IT'S "EXIT STAGE RIGHT" (OR "STAGE LEFT") IN TRUMPWORLD

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     Donald Trump wants The White House to be run exactly like The Trump Organization...where nobody has any power but Donald Trump.  He wants only lapdogs and lackeys on The White House staff who will "yes" him and do everything the Trump way...the Donald Trump way.

     In less than 22 months of occupying The Oval Office, 56 people who were "notable" members of the Trump "administration and orbit" have either been fired (or pushed out)...or have resigned...since Trump moved in to The White House on January 20th, 2017.  The Trump White House has had more turnover of senior advisers and aides than any other presidential administration in modern U.S. history. This is a fact.  The unprecedented, record-breaking list numbering 56 individuals... and the names associated with it...is compiled by CNN Politics at https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/08/politics/trump-admin-departures-trnd/.

     Moments before publishing this column on Wednesday night, November 14th, 2018, another of the Trump dominoes fell in The White House when Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that Deputy National Security Adviser Mira Ricardel is being reassigned to another position within the Trump administration.  Where Ricardel will be working was not specified, but it will not be at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Losing her job at The White House was inevitable for Ricardel since she apparently butted heads with Melania Trump who on Tuesday, November 13th had publicly called for her husband to terminate Ricardel.  A statement was released by Mrs. Trump's press secretary and communications director, Stephanie Grisham, that was to the point.  "It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she (Ricardel) no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House."  The question is...why did Melania Trump all of a sudden want to become so visible and so public about a White House aide?  She could have easily shared her complaints with Trump and left it at that.  But as I have written in the past...is Trump playing games with his wife?  Is Trump hanging something over Mrs. Trump's head (whatever that may be)...and could it have anything to do with their marriage...money...and their son?  It does make one ponder the possibilities and wonder.

     One does not need to hold credentials of a medical doctor of psychiatry or of a clinical psychologist to conclude that Donald Trump is the perfect example...the epitome...of someone whose mental imbalance has caused him to dismiss people from his inner circle who he originally believed would walk the walk of Donald Trump and talk the talk of Donald Trump. As for those high-ranking persons who have quit of their own accord, they have had the insight to act like Snagglepuss and "exit stage right" (or perhaps in some cases, "stage left"), so to not fall in to the Trump termination trap at a later date.    

     Democrats made a valiant attempt to take full control of Congress in the 2018 midterm elections on November 6th. The chamber of the House of Representatives will be painted blue (metaphorically speaking) come January 3rd, 2019, while the Senate chamber will remain red.  But Trump's approval rating has plummeted to 38 percent, according to a recent Gallup poll.  He has bounced between 35 and 45 percent over the last nearly two years like the ball in an Andre Agassi/Jimmy Connors tennis match.

     Donald Trump's plethora of paranoia is an unstable demonstration of abnormal behavior...especially for the president of the United States. He is overly suspicious that Democrats are seeking revenge against him because of the 2016 election and Trump's Electoral College victory over Hillary Clinton. A formal diagnosis by a qualified professional is necessary to medically prove Trump's narcissistic psychosis.  But further displays of tweeting tirades that more often than not paint a picture of a ranting, raving lunatic will be the incentive that House Democrats will rely on when they proceed on a pathway to impeach Trump in 2019. The course of congressional action might not be dependent on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's criminal investigation, but a matter by Congress to determine that Trump is psychologically unfit to fulfill the duties for which he is sworn to undertake. 

     Should Mike Pence not be a participant in any cover-up...or complicit in any Trump led criminal corruption scheme - which currently there is no evidence that the vice president is involved with any such operation - then one has to wonder if Pence wants to go down with the ship if and when the S.S. Titanic Trump capsizes and sinks in to oblivion.   

     Pence presumably will run for president once Trump's reign of terror has ended. Trump appears to trust Pence - and at his November 7th, 2018 press conference... after a reporter made the inquiry about a Trump/Pence ticket in 2020 - Trump publicly asked Pence to be his running mate again for the next election.  But Trump could drop Pence as he has others who boarded his bizarre bandwagon.  All Trump needs is a scintilla of suspicion that Pence is not loyal, and Pence will quickly become a faded memory in the minds of Republicans - who for whatever reason - support Donald Trump.  Therefore, as Trump's approval rating continues to spiral downward... and subsequently the handwriting on the wall then starts to show a more likely collapse of Trump's presidency...it would behoove Pence to act aggressively and to not wait until the ax falls.

     It is a foregone conclusion that House Democrats would vote to rid America from Donald Trump's wrath under any circumstance.  If Mike Pence and any eight of the fifteen Cabinet officers believe that Trump is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office," Section 4 of the United States Constitution's 25th Amendment states they can merely spell that out in a written letter and deliver that message to the speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate.  Immediately, upon that action, Mike Pence would become "acting president," and he would take charge as our nation's leader. It would be up to Trump to dispute the decision by Pence and more than one-half of the Cabinet.  Presumably, Trump's ego would not accept being thrown out without a fight unless, of course - at that point - it was becoming apparent that Special Counsel Mueller was moving forward with indictments of Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr....son-in-law, Jared Kushner...and even Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump Kushner...or if Mueller had all the evidence he needed to legally force Trump to resign.

     But let's, for this scenario, leave Mueller out of the mix.  Trump would indeed become combative.  It would then be up to both Houses of Congress to settle what Pence and the Cabinet had started.  A two-thirds majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate is required to permanently remove Trump as president and keep Pence in power.  If Congress does not meet the threshold, as described above, Trump would return to sit behind The Oval Office desk.  But Mike Pence is popular among Republicans in Congress and I'm confident if he and enough members of the Cabinet were to invoke the 25th Amendment, two-thirds of both congressional Houses - Democrats and Republicans alike - would agree to remove Trump from the presidency.  

      What is on the mind of Mike Pence?  That September 5th, 2018 op-ed, which was published by The New York Times, was chock-full of criticism for Donald Trump.  The op-ed bashed Trump. Its mysterious author claimed there were conversations, in the past, among Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment, in an effort to bring down the Trump presidency.  The unnamed "senior official in the Trump administration" wrote..."Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the Cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president.  But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis.  So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until - one way or another - it's over."  The official continued in the piece by writing..."The root of the problem is the president's amorality.  I work for the president, but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.  We believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic."

     Mike Pence has unequivocally denied taking part in any discussion that would give Trump the boot.  But I've got to believe...based on Trump's history with others on his team...that he would stab his number two in the back - figuratively speaking - if he felt...in his sick mind...that he had good reason to do so.  That said...one has to give at least some credit to Pence that in the two years since they were elected, he's figured out Trump's modus operandi, just as millions of others have...and, therefore, I would bet that Pence realizes now that if it means going behind Trump's back to protect his own, then so be it.

     Rumors are reportedly running rampant that Trump is planning a White House shake-up, which could rock our nation's capital like an eruption of Mount St. Helens. After Trump fired Jeff Sessions as attorney general on November 7th...there is much scuttlebutt throughout Washington, DC that Trump may soon toss several more senior aides out the front door...possibly including Chief of Staff John Kelly...Defense Secretary James Mattis...Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen...Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross...and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

     This has been a White House in turmoil since day one of Donald Trump's administration.  The former reality television star of The Apprentice has branched out in to making his presidency more like an episode of The Jerry Springer Show...only that The West Wing battles - along with confrontations between Trump and the press - have not yet developed in to barroom brawls as they did on Springer's TV program.  But in Trumpworld, anything can happen.  To quote Scarlett O'Hara in author Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind..."After all...tomorrow is another day."

     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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Photo credits: Getty Images (Melania Trump and former Deputy National Security Adviser Mira Ricardel), Reuters (Donald Trump #1), Reuters (Donald Trump #2), Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/The Slate Group (Special Counsel Robert Mueller), Getty Images (Mike Pence) and CNN/Associated Press/Getty Images (Donald Trump and Jerry Springer)

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