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Impeachment of Donald Trump by the United States House of Representatives is a foregone conclusion. Only a simple majority is needed to impeach him. With a Democrat-controlled House, that should be a done deal. But here are the big questions. Are there 20 of the 53 Republicans in the U.S. Senate who care more about our country than they do about their party...and will those senators recognize all the many reasons why Trump should no longer be sitting behind The Oval Office desk? In other words...will they - in plain English - have the balls to convict Trump and remove him from office? I shall not list or explain in this column the justification which would support my call for Trump to permanently depart The White House. Anyone with an ounce of integrity - who is honest to themselves and others - knows the reasons why Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the United States of America. As I have written in editorials for more than two years - long before Trump was elected - he is mentally and morally unfit to serve as president of our nation.
More and more evidence has come to light which proves that illegal activities are in good part responsible for Trump's election, and - therefore - his defeat of Hillary Clinton and the Democrats in 2016. Such action would certainly fall under the U.S. Constitution's grounds for impeachment; they being "treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors." The latest in Trump's bag of lies and deceit comes from a story published by The Wall Street Journal on January 17th, 2019, which states that in 2015, Michael Cohen - Trump's former lawyer and self-proclaimed "fixer" - paid a technology firm thousands of dollars to rig polls for then-candidate Donald Trump. Cohen responded to The Wall Street Journal's reporting by tweeting, "As for the @WSJ article on poll rigging, what I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of @realDonaldTrump @POTUS. I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn't deserve it."
"Deep Throat" (who we now know was the
late Associate F.B.I. Director Mark Felt), is thought by most Americans to have told The Washington
Post's Bob Woodward during the Watergate days to "follow the money." But that was only a line in the script of the 1976 blockbuster motion picture, All The President's Men. Americans have attributed the statement to "Deep Throat," but in reality the phrase was only part of a scene between Hal Holbrook, who portrayed "Deep Throat" in the film, and Robert Redford, who appeared as Bob Woodward. Having "Deep Throat" tell Woodward to "follow the money" was a creative move by screenwriter William Goldman. The words are not mentioned in the non-fiction book that preceded the movie, nor is it noted in any documentation of the Watergate scandal. Nevertheless, information which the real "Deep Throat" (Mark Felt) provided was critical to the stories being written by Woodward and his then-reporting partner Carl Bernstein, which ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon on August 9th, 1974.
Fast forward to today and the phrase "follow the money" is applicable. The Wall Street Journal says that sometime in early 2015 the owner of RedFinch Solutions - John Gauger - arrived at Trump Tower to collect $50,000 for work that his tech company performed for Michael Cohen on behalf of Donald Trump. According to The Journal's report, the task at hand was for RedFinch Solutions to influence the online polls of CNBC and the Drudge Report. Whether the effort by the technology business was successful or not is irrelevant. The intent was to carry out an act of fraud...and Cohen claims that he was under orders by Trump to commit such a felony, which legal scholars state also violates the federal campaign finance law.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Gauger claims he never received the entire sum of 50-thousand bucks. Instead - according to The Journal - Cohen paid the tech company boss a total of between $12,000 and $13,000, and that the money was given to Gauger as cash in a blue Walmart bag. Cohen, however, says that's not true. Trump's former attorney told The Wall Street Journal that he paid Gauger by check, not in cash.
To top off this scandal, The Wall Street Journal reports that even though Cohen never paid Gauger his entire fee for the dirty deed, Cohen - in 2017 - according to The Journal, was given the full 50-grand by Trump. So Cohen paid twelve or thirteen thousand dollars to Gauger, but he allegedly told Trump that he laid out fifty thousand from his own pocket to pay for the crime they committed. Hey, crooks are like "birds of a feather." They "flock together."
Let's remember that Michael Cohen - on August 21st, 2018 - implicated Donald Trump in a pair of felonies when Cohen testified under oath in federal court that the hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and to Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal were all part of a scheme that was "coordinated" and "directed" by Trump. Federal prosecutors for
the Southern District of New York - in filings that
were released on December 7th, 2018 - also implicated Trump in those two
felonies. Prosecutors say Trump "directed" Michael Cohen to pay $130,000 to Daniels - whose real name is Stephanie Clifford - and $150,000 to McDougal so that the women would keep their lips
zipped about alleged sexual flings with Trump. The feds filing spells it
out clearly. "With respect to both payments, he (Cohen) acted in coordination
with and at the direction of Individual-1." Individual-1 is Donald Trump.
Prosecutors say the payments were illegal corporate donations to Trump's
presidential campaign. But Trump denies it all and claims he did not direct
Cohen to commit any violations of law. However, at his sentencing on December 12th, Cohen also testified that in addition to himself, Trump was a willing participant in a meeting with David Pecker. Pecker's company - American Media Inc. - publishes the National Enquirer, and it was Pecker who actually made the $150,000 payment to McDougal. Plus, when the tabloid tossed the McDougal story into the trash bin, federal law considers that an "in-kind" contribution. If prosecutors - along with United States District Court Judge William Pauley - didn't have credible evidence, beyond Cohen's sworn testimony - that Cohen was telling the truth, they would not have implicated Trump in felonies, which the prosecutors have done in court documents. Cohen was sentenced to three yeas in prison for arranging the illegal payments to Daniels and McDougal, along with tax evasion, lying to Congress, and other charges. The money to the two women was intended - according to Cohen - to silence them because news of their alleged affairs with Trump could have influenced the outcome of the election, which is a violation of the federal campaign finance law. Donald Trump has never acknowledged his sexual flings with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, and he has called Michael Cohen "a liar." But the cherry on top of this scandalous sundae is yet to come. Before Cohen is placed behind bars, he is scheduled to testify before Congress in February. And I think, at that point, Donald Trump will be thrown so far under the bus that his presidency will be even closer to ending.
If Trump does not resign the presidency - as I have always suggested that he will eventually do - an impeachment by the House of Representatives is inevitable. To convict Trump in a Senate trial would take 20 Republican senators to join with the 47 Democrats, who presumably would vote to find Trump guilty. Subsequently, Trump would be removed from office. It takes two-thirds of the Senate (67 senators) to accomplish that task. Donald Trump, however, should save the United States from such an ordeal - and an expense to the American taxpayers - and simply resign. Resign Trump. You'll sleep better. And so will we.
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.
Please express your personal opinions by following the instructions printed at the top of this column. And thank you for reading The Controversy.
Photo credits: Olivier Douliery/Pool/Getty (Donald Trump #1) and Getty Images (Donald Trump #2)
Copyright 2019 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net. All Rights Reserved.
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The conman and snake oil salesman that is Donald Trump first hoodwinked enough Republicans across America in to thinking that he "alone can fix it." In case you have forgotten, those were Trump's words during his acceptance speech after being nominated for president at the Republican National Convention in July 2016.
But Trump is a pseudointellectual. He pretends to be of greater intelligence than he in fact is...but instead, his existence is based on megalomania narcissism and flimflamming his way to The White House. In other words, Donald Trump is nothing more than a really good bunco artist.
Trump also snookered enough voters - Republicans and Independents - in to thinking that we of the "red, white and blue" are suffering a threat by international terrorists who sneak across the U.S./Mexico border with the intent to kill thousands of Americans. It is one of Trump's biggest lies; perhaps his worst.
Trump - during the 2016 presidential campaign - created a dangerous fantasy that too many people in our country bought in to, and unfortunately they did, because it was one of the reasons Trump was able to defeat Hillary Clinton in an Electoral College vote. It was that fabricated figment of Trump's imagination that deceived his voters and persuaded them to believe that we needed a 2,000-mile wall to be built across our nation's southern border.
It truly pains me to ask the following question, but here it comes. Are there really that many stupid people in the United States? The latest Educational Attainment data from the U.S. Census Bureau - dated December 14th, 2017 and published at census.gov - confirms that "90 percent of the population age 25 and older have completed high school." In comparison to pre-World War II figures, the U.S. Census Bureau report states that "In 1940, less than half of the population age 25 and older had a high school diploma." Today's statistics - again, actually from December 2017 - equate to about 195-million of the 217-million Americans age 25 and older who have graduated from high school. Furthermore, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than one-third (34 percent) of Americans in the same age bracket noted above have attained a bachelor's degree from a higher institution of learning. That figure alone is disturbing. If educations by public colleges and universities were available to students free of tuition, the aforementioned percentage amount would undoubtedly skyrocket. But that's a topic for another column..not today's. The U.S. Census Bureau also indicated that people with advanced degrees - including masters and doctorates - "make up 13 percent of all U.S. adults."
My point for including the numbers above in this editorial is to indicate that America - for the most part - is primarily not a nation of illiterate people. But an education - even the finest ones - doesn't make a stupid person smart. Trusting Donald Trump about anything is just plain foolish. Yet Trump's base continues to remain (they fell in long ago) ensconced in the "Trump trap"... and as such...those Americans who continue to elevate him on to a pedestal are ignorant to the truth.
In a Monday, January 7th, 2019 report by NBC News national security reporter Julia Ainsley, "U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered only six immigrants at ports of entry on the U.S./Mexico border in the first half of fiscal year 2018 whose names were on a federal government list of known or suspected terrorists, according to CBP data provided to Congress in May 2018 and obtained by NBC News."
But as usual, Trump had his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, lying for him. On Friday, January 4th, Sanders falsely stated on Fox & Friends that there were "nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists that CBP picked up that came across our southern border." She then repeated the erroneous claim on Sunday, January 6th on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. But the veteran journalist did his homework and Wallace cited a Department of State report that there is "no credible evidence" of terrorists crossing the U.S./Mexico border. Wallace told Sanders he "studied up" on the facts and that those 4,000 people were captured at "airports."
Trump has his cronies giving fictitious information because construction of what I call Trump's "racist and xenophobic wall of hate" was a pledge he made during the 2016 campaign, and he has to prove to his base of supporters that he can honor that promise. However...after vowing to get Mexico to foot the bill for the wall... Trump now wants Congress to approve 5.6-billion dollars to build it. But day after day, the madness is all that builds, as Trump invents more ways for his non-existent crisis to brainwash the people who unwisely encourage him and back him.
On Saturday, December 22nd, 2018, Trump shut down part of the federal government and now, eighteen days in to it, he still refuses to re-open "Uncle Sam's" doors (those that are currently closed) until Congress comes up with the bucks for the wall. But Democrats now control the U.S. House of Representatives and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi - along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer - are not going to back down. Neither will give in to Trump's threats and the House will never give a green light for Trump to receive any such funds. That being said, Trump thinks he can give an order for the wall to be built by declaring a "national emergency because of the security of our country." But on the same day of that strong-arm tactic by Trump, Congressman Adam Schiff - Democrat of California - was adamant on January 4th. "Not in America, he doesn't." Any attempt by Trump to declare a national emergency will be challenged all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Such a lawsuit could take years to settle before Justices come to a decision. By then, Trump would be out of office and no wall would have been built. Think about this though. Donald Trump is stomping his feet in a temper tantrum now. Just wait and see his reaction after all of that.
Trump warned on January 4th that he could keep the government closed "for months or even years." This is a man who obviously doesn't care that he is stealing money from certain federal employees; many of whom continue to perform their jobs without a paycheck. Because of the shutdown, nearly 800-thousand federal workers have either been furloughed without pay or are required to continue working even though they won't receive one red cent for doing so. Trump is taking food out of the mouths of children who won't be able to be fed by their parents who are employed by the United States government. Be that as it is... Trump's base remains loyal to him. Really? Seriously?
Congressman Schiff continued his January 4th statement by writing..."I've never seen anything like this. Trump is punishing Americans for the sake of a wasteful wall that he promised they would never pay for, and threatening to declare a national emergency like some tinpot ruler. Trump can keep fear-mongering about the border and making promises he can't keep to his base, but it's about time Republicans in Congress gain the courage to join us in ending this shutdown."
As Congressman Schiff wrote on Monday, December 31st, 2018..."In high school, I learned to begin the new year by saying 'rabbit, rabbit' to bring luck. I'll be doing that again tonight as we ring in 2019. We'll certainly need luck in the coming months, but more than that, we'll need to keep working hard to protect our democracy and build a stronger nation." Schiff - the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee - continued..."With the new Democratic majority in the House, we will fight tooth and nail to provide real oversight of this president."
Congressman Schiff further stated on Thursday, January 3rd..."This is a Congress by, of, and for the people, as it should always be." And, "We will hold this president accountable, put a check on his worst impulses, and will not be cowed by his attacks."
Rabbit, rabbit to all Americans who aren't feeble-minded and short-sighted to believe in the irrational and reckless Donald Trump.
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.
Please express your personal opinions by following the instructions printed at the top of this column. And thank you for reading The Controversy.
Photo credits: Olivier Douliery/Pool/Getty Images (Donald Trump #1), Yuri Gripas/Bloomberg/Getty Images (Donald Trump #2), Screenshot from Fox News and Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace (White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Fox News anchor Chris Wallace), New York Amsterdam News (Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer), Tom Pennington/Getty Images (Donald Trump #3), and Joshua Roberts/Reuters (Representative Adam Schiff)
Copyright 2019 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net. All Rights Reserved.
After reading this
editorial, please express your
own thoughts. At the bottom, please click on the word "Comments" below the
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If I had known that by being a superfan of The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice that my embrace for a couple of television shows would eventually become an instrumental factor in the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, I would have never watched the programs. In fact, I would have boycotted them and panned them through my written editorials and on-air broadcasts. But as guilty as I am, so are millions of you who also helped to make the two NBC series popular for fourteen seasons, beginning with The Apprentice in January 2004, followed by the premiere in January 2008 of The Celebrity Apprentice.
As a result of my "boob-tube" viewing habits...and yours...(at least a good amount of you)...we are responsible - Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike - in great part...for contributing to the creation of a megalomaniac monster who is mentally and morally unfit to sit behind The Oval Office desk. Yes...we the long ago fans of the aforementioned shows are the "Dr. Frankensteins" who built him...and who skyrocketed his national notoriety.
Trump's boardroom antics were entertaining and fun, and I have never denied my support for the pair of TV series that he hosted. Trump's catch-phrase, "You're fired!" - which loyal groupies of his shows waited for him to utter every week - has become the punchline of a joke that is Donald Trump's White House administration. Trump has fired more people - since taking the oath of office on January 20th, 2017 - than any other president in U.S. history. And when I opt for the word "fired" in my description of Trump's actions, I not only include people who have departed because he gave them the boot, but I also include others who Trump pushed out, therefore, the official designation was that they "resigned." In reality, though...they too were fired. Then there are those individuals who simply quit so they could run away from a nutjob, as they could no longer be party to Trump's lying, his deceit, his disturbing threats, and his alarming and unstable behavior.
Think about it. There are 41 members of Trump's administration - in less than 24 months - who have made their exit. The list of names is too long to detail in this column, but it includes (in no particular order) two national security advisers, an F.B.I. director and an F.B.I. deputy director, three White House communications directors, a White House press secretary (who was also communications director for a time), a White House counsel, a United Nations Ambassador, two White House chiefs of staff, a Secretary of Health and Human Services, a Secretary of Veterans Affairs, an Attorney General, a Secretary of State, and a Secretary of Defense, among many others.
The Defense Department chief - retired U.S. Marine Corps General James Mattis - basically told Trump "I'm outta here" (my words not the General's) because he disagreed with Trump's decisions. In his resignation letter on December 20th, 2018, Mattis was crystal clear as to why he was leaving. "One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships." Mattis continued in his letter to Trump..."Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours...I believe it is right for me to step down from my position." Essentially, however...Mattis skedaddled in protest to Trump's announcement that he would withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, along with a drawdown of American military in Afghanistan. The retired four-star general and now former Pentagon boss also
opposed Trump pulling out of the multi-nation, Iran nuclear deal, that was orchestrated by President Barack Obama and his administration. Furthermore, Mattis reportedly objected to the manner in which Trump has treated our NATO allies.
As year two of the Trump administration comes to a close later this month, I believe it's inevitable that more and more people who Trump once "hired" will end up "fired." Many others will jump ship on their own because the handwriting is on the wall and Trump's future does not look promising for 2019.
As this column is published, Trump's shutdown of the federal government - which began at midnight on Saturday, December 22nd, 2018 - is entering its third week. And...on Friday, January 4th, 2019, America's "bully-in-chief" threatened to possibly keep "Uncle Sam" from opening his doors (those that are currently closed) for "months or even years" if Congress doesn't give Trump 5.6 billion dollars so that a barrier can be built on the U.S./Mexico border. In addition, Trump warned that he could declare a national security emergency and, therefore, construct - what I label - his "racist and xenophobic wall of hate" without Congress giving him the green light. Trump told reporters..."We can call it a national emergency because of the security of our country." But Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff of California stated on January 4th..."Not in America, he doesn't."
But for Trump to suggest that he can merely dictate that the wall is a "national emergency" and that "I can do it if I want"...may not be as easy as he may think. NBC News - on January 4th - reported the following facts.
"Legal experts said it might not be as simple to bypass Congress - which ultimately controls the federal budget. A president can declare that the country is in a state of national emergency at his discretion." But..."Experts in executive authority told NBC News that while Trump can declare an emergency, his powers - and the funds he has access to once he's done so - are unclear. Any moves like the one Trump teased on Friday would certainly meet with a legal challenge and the courts have stopped presidents from using states of emergency before." NBC's "expert in presidential power" also told the "peacock network" that Trump "will run afoul of the courts because in order for Trump to be clear, Congress legally still needs to earmark any federal funds for a border wall." However, another "legal expert" for NBC News noted that "The Department of Defense has funds in its account that are not specifically designated for anything. DoD has a big pile of money for military construction. The question is whether DoD would use that money and might even cancel other construction projects just to build the wall. The assumption has been there are political safeguards on such things, that doing it would be so politically unattractive that even if you had the bare legal authority to do it, the political costs would be too high."
In any event, Democrats - led by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer - will in no way back down. Even though the Republicans control the Senate... the Democrats hold the purse strings in the House. So as I have written since candidate Trump first broached the subject of a wall three years ago...there will be no wall. Never...not ever! Donald Trump can make his threats all day long. But attempting to intimidate Democrats isn't going to fly. Trump's actions are those of a madman...and he is proving more and more everyday that he is a danger to the United States of America...to all Americans...and to the planet Earth.
Continuing with Congressman Schiff's statement..."I've never seen anything like this. Trump is punishing Americans for the sake of a wasteful wall that he promised they would never pay for, and threatening to declare a national emergency like some tinpot ruler. Trump can keep fear-mongering about the border and making promises he can't keep to his base, but it's about time Republicans in Congress gain the courage to join us in ending this shutdown."
I won't use the profanity that Democratic freshman Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan used on Thursday night, January 3rd...but yes, yes, yes... the U.S. House of Representatives must impeach the 45th president...Special Counsel Robert Mueller needs to drop the proverbial "other shoe" already... and the U.S. Senate must remove Trump from office. Or...they all need to force him to resign as was the case in 1974 with Richard Nixon.
Republicans in the Senate - and hopefully nationwide - are soon going to realize that they have been hoodwinked and snookered by Trump, and they're not going to take anymore of his chaotic and reckless shenanigans. Enough is enough. Constitutionally and legally, it's time for "The Donald" to be sent back to Trump Tower in New York City...to Mar-a-Lago in Florida...or to anywhere else but The White House in Washington, DC. Donald Trump cares about nobody but himself...and Congress needs to do its job. NOW! Otherwise, America may never recover from his narcissistic habits...his lunatic temperament...his incendiary conduct...and his evil demeanor.
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.
Please express your personal opinions by following the instructions above. And thank you for reading The Controversy.
Photo credits: NBC and Mark Burnett Productions (Donald Trump #1), NBC and Mark Burnett Productions (Donald Trump #2), Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images (former Secretary of Defense and retired General James Mattis), Reuters (former President Barack Obama), New York Amsterdam News (Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer), Joshua Roberts/Reuters (Representative Adam Schiff), Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press (Representative Rashida Tlaib) and Reuters (Donald Trump #3)
Copyright 2019 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net. All Rights Reserved.
