TRUMP'S PLAN FOR "OBAMACARE" WOULD MEAN BANKRUPTCY OR DEATH FOR MILLIONS OF AMERICANS

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     Donald Trump's goal in life is to destroy former President Barack Obama's legacy.  That is the only reason Trump continues to push Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

     He died of brain cancer on August 25th, 2018, but about a month earlier, on July 27th, Senator John McCain (Republican from Arizona) 

courageously opposed Trump and nearly all Senate Republicans when he gestured his now famous thumbs-down vote, which - at the time - ended any chance for the GOP to get rid of President Obama's signature piece of legislation. After that, I - quite frankly - believed I would never be writing another column about saving "Obamacare."  But with a House of Representatives that is now controlled by the Democrats, Trump and the Republicans have a snowball's chance in hell for Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

     That being said...on Tuesday, March 26th, 2019, Trump renewed his fight to strike down the ACA because he insists the healthcare law is a "disaster."  The only disaster in our country today is the man who calls himself "President."  But he's mentally and morally unfit to hold that title.

     Donald Trump's racist hate for President Obama stems from the so-called "birther movement" days, when Trump falsely accused our 44th president of not being born in the United States and, therefore - since Article Two of the U.S. Constitution requires the president to be a natural-born citizen - Trump asserted that Mr. Obama was ineligible to occupy The Oval Office.  The only one who should be ineligible to serve as president of the United States - based on his reckless and dangerous demeanor - is Donald Trump.

     I have always believed that Trump's abhorrent behavior towards President Obama was a joint venture between the jealous bones and the bigoted bones in Trump's body.  Trump has proven time and time again - through numerous racist remarks about people whose skin color is not lily white - that he is a prejudiced pig.  But Trump also resents Mr. Obama because of his popularity...because President Obama - more than two years after leaving The White House - remains the most admired man in America.  As such, Donald Trump's narcissism forbids him to accept the applause and the adoration for President Obama by others...let alone to show any affection himself for his predecessor.  Thus Trump will do anything and everything in an effort to ruin the accomplishments and successes of President Obama.

     Donald Trump doesn't give a damn that the Affordable Care Act is vital to helping millions of Americans live and survive.  "Obamacare" currently provides health insurance to about 20-million Americans.  But similar to Trump's obsession to build his xenophobic "wall of hate" on the U.S./Mexico border, repealing the Affordable Care Act was a 2016 campaign pledge, and Trump promised his base that he would be triumphant.  But through the first two years of his presidency, Trump wasn't strong enough to get the House of Representatives and the Senate - both of which were controlled by the Republicans - to repeal and replace "Obamacare."  And the wall still hasn't been built...and never will be.  Now, with the Democrats on top in the House, Trump is causing more chaos by standing firm that he's going to achieve both his objectives come hell or high water.

     Trump caught Republicans on Capitol Hill off guard by his announcement that the GOP would become "the party of healthcare." Reportedly, many Republican senators have said if they had been aware of Trump's plan before he let the cat out of the bag, they would have earnestly tried to convince him to not do it.

     This is a war that Trump and the Republicans cannot win.  Americans in the 2018 midterm elections voted for Democrats to be in charge of the House of Representatives... and it is widely believed that healthcare was the predominant reason for the Democratic victory.  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (Democrat from California), on March 26th, noted at a #ProtectOurCare press event..."The GOP will never stop trying to destroy the affordable healthcare of America's families."  But it's futile for Trump to continue in a game where Republicans have tried to score at least 70 times since the Affordable Care Act became the law of the land on March 23rd, 2010.  There'll be no home run for the GOP.  No touchdown.

     Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court has already determined the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.  On June 28th, 2012, the justices of the high court upheld - by a 5 to 4 decision - the key provisions that had been challenged in lower courts by 26 states, including the individual mandate.  However, on December 14th, 2018, an ultra-conservative U.S. District judge in Texas ruled that the "Obamacare" individual mandate was unconstitutional and, therefore, the entire law is invalid.  The ruling came in response to a lawsuit that was filed by 20 Republican governors and state attorneys general.  The individual mandate is the section of the law that requires Americans to purchase health insurance.  But seven years ago, when the Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate as constitutional, it was based on the taxing power of Congress.  The majority of justices decided that Congress could legally impose a tax penalty on anyone who did not buy a health insurance policy.  Now...Trump wants the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans to do away with the entire law.  To do so, millions of Americans would be uninsured...and anyone with pre-existing conditions would return to the days when no insurance company would sell them a policy.  Those individuals would be up the creek without a paddle...and people who can't afford the high premiums would be too.  Meanwhile, the Justice Department says it's given the green light to the aforementioned federal court decision.  As Speaker Pelosi also remarked..."The Department of Justice becomes the Department of Injustice when it wants to tear down healthcare benefits."  The case will eventually make its way back to the U.S. Supreme Court.

     Tragedy is inevitable without the Affordable Care Act.  Without "Obamacare," a great many Americans who suffer from chronic and/or severe illnesses will either find themselves filing for bankruptcy...or planning their own funerals.

     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: Getty Images (Donald Trump and Former President Barack Obama), CNN Screenshot (Former Senator John McCain), Marvin Lynchard/DoD/MGN (Former President Barack Obama), Alex Wong/Getty Images (Donald Trump) and J. Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press (Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi)

Copyright 2019 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.

JOHN MCCAIN IS MORE OF A MAN DEAD THAN DONALD TRUMP IS ALIVE

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     Who in their right mind would badmouth a dead man who gave so much to his country?  Nobody. But Donald Trump is not in his right mind.  His abusive comments between Saturday, March 16th and Wednesday, March 20th, 2019 about the late Senator John McCain is beyond disgraceful.

     Trump is worse than the bully on the playground who picks on and beats up the smallest, weakest child in the school. But Senator McCain was far from weak.  At least that innocent youngster, who is being tormented, can try to fight back. And...he has parents, teachers, and perhaps some friends to hopefully rescue him. John McCain - and others who Trump has been uncivil to - will get their respective families, plus columnists such as myself, other journalists, maybe a smattering of politicians, and some people on social media to defend those who have been harmed by the wrath of Trump, but it doesn't matter to him because Trump doesn't care.  He figures - since he's the president - he can say and do whatever he wants and that he can get away with it. And if anyone does chastise him for his heinous behavior, Trump pushes back with more hate.

     Donald Trump is pure evil.  He blatantly and flagrantly attacked Senator McCain, over a period of five days, in tweets, at a press conference, and during a speech to an audience that included military veterans.  But the deceased Arizona Republican has been dead for nearly seven months.  He is no longer on this planet...and therefore...he is unable to protect himself from the malice of Donald Trump...or to fight back.  So for Trump to viciously criticize and disparage a departed, but forever distinguished Member of Congress because of a "thumbs-down" gesture when the U.S. Senate voted on a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act...that's downright detestable.  Thankfully, it was Senator McCain's vote that saved "Obamacare."  But Trump is also bitterly angry at McCain for something that he didn't do when the facts are clear that he did not do it. Trump is pissed-off - to say the least - because of the role McCain played in forwarding the Trump-Russia Dossier to the F.B.I.  Trump, however, is without question wrong when he accuses McCain of giving the document to then-F.B.I. Director James Comey before the 2016 election.  It was late November - long after the election - when McCain provided the dossier to Comey.  

     In case you're a little fuzzy on the details of the dossier, please allow me to explain.  Also known as the Steele Dossier, it's a compilation of memos that were written by former British spy Christopher Steele.  The dossier alleges misconduct and conspiracy between the 2016 Trump campaign and The Kremlin, and that the Trump campaign allegedly colluded with Russian agents to interfere in the election to help Republican Trump win over Democrat Hillary Clinton.  The dossier also alleges that Russia was out to destroy Mrs. Clinton's candidacy, and that Russia allegedly shared damaging information about the former Secretary of State with the Trump campaign. Solving the mystery of whether Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin cooked up a conspiracy so that Trump would defeat Secretary Clinton is part of what Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been investigating for nearly two years. 

     I never voted for John McCain.  I didn't agree with most of his political views.  After all...I'm a Democrat.  More than that, I'm an ultra-progressive, liberal Democrat.  And regular readers of The Controversy are well aware of that fact. But first and foremost...I'm an American.  U.S. Navy Commander (a Captain when he retired) John Sidney McCain III served our country...my country...with dignity and with honor.  He is a true American hero.  I will identify Senator McCain as a hero multiple times in this column because it's worth mentioning more than once.

     At a Tuesday, March 19th press conference at The White House, Donald Trump did not mince words.  "I was never a fan of John McCain's, and I never will be." Lashing out at McCain is nothing new for Trump.  It was July 18th, 2015 when Trump crossed the line that should have doomed his candidacy. He despicably belittled and obscenely disrespected Senator McCain.  From October 1967 to March 1973, Lieutenant Commander McCain spent about five-and-a-half years as a Vietnam Prisoner Of War.  Most of that time he was incarcerated at the infamous "Hanoi Hilton."  McCain suffered through two of those years in solitary confinement, and while he was a P.O.W., McCain was repeatedly tortured.  So I was sure that Donald Trump's run for The White House would be done and over with after he appeared at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, where he was booed for the atrocious comments he uttered about McCain...a decorated war hero.  "He's not a war hero.  He was a war hero because he was captured.  I like people who weren't captured."  To this day, I am stunned that Trump's vulgar verbiage did not kill his campaign.  Instead, it grew bigger and flourished without Trump ever apologizing to Senator McCain.  Donald Trump is nothing more than a yellow-bellied coward.  How can any American who voted for Trump claim to be patriotic after Trump's vile language about an armed forces veteran who gave twenty-three years of his life to military service?  How can any military veteran support Trump?  I will never understand how anyone at all voted for Trump or how they continue to have his back.

     In my column of May 17th, 2018, titled...JOHN SIDNEY MCCAIN III: A UNITED STATES SENATOR AND AN AMERICAN HERO WHO "DESERVES BETTER...SO MUCH BETTER"...I wrote, "Backbones and civility are not part of the structure of Donald Trump."  McCain was dying from glioblastoma, a rare form of brain cancer, when then-senior White House aide Kelly Sadler made a heartless and callous comment in response to McCain's opposition to Trump's nomination of Gina Haspel as C.I.A. director.  "It doesn't matter, he's dying anyway."  But Sadler's cruelty was not admonished by Trump, which painted one more ugly portrait of The White House with Trump as its temporary resident.

     After Trump's wicked words three-and-a-half years ago when he degraded John McCain's military service, I was appalled.  But Trump's supporters couldn't care less. They continued to cheer for him and lift him on to a pedestal.  And when Trump went on and on taunting one person after another, his insults became a matter of accepted practice by the vast majority of Republican voters - including those on Capitol Hill - who brushed them off as insignificant.  And that's the crux of the problem.  Nobody has had the balls to punish Trump.  Republicans in Congress - or at least enough of them - have never shown their outrage towards Trump, thus he has never been censured for his actions.

     Being offensive is not part of the character that I want in my president. But Republicans and some Independents apparently don't give a damn.  Remember these contemptible examples?  Trump insulted a Gold Star mother and father whose soldier son was killed in Iraq while performing a valorous act of heroism to save the lives of troops in his command. Trump defamed a federal judge and his Latino heritage.  Trump mocked a disabled reporter, and his repugnant remarks have ruthlessly mistreated women, Mexicans, other Latinos, Muslims, African-Americans, Jews, the LGBTQ community, and many others.  So I suppose nobody should be shocked - or even mildly surprised - by Donald Trump's latest crude comments.

     Donald Trump has blown a gasket.  He spent the weekend of March 16th and 17th freaking out in a Twitter storm. Republicans in Congress, in the Trump administration Cabinet, and nationwide need to realize what I have been writing about since Trump announced his candidacy on June 16th, 2015...and that is that Donald Trump is mentally unstable, morally unfit, and dangerously reckless...so therefore, he should not be sitting behind The Oval Office desk.  It is long overdue for the vice president and the Cabinet to invoke The 25th Amendment, or for the House of Representatives to impeach Trump and for the Senate to convict and remove him from office.  I am not a psychiatrist or a psychologist, but one does not need any sort of medical degree or doctorate to identify that Trump is off his rocker.  A 10-year old child can probably recognize that Trump is unbalanced, and that his state of mind is not normal.  As part of a 50-tweet tirade, Trump conveyed that he wants the F.C.C. to investigate Saturday Night Live for their unfavorable humor towards him.  Has he forgotten about The First Amendment or has he just lost his funny bone?  There was a time when Donald Trump the television personality appeared on SNL.  By the way, the March 16th episode that riled Trump was actually a repeat episode from December 15th, 2018. To bash Senator John McCain, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, an NBC sketch comedy show, and much more, all over a 48-hour period...is not sane.

     John McCain died on August 25th, 2018...four days before his 82nd birthday.  But even after death, Donald Trump continues to malign him.  On March 20th, during a speech at an Army tank plant in Lima, Ohio, Trump's narcissism was present and he also played the part of the victim, as he once again - with tremendous hostility - blasted McCain.  "I never liked him much.  I really, probably never will."  But then Trump's ego took over. "I gave him the funeral that he wanted, which as president I had to approve.  I don't care about this.  I didn't get a thank you.  That's okay."  You didn't get a "thank you?"  Seriously?  Really?  Let us remember that Trump didn't want to pay tribute to McCain by lowering the American flags at The White House to half staff.  It took pressure from veterans groups and protests by citizens across the country - Republicans and Democrats - before Trump gave the green light for a well-deserved salute of honor to U.S. Senator and United States Navy Captain John McCain.

     To those individuals - in public and private life - who hammer away at a great many Americans, including me, who speak out against Donald Trump because they desire civility in our country, I say this.  I long for the day when being civil towards the president of the United States is an easy, everyday pleasure.  But for now, if we let Trump mouth off - in person or on Twitter - without retaliating, his dream of being America's dictator would come true.  Every time Trump spews venom off that toxic tongue of his, makes it impossible for others to not react.

     During his Lima, Ohio rant - with Army tanks behind him - Trump wrongly reprimanded John McCain as he assaulted his legacy with a diatribe against the Vietnam War hero.  "McCain didn't get the job done for our great vets at the VA, and they knew it."  Republicans and Democrats alike - despite political differences - respect and revere Senator McCain's service to the United States.  It is an abomination that Donald Trump continues to verbally bludgeon the memory of a beloved American who - even while being treated for terminal cancer - stood tall for our country...for his country.  

     Occupy Democrats spelled it out perfectly.  "John McCain is more of a man dead...than Trump is alive."

     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: ABC News (Former Senator John McCain #1), Reuters/David Becker (Donald Trump #1), CNN Screenshot (Former Senator John McCain on the U.S. Senate Floor), Press Association and The Associated Press (Christopher Steele), Bettmann Archive (Former Senator John McCain #2), Handout/Getty Images (Former Senator John McCain/Prisoner Of War), Leah Mills/Reuters (Kelly Sadler), ABC News Screenshot (Donald Trump #2), Will Heath/NBC/Broadway Video (Saturday Night Live), YouTube Screenshot (Donald Trump #3) and Ross D. Franklin/The Associated Press/Rex/Shutters (Former Senator John McCain #3)

Copyright 2019 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.

TO BE A FLY ON THE WALL WHEN ONE OF DONALD TRUMP'S KIDS TELLS OFF DADDY

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     "You're a no-good, lying son-of-a-bitch.  You have destroyed our family.  Your actions are shameful and inexcusable.  You have ruined our company's future.  And you have poisoned our family's legacy.  You make me sick."

     That's NOT a quote by anyone in the Donald Trump family.  Let me repeat that so Republicans and other Trump cheerleaders don't accuse me of "fake news."  The aforementioned "quoted" paragraph is not a quote at all.  At least it's not one that I'm aware of.  But I would certainly not be shocked - or even mildly surprised - if the words in the above passage were ever spoken by one of Trump's children.  That's not to say that Trump's three oldest kids - Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric - are squeaky clean because I doubt that any of them are.  In fact, anybody with a sense of right and wrong is positive that one of Trump's heirs surely is not pure as the driven snow.  

     After all, Trump Jr. and his brother-in-law - Ivanka Trump's husband, Jared Kushner - are likely to be indicted on a variety of federal charges for allegedly colluding to conspire with Russia by meeting with Vladimir Putin's cronies to get "dirt" on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at that infamous Trump Tower gathering on June 9th, 2016.  

     According to the Federal Elections Commission, "Campaigns may not solicit or accept contributions from foreign nationals.  Federal law prohibits contributions, donations, expenditures and disbursements solicited, directed, received or made directly or indirectly by or from foreign nationals in connection with any election - federal, state or local."  To clarify further, as per U.S. Code, Title 52, Subtitle III, Chapter 301, Subchapter 30121, "It is unlawful for a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to make a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a federal, state, or local election."  Obtaining - or even the intent to obtain - damaging information about former Secretary of State Clinton from a "foreign national" is considered a "thing of value" and is, therefore, illegal.  Persons who engage in such activity may be subject to criminal prosecution.

     When Donald Trump Jr. admitted that the intent of the Trump Tower meeting was to receive information that could be incriminating to Mrs. Clinton, he broke the law.  The evidence is as clear as a Windexed window. Despite Trump Jr.'s efforts, there was no detrimental material that Russia could provide because Secretary Clinton did nothing illegal. Nevertheless, Trump Jr. participated in an alleged criminal conspiracy to illegally involve the Russian government in federal election interference.  In arranging the meeting, British publicist and Trump family friend Rob Goldstone - who reportedly also attended the meeting - exchanged the following June 3rd, 2016 email transactions with Trump Jr. Goldstone: "This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump."  Trump Jr.:  "If it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer."

     Besides Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Rob Goldstone, those present at that Trump Tower meeting included Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort... Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya - who The New York Times says is regarded in Moscow as a "trusted insider" for The Kremlin...plus Rinat Akhmetshin, a former Soviet Union counterintelligence officer, who is thought, reportedly, to allegedly have ties to Russian intelligence, which he denies.  The New York Times says Akhmetshin has "a history of working for close allies" of Vladimir Putin.  At least two other people also attended the meeting, including an interpreter.

     Anyone who believes that Donald Trump was unaware of the Trump Tower meeting is in denial. There is no way that a narcissist such as Trump, who demands total control and power, would not be fully in the loop about anything to do with his company or his campaign.  I have expressed similar thoughts in many columns throughout the last two years, and recently Michael Cohen and others have confirmed that Trump is not only always informed, but he is the guiding light behind everything connected to Trump...whether good...or bad.  Therefore, Trump too has allegedly committed a felony...and I believe many more than just one, including obstruction of justice.  It will be up to Special Counsel Robert Mueller and/or Congress to definitively prove that Trump is guilty and, therefore, should be forced to resign the presidency or that he should be impeached, convicted and removed from office.  

     In addition, Trump and Trump Jr. allegedly violated the federal campaign finance law by allegedly signing reimbursement checks to Michael Cohen to pay him back for the illegal hush money he paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, which Cohen has evidence that Trump and Trump Jr. did.  "Other checks to reimburse me for the hush money payments were signed by Don Jr.," Cohen testified under oath before the House Oversight Committee on February 27th, 2019. As Donald Trump's former attorney and so called "fixer," Cohen also testified before Congress and in federal court that Trump "directed" him to pay Daniels - whose real name is Stephanie Clifford - $130,000, prior to the 2016 presidential election, in order to silence her about an alleged sexual affair between Daniels and Trump.  Trump has never acknowledged that the sexual encounter existed in 2006, shortly after Donald and Melania Trump's son, Barron was born. 

But Cohen has at least one check signed by Trump - in the amount of $35,000 - which Cohen says was part of his reimbursement for the money he laid out to pay Daniels. That check was issued to Cohen on August 1st, 2017 when Trump was already president of the United States. Yet Republicans still want to put Trump on to a pedestal and bow down to him.  However, the day is coming...and soon...for the Mueller Report and for Republicans to reevaluate.  Once there is clear-cut evidence of criminality by Trump, Republicans on Capitol Hill - and hopefully nationwide - will have to realize that Donald Trump needs to go. 

     If Trump ordered Cohen to commit felonies - which Cohen categorically states - then I've got to believe that the Trump patriarch would instruct Trump Jr. - or any one of his adult offspring - to also commit crimes on his behalf, or to simply protect their father and/or their business entities.

     The New York State attorney general has commenced investigations in to The Trump Organization, which - by virtue of their executive positions - would presumably include not only Donald Trump, but Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump.  Trump's two youngest children are not and have never been employed by The Trump Organization.  Trump's younger daughter, Tiffany Trump, age 25, attends Georgetown Law School in Washington, DC.  Trump's youngest child, his son, Barron Trump, is barely even a teenager, as he won't celebrate his 13th birthday until March 20th.

     Letitia James - "The Empire State's" newly elected A.G. has been threatening since her political campaign to aggressively investigate Donald Trump if she won the election.  In August 2018, while commenting about Special Counsel Mueller's probe in to Russia's interference in to America's 2016 election, James expressed the following cautionary statement. 

"The president of the United States has to worry about three things...Mueller, Cohen, and Tish James."  In her election night victory speech on November 6th, 2018, James continued with her warning that referenced Trump.  "I will be shining a bright light in to every dark corner of his real estate dealings, and every dealing, demanding truthfulness at every turn."  In December 2018, James had even more to speak out about when she was interviewed by NBC News.  "We will use every area of the law to investigate (Donald) Trump and his business transactions and that of his family."  

     As part of his sworn testimony before the House Oversight Committee, Michael Cohen - on live national television - provided Congress with Trump's financial statements from 2011, 2012 and 2013. Cohen claims it was his "experience" that "Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed amongst the wealthiest people in Forbes, and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes."  "Spilling the beans" and throwing Trump "under the bus," so to speak, as Cohen did, prompted Attorney General James to move forward with her investigation by issuing subpoenas on Monday, March 11th, 2019 to Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank for records pertaining to the financing of four Trump Organization projects and an unsuccessful effort by Trump in 2014 to purchase the National Football League's Buffalo Bills.

     In previously published columns and in commentaries posted on Facebook, I have predicted that it's inevitable - that at some point - criminal charges will be filed against Donald Trump by both the State of New York and by the Southern District of New York for allegations made that accuse him of many different crimes.  Although such a foregone conclusion may take awhile to come to a head, I think the American people - and others around the world - will eventually be witness to the first president of the United States who could find himself going before a judge to plead for his freedom.  But all that will probably come after the Mueller Report, and more than likely after Trump is - one way or another - no longer in The White House.

     All that being said, the fictitious quote that began this column might someday become a reality.  And if it does...metaphorically speaking I'd really like to be a fly on the wall in the room...when and if those words are ever uttered.

     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: Gary Cameron/Reuters (Eric Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump), Justin Sullivan/Getty Images (Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton), NBC News Screenshot (Rob Goldstone), The Associated Press (Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort), The Associated Press (Donald Trump #1), CNN Screenshot (Michael Cohen #1), Getty Images (Stephanie "Stormy Daniels" Clifford), PBS (Donald Trump's Check to Michael Cohen), Andy Kropa/Invision/The Associated Press (Tiffany Trump), Cheriss May/Nur Photo/Getty Images (Barron Trump), Source/The Northstar Group (New York State Attorney General Letitia James), Tom Williamson/CQ Roll Call and The Slate Group (Special Counsel Robert Mueller), Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images (Michael Cohen #2) and Getty Images (Donald Trump #2)

Copyright 2019 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.

DONALD TRUMP IS NOT THE BOSS. I AM. AND SO ARE YOU.

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     Donald Trump has got to start realizing that I'm HIS boss.  He is NOT MINE.  Or YOURS.  The President of the United States works for each and every U.S. citizen.  So whether you are white...or black...or brown...or yellow...or red...the president should be color-blind. But Donald Trump is not.  Whether you're a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent, the president should give respect to each and every American.  But Donald Trump does not.  Whether you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or any other religion...whether you're straight, gay, or bisexual... whether your family heritage stems from anywhere around the world...or whether you're different - in any way - from the commander-in-chief...it is imperative for the president to show compassion and empathy for every one of us in our country.  But Donald Trump does not.  And I don't buy in to the illogical thinking by others who say he can't...that it's not part of his DNA.  Donald Trump is well aware of his actions. With conscious venom, Trump deliberately doesn't care enough to express heartfelt kindness to anyone...perhaps not even to his own family. 

     If a person is going to be President of the United States, he...or she...better be the model of integrity and honesty, and he...or she...better have the proper temperament, demeanor, and character to serve.  Without those necessary qualities, that individual is unfit to sit behind The Oval Office desk.  Donald Trump is, therefore, not suited to be our nation's president.  But that was clear to me - along with nearly 66-million other voters - in 2016.

     According to a new Quinnipiac University Poll - released on Tuesday, March 5th, 2019 - 64 percent of Americans think Donald Trump committed crimes before he took the oath of office on January 20th, 2017.  The poll also indicates that nearly half our country - 45 percent of the people - believe Trump has committed crimes while in The White House.

     But despite being a crook - which I have no doubt that he is - Donald Trump lacks humanity...and he is absent of any humane behavior.  And because Republicans and conservative-leaning Independents made a grave mistake 28 months ago, the United States faces a constitutional crisis, a possible impeachment, and perhaps the indictment of a sitting president.  Although indicting a president, while in office, is against Justice Department policy...it is not U.S. law.  

     Judge James Wilson was a Member of the Continental Congress in 1776 and signed the Declaration of Independence. In 1787, Wilson - who was a Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention, whose signature is also on the Constitution, and who was one of the original justices appointed by President George Washington to the U.S. Supreme Court - concluded that the president was not immuned from indictment because our Founding Fathers, when framing the Constitution, did not explicitly grant such immunity in the text of our historical document.  Furthermore, in the landmark 1974 case, U.S. v. Nixon, the Supreme Court required President Richard Nixon to provide, as evidence, any Oval Office tapes that he secretly recorded, which were relevant to the Watergate criminal investigation.  Nixon disputed the high court's decision as he argued executive privilege protected him, and that it permitted

him to refuse handing over the tapes.  But the justices disagreed with Nixon and he lost the fight.  The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that "the fundamental demands of due process of law in the fair administration of justice" are more important than shielding the presidency.  Granted, this decision did not rule on a criminal indictment of Nixon, but it did set a precedent that not even the president is above the law.  As with Nixon and all U.S. presidents, Donald Trump swore to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." He cannot use our most cherished document as a blanket of protection to hide under.   Upon leaving office, Article I, Section 3, Clause 7 of the U.S. Constitution is very specific that whether the president is impeached and removed from office or not, once he does exit the presidency, the former president "shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law," and, therefore, can be prosecuted.

     No matter what...until Donald Trump is legally removed from the presidency, we, the American people - or at least about two-thirds of us - have to suffer.

     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: Tom Pennington/Getty Images (Donald Trump #1), Wikipedia (Former Supreme Court Justice James Wilson), The Associated Press (Former President Richard Nixon) and David Becker/Reuters and The Huffington Post (Donald Trump #2)

Copyright 2019 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.

DAY ONE OF THE DONALD TRUMP IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS. IT WASN'T CALLED THAT. BUT THAT'S WHAT IT WAS.

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     Donald Trump's political life...his presidency...and perhaps even his freedom...are in grave peril.  Whether Republicans believe Michael Cohen or not...whether they think Trump's former personal lawyer and so-called "fixer" for more than ten years is credible or not...the 

proof is in the pudding (or in the eleven illegal hush money reimbursement checks that are mostly signed by Trump himself), which are, therefore evidence that he - the man who holds the title of president of the United States - engaged in criminal activities while occupying The Oval Office.

     Trump's "keeper of the secrets" - in explosive, under oath testimony before the House Oversight Committee - told Congress and all of America, on Wednesday, February 27th, 2019, that not only is Trump's distinctive signature on certain reimbursement checks, but some payments have a "John Hancock" inked by Donald 

Trump, Jr. and The Trump Organization's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.  The money was to pay back Cohen for the $130,000 he paid to porn star Stormy Daniels - whose real name is Stephanie Clifford - to keep her mouth shut, prior to the 2016 presidential election, about her alleged 2006 sexual affair with Trump, which "The Donald" has never admitted having.  Such a pay-off to Daniels was basically a bribe to benefit Trump.  If voters had found out before the election about Trump's alleged romp between the sheets with Daniels, it could have been detrimental to Trump's campaign and his chances of winning.  Such a discovery could have tremendously affected the outcome of the vote.  That in and of itself makes for a criminal illegality.  Cohen's sworn bombshell testimony gives Special Counsel Robert Mueller and prosecutors in the Southern District of New York the ammunition necessary to investigate further and to even possibly indict Trump, Jr. and Weisselberg. 

 

     The bottom line is...if Michael Cohen was honest with his testimony - and I do agree with the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Congressman Elijah Cummings, Democrat of Maryland who told reporters after the hearing that he believes Cohen "told the truth" - then Donald Trump (as "Individual 1" in federal court documents) was involved in a cunning conspiracy in which he participated in breaking the federal campaign finance law, along with obstruction of justice with his cover-up.

     We - the people of the United States of America - cannot shove the U.S. Constitution aside and say the hell with it.  Our Founding Fathers created this most precious of documents to protect each and every American.  It is imperative - in fact, it is mandatory - for Congress to fully investigate every claim and every shred of evidence that Cohen presented to lawmakers.

     According to The Fact Checker of The Washington Post, since Donald Trump took the presidential oath of office on January 20th, 2017, he has made 8,718 false or misleading claims, as of February 17th, 2019.  But let's call a spade a spade.  They're lies.  And that is what Trump does best.  He lies.  Michael Cohen says that he witnessed firsthand - during his decade of work at The Trump Organization - that "lying" for Trump is "the norm."

     Trump being a bully is no shock to anyone. We've seen him in action for years.  What most of us didn't know...is what Cohen testified to before Congress.  Cohen claims that "over a ten-year period," Trump directed him - or "used others" - to "threaten" people or entities "probably" around "500 times."  It seems as if Trump has run his company straight off the pages of a script from a Martin Scorsese gangster movie.  Cohen painted a stunning portrait of a mob-world within New York City's Trump Tower.

     Some Americans have recently compared Michael Cohen to John Dean.  You may recall when Richard Nixon's former White House counsel - who on June 25th, 1973 appeared before Congress in the Watergate hearings - famously testified that he warned President 

Nixon on March 21st, 1973 "that there was a cancer growing on the presidency. And if the cancer was not removed, the president himself would be killed by it.  I also told him that it was important that this cancer be removed immediately because it was growing more deadly everyday."  Nixon was forced to resign the presidency on August 9th, 1974.  But Dean never called Nixon a "racist," or a "conman," or a "cheater." Those three words were, however, used by Michael Cohen to describe Donald Trump to Members of Congress.

     As I predicted in a Facebook post during his congressional appearance, Michael Cohen is going to walk away with less prison time than he's already been sentenced. Based on his testimony on Wednesday - before a huge daytime audience on live national television (preliminary ratings from Nielsen indicate more than 13.5 million viewers) - Cohen told all of America that beyond the Mueller investigation, he is still being interviewed by officials with the Southern District of New York.  It is, therefore, obvious to me that the prosecutors in Manhattan think that Cohen has more "beans to spill," specifically about Donald Trump...and not necessarily regarding Russia or anything pertaining to Trump's campaign or his presidency.  Once Cohen provides SDNY prosecutors with the "dirt" they are looking for...and he pushes Trump completely "under the bus"...it will be Trump who is crushed to smithereens...while Cohen will probably be sporting a big old smile, as he winds up with a significantly shorter prison term, which is allowed by law.  Rule 35(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure permits a court to reduce a previously imposed prison sentence based on "substantial assistance" by a defendant, after that person has already been sentenced.  It's possible that Cohen may end up with no time behind bars at all.  Depending on what Cohen tells SDNY prosecutors, that information might very well be instrumental in leading to Trump's impeachment, conviction, and removal from office...or his forced resignation from the presidency.

     Donald Trump is a moron...plain and simple.  For someone who tags himself as the "smartest person in the room," Trump clearly is not.  He should have kissed Michael Cohen's ass and given him the world.  Cohen's marathon testimony this week - in open session with the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday...in closed sessions with the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, February 26th and the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday, February 28th - along with additional information that Cohen will give to the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, March 6th, plus future details that he plans to provide to the Southern District of New York...should be enough - 

combined with Special Counsel Mueller's report - to bury Trump, and his entire family and company.

     As I also posted on my Facebook page on Wednesday...it was day one of the Trump impeachment hearings. It wasn't called that. But that's what it was.

     As Michael Cohen told the Members of the House Oversight Committee, Donald Trump ran for president "to make his brand great, not to make our country great."  But tragically...Trump is destroying everything.

     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 thanks for reading The Controversy.

Photo credits: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images (Michael Cohen #1), PBS (Donald Trump's check to Michael Cohen), Curtis Means/Daily Mail (Donald Trump, Jr.), J. B. Miller/The Trump Organization (Allen Weisselberg), MSNBC Screenshot/NBC News (Congressman Elijah Cummings), New York Film Academy (Martin Scorsese), Bettmann/CORBIS/The Associated Press/Getty Images (Former White House Counsel John Dean), Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images (Michael Cohen #2), Chicago Tribune (Donald Trump) and Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call and Slate (Special Counsel Robert Mueller)

 

Copyright 2019 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.