THE CONTROVERSY: November 2018

Monday, November 26, 2018

"SANTA MUELLER" IS "MAKING HIS LIST AND CHECKING IT TWICE" TO PROVE THAT DONALD TRUMP HAS BEEN "NAUGHTY" AND CRIMINALLY NOT "NICE"

Donald Trump and the Republicans are treating a caravan of migrants as if they were hardened criminals by attacking them with tear gas. But these men, women, children and babies are fleeing violence, poverty and persecution in their Central American homelands and want a safe haven in the United States. According to official figures - released by Mexico's Interior Ministry - more than seven-thousand migrants have arrived at the U.S./Mexico border after traveling by foot for some 2,500 miles in order to escape from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. They are seeking asylum, and U.S. law allows such individuals to cross in to America for protection...and each one deserves to be heard before being told they cannot stay. But Donald Trump thinks he's dictator of the United States, and he wants to change the law on his own by merely a racist and xenophobic stroke of his pen. The migrants - for the time being - are living in temporary shelters in the border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali. And yes, that's a

crying tear streaming down the sad face of The Statue Of Liberty. The Emma Lazarus poem that is engraved on Lady Liberty's pedestal famously reads, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

It is a matter of life and death for these migrants. For Trump to not permit them to have their cases considered by a judge is against the law, and Democrats in Congress need to stop Trump and put an end to his illegal action. Furthermore, Trump's order to U.S. Border Patrol officers to use force against these migrants is also illegal. The Posse Comitatus Act - which was enacted in 1878 - prohibits the federal government from using U.S. armed forces as a posse comitatus for law enforcement, except in certain cases, which do not apply in this instance, according to legal and constitutional scholars. The law states..."Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both."

One barefoot migrant toddler girl - wearing nothing but a t-shirt and a diaper - cries as she is helped at the U.S./Mexico border by a woman who pulled the child out of danger when U.S. agents fired tear gas. And Republicans can still support Donald Trump? Really? Seriously?

Earlier this year, Donald Trump locked up babies and other children in cages...and now he has fired tear gas at them. Can Trump be any worse than that? He is mentally and morally unbalanced and should not be president of the United States. What's next? Will Trump order soldiers to shoot bullets at these kids and their parents? Oh wait a second. He already did that and then somebody obviously convinced him to change his mind. But that doesn't mean he won't give that order again.

Christmas is coming and Special Counsel Robert "Santa Claus" Mueller is "making his list and checking it twice" and he will soon use the Monday, November 26th, 2018 tear gas assault as one more offense by Donald Trump to prove that he has been criminally "naughty." Removing Trump from office is long overdue and Mueller needs to reveal his royal flush hand and not bluff about any evidence he has in order to force Trump's resignation.

Meanwhile, it's time for Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives to prepare for the start of impeachment proceedings. The U.S. Constitution spells it out mathematically. Trump - or any sitting president, for that matter - can be impeached with a majority of the House agreeing to do so. The magic number is 218 of the 435 Members. Come January 3rd, 2019 - with 234 Democrats - the left side of the aisle will hold that majority to impeach Trump. Then it's up to the U.S. Senate.

The Senate - in the new year - may be divided by 52 Republicans to 48 Democrats (if the Democratic Party candidate wins the Mississippi runoff election on Tuesday, November 27th). Otherwise, the Senate makeup will be 53 "red" to 47 "blue." However, let's - for the sake of this scenario - think the Democrats will win in "The Magnolia State." The Constitution requires two-thirds of the Senate - or 67 senators - to remove the president. Therefore, it would take all 48 Democrats and 19 brave Republicans to agree, and Donald Trump can wave goodbye as he leaves Washington, DC on his way back to Trump Tower or Mar-a-Lago...never to return to The White House.

Only 19 courageous Republican senators - that's 19 Americans out of some 325-million citizens - have the power to decide it all. Just 19 Republican senators who need to grow a spine and stand up tall to save America from the insanity that is destroying our country. Major League Baseball's Tony Gwynn and the National Football League's Johnny Unitas each wore the number 19 on their team uniforms. But that 19th Republican senator who votes to rid the United States from the Donald Trump presidency will become the most famous person to represent that number. The question now is...will there be 18 others who will join him...or her?

And that's The Controversy for today.

I'm Gary B. Duglin.

"We'll talk again."

Monday, November 19, 2018

OPINION: DONALD TRUMP IS TERRIFIED OF BOTH HILLARY CLINTON AND JOE BIDEN FOR 2020

Donald Trump is scared to death of Hillary Clinton. Although I have no formal psychiatric or psychological training, it is merely a logical conclusion that Trump has berated, belittled and bashed Mrs. Clinton...throughout two years passed the 2016 election...so that his base - and perhaps as many Independents as he can convince - will forever be soured by even the sound of the name Hillary Clinton and, therefore, along with her...all Democrats...and that means Joe Biden too. And while Trump is as jittery as a June bug in a hen house, the former secretary of state and the former vice president are - I believe - laughing up a storm, as both are confident that either one could beat Trump in 2020.

Let's begin, though, with Secretary Clinton. Trump - along with Republicans nationwide - are politically afraid of the 2016 Democratic nominee. That's why Trump hasn't stopped his attacks on Mrs. Clinton. No American president in history has ever spent his term verbally thrashing his election opponent out of revenge because of past campaign rhetoric. I believe Trump is as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs that Mrs. Clinton might surprise us and announce her 2020 candidacy for president. Oh I know that Secretary Clinton has stated over and over that she's done...that she will never run for president again...but I don't buy it. It's obviously possible that the former First Lady will not toss her hat in to the ring, but let's remember that when Mrs. Clinton lost the Democratic nomination to then-Senator Barack Obama in 2008, she insisted that she would not be a candidate in 2016. Anyone who knows anything about politics is certain that you never say never.

For the record, despite my 2008 support for Hillary Clinton, I'm a Democrat - a self-proclaimed ultra-liberal progressive one - who believes in the Democratic Party and that it's the Democratic Party which is best for the United States of America. Unlike many Bernie Sanders supporters who wrongly decided to stay home and not vote for Secretary Clinton in 2016 - especially residents of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - which cost Mrs. Clinton the presidency...my Democratic allegiance in 2008 shifted full-speed ahead to Mr. Obama when he won the nomination over then-Senator Clinton. I soon became a huge fan of the Illinois senator. And in 2012, I was 100 percent gung-ho in doing what I could...to help re-elect President Obama for a second term. As I felt in 2000 with President Bill Clinton...after President Obama's eight years in The White House, I had wished there were no term limits as I would have voted for him again.

All of the above being said about Mr. Obama, I was and will always be a staunch supporter of the Clintons. I happily voted twice for Bill Clinton and vigorously campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2008 and 2016. I truly hope that Secretary Clinton will run for president in 2020...and I think if she does...she would wipe the floor with Donald Trump's hair. But does Mrs. Clinton feel - as I do - that she can defeat Trump in a second head-to-head match? Does she have the energy - or even the desire - to seek the Democratic nomination, especially if Vice President Biden decides to run? We will know the answer to all these questions within the next six months or so, as I expect official announcements - yay or nay - between now and May 2019. If Hillary Clinton still wants to be the one to "shatter that highest and hardest glass ceiling"...with her as America's first female president...then nothing will stop her from running...and I don't think anybody - at this point - could beat her. However, if Secretary Clinton has had enough...and that putting her name on a ballot is a thing of the past and not in any way will it be a thing of the future...then Vice President Biden is Democrats' best choice to send the 2020 Republican nominee - whomever that may be - back to their hometown.

If Donald Trump's presidency survives Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation...if Trump himself is able to physically and mentally cope with...and then successfully make it through a possible impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives and a possible conviction by the U.S. Senate - should Congress proceed down that pathway come next year - and then, if Trump does, in fact, seek the Republican nomination again in 2020...(he could change his mind)...I think he will fear both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden if either is nominated to be the GOP's Democratic challenger.

It was reported by Axios on July 25th, 2018 that Trump advisers assert that Mr. Biden is who Trump worries about most for 2020, even though he told CBS Evening News anchor Jeff Glor on July 19th..."I dream about Biden. That's a dream. I'd love to have it be Biden." Yeah sure, Donald. Sure.

Once the calendar crosses the border in to 2019...and Trump realizes we are getting closer to Secretary Clinton and/or Vice President Biden announcing that one or both might be candidates for president in 2020...Trump will hit the road and his Twitter feed...and the words "Crooked Hillary" - along with an equally offensive nickname for Joe Biden - will be spoken and written by Trump.

But I don't think the people of the United States - as a whole - are going to accept Trump's trash-talk through another campaign. It didn't help him keep the House of Representatives Republican "red" after the 2018 midterms. It was a "blue" wave that won control for the Democrats. But Donald Trump isn't going to change. And for Democrats and left-leaning Independents - plus anyone else who is anti-Trump - that's probably good news for us...and for our country.

And that's The Controversy for today.

I'm Gary B. Duglin.

"We'll talk again."

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

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."

Monday, November 12, 2018

DEMOCRATS WILL TAKE CONTROL OF THE HOUSE AND IN SOME WAYS OF DONALD TRUMP

Donald Trump is undoubtedly stomping his feet on the floors of The White House - perhaps even pounding his fists on his desk - as he displays his anger (privately, if not publicly) that now he will be accountable to the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives following the "blue wave" victory on Tuesday, November 6th, 2018. Democrats may not have clobbered a grand slammer, but we did hit a home run. This is a significant triumph for Democrats whose hands have not only been tied, but shackled by Donald Trump and the Republicans on Capitol Hill. Obviously the night wasn't all peaches and cream, which it would have been if Democrats had also won back the U.S. Senate. But it was a turning point for our country in stopping Trump and the Republicans from doing whatever they want. Trump will no longer be able to abuse his power of The Oval Office.

Donald Trump - and, in fact, all presidents of the United States - are accountable to Congress in many ways. But specifically with Trump, he will now be accountable for his alleged ethics violations and for the Russia investigation. Democrats will control House committees that are essential to and instrumental in governing our country. These committees are empowered with oversight of the Executive Branch. Sexual harassment and sexual misconduct allegations against Trump will be investigated. Campaign finance laws that were allegedly violated by Trump when he told his then lawyer, Michael Cohen, to pay hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and to Playboy Playmate model Karen McDougal will also be investigated. Democrats will move forward on having Trump's income tax returns released, as all presidents have done, and Americans will find out what he has been hiding that he doesn't want the rest of us to know. Let us also not forget that there are serious obstruction of justice allegations against Trump because he fired James Comey as F.B.I. director in an effort to put an end to the Russia investigation. Remember what Trump told NBC News anchor Lester Holt on May 11th, 2017. Trump did not hold back on expressing that Russia was on his mind when he terminated Comey from his job. "In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, 'You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.'" Thus the investigation allegedly tying Trump and his campaign to the Russians' meddling in our 2016 presidential election was one of the alleged reasons Trump fired the F.B.I. boss. Comey had been leading that investigation. Plus...Representative Nancy Pelosi of California - currently minority leader, but who is expected to return as speaker of the House come January 3rd, 2019 - along with the rest of the Democratic majority...can also throw a wrench in to Trump's legislative agenda if he doesn't play ball with the left side of the aisle. All of this and more fall under the umbrella of accountability. Democratic

Congressman Jerry Nadler of New York makes the point perfectly. "Americans are demanding accountability." Well...now we'll get it.

Republicans lost the majority in the House of Representatives because of Donald Trump. Americans were hoodwinked by Trump in the 2016 presidential election, but in this year's midterms, enough voters realized that they were not going to be suckered in to accepting Trump's offensive and often racist rhetoric.

A majority of Americans have proven that by changing the color of the House from red to blue, they are fed up with Donald Trump's lying, narcissistic, misogynistic, xenophobic, homophobic, anti-Semitic, racist, inhumane, delusional, destructive agenda where his only desire is to make the rich richer. With Trump, if you're not a wealthy white male, you're not worth diddly-squat. That is except for white women who he can use for extra-marital affairs and then pay off to remain silent. So not only is Trump unfit to be president, he is morally unfit. Yet during his Wednesday, November 7th press conference, Trump labeled himself..."a great moral leader." And I'm Bob Woodward.

The vote in the 2018 midterms was a vote against bigotry and prejudices of all kinds. Plus, Americans this year went to the polls in history-making droves for midterm elections in order to oppose the venomous hatred that Trump and some congressional Republicans have been spewing over the last two years. To flip the House was a definite "blue wave." The people of the United States have verified that the bedrock principle of American democracy is our freedom of speech and our right to vote.

Republicans in Congress...who were against Trump throughout the 2016 campaign...later tossed their animosity into the trash and spent the following two years kissing Trump's butt. It's mind-boggling that after Trump used vile language to insult Ted Cruz's wife's looks...and when Trump wrongly claimed that Cruz's father was in some way involved with Lee Harvey Oswald in the plot to assassinate President John F. Kennedy...that the Texas senator overlooked it all and jumped in to bed with Trump after the campaign.

All throughout the campaign Donald Trump offended, degraded or belittled everyone from a federal judge to a Gold Star mother and father...from a Vietnam prisoner of war hero turned U.S. Senator to a Miss Universe beauty queen...from a disabled male reporter to a female news anchor...and so many others who did not deserve Trump's attacks. Nevertheless, Republicans and right-leaning Independents cast their ballots for Trump...and they're some of the same people who initially helped to boost him on to his political pedestal. Even after the infamous 2005 Access Hollywood video was released in October 2016, just days before the election, women voted for Trump. They continued to support him after Trump bragged to television host Billy Bush that he could sexually assault women because "when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab 'em by the p---y. You can do anything." For some strange reason, it didn't bother certain women - or certain men, for that matter - to elect someone who used vulgar verbiage about females. They actually preferred a president who treated others in a plethora of despicable ways instead of Hillary Clinton who was completely exonerated by a bipartisan congressional committee and by the F.B.I. Any criminal allegations against the former secretary of state were found to be false. But for the 2018 midterms, Trump's viciousness towards prominent Democrats...his rally rants that Democrats are "the party of crime"...and his favorite phrase that the media are "the enemy of the people"...are not what most Americans want to hear from the nation's president. Therefore, voters didn't want to give Trump any more power with a Republican-controlled House of Representatives. And with Nancy Pelosi presumably at the helm, Democrats will put Trump in his place.

With Republicans remaining on top in the Senate, one can only hope that Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York (on the left in the photo) and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky (on the right) will come to a meeting of the minds and toast some success in 2019.

Except for people who are die hard Trump supporters, nobody else wants to hear him infer that he wants to be treated as if he was our country's dictator. Remember that in June 2018 - in an interview with Fox News - Trump seriously stated that he would like Americans to revere him like North Koreans do for Kim Jong-un. "He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same." The White House tried to spin it that Trump was merely kidding around, but that was just another lie. After speaking or tweeting more than 6,400 falsehoods - according to The Washington Post Fact Checker since Trump took the presidential oath of office on January 20th, 2017 - then the easy way to get out of a difficult situation...at least for Donald Trump...is to lie.

In a pre-recorded interview with Axios - part of which was released on October 30th - Trump took his ego to a new level when he announced his plan to end birthright citizenship by his signature on an executive order. "We're the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. And it has to end." According to Politifact, the U.S. is not the only nation that grants birthright citizenship. At least thirty-two other countries offer some form of birthright citizenship. So, as usual, Trump doesn't have his facts straight. Plus... legal and constitutional scholars say Trump cannot in any way end birthright citizenship. The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution spells out the law in clear, concise words. "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." That Amendment was ratified on July 28th, 1868. Therefore, the law has been plain as day for 150 years. As for the U.S. Supreme Court's take on the law, The Washington Post says justices in 1898 decided that citizenship belonged to anyone who is born on American soil. So Trump cannot - no president could - change the U.S. Constitution on his own by merely a stroke of his pen. The complete Axios interview aired November 4th on HBO.

Only one-third of our nation - or, at times, a little bit more - agree with Trump's xenophobia and racism. About asylum-seeking migrants who are walking in a caravan from Central America towards the U.S./Mexico border, Trump in a November 1st speech declared that if any migrant approaches our soil and hurls rocks, they will be shot. "I will tell you, anybody throwing stones, rocks, like they did to Mexico and the Mexican military, Mexican police, where they badly hurt police and soldiers of Mexico, we will consider that a firearm." But Trump's sickening comment was walked back the next day. However, he did equate rocks to guns...and not Trump nor his advisers can put that genie back into the bottle. On November 2nd he tried, though, when Trump vowed that migrants would only be "arrested."

Donald Trump supposedly couldn't send military troops to Puerto Rico in an effort to help the people on that island U.S. territory after they suffered devastation and death from Hurricane Maria. For those who may be unaware, Puerto Ricans are American citizens and nearly 3,000 of our fellow citizens were tragically killed as a result of that September 2017 catastrophic storm. However, on October 29th, 2018, Trump seemed to be able to order a deployment of 5,200 soldiers to the U.S./Mexico border to stop the aforementioned caravan of approximately 4,000 migrants who left their homelands to escape the violence in Honduras and Guatemala. At the time, the caravan was about one-thousand miles from America. Without mentioning his successor's name, former President Barack Obama slammed Trump and condemned his actions at a Florida rally on November 2nd, four days before the midterm elections. Mr. Obama was critical of Trump's military order. "They're telling you the essential threat to America is a bunch of poor refugees one-thousand miles away. They're even taking our brave troops away from their families for a political stunt at the border. And the men and women of our military deserve better than that."

Enough voters cast their 2016 ballots for Donald Trump, and because of the archaic and old-fashioned Electoral College system, Hillary Clinton - who won the popular vote by about three-million people - lost the presidency to a mentally unstable egomaniac who calls himself a "nationalist." It was at a campaign rally in Houston, Texas on October 22nd when Trump proudly declared..."I am a nationalist." Nationalists are compared to Nazis, white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan...groups of people who Trump refuses to denounce. His announcement offended Jews, African-Americans, and millions of others across America and around the world who recognize that a "nationalist" is synonymous with Adolf Hitler. For Trump to use that term - just days before the deadliest mass shooting in the Jewish community - turned off Independents and even some Republicans who voted for Trump in 2016. Following the murders of eleven Jews at Tree Of Life Congregation synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Trump did not perform in the presidential manner that many of his predecessors have in the wake of a tragedy. In comparison to Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan...it has frequently become evident to me - and most of our country - that Donald Trump cares more about himself than anybody else.

The bottom line is that most Independents - many of whom voted for Trump two years ago - now believe he has gone too far and has crossed the line of decency. It amazes me that they even accepted him as a candidate because he was incompetent to be president when he was the GOP nominee.

The United States has been painted with such ugly colors since Donald Trump moved in to The White House. He and his henchmen have used The Oval Office as a means to promote lies about Democrats. Trump and most Republicans in Congress will do anything and everything to attack liberals and progressives even when their accusations are fact-checked as false.

With Democrats controlling the House, representatives will protect Robert Mueller's Russia investigation as Trump remains a subject, if not yet an official target, in the special counsel's probe. That is if the new acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, does nothing to cause a full-blown constitutional crisis before then. All that being said...Trump and Republicans in Congress will no longer have the opportunity to derail and poison an investigation that I still believe - as I have written for two years - will eventually find definitive evidence that Trump colluded in a conspiracy to interfere with America's 2016 election, and that he has been instrumental in the cover-up. I am also confident that one or more members of Donald Trump's family, including oldest son Donald Trump, Jr....son-in-law Jared Kushner...and yes, even daughter Ivanka Trump Kushner...may have also participated in such a conspiracy and the subsequent con job to deceive the American public. If Trump ever orders Whitaker (on the left in the photo) to fire Mueller (on the right) and end the Russia probe then impeachment proceedings will begin as fast as Donald Trump can say Richard Nixon.

I remind you that, at this point, Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort...Trump's former national security adviser, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn...Trump's former personal lawyer and so-called "fixer," Michael Cohen...Trump's campaign aide, who was Manafort's longtime business partner, Rick Gates...and Trump's foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos...have all either been convicted on felony charges or have pleaded guilty for committing crimes. Birds of a feather may flock together...or may not...but it might soon be proven that Donald Trump is the most dangerous bird of all.

Representative Adam Schiff will take the reins of the House Intelligence Committee, come January. It will be this California Democrat who will oversee any congressional investigation in to allegations of corruption by Trump, his campaign, and his administration, and their link to Russia's meddling in our 2016 election. Make no mistake...Congressman Schiff - in plain English - will not take any crap from Donald Trump or from any other Republicans. Besides Schiff, other high ranking Democrats will be sitting in the chairman seats of all the House committees including the Judiciary Committee, the Ethics Committee, the Oversight Committee and the Ways and Means Committee.

The question is...will Donald Trump work with Speaker Pelosi - as well as with Senator Schumer - or will Trump continue to fight them? If he wants confrontation with the Democrats...Trump will get it. But compromise is the better way to go.

I have written in more than one column over the last two years that if Donald Trump is forced to resign the presidency, or if he is impeached by the House of Representatives then convicted and removed from office by the Senate, that there's the possibility for evidence to reveal that Mike Pence has perhaps been complicit in a criminal cover-up. If that were to ever happen and Pence is also forced to resign, or is impeached, convicted and removed from the vice presidency, the Republican administration of Trump and Pence would sink and be drowned, while a Democrat would swim to The White House. As speaker of the House and second in the line of succession - should she indeed get the nod - Nancy Pelosi would become president of the United States...America's first woman president.

In his post-midterm press conference - which lasted about an hour and a half - Trump told reporters..."This was a great victory for us"..."close to a complete victory"..."a tremendous success." Trump attempted to convince everyone that he is "extraordinarily happy," despite the Democrats flipping the House. He initially talked of bipartisanship. Trump thinks Pelosi should be speaker, now that the Democrats won. Trump praised Pelosi calling her a "very capable person" and "I really believe she deserves that position." Trump, at first, seemed optimistic in working with Democrats. "I think we'll get a lot done." But Trump also referred to Pelosi's party as "the angry Democrats." When the topic of subpoenas and investigations was brought up, Trump threatened "warlike posture" if Democrats continue with their witch hunts. He proclaimed that if Pelosi, Schiff, et al get in to his face and launch more investigations, the federal government will "come to a halt." It didn't take long for Trump's lovefest to turn back to being a hatefest. If Trump doesn't want his legislative agenda to be doomed - not to mention his entire presidency - he needs to shut his mouth and stop his evil ways.

It's the only way a narcissist could react. If a Republican lost his or her election in the midterms, Donald Trump - America's "narcissist-in-chief" - at his news conference mocked those candidates who didn't accept his help during their campaigns. One after another, Trump threw Republicans under the bus and he insisted they were defeated because they "didn't want the embrace" from him. Trump even flaunted that he didn't care one way or the other. "I'm not sure that I should be happy or sad. But I feel just fine about it." He berated and ridiculed Mia Love who was beaten for a congressional seat in Utah. "Mia gave me no love. And she lost. Too bad." As with everything else, Trump and his ego made any Republican win all about him.

Donald Trump can take all the victory laps he wants, but he's going to pull a hamstring doing it because it's the Democrats whose big win in the House is what's going to make a huge difference to Trump over the next two years. That is, of course, if he even remains in office throughout the remainder of his term.

Makeup of the new House of Representatives hasn't been fully decided as 8 of the 435 races are yet to be settled. As this column is published, Democrats hold 228 seats while Republicans have 199, come the new year, and Democrats only need 218 to take control. It is also too soon to engrave the Senate scorecard in granite as the races in Arizona and Florida have not yet determined winners. And there'll be a runoff election in Mississippi. Right now, the Democrats in the new Senate will hold 46 seats while the Republicans keep their majority with 51. It's possible the final split will be 51 to 49, which is what the current configuration is...and that's if the Democrats win the aforementioned three states. The worst case scenario for the Democrats would be if the Republicans take all three seats thus giving the GOP a total of 54 on the right side of the aisle to 46 on the left for the Democrats.

More women are headed to Congress. A history-making 102 women won seats in the House, including 35 who were elected for the first time. Prior to 2018, the Congressional Research Service says the most females to serve in the House of Representatives at a given time was 85. Furthermore, 12 women won seats in the Senate, including 2 freshmen. There are also 10 other female senators who were not due to run for re-election this year as their terms were not coming to an end.

Voters showed that diversity is a virtue not a vice. Americans elected African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian-Americans, Jews, Muslims, and members of the LGBTQ community to hold state and national offices. Of the women elected to the House of Representatives, 40 are non-Caucasian.

Trump's top goals have been to build a wall on the U.S./Mexico border and to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. But Americans overall do not advocate construction of Trump's "wall of hate." Confidence that such a border barrier would never see the light of day has been my view since Trump first suggested it during the 2016 campaign...and I stand firm that the nearly 2,000-mile wall will never be built. But immigration security is not the most important matter of national concern for voters across the country. The number one issue in the midterms - according to exit polls - was healthcare. Trump has failed over and over again to destroy President Obama's signature piece of legislation. And now...there is no chance that Trump will get Congress to do away with "Obamacare." Americans with pre-existing conditions have nothing to worry about as Republicans will not be able to come up with a measure that could affect us in such a frightening and possibly deadly manner.

While some professional athletes have boycotted visiting past presidents, it's not common for full teams to turn down an invitation from The White House. Donald Trump did host some team visits in year one of his term, but none so far in 2018. The champion Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association and the National Football League Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles refused to accept Trump's original offers to visit The White House. It's now been two weeks since the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, but the Major League Baseball champs have yet to decide whether they will go to Washington, DC to meet Trump. Historically, professional sports clubs - after winning a championship - are honored to accept an invitation to visit the president. Since teams have no desire to break bread with Trump this year, he should take that as a clue that he needs to change his ways. But not Donald Trump. He changes for nobody.

Donald Trump wants everything to be his way...and only...his way. Well, he discovered from the 2018 midterm elections that most Americans are not going to let him do that. Whether he - and Republicans nationwide - accept that fact...is a question that, for now, has no answer.

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: Reuters (Donald Trump #1), Mark Wilson/Getty Images (House Minority Leader/former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi), Lauren Victoria Burke/Associated Press (Congressman Jerry Nadler), Associated Press (Senator Ted Cruz), Bill Pugliano/Getty Images (Senator Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader and Senator Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader), Joe Skipper/Reuters (former President Barack Obama), Justin Sullivan/Getty Images (former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton), Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press (Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and Special Counsel Robert Mueller), CNN Screenshot (Congressman Adam Schiff), Jonathan Ernst/Reuters (Donald Trump #2) and Associated Press (Donald Trump #3)

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

Friday, November 9, 2018

DONALD TRUMP CAN'T HAVE A "GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARD"

The manipulative and conniving Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to fire special counsel Robert Mueller...and by terminating attorney general Jeff Sessions and replacing him with a Trump lapdog cannot be considered constitutional. The appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general is a threat to American democracy. In fact, George T. Conway III - who just happens to be married to Trump counselor, Kellyanne Conway - wrote with Neal K. Katyal...an op-ed in The New York Times where these two attorneys explain it this way. "Mr. Trump's installation of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general of the United States after forcing the resignation of Jeff Sessions is unconstitutional. It's illegal. And it means that anything Mr. Whitaker does, or tries to do, in that position is invalid."

Sessions was given the boot on November 7th, 2018, the day after the midterm elections. Although The White House had described Sessions' departure as a resignation, Sessions' letter to Trump paints a completely different picture. "At your request, I am submitting my resignation." "At your request" makes it quite clear. Sessions was fired as attorney general. And now...with Trump allowing Whitaker - a political appointee who has never been confirmed by the U.S. Senate for any recent government position - to take charge of the Department of Justice...to serve as the nation's chief law enforcement officer... and to oversee special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation...moves America to the brink of a full-blown constitutional crisis as Trump abuses the power of the presidency.

Katyal and Conway note "the Appointments Clause of the Constitution, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2. Under that provision, so-called principal officers of the United States must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate under its 'Advice and Consent' powers." These two learned lawyers further explain..."We cannot tolerate such an evasion of the Constitution's very explicit, textually precise design. Senate confirmation exists for a simple, and good, reason. Constitutionally, Matthew Whitaker is a nobody. His job as Mr. Sessions' chief of staff did not require Senate confirmation. (Yes, he was confirmed as a federal prosecutor in Iowa, in 2004, but Mr. Trump can't cut and paste that old, lapsed confirmation to today.) For the president to install Mr. Whitaker as our chief law enforcement officer is to betray the entire structure of our charter document."

It was Sessions who had recused himself in the Russia probe because he had campaigned for candidate Trump in 2016. According to law, Sessions could not take command of an investigation when the president of the United States is a subject.

Whitaker is widely known for publicly badmouthing the Russia investigation and has, in the past, expressed a desire to see it shut down. Whitaker has been a Trump parrot as he has repeatedly mimicked Trump with the claim of "no collusion." Therefore, Whitaker should recuse himself from any association with the Russia probe. But The Washington Post reports that Whitaker has no intention of recusing himself. That being said, if Whitaker tries to derail Mueller's work and, therefore, put an end to his efforts as special counsel, it will be at that moment when Democrats begin impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives. In the meantime, Democrats on Capitol Hill - with the help of some Republicans hopefully - need to somehow come up with a way to protect Mueller and his investigation.

Even if Mueller is not kicked out on his ear by Whitaker, but the new acting A.G. ties the special counsel's hands and blocks requests such as subpoenas for Mueller to properly continue his investigation, then the new Democratic-controlled House Intelligence Committee (come January 3rd, 2019) will act on their own. That committee will be chaired by Representative Adam Schiff of California and he will conduct hearings to get to the truth. Congress cannot lock up people behind prison bars, but they can expose facts...the honest truth...to the American public.

There are certainly other individuals - including Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein - who could have easily stepped in as Acting Attorney General. But Donald Trump wants someone in that position who can personally protect him from Robert Mueller and the criminal investigation that has already seen senior members of the Trump campaign and/or the Trump administration be convicted in court or plead guilty to felonies. Safeguarding the president from becoming a target in the Mueller probe is not the job of the attorney general. The A.G. cannot be Trump's "get out of jail free card."

Conway and Katyal also write in their November 8th op-ed piece..."In times of crisis, interim appointments need to be made. Cabinet officials die, and wars and other tragic events occur. It is very difficult to see how the current situation comports with those situations. And even if it did, there are officials readily at hand, including the deputy attorney general and the solicitor general, who were nominated by Mr. Trump and confirmed by the Senate. Either could step in as acting attorney general, both constitutionally and statutorily."

It should be noted that both Katyal and Conway are respected legal scholars, and Katyal also served as acting solicitor general of the United States under President Barack Obama.

The special counsel - by law - can only be dismissed from his post for "just cause." There is no justification whatsoever to remove Robert Mueller or to put the brakes on the Russia investigation. But Donald Trump is undoubtedly nervous and fearful that Mueller has enough evidence to not only bury the Trump presidency, but that members of the Trump family may also find themselves in legal hassles that could conceivably destroy Trump's business and his legacy.

Day after day, Trump is realizing that the handwriting is on the wall. He can shout "no collusion" all day long, but if Mueller is indeed getting close to nailing the coffin, as I believe he is, then when that happens - as I have written in the past - Republicans may be shocked to discover that Trump's son (Donald Trump, Jr.)...son-in-law (Jared Kushner)...and perhaps even Trump's daughter (Ivanka Trump Kushner)...are likely to be participants in a widespread conspiracy and/or a cover-up that I - and others - allege has been led by Donald Trump himself. Lies have been told under oath and I'm betting that the Mueller menu will soon feature obstruction of justice as the "soup of the day" and that there'll be multiple bowls served in Trumpworld.

One should never allow the fox to guard the hen house. Undoubtedly, the question on the minds of any of us who don't trust Donald Trump is..."Is there a quid pro quo between Trump and Whitaker?" If Trump appointed Whitaker - perhaps with a personal financial incentive - just to close down the Mueller investigation...that's one more avenue of crime that Mueller would need to prove. And if not him...then Congress. Trump claims, though, that he had no conversation with Whitaker about the Russia probe before the acting attorney general was appointed. But after more than 6,400 lies since taking the presidential oath of office - according to The Washington Post's Fact Checker - then Trump lying about talking with Whitaker about Mueller is a given.

Donald Trump thinks he is above the law. He believes he is untouchable. But he is mistaken. Trump is not now...nor will he ever be...above the law.

Another American president tried to fire his way out of trouble. Remember the so-called "Saturday Night Massacre" back on October 20th, 1973 during the Watergate scandal? Well, Richard Nixon discovered the hard way that he was not above the law either... and he ended up resigning the presidency in disgrace. The same thing is inevitably going to happen to 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 above. And thank you for reading The Controversy.

Photo credits: Getty Images (Donald Trump and Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker), Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images (former Attorney General Jeff Sessions), CNN Screenshot (Congressman Adam Schiff), Chip Somodevilla/ Getty Images (Attorney George Conway), Twitter (former Acting Solicitor General of the United States Neal Katyal), Alliance-Associated Press/S. Walsh/J. Scott Applewhite (Donald Trump and Special Counsel Robert Mueller) and Steve Northup/The Life Images Collection/Getty Images and Mark Wilson/Getty Images (Richard Nixon and Donald Trump)

Copyright 2018 Gary B. Duglin and The Controversy.net. All Rights Reserved.