blame should crash entirely on (Donald) Trump's shoulders.  This will be called the Trump shutdown because there is no one who deserves the blame more than Trump."

     As this column is being published, the chaos with the government shutdown could go on for awhile as the Senate has adjourned until one o'clock on Sunday afternoon, January 21st.  So Day 2 of the shutdown will soon be here.  But what about Days 3, 4, 5 or more?

     Meanwhile, on Day 365 of his administration, Donald Trump proved again that he is a failure as president.  But he's been doing that all year long.  In what was supposed to be the beginning of a weekend celebration for Trump and his cronies, "The Donald" remains in Washington, DC instead of taking unjustifiable bows at a 100-thousand-dollar per couple gala at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. He has got to be spitting blood today.  But it's all his fault.  To not side with the Democrats...and to not push Republican senators to do the same...Trump shows his colors as a racist.  And I am sick and tired of racism.

     Racism is what Republicans are practicing when they don't support DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).  The program was created in 2012 under President Barack Obama.  It has provided protection to about 800-thousand undocumented immigrants who came to the United States when they were children. These kids...known as "Dreamers" - most of whom are now adults - were granted the temporary right to live, study and work in America.  But the majority of Dreamers hail from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.  And as we know...those countries - especially Mexico and El Salvador - are not Donald Trump's favorites.

     Every single Dreamer should be awarded American citizenship.  Not temporary or even permanent residence status, but all law abiding Dreamers who have graduated high school (or who are still attending)...or who have served in the U.S. military... deserve to be granted full U.S. citizenship as taxpaying Americans.  After all, Politifact confirms that undocumented immigrants - and please don't call them "illegal aliens" - pay 12-billion dollars in taxes every year.    

     As Congress continues to debate DACA, it's long overdue for Capitol Hill lawmakers to join forces and to pass legislation that protects Dreamers forever. Otherwise, come March 2018, these innocent individuals - some of whom are friends of yours...neighbors of yours...co-workers of yours...and students in your local schools...will be hunted down by federal immigration agents and deported back to countries where they have no homes and no jobs.  Dreamers were brought to the United States by their parents.  Some Dreamers came to the U.S. when they were so young that they probably have no memory of their birthplace.  It would be totally unfair and un-American to send people...who have lived in our country nearly all their lives...to foreign lands that mean little or nothing to them. 

     But Donald Trump is a racist.  Plain and simple.  He really has no regard for the Dreamers.  Let's face it...nobody can forget that when Trump announced he was a Republican candidate for president on June 16th, 2015...he insulted Mexicans by calling them "rapists."  Trump then campaigned that he would stop Mexicans from crossing our border with their "drugs" by promising to erect a wall, which he insisted would be paid for by our southern neighbors.  I wrote during the campaign that there should not be a wall...and that Trump would never build such a barrier between the two countries.  I remain confident that no wall will ever be erected.

     A January 12th to 16th poll by Quinnipiac University shows that nearly 60 percent of U.S. voters think Donald Trump doesn't respect African-Americans, Latinos, Hispanics and other non-Caucasians...as much as he does whites.  It disturbs me that there are nearly 40 percent of my neighbors nationwide who - after all the racist words Trump has uttered - still can state that he is not a racist.  It's disheartening to think that so many Americans can support a man who on January 11th hammered Haiti, El Salvador, and the nations of the African continent as "shithole countries"...but instead he would put out the welcome mat for more people from "Norway."  The 2017 edition of The World Factbook - prepared by the CIA - says about 83 percent of Norway's population is ethnic Norwegian.  In other words, they're blond, blue-eyed Caucasians.  There is a posting on Facebook from a young woman - answering the aforementioned description - who says, "I am from Norway and I would love to move to America if you have free healthcare, free colleges, a 30-hour work week, six weeks of yearly paid vacation, free child care, and a $16 per hour minimum wage.  Otherwise, you can keep your shithole country."  All Donald Trump does is embarrass America time and time again.  

     Prior to Trump's most recent profanity, he - in 2017 - falsely tagged all Haitians as having AIDS...as he complained about admitting Haitian immigrants in to the United States.  If every American is not willing to chastise Trump for his vile and repugnant language...then it's obvious that racism is rampant in our republic.  God help us if we sink back into a hell hole when blacks couldn't eat in the same restaurants as whites...and when public bathrooms were labeled by race.  God help us if we ever return to a time when Caucasian people thought African-Americans were put on this Earth to be nothing but slaves.  Disgraceful.

     On this January 20th, 2018...one-year to the day that Donald Trump took the oath of office...it's - to say the least - unsettling...that the President of the United States is a mentally ill, narcissistic, lying racist.  His approval rating hovers around or below 33 percent.  A recent poll by Pew Research Center landed Trump at 32 percent...while there are other surveys that place him closer to the middle or upper thirties.  Nevertheless, Trump has earned the "award" for having the lowest approval rating of any elected U.S. president in history for his first year in office. Furthermore, other recent polls indicate - that which I have written in commentaries since long before the 2016 election - that Donald Trump is "unfit to serve our country as president."

     The Quinnipiac University poll has given Trump a report card that by anyone's measurement is not good.  In fact...Trump received mostly below average, poor and failing marks.  Nearly three-quarters of the country - 73 percent of Americans - say Trump is worth nothing better than a C grade.  But 56 percent of voters give him a D or an F...with 39 percent outright flunking him.  Only 16 percent of people give Trump an A or B grade.

     According to Quinnipiac...Americans frequently describe Trump's Freshmen year as president as a "disaster," "chaotic," "horrible," "terrible," and "embarrassing."  And although Trump wants to pat himself on the back for our nation's improving economy...nearly half of the U.S. population believe President Obama deserves the bulk of the credit.  Forty-nine percent of Americans feel Mr. Obama is responsible for America's booming economic conditions.  Only 40 percent give Trump any sort of an "attaboy."

     Donald Trump's White House is crumbling before our eyes.  Unfortunately it will not collapse in to rubble soon enough for most Americans.  But a government shutdown is one more step in the direction of total failure for Trump's presidency. However, it will be Special Counsel Robert Mueller who is the key player in discovering the absolute proof whether Trump was involved in a conspiracy to collude with Russia for the purpose of interfering with and affecting the outcome of our nation's 2016 election.  But if Donald Trump is not guilty of a conspiracy...not guilty of a cover-up...then why on May 11th, 2017 did he tell NBC News anchor Lester Holt - and the entire world - that he fired James Comey as FBI Director, in essence, because of the Russia probe?  Trump told Lester..."When I decided to do it, I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won."  Comey later testified to Congress on June 8th, 2017 that he feels he lost his job because Trump wanted him to put an end to the inquiry of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and the entire Russia investigation.  Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee - in a live television broadcast - "I was fired in some way...to change...or the endeavor was to change...the way the Russia investigation was being conducted."  And as the plot thickens, Congresswoman Jackie Speier - in a CNN interview on January 18th - accused Trump of money laundering.  "There is plenty of evidence to suggest that there has been money laundering going on in many of the real estate deals that were done by the Trump Organization."  The California Democrat believes there is "a connection" between Trump's company and money laundering in Russia.  Such suspicions are just a piece of the puzzle that may link Trump to a conspiracy with Russia.  But similar accusations are noted in the explosive dossier that was compiled by former British Intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who alleges the existence of a conspiracy between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin's government.  Trump insists the dossier is "fake" and "made up."  

     But let us remember...Trump is the "liar-in-chief."  According to The Washington Post, Trump has lied more than two-thousand times since moving into The White House.  The newspaper has amazingly documented each and every misleading or false claim since January 20th, 2017.  I'll let you do the math on how many lies each day that Trump has told.  I'm surprised his nose isn't the size of Trump Tower.

     In a recent half-hour interview with The New York Times...The Washington Post reports they counted 24 falsehoods uttered by Trump.  He obviously doesn't care that he's a chronic liar.  But then...it's also obvious that he doesn't care that he's a racist.

     Trump can think - as he told a reporter earlier this month - that he's "the least racist person you have ever interviewed."  But like most everything else that leaps through Trump's lips...that too is a lie.

     To think that four in ten Americans won't condemn Donald Trump for his vulgar vocabulary makes me want to throw up.  But Trump's toxic tongue has been spewing offensive and venomous verbiage for a very long time.  From atrocious claims that America's first African-American president - Barack Obama - was not born in the United States, but in Kenya, to ridiculing Nigerians that they live in "huts"...from explicitly defending Neo-Nazis, white supremacists and Ku Klux Klansmen as having some "very fine people" among them, to wanting to ban Muslims from entering the United States...and for an abundance of bigoted behavior, unbecoming of any president...Trump is the poster boy of obscenities who defends discrimination.  

     Racism is disgusting.  If you don't believe - as I do - that all of the above evidence equates to racism...then America is on its way to regressing more than half a century...and we're in big, big trouble.  Some Americans need to open their eyes and ears...because as long as Donald Trump sits behind The Oval Office desk...we're in even more trouble than that.

     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.

Now, please express your personal opinions by following the instructions above.  And thank you for reading The Controversy.

Copyright 2018 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.

THERE'S A RACIST IN THE WHITE HOUSE. BUT I'VE KNOWN THAT FOR A LONG TIME. SO WHERE DOES HE HIDE HIS WHITE HOOD?

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     For more than two-and-a-half years, I have been calling Donald Trump a racist. And when labeling him in my column, I have been chastised by numerous Republican readers who found my comments to be hateful.  Well now...after the despicable slur that Trump reportedly uttered on Thursday, January 11th, 2018...and by doing so at an Oval Office meeting with Congressional lawmakers including Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Congressman Kevin McCarthy of California, among others...any conservative Americans - or, for that matter, any U.S. citizen whatsoever - who can defend Trump...I now tag you as well, a racist.  If you can support a man who spews the following venomous question..."Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?"...then you too are a racist.  There is no excuse to use such vulgar vocabulary about anybody's homeland.  Such profanity is not only offensive to the nations...but to the people of those countries and anyone whose skin color is black or brown who live in the United States or elsewhere around the world.

     According to sources with direct knowledge of Trump's toxic-tongued phraseology...reporter Josh Dawsey of The Washington Post - who first broke the story - writes that Trump "grew frustrated with lawmakers when they discussed protecting immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal."  The mention of Haiti seemed to strike a nerve with Trump.  "Why do we need more Haitians?  Take them out."  That repugnant order brings back a horrid reminder of a 2017 story by The New York Times that reported Trump - while in a meeting with Cabinet officials and members of The White House staff - complaining about admitting Haitians to America because "they all had AIDS"...plus Nigerians, who if we let in to our country "would never go back to their huts."  The White House denied that Trump made those disparaging comments last year, which were told to The New York Times by "officials who heard the statements in person or were briefed on the remarks by people who had."  As for the alarming profanity of January 11th, White House officials have not denied Trump's shocking expletive.  But then...how could they...with the witnesses who heard him? Meanwhile, The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey reports that Trump "suggested that the United States should instead bring more people from countries such as Norway."

     It is generally perceived that most people from Norway - who are categorized as "Scandinavian" - are not from a dark-skinned race.  The 2017 edition of The World Factbook - prepared by the CIA - says about 83 percent of Norway's population is ethnic Norwegian.  But more than a century ago, American economist and sociologist, William Z. Ripley - in his 1899 book, The Races Of Europe - scientifically classified Scandinavians as members of the Teutonic race...and described these people with such distinctive characteristics as "light hair, light skin and blue eyes." In other words...Donald Trump is willing to put out the welcome mat for immigrants whose skin color is white, but not if the skin color is black.

     Louisiana Democratic Congressman Cedric Richmond - who is the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus - reacted to Trump's obscene language by saying it is "yet another confirmation of his racially insensitive and ignorant views.  It also reinforces the concerns that we hear every day...that the President's slogan, 'Make America Great Again' is really code for 'Make America White Again."    

     But despite its overwhelmingly white population...what Trump doesn't realize is that Norway is also a melting pot.  According to Statistics Norway..."Diversity is an appropriate word to describe the composition of the Norwegian population.  As of January 1st, 2013, Norway was home to persons who, through their own, their parents', or their grandparents' country of birth...had a background from a total of 223 countries and autonomous regions."  Statistics Norway also says that nations in "Africa account for 11 percent of all immigrants in Norway" and that "29 percent of all immigrants in Norway have a refugee background" including Muslim immigrants who are largely from Iraq and Somalia.  We, of course, know of Trump's lack of affection towards Muslims.  Therefore, I would imagine that the prime minister of Norway - Erna Solberg - who Trump met with in The Oval Office on Wednesday, January 10th - would not be pleased by the American President's racist remark.

     Since his presidential candidacy began, Trump has proven - time and time again - that he is an arrogant, ignorant bigot.  He has insulted Mexicans...Muslims...African-Americans...Native Americans...and Jews...just to highlight a few.  And let us not forget that Trump spearheaded the so-called "birther movement" which wrongfully and disgracefully questioned the validity of President Barack Obama's birth certificate.  Thus...Trump, for years, claimed that Mr. Obama was not born in the United States...which certainly he was.  Still, nearly 63-million Americans overlooked Trump's prejudices and, nevertheless, cast their ballots for him in the 2016 election. It would be too much to expect...that each and every one of those Trump supporters would like to take back their votes.  But I certainly hope that the majority of them do not agree with Trump's aforementioned reprehensible comment.  For anyone to speak such words is unacceptable...but especially by the President of the United States.  It has become more and more apparent that Donald Trump is no better than a white supremacist...no better than a Ku Klux Klansman.  In private, does Trump cover his hair with a white hood?

     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.

Now, please express your personal opinions by following the instructions above.  And thank you for reading The Controversy.

Copyright 2018 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.

AN OPRAH AND TRUMP MATCH WILL NOT HAPPEN. BUT SOME OF YOU MIGHT FREAK OUT WHEN YOU READ WHY NOT.

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     Following Oprah Winfrey's articulate, eloquent and inspiring speech at the Sunday, January 7th, 2018 Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California...Donald Trump reacted on Tuesday, January 9th by telling reporters that if Oprah ran for President in 2020, it "would be a lot of fun." But the current Oval Office occupant insists..."I'll beat Oprah." Sorry, Donald...but Mickey Mouse would beat you next time around.  That is...if there is a next time.

     Speculation about Oprah's political plans have been all the rage this week...by the press...by many hopeful Democrats...and by fearful Republicans.  Since Oprah's brilliantly powerful acceptance speech for the Golden Globes' Cecil B. DeMille Award... Americans nationwide are wondering whether this entertainment giant...this media mogul and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient...might toss her hat into the ring for a face-off with whomever is the Republican nominee in 2020.

     For years, Donald Trump stated he had no interest in being President of the United States and, therefore, he had no desire to even run.  So although Oprah Winfrey has indicated - in the past - that she has no intention of becoming a presidential candidate...the word "never"...has "never" been uttered by this philanthropic powerhouse who has been labeled by some as "the most influential woman in the world."

     Ironically, Trump praised Winfrey on November 19th, 1999 when he told MSNBC's Chris Matthews and an audience of college students on Hardball that if he (Trump) were to run for President he "would consider Oprah" as his running mate...calling her "really great."

     As I have written in numerous commentaries over the last year...Trump's name will not be on the ballot in 2020.  He will be forced to resign the presidency long before voters go to the polls two-plus years from now.  Therefore...even if Oprah Winfrey does decide to seek the Democratic nomination for President...and even if she wins it...I don't think she'll be entering any pre-election debates opposite Donald Trump.  I believe that with impeachment hearings likely to begin in the House of Representatives before his term is up...Trump will not put himself through such proceedings.  Instead, he will tell Congress to go to hell...and despite definitive evidence - that I'm confident will be discovered - Trump will blame everyone from Mueller to the media...that the Russia inquiry is "a hoax" and "fake news."  But once Special Counsel Robert Mueller concludes his investigation...I'm certain he will have determined beyond the shadow of a doubt...that Trump fired James Comey as FBI Director...to put a stop to the Russia probe...and therefore Mueller will formally accuse Trump of obstruction of justice.  Furthermore...it is clear to me that Mueller will prove Trump wanted the Russia investigation to go away because "The Donald" was involved with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a collusion conspiracy to interfere with...and affect the outcome of...America's 2016 election between Trump and Hillary Clinton.

     I submit there is little of the above that anyone can dispute.  Let us remember a May 11th, 2017 interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt when Trump, in essence, admitted that he gave the boot to Comey because of the Russia investigation.  Trump told Lester..."When I decided to do it, I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won."  As Comey testified to Congress on June 8th, 2017...he feels he lost his job because Trump wanted him to slam on the brakes to the investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and the entire Russia probe.  Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee..."It's my judgment that I was fired because of the Russia investigation."  Comey continued to tell the Senators - in a live television broadcast - "I was fired in some way...to change...or the endeavor was to change...the way the Russia investigation was being conducted."  As for collusion...let me remind you that Donald Trump's oldest son - Donald Trump, Jr. - put in writing...that he wanted "dirt" from the Russians, which would destroy Hillary Clinton's chances at winning the election.  As I have written in the past, it amazes me when Trump supporters say they don't think Don, Jr. - and his brother-in-law, Jared Kushner - didn't tell "Daddy Donald" about the June 2016 meeting with the Russians at Trump Tower in New York City.  I most certainly believe that the son and son-in-law told Trump everything...beginning with Don, Jr.'s chain of e-mails...to the meeting itself...and its aftermath.  And that is one vital point that needs to be proven by Bob Mueller.

     In the wake of Michael Wolff's recently published bombshell book, Fire and Fury: Inside The Trump White House - which among other things questions Trump's mental fitness - Trump wrote a series of tweets on Saturday, January 6th, 2018 that once again prove his extreme narcissism and his danger as Commander-In-Chief. "Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart." Trump also bragged..."I went from VERY successful businessman, to top TV Star...to President of the United States (on my first try).  I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius... and a very stable genius at that!"  None of the above is the language that is normal for someone who is truly smart...who is truly a genius.  And such remarks are especially not the words that should be expressed by the President of our country.  

     Earlier this new year, Trump reminded us that he must always boast...that whatever he does...whatever he has...is the biggest...and the best.  Thus, these are more examples of Trump's mental illness.  And he does so even when it's false...such as his inauguration crowd being larger than the 2009 in-person audience at President Barack Obama's...which is not true.  Officials have stated there were hundreds of thousands more people who attended each of President Obama's swearing-in ceremonies.  But comparing crowd sizes is nonsense.  Comparing nuclear buttons...is dangerous.  In a Tuesday, January 2nd tweet, Trump wrote..."North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the 'Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.'  Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!"  Americans - and I mean ALL Americans - need to be concerned about the sanity...or the possible insanity...of someone who writes such a statement.  And when that person is the President of the United States...we must join together...in total unity...to legally move forward in removing such an individual as the leader of our nation. 

     The New York Daily News - on November 29th, 2017 - 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."  But long before The New York Daily News...long before Michael Wolff...regular readers of The Controversy are well aware that early in the presidential campaign, I frequently wrote columns where I tagged Donald Trump "a mentally ill madman"...who is "reckless, delusional and dangerous"...and "totally unfit to serve as President of the United States."  As the days, weeks and months have gone by...Trump's actions and words are confirmation...of what I was fully convinced of long ago...that someone who is completely out of his mind...has been allowed to take the oath of office as the American President.  But in his explosive new book...Michael Wolff has written that people close to Trump...people who work with him in The White House on a daily basis...also feel that Trump is "mentally unstable." I never thought I would ever agree with Trump's former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon about anything.  But according to Wolff...Bannon says...Trump has "lost it." It's about time that our Congress...and The White House Cabinet...act accordingly... by invoking the 25th Amendment - a provision in the U.S. Constitution by which the President can be removed from office if he is deemed medically unfit to discharge the powers and duties of his office.

     And speaking of Constitutional Amendments...if Trump testifies under oath before Bob Mueller - which, of course, he should - he'd better not "take the 5th." Obviously, Trump has the right to do so.  He has the right - like anyone else - to not answer questions that might incriminate him.  But if he does...Trump might as well start packing his bags.

     Just as Republicans joined with Democrats to force President Richard Nixon out of office, the GOP will do the same with Trump.  Once Democrats regain control of both the House and the Senate in the 2018 mid-term elections, which I believe they will... once citizen marches begin, as they did prior to Nixon's resignation...and once Trump's approval ratings dip below 30 percent - maybe even plummeting to 25 percent or lower - Republicans will jump on the bandwagon with their Democratic colleagues...and Trump will recognize that the handwriting is on the wall.  He'll have nowhere to go but home to Trump Tower or Mar-a-Lago.  That's assuming that the new President pardons him.  If not...well...you fill in the blanks.

     But suppose...just suppose...that Mike Pence is proved to be involved in a cover-up with Donald Trump...and Pence too is pushed out the door. We all know what happens next.  The Speaker of the House becomes President.  If Paul Ryan is still Speaker then he may decide to pardon both Trump and Pence. However...if what I have described doesn't happen until January of 2019...and the Democrats wind up taking control of the House because of enough victories in the 2018 mid-term elections...then a Democrat will become Speaker of the House.  Therefore, it is possible that if a Republican President and a Republican Vice President both resign - namely Donald Trump and Mike Pence - then whomever House Democrats have chosen as Speaker...he...or she...will become the 46th President of the United States.  And then...possibly...there'll be no pardons.  Think about that for a moment. Ponder that thought...and then dwell on it.

     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.

Now, please express your personal opinions by following the instructions above.  And thank you for reading The Controversy.

Photo credits: Dick Clark Productions, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, NBC Television Network and Variety (Oprah Winfrey) and NBC News (Donald Trump)

Copyright 2018 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.