In a report on Monday, April 30th, 2018 by NBC News correspondents Carole Lee, Courtney Kube, Kristen Welker and Stephanie Ruhle..."Officials said Kelly portrays himself to Trump administration aides as the lone bulwark against catastrophe, curbing the erratic urges of a president who has a questionable grasp on policy issues and the functions of government."
The NBC News report also says that eight current or former White House officials have spilled the beans that "Kelly has eroded morale in The West Wing in recent months with comments to aides that include insulting the president's intelligence and casting himself as the savior of the country."
But following the release of the NBC News report, Kelly smashed apart the allegation as a flat lie. The retired U.S. Marine Corps four-star general issued a statement on April 30th that "I spend more time with the president than anybody else and we have an incredibly candid and strong relationship. He always knows where I stand and he and I both know this story is total BS. I am committed to the president, his agenda, and our country. This is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to (the) president and distract from the administration's many successes."
Successes? What successes? Now there's BS.
Responding on Twitter to the NBC News report, Trump tweeted on April 30th... "The Fake News is going crazy making up false stories and using only unnamed sources (who don't exist). They are totally unhinged, and the great success of this Administration is making them do and say things that even they can't believe they are saying. Truly bad people!"
Great success of this Administration? Again BS.
When are Republicans nationwide going to realize that since The White House chief of staff reportedly thinks of Donald Trump as an "idiot"...and the former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly described Trump as a "f---ing moron"... then the likelihood is that Trump is an idiot and a moron. But then...regular readers of The Controversy are well aware that, to illustrate Trump, I used those words - or ones similar - going back nearly three years.
Colleagues of Secretary Tillerson say they witnessed him make the aforementioned comment about Trump...and Trump fired Tillerson several months after the remark was publicized. Meanwhile, NBC News says some White House officials don't expect General Kelly to remain in the Trump administration beyond this July. One senior White House official told NBC News that Kelly has told Trump..."If I weren't here, we would've entered World War III or the president would have been impeached."
Insulting people - especially women - seems to be accepted practice by some Americans over the last three years...thanks to Donald Trump. I am, however, appalled by such despicable action. As a candidate - in the first Republican Debate in August 2015 - the moderator, Fox News anchor (now NBC News anchor) Megyn Kelly - no relation to John - reminded Trump that he has offensively targeted certain women...including television personality and motion picture actress Rosie O'Donnell... by defining them as "fat pigs"...as "dogs"...as "slobs"...and as "disgusting animals."
The day after the debate - in an interview with CNN - Trump indicated that Kelly wasn't too pleased with him. His vulgar description of the respected journalist was uncalled for and definitely unpresidential. But Republican voters didn't care. In case you don't remember...of Megyn Kelly, Trump said..."You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes...blood coming out of her wherever."
Of the MSNBC Morning Joe co-anchor Mika Brzezinski, Trump heartlessly mocked her in June 2017, when he claimed she was "bleeding badly from a face lift."
In a Rolling Stone magazine article in 2015, Trump was hateful towards another GOP candidate when he spewed venomous verbiage off his toxic tongue about Carly Fiorina. "Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that... the face of our next president?"
Also during the campaign, Miss Universe 1996, Alicia Machado revealed that Trump cruelly tagged her "Miss Piggy" because he thought the beauty pageant queen had put on too many pounds. In addition, Machado was outspoken that she was a victim of racism by Trump's nickname for her..."Miss Housekeeping"...an unfair, untrue and bigoted reference that Latino women are nothing but maids. Machado is from Venezuela.
Trump has been known to rank women on a rating scale. And he, on numerous occasions, have labeled women..."bimbos."
And then, of course, there's the Access Hollywood video when Trump
grandstanded to Billy Bush about his sexcapades...allegedly with television personality Nancy O'Dell, among others.
"I moved on her, actually. You know she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her...and I failed. I'll admit it. I did try and f--k her. She was married. No, no, Nancy. No this was...and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, 'I'll show you where they have some nice furniture.' I took her out furniture... I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn't get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden, I see her. She's now got the big phony tits and everything. She's totally changed her look."
The conversation continued as the Access Hollywood bus arrived at NBC studios in Burbank, California and Trump noticed actress Arianne Zucker who he was meeting that day to videotape a scene with her on Days Of Our Lives.
"Yeah, that's her...with the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful... I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything." Billy Bush replied..."Whatever you want." And Trump uttered the line that nobody should forget. "Grab 'em by the p---y. You can do anything."
So with a man like Donald Trump sitting behind The Oval Office desk, why would anyone expect a monologue at the White House Correspondents Dinner to not be peppered with some obscene language? Comedienne Michelle Wolf has been chastised by many individuals for her performance at the Saturday, April 28th event...while many others have applauded and cheered her.
I will admit that throughout most of Wolf's roast, I was doubled-over with laughter. However...as hilarious as her routine was...some of it did cause me to say out loud to myself..."Wow! I can't believe she just said that."
Wolf's stand-up act - on one side - has been lambasted for being everything from "uncomfortable" to an "embarrassment"...from "disgraceful" to an "atrocity." But flip the coin, and others have raved that Wolf's routine was "funny as hell" and that she did "a kick-ass job."
Some of the backlash is being directed at Wolf's one-liners about White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
"Every time Sarah steps up to the podium, I get excited because I'm not really sure what we're going to get. You know...a press briefing, a bunch of lies, or divided in to softball teams."
"I actually really like Sarah. I think she's very resourceful. Like she burns facts, and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like maybe she's born with it...maybe it's lies. It's probably lies."
But comedienne Kathy Griffin - in two tweets - gave the best defense for Wolf's words.
From Sunday, April 29th..."Trump chooses not to attend the #WHCD - instead the White House said Sarah Sanders was attending in his place. She sat on the dais where the President usually sits. So of course she was going to get some of the toughest jokes, she was Trump's proxy."
And from Monday, April 30th..."But who am I kidding, even if @michelleisawolf's set was boring as oatmeal, as long as Trumpers were criticized in any way, they would find a way to hate it. They are humorless and never want to encounter criticism in any form."
Personally...the wisecrack that bothered me was Wolf saying that the late Senator Ted Kennedy was guilty of murder because of the 1969 automobile accident on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts. A new movie has been produced that re-lives the tragedy.
"Things are changing. Men are being held accountable. Al Franken was ousted... that one really hurt liberals. I believe it was the great Ted Kennedy who said... 'Wow, that's crazy. I murdered a woman! Chappaquiddick, in theaters now."
Kennedy is dead and he did not murder Mary Jo Kopechne. So generally speaking I would prefer that people let this icon of an American statesman rest in peace. However, Michelle Wolf was hired to deliver comedy in what has traditionally been a roast. Therefore, in this setting, I can't really complain about the Kennedy joke because that's what Wolf was there to do...tell jokes.
In a Facebook post on April 29th, Curtis Rhodes of Farmers Branch, Texas wrote..."Michelle Wolf was vulgar and disgusting, but her performance could not have been more appropriate. What comedy routine could be more obscenely vile than the daily treason of this (Donald Trump) administration and the Republican Party?"
Trump has deceived the American people time and time again. And on Tuesday, May 1st...on a Park Avenue sidewalk in New York City...a CNN exclusive interview with Trump's personal doctor of more than thirty-five years...was indicative that Trump has hoodwinked us again. Do you remember that far-fetched report that Dr. Harold Bornstein issued during the presidential campaign about "The Donald's" health? Well, Bornstein says that letter was actually written by Trump himself. Bornstein is no longer in the good graces of Trump, but he confessed to CNN senior national correspondent Alex Marquardt..."He dictated that whole letter. I didn't write that letter."
In that ludicrous letter - which Bornstein signed - it was obviously Donald Trump's intention to convince voters that he was some sort of a superhuman. "If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency."
Bornstein's fictionalized, December 2015 communication - again, which Trump wrote - painted an absurd picture of the now "Liar-In-Chief." The letter wanted Americans to believe that the then 69-year old candidate was basically in perfect health. "His physical strength and stamina are extraordinary," the letter fabricated.
Donald Trump always blames the media about "fake news." Well...Trump's letter was fake. And as with most everything else from the current White House occupant...the letter was a lie. That raises the question...how fake is Donald Trump's "excellent" health?
Earlier the same day that CNN broke the story about the letter, Dr. Bornstein - in an exclusive interview with NBC News - revealed to investigative producer Anna R. Schecter that he felt "raped, frightened and sad" when three men - including Donald Trump's longtime, personal bodyguard Keith Schiller...a senior attorney from The Trump Organization...and another "large man"...took all of Trump's medical records from the doctor's office. The 70-year old physician characterized the February 2017 invasion of his business premises as a "raid"...and that no HIPAA release form with Trump's signature was presented to Bornstein, which would have authorized copies of his patient's records to be handed over to the trio. Instead, the original documents were merely stolen.
It has been apparent since day one of Donald Trump's presidential candidacy that he doesn't want the American people to know intimate information about him. He has never provided us with his income tax returns and now we don't know the truth about his health.
What we do, in fact, know is that Trump lied about his health...or, at least, he had his doctor lie for him. So where are those medical records today? Does Trump have them hidden in some unknown bank...in a safe deposit box that is registered under a mysterious pseudonym? Or have those records been shredded? The bottom line is that we - the citizens of the United States - have no honest knowledge about the medical history of the president.
Donald Trump not only had a doctor compromise his ethics and lie for him, but Trump has proved once again - as we've known for a long time - that he is not just a chronic liar, but that he is unethical. On top of all that...Trump had the nerve, during the campaign, to attack Hillary Clinton about her health, while at the same time, Trump lied about his own.
I've wondered - and have written about it in the past - whether a prerequisite for employment with Donald Trump includes mandatory lying. I suppose Rudy Giuliani didn't get that memo before he came on board the "Trump train of trouble." On Wednesday, May 2nd, the former New York City mayor - who is now on Trump's legal team - told Fox News host Sean Hannity that Trump reimbursed the 130-thousand dollars that his personal attorney Michael Cohen paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Cohen has never denied paying the hush money to the porn star - whose real name is Stephanie Clifford - and that he prepared a non-disclosure agreement for her to sign in order to guarantee her silence about an alleged one-night romp-in-the-sheets with Trump. Such a sexual encounter - less than four months after Melania Trump gave birth to the Trumps' son, Barron - has been denied by Donald Trump, but Daniels insists the July 2006 fling did happen even though Trump never signed the NDA. Her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, says since Trump's signature does not appear on the non-disclosure agreement, then such a document is not valid. A lawsuit is before a court in California.
All of the above being said...on April 5th, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he knew absolutely nothing about Michael Cohen making any such payment to Stormy Daniels, which Cohen has admitted he paid less than two weeks before the 2016 election and without Trump's knowledge. But Mayor Giuliani informed Sean Hannity - not to mention the entire planet - that Trump not only gave back the bucks to Cohen, but he did so as separate installments on several occasions. In Giuliani's startling announcement on live television, he let the cat out of the bag when he divulged that the money was "funneled through a law firm and the president repaid it."
But there has been a debate whether Trump violated campaign finance laws since Cohen has firmly stated that the funds paid to Daniels were out of his own wallet and not from a Trump account. Individuals are only permitted by law to contribute up to 27-hundred dollars to a political candidate during a campaign. And, of course, 130-thousand dollars is a hell of a lot more than that. But according to Giuliani..."That money was not campaign money. Sorry, I'm giving you a fact that you don't know. It's not campaign money. No campaign finance violation."
Trump tweeted on Thursday, May 3rd that Cohen "received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA." Trump added that such a document is "very common among celebrities and people of wealth"...and that "money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction." (Trump misspelled "roll." It's role. But misspelling a word is nothing new for Donald Trump).
Still...Trump may have committed a crime. The chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, Norm Eisen, tweeted on May 2nd that Trump may have "broke(n) the law by failing to disclose the loan from Cohen on his federal presidential financial disclosures."
All of this legal mumbo-jumbo aside...the fact of the matter is...Donald Trump lied. He point blank declared on Air Force One that he was totally unaware of Cohen's financial arrangement with Stormy Daniels. THAT...WAS...A...LIE!!! As for Rudy Giuliani's off the cuff remarks to Sean Hannity...they just might have lost this case for Trump. And...if a federal law was broken...it may be the straw that Special Counsel Robert Mueller needs to break the camel's back and to force Trump to resign.
About Donald Trump, acclaimed veteran actor and motion picture producer/director Rob Reiner - in a May 1st tweet - hit the nail on the head. "Every day the President of the United States tells at least five lies. Every day the President of the United States or someone in his administration is accused of unethical or criminal behavior. It's exhausting. But hang in there. Justice will be served."
Perhaps if Robert Mueller waits a little longer before concluding his investigation, Rudy Giuliani might expose Trump as a willing conspirator with Russia in the interference of the 2016 presidential election and that his firing of James Comey as FBI director was premeditated in an attempt to put an end to the Russia probe... which is - as we all know - what Trump told NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt in a May 2017 nationally televised interview.
It's now up to Special Counsel Mueller to dig up the dirt - which I am confident he is in the midst of doing - and to gather direct evidence of obstruction of justice by Donald Trump. Then - unless Trump resigns first...which is what I've always said he would do - it will be up to the House of Representatives to hammer the nails in the coffin of this presidency and for the Senate to bury 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: Chicago Tribune (Donald Trump) and IMDB (Rob Reiner)
Copyright 2018 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net. All Rights Reserved.
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