

Donald Trump And The Death of Democracy

2020

By

Jerry Gallagher

Copyright 2020

Portions of this book can be

Copied or reproduced for

Review or Academic purposes.

Otherwise All Rights Reserved

Celtic Son Press

Forward

In 2008 I began writing a Political Blog called "Letters To A Lost Nation." I wrote each Blog Posting with an address to "My Dear America" as if America was a person who could be communicated with. Looking back on it I realize that I very much wanted to communicate my excitement for the 2008 Democratic Campaigns of Front Runners, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. With those two individuals running I knew that if either one of them garnered the Democratic Nomination and won the Presidency it would be a truly Historical Event.

Following the 2008 Election of Barack Obama I published "The Triumph Of Barack Obama." The book was, for the most part, essentially reprints of My Blog Posts from January 4th, 2008 to January 27th, 2009.

Writing about Politics since 2008 has been sometimes exciting, sometimes rewarding but often times depressing. When I published "The Triumph Of Barack Obama" I truly thought that we were in for nothing but good times from 2009 on. Boy, was I wrong.

I loved writing about Barack and his Administration, including Hillary Clinton. But the Congress in the hands of the Republicans did everything they could to stymie anything that Barack Obama proposed.

As bad as things were politically during the Obama Administration things have gotten far worse since the terrible mistake made in 2016 when the Electoral College ignored the millions of Democratic Votes for Hillary Clinton and put Donald Trump in the White House.

I am not going to waste time railing about Donald Trump. I will instead let this book and my Reprinted Blog Posts do the talking about him.

I have put a lot of effort into rewriting my posts so that I could publish this book. I have tried to improve on the writing at times but essentially this book is a gathering of my Posts that I have written concerning Donald Trump. Although I will publish a paperback version of this book through Kindle Direct that will cost something, I will also be publishing an E Book Version on Smashwords.com which anyone will be able to download for Free. Anyone wishing to can check out my full continuing Blog for free at letterstoalostnation.blogspot.com

I have put a lot of time and effort into preparing this book for publication. Certainly I would like to be financially compensated for my efforts. I feel, however, that what is most important about this book is getting it to Voters As Soon As Possible with the hope that being reminded of the Recklessness, Hurtfulness and Stupidity of the Donald Trump Administration will help to bring some voters to their senses and encourage them to Vote Democratic not only for Joe Biden for President but also Democrats for Congressional, Mayoral and Governors races, as well.

I am tempted to say something like "I hope you enjoy this book."

I will not say that, however. What I will say is that I hope you are horrified as you look back on the treacherous Reign of Terror we have lived through during the Trump Administration and I hope you are as sick of Donald Trump as I am and will vote accordingly, as though your life depends on it, because it does.

Chapter 1

TRUMPZILLA: The Monster Who Ate The Republican Party

Thursday August 6th, 2015

My Dear America:

Well, Finally the day has come when we will find out tonight during the First Republican Debates of the 2016 Election whether or not Donald Trump will be able to maintain his phenomenally Surging Popularity in The Republican Party's Race for the White House.

The Truth is that in the field of 17 Republican Candidates for President on the Republican side, it can truthfully be said that prior to Trump's Bombastic and Controversial entry into the Republican Candidate Field in early June, no real Republican Superstars had been emerging. Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Marco Rubio's Campaign poll numbers were higher than most of their competitors but for the most part polls were not showing anyone in the Republican Race for President breaking out of the pack.

Then came Donald Trump's Announcement on June 3rd. Anyone who was expecting a new and improved contrite and humble Donald Trump to arrive on the scene was quickly disappointed. Donald's announcement of his entry into the Republican Candidate Field was loaded with outrageous comments and behavior that many political commentators felt would lead in short order to Donald Trump's Candidacy for the Presidency to go down in flames.

Trump's commentary on Immigration was incendiary. Trump stated that Mexico was not sending us their best people. He identified many of those people Mexico was sending as "Rapists," a comment which immediately set off fireworks of all sorts.

Trump's immigration commentary set off political bombshells everywhere, as did his continuing bragging about himself. Trump also set off political aftershocks by his identifying almost everyone in the Republican Party or Political Journalists who opposed anything he said as "Losers."

One of his continuing barrage of self aggrandizing comments was about previous Republican Party Presidential Candidate, John McCain. When Trump was asked in an interview about John McCain's status as a "War Hero" due to his many years of torture and incarceration by the North Vietnamese, Trump stated that he "preferred War Heroes who weren't captured."

Clearly Donald Trump's continual bragging about how rich he is and his seemingly endless obnoxious commentary about President Obama, Hillary Clinton and nearly every other 2016 Candidate for President would have finished off most serious Candidates for President but the Teflon Donald seems to be, this afternoon, before the debate tonight what he has been since his announcement in June, which is The Front Runner.

Will Donald Trump emerge from tonight's debate unscathed and still the Front Runner. We will see what happens tonight.

As Rachel Maddow is prone to saying , "Watch This Space."

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 2

The First Republican Presidential Debate

& Jon Stewart's Last Daily Show

Friday, August 7th, 2015

My Dear America:

Last Night was the end of one era and the beginning of another new and more terrifying era. Jon Stewart appeared on his last Daily Show on Comedy Central and all 17 Republican Candidates for President appeared on their First Debates on Fox News.

Jon Stewart's last show featured a gathering of nearly all of The Daily Show "Correspondents" who had worked with Stewart over the 16 year course of his anchoring of The Daily Show. Many of those "Correspondents" went on to bigger and better things. Stephen Colbert will replace David Letterman on CBS. John Oliver now has a weekly Fake News Show of his own on HBO. Michael Che is now a regular Fake News Anchor on Saturday NIght Live. Also Steve Carrell, Ed Helms, Rob Cordry, Bob Riggle and others have gone into acting in movies and on television. The skits that the returning "Correspondents" appeared in last night were entertaining and a fitting tribute to Stewart's leadership over many years.

Probably the best and most entertaining, as well as surprising part of the show, was at the end when the "Moment of Zen" turned out to be Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band playing while Stewart and everyone in the studio came up and danced to the music being played by "The Boss."

Probably the most enduring part of the evening was when Jon Stewart did what he had done so many times before and addressed "Camera 3" and lectured on how to spot "Bullshit."

Prior to the airing of Stewart's show, my wife and I had watched several hours of "Bullshit" on Fox News as Fox initiated their two tiered debate system.

The First Debate earlier in the evening had no audience and Bill and Margaret (Whoever the hell they were) as the interviewers. With no audience, only two no names as interviewers and one no name ex Governor of Virginia, Jim Gilmore, there was very little excitement. But with Rick Perry and Lindsey Graham on the stage there was certainly a lot of Bullshit, primarily aimed at President Barack Obama.

Some Commentators that I saw on television following the First Debate said they were impressed by what Rachel Maddow and others called "The Kids Table Debate" by the performance of Carly Fiorina. Personally, whatever spark they saw in Fiorina, I must have totally missed.

What the hell were Fiorina and Rick Santorum doing on the debate stage in the first place. Fiorina has had the high honor of being very publicly fired from her job as CEO of Hewlett Packard (HP) for her role in running the company into the ground.

Rick Santorum has had the high honor of having his political ass kicked by Bob Casey Jr. in Pennsylvania during his last race for the Senate which was years ago.

Lindsey Graham has made a career of whining and bitching about Barack Obama, usually as a desperate sidekick of Senator John McCain.

Overall, "The Kids Table Debate" was an embarrassing display of Bullshit.

During the Second Fox News Debate of the night with those Candidates who Fox News had determined were the real serious Candidate Debaters, there was a large and loud audience and three more well known Fox News Anchors, Chris Wallace, Megyn Kelly and Bret Bair and the ten "Anointed Ones."

For the most part the questions asked by the interviewers were appropriate and some were even questions that had been suggested on Facebook.

Actually, all of the First String Debaters did pretty well shooting the Bull. One very interesting question was asked at the beginning of the debate and all of the debaters except Donald Trump pledged not to run an independent Candidacy if they weren't chosen as the Republican Party Nominee. Trump alone refused to make that pledge.

For the most part, Trump was relatively under control and the debate proceeded with everyone getting some air time to show their stuff.

Chris Christie and Rand Paul got into it about National Security and Rand Paul also gave Trump a shot for refusing to take the pledge not to run independently.

Mike Huckabee was sanctimonious, as usual.

Ben Carson seemed like a heartless snake bragging about his surgical skills like a megalomaniac.

Speaking of megalomania, Trump showed his from time to time during the debate but he did not call any one of his debate mates a "loser" to their face all night.

Although nobody could be called a winner in the second Fox Debate of the night, certainly Marco Rubio showed himself to be a contender worthy of his place on the stage.

John Kasich barely squeaked into the 10th spot on the second debate stage as a result of some questionable polling. Kasich proved to be someone who seemed rather reasonable and intelligent with a background in Congress, the Ohio Governor's Office, as well as Fox News.

While some intelligent conversations did arise during the second debate, the conversations regarding the nuclear deal with Iran and President Obama were disgustingly insulting and frightening to anyone who can recognize the truth about both of these subjects.

Clearly the Republican Debate A Team and the B Team are people who seem to believe their own lies that they have created with their Non-Stop Bullshit.

Why did you have to leave us now, Jon Stewart, when we need you the most?

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 3

Why Joe Biden Shouldn't Run – Yet

October 12th, 2015

My Dear America:

Certainly, although a lot has gone on in the Presidential Campaigns in recent months, it is, of course, really still at the beginning of the Presidential Race.

Today we are one day away from the First Televised Debate featuring the announced Democratic Party Presidential Contenders.

Those Contenders so far include Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chaffee.

Presently at the head of the pack Hillary Clinton seems to be the likely Democratic Party Choice, although Bernie Sanders certainly at this stage of the game seems to be giving Hillary more than a run for her money. In poll after poll recently Bernie's numbers have been increasing to the point where he is beating Hillary in polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, as well as elsewhere.

Right now in Las Vegas as CNN, the sponsor and broadcaster of tomorrow's Democratic Debate, has set up 5 podiums and has announced the setting of tomorrow's debate participants. Although the five mentioned debaters have confirmed their agreement to participate in tomorrow's debate, CNN has also confirmed that they agreed that even if he decides to participate in the debate at the last minute, that Vice President, Joe Biden would be included in the debate. An extra podium is just offstage in the event that Joe Biden decides to participate in tomorrow's debate.

Speculation about Joe Biden running for President has been raging for months. He has talked to friends and his family members about it and, in fact, his son, Beau, on his dying bed advised his father to run. Many other Democrats have also urged him to run.

In my opinion Joe should not participate in tomorrow's debate although his last minute participation would certainly make the debate more interesting.

I feel, however, that if Joe runs for President that there will be no advantage for him to announce now and debate now. Certainly Biden is an excellent debater, as he has proved many times over the years and he would likely add much to tomorrow's debate. If Joe does run for President, however, I think he has more to gain by taking his time getting into the race.

Although the chaos in the Republican Party thus far and the BS about Hillary Clinton's E Mails makes it feel as though the Presidential Campaign is almost over, the truth is that it has really just begun and has a long way to go. Joe Biden jumping into the race right now will only give Republicans a longer time to go after Biden and try to tear him apart.

Although certainly Joe Biden's tendency to say what he thinks has gotten him in trouble in the past, in the era of Donald Trump, Joe's honesty might be considered more of an asset than a liability by the voters. Certainly, Barack Obama has shown his appreciation for Joe's political capabilities over the course of the Obama Administration. Whether Obama would outright support Joe for the Democratic Nomination for President remains to be seen.

Joe Biden was, after all, the person who early on in the debate about Iraq suggested that Iraq be partitioned into Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish regions. If we had followed Joe's advice perhaps we would all be better off now. Certainly Iraq would have been better off.

During the insanity that led to the government shutting down it was, in the end, Joe Biden and his friendly relationships with Republican Congressional Leaders that led to reasonable people in the Congress coming to their senses and ending the stupidity of shutting down the United States Government.

Joe Biden is a decent man and a truly talented politician. He would make a Great President, just as he has made a Great Vice President.

In my opinion Joe should run but not this early. Let the Republicans finish each other off in the coming months and let things play out in Democratic Politics, as well.

Certainly Joe Biden takes a chance if he waits to get into the race. He is, however, in double digits in the polls even without being officially in the race. Joe is already a Contender in the race. In my opinion Joe should continue to do his job as well as he can and avoid being tarnished by the Republicans as a Politician First and a Vice President Second.

Joe Biden should save his money, do his job and watch how things play out in both the Republican and Democratic Parties. Joe will be welcome to join the election process whenever he chooses to do it and he will be able to raise money and meet the competition with all the vigor he has. I am sure that his dying son's request that he should run is with him every day and in time will cause him to make the right choice.

I personally hope that Joe Biden joins the race. I am not sure at this point whether I will vote for him or not but I certainly think that his long and distinguished career in politics and especially his performance as Vice President will guarantee him a podium on a debate stage at some point in the future.

Whether or not he runs or doesn't run and whether I will vote for him, I, as a proud Democrat will always love that other proud Coal Cracker from my Home Town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Joe Biden.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 4

The First Televised Democratic Debate of the 2016 Election

October 14th, 2015

My Dear America:

Last night was the First Televised Debate featuring the Five declared Candidates hoping to be selected as the Nominee of the Democratic Party for President in 2016. Although it was far from a Love Fest, It was a far cry from the two previously broadcast Human Demolition Derby's featuring Trumpzilla and the Seventeen Republican Dwarf Candidates. The brutal Republican slugfests were in stark contrast to last night's rather sedate and respectful presentations by the Democratic Candidates. Most of what could be said about last night's debate has been said, all day yesterday and most of last night following the debate that was broadcast on CNN.

What last night's debate showed was the fact that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are Great Debaters and Great Candidates for the Presidential nod by the Democrats. Both explained themselves and their positions very well. When the issue of Hillary's E Mails came up Bernie took the unusual political step of stating that the American people have heard "Enough about the Damn E Mails" and in so doing turned the attention back to the important issues that needed to be dealt with in America and around the world. Hillary and Bernie made me feel proud to be a Democrat last night.

Although Anderson Cooper and the CNN Team did a good job of coordinating the debate and asking relevant questions, clearly Hillary and Bernie, whether they tried to or not, hogged the spotlight throughout the debate.

Although that was the case, the three other Democrats in the debate did get a chance to introduce themselves to America. Martin O'Malley had appeared on television from time to time in recent months but both Senators Lincoln Chaffee and Jim Webb had been given very little attention by the American media prior to last night. Although Martin O'Malley did manage to get a word in edgewise now and then in last night's debate, both Chaffee and Webb seemed to have little time to have their say. Webb complained about it but was chastised by Anderson Cooper. I have to admit that Webb did have a right to complain and so did Chaffee.

The truth is that Webb and Chaffee did get some time to explain who they were and why they were in the race and what they stood for but I would be surprised if either Webb or Chaffee improved their poll numbers by much. O'Malley, who had been mentioned in previous Presidential Elections as a possible Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate seemed to show in last night's debate that he could still be a very accomplished Vice President. It is doubtful, however, that O'Malley can really break out as a serious candidate to challenge Sanders or Clinton for the Official Democratic Presidential Nod.

Many of the talking heads last night stated that Joe Biden might have been the "Big Loser" in last nights debate. That may be true but if Joe Biden wants to run I think there will be plenty of room for him on the stage in future debates, once Chaffee, Webb and O'Malley realize that their dreams of Presidential glory are unlikely to come true, at least this time around.

Hillary and Bernie, however, seem to be here to stay on the Democratic debate stages in the near future. They belong there and Bernie's ongoing reference to a "Revolution" in the making seems to have made his candidacy one that needs to be taken seriously and one which has already shaken up the process in the Democratic Party. Bernie's populist message regarding the virtual disappearance of the Middle Class in America and the need to restore it certainly resonates with Democrats and most likely will resonate with many Americans in both parties.

Bernie Sanders is a leader and has proved his worth so far in early polling. When he states that The Revolution has begun, he knows what he is talking about because he is leading this Exciting New Revolution.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 5

It Is Christmas Eve 2015 In America And All Is Not Calm

Thursday, December 23rd, 2015

My Dear America:

Well it is Christmas Eve 2015 and many Americans are either ready or getting ready for the big day tomorrow. 2015 has been an uneasy and frightening year in many respects. We have seen the unbelievably swift and brutal rise of ISIS, a terrorist group of epic and bloodthirsty proportions who seem to wish to kill anyone who is unlucky enough to get in their path.

Clearly they have shown in the bloodbath that they have taken credit for in Paris, France on an extremely unlucky Friday the 13th that they don't seem to care who they kill as long as the body count is high and the media coverage is extensive.

Then we also need to contemplate on this foggy Christmas Eve the worst Christmas Party of all time out in San Bernadino, California, where the seemingly likeable Muslim Health Inspector apparently got angry and stormed out of the party. He then returned to the party with his gun toting wife and between them killed several of his co-workers. Prior to the couple dying in a hail of police bullets, the Health Inspector's Muslim Wife pledged allegiance to ISIS. Although this Deadly Health Inspector was Muslim we must be careful not to blame all Muslims for the dirty deeds done by some in the name of ISIS. Most Muslims are peace loving and decent people who reject violence and we must keep that in mind

And as we contemplate the upcoming year, 2016, on this Christmas Eve we also must look back at 2015 and realize that 2015 was not simply a nightmare year because of terrorism. It was also a nightmare year in politics primarily due to the startling emergence in the Republican Party of Donald Trump in the race for the Presidency.

Trumpzilla, we can recall was the person who ran the issue of Barack Obama's Birth Certificate into the ground during the last Presidential Election. At that time we can also recall that Trump threatened to run for President then but chose instead to keep Celebrity Apprentice going for a couple more years.

This past year Trump did not threaten to run. He made it official on June 16th of this past year that he was running for President. On June 16th Trump made his First Statements about the BIG WALL he was going to build to keep those Mexican rapists and criminals from coming to America. Since then Trump has made one outrageous statement after another. Although each of his outrageous statements seemed to be the one that would seal his doom, Trump has miraculously continued to rise in the polls and on Christmas Eve 2015 he is still ahead of all of his Republican Rivals in the latest polls.

The truth is that as awful and divisive a Candidate as Trump is, he is probably not the worst Presidential Candidate in the Republican Party. The Republicans started out with at least 17 announced Candidates. Although Scott Walker, Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal and Lindsey Graham have read the writing on the wall and left the race for the Republican Presidential Candidate Coronation, there are plenty of Nightmare Republican Candidates left.

Fortunately we still have three Good Candidates left on the Democratic Side.

We can only hope that one of those Democrats comes out ahead in November of 2016 and saves us from the Scourge of Candidates Republicans have to choose from.

Like the Charles Dickens Character of Tiny Tim in "A Christmas Carol" all I have to say on this Eve is:

GOD BLESS US, EVERY ONE

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 6

Goodbye Iowa – Hello New Hampshire

(Republican Version)

February 5th, 2016

My Dear America:

After a year of Bullshit, Bluster and Barnstorming on the part of a whole new Crop of American Presidential Candidates we have finally had something happen that really means something. We have had something akin to an election. It wasn't really an election. It was the Iowa Caucus, or more accurately the Iowa Caucuses.

It was the first time since 2012 that Americans (Iowans only) had to get up off their asses, walk out of their dwellings and go somewhere to make it known to other Iowans, and other Americans, as well, who was the person in their party that they preferred to run for President.

Although the Iowa Caucus is not really an election, It does mean Something Special in American Politics and it has taught not only Iowans, but also other Americans elsewhere in the country some valuable lessons over the years. Some of those lessons have been taught before and, indeed, learned before but like many other life lessons forgotten over the course of several years, sometimes we all need reminders to refresh our political memories.

The past year has been filled with strange political lessons even before the actual voting of the Iowa Caucus.

We learned, for instance, that even a disingenuous, disgraceful First Term Senator from Texas, who seemed to take Great Pleasure in shutting down the United States Government in an effort to defund programs he didn't like, could not only participate in the Presidential Primary Process but could actually win his party's nomination process in the great state of Iowa.

"How Stupid are the people of Iowa," Donald Trump ranted at one of his well attended rallys. Well, apparently they weren't stupid enough to vote Trump for First Place in the Iowa Caucus. Yet, they did vote Trump, The Big Mouth that Roared into Second Place on the Iowa Caucus Republican tally sheet. Good God, that's bad enough.

And Ted Cruz, the winner in Iowa, was apparently successful in covering over his political warts. Ted Cruz, the man who single handedly shut down the Federal Government so that he could read "Green Eggs and Ham" into the Congressional Record won the votes of Iowa Republicans despite the fact that he is probably the single most despised man in the entire Republican Party.

Ted was, however, the first Dark horse out of the gate in 2015 making his announcement at Liberty University early in the year. His announcement was, of course, filled with derisive comments about "Obamacare." Days after his announcement at Liberty U., when Ted's wife left her Wall Street Job and her health care benefits behind, Ted signed his family up for the hated "Obamacare" program. This was to be only one of the many indications of what a fraud Ted Cruz was.

Ted and Marco Rubio, Two Americans born of Cuban immigrants, First Term United States Senators running for President in 2015 and 2016 tried to outdo each other on presenting themselves as Anti-Immigration Republicans. Despite the fact that neither Rubio nor Cruz would be Americans if it wasn't for their parents immigrating to America, these two phonys came in First (Cruz) and Third (Rubio) in the Republican Iowa Caucus Results.

Rubio, a Young Senator with a debt soaked checkered past in Florida and little inclination for showing up to work as a First Term Senator, did, however, manage to keep his campaign afloat as other lighter funded Republican Candidates fell by the wayside during 2015.

As Republicans voted in the Iowa Caucus the Campaign trail had already been littered with the carcases of many former All Star Republican Presidential Candidates. Underfunded and unappreciated these candidates began to fall like failed track stars that couldn't make it to the finish line. In fact, many of these candidates couldn't even make it to the starting gate of the Iowa Caucuses.

Like Bruce Springsteen's "Broken Heroes on a last Chance Power Try" the failed Republican Presidential Prospects had come alive on the Republican Campaign Trail and those who were allowed to participate in the Republican Debates by the Media Power Brokers did so with a relish.

Former Governor of Virginia , Jim Gilmore, got no traction at all and was shut out of most debates.

Former Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, who had dropped out of the Presidential Race in 2012 when he could not remember the names of the Government Departments that he was threatening to shut down, ended up dropping out of the Presidential Race again.

Former New York Governor, George Patacki, despite good showings on what Rachel Maddow first and others later called "The Kids Table Debates, just never caught fire and dropped out.

The same thing happened with South Carolina Senator and John McCain Buddy, Lindsey Graham and Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal.

Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker's Republican Star seemed to burn very brightly for awhile but in the end the light and the big money disappeared and so did Scott Walker from the Campaign Trail.

Following the Iowa Caucuses Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum, U.S. Senator Rand Paul and former Arkansas Governor and Fox News Host, Mike Huckabee, also gave up the ghost and dropped out of the Republican Presidential Race.

Even after poor showings in Iowa, however, Dr. Ben Carson, Former Florida Governor, Jeb Bush, New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, Failed CEO of Hewlett Packard and Failed California Senate Candidate, Carly Fiorina, Ohio Governor, John Kasich all remained in the Presidential Race, along with Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.

If there is one Candidate who should have learned a valuable lesson in Iowa it is Donald Trump. Although Trump came in Second in the Iowa Race, he had predicted that he would win and win big in Iowa. It must have been galling for him to lose to Ted Cruz, who Trump had unleashed a scorched earth policy on during the waning days of the Iowa Campaign. It must have also galled Trump that he had only beaten Marco Rubio by one percentage point.

Trump seemed to be almost conciliatory to his rivals and to Iowa residents on Caucuses night.

It is doubtful that this attitude will last long, especially if Trump tops the field of Dreamers in New Hampshire. We shall soon see what happens in New Hampshire in the First Actual State Primary Election this year.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 7

Goodbye Iowa – Hello New Hampshire

(Democratic Version)

February 6th, 2016

My Dear America:

It's Saturday Night Live and after a few days of trashing one another on the Campaign Trail the Republican Candidates for President this evening are really brutally bashing one another on another Presidential Debate being broadcast on the ABC Television Network.

Earlier this week it was the Democratic Candidates who were debating on television. After Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders left Iowa following a Virtual Tie Result in the Iowa Caucuses, the third Democratic Candidate for President in the Iowa contest, Martin O'Malley, dropped out of the race for President after a poor showing in the Iowa Caucuses. O'Malley was an accomplished Democrat and should have done better in the Iowa contest but after registering a mere 3 percent of Iowa Caucus Voters, O'Malley did the right thing and left the race to Bernie and Hillary to fight it out.

And fight it out they did and continue to do. Although Bernie's lead continues to be substantial according to New Hampshire Polls those polls seem to be showing a slow but steady improvement in Hillary's New Hampshire voter support. It is hard to see the prospect of Bernie's more than 10 percent poll edge disappearing but stranger things have happened in New Hampshire Presidential Primary Elections before.

Although Hillary and Bernie have not sunk to anywhere near the level of savagery that the Republicans have shown toward each other in tonight's debate, the Democrats have certainly, in the waning days of the New Hampshire Primary Campaign, taken off the kid gloves in Town Halling and debating one another. This is nothing new in New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary Contests but it is certainly a new level of verbal violence in this particular race between these two particular candidates.

Both Bernie and Hillary are crisscrossing New Hampshire at breakneck paces and Bill Clinton and Jane Sanders are also showing up in the state to do what they can do to help their spouses. Hillary is scheduled to go to Flint, Michigan on Sunday to try to do what she can to increase the attention given to the water crisis there.

The Sanders Campaign has announced that Bernie will be in New York City this evening to appear on Saturday Night Live with Larry David, who has played Bernie Sanders in several skits during the past SNL Season. Sanders has made it clear that he is not miffed about the Larry David impressions of him but is, in fact, a fan of Larry David.

It's down to the wire in this incredible contest and despite the fact that Bernie continues to top the polls no one is counting their chickens in this state until they are hatched on Tuesday

Stay Tuned. Live from New Hampshire it'll be Tuesday Night Live and it should be very interesting.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 8

Its February 10th, the Day After The New Hampshire Primary And The Revolution Has Finally Begun

February 10th, 2016

My Dear America:

It's the day after the New Hampshire Primary and after numerous debates by both the Republican and Democratic Candidates for President, After much hard work by many Campaign Workers and after much soul searching on the part of Political Pundits and Voters in the "Granite State" we finally have some idea of who the First Front Runners are in the first actual State Primary Election in the race to find the Democratic and Republican Candidates for President who will run against each other for the biggest American Political Prize in the Fall of 2016.

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

REPUBLICANS

The New Hampshire Republicans have chosen Donald Trump who ended up with over 35 percent of the votes cast in the New Hampshire Republican Race for President. Trump's victory was no surprise to anyone following the New Hampshire Race for President. What did prove surprising was the fact that Ohio Governor, John Kasich came in Second. Kasich was a distant Second at nearly 16 percent of the vote but he was strong enough to outdistance his seemingly better known Republican Rivals including Ted Cruz at 11.7 percent, Jeb Bush at 11 percent, Marco Rubio at 10.6 percent. Chris Christie had gambled that his brash debate bullying of Marco Rubio, who had come in 3rd in Iowa, would help him catch fire in New Hampshire. Despite his high hopes for success in New Hampshire where he spent a great deal of time trying to build his campaign, Christie came in at 7.4 percent.

Once again Marco Rubio, although clearly damaged by his Saturday Night Debate Massacre by Christie still outdistanced The New Jersey "Bridgegate" Bully by over 3 percentage points, enough to give Rubio, along with Cruz and Bush, 3 delegates apiece to the Republican Nominating Convention later this year. Christie went back to New Jersey after the New Hampshire Primary and ABC Television reports today are predicting that Christie will be announcing soon that he will be suspending his Presidential Campaign.

Carly Fiorina, who was not even included in last Saturday's Debate did even more poorly than Christie. She got only 4.1 percent of the vote. Ben Carson apparently had not heard his name called at the last Debate and stood around like a fool while other Candidates flew by him like a wounded bird. Only Trump waited with Carson in the wings when the ABC Hosts finally pleaded for him to come out . The Hosts also almost forgot to announce Kasich but JK made less of a fool of himself than Carson did.

So for Democrats, Liberals and Reasonable Voters everywhere in the United States of America, as William Conrad used to announce at the beginning of a Quinn Martin Produced Television show called "The Invaders" back in the day:

"The Nightmare Has Already Begun"

DEMOCRATS

For Democrats the news out of New Hampshire is quite a bit simpler to understand, although for many establishment Democrats it may still not be easy to accept.

The Democrats didn't have 17 Candidates starting out on the Campaign Trail. For a good while it seemed to Democratic Politicians as though there might only be one Democratic Candidate running for President and that Candidate was Hillary Clinton. Hillary announced online after prepping the media as to when to look for it. Quite frankly I was thrilled when Hillary announced her candidacy. I thought that with as screwed up as the world had become and the fact that she had become a Grandmother that she might just say to herself and her family "Who needs this, Not me." Of course it was a big deal when Hillary announced and it appeared to many Democrats, including me, that Hillary had it in the bag and that was, at the time, just fine with many Democrats, including me.

There was for awhile some rumbling about other challengers for the Democratic Nomination for President. Martin O'Malley and Elizabeth Warren were two of the names bandied about. Eventually O'Malley, the former Baltimore Mayor and Maryland Governor did announce that he was running for the Democratic Presidential Nomination and participated in Democratic Presidential Candidate Debates. Two other Candidates, Jim Webb of Virginia and Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island also participated in the First Democratic Presidential Candidate Debate but poll results after that debate showed that neither Webb nor Chaffee seemed to be showing any strength so, mercifully for everyone, especially themselves, they dropped out of the race.

Although Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley still remained in the race for the Democratic Nomination and on the debate stage for several more Democratic Debates, they had been joined on the debate stage by a little known Senator from Vermont named Bernie Sanders. Bernie had been one of the few politicians who had been elected first to the House of Representatives and later on to the Senate not tied to the label of either party. He was elected to Congress as an Independent. While Bernie caucused in the Congress with the Democrats and held important Committee Positions Bernie Sanders advertised himself as a Democratic Socialist in Congress and still advertises himself as a Democratic Socialist.

How, Democratic Voters asked, could an avowed Socialist Democrat be successful in 2016 running on the prospect of promoting a Voters Revolution in America.

Clearly the powers that be in the Democratic and Republican Parties have underestimated this energetic Old Guy who has shown himself to be not only a strong candidate who has turned the Democratic Party upside down in Iowa first, where he tied with Hillary Clinton, but especially in New Hampshire, where Bernie Sanders leaves the Granite State with not only a win under his belt in the New Hampshire Primary but a decisive win of 60.4 percent compared to Hillary Clinton's showing of 38 percent. O'Malley, although he had already bowed out of the campaign and the debates got a few votes in New Hampshire but not enough to make a difference.

Clearly anyone looking at the results of the New Hampshire Primary needs to realize that it has not always been won by candidates who marched on to victory at their party conventions or victory in the fall elections.

But Political Observers need to look at the New Hampshire results and realize that in the case of both Republican and Democratic victories in New Hampshire, The Outsiders, The Rebels, The Candidates not endorsed by many Party Leaders won resounding victories. Clearly Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are two completely different Outsider Candidates.

In my opinion Trump is a Reckless Fool who has shown himself to be a Dangerous Candidate who plays on American Fears. Mexicans, Muslims are bad people to Donald Trump. Why are people voting for him? I don't know.

Bernie Sanders, on the other hand I can understand and support. He is promoting ideas that Liberals and Reasonable People can believe in. As he has often pointed out, he started out as a candidate who registered at less than 3 percent in the polls and now he has tied Hillary in Iowa and has beaten Hillary by a wide margin in New Hampshire.

Clearly a Revolution in the United States of America has begun and clearly it is going to be a long, sometimes dangerous and often interesting journey along the Campaign Trail this year.

Batten down the hatches People. The Broncos are just beginning to buck and it's going to be a long ride to the finish line this year.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 9

Reflections on the April 26th 2016 Primary Election Results

April 29th, 2016

My Dear America:

It is just a couple of days following the Blowout Primary Elections in several different states.

It was, to say the least, an important election day for both the Republican and Democratic Front Runners. Donald Trump crushed his Republican Rivals, Ted Cruz and John Kasich in all five of the Primary States including Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island.

Although John Kasich came in second in Connecticut, Maryland and Rhode Island, Trump's margin of victory over both Kasich and Cruz was at least a 30 point margin in all five states.

Bernie Sanders fared better in the Democratic contests in the April 26th Primaries. He at least won the Rhode Island Primary by about a 12 point margin. Hillary Clinton's victories in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut and Delaware were not by as large a margin of victory in all states as Trump but in Maryland she did beat Bernie Sanders by a 30 Point Margin of Victory. In Delaware Hillary beat Bernie by 20 percentage points and in Pennsylvania by 12 points and Connecticut by 5 percentage points.

What do these results mean for the Republican and Democratic Parties?

It certainly seems to me as though the most important Primary Elections may now have ended for both the Republicans and Democrats.

Certainly the Republican Party is not a happy, joyous political party at the present time. Clearly Republican Party leaders do not appear to be pleased at the prospect of Donald Trump being at the head of the 2016 Republican Party Ticket. But the Mean Spirited, Anti Obama and Anti Obamacare Party, the party who met in January of 2009 and decided that they would do everything they could to keep President Obama from winning a second term, including shut down the Government, clearly have reaped what they have sown. Republicans have consistently encouraged their flock to hate Obama, to hate Democrats, to hate news organizations other than Fox News, To hate Liberals and to tolerate stalled and ineffective government, especially with regard to Congress.

After the incredibly hateful and harmful agenda that the Republican Party has espoused for so long, the chickens have come home to roost. Those angry hateful chickens have brought with them their lead Rooster. His name is Donald Trump.

Trump may not be unstoppable at this point but if the Republican Party has a brokered convention which does not follow the lead of the Republican voters they are going to finish their convention as a fractured party with little hope of success in the November, 2016 Election. The truth is that no matter what happens at the Republican Party Convention, the Republican Party is going to be damaged, possibly beyond repair, at least for the upcoming election.

The Democratic Party is also a party that is headed for trouble. I am already seeing on my Facebook page quite a number of disturbing posts by Bernie Sanders supporters indicating that they are angry and are unwilling to vote for Hillary Clinton.

It is my view that Bernie Sanders has been an exciting, honest and forthright Candidate for the Presidency of the United States. Bernie entered the race and has continued the race with some very serious concerns, which he has had the chance to voice over the course of the Democratic Primaries. His concerns are the concerns of many Americans and he has articulated his concerns in numerous debates and Town Halls throughout the course of the Democratic Presidential Primary Campaign. In my view and in the view of many people who know him, including former Speaker of the House, John Boehner, Bernie Sanders is one of the most honest politicians ever to go to Washington.

When Bernie Sanders began his quest for the Presidency few people gave him a snowballs chance in hell to be as successful as he has been. Bernie Sanders being in the race has clearly influenced Hillary Clinton to tilt to the left on many of the issues that Bernie has embraced over the many years he has been in Congress and over the year or so that he has been running for President.

Bernie Sanders turned the Democratic Primary Race for President into a referendum on whether or not the time had come for Americans to become involved in a New American Revolution to return to old respected values. Bernie has not been a man who has based his politics on the preservation of the wealthy. Just the opposite. He has based his politics on the preservation of the young, of the individual freedoms and of the political system that does not reward greed but instead rewards those individuals who are not rich enough to donate millions of dollars on their own to sponsor a candidate but are willing to make a small contribution to a political candidate that they can believe in.

The Bernie Sanders Presidential Campaign is not over by a long shot. It is not dead after the April 26th Primaries. Sanders performance in these five recent Primary States has been disappointing to those of us who have believed that Bernie Sanders could do the impossible and beat Hillary Clinton in the conventional Primary System. Clearly Bernie has done better over the course of the Democratic Party Primary than anyone, including Bernie, thought he could or would do. Bernie Sanders caught on with young people, as well as with many other Democrats through his message of changing the political system from within. He did his best but although his candidacy is far from dead, it appears to be on life support at the present time.

Certainly many Bernie Sanders workers and voters are disappointed at the results of the April 26th, 2016 Primary races. I am disappointed also. But I would ask those Bernie Sanders supporters who are ready to take out their frustrations on the Democratic Party to think about the foolishness of taking that path. Although Bernie Sanders has not said it yet, I am sure that when all is said and done, and if he is not the Final Victorious Candidate for President on the Democratic Ticket, that Bernie Sanders will do the right thing.

Although he also will be disappointed that he wasn't able to reach the finish line successfully he will recognize that in the end he will need to swallow his pride and recommend to his fellow revolutionaries that either not voting for Hillary Clinton or, worse yet, voting for Donald Trump or any other Republican Presidential Candidate that manages to steal the election from him, will result in an America that will look and seem more like Hitler's Germany or Putin's Russia than the America we have long loved and respected.

Like Hitler's Germany's Death Camps for Jews, Donald Trump has already chosen the people he will blame for his almost certain failures. Mexicans, Muslims, Latinos and Blacks may not end up in death camps but they may end up like the virtual slaves that Trump Industries has created in Dubai by taking individual worker's passports from them and keeping them in debt so that they can't realistically return to their home countries. And in Dubai if the Trump slaves try to escape they may be gunned down. This is the kind of man who is poised to be President of the United States on the Republican Ticket. God Help Us.

The truth for me is that I was a Hillary Supporter before I was a Bernie Supporter. I was very impressed by Hillary's book, "Hard Choices," which was given to me by two of my daughters. I was impressed by the hard work Hillary had put in as First Lady, Secretary of State and New York Senator. I voted for her in the 2008 Pennsylvania Primary Race and before Bernie announced his Candidacy I was prepared to vote for Hillary again this Primary Season. As I watched the parade of Reckless Candidates gather together on the Republican side of the Presidential Primary Race I was extremely relieved when Hillary finally threw her hat into the ring on the Democratic side of the Race for the Presidency.

In the end, though, I voted for Bernie Sanders this time around in the Pennsylvania Primary.

The Truth is that I do not blame Hillary for winning the Democratic Presidential Primary. She was and is the most qualified candidate among those running for President on either the Republican or Democratic side.

Other people can do what they want but I will not waste my vote by sitting out the Presidential Election because I am unhappy if Bernie doesn't get the Nomination. I will be proudly voting for Hillary Clinton in November of 2016 if she gets the Democratic Nomination for President.

As the political talk gradually becomes about Vice Presidents I would like to make a suggestion to Hillary and Bernie, regardless of who wins the Nomination for President on the Democratic side. If Hillary wins I think she would be wise to follow the Obama playbook and the "Team of Rivals" concept and pick Bernie Sanders as her Vice President. Yes, the battle has been bloody and battering at times during the Primaries on both sides. Hillary and Bernie have fought hard for the nomination of the Democratic Party. But regardless of how much they have fought and disagreed with each other, they still have many views and concerns in common.

One other suggestion for Hillary is the possibility that she could pick Bill Clinton to be her Vice President. I don't know if a former President can legally serve as a Vice President following his 8 years as President, but Hillary and Bill could be an interesting and a winning combination, as could Hillary and Bernie.

If Hillary is the Nominee or if Bernie is the Nominee, an excellent choice for either one of them for Vice President would be Senator Elizabeth Warren.

But the battle for the White House still continues, and as interesting and frightening as it has been I believe that the Candidates have many more surprises in store for the American Voters.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 9

Whatever Happened To The Hillary Clinton Who Nearly Every Republican Admired

July 5th, 2016

My Dear America:

Today is a Great Day for Hillary Clinton.

She and her followers (Including me) can finally breathe a little easier after FBI Director, James Comey, today issued the pronouncement that Hillary was Careless but not Criminal with regard to her E Mails while serving as Secretary of State.

Anyone with half a brain could have predicted that this day would come and, Thank God, it has come prior to the Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia. Today's Announcement by FBI Director Comey has certainly not put the issue of Secretary Clinton's E Mails to rest because his announcement of "No Charges" was not without criticism of how Mrs. Clinton conducted her E Mail affairs at the State Department.

Of Course, Donald Trump immediately started Tweeting about the "Rigged System" that has kept Hillary from being indicted. Trump, whose own offenses are many and diverse, must be beside himself today as Hillary Clinton boards Air Force One along with President Obama to go to North Carolina where the Dynamic Duo are having Dueling Campaign Rallys with Donald Trump.

Certainly Trump will not accept today's decision by FBI Director Comey and will try to continue his character assassination techniques against Secretary Clinton.

I, for one, am tired of hearing Donald Trump continue to refer to Hillary Clinton as "Crooked Hillary." I would love it if Hillary would respond to Trump by calling him "Dumbass Donald" although if she did that she would probably be accused of being Shrill and Unladylike, among other Rude Republican Epithets that would be thrown her way. I would suggest that it might be semi acceptable for her to call Trump Dumb Donald.

I have been thinking lately of a time not so long ago when Hillary Clinton was not only accepted by most Republicans but I would go so far as to say that she was actually admired by many, if not most Republicans.

In truth, Hillary Clinton deserves to be admired by most Americans. She has done much in her lifetime to deserve that admiration. In her early career following her graduation from Yale University Law School she fought for Children's Issues and was even a staffer on the famous House Judiciary Committee that investigated and in truth was responsible for exposing President Richard Nixon as a Shameless Paranoid Criminal and preparing articles of Impeachment which led to Nixon's resignation.

Later on Hillary was a respected Lawyer, Law School Professor and First Lady in Arkansas. Following that she was a highly admired and respected First Lady in Washington. After the Clintons left the White House Hillary ran for the Senate in her new home state of New York and won the Senate seat in which she served with distinction and was admired by her Congressional Colleagues for her bipartisanship back when bipartisanship was still thought to be a good thing.

Then Hillary ran for President in 2008 and although at first the Democratic Nomination seemed to be hers for the taking, a young upstart former Community Organizer and newly minted Illinois Senator named Barack Obama fought Hillary for the Democratic Party Nomination and after a hard fought Campaign, Obama eventually won the Party Nomination. Both Hillary and Bill Clinton to their credit fully endorsed and worked hard for Barack Obama's Election and were certainly at least partially responsible for Obama's eventual successful Presidential Election to the highest office in the land.

Following in the tradition of Doris Kearns Goodwin's book about Abraham Lincoln, "Team of Rivals," President Obama after his Election in 2008 reached out to Hillary Clinton and to her surprise, as well as the Country's, Obama asked her to become Secretary of State in the Obama Administration.

Hillary's book, "Hard Choices," details her frenetic but successful time in office as she served as Secretary of State.

During the time she served as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was highly praised and admired by Republicans, as well as Democrats everywhere. Although Republicans had almost nothing positive to say about President Obama, almost everything said about Hillary Clinton was very positive. But all that changed when Hillary Clinton announced her Candidacy for President.

Following her announcement that she was going to run for President suddenly Hillary Clinton has been turned into a Republican Boogywoman of epic proportions

Republicans who have claimed to be fiscally responsible have inexplicably squandered millions of dollars in at least 8 Congressionally authorized investigations of Benghazi in an incredibly brazen and boldly partisan attempt to tarnish Hillary Clinton's reputation.

Even Donald Trump had words of praise for Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State. Today Trump calls her "Crooked Hillary" and other Republican partisans call her far worse than that.

It will be interesting to see what Republicans call her when and if she becomes the President of the United States. It will not be surprising, however, to see Hillary once again proving to be a Competent and Praiseworthy Leader once again.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 10

Thank You Mister President

July 15th, 2016

My Dear America:

Although I know I don't speak for all Americans, or even all reasonable Americans, I know I do speak for many reasonable Americans when I say "Thank You President Obama for all of the positive things you have done and have tried to do during your Presidency for America and for the rest of the world.

I know it hasn't been easy to be the First Black President. Your election was something that set Right Wing America, including the KKK, The TEA Party and the Republican Party into attack mode from your first day in The White House. How you have managed to keep your cool under the constant fire of Republican Insults and Obstruction is beyond me. But you did keep your cool, at least in public and I thank you for that.

Thank you also for your efforts to follow through on George W. Bush's promise to bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. You did the best you could to get us out of Iraq but when circumstances beyond your control dictated a need for the return of Special Forces to Iraq you acted responsibly despite the constant criticism of the Republicans regarding the Iraq policy, as well as nearly every other policy of yours.

Thank you also for your courageous decision regarding taking out Osama bin laden. You got little or no credit for that from the Republicans.

Thank you also for improving the American Economy, saving Wall Street and the Auto Industry. You also improved the employment situation which was a disaster when you took office.

Thank you also for your advocacy in looking out for the health of all Americans by turning Obamacare into a reality. The Public Option would have been better but you still succeeded where many others had failed.

I watched the ABC Town Hall last night on Television and was once again impressed with your caring and consideration of those who have been affected by gun violence over the course of your Presidency. You have traveled to many cities in America where gun violence has killed many and left survivors with their lives turned upside down. I applaud your caring and consideration for the victims of gun violence.

There are many other issues you have dealt with during your Presidency which I could and do applaud but I think that one of the main things that I am proud of is that you have improved the reputation of America in the eyes of most of the countries of the world.

I thank you for your wise and courageous behavior during this past Presidential Primary and for your honest support for Hillary Clinton, who seriously needs your help and support as she fights for the continuation of sanity in the White House. I encourage you to continue to help Hillary and other Democrats in their quest to retrieve real Democracy during the coming years.

I hope that you have a great retirement and enjoy your time with your family and your friends. You have many friends in this country and elsewhere in the world although it might be nice for Hillary, if she is elected, to recommend you for an appointment to the Supreme Court. I think that this would be great for our country if we can get enough Democrats elected in the House and Senate to get you approved by Congress.

Whatever you do and whoever is elected this November, please realize that you will be missed by many, if not most of the Americans who have elected you President twice and would elect you again if we had the chance to do so.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 11

Trumpzilla Invades Cleveland For A Week

Megalomania Gone Wild Or

The Scum Also Rises

July 25th 2016

My Dear America:

What if the Republican Party had a National Convention and Nobody came?

Well, That wasn't quite what happened in Cleveland last week but it was close.

Former Republican Presidential Standard bearers, John McCain and Mitt Romney felt that they had been insulted enough by Donald Trump and passed on the Convention. Many, if not most of Trump's rivals in the incredibly inappropriate bloodbath that passed as a Republican Primary Campaign, skipped the Convention also. None of the Bushes were there.

There were a couple of Republican Primary Also Rans who made the trek to Cleveland, Namely "Blind" Ben Carson, "Little Marco" Rubio and "Lyin Ted" Cruz, who got booed off the stage for not endorsing Trump. Some other long gone Candidates were also there including Scott Walker and Chris Christie, who after thankfully failing to gain the VP spot, tried out for Attorney General by trying Hillary Clinton on the Convention Bully Pulpit for Crimes Against Republicans. Christie encouraged repeated choruses of "Lock Her Up" yelled by Trump's crowd of bullies.

Truth be told, I didn't watch much of the Republican Convention on Television. I watched a good deal of the first night, some reruns of the second and Trump's speech on the last night. For the most part, I couldn't stand to put myself through much of the dark hell on earth that Trump put his Convention goers through.

Clearly this Convention was something that had never been seen before and hopefully will never be seen again. It was truly Trump's Convention from start to finish. Trump's ego was on parade everywhere on every night. His wife gave what appeared to be a good speech until it was figured out that some of the speech had been taken word for word from Michelle Obama's 2008 speech at the Democratic Convention in Denver. Actually, from the bits and pieces that I saw, Trump's children performed well and were probably his greatest asset at this Convention.

Trump's Vice Presidential Pick, Mike Pence did OK staying far away from most of the extreme right wing views that has made him such a darling of the Tea Party for so long. Pence was probably the best pick of Trump's final three Vice Presidential Prospects which included Chris Christie and Newt Gingrich. Many other Republicans who Trump might have wanted to pick let him know early that they weren't interested in being considered for Trump's VP. Therefore, in the end Trump picked Pence who was clearly the lesser of three evils.

Some of the darker moments of the Trumpzilla Convention were the "Duck Dynasty" guy with his flag bandana praising Trump, Former Judge and present Senator, Jeff Sessions kissing Trump's rump and Rudy Giuliani's hate filled verbal indictment of Hillary Clinton. Benghazi was once again dragged out and blamed on Hillary Clinton as if the 9 incredibly expensive Congressional Committees had found her guilty of something.

One positive note was that Donald Trump proved during his acceptance speech that he can actually stay on message for a relatively long period of time. His messages were awful and dark as they have been throughout his Primary Campaign. There was plenty to blame Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for and Donald did so with relish.

Overall, the Trumplican Convention was Extremely Dark and Disgusting. It is incredibly frightening to me that this Unqualified Sociopathic Egomaniac has done as well as he has during this election season. But to tell the truth as bad as Donald Trump is there were few other better Republican Candidates in the mix when Trump joined the Republican Candidate Army last year. It has been a sad time for you, America up to now, as we have seen what used to be a Republican Party made up of at least some moderates degenerate into a party of hate filled people like Trumpzilla.

God Bless us. This hate filled monster named Donald Trump is one person away from being President of the United States.

I will be looking forward this week to a far different kind of Convention in Philadelphia, the city where Liberty began in America a long time ago.

Those of us who are concerned about the continuation and protection of that Liberty need to get off our cans and get involved in our local Democratic Parties to help out the vote for Hillary Clinton before it's too late.

If Donald Trump is elected our country is going to be as Dark and Disgusting as Trumpzilla's Convention was. Let's do what we can to keep that from happening.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 12

A Few Words About Debbie Wasserman Schultz

June 28th, 2016

My Dear America:

Tonight it will be Hillary Clinton's turn to accept the Nomination of the Democratic Party to be the official and only Democratic Party Candidate for President this year.

It has been an outstanding Democratic National Convention.

Unfortunately it started out with a very strangely orchestrated controversy. The Long Time Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz first of all gave up much of her scheduled duties as Chairperson at the Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Then finally by the end of the first day of the Convention it was announced that Debbie had resigned from her position as Democratic Party Chairwoman.

The reason for Debbie's departure was an oddly timed release by Wikileaks of hundreds of E Mails that had been hacked some time ago from the Democratic National Committee. Although it could not be proved, there was a strong suspicion that the hackers were Russians working in collusion with the Putin Government's intelligence agency.

Certainly the Bromance that seemed to have been brewing between Republican Presidential Nominee, Donald Trump and his Dictator Buddy, Vladimir Putin, made this last minute Democratic distraction and smear campaign particularly troubling. What was even more troubling was the content of the E Mails.

The E Mails clearly showed that not only was Debbie Wasserman Schultz guilty of tipping the scales in Hillary Clinton's favor but it seemed as though mostly every top person at the Democratic National Committee was doing the same thing.

Now clearly in the early days of the Democratic Presidential Primary Campaign it must have appeared to Debbie Wasserman Schultz and all the other top staffers at the DNC as though it was an open and shut case for Hillary's Primary Campaign. It seemed pretty clear at the early stages after Hillary announced her run that pretty much everyone who could have run against her was getting out of the way and allowing Hillary the space to run unencumbered.

Only a few lightweight Democrats, namely Jim Webb, Lincoln Chaffee and Martin O'Malley seemed to be in the way of Hillary's Nomination. Clearly she would finish off Lincoln Chaffee and Jim Webb in the first Democratic Debate.

Martin O'Malley would last a bit longer but he also would fall by the Democratic wayside eventually.

To almost everyone's shock and surprise, however, a serious candidate would eventually emerge to challenge Hillary Clinton. This Candidate was a long time Independent "Democratic Socialist" Senator from Vermont named Bernie Sanders. Bernie had not even identified himself as a Democrat in decades.

At first, as Bernie has bragged, his poll numbers were as low as 3 percent. As Bernie's campaign challenge to Hillary Clinton took hold, however, his poll numbers grew steadily and rather rapidly and in the end Bernie Sanders saw his Fledgling Campaign turn into a National Movement and well financed Revolution within the Democratic Party.

As a Bernie Sanders supporter myself, I in no way shape or form condone the obvious prejudice and what I feel were improper discussions and actions that the DNC bigwigs took against Bernie Sanders.

I think that I can understand their prejudice, however, especially that of Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

When not too many people were interested in talking seriously or truthfully about the Democrats, Debbie Wasserman Schultz was everywhere, especially on many Cable TV News Programs acting as an intelligent spokeswoman for the Democratic Party time after time. Clearly Debbie and her cohorts at the DNC saw the prospect of success in 2016 in the election of Hillary Clinton as a given.

That is until Bernie Sanders came along. More than likely the way Debbie and company saw it was this Radical Independent Socialist Jew Senator from Vermont was about to gum up the works and these DNC Staffers were not going to let that happen.

I feel very badly that after working hard to make this 2016 Democratic Convention such a success that Debbie Wasserman Schultz will not be able to participate in its glory.

And the Radical Socialist Jewish Candidate that Debbie and her comrades were so afraid of was going to ruin their Democratic Convention has, in fact, been a resounding star of this Convention.

While he can't be happy about the conspiring that the DNC did to him, Bernie Sanders has not taken it out on the Democratic Party. Bernie pursued his goals with the Democratic Platform Committee and was able to guide Hillary Clinton to run on a platform of No Trans Pacific Partnership, a Public Option for Healthcare and Debt Free College, all of which are Bernie's Goals.

Certainly Bernie Sanders could have encouraged his supporters to wreck the Democratic Convention. Bernie has, however, requested his supporters to support Hillary Clinton and to defeat Donald Trump.

The Bernie Sanders Revolution has not really been defeated. It has been energized by this Convention and when Hillary takes her oath of office in January of next year I hope she realizes that although some Sanders Voters won't vote for her, many will.

Hillary will owe her victory, at least partially to both Bernie Sanders and to Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

I hope that in the end Hillary will thank them both.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 13

The Man In The High Trump Tower

November 5th, 2016

My Dear America:

We are just days away from what may very well be the most important Election in your long and distinguished history. November 8th of 2016 will certainly be the most important Election of my lifetime and I have been a voter in every Presidential Election since 1960.

I feel that you are on the edge of a cliff, and in fact all Americans are on that cliff with you. We are trying our best not to fall off the cliff into an unknown and dangerous chasm which may very well kill us all, or at the very least change you and all of us with you into a land that none of us may ever recognize again.

Certainly there are those people who might feel as though I am overstating the case. I do not feel as though I am overstating the case, however.

As I see it we are on the verge of an election which will be historic regardless of the two Major Democratic and Republican Candidates.

If Hillary Clinton wins she will be the First Woman to be elected President of the United States. She will also be the most highly prepared Candidate elected to that office, certainly in my lifetime. If Hillary is elected we are not out of the woods by any means because she will still have a very hostile Congress and an extremely unstable world to deal with.

The incredibly Mean Spirited and Reckless Republican Party created the Highly Toxic Atmosphere that allowed the Mean Spirited and Reckless Frankenstein Monster called Donald Trump to character assassinate all of their other Mean Spirited and Reckless Republican Candidates on his way to victory in the Republican Presidential Primary.

Now as we approach the Edge of Darkness like the Walking Dead it seems as though the Republican Party and many Republican Candidates are choosing to swallow their pride and any sense of decency that they might have previously maintained and rush to support the deeply flawed Candidate that they had initially rejected.

Republicans have some nerve bitching about Hillary Clinton, especially those like John McCain who worked with her in the Senate and had very positive things to say about her then, until she had the audacity to run for President a second time. Many of those Republicans who at least seemed to have great respect and affection for Hillary when she was the First Lady and later on when she was a Senator and Secretary of State now act as though Hillary is a creature who is somewhere between Lady Macbeth and the Dragon Lady.

Ridiculous.

Any Republican who claims to stand for Family Values or in fact any values at all should not be supporting Donald Trump. Certainly his Cons are many and his Pros are few but there he is, "The Donald," standing out there every day, lying constantly about everything, proposing that the media are his enemies, even though the media made him what he is due to the free publicity he got as he continued to talk and act inappropriately and outrageously over the course of First the Republican Primary and later on the Final Presidential Election showdown.

When Phillip K. Dick wrote "The Man in The High Castle" many years ago I doubt that he realized that his fictional picture of You, America, as a Dictatorship would ever or could ever come true.

The same is true of Sinclair Lewis who wrote "It Can't Happen Here" as a highly cautionary tale.

What Donald Trump has shown us, however, is that It Can Happen Here and, in fact, It is already happening here. Whatever one thinks of Donald Trump there is no denying the fact that this Megalomaniac Sociopath has proved and is, in fact, living proof that you can fool some of the people all of the time.

As the Presidential Candidates in the Election of 2016 race each other to the finish line we can only hope that Hillary Clinton's Campaign can help drive her potential voters to the polls and that when the Election Numbers are tabulated that in the end Democracy Trumps Dictatorship.

Good Luck, America.

Whatever Happens, We Love You

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 14

Hard Times For Democrats

November 11th, 2016

My Dear America:

How are you holding up, America? I, like millions of other Americans, am having a hard time waking up every day to the harsh Nightmare Reality of recognizing that in January of 2017 we are going to have Donald Trump as our President.

For my Friends, My Wife, My Children, My Grandchildren and Fellow Democrats we are still in shock. My anger has begun to subside largely due to the decent and democratic behavior on the part of Hillary Clinton, President Obama and yes, Amazingly enough, Donald Trump.

After the extremely troubling behavior exhibited by Trump over the course of his Primary Campaign and his Race with Hillary Clinton it was astonishing to hear his rather gracious acceptance speech. It was also encouraging to hear Hillary's gracious concession speech. It gave one the impression that all was right with you, America.

Yesterday President Elect Trump met with President Obama and after a long and bitterly divided Election Campaign, both Trump and Obama met in the Oval Office and after a long meeting sat together and talked with hardly a hint of bitterness in their remarks.

Will the Kumbaya moment last?

I hope so but I am afraid that once Trump takes over the White House it is going to be the continuation of some very hard times for Democrats of all colors, religions and genders.

God Bless us all, America.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 15

Hooray For Hillary Clinton

January 2nd, 2017

My Dear America:

It is a New Year and normally when it is a New Year I get excited about the positive prospects of what might be coming in the New Year.

That is not the case this New Year.

I had hoped that I would be excited at this point in time about the coming Hillary Clinton Administration, which I expected would generally continue the incredible progress made throughout the 8 years of the Obama Administration, despite the constant obstruction by Republican Legislators.

It seemed like a slam dunk to me, America. Hillary Clinton was such an overqualified Candidate for President and Donald Trump was such an unqualified Candidate that it seemed to me as though there was hardly any way that Donald Trump had a ghost of a chance to pull off a win on November 8th of last year.

I was wrong, though.

Although I saw Hillary Clinton through the lens of her incredible experience and commitment to the American People, there were enough Americans out there in the Heartland who did not see the Hillary Clinton that I saw.

Many of the same voters who supported Barack Obama in his two successful Presidential Campaigns apparently drank the Kool Aid provided by Donald Trump in his quest to Character Assassinate his way to the Presidency.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, had tapped into the Mean Spirit of America with his "Make America Great Again" hats and often repeated slogans at his disturbingly Hitlerian rallies.

"Lock Her Up" shouted Donald Trump and his supporters.

Lock her up for what? For having a personal E Mail Account. Oh My God, the Russians could have tapped into her E Mails, Trump shouted to his followers.

That was terrible, Trump convinced his followers.

Now Trump has nothing but praise for Putin and dismisses the overwhelming evidence presented by every American Intelligence Agency that Vladimir Putin was behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton Campaign during the past year's Presidential Campaign. The largely boring information gained from those leaks released through Wikileaks was presented by Trump as evidence that Clinton was a "Disaster."

What Nonsense.

Nothing released by Wikileaks pointed to anything other than some backroom shenanigans on the part of the DNC Staff and the Clinton Campaign Staff.

Nothing released in Wikileaks shows that Hillary Clinton did anything wrong yet Donald Trump, with a long and disturbing history throughout his life of questionable if not criminal activity, is now in line to become President of the United States this month.

Something is truly wrong in America.

First of all, when it comes to lessons that should be learned by this past year's Presidential Campaign it seems to me that after the Al Gore and Hillary Clinton Debacles that it is time to get rid of the Electoral College once and for all.

I would like to say to Hillary Clinton that I am proud of you.

I was thrilled when you announced that you were running for President and although I voted for Barack in the Pennsylvania Primary in 2008 and voted for Bernie Sanders this past year in the PA Primary, in the 2016 General Election I was not only proud to vote for you but also proud to call voters on your behalf in the weeks before the election.

Even though you did not win the Electoral College Vote you won the votes of more than a couple of million more voters than Trump.

You had a Convention that Democrats could be proud of. You won every debate with Donald Trump and throughout your Campaign you conducted yourself with dignity and respect, unlike your Republican opponent.

You, Hillary, are a Class Act. You always have been, even under the most difficult of circumstances and although I am sure you are frustrated and angry that America has now been stuck with Donald Trump, please don't think it is your fault.

You did the best you could have done, Hillary, to show that you were more qualified than Donald Trump. You certainly were more qualified than Donald Trump.

You were certainly right about the Deplorables supporting Donald Trump. Unfortunately on November 8th the Deplorables were out in force and had convinced enough Americans to vote against their interests once again, something that the Republicans seem to be very good at.

As you and Bill walk together in the Long Island Woods and spend time with your daughter and your Grandchildren I hope that you can forgive the American People for their foolish fascination with the Carnival Barker and Snake Oil Salesman who will shortly become our President.

We love you Hillary and We wish you and your family and all of our families a Very Happy New Year.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 16

Are We Living In Nazi Germany

January 12th, 2017

My Dear America:

"Are we living in Nazi Germany?"

President Elect, Donald Trump has recently proposed this question in one of his Tweets.

The answer to that question is as follows:

No, Mr. Trump, Up to this point we have not been living in Nazi Germany or Russia or any other dictatorship or near dictatorship.

It is worrisome to me, however, that as we near the point where you formally take the reins of Government in the United States of America that you would have the nerve to ask this question.

It was encouraging to me that you, at last, admitted that Russia was behind the hacks of the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton Campaign. Although all of the United States Intelligence Agencies have made it clear that they were all united in their belief that this was true, you seemed to be unconvinced up until yesterday's "News Conference."

Although you admitted that the Russians did the hacking you then praised what we had learned from the hacking and from Wikileaks, which was, of course, not the point.

You also took time to denigrate the Intelligence Agencies who had taken pains to make you aware of the extent of the hacking.

No, Mr. President Elect, we are not living in Nazi Germany despite the fact that you seem to be making an effort to make it look that way.

We are, however, living in the United States of America, the World's Greatest Democracy and we intend to keep it the World's Greatest Democracy despite your efforts to call into question and in some cases delegitimize important American Government Agencies such as the FBI and the CIA because their conclusions do not always agree with yours.

It is also worrisome that in your Campaign for the Presidency, your Presidential Campaign had nothing but praise for the press and especially CNN which covered your every move with tons of free press in the early stages of your Presidential Campaign. Clearly the press coverage of your controversial words and deeds in the Republican Primary Campaign was at least partially responsible for your victory in that Primary.

In your Campaign against former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton you changed your strategy of kissing up to the press and began your Nazi style bashing of the press and doing all you could to turn your followers against the press. Suddenly the same press people who had been responsible for helping you to gain a Primary Victory became "disgusting" and other such obnoxious descriptions.

Delegitimization and control of the press was certainly a successful hallmark issue in Nazi Germany. Based on your incredibly rude and downright abusive and inappropriate treatment of Jim Acosta of CNN during yesterday's "News Conference" those Nazi principles may continue to be alive and well in the upcoming Trump Administration.

Clearly the cry of "Fake News" seems to be something that we are going to hear over and over during the Trump Administration whenever you are confronted with a report or an issue which is embarrassing to you or you simply do not wish to deal with.

Clearly, Mr. Trump you seem to be fascinated by Dictators. Your First Wife, Ivanna, some years ago when asked by a magazine writer what you read at night stated that you had a copy of Adolph Hitler's speeches on your bedside table and that you often read it before you went to sleep.

You have also been quoted as admiring Saddam Husseain, Bashar al Assad, Kim Jong Un and, of course, Vladimir Putin.

You will also have a noted White Supremacist, Steve Bannon, working in a White House office just down the hall from you and a great many problematic Cabinet officials.

You have made your reputation during this past election by denigrating Mexicans, Muslims, Blacks and Women.

As Jewish Americans can attest to, Nazi Germany also made scapegoats of those races and religions which were "Others."

Are We Living in Nazi Germany?

No, Mr. Trump, We are not living in Nazi Germany.

Not Yet, at least, and although you have fooled enough people to get yourself elected you have not fooled all of the people of America and you never will.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 17

Nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue

March 31st, 2017

My Dear America:

After more than 100 days of Donald Trump in the White House one thing is for sure. We in the United States are sinking fast and at this point there is no sign of a Lifeboat arriving any time soon. Trump's Freak Show Presidential Campaign allowed many Americans to feel rather calm and reassured that Hillary Clinton would win easily over Donald Trump in this past November's election. I am deeply ashamed that even in my normally blue state of Pennsylvania, Donald Trump eked out a small but significant Election Victory. I am proud, however, that in my Election District Trump lost to Hillary Clinton.

In the end , however, despite Hillary's vote count being nearly three million more than Trump's overall, she lost three significant normally Blue States and in so doing lost the outdated Electoral College Vote.

Whatever the reason was that Trump won and Hillary lost, what has followed since the 2016 Election and later on the Inauguration has been, to use one of Donald Trump's favorite words, A DISASTER.

Although it is less than 3 months since Donald Trump was Inaugurated it seems to feel more like 3 years. Trump has put into power in nearly all of the Cabinet Positions people who are not just unqualified but are well known enemies of the U.S. Departments they lead, for example Scott Pruitt in Environmental Protection and Rick Perry in Energy.

Although members of the Republican Congress and Senate seemed to have fits and even sued President Barack Obama when he issued Executive Orders, the Republicans this time around seemed to be cheering on President Trump when he continually issues his Executive Orders.

In these relatively early days of the Trump Presidency we have all gotten used to hearing Trump distort, lie and distract over and over again to the point where Americans are almost numb to it.

What has happened and is continuing to happen is that Trump's efforts to "Drain The Swamp" never happened and instead of Trump disposing of Individuals with Special Interests, Trump has hired them for his Cabinet and other important Government positions. So in the end the "Swamp" is far more dangerous and destructive than it had been before he came to power.

What has emerged as probably the most disturbing aspect of the Election of Donald Trump is the increasingly obvious Russian connection to the Trump Presidential Campaign and the Trump White House. The House of Representatives Investigation into Russia's connection with the Trump White House seems to have stalled due to the bizarre behavior of its Republican Chairman, Devin Nunes. The FBI, however, is continuing to investigate the Russia-Trump Connection and the Senate Intelligence Committee seems to be also in pursuit of the truth about Russia and Trump.

Although clearly there is a lot more out there to find regarding Russia and Trump, in my opinion most of the relevant information can be found by Googling the following:

Trump Russia Dossier

And click on Trump Intelligence Allegations- Document-Cloud

After reading this 35 page Dossier good luck getting to sleep tonight America. I guarantee this information will give you some well deserved Nightmares.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 18

Echoes Of Watergate

June 9th, 2017

My Dear America:

It is with the greatest regret that I write to you today.

It is one day after the Testimony of fired FBI Director, James Comey before the Senate Committee investigating the involvement of Russia in the 2016 Election of Donald Trump as your President. I found the Testimony to be reminiscent of the Testimony back in the 1970's of John Dean, Richard Nixon's White House Counsel until he was fired by Nixon. Nixon had obviously planned to make Dean the Scapegoat for the Watergate Scandal as the Watergate bubble burst and set in motion a Senate Inquiry, Special Prosecutors and eventually articles of Impeachment drafted by the House Judiciary Committee which led to Richard Nixon's decision to resign the Presidency.

Watergate was a Travesty and I would like to remind any readers of this post that I wrote what I consider to be a well researched book on Watergate that is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble Websites. My book is titled "Letters To A Lost Nation: A Watergate Chronicle." It includes "A Brief History Of Watergate," as well as listing a Cast of Watergate Characters, as well as a number of letters commenting on the Watergate Committee Hearings and other Watergate Happenings.

What we are witnessing today is almost a mirror image of the Watergate Scandal, complete with Special Prosecutors and firings of high Administration officials. Unfortunately for US the present day scandal is far worse than Watergate. Watergate was certainly a series of unfortunate political events topped off by the threat of Imminent Impeachment Hearings and ultimately the resignation of President Richard Nixon. There were dastardly deeds committed in the name of the Nixon White House. That is true. But Watergate had no hint of Treason or Collusion with the Russians. Watergate was strictly an All American Fiasco.

President Trump's less than Six Months in office has been a disaster for clear thinking Americans. Clearly a monumental mistake has been made in America and as we all watch Trump destroying America piece by piece it is time for the American Public to wake up as they did in Watergate and let their legislators know that it is time for Impeachment.

For God's Sake Donald Trump fired James Comey and within days was bragging to high level Russians in the Oval Office about how he got rid of Comey, the "Nut Job." Trump also told the Russians in his Oval Office meeting that he had taken care of the Russian Investigation. This Treasonous conversation with the Russians alone should prove that Trump is guilty of impeachable offenses.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 19

Repolishing The Republican Health Care Turd Bill

Hopefully For the Last Time

September 26th, 2017

My Dear America:

As Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, as well as other devastated Island Regions, try to recover from Hurricane destruction damage and President Trump continues his foolish and dangerous war of words with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, Donald Trump has decided to start a Tweet Storm about National Football Players kneeling during the National Anthem.

Talk about Tone Deaf. Donald Trump is the Poster Child for that affliction.

While all of these things have gone on Republican Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana have once again made an attempt to resurrect the awful, hated by all, worthless and shameless Health Care Bill that most Americans had hoped they had seen the last of.

Why did Graham and Cassidy try to bring this Turd of a bill back from the dead? Good Question.

The only good answers that I can think of are the following:

  1. The fact that as of next Saturday the Republicans will lose the opportunity to jam this bill through the Senate with only 50 votes needed.

  2. The Republican Congress along with the So Called Republican American President have not passed any significant legislation since the Inauguration of Donald Trump.

  3. Although this Turd Bill was promoted as a Health Care Bill, certainly the real reason that it was presented and promoted by Republicans in the first place was that by saving or taking away millions of dollars from Health Care it would provide an opportunity for Republicans to repay their Millionaire and Billionare donors by providing massive tax cuts for the wealthy.

Right now it appears as though the Zombie Health Care Bill is finally truly dead with a stake in its heart and hopefully will no longer rise from the grave any longer. But who knows really. This is Republican Run America after all and anything can happen here and as we have seen this year it usually does.

If the Republican Health Care Turd Bill is truly dead I think Americans have a few people to thank.

John McCain, for one. McCain has shown once again that he continues to have the courage that he showed in Vietnam during his time living in the Hanoi Hilton. Thank you, John. We appreciate your courage and feel badly that your Friend, Lindsey Graham did not show you enough respect by putting you in the difficult position that he put you in.

Thank You Susan Collins for once again showing that you also have the courage to look past party loyalty to vote for what is best for average Americans, not just support the rich and privileged.

I suppose that we need to be also thankful for the probable "No" votes of Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz even though their "No" votes are probably only because the Republican Health Care Turd Bill is not Radical or Reprehensable enough to suit them.

Probably one of the most influential people in this latest Health Care Debate has been Jimmy Kimmel, who showed himself to be not only a very concerned father to his son who has heart surgeries in his future but very concerned about other parents and children in similar circumstances as his family. Health Care Bill Sponsor, Bill Cassidy apparently made the mistake of lying to Kimmel on air about what his bill would propose and Kimmel thinking about those other parents who could not afford the surgeries his child will need, made it a point all last week and this week to point out the outright lies that Cassidy had promised him.

Thank You Jimmy Kimmel.

These people may have finally kicked off the New American Revolution in which all of us who truly care about America and, like Jimmy Kimmel, care about our fellow Americans can band together to throw the Republican Bums out and vote in Democrats and Independents to Congress who will care more about Average Americans than they do about their wealthy Donors.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 20

Carl Bernstein Is Still Speaking Out

October 27th, 2017

It was still a rather warm but windy October night this past Tuesday when I raced to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to hear Carl Bernstein speak. I called right away when I found out about the "Lecture" from my wife who read about it in the Allentown Morning Call Newspaper. Tickets were free but you had to order them in advance, so I did. The talk was scheduled for 7:00 PM and I didn't arrive until 7:20, thinking I was late. As luck would have it I wasn't late. As I walked in the door of Johnson Hall on the Moravian College Campus Carl Bernstein was just being introduced.

I felt bad that my wife did not feel well enough to go with me but she encouraged me to go alone. When I got home from Mr. Bernstein's talk my wife asked me if I learned anything new. I told her that I didn't learn much that was new but that Mr. Bernstein had talked very seriously about the fact that nearly every Republican Lawmaker he had talked with recently had expressed grave doubts and concerns about the behavior and fitness for office of President Donald Trump.

I have, of course, lived through the Watergate Era and at the end of the lecture Carl Bernstein was kind enough to take a copy of my book about Watergate with him. (My book, by the way is "Letters To A Lost Nation: A Watergate Chronicle" and is available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle Editions and on Smashwords .com in other digital E Book Formats)

Having lived through Watergate and followed on the Senate Watergate Hearings closely I was well aware on Tuesday night as I watched Carl Bernstein on the Johnson Hall stage that I was in close proximity to a Truly Historical Figure. In my opinion Carl Bernstein was and remains one of the True Heroes of Journalism in the 20th Century. When I talked with Mr. Bernstein after the lecture I asked him whether or not he still stays in touch with his Co Hero of "All The Presidents Men," Bob Woodward. His answer was rather surprising to me. Carl Bernstein said he sees Bob Woodward every week and they sometimes travel on lecture tours together.

In watching the news this past week Carl Bernstein's words about Republican panic in the halls of Congress about Donald Trump are still in my head. I have begun to notice that, although, for the most part, Republicans seem to remain united in public appearing to support Trump, The Dam is beginning to crack. Unfortunately mostly those Republicans who have already chosen to leave the Washington D.C. Battlefield are those who are speaking up about their true feelings about life in Donald Trump's America.

Carl Bernstein has seen the Dam crack before when Republicans finally had enough of Richard Nixon and were instrumental in driving him from the White House. Clearly Senators Bob Corker and Jeff Flake have had enough, and along with Senator John McCain, they are encouraging their fellow Republican Lawmakers to speak up also. The Truth is that any Lawmaker, whether or not they are Republican or Democrat, will certainly feel the Twitter Wrath of Donald Trump if they speak out against him.

It wasn't that long ago that Donald Trump asked the question, "Are We Living in Nazi Germany."

That is a question that Lawmakers as well as other American Citizens are beginning to ask themselves more often each and every day.

In the meantime I give thanks for Carl Bernstein, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Los Angeles Times and all those designated as "Fake News" by Donald Trump.

Although they may not get it right every time they try their best under very difficult circumstances to get it right. And although they have been designated by Donald Trump as "Enemies Of The People" we need to keep in mind that this technique of attempting to destroy Freedom Of The Press has been the beginning of the end of Freedom in many countries of the world, including Nazi Germany.

Let's not let it become the beginning of the end of Freedom in the United States of America.

NO, Mister Trump. We are not living in Nazi Germany and never will be.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 21

The Big Sick Republican Tax Scam

December 15th, 2017

My Dear America:

It has truly been one hell of a year for your Democrats and Middle Class, America. The Trump Administration has shown a lack of Compassion, Decency and Common Sense, the likes of which we have never seen before.

I would have predicted that no President could have been worse than Richard Nixon or George W. Bush. I would have been wrong.

Two important Congressional Democrats, Senator Al Franken and Congressman John Conyers, have been forced to resign recently due to accusations of Sexual Misconduct.

On the other hand, President Trump, who was accused of Serial Pussy Grabbing during the 2016 Presidential Campaign shows no sign of apologizing to the many women he Sexually Assaulted.

Trump even had the gall to vocally support former Alabama Supreme Court Judge and Accused Child Molester, Roy Moore, in his bid to win a Special Election to become a United States Senator from Alabama.

Thank God Roy Moore lost and Democrat Doug Jones won the Special Election. But Senator Jones didn't win by much. Still the Doug Jones win along with Democratic wins for Governor in New Jersey and Virginia are giving Republicans well deserved Panic Attacks.

What is giving Democrats Panic Attacks is the proposed Spectre of Republicans passing what Donald Trump has the gall to call "The Middle Class Tax Cut."

The Tax Plan that is being considered is a Scam of Epic Proportions. Although the plan does propose some meager tax breaks for some Middle Class Taxpayers, what the Republicans are not advertising are the facts that these Meager Middle Class Tax Breaks have an expiration date.

On the other hand, the Massive Tax Breaks for Rich Americans and Rich American Corporations do not have an expiration date. They are here to stay.

There is no doubt that the effort by Donald Trump and his Republican Cohorts to pass this piece of crap bill will result in more money for Trump and his rich friends. It will also free up massive amounts of money for Republican Donors to keep the Republican Coffers filled so that the madness of Republican irresponsibility might continue unabated.

What Democratic and in particular Middle Class and Poor Voters must learn from this awful past year is that Republicans are much more concerned about their Donors than they are about their constituents.

Democrats and Middle Class Republicans, as well, need to realize that after "The Middle Class Tax Cut Bill" begins to bankrupt our country, America, the next step in the Republicans Evil Plan is to weep and wail about how much Social Security and Medicare is destroying you, America. This will give Republicans enough cover to allow them to try to cut funds for these programs.

As we stand at the Front Gate of 2018 Democrats and Middle Class and Poor Republicans, as well, need to wake up and smell the Bull Shit.

While there are Decent, Dedicated and Concerned Republicans in Congress, they are increasingly in the minority in the Republican Party.

Those Congressional Republicans who continue to want to stick it to the Middle Class by Eliminating or Cutting Social Security and Medicare need to go.

Those Republicans who are demanding the resignation of Robert Mueller also need to go.

Most especially, Donald Trump, who continues to be the Master of Distraction while he guts everything good that he can from your government and the lives of your citizens, needs to go.

What is incredibly clear to me is that those of us who are Democrats or Reasonable Republicans or Independents need to prepare during the coming year to seek out good Democratic Candidates for Congressional and Senate Campaigns and stump for them.

Hopefully it is still possible to rescue your American Democratic Government but time is running out. If we don't move fast we may be joining the ranks of people controlled by Donald Trump's favorite World Government Leaders, all of whom seem to be vicious Thugs and Dictators.

Let's hope that 2018 turns out to be a Truly Happy New Year.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 22

Three Cheers For The FBI

February 1st, 2018

My Dear America:

Certainly I don't have to tell you, America, that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has had a difficult and somewhat checkered past.

I am old enough to remember some of the extremely disturbing and unethical, if not criminal, activities that went on in the Bureau when it was run by the incredibly controversial and powerful FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover.

I am also old enough to remember when the man who replaced J. Edgar Hoover as the Director of the FBI, L. Patrick Gray, was drawn into Obstructing Justice by Richard Nixon and his White House Associates in Nixon's botched attempt to cover up the Watergate Affair.

Clearly the Federal Bureau of Investigation is not an American Agency that has been forever blameless and correct in all of its decisions and all of its actions.

What is happening now, however, in the United States Government is unprecedented and clearly highly unethical, if not illegal.

Donald Trump, even before his Inauguration, was dismissing information provided from nearly every American Intelligence Organization, including the FBI, warning him that Russians, and in particular, Vladimir Putin, had clearly been involved in questionable actions and activities during the 2016 American Presidential Election.

Instead of taking actions against Russia and Putin, Donald Trump instead clearly and brazenly Obstructed Justice by firing his FBI Director, James Comey. Not only did Trump fire Comey but he bragged on his NBC Television Interview with News Anchor, Lester Holt, shortly therafter, that he fired Comey because of the FBI Russia Investigation. Also one day after firing Comey, Trump met with top Russian Officials in the White House Oval Office. Those Officials included Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov and Russia's Ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak. Not only was Kislyak the Russian Ambassador to the United States but he was well known to American Intelligence Agencies as Russia's Top Spy in the United States of America.

Although American Photographers were not allowed in the Oval Office Meeting with the Russians, Russian "Tass" Photographers were allowed in and took many pictures and then put them on the World Wide Web for all to see of Donald Trump meeting with the Russian Leaders in the Oval Office almost immediately after firing James Comey.

In addition Donald Trump was observed to be passing on highly classified information to the Russians in the Oval Office that had been obtained through another Country's Intelligence Agency and in the hands of the Russians endangered Intelligence Officers and Contacts.

Trump apparently discussed his firing of James Comey with the Russians, telling them in his conversation that Comey was a real "Nut Job." Trump also informed the Russian Oval Office Guests that with Comey gone Trump was now relieved of pressure from the Russia Investigation.

Clearly Comey's firing has not relieved any pressure on Donald Trump.

Now, over a year after Trump began his term in office we have seen and continue to see that Trump, along with his Republican Allies in Congress, among other outrages, are continually trying to denigrate and discredit the FBI.

After Watergate, Congress, The Courts and the Presidents have made significant efforts to learn from the Nightmares of Watergate how to control the excesses of Government Agencies, including the FBI.

What we are seeing presently is an ever quicker erosion of principles in the Federal Government and particularly in Congress and the Presidency.

It is clearly time for the American Citizens to rise up and tell their elected officials We're Not Going To Take It Anymore.

Unfortunately 2016 was a year in which the outrageous and bizarre seem to have become normal in America.

It is not normal in America to sit back and relax as our Democratic way of life comes to an end.

It is, instead, a time to get ready to go to the polls in America and begin to legally and sanely at the ballot box begin to throw out the trash. You, America, need to be cleaned up and revitalized and we, Americans, need to help you to really make you, America, truly great again. We don't need phony slogans and we need every true American voter to get out and vote to take your country back.

It can happen

It will happen

It needs to happen this year.

As "The Who" have so importantly expressed it:

"We Won't Get Fooled Again"

And as Tiny Tim has expressed it:

"God Bless Us Every One"

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 23

EGOMANIA Gone Wild – Bromance in Singapore

June 15th, 2018

My Dear America:

Well, it's over and there are No Nukes Flying, Thank God.

This week two of the World's Most Obnoxious Egomaniacs and World Leaders, Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, met in Singapore for Five Hours discussing the potential Nuclear Destruction of the World. That was certainly a sobering subject for both Un and Trump, as it was for the rest of us living out here in the world.

To be honest, I was very concerned about the prospect of this meeting going sideways. Both Trump and Un have proven to be remarkably unstable in almost everything they have done in the past.

Un has insulted Trump often and emphatically ever since Trump was elected President of the United States.

Trump, on the other hand, has given back as many insults and threats ( Fire and Fury ) as he has received from Un.

"Little Rocket Man" was one of the more endearing names Trump used to insult his North Korean Adversary.

Don't get me wrong. I am happy as hell that the Trump-Un Bromance is on. We are all better off with these two loose cannons getting along, as opposed to threatening each other, and us.

I am positively stunned that this meeting occurred and that the result of the meeting was Kim pledging to disband his Country's Nuclear Program. Although I have heard much criticism of what America gave up with nothing given up by Kim, I do not agree with that criticism. If Kim is sincere in his pledge to stop sending rockets over Japan or anywhere else I am OK with stopping War Games in and around South Korea.

We are indeed living in strange times in Donald Trump's America. We have much to legitimately complain about but Trump and Kim acting like Gentlemen, rather than asses to each other, is OK by me.

If only Trump would have treated our Allies, including Canada, Mexico and other members of the G7 the way he treated Kim We'd all be better off.

Time will tell if the Donald Trump-Kim Jong Un Bromance continues. I am hoping like hell that it does.

To use one of Donald Trump's expressions, "We'll see what happens."

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 24

John McCain – Farewell to a Genuine American Hero

August 28th, 2018

My Dear America:

We lost a Good Man and a Great American last weekend.

Although Donald Trump seems to have gone out of his way to demean and disrespect Senator John McCain I believe that most Americans could see just how special and upstanding this man was. I, like many Democrats, disagreed with many issues that John McCain believed in.

I did not agree with his belief that the U.S. should remain in Iraq for a Century, if necessary.

There were many other issues with which I disagreed with John McCain, as well but I never really felt that john McCain was anything other than a man of principle, for the most part of his life.

He gave much to you, America and he asked much of you, as well. You gave to each other and I believe you genuinely loved each other.

John McCain was the first one to admit that he was not perfect, and he was not.

He admitted that he was a pretty serious Screwup at the U.S. Naval Academy, and he was. If he was not the Son and Grandson of Naval higher ups he may very well have been tossed out of Annapolis on his ear. But he was the kin of Admirals and he made it through the Naval Academy and then became a Naval Pilot flying many dangerous missions over Vietnam.

McCain's luck ran out during a bombing mission over Hanoi. His plane was hit and he bailed out landing in a small body of water. McCain was dragged out of the water and beaten up by several North Vietnamese. He was turned over to the North Vietnamese Army and took up residence at a torture facility for captured American Servicemen creepily named the Hanoi Hilton by its residents.

Despite being tortured McCain tried to hold his ground. When the North Vietnamese found out that he was related to important American Naval Officers they offered to release McCain to return home. Because McCain's comrades were not offered the same deal, John McCain refused to leave his buddies and remained a captive in Hanoi.

When John McCain was eventually released to return home along with other prisoners following the nominal end of the Vietnam War, he arrived to a hero's welcome. Like many returning veterans John McCain had his problems. His first marriage didn't last but he did marry a young woman named Cindy, who is presently his widow.

With some financial help from his in laws and Arizona friends John McCain ran for Congress, and won. Later on he ran for Senate, and won.

As a well respected United States Congressman and Senator, John McCain formed friendships and alliances with not only members of his own Republican Party but also with many Democrats, as well. Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Russ Feingold and Joe Lieberman were some of his Good Friends and Partners in Legislation. Through his legislative alliances McCain was able to accomplish a great deal during his legislative career.

John McCain will be missed by all Americans who value Democracy. He was someone who will not be replaceable. Unlike many of his colleagues in the Senate and the House, John McCain was more in tune with keeping America free than maintaining good relations with Donald Trump.

Donald Trump, after all, did not like John McCain. John McCain was not Trump's kind of Senator. McCain did not buckle under Trump's Twitter rants and did not care to mince words when it came to Trump's Treasonous conduct in Helsinki and elsewhere.

In a last desperate act of Disrespect, Donald Trump over the weekend nixed a Press Release prepared by White House Staff praising John McCain for his Naval Service and his Congressional Service. Also the White House Staff flew the White House Flag at half mast until the President found out and demanded that the Flag be raised once again.

Clearly Donald Trump had no respect for John McCain. Trump's pettiness in disrespecting this accomplished American Hero is reprehensible, but what else is new.

During Trump's Campaign for President, Trump was asked about how he felt about John McCain. Trump replied that he did not feel that John McCain was really a hero because he had been captured. "I like Heroes that weren't captured," Trump Said. Certainly that comment in any other Presidential Campaign would have put an end to Trump's Candidacy.

But unfortunately John McCain's Heroic Voice is now silenced and what we are left with is Draft Dodging Donald's Disrespect for a man who was and always will be thought of as a Genuine American Hero worthy of respect by all Americans.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 25

What's Wrong With Brett Kavanaugh

September 26th, 2018

My Dear America:

I spent a good deal of time last Saturday afternoon and evening relearning a good bit about Anita Hill's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee many years ago during the consideration of Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court.

First of all, I happened upon a C Span rerun of an interview with Ms. Hill on Book TV. Then later on I watched "Confirmation," a made for HBO Movie about Ms. Hill's Testimony featuring Kerry Washington as Anita Hill.

Certainly Ms. Hill's Testimony was Earth Shattering at the time and surely made a substantial dent in Clarence Thomas's reputation but it did not keep Clarence Thomas from becoming a United States Supreme Court Judge. Thomas was eventually approved by the United States Senate by a very Slim Margin. But Slim Margin or not, it gave Thomas a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land.

Certainly the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas saga was an interesting story on its own.

When we contrast the Hill/Thomas story with the Ford/Kavanaugh story we find almost a Déjà vu moment in time. Neither Anita Hill nor Professor Ford initially wanted their stories told. Why would they? What was in it for them? Unfortunately for both of these ladies their stories became so important and out of control that they both felt compelled to tell their stories themselves so that their stories would be told truthfully.

It would be great to be able to say that we are in a better place now in America and be confident that the feeding frenzy that enveloped America around the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas case would never happen again. Unfortunately, however, we cannot say that we are in a better place.

We are living in Donald Trump's America where someone as dangerously partisan and unqualified as Brett Kavanaugh can be put forth to be considered by the United States Senate for Advice and Consent on whether or not Kavanaugh might be approved for a lifetime appointment to the United States Supreme Court.

The First Clue that we had regarding Kavanaugh's questionable appropriateness for the Supreme Court occurred when he was introduced to the media and America by Trump. Kavanaugh lavished praise on Trump for his exhaustive search to find the best qualified person to fill the Supreme Court slot when it was well known that Trump had put the word out to Right Wing Republican Organizations such as The Federalist Society that he wanted a Supreme Court Nominee who would meet their approval. Although Kavanaugh was not on their short lists to begin with , suddenly his name landed on that list when White House Counsel, Don McGhann (A personal Friend of Kavanaugh's) made sure it got there.

Like many other possible nominees Brett Kavanaugh did have an impressive resume but in many ways he was undistinguished except for the fact that he was a proven Republican Partisan. Kavanaugh worked enthusiastically with Ken Starr in his fanatical search to hunt down and end the career of Bill Clinton when Clinton was President. It is well known that Kavanaugh now believes that while a President is in the White House as a sitting President he cannot be indicted and prosecuted for any reason.

Certainly Kavanaugh did not maintain that view when Bill Clinton was in office and Brett Kavanaugh was on the "Whitewater" Beat. Kavanaugh was one of the most enthusiastic Starr operatives who all seemed hell bent on destroying the reputation and possibly putting in jail the sitting President.

Kavanaugh even went so far as to try to prove that the Clintons were behind the death of their long time friend, Vince Foster. Kavanaugh made the lives of Foster's family a living hell in his fanatical search to prove that Foster had not committed suicide but instead had been murdered by Clinton operatives. Kavanaugh had no qualms in those days about going after a sitting President when that sitting President was Democrat Bill Clinton.

These days Brett Kavanaugh apparently has had an epiphany, however, and in Donald Trump's America is singing a different tune. Brett seems to feel that in Trump's America, as he felt in George W. Bush's America, that no sitting President can be charged with or convicted of a crime. If only Kavanaugh had maintained that belief in the Clinton years we would not have had to go through the expensive, disruptive and bullshit charges that resulted from the incredibly partisan "Whitewater" investigation and led to the Impeachment Charade of Bill Clinton's Presidency.

Although it has not been widely reported, both Rachel Maddow and Laurence O'Donnell showed a video that was taken following Kavanaugh's Senate Judiciary Hearing clearly showing Kavanaugh turning away and refusing to shake the hand of a man who identified himself as the Father of one of the murder victims of the Parkland High School shooting. Laurence even interviewed the Parkland victim's Father on his program.

The White House later on tried to spin this incident saying that Kavanaugh had accidentally turned and walked away not knowing that the man was a Parkland victim's Father. The Parkland Father made clear that once he identified himself to Kavanaugh, that Kavanaugh immediately turned and walked away. Clearly this incident did not show Kavanaugh to be a man of compassion or good judgement.

Another nail in the coffin of Kavanaugh's reputation is the fact that Kavanaugh's previous testimony during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings when he was previously being considered as a Judge seems to indicate that Kavanaugh lied to the Judiciary Committee. In his previous Committee testimony about his work as a Counsel in George W. Bush's White House, Kavanaugh stated that he did not have access to E Mails that were illegally hacked from Democratic Lawmakers. Kavanaugh also stated in previous Committee Testimony that he did not participate in certain decisions on judicial appointments during the Bush Administration. Recently released Bush era information on these issues seem to indicate that in his Testimony on these issues Kavanaugh was not telling the truth. If that is the case then Kavanaugh has shown that he has been willing to perjure himself.

In addition to these issues there seems to be at least one very serious allegation of Sexual Assault that occurred when Kavanaugh was a teenager. Kavanaugh's accuser, Christine Blasey Ford apparently has stated that Kavanaugh was drunk when he attempted to sexually assault her. Clearly Ms. Ford should be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee before a final decision is made regarding Brett Kavanaugh taking his place on the Supreme Court.

Clearly there seems to be a considerable amount of information which should give both Democrats and Republicans Serious Reservations as they consider whether Brett Kavanaugh should be elevated to the most prestigious Court in America.

It is hard for me to understand how any Senator can, in good conscience, vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court Justice. He is not only a liar. He is a Perjurer and a Sexual Predator and is in all respects a Fanatical Republican Operative. He certainly does not belong on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 26

It Can Happen Here And

Apparently Already Has Happened Here

November 3rd, 2018

My Dear America:

Sinclair Lewis was one of the last Century's Best Known Novelists. It is not widely known these days but one of his Novels was called "It Can't Happen Here."

The Novel is about the fictional prospect of America being taken over by a Cold Hearted Dictator. Lewis saw some very disturbing things going on in his lifetime in America such as Nazis and Klansmen marching down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.. Sinclair Lewis was disturbed by what he saw and his Novel was meant to be a warning to all Americans that it was important to be careful not to allow Dictators to take over power in the United States of America. It is doubtful that Sinclair Lewis really thought that a Dictator would ever be successful in the United States of America.

It is clear to me and should be clear to every thinking person in the United States that we may already have crossed way over the Dictatorship line in the United States of America.

We have all heard the saying that "If it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it's a duck."

I think we can also safely say that "if it walks, talks and acts like a Dictator, It's a Dictator."

Clearly in America we are seeing every day that Donald Trump is Walking, Talking and Acting like a Dictator."

He is not a Potential Dictator. He is in every way, shape and form, a Dictator.

Trump has shown us from Day One of his Administration that he does not give a Damn about what is best for America and Americans. Trump seems to really enjoy not sticking it to "The Man" but instead sticking it to "The People." Like every Dictator in history Donald Trump is totally Self Absorbed.

How We Can Tell That Donald Trump Is a Dictator

Donald Trump is a Liar – Even those who are certified Trump Supporters need to admit that Donald Trump is a man who seems to have serious problems with telling the truth. This is not a trait that is new to Donald Trump. Many people familiar with Donald Trump's business history feel that Trump's difficulty in telling the truth has been a Long Time Trump Trait. Trump started out his Administration insisting that his Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, tell the American Press and consequently the American People that his Inauguration Crowd was bigger than President Barack Obama's Inauguration Crowd. That was Trump's First Administration Lie. Unfortunately it was not his last. His Lies are so extensive that they have buried many a fact checker over the course of the Trump Administration.

Donald Trump Seems To Love Other Dictators – Certainly it has been clear over the course of Donald Trump's Administration that Donald Trump has had almost a love affair with Russian Dictator, Vladimir Putin, even though Putin has been clearly outed by American Intelligence Agencies as being behind 2016 American Election Interference. But Putin is not the only Dictator that Trump has admired. Trump started out trading Dangerous Insults with North Korean Dictator, Kim Jong Un. But when Kim began saying nice things about Donald Trump, however, Donald started saying nice things about Kim and now after their Bromance in Singapore Trump has nothing but good things to say about Kim. Other Dictators that Trump has nice things to say about are Turkey's Erdogan and Saudi Arabia's bloodthirsty leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Trump has also had words of admiration for Saddam Hussein and Adolph Hitler, whose speeches he has studied.

While Donald Trump seems to have nothing but respect and admiration for these and other Dictators , Trump has gone out of his way to disrespect and denigrate long time American Allies including Canada, Mexico and Germany.

Donald Trump Calls The Press The Enemies Of The People – Dictators like Trump always seem to like to identify some people as Enemies to be hated and in some instances killed. Certainly the most extreme and disturbing example of this has been Adolph Hitler's nearly successful attempt to exterminate the Jewish people in countries that the Nazi's controlled. Hitler was a psychopath who also identified Gypsys and the Disabled as people to be also eliminated in his Death Camps through his disturbed effort to purify the German Race.

Rwanda and Cambodia were also countries which went through periods of horrendous and inhuman "Ethnic Cleansing."

Luckily for us Donald Trump has not yet reached the point of being able to carry out Ethnic Cleansing, yet it is clear that he has begun his identification of who might be in the crosshairs if he ever gets the chance to carry out ethnic cleansing activities.

It may not be ethnic cleansing but certainly Trump has made it clear that he has no use for Muslims and Mexicans and other refugees from South America who are trying to escape from their countries of origin.

While he has not yet built Death Camps, Donald Trump has made the border with Mexico an issue that seems to resonate with many members of his base of support. Trump has shown that he is ready, willing and able to take children away from their parents and lock them all up in separate facilities. In some cases those children have no way of being reunited with their parents and will never see their parents again because the Trump Administration did not care about the reunification of Immigrant children with their parents.

These days Trump is whining loudly about "The Caravan," which is a group of South American refugees who are trying to escape death and destruction in their home countries by escaping to the United States of America, a place that used to be welcoming to refugees.

Trump has now deployed United States Army Troops to the border to protect America from "The Caravan" and has promised that if problems beak out at the border such as rock throwing Trump will encourage U.S. Troops to shoot.

Every Day it becomes more evident that we are no longer living in a Democratic Country. Although we do have a Congress and a Court System that can work sometimes, every day Donald Trump moves us further to the Right and further away from Democracy.

We have all become too tolerant of the disgusting behavior of Donald Trump as he has marched us further from the border of responsible behavior and closer and closer to the end of Democracy in America.

We, the responsible Americans need to recognize that although there may not be a lot we can do to push back on Dastardly Don's Dastardly Deeds we can and should VOTE on Tuesday, November 6th, to send a message to Donald Trump that we are Mad as Hell and That we're not gonna take it any more.

Democrats have put up a Great Slate of Candidates this year who are willing to go to Washington and hopefully take over the United States House of Representatives and possibly the Senate. We also have some Great Candidates running for Governorships.

We have all been too complacent for too long and have taken our Privilege to vote for granted. If we want to preserve what will be left of our Government and Constitution after Trump is finished with us we need to get every Reasonable Democracy Loving Voter to the Voting Booth on Tuesday, November 6th. It's a matter of life or Death for Democracy in America.

VOTE

Sincerely and Democratically Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 27

A Tale Of Two Presidencies

December 4th, 2018

My Dear America:

It is a sad week in America as we say Goodbye to one of our most Decent and Professional Presidents.

George H.W. Bush was quick to admit that he was not perfect and made mistakes but in contrast to the Foolish bully who now inhabits the White House he was not only a cut above Donald Trump, he was the total opposite of Donald Trump.

Although he lost his 1992 Presidential Campaign to Bill Clinton, it must be remembered that George Bush was in a Three Way Race with not only Clinton but also with Fellow Texan and Independent Candidate, Ross Perot. Perot was a chatty Oil Rich Carmudgeon with pretty much unlimited financial resources and although I'm sure Perot took some votes away from Bill Clinton, there is no doubt that Perot took more votes away from George Bush in the 1992 Contest.

George Bush could have gone home to Texas after his Presidential loss and gotten lost in his anger toward Clinton. I'm sure he did that for awhile but George H.W. never seemed to be angry at anyone for very long. As time went on George Herbert Walker Bush, as well as his son, George W. Bush, all became genuine friends with Bill Clinton and the Presidential Trio accomplished many worthwhile endeavors together.

George H.W. accomplished more in his life than most people. We have seen on CNN and other Television Networks the tributes and appreciation that most Americans have for our 41st President. In addition to being the youngest Pilot shot down in World War II, 41 also had many other Public Service Duties, including CIA Director, Ambassador to the United Nations, Congressman, Republican Party Chairman, Vice President, as well as President of the United States. George Bush Senior truly gave his life for service to his country and to his Republican Party.

Certainly Bush's life was not free from controversy or questionable conduct. He was identified by some as being at least aware of, if not involved in the CIA Plot to kill President Kennedy. He was also most certainly aware of the details involved in the Reagan Era Iran Contra Scandal that involved selling guns to Iranians and using the gun money to support the Right Wing Contras fight against the freely elected Communist Sandanista Regime in Nicaragua.

On the other hand, George H.W. Bush was also courageous and disciplined when he needed to be. When Saddam Hussein invaded his neighboring country of Kuwait, Bush put together in record time an international rescue squad of many countries to get Saddam out of Kuwait. George Bush did with Allied help rescue Kuwait and put Saddam back in his own country of Iraq.

Although we are hearing many positive reflections in recent days about George H.W. Bush, perhaps the most important quality that is emphasized is that of Bush's reputation of being kind and concerned about people. Everyone who talks about him has emphasized his kindness to other people, especially members of his own family.

As we watch Donald Trump day after day go after people who criticize him or anger him in some way it is refreshing to remember that the American White House was once a place where its occupants were relatively decent and deserving people who treated other people the same way they wanted to be treated.

It was not always that way with all Presidents but it certainly was the case with George Herbert Walker Bush.

We Americans will miss you George. I didn't vote for you but I genuinely respected you as my President.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 28

Welcome To The New Democratic House of Representatives

Or

Happy Dems Are Here Again

January 3rd, 2019

My Dear America:

Certainly it has been an astounding 2 years that we have been witness to daily, sometimes minute to minute, bursts of Insanity, Stupidity and Treason emanating from the American White House. I think I speak for many more than myself when I say that we don't need Robert Mueller to tell us that Donald Trump is a Criminal and a Traitor. We may not know as much as Mueller does but we have seen the evidence flashing across our television screens daily over the past two years.

We have witnessed Trump in the White House shortly after firing FBI Director, James Comey, telling the Russian Diplomats and alleged Superspies all about it. We didn't see it on American Television because American Journalists were kept out of the meeting with the Russians. We did see photographic evidence of the Trump- Russian meeting, however, because Trump stupidly allowed Russian Media Outlets to take pictures. Did he not realize that in the digital age we would be able to see what the Russians put online.

We also witnessed one of the most pathetic performances in Presidential History by Donald Trump meeting with Vladimir Putin and stating that Mr. Putin had "Strongly Denied" that Russia had interfered in the 2016 American Presidential Election. So essentially, Trump took the word of Putin in this matter instead of the conclusions drawn by every American Intelligence Agency.

To list the incredible number of inappropriate and outrageous things that Donald Trump done over the last two years is nearly impossible. Certainly trying to count up the two year listing of Trump's lies is also a daunting and near impossible task.

But today is a New Day in the New Year of 2019. Today Donald Trump is holding the Federal unpaid workers and the Congress Hostage to his Border Wall. But today is also the day that the Chickens are coming home to Roost in America. Donald Trump and the Republican Party were able to hold onto the Senate following the 2018 Elections with a very slight edge. But the 2018 Congressional Election also sent Donald Trump a very strong message.

The results of that strong message was on display in the United States House of Representatives this afternoon as the newly elected members of the Democratic House Majority, including many minority and diverse Candidates took their Congressional seats in Washington.

Today the new Congress quickly and wisely elected Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Pelosi is an experienced and capable leader who many Republicans running for office in 2018 made the mistake of trying to brand as Bad News. In the end the joke was on the Republicans, many of whom lost their seats to Democrats in the last election just as Pelosi once again won her San Francisco Congressional District seat by a historic margin.

Nancy Pelosi has made it clear that there is no Border Wall in Donald Trump's future unless, by some miracle, Mexico does agree to pay for it.

By the way, what is up with this Government Shutdown anyway? What is Donald Trump trying to do? I think he probably feels that the walls are closing in on him, and they certainly are.

Bravo to Mitt Romney for writing an Op-Ed for the New York Times making it clear to all concerned that as an incoming Republican Senator he is not going to comment on every Trump Tweet but he clearly has no respect for the current occupant of the White House and feels no obligation to blindly support Trump's every move.

As the Democrats arrive in Washington to take their places in Congress we can only hope that they work for the good of the country, as very few recent Republican House Members have done.

We are not out of the woods yet but I think that with the exciting new Congress we may be on our way to a brighter day. God knows we have seen some excruciating darkness during the past two years.

What we Democrats need to do is recognize that for things to improve in our country we need to band together and begin to clean up what Donald Trump and his Republican cronies have messed up.

We have a great deal of talent in the Democratic Party and we must focus on allowing that talent to show itself. In a relatively short time we will be choosing a Democratic Presidential Candidate.

Congrats to Elizabeth Warren for being the First to step forward in the 2020 Presidential Race. She is a fine and brave Senator who has fought hard for the Middle Class in America and I will be fine with seeing her running against Trump.

Whoever the eventual 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate is will have a hard run.

God Bless whoever it turns out to be.

And God Bless the New and Improved House of Representatives.

Thanks to the New House for giving us a little bit of hope at a time when we really needed it.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 29

Jimmy We Hardly Knew YA

Or

FEAR and LOATHING In The White House

January 26th, 2019

My Dear America:

I just finished reading Bob Woodward's book, "Fear" today. The book is an incredibly disturbing portrait of the man who presently occupies the White House and those people who have occupied it with him until he fired most of them or they ran screaming out of the White House doors after resigning.

The book is unfortunately sadly out of date and was so on the date it was published in 2018. This is Donald Trump's White House, after all. Bob Woodward is an excellent political writer and as political non-fiction this book is as responsibly and factually written as a book like this can be. Clearly, as in his other political histories, Woodward has done his research well and there are copious notes listed at the back of the book.

There are very few heroes in this book. Certainly if you are not a Neo Nazi or a Klan member you will probably not see Donald Trump as a positive figure in this book. He is, in this book, as in real life, a revolting Megalomaniac who listens to reason from almost no one, except "His Generals" before he fired them or pushed them out the door. Donald Trump, despite the overwhelming lack of evidence to prove it, thinks of himself as, not only the smartest man in the room, but the smartest man in the world. What Woodward reveals is that he is neither.

Certainly those of us living in America who get to watch Television and read a newspaper or book now and then know what Bob Woodward reveals in "Fear." That Donald Trump is an idiot. What is really hard for me to understand is why so many of his staffers, who were generally treated like crap day after day stayed with Trump for as long as they did.

Yes, There are very few heroes in this book but there are a few and some who stuck it out with Trump and showed some degree of courage and responsible behavior were some that were surprising to me. Clearly Reince Priebus, former head of the Republican Party and Chief of Staff for Trump for as long as he felt he could take it, according to Woodward, tried to do a responsible job in an impossible position. Trump cruelly dumped on Priebus constantly but Priebus continued to try to act like a Chief of Staff would in a normal Administration, impossible as that was to do.

Former Wall Street Goldman Sachs President, Gary Cohn, who was Trump's top financial Adviser stayed with Trump long enough to give the average American the shockingly unfair Trump Tax Bill, so I would certainly not put him in the hero category. Cohn did, however, according to Woodward, have the backbone and courage to stand up to Trump and get away with it when he felt that Trump was heading off the rails. Finally, of course, Cohn had enough and got out of Trump's White House.

Rex Tillerson also comes off pretty well in Woodward's estimation. Tillerson, Trump's Secretary of State, who famously called Donald Trump an "Idiot" apparently tried to do his job responsibly but was cut off at the knees time after time before being fired by Trump.

H.R. McMaster also seemed to try to do a good job but also was often times double teamed by Tillerson and one of Trump's other favorite Generals, Former Marine General, James Mattis.

Although calling James Mattis a Hero might be a stretch, Jim "Mad Dog" Mattis, Trump's Defense Secretary, was probably the person in Trump's Cabinet who was most adept at handling Trump. That was at least until this past December when Trump announced by Tweet that he was pulling all Troops out of both Syria and Afghanistan. Trump had not consulted with Mattis before his announcement and James Mattis submitted his resignation immediately and made it clear in his resignation letter that he did not agree with Trump's decision to get out of Syria and Afghanistan and didn't appreciate being left out of this important decision. Although Trump, at first said Mattis would be staying until February of 2019, Trump apparently changed his mind when the word got out to the public about Mattis's resignation letter. Trump then changed his mind and told the country that he was firing Mattis as of the end of December 2018.

So in December 2018 Trump not only fired Mattis but he shut down the United States Government until he got Congress to fund his border wall

Now, on January 26th, 2019 Donald Trump has finally agreed to open up the Government, probably as a result of danger in the skies and hold ups at every Airport and outcries from those Government workers severely affected by the shutdown.

Mattis was one of the last of "Thump's Generals" to be tossed out of the Trump Administration upper echelon like human garbage. Trump is still threatening to shut down the Government in 3 weeks if he doesn't get his border wall that no one except him and Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh, seem to want.

Although Trump does not seem to recognize it, 2019 will not be like 2017 and 2018, when Congress always bowed to Trump at all times. It is a new day in the House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi is not Paul Ryan. Trump should know that by now but time will tell if Trump is ever going to wise up.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 30

What If Donald Trump Gave A State Of The Union Address

And No Democrats Came

January 30th, 2019

My Dear America:

It is an incredible privilege to live in the United States of America. My Wife and I have had several conversations recently about that subject. We are in agreement that although we citizens have all been through some very trying times we are extremely proud to have had the good fortune to have been born and raised in America.

We certainly have some things in our American History that do not make us proud. Slavery, The treatment of Native Americans by our Federal and State Governments and the dropping of the Atom Bomb are some of the very bad things that make us realize that we are a nation that is not perfect and has not always done the right thing.

Overall, however, we have much to be proud of in America. We have had a record number of presidents of whom we have been proud. Not all of our Presidents have been worthy of their offices, however. Richard Nixon comes to mind. After the disturbing conduct of what became known as The Watergate Affair, resulting in Nixon resigning the Presidency, I was hopeful that we would never again witness the level of shameful conduct that we witnessed with Nixon. After all, Nixon was so bad that it was doubtful that anyone else would stoop to that shameful level of conduct ever again.

I was wrong, however, to expect that Richard Nixon's criminal behavior would truly be the bottom of the barrel. As bad as Nixon was, at least he was not a Traitor.

How in the world Donald Trump got to be President is still a mystery that will haunt me to the end of my days. It is not as though Donald Trump hid all of his faults from the American People. He tried to hide a great deal about who and what he was, but he certainly revealed much about himself in his Presidential Campaign to alert even the most dense American about what Donald Trump was all about.

Donald Trump was Greedy, An Egomaniac, A Dictator Lover and Dictator Wannabe, A man who had no respect for anyone other than himself or certain members of his family , a man who would stoop to any level to get what he wanted, A man who hated Immigrants, Women, Blacks and many others, A man who was unfit to be dogcatcher, never mind President of the United States.

Donald Trump was a man who was so deeply flawed that only a system like the Post Civil War Racist Inspired Electoral College could have elected him to the highest office in the land.

We, the reasonable people of the United States, have watched in horror over the past two years as Donald Trump seems to have done everything in his power to do what Vladimir Putin wanted him to do in an effort to run the Democratic Government of the United States into the ground.

During her Campaign for the Presidency Hillary Clinton identified many of Donald Trump's supporters as "Deplorables." Certainly not all of Trump's supporters were Neo Nazis and Klansmen, but as we have seen in what seems to me like an extraordinary amount of continued poll support for the Trump Administration, Trump seems to have hung onto much of his deplorable support.

Certainly Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has won a minor victory in the battle over the Border Wall but with Trump still President none of us can rest easy in the coming days, weeks, months and years.

Next Tuesday Donald Trump will give his State of the Union Speech. I would love to see the Democrats either not show up for the speech or walk out on the speech. Clearly no Democrat who attends the speech will find out anything about the State of the Union that they don't already know.

There is a danger, however, that if Democrats don't attend the speech they will be castigated by Trump as Un American, although the opposite is true.

Regardless, it is hoped that Trump will not shut the country down again in a few weeks. Clearly, one of the reasons that Trump did it in the first place is that he wanted to make it more difficult for American Law Enforcement to track down his traitorous crimes.

We are living through a very dangerous time in which Democracy itself is on the line. I am sure we Americans will make it through this difficult time just like we did through Watergate.

We will probably be a little battered and bruised after our experience with Donald Trump but we will still be a Democracy and we will still be America.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 31

Chris Christie – Huckster On Parade

January 31, 2019

My Dear America:

Is it just me or are we seeing way too much of Chris Christie on Television this week.

I know he has a new book out called "Let Me Finish" and that it was probably appropriate for him to appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. But why in the hell was he on CNN today pontificating on Trump and the Russia Investigation.

With apologies to my Son, who loves the guy, I have to say that Chris Christie has always seemed to me like one of the phoniest politicians that we have ever seen. I have not read his book which has just been published but reports are that Christie savages both Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon. Quite frankly I'm OK with Christie savaging both of these people. They are both deserving of savaging, in my opinion. The word is, however, that phony Chris continues to find nothing but love for poor misunderstood Donald Trump.

On Colbert's show and Trevor Noah's show Christie made it a point to state that he has been offered several positions by Trump after Christie was embarrassingly dumped by Trump at the last minute as his Vice Presidential choice. Christie says that he turned down the many Trump offers because they weren't right for him. Chosen assignments that he said he would take were Vice President or Attorney General.

Certainly Christie asked for the humiliating experience of being dumped by Trump for the Vice Presidential nod. Common sense should have told Christie that with Jared Kushner (whose Father Christie had sent to prison) being Trump's Son in Law, that Christie's future with the Trump Administration was dead on arrival.

Plus Christie had Bridgegate and Bridgegate, as well as Christie's less than charming personality also helped to put the screws to Christie's chances to score with Trump. As for Trump, he did what he has done with so many others in his path. Trump had very few kind words for Christie during the period of character assassination that some called a Republican Presidential Campaign. Like a fool, Christie jumped on the Trump Bandwagon early when he saw his own chances to be President fly into oblivion. Trump dragged Christie around the country like an obnoxious worn out teddy bear surely with promises by Trump of great things to come for Christie in the Trump Administration.

After watching Christie humiliate himself laughing about his failures in his obvious huckstering for his new book on Colbert and The Daily Show, today Christie showed up on Jake Tapper's show on CNN talking like he really knows what's going on in Trump World. Chris Christie is out in the cold but is still trying to hold on to what he says is a 17 year long friendship with Donald Trump.

One thing is for sure. With Donald Trump as your friend, you already have an enemy.

Please CNN. Enough obnoxious Republican losers on the Network. Charlie Dent at least has a personality. Rick Santorum is a Know Nothing Know it all. Please don't add incredibly arrogant Chris Christie to this rather disgusting mix of has beens.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 32

A Few Words About Andrew McCabe

February 20th, 2019

My Dear America:

Former FBI Director and Assistant Director, Andrew McCabe has been making the rounds on television this week talking about his new book, "The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump."

Like his former FBI Colleague, James Comey, Andrew McCabe has some very frightening things to say about his experiences with Donald Trump, as well as his experiences with Comey and Assistant Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein

Like his former colleagues, Andrew McCabe appears to be someone who, without much fanfare, did his FBI work well enough to move up the ladder in the Federal Bureau of Investigation without major incident prior to Donald Trump becoming President of the United States.

Although I know nothing more than what I have read about McCabe and seen and heard in his Television appearances, I do find that what McCabe has to say seems credible. After all, during his long career in the FBI he, like James Comey, has had a standout record and as far as I have gleaned was known as a straight shooter with a reputation for telling the truth before Donald Trump came to town.

The truth McCabe is telling these days seems to be that he has had the unfortunate task of being in top FBI positions when Donald Trump came into office with a record of seriously traitorous behavior.

Clearly McCabe knows that his television and bookstore shelf life will not be lengthy so he has stepped up with his well reviewed book and his alarming television appearances with some very disturbing statements about Donald Trump.

Certainly Donald Trump has had no use for either James Comey or Andrew McCabe. Following his Presidential Inauguration Donald Trump tried to get James Comey to pledge his loyalty to Trump and when Comey did not bow down to Trump he was fired.

Following that, McCabe moved into the hot seat of FBI Director and seemed to be one more of Trump's firing targets. Trump finally got McCabe out of the FBI shortly before McCabe was planning to leave the FBI on his own with a pension and other benefits which he deserved after his many years of Federal Service. In a sheer act of despicable political vengeance Trump publicly fired McCabe just hours before he would have received his pension and other full benefits.

Certainly Trump has treated others in his Administration very poorly but McCabe's firing shows the truly savage and reprehensible character of the monster that haunts 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

McCabe in his interviews has tried to be honest about what has happened to him during his stint in the Trump Administration. McCabe does not shy away from admitting his concern that Donald Trump may be either a witting or an unwitting Russian Asset.

Certainly Trump's record of making countless decisions far more beneficial to Vladimir Putin than to America disturbs Andrew McCabe, as it should disturb us all.

Why members of the Republican Party continue to make excuses for Trump instead of being outraged by his continuing disturbing and reckless instances of homage to Putin is hard to understand.

As we continue to watch Trump destroy the lives and reputations of decent Americans Like Andrew McCabe and James Comey and listen to Trump continue to call the Russia Investigation a "Hoax" it is time for Republicans to wake up to reality and recognize that our President is in one form or another a "Russian Asset.

Good God, how have we let this happen and how long are we going to continue to allow a "Russian Asset" to lead the American Government.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 33

The Times They Are A Threatening

February 21st, 2019

My Dear America:

Russia Threatened the United States this week over Nuclear Missles.

It did not get the Out Front Media Coverage it certainly deserved. It can be argued that although it was certainly the most threatening news about Russia that I can remember in a long time, there was also a whole lot of other weird and disturbing, as well as some good news, happening in the United States to take the focus off this Russian Threat.

Recently Donald Trump attempted to show how tough he can be on Russia by pulling out of the Nuclear Arms Treaty with Russia that had been negotiated by and agreed to by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev back in the 80s before the (alleged) fall of Communism in the Soviet Union.

The facts seem to be that the Russians were already not following the terms of the Nuclear Treaty anyway and were blatantly developing more long range nuclear missiles.

What could have been done and certainly should have been done by Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in their well publicized meetings was to discuss and renegotiate the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty. Apparently Trump and Putin did not find time in their discussions to discuss this incredibly important issue.

Instead their discussions were about other things such as Trump approving having Vlad and the Russian Intelligence Services assist the United States in investigating Russian hacking in the 2016 Election and Donald Trump approving the Russians interrogating Americans who Vlad did not approve of, including former American Ambassador to Russia, Michael McCaul, who Putin had wanted to get his hands on for some time.

Of course, the only reason we know that Trump and Putin discussed these things is because Putin revealed what was discussed to the Russian Press and they revealed it to the world.

Luckily, the Congress stepped in and put the screws to the Russians helping us to investigate Russian hacking of our elections and Vlad's plan to interrogate those Americans he didn't like. In an overwhelming bipartisan vote the House and Senate put Trump and Putin on notice that these attempts to put the Fox inside the Hen House were not going to happen.

Donald Trump went out of his way in every instance regarding his meetings with Putin to make sure that nothing of what he discussed with the Russian leader would ever be revealed to anyone in America. That lack of information on Trump and Putin's discussions applied to the American (Enemies of the People) Press, The Congress, The State Department, The Pentagon and even the White House Staff. What Trump never seemed to understand, however, was that although Trump revealed nothing to the press, Putin proudly revealed almost everything to the Russian Media constantly making a fool out of Donald Trump following his meetings with Putin.

So basically the bottom line is that either the President of the United States did not care enough to renegotiate a workable Nuclear Proliferation Treaty with Putin or he tried but failed to renegotiate a workable Nuclear deal with Vladimir Putin.

Trump has continued to trumpet his "Great" relationship with the Russian Premier. If Trump did try to renegotiate a nuclear treaty with Putin why didn't he tell us about it. If he tried and failed to renegotiate a treaty why in the world would his response be to destroy the only Nuclear Proliferation Treaty we have with Russia and give Putin a free pass for him to develop and improve his nuclear arsenal. At least with a Treaty in operation, Putin could be held to account for what he was doing with Nukes. Now Putin is free to do what he wants with Nukes, and so is Trump.

Is Putin being treated toughly by Trump, as Trump claims.

Not at all. Putin now has no nuclear treaty to restrict him and for him to have to answer to the United Nations for. And Putin this week made it clear that he will be taking full advantage of Donald Trump's No Nuke Treaty policy.

Clearly Donald Trump is a Wannabe Dictator who wants to be in the club with the Big Bad Boys, Putin in Russia, Erdogan in Turkey, Muhammed Bin Salman in Saudi Arabia and Kim Jong Un in North Korea.

For more than two years Trump has done what he wants and has had no Congressional oversight until now.

It is time for both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to act responsibly and hold Donald Trump to account for the damage he has done as his Wrecking Ball Administration continues his destruction of Democracy in America.

We have had enough of Donald Trump. We can't wait two years to have him voted out of power. He has done a hell of a lot of Damage in the past two years. It is unthinkable to imagine what more he can and might do if he is allowed to continue on his path to Dictatorship.

Trump needs to be impeached and that Impeachment needs to begin as soon as possible.

Do we need to see Storm Troopers breaking down our doors for Republicans to wake up to what is going on.

Wake up, America while there is still time to save your Democracy.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 34

Michael Cohen's Bombshell Testimony On Capitol Hill:

A Man No Longer Willing To Take A Bullet For Donald Trump

March 3rd, 2019

My Dear America:

Although it seems more like a year ago, It was only last Wednesday When America tuned in to almost every Television Channel carrying Former Trump Loyalist and "Fixer" Michael Cohen's Testimony before the House of Representatives Oversight Committee. Surely we all thought that Cohen's Testimony would blow the lid off the Trump White House and it certainly did. Those of us who love American Democracy were certainly not pleased to hear Cohen's Testimony about the American Cesspool that is everything swirling around Donald Trump.

John Dean, when he testified to the Senate Watergate Committee so many decades ago told the Watergate Committee that "There Was a Cancer on The Presidency" and he was correct. His testimony ended up being the beginning of the end for the Republican President, Richard Nixon.

Michael Cohen's testimony led those of us who are not under the difficult to understand spell of Donald Trump to realize that the Cancer on the Presidency was back and it was more aggressive and difficult to deal with than ever.

Oddly enough, Donald Trump just happened to schedule his largely unsuccessful meeting with North Korean Dictator, Kim Jong Un in Vietnam for Cohen's only day of Televised Testimony before the House Oversight Committee, one of the many House of Representatives Committees looking into almost every aspect of the Dung Heap that is Trump World.

After two years of Republican control of the House, as well as the Senate and the White House, last November's Election Results turned over control of the House to the many newly elected and highly energized individuals who had been elected with the purpose of cleaning up Washington, with special emphasis on cleaning up the White House.

Certainly when Michael Cohen testified previously to a Republican controlled Congress and lied about whether or not Donald Trump was still pursuing a Trump Tower deal with Moscow while he was running for President, both Cohen and Trump thought Cohen could get away with lying to Congress. When Cohen, who had pledged that he would "Take a Bullet" for Donald Trump finally realized just how much Trump had played Cohen for a fool and a patsy and was continuing to do so, Cohen smartened up and agreed to cooperate with Prosecutors and with Congress.

At some point it became evident to Cohen that he was going to jail for the crimes of lying to protect Trump, while Trump dumped Cohen like a bad habit and Tweeted insulting and denigrating things about Trump's long time Aide. Cohen, after spending a decade of being Donald Trump's hatchet man and doormat saw other victims of Trump prosecutions getting deals from Robert Mueller's Special Prosecutors and the U.S. Attorneys of the Southern District of New York. At First there did not seem to be much of a prospect for Cohen to get a plea deal. Cohen did, however, even without a plea deal agree to cooperate with Prosecutors investigating Trump and has done so.

Cohen arrived on Capitol Hill last Wednesday with a badly tarnished reputation earned through working for a decade doing Donald Trump's dirty deeds. But clearly Cohen came to talk, and talk he did.

Cohen started off reading a prepared statement identifying Donald Trump as a Racist, a Liar and a Cheat and giving personal recollections as well as copies of documents to the Committee since Cohen knew that there were those on the Committee who would not believe him without documentation of his allegations about Trump.

Cohen revealed through his prepared statement and responses to mainly Democratic Questioners some stunning revelations. It appeared as though mainly the Democrats on the Committee were interested in what Michael Cohen could reveal about Donald Trump. Republicans on the Oversight Committee, with one exception, not only tried to delay and otherwise stymie the Cohen Testimony but asked almost no questions about Trump but simply denigrated Cohen without seeming to care about what he might reveal about Donald Trump. Two Republican Congressmen who were particularly revolting were Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan. Also there was much talk during the day about an inappropriate E Mail sent out by a Florida Republican Representative named Matt Gaetz. Although Gaetz was not on the Oversight Committee he was observed at one point striding proudly into the Committee Room and looking almost threatening toward Cohen as he walked in to talk with Republican Members of The Oversight Committee.

Democrats, however, seemed to be very much interested in the revelations that Michael Cohen was willing to share.

Some of the more stunning moments of Cohen's Testimony were the following:

Donald Trump did not expect to win the Presidential Election. His run for the Presidency was mainly a publicity stunt aimed at promoting his "Apprentice" Television Program and putting pressure on NBC to pay him more money for the show. The stunt backfired on Trump when after some of his Racist and otherwise inappropriate comments resulted in NBC completely cutting off ties with Trump and distancing their Network from any contact with him other than news coverage of his Presidential Campaign. Trump then continued the Campaign because he thought it would look good for his Trump business brand even after he lost the Presidential race.

Donald Trump lied repeatedly to the American People about his Moscow Project. Time after time Trump told his crowds of supporters during the Presidential Campaign that he had no business dealings with Russia, while at the same time he had Michael Cohen negotiating with the Russians regarding the prospect of building a Trump Tower in Moscow. Certainly this could have been one of the reasons that Trump had nothing but praise of Russian Leader, Vladimir Putin. Putin certainly could have used this obvious lie to blackmail Donald Trump, as well.

Michael Cohen admitted that Stormy Daniels and another Playboy Model were paid off to silence them before the 2016 Election. Cohen brought along and submitted into his testimony a copy of a canceled personal check from Trump paying Michael back for paying off Stormy Daniels.

Michael Cohen claimed to be in Donald Trump's Trump Tower Office when Roger Stone called and Trump spoke to Stone through a speakerphone. According To Cohen's testimony , Roger Stone claimed to have just talked to Julian Assange about E Mails that Wikileaks would be releasing that would not be in Hillary Clinton's best interests. This phone call took place prior to Donald Trump calling for the Russians to release Hillary Clinton's E Mails. Cohen said that Donald Trump had repeatedly said in his presence that Trump's son, Don Jr. had the "Worst Judgement."

Cohen admitted that he had made intimidating phone calls to various people on many occasions. (Possibly 500 times according to what he told Representative Jackie Spear) Some of those phone calls occurred after Trump called on President Barack Obama not only to release his Birth Certificate but also to release his school transcripts. According to Cohen, at Trump's instruction Cohen made threatening phone calls to schools that Donald Trump had attended, as well as The College Board, advising the schools and the College Board not to release Trump's grades or SAT Scores under threats of being sued by Donald Trump.

In the end it does not seem as though Cohen's testimony has carried much weight with Donald Trump's Congressional Deplorables.

They just don't seem to care that Trump is continuing to sell out our Country to the most despicable leaders in the world. It is astounding to see and if Republicans don't begin to see Donald Trump for the Dangerous Charlatan that he is we are all going to continue to be in deep trouble.

We must continue to encourage our Representatives to investigate the madness that we are enduring in the Age of Trump. We must also hope that our many fine Democratic Presidential Candidates don't destroy each other in the race for the White House.

Although we have many fine Candidates who have already joined the race for the White House, I would suggest that California Representative and House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Adam Schiff might be a Great Presidential Prospect. Another person I recently saw on "Real Time with Bill Maher" who has extensive political experience including Former Congressman, Former Obama Chief of Staff who will soon be out of a job as Mayor of Chicago is Rahm Emmanuel.

We have plenty of Great Presidential Prospects. Let's hope one of them puts Donald Trump out of office.

To me one of the most frightening things that Michael Cohen said in his recent Congressional Testimony is that he worries that if Trump is not reelected that there may be serious problems in getting Trump to cooperate with a Democratic Presidential Winner and step down during a Peaceful Transition.

We are truly in for a bumpy ride with Donald Trump in the White House.

God Bless us all.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 35

Kim and Don

The Nuclear Bromance Is Over For Now

What's Next For The Rest Of Us

March 19th, 2019

My Dear America:

Much like an episode of "The Kardashians" the Bromance between United States President, Donald Trump and the North Korean Dictator he fell in love with, Kim Jong Un, appears to be over.

Who knows what made this love affair go bad.

Well, the timing of the Vietnam Summit wasn't the best, Really.

Kim and Don got together in Vietnam on the day that Trump's long time Lawyer and Fixer, Michael Cohen was spilling the Trump beans to the House Oversight Committee. And some stinky beans they were. It was certainly enough to dilute the President's Mojo in Vietnam. No doubt it was difficult for the President to concentrate on Nuclear Issues when Michael Cohen was letting it all hang out in the halls of Congress.

That and the fact that the CIA had revealed that the North Koreans were not, in fact, giving up their Nuclear Weapons and their Nuclear Capability certainly was not a good sign that this Nuclear Bromance was going to last for any extended length of time.

Well if nothing else, at least the end of the Nuclear Bromance finally got Donald Trump to Vietnam. Although Trump had dressed in cool looking uniforms at his Military School, when it came to going to Vietnam his bone spurs were acting up. Trump didn't want to take a chance of being like John McCain, who was tortured for years in the Hanoi Hilton after being shot down by the North Vietnamese.

Jesus, those bone spurs were bad enough. Trump surely couldn't put up with torture in Vietnam. No wonder Trump didn't like John McCain, who was captured by the enemy. Trump likes soldiers who weren't captured, like himself, a Phony, Spoiled Rich Brat dressed in a uniform with bone spurs hurting too much to go to Vietnam.

I will give Trump some credit, however. After yelling and screaming about Fire and Fury at Kim, seeming to drive Kim and North Korea to what appeared to be the brink of actual Nuclear Fire and Fury, Trump finally got wise and started trying to communicate in a more reasonable and loving way. Don and Kim agreed to meet for the First Time in Singapore and they both seemed to hit it off.

Now, however, it is a new day. Neither Kim nor Don stayed in Vietnam for the length of time they had been scheduled to and reports are that since the Failed Vietnam Summit more activity is going on in North Korea's Nuclear Facilities. Not a good sign.

Also North Korean Spokespeople have indicated that North Korea found that President Trump and American Negotiators have been "Too Demanding and Too Stubborn" in their insistence that North Korea should actually give up their Nukes.

I personally don't understand how the North Koreans feel that it is too demanding for them to give up their Nukes. That was the whole point of the Negotiations.

I think Trump made a mistake prior to the Vietnam Summit when he stated that he would be satisfied if North Korea would just give up Nuclear Testing, as they seemed to have done since the Nuclear Bromance began. Certainly that was setting the bar low for North Korea. But apparently not low enough.

In Trump's defense, at least the North Koreans are no longer threatening to bomb Hawaii or the U.S. Mainland, at least not yet. Trump is right, however. If we can keep the North Korean hands off the Nuclear Trigger and keep Trump from threatening Kim we will all be better off, at least for the Immediate Future.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 36

Adam Schiff Has A Message For Republicans About Treason

"It's Not Okay"

April 4th, 2019

My Dear America:

I remember watching the HBO Show, "Real Time With Bill Maher" just a few weeks ago when California Democratic Congressmen and House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Adam Schiff was Bill Maher's First Guest of the night.

I had seen Adam Schiff on Television many times before and was always impressed with his Brightness, Dignity and Decency as he tried his best to keep the Republican controlled House Intelligence Committee on target in investigating whether President Donald Trump was a Russian Spy.

It was obvious to anyone paying attention to Trump over the more than two years Trump was in the White House that Trump was an obvious Russian Asset, wittingly or unwittingly.

On this particular night a couple of weeks ago on HBO as Adam Schiff and Bill Maher had an intelligent but disturbing conversation about Russian influence on Donald Trump, I thought to myself that this man, Adam Schiff, would make a great President in 2020, a President we could all be proud of, A President who knows what he is doing and knows that what he is doing is the right thing. In other words, a Good and Decent Man. Just the kind of man who would be the complete opposite of Donald Trump. I even thought that maybe I should E Mail Schiff and tell him that he should run for President.

I didn't E Mail him, however. I kept my thoughts to myself. Besides, there were already too many Good and Decent Democrats already running for President.

Adam Schiff was the Ranking Member on the House Intelligence Committee for the first two years of the Trump Presidency. During that time he always seemed to be fighting a losing battle with the Republican Committee Members. Things seemed to be especially strained between Schiff and the Republican Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Republican Congressman, Devin Nunes. Even before Devin Nunes started having surreptitious midnight meetings at the White House, Schiff was making it a practice to keep CNN and MSNBC informed about what Schiff had to put up with in dealing with his Republican Colleagues on the Committee. When it was discovered that Nunes had been secretly meeting with White House Officials and keeping them informed about House Intelligence Committee information while he was supposedly investigating the White House let's just say that things did not go well.

As a result of last year's elections when the Democrats landslide victory regained control of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi wisely appointed Adam Schiff to be the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Just as could be expected, the tainted and questionable House Intelligence Committee Investigation whitewash began immediately to take a different turn when Adam Schiff took over the Committee Leadership.

On March 28th the nine Republican Members of The House Intelligence Committee led by (Now Ranking Member) Devin Nunes and voiced by Republican Michael Conway, following some disturbingly denigrating Tweets by Trump aimed toward Chairman Schiff, with a letter signed by all nine Republicans on the Committee demanding Schiff's resignation as Intelligence Committee Chairman.

Adam Schiff's verbal response to the desperate and disgusting Republican ploy will probably go down in history as one of the most powerful moments of Congressional responsibility ever recorded on television. Although Schiff's face showed his own personal fire and fury, his words were measured and powerful.

Any Republican sitting in on that Committee Hearing probably left the hearing room feeling stung by Adam Schiff's brilliant response to his gutless colleagues, all of whom were obviously in Donald Trump's pocket.

Adam Schiff answered the Republican Intelligence Committee Members by listing almost every outrage committed by Trump over the past two years, one by one and adding at the end of each description of what Trump and his team have done – "You might think it's Okay. But I don't think it's Okay."

In my opinion, Adam Schiff's powerful response to the House Committee Republicans will probably go down in Congressional Hearing History along with Attorney Joseph Welch's comments to Senator Joe McCarthy. Welch's comment to McCarthy many years ago might also apply to Donald Trump.

"At long last, Have you No Decency, Sir," Welch said to McCarthy.

Adam Schiff could very well aim the same comment at Donald Trump and at all nine members of the House Intelligence Committee.

I would suggest that anyone who has not heard Chairman Schiff's comments to the House Committee Republicans check it out on "You Tube"

If you are a Democrat it will make you proud. If you are a Republican still operating under the seemingly magical spell of Donald Trump it might wake you up to smell the Treason.

I no longer wish to see Adam Schiff run for President, at least not until Donald Trump is out of office. We need Adam Schiff to remain as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee to do what he can to help keep Democracy alive in the United States of America.

It's a hard job but Adam Schiff can do it well.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 37

Bernie Sanders In The Fox Den

April 18th, 2019

This past Monday was a frustrating day, for the most part. I spent the day trying to get tickets to the Fox News sponsored Bernie Sanders Town Hall at Steel Stacks in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, just a stones throw from where I live.

I sent a couple of E Mails to Fox News and when I had gotten no response by 5:30 PM I just decided to watch the Town Hall on Television in my basement den. Although I would have preferred to be in the Steel Stacks Audience, in the end I was kind of pleased that I was able to watch the hour long Town Hall on Fox News in the comfort of my den.

What I saw on Television that I am not sure that others who attended the event in Bethlehem saw were some segments talking about the history of Bethlehem Steel. Steel Stacks was built on the extensive property that was for many years the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. Due to a number of factors Bethlehem Steel, like countless other American Factories, closed its doors in the 90s never to reopen them again. Prior to and during the Bernie Sanders telecast Fox News told the story of how important Bethlehem Steel was in helping America to win two World Wars and to build some of the most important bridges and buildings in our Nation. Those brief snippets of history made it all the more impressive as the television cameras in the Musikfest Café in the Steel Stacks building panned in on Fox News Town Hall Moderators, Bret Bair and Martha McCallum and the Town Hall Star and Democratic Candidate for President, Bernie Sanders. There was a large panoramic window in back of Bernie and the Moderators and outside of that window, at least for the first part of the Town Hall, one could see some of the remnants of what was left of some of the Bethlehem Steel Buildings that were strong enough to be left standing following the closing of the plant.

Following the disturbing, disrupting and devastating closing of Bethlehem Steel in the 90's by its new owner and today a member of Donald Trump's Cabinet, Wilbur Ross, The City of Bethlehem was faced with the question of what to do with the extensive inner city land that had been the home of one of the most important manufacturers in America. Some Bethlehem City Leaders came up with a plan that would cost a lot of money but could revitalize the Bethlehem Steel site. With a great deal of planning and preparation plans were put into operation and Bethlehem Steel's abandoned factory site took on a vibrant new life.

Steel Stacks was built primarily as an Arts Center. The Musikfest Café, where Bernie's Town Hall took place was a concert venue where my wife and I have seen such musical luminaries as Judy Collins, Spyro Gyra and David Crosby. Steel Stacks also has two movie theaters and outside Steel Stacks is the Levitt Pavillion where many free concerts are held every summer. Also next to Steel Stacks is the local PBS Station, WLVT, Channel 39 and down the road apiece is the Sands Casino (Now Wind Creek) with a hotel, shoppes and an Event Center where major concerts are held.

I mention these things because I think other areas of our country devastated by business closings could definitely learn some lessons from what Bethlehem has done to rejuvenate itself following the closing of Bethlehem Steel.

The Bernie Sanders Town Hall in the Musikfest Café at Steel Stacks was, in my opinion, a brilliant bit of Political Theater. Some of the early questions from the moderators were a bit Foxish, but fair. Clearly Bret and Martha were two of the more moderate Fox News Personalities. Bernie handled them well, I thought. In the end I think that Bernie and the Fox News Anchors came to an agreement that rather than spar with each other all night that they would at least personally respect each other. In the end I think that Bernie came off as he always seems to, an honest guy with good intentions and reasonably good plans for improving the lives of citizens of the United States of America.

As I watched the Town Hall I thought about the fact that the timing of the broadcast was a little odd. It aired from 6:30 to 7:30 PM. This was not exactly prime time but it was during a time period where many Fox viewers just coming home from work might be inclined to tune in. Although early on the Fox News Moderators seemed to be prodding Bernie in order to embarrass him, their questions were not unreasonable and were responded to with honesty by Senator Sanders.

Bernie's tax returns were a subject of Fox scrutiny. Bernie stated that he had just released 10 years of his tax returns and then he turned to the camera and said that if the President was listening to the broadcast, he should do the same and release his tax returns. Bernie was also asked by the Moderators to respond to the fact that his tax returns show that he is a millionaire. Bernie stated that he had made a great deal of money last year from writing a best selling book and did not apologize for the book selling well.

Overall, during the Town Hall Bernie was asked some fair questions not only from the Moderators but also from the Audience Members. Bernie did not duck any questions and in my opinion he did a great job in answering every question he was asked in a truthful and honest manner. He was animated when he explained why he was running against Donald Trump, who Bernie identified as a "Pathological Liar."

Many in the Democratic Party, including myself, view Fox News as a Right Wing Media Arm of the Republican Party and Donald Trump. I am sure that Bernie Sanders believed that prior to the Fox Town Hall. But Fox News, for all their obvious fawning over Donald Trump, treated Bernie Sanders Fairly and Respectfully during the Town Hall.

During the Fox News Town Hall question and answer session with Bernie Sanders I couldn't help but think about how many other Americans who only watch Fox News for their political information and have heard about the terrible "Democratic Socialist" named Bernie Sanders might be willing to consider the fact that Socialist Bernie might not be as bad as Fox News and Communist Donald have made him out to be.

In agreeing to participate in the Bethlehem Town Hall Bernie might have sent an important message to Democrats, including Democratic Candidates, as well as Democratic Party Officials. That message might be construed as the following:

Hey Democrats. I know you don't like Fox News. But think about the fact that this news channel might just be changing enough for Democrats to begin using it to press their message to those who voted Donald Trump into the White House. Certainly not every Trump voter is still a Trump fan at this point in time. Bernie Sanders is right. Donald Trump is a "Pathological Liar" who cannot be trusted to run our country. Every day he does more to weaken and embarrass our country. Let's be willing to follow Bernie Sanders and give Fox News the benefit of the doubt and participate in Town Halls and Debates of Fox News with our eyes wide open to the fact that Bernie's successful Town Hall might have been a fluke. But then again we might find the Fox News viewers open to some new and highly improved Candidates for the Presidency of the United States.

I think Bernie Sanders has opened the door. Now, it remains to be seen if other Democratic Candidates will choose to walk through it.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 38

Wacky William And Dumb Donald

Together Again For The First Time

May 3rd, 2019

My Dear America:

Well, Donald Trump has done it to us again. At First Glance, William Barr seemed like, if nothing else, at least a reasonably good pick for Attorney General of the United States. Unlike many, if not most of Donald Trump's selections for his Cabinet positions, William Barr actually had some relevant experience for his appointment as Attorney General. Not only was he a Lawyer but he even had prior experience as the United States Attorney General.

Hold On, I thought, Could Donald Trump have finally picked someone qualified for his job in his increasingly Corrupt Administration.

I made it a point to get up early on the day that Barr was questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee and found his testimony to be somewhat reassuring, considering the fact that Barr was being appointed to the Attorney Generals position by Donald Trump. What I found to be especially reassuring was the fact that when Barr was questioned about his relationship with Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, Barr stated that he and Mueller and their wives were all good friends and had often spent what sounded like quality time together. Surely William Barr was a man of honor with a solid legal reputation and would help and assist Bob Mueller in his investigation of Donald Trump's Campaign ties to the Russians and Trump's Obstruction of Justice.

Well, unlike the Who's anthem, "We Won't Get Fooled Again," we have been fooled once again by Donald Trump. Is it any surprise that we have once again been bamboozled by Donald Trump. But by this time I guess we should be getting used to it.

I keep waking up every day hoping that this will be the day when Donald Trump suddenly becomes a decent, law abiding statesman who children can look up to and a man we can all be proud of. Then I turn on the television and find out what is the latest Donald Trump Outrage and the daily nightmare continues.

Although I rarely watch television when Omarosa is on, I had the TV on this past Sunday when she was being interviewed on MSNBC. At one point in the interview Omarosa started talking about something that I found to be very interesting and relevant to what has been happening since Trump took over the White House in January of 2017.

Omarosa stated that she was aware of the fact that Donald Trump, with the help of Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller had put together a list of incredibly outrageous things that Donald Trump could say or do when Trump wanted to distract the news media (Sometimes called the "Enemies of the people") and change the conversation in the media. In other words if a news story was breaking that Trump did not want to be covered as the lead story of the day, Trump brought out his list of Outrages and proceeded to do or say something Outrageous enough to refocus the news on what Trump wanted us to hear and see.

While Omarosa is not a person who I look to as a purveyor of Great Wisdom, I have to admit that looking back, not only on Trump's White House years but also on his Campaign for President, Omarosa's revelations seem to make sense.

Sometimes watching Donald Trump stumbling over his words it is easy to dismiss him as a Stupid Fool. While Donald Trump will never be known as a scholarly man of letters and often times does and says stupid and foolish things he is also sometimes a very shrewd and masterful politician and when he wants to be he can be and is a Master of Distraction and a clever molder of public opinion. We consider him only to be stupid at our own risk.

Take Attorney General Barr, for instance. Donald Trump pulled a fast one on us. Barr had already revealed prior to his nomination by Trump that he did not feel that Trump could be found guilty of Obstruction of Justice. If we had only all read his letter to the President expressing how he felt about how Trump could not be found guilty of Obstruction or anything else while he was president, we would have known that Barr was already in Trump's pocket even prior to Barr's Nomination for Attorney General. Should we be surprised that William Barr has gone to great lengths to protect the President.

No. Not Really.

At this point in time it is clear that William Barr is one more Trump Lawyer protecting him. The Attorney General should be someone who is looking out for all of us. In Barr's case that is not going to happen. Whatever honor Barr had in his previous legal life, that is gone now and William Barr is one more Swamp Creature under Donald Trump's control.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 39

To Be Or Not To Be On Fox News

That Is The Question

May 20th, 2019

My Dear America:

Maybe with everything else that is going on in America right now, whether Democratic Candidates for President appear on Fox News or not might seem like a minor problem. In contrast to a Woman's right to choose what happens to their bodies when they get pregnant, yes, it is a minor problem.

I certainly agree with Candidate Elizabeth Warren's extremely negative assessment of Fox News and I think she has every right to turn down possible Town Halls and Interviews on Fox News. Fox News is nothing more than a megaphone for the disgusting, unending lies and distortions of the truth by Donald Trump. That is true.

I applaud Senator Warren's choice to refuse to appear on Fox News. I don't blame her for her choice.

On the other hand, it cannot be dismissed that many members of Donald Trump's fan base watch Fox News exclusively. What Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic Presidential Candidates need to think about is what happens when those exclusively Fox Watchers and Trump Voters don't get the Democratic message because it never appears on Fox.

Senator Bernie Sanders and Mayor Pete Buttigieg have already appeared at Town Halls on Fox News. Both of these Candidates had to come away from their respective Town Halls with good feelings about how the Town Halls went. I saw Bernie's Town Hall and he clearly did a great job in his Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Town Hall. Although his Fox Hosts, Bret Bair and Martha McCallum tried to put Bernie on the defensive, Bernie's overall acceptance by the Town Hall audience was very positive. Although I have not actually seen Mayor Pete's Town Hall what snippets I have seen show a skilled young politician doing well with a Fox selected crowd.

I think that each Democratic Candidate for President needs to make their own choice about whether or not they choose to appear on Fox, or not.

They can, like Senator Warren refuse to appear on Fox News because they consider it a tainted network. If they refuse, however, they may be making a serious mistake in that, like it or not, Fox viewers vote in strong numbers.

I think that any Candidate refusing to accept appearing on Fox News is hurting their candidacy by writing off Fox Viewers, which may, in the end prove to be the kind of viewers and voters who might be able to swing the 2020 Presidential race in favor of the Democrats.

Finally and perhaps most important, is the fact that in both Bernie's and Mayor Pete's Town Halls one of the results of the Fox News appearances were Tweetstorms by Donald Trump showing that he had watched the Town Halls and was angry that both Bernie and Mayor Pete had good showings on what Donald Trump considers his personal network.

Regardless of what they decide about appearing on Fox News I think Democrats probably need to think about reaching as many voters as they can by TV or Personal Appearances, Debates, Whatever.

Donald Trump won is 2016 by saturating the airwaves with himself in any way possible.

Democrats would do well to learn from Donald Trump's lesson on PR and use it to their advantage in 2019 and 2020 to win the White House.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 40

Lets Go Joe – To Pennsylvania, Wisconsin,

Michigan and Ohio

May 23rd, 2019

My Dear America:

Joe Biden has been leading the ever expanding pack of Democrats vying for their Party's Nomination for President since before the first of many Democratic Candidates announced. Bernie Sanders has also been a friendly contender of Joes in the race for the White House. Bernie, like most of the Democratic Presidential Hopefuls has only had nice things to say about Joe Biden. I believe that this will continue to be the case.

Bernie ran a Campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2016 that certainly emphasized their policy differences but Bernie, to his credit, never made any personal attacks on Mrs. Clinton and at the Democratic Convention did everything he could to encourage his supporters to support Hillary in the final months of the 2016 Election Campaign., including Campaigning for and with Hillary.

Although I have been personally concerned for awhile about the large numbers of Democrats competing for their party's Nomination, It has become clear to me that far from being a negative aspect of the 2020 Presidential Campaign, the high quality of the Candidates will help to press home the Democratic message to Americans all over the country.

As long as the Candidates continue to run high quality, non backbiting Campaigns which can and will end in November of next year with a United Democratic Party, we can all hope to see the end of the reign of King Donald in January of 2021.

There are many fine Democratic Candidates for President presently running for their party's Presidential Nomination. Only one will win, and it increasingly looks as though that one will probably be Joe Biden.

Although Joe has thrown his hat in the ring some time prior to last Saturday, May 18th, Joe B. had a large rally in Philadelphia this past Sunday announcing that he was in the race for good and was looking forward to advocating the concept of Unity In America as the cornerstone of his Campaign for President, in direct opposition to King Donald and his Campaign to divide and conquer the American Electorate in 2020.

I was very pleased to see my daughter's pictures on Facebook of the Biden Rally and I am very proud of her attending the Rally. My wife and I watched the Biden Rally on Television and were pleased to see it featured on CNN and C Span, although the poor sound quality made it difficult to hear everything that Joe B. was saying to his large Philadelphia crowd. Joe's wife, Jill Biden, introduced Joe to the crowd and was clearly up to the task of introducing her husband. She was gracious and articulate and strikingly attractive. Joe was also up to the task of giving a Great Campaign Kickoff Speech, as well.

Although I feel rather badly about all of the high quality Presidential Contenders who are going to be spending a lot of money and time promoting themselves and not winning the nomination for President, I think we Democrats are lucky to have so many top shelf individuals willing to put themselves forth in an effort to eventually lead our Country. However, in the race for the American Presidency there can only be one winner at a time.

Policy wise I find myself in total agreement and in true admiration of Candidate Bernie Sanders. I feel, however, that even at this point in time it is so important for Democrats not to blow this next Presidential Election that I must say that although my heart belongs to Bernie, my vote next year will belong to Biden.

There are many reasons that I will be supporting Joe Biden for President in 2020.

One reason is that, like Joe Biden, I spent my early years in Scranton, Pennsylvania after being born in the same year as Biden. I left Scranton a little later than Biden but like Biden, Scranton will always be my Hometown, despite the fact that I have not lived there for more than fifty years. I also love the state of Delaware, in particular the Rehoboth Beach area where my Wife and I have vacationed many times.

Another reason that I will be voting for Joe Biden is the fact that he was in Congress for a long time and always had a reputation for not only being a Nice Guy, but also being a Smart Guy. I still remember Joe Biden advocating before the Iraq War a policy of partitioning the country and giving certain ethnic groups their own portion of the Country to live in. After the disastrous Iraq War in which countless lives were lost, the end result of the war was a policy that partitioned off the Country of Iraq, just as Joe Biden had suggested years before.

Joe Biden was also a very successful Vice President, many times using his charm and his contacts to help President Barack Obama smooth out matters of policy with Congressional Leaders, as well as individual Senators and Members of Congress, when the going got tough for the Obama Administration. Joe Biden was always a valuable member of the Obama Team and a man who was also a true friend, as well as Vice President to Barack Obama.

Certainly a politician who has been in office for as long as Joe Biden, has some problem areas to address.

Biden seems to be at least trying to apologize and make up for the fact that Anita Hill has called into question Biden's leadership in the disastrous Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing regarding Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas. Biden, who was the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, did allow some of his Colleagues on that Committee to rake Anita Hill over the coals.

Biden also found himself embroiled in a scandal years ago for plagiarizing a document or a speech. This scandal ended up knocking Joe out of the race for the Presidency in some bygone era. One commentator called the scandal "Quaint" in comparison to Donald Trump's many more serious scandals.

These days Joe Biden has been identified as a "hair sniffer and hair kisser" by a couple of women, while several women friends of Biden have discounted this as his long time "touchy feely" friendly attitude which they feel is harmless.

Unlike Donald Trump, who never apologizes, Joe Biden has apologized and has pledged to be more careful in the era of the Me Too Movement. This also seems to be "Quaint" in comparison with Donald Trump who has been identified as a Serial Sexual Predator by many women and who admitted to grabbing women by the "Pussy" in the Access Hollywood Tape.

It seems that some people are also getting on board with a story about Biden's son making investments in the Ukraine. While I don't know much about this story I doubt whether Biden's son is meeting with Representatives of Vladimir Putin to get dirt on Donald Trump. Unless Joe Biden is proved to be the one involved with Ukraine I don't trust that scandal and I think it will pale in comparison with Trump's many and more serious scandals.

Right now I am getting on the Biden Election Train and I am encouraged by recent polls showing that if the election was being held today that Biden would beat Trump in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, among many other important states.

I don't see the prospect of other Democratic Candidates for President leaving the Campaign Trail for good any time soon. I certainly hope that Democrats keep in mind just how important it is to stay united in 2020 and whoever wins the nomination all other Candidates should pledge their strong support for the winner of the 2020 Democratic Nomination for President.

Right now all I can say is Go Joe Biden. I'm in your corner.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 41

Why Donald Trump Needs To Be Impeached

June 3rd, 2019

My Dear America:

You may recall that back in the day when Tricky Dick Nixon was in the White House I communicated with you back then about Nixon's pending Impeachment. Thank God Nixon resigned before he put us through the entire Impeachment process. He had taken us all on a bad ride through Vietnam and Watergate but he had the good sense to get the hell out of the White House before the Final Impeachment Hammer came down on him and he spared us and himself more Political Darkness than we had seen in quite some time.

We also communicated during the era of Bill Clinton, when after an expensive and unjustified hounding of President Clinton by the Republicans in Congress and their attack dog, "Judge Ken Starr," The Republicans came up short in their investigation of "Whitewater."

"Whitewater" ruined the lives of Clinton Friends, Jim and Susan McDougall. "Whitewater" was a land deal gone bad that Bill and Hillary Clinton had not even invested their own money in. Jim McDougall, I'm sure thought he was doing Bill and Hillary a favor in giving them a share of the Whitewater project. Although it was certainly not McDougall's intention to harm the Clintons or himself and his wife, that was unfortunately what happened as a result of Whitewater.

Jim McDougall tried to hold onto his self respect but eventually had to invent a scenario in which the Clintons were voluntarily financially involved in Whitewater, which was not true. As a result of this assault by Starr and his Right Hand Henchman, Brett Kavnaugh (Now Supreme Court Justice, Brett Kavanaugh) Jim McDougall's life was never the same. McDougall's wife, Susan McDougall, another close friend of the Clintons, who knew virtually nothing about Whitewater other than the Clintons were innocent of wrongdoing, was sent to prison thanks to Starr and Kavanaugh, because she refused to invent lies about the Clintons for the Starr Impeachment Machine. To her credit Susan McDougall not only went to jail but she taught other inmates in prison and when she was finally released she became an advocate for Prison Reform.

In the end Bill Clinton was impeached because he lied under oath about an affair he had with a White House Intern named Monica Lewinsky, whose life was also ruined by Ken Starr due to her involvement with Bill Clinton.

Certainly Richard Nixon's criminal behavior deserved Impeachment and Tricky Dick deserved to be thrown out of office. Gerald Ford, Nixon's Presidential successor, after Nixon's resignation gave Nixon a full pardon for all his White House Sins. Ford insisted that the only reason he did it was for the country to put Watergate behind us and to take the country forward. Ford's Pardon of Nixon did what Ford intended it to do but when Gerald Ford ran for President in his next election he lost to Democrat, Jimmy Carter. It is hard to believe that Ford's Pardon of Nixon didn't have anything to do with Ford's Presidential defeat.

Bill Clinton, on the other hand did not even deserve to be investigated by the Incredibly Partisan Republican Special Counsel, Ken Starr. Clinton was impeached by the Partisan Republican House of Representatives for lying about an affair he was having with a consenting adult. Did that have anything to do with his job? Probably not. Should he have been impeached for this? Probably not. Clinton's Impeachment in the House did not result in a conviction in the Senate, Thank God. Bill Clinton continued to be the President of the United States and ended up finishing out his Second Term with no more serious efforts to impeach him.

What I believe is an interesting sidelight to Clinton's Impeachment is that Hustler Magazine Publisher, Larry Flynt, offered a substantial monetary reward for anyone who could prove that the same Republican Legislators who were castigating Clinton for the crime of cheating on his Wife were doing the same thing. The result of Larry Flynt's challenge was that an astonishing number of Republican Hypocrite Legislators were also exposed to be cheating on their own spouses while accusing Bill Clinton of Criminal Cheating Behavior.

What does all this have to do with what is happening in 2019 with Donald Trump? It has a great deal to do with Donald Trump and the precedents that have been set in the past regarding that dirty disgusting word, Impeachment.

One would have to be either mentally deficient or a Fox News Watcher, or both, to think that Donald Trump has not committed "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" while in the office of the President of the United States.

Certainly we did not need Robert Mueller to tell us that Donald Trump has been guilty of crimes including "Obstruction of Justice" and Treason, among others. Anyone who has been watching Television (other than Fox News) and reading Print News during Donald Trump's Presidency has been witnessing, sometimes as it is happening, Donald Trump blatantly and arrogantly committing crimes right in front of us.

Let's take the issue of the firing of FBI Director, James Comey. How is it not Obstruction of Justice when the President of the United States goes on Television in an interview with NBC Anchor, Lester Holt, shortly after firing Comey and states publicly that the main reason that he fired Comey was the Russia Investigation. Just a short time after Comey's firing Trump was meeting with high level Russian Officials (One of whom was a high level Russian intelligence Official) and telling them that Comey's firing would stop the Russian Investigation

Comey's firing did not stop the Russia Investigation (Which Donald Trump continues to call "A Hoax" and "A Witch Hunt")

What we have now is a standoff in which Donald Trump is refusing to cooperate with Congress seemingly in any way.

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has tried valiantly to stem the tide of Impeachment. Certainly Impeachment is not a good prospect for anyone in the House or Senate. Quite likely, there is more than enough evidence for articles of Impeachment to be passed in the House of Representatives. It is unlikely that Trump would be convicted by the Senate based on the fact that although it is well known that many Republican Senators and Congresspersons hate Trump, only one Congressman, Jason Amosh, has had the courage of his convictions and after reading the Mueller Report has called for Trump's Impeachment.

More and more members of Congress, especially those who have read the Mueller Report, are lining up to support Impeachment Proceedings to target Donald Trump. There are more and more reasons each day for the Impeachment of Donald Trump.

Unlike Trump's promise to "Drain the Swamp" what he has done instead is to bit by bit replace capable people in his cabinet like General Mattis with Swamp Creatures with little or no ethical standards at all, like Steve Mnuchin. Allegience to Trump is all that matters to Donald Trump. Does that have a Nazi ring to anyone else? It surely does to me.

Donald Trump may not be a Dictator yet but he is certainly trying to be and quite frankly the Republican Party members standing on the sidelines either don't realize the seriousness of Trump's Dictatorial Ambitions or they just don't care. As time marches on maybe the Republicans who allow Donald Trump to exercise his crazed tendencies will don the Swastika Patches and Klan Robes or maybe as we inch closer and closer to the end of Democracy in America some other Republicans with some ethical tendencies will wake up and come forth to save our system of life before Trump completes his assault on you, America.

I personally think that if Donald Trump is not Impeached by our Congress now or in the near future, we are setting up a precedent that will never allow us to Impeach another President, no matter how inept, unethical or lawbreaking they may be.

If not Donald Trump, Who?

If not now, When?

I as an American Citizen call on the Congress of the United States to do the right thing. IMPEACH. I realize Mrs. Pelosi, that it may not be the best thing for the Democratic Party and that it may, in the end, backfire and keep Donald Trump in office for another term. That is not a positive prospect for our country.

But if we don't impeach someone who flaunts the law and disrespects the Constitution as much as Donald Trump, how can we protect the American System from becoming a Dictatorship not only now but also in the future.

We are truly up Shits Creek and our only paddle is for the United States Congress (Primarily the House of Representatives) to do their jobs.

In the case of Richard Nixon, although a great deal of information was uncovered by the bipartisan Senate Watergate Committee and the Watergate Special Prosecutors Offices, it was only when Republican Icon Barry Goldwater and other Republican Senators with love of the Constitution in their hearts went to the White House and told President Richard Nixon "Times Up" that Nixon accepted the fact that Articles of Impeachment were being prepared and voted on in the House and that it was time to face the fact that he was through and that his best bet was to resign.

It is unlikely that an increasingly Arrogant Narcissist like Donald Trump will resign unless he feels that he has no choice but to do so. Although the prospect of Mike Pence in the Oval Office is not a good one, it is increasingly better than Donald Trump being allowed to conduct his Treasonous affairs with his Killer Dictator Friends.

We are no longer waiting for the Mueller Report to be released. Redacted of not, the Mueller Report makes it clear that Donald Trump committed crimes while in office and is more than likely committing more crimes today and every day.

It is way past time to be outraged. It is time for Congress to get on board the Impeachment Train and put Republicans on notice that when the Impeachment votes are tallied it might be a good idea for them to be on the right side of history, for a change.

IMPEACHMENT NOW

Not Tomorrow. Not Next Week. Let's Get To It.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 42

Message To 2020 Candidates For President

Joe Biden Is Not A Racist

June 21st, 2019

My Dear America:

Barack Obama warned us that with 20 plus Candidates vying for becoming the Democratic Party's Nominee for President in 2020 that the Candidates needed to be careful not to circle the wagons and start shooting inward to wound other Candidates. In other words Former President Obama warned the Presidential Candidates to avoid forming a "Circular Firing Squad."

As usual our Former President was correct in his examination of the situation.

The Democratic Candidates do seem to be circling the wagons and shooting inward with guns and arrows aimed at each other. For the most part, up to now Dems seem to have been aiming most of their criticism at Donald Trump, rather than at each other.

That seems to have changed within the past few days, however. The minor league candidates who will be debating each other next Wednesday and Thursday on NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo seem to be mostly united presently in their criticism of Former Senator and Former Vice President and Current Front Runner in the Democratic Race for President, Joe Biden.

Awhile back Biden seemed to have a few rough days due to an accusation by a Southwestern female politician that Joe Biden made her feel uncomfortable by putting his hands on her shoulders and sniffing her hair in a public setting. In a different world which didn't include Donald Trump and the "Me Too" Movement, this story would never have hit the airwaves. It did hit the airwaves, however, and after Joe Biden's apology to the female politician the story seemed to fizzle out, as it should have.

Joe B. also apologized to Anita Hill for his conduct in the Senate Judiciary Confirmation Hearings for Clarence Thomas. Joe Biden was the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman when Ms. Hill reluctantly testified to the Committee regarding Present Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's obvious sexual harassment of Anita Hill when they were working together. Although Biden did not treat Ms. Hill with disrespect, himself, he did not protect her from others on the Committee, primarily Republicans like Arlen Specter, from disrespecting her and attempting to assassinate her character. While Ms. Hill did acknowledge Biden's apology, she made it clear that she was not yet aboard the Biden Train.

Despite some minor pot shots at Biden over the last several weeks mostly Joe Biden has been trying to stay out of the line of fire and, for the most part, he has done so. Over the past couple of days, however, Joe B. has taken some significant criticism from some of his Democratic rivals.

The main concern on the part of the other Democratic Presidential Candidates seem to be the fact that in Joe Biden's quest for the Democratic Party and unity in America, he cited the fact that despite Biden's political and personal differences and disagreements with his fellow Senators, including some Senators who were obvious bigots and racists, Biden was able to communicate with them and work positively with them in many instances.

Certainly it is a different time and a different world we are living in today. Except for Donald Trump, no politician would blatantly support racism in America. At least that is the case for the Democratic Party. Democrats should not and do not support Racism in today's society.

What bothers me at the present time just a few days before the first major Democratic Debate is that many of the Democrats running for President have piled onto Joe Biden as if he has admitted to being a racist himself. His long public record shows that Joe Biden is not and has never been a racist.

Clearly, Joe Biden, after decades of being a legislator and a politician has made mistakes. If you look hard enough into any politician's or person's background you are bound to find mistakes and wrong decisions. Regarding Joe Biden's claiming credit for working across the aisle with Republicans that is a proven fact.

Did Joe Biden work with Racist Colleagues in the Senate.

Yes, he did.

Did he subscribe to the Racist views of his colleagues.

No, he certainly did not.

We are at a crisis point in our election process. What is obviously shown by recent polls, even those conducted by Fox News, is that several Democrats running for President would have a decent chance to win over Donald Trump in 2020.

Those polls also show that hands down the Democrat with the best chance to win against Trump is Joe Biden.

In my opinion it is time for those peripheral Candidates who are unlikely to win the Democratic Nomination for President to start dropping out and throwing their support to Joe Biden.

Presently polling is showing Biden way out in front in Democratic Voters preference for the race in 2020.

The last thing that the Democratic Party needs as they get ready to face Donald Trump in 2020 is a divided Democratic Party.

We need to learn our lessons from 2016 and from many other lost elections. As much as I respected and still respect Bernie Sanders and his reasons for running in 2016, it is time for him and for the others to get out of the way and get on board the Biden Train.

If Joe Biden is the undisputed Democratic Candidate for President in 2020 in an undivided and highly strengthened Democratic Party we have a strong chance to take back Democracy before Donald Trump claims a throne in the White House and refuses to ever leave.

Clearly not only politics but Democracy is on the line in 2020. It will be a serious and possibly a fatal mistake for our Democratic Candidates to tear Joe Biden apart with bullshit charges like a group of sharks tearing apart a whale and leaving Biden bleeding, battered and unsuccessful in what could have been a brave rescue of Democracy in America.

I find the current group of Democratic Candidates to be an outstanding group of Democratic leaders. In a time when the future and Democracy wasn't so undeniably at stake I could see myself holding out to see which of these outstanding Candidates might win the debates and the primary elections in order to get to the Presidential Election.

This time around, however, I find it to be imperative that the Democrats stop tearing at each other and in particular, Joe Biden.

It is clear to me that Joe Biden is going to be the nominee of the Democratic Party for President in 2020.

What is not clear to me is what shape Joe Biden and his Candidacy will be in when Americans show up to vote in November of 2020.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 43

Chicken Hawks Playing Nuclear Chicken With Iran

What Could Possibly Go Wrong

June 25th, 2019

My Dear America:

Clearly Donald Trump sees himself as some kind of a Hero for not bombing Iran in recent days.

He has spelled out this scenario whereby after an unmanned drone was blown out of the sky by Iran that American Generals were getting ready to inflict some serious damage on Iran. According to Trump the Generals came to Trump for his "Okay" for action to be taken against Iran. Trump claims that when he asked his Generals how many Iranian lives would be lost as a result of the pending action against Iran he was advised that as many as 150 Iranians might lose their lives as a result of America's response to the destruction of the American Drone.

Trump states that his decision was that killing 150 Iranians in response to the downing of the unmanned Drone did not make sense to him and he scrapped the plan to respond to Iran violently.

First of all, I want to join others including retired CIA Chief, John Brennan in praising the fact that Donald Trump has finally done the right thing in not starting a reckless war with Iran.

That being said, however, there are some serious problems with Donald Trump's Presidential Hero Story.

First of all, Donald Trump and America would not have been in this situation if Trump had not made some awful decisions prior to this latest incident.

Trump would likely not have put our country at risk if he had not foolishly pulled the United States out of the Nuclear Deal with Iran that was intelligently and diligently negotiated by members of Barack Obama's team. Trump stupidly pulled the U.S. out of a deal in which Iran had agreed to and from all accounts was living up to in which they had agreed not to develop nuclear weapons for a period of 10 years. Trump trashed the deal as being a bad deal for America but never pointed out what was bad about it. Clearly what was bad about it in Trump's eyes was that it was negotiated by the Obama Team.

Any Idiot could see that having a Nuclear Agreement, even though it had flaws, was better than not having a Nuclear Agreement with Iran. Well, apparently one Idiot could not see that.

Also, although Donald Trump has not been known for picking the best people for his Administration the White House picking Chicken Hawk, John Bolton to replace General H.R. McMaster as National Security Adviser was clearly a disaster in the making. Bolton, who famously bragged that he joined the National Guard to avoid winding up dead in a rice paddy in Vietnam never saw action outside of the United States.

Yet Bolton, who refused to put himself on the firing line seemed to have no problems with putting other Americans in harms way in Iraq while a member of the Bush Administration.

Anyone listening to John Bolton in his frequent commentaries on Fox News was aware of his leaning toward war with Iran. Why Trump chose Bolton to be his National Security Advisor is anyone's guess.

During Trump's Campaign for the Presidency he railed over and over against the Iraq War and promised never to make the same mistake George W. Bush made. So if Trump did not want to start any more wars in the middle east why would he hire John Bolton, who was well known to be one of the Chief Architects and Cheerleaders for the Iraq War and chomping at the bit to start a war with Iran.

We have seen in recent months a coordinated effort by both John Bolton and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, in a coordinated drumbeat of fear and loathing toward Iran.

Trump hired both of these Certified Warmongers and now Trump seems to be dumbfounded (Emphasis on Dumb) by how close to war we seem to be with Iran. Clearly if Iran did not have Nuclear Missiles before, they will certainly be doing their best to develop them now.

After Trump and his Cronies continue to try to create reasons to go to war with Iran it is time for the House of Representatives to let Trump and Company know that they need Congressional approval to go to war.

We seem to be getting closer and closer every day to a Dictatorship. We have a Democratically controlled House of Representatives. We need for them to do the right thing and Impeach Donald Trump before he does any more harm to our Democracy and our World than he already has done.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 44

Suffer The Little Children

In The Land Of Monsters On The Loose

July 4th, 2019

My Dear America:

What we are about to see today in America is an embarrassing portrait of the depths of despair that our country has sunk to under Donald Trump. While men, Women and Children are being held in cages and under inhuman conditions on the American Southern Border, Donald Trump will be leading a senseless parade of war weapons in Washington D.C and giving himself an opportunity to give a self aggrandizing speech.

Desperate Immigrants who have long heard the formerly true tales of a Good Life in America have traveled from the vilest of circumstances in their own South American Countries to a place that they had hoped would turn out to be their Promised Land.

Unfortunately what these desperate travelers have found is no longer the Promised Land that the United States used to be. The weary South Americans fleeing Monsters in their own countries have found on the Southern Border of the United States that the Promised Land is now a land of little or no promise. The U.S. is now one more Monster Driven Country with nearly every American Government Institution led by Gutless, Morally Bankrupt Individuals who Donald Trump has found by dragging the American Swamp and who seemingly have no consciences and no boundries that they are unwilling to cross.

We are truly living in astonishingly difficult times. As a person who worked with youngsters for nearly 40 years I find it difficult to even look on Television at what we Americans are doing with Immigrant Children, as well as Adults. I am 76 years old and in my recollection I can't recall any President, including Richard Nixon, who treated Immigrants in such a horrible manner as Donald Trump has.

Am I the only one who sees what is going on at the Southern Border as something akin to what the Nazis did to the Jews, the Gypsies, the Handicapped during the Second World War. How many children and adults have to die at the border before the rest of us do something about the Monster living in the White House.

There are some positives that we can look to for hope in our future.

We do have a Democratically elected and run House of Representatives who are trying to do their jobs and investigate the President under very difficult, if not impossible, circumstances. In my opinion we should salute Congressman Jason Amash, who has chosen to leave the Republican Party rather than support a Monster in the White House. Good for you, Congressman Amash. Unfortunately, however, Jason Amash seems to be the only Republican in the House of Representatives with the guts to push back on Donald Trump's increasingly Dictatorial behavior.

We do have some very fine people who are running for President on the Democratic Party Ticket. I don't know if our country will be salvageable if we have to wait till 2020 to get rid of Donald Trump. And if Trump is defeated in 2020 will he be willing to voluntarily leave the White House. That is another question that we don't know the answer to.

We do have the prospect of upcoming testimony by Robert Mueller. But will Mueller's testimony change anything. Trump has literally gotten away with countless crimes so far and he is still in charge. He has packed the Supreme Court with Republican Cronies who may continue to save him from legitimate prosecution.

Certainly Impeachment proceedings should be going on soon and Republican Senators who have continually supported Trump's criminal behavior need to be voted out of office as soon as possible.

We can't continue to have a Madman and a Monster with his finger on the Nuclear Trigger and his foot on the throats of desperate immigrants.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 45

Say Goodbye To Democracy Americans

There's A New Hitler On The Loose In Our Country

July 17th, 2019

My Dear America:

By now, nothing new that Donald Trump does should shock us any more than everything else he has done for nearly the last three years.

Donald Trump has never been too hard to figure out. He has shown himself to be the Worst Possible President over and over again for the entire time he has been in office. He claims that he is not a racist but he locks up Latino Men, Women and Children at the border and seems to delight in the outrage that Democrats and other Normal Human Political Beings show toward this dehumanizing policy.

This past weekend Trump began a Twitter Tirade against "The Squad," a quartet of newly minted Women House of Representatives Members who have made it clear that Impeaching Donald Trump is high on their Congressional agenda, despite the fact that Impeachment does not seem to be on the agenda of Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

Trump told "The Squad" Congresswomen in his Tweets to go back where they came from. Where they came from is the United States. Three of the four are native born Citizens of the United States. One of them was born in Somalia but is also a Naturalized Citizen of the United States.

Although the American Media has been shown to be clearly on the side of "The Squad" it appears that recent polling shows that instead of Trump's support declining from his latest outrageous Tweeting, there are indications that his denigration of "The Squad" and his other outrageous border conduct has tended to increase his support among the American People.

Despite poll numbers, Trump's conduct continues to be deplorable, denigrating and disgusting, yet where is the outrage among Republicans. It almost doesn't exist.

I have tried hard during the course of my writing these chapters to be responsible and try to write postings that I would be OK with my Grandchildren reading.

But people we are currently up Shits Creek with very few paddles in sight. I have been continually amazed at Donald Trump's poll numbers. For a Criminal Traitor like Donald Trump to be rewarded by relatively high poll numbers as he continues to attempt to denigrate and destroy America, alarm bells should be going off all over the country.

I have lived in America long enough to know that what is happening today in this country has never happened before. We have certainly had Presidents that did try to get along with Dictators but we never had one who most certainly took his orders from a Russian Dictator. Not until Trump.

We have had Presidents who had their problems with the American Press but we never had a President in my lifetime, other than Richard Nixon, who designated the American Press as "Enemies of the People."

While the coverage of Trump's trashing The Squad was everywhere on the news Monday night I saw something on "The Rachel Maddow Show" that struck me as very strange. Rachel Maddow was also covering the Trump/Squad squabble herself. Indeed, she was interviewing one of the Squad members on her show Monday night. Prior to that interview, however, Rachel pointed out an issue of how Trump's attempt to trash the Congresswomen dominated the news so much that Television News, with the exception of her show, had made no mention of the fact that also happening on this past Monday as Trump's BS hit the fan, the second Mueller Related Trial of someone from Trump's Campaign, Bjan Kian, had begun in the Nation's Capital. Kian was a business partner of Trump's Disgraced National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn. Flynn and Kian were accused of being unregistered agents of foreign governments. (Namely Turkey)

So in Donald Trump's outrageous conduct regarding members of the Congressional "Squad," he completely distracted the American media from covering the beginning of a trial which Trump wanted to erase from media coverage. With the exception of Rachel Maddow and the Washington Post, that is exactly what he did.

It is easy to find denigrating epithets to hurl at Trump but he is clearly a Master of Distraction and he cleverly and effectively controls the media every day.

I know that it is too much to expect the American Media to ignore what he says and does every day but I think it would be a good idea to follow Rachel Maddow's lead and when Trump is Twitter Ranting about something, please check and see what other things are going on that the "Master Distracter" might be trying to keep off the Front Page of the Newspaper or the Evening Television News Programs.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 46

Donald Trump Crossing The Rubicon

Into The Land Of Impeachment

October 2nd, 2019

My Dear America:

It has finally happened, America. Donald Trump, your terribly flawed President, has finally done something so Foul, Stupid, Selfish and Anti-Democratic that it looks as though he is actually going to be called to account for his actions.

Although I am tempted to be jubilant as I watch the fall of Trump after nearly three years of terrible behavior, I know that to see you, America, taken so low by this Foolish, Self Centered Huckster is nothing to cheer about.

Besides, although Trump is now being placed aboard the Impeachment Train by Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Members of the House of Representatives, they appear not to be joined, at this point, by their Republican Colleagues.

What, indeed, has happened to the Republican Party? Why are they no longer the party insisting on Strong Democratic Behavior and Values. During the Obama Administration they seemed to never run out of complaints about Presidential behavior even though the Obama Administration was very nearly scandal free.

Republicans were willing to try to Impeach Bill Clinton for his consensual sexual relationship with White House Intern, Monica Lewinsky when all else failed in the Whitewater Investigation. One of the Chief Investigators in Whitewater, Brett Kavanaugh, was cleared by Senate Republicans of Sexual Assault claims against him and now sits on the Supreme Court as a continuing embarrassment for many years to come after his appointment by Donald Trump.

I have taken the time to read both The Whistleblower Complaint and the White House Transcript of the call between Ukraine President Zelensky and Donald Trump that is presently at issue. Both of these documents released by the Trump Administration are deeply disturbing and to my mind certainly show that the Impeachment of Donald Trump is appropriate and, to my mind, necessary.

Why did Trump allow these two documents to be released?

In my opinion I think that Donald Trump realized that the Zelensky Conversation was serious and possibly impeachable and that is why he and his White House Acolytes took the unusual step of immediately putting the transcript of Trump's conversation with Zelensky into a super secret National Security Computer System meant only for National Security information of major importance such as CIA Covert Actions.

The issue of the possible Whistleblower Complaint was revealed by several media outlets to be an issue of concern to the House Intelligence Committee chaired by California Democratic Congressman, Adam Schiff. The Whistleblower, who seems to have adhered to the letter of the Whistleblower Protection Law, first of all submitted their Complaint to the Inspector General of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Inspector General of the DNI Office then apparently submitted the Whistleblower's Complaint to the Newly Appointed Director of National Intelligence, who, not knowing what else to do, asked for guidance from the Trump White House Counsel and the Trump Justice Department. Director of National Intelligence Maguire was apparently not given permission by the White House or Justice Department to submit the Whistleblower's Complaint to the House Intelligence Committee, which was clearly required by the Whistleblower Protection Law.

More than likely the entire issue might have ended at this point had it not been for the Director of National Intelligence Office Inspector General who informed the House Intelligence Committee that he considered the issue that the Whistleblower reported to be an issue of urgency and extreme importance. The Inspector General of DNI advised the Intelligence Committee that he had been restricted from giving further information on the Whistleblower's Complaint to the Intelligence Committee by Director of National Intelligence Maguire.

The House Intelligence Committee quickly directed Director of National Intelligence Maguire to report to the Committee and testify within a matter of days. Some News reports indicated that DNI Maguire threatened to resign if he was forced to stonewall and give no information to the House Intelligence Committee regarding the Whistleblower Complaint.

DNI Maguire was raked over the coals by the Committee for his decision not to release the Whistleblower's Complaint to the Committee. Oddly enough, though, Director Maguire was not forced to resign because by the time he testified to the Intelligence Committee the Whistleblower's Complaint and the White House Transcript of the telephone conversation between the Presidents of the United States and Ukraine had already been released by the White House.

It seems to me as though the release of these documents by the White House was a calculated effort to avoid further investigation by the House Intelligence Committee. I believe that Trump felt that if he released the Telephone Transcript and the Whistleblower's Complaint that it might stir things up a bit but that after a few days or a week that the entire incident would blow over and be forgotten just like all of Trump's previous questionable actions seemed to have done up to this time.

Donald Trump was wrong, though. The Whistleblower's Complaint and the Transcript of the Trump/Zelensky phone call were extremely disturbing to House and Senate Democrats, as well as Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, Not to mention Television, Radio and Print Media Reporters, all of whom seemed to act like a bomb had gone off in the halls of Congress.

Indeed. A bomb had gone off in the halls of congress. There was no doubt about that. That bomb is still setting off explosions in the halls of Congress and everywhere else in the United States.

A sitting American President has proven by his own documents that he reached out to the duly elected leader of another country to request that leader to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and Biden's son, Hunter Biden, when Trump was well aware that Biden stood a good chance of becoming Trump's Democratic Party Rival in the Presidential Election of 2020.

Certainly the issue of discrediting Democratic Rival, Joe Biden is clearly an action worthy of Impeachment.

What is even more disturbing to me, however, is the fact that Donald Trump, as he was searching for incriminating evidence about his future 2020 Rival, was also improperly, if not illegally, holding up millions of dollars of aid that had been voted on by the House and Senate for the purpose of helping Ukraine to remain democratic and fend off the continuing threatening advances by Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's aggressive Russian neighbors.

Indeed, the funds to help Ukraine voted on by Congress were held up for months. In fact the funds would probably still be held up by Trump if it was not for the Whistleblower's Ukraine bombshell going off in the House Intelligence Committee.

It does not take much imagination to realize that it made little sense for Trump to hold up the Ukraine funds unless Trump was consciously aiding and abetting his buddy, Vladimir Putin in putting the finishing touches on his annexation efforts in Ukraine.

Certainly something went wrong in 2016 when the old and outdated Electoral College System gave us Donald Trump as our President. Trump has lied constantly throughout his multi year Reign of Terror. He has disrespected Congress, People who were not white, NATO and other long time allies. He has blatantly shown his admiration for Dictators such as Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Un, Erdagon in Turkey, and Muhammad Bin Salman in Saudi Arabia and of course Vladimir Putin in Russia.

America you do not need to put up with a Wannabe Dictator like Donald Trump. He has not ruined our Democracy as of yet but if he lasts much longer in the White House he could destroy all of us.

Let us hope that as the facts come out in the coming weeks and months about the sickening legacy of Donald Trump, that not only Democrats wake up and smell the Treason but Republicans do as well.

There is no other proper course of action at this time than to support the Impeachment of Donald Trump.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 47

Sellout:

Donald Trump's Betrayal of The Kurds In Syria

October 11th, 2019

My Dear America:

In the litany of Donald Trump's Notoriously Cruel and Shameless acts over the past nearly three years, we have seen on pretty much of a daily basis continuously New Lows in Trump's behaviors.

We have seen Donald Trump meeting with Russian High Level Well Known Diplomatic Spies in the White House a day after his firing of FBI Director, James Comey, and giving them top secret level information gathered from allies that truly endangered intelligence agents of an allied country. Although Trump barred American Journalists and Photographers from the meeting he allowed Russian Media to take pictures and was embarrassed and surprised when they released their chummy pictures of Donald and the Russians on the Internet. That meeting alone should have led to his Impeachment. But, of course, it didn't.

We have also seen Trump meeting with Russian President, Vladimir Putin on several occasions and taking Putin's denials of Russian meddling in the 2016 Election as gospel truth over the overwhelming evidence produced by American Intelligence Agencies showing that Putin was lying. Robert Mueller's Report listed many documented instances of Russian interference in the 2016 American Election on behalf of Donald Trump.

We have seen Trump defending White Supremacists in Charlotte, Locking up immigrant children at the southern border and more recently pressuring Ukraine's leader to produce non- existent evidence of Joe Biden's corruption in that country, while holding up money voted for by Congress and needed to fight Putin's forces on Ukraine's Eastern border. Luckily for us, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, finally got on board the Impeachment Train after this last incident.

One would think that after Trump's Cavalcade of Cruel and Impeachable Offenses that he might hopefully start trying to behave more like a human being, rather than a dangerous and bloodthirsty animal.

One would be wrong.

Following on the heels of the beginning of a serious Impeachment Inquiry regarding Trump he has shut down all semblance of cooperation with the Congress. Trump also did something that finally angered and hopefully activated his Republican backers in Congress to finally be forced to question Trump's judgment about something.

After a phone call with Turkish Leader Erdogan, who has been chomping at the bit like a mad dog for some time to cross the Turkish Border into Syria in an effort to wipe out the Kurdish Forces in Syria who were our allies in the fight against ISIS, Trump caved in to Erdogan like the bone spur coward he has always been. In a middle of the night Tweet Trump pulled out the 60 or so remaining American Soldiers in Syria and completely abandoned the Kurdish fighters who bravely bore the brunt of the fighting against ISIS and were, in fact, mainly responsible for an American victory over ISIS. The Kurds fought bravely against ISIS along with American forces for several years in order to destroy ISIS, in Iraq and later on in Syria.

Trump stupidly defended his betrayal of the Kurds on the fact that they had not fought on the same side as America in World War II. Of Course Trump's facts were wrong and his statement was false. Kurdish forces did fight bravely against the Nazi's in World War II. They fought just as bravely as they did alongside American Forces in the War against ISIS.

At least some of Trump's previously gutless Republican Senators and Congressmen have voiced opposition to Trump's abandonment of the Kurds but that doesn't seem to have mattered to Trump.

It is well known that Donald Trump is a man who demands complete loyalty to him from everyone around him. Unfortunately this incident is indicative of how little loyalty means when others expect loyalty from him.

This may or not be the most despicable thing Donald Trump has ever done. That distinction may be hard to recognize since he has done so many despicable things.

One thing for sure is that whenever America might need Allies to back them up in the future, Allies may be few and far between and extremely hard to find.

I hope that the result of this latest Donald Trump Outrage is that Republicans, particularly in the Senate, might start to wake up to reality when it comes to what kind of a world we are going to be living in if Donald Trump remains in office .

On behalf of myself and I hope many Americans who feel as I do, I want to thank our Kurdish Allies who helped us to defeat ISIS. America and the world owe you a debt of gratitude. I hope that we can help you just as much as you helped us once we get rid of Donald Trump. You didn't deserve to be abandoned without any warning by the Cowardly and ungrateful President of the United States.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 48

A Fond Farewell To Congressman Elijah Cummings

October 29th, 2019

My Dear America:

It is easy in the chaos of Trumpworld to look askance at all politicians and view them all with disdain and disrespect like our President, Donald Trump does to anyone who dares to disagree with him.

Clearly not all politicians are worthy of respect. But Baltimore's United States Representative, Elijah Cummings, was a man who was genuinely a good man and respected by almost all of his Colleagues including not only Democrats but Republicans, as well.

Of Course Donald Trump had no use for Representative Cummings and trashed not only the Congressman himself, who was the Chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee but Trump also trashed the City of Baltimore, Maryland (Congressman Cumming's Home District) terming it "Rat Infested," among other slurs. It was a disrespect that hurt Elijah Cummings deeply his widow revealed at his funeral last Friday.

As was evidenced by Congressman Cummings' personal Oversight and Reform Committee questioning of Trump's longtime Fixer, Michael Cohen, the Congressman was unwilling to trash Cohen's reputation any more than Donald Trump and Cohen, himself had done.

I watched the House Committee questioning of Cohen and was impressed by Congressman Cummings empathetic treatment of Cohen, who was on his way to jail for something he had done for Trump. Namely, paying off Trump's Pornstar Mistress, Stormy Daniels. Cummings clearly saw the same thing in Michael Cohen that I saw.

Michael Cohen was a man who was willing and almost anxious to go to prison to free himself from the shame of being "Willing to take a bullet" for Donald Trump. Cummings could see, as I did, that Cohen was truly sorry for what he had done for Trump and was even willing to go to prison in order to erase the STINK of Donald Trump on Cohen's life. Congressman Cummings was willing to give Michael Cohen some serious credit for coming forward to tell his Committee and the Nation the truth about Donald Trump.

Although Donald Trump had little use for Elijah Cummings, clearly his Congressional Colleagues had Great Respect for Cummings. Nancy Pelosi not only showed up and spoke at Cummings' Funeral, she also made sure that her Baltimore Colleague was given the honor of becoming the First African American Legislator to lie in state at the Nation's Capital, prior to his funeral.

Although Donald Trump did not show up at Cummings' Funeral, Elijah had a host of other Republicans including Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, two of the more right wing characters on the Oversight Committee. But on this Funeral Day these two Trump Republican Hatchet Men put down their hatchets to honor their Baltimore Friend and Committee Chairman.

The Funeral Service was a virtual "Who's Who" of Democratic All Stars including 2020 Democratic Party Presidential Candidates, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren. Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi all gave stirring tributes to Elijah Cummings as did Elijah's wife and children.

All in all it was a first Rate Sendoff to a First Rate Legislator and a man who was highly deserving of the Extraordinary Tributes he received at his Funeral Celebration.

Elijah Cummings will be missed by many, if not all, of his Colleagues. He was truly one of a kind and will not be easy to replace in this Difficult Political Climate.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 49

Revenge Of The Trump Republican

Insane Clown Posse

October 31st, 2019

My Dear America:

A few days ago I had a very disturbing conversation with someone I had considered to be a friend. My friend, it seems, ascribes to most of the principles of the new and Reckless Branch of the Republican Party that I call The Trump Republican Insane Clown Posse.

My friend's conversation revealed, among other things, that he has no use for Blacks or Arabs. He is OK with the Jews as long as Netanyahu remains the Prime Minister of Israel. He hates Barack Obama, who he thinks never should have been elected President. He thinks that no black person should have been elected President and that no black person should ever become President of the United States of America ever again. He likes Putin and thinks that Donald Trump is smart to remain buddies with him.

He does hate THE WALL, though but only because it is going to be so expensive.

Suffice it to say that I was taken back by my friend's revelations. I can't say I was totally surprised that he remains a supporter of Donald Trump. I knew that he had voted for Trump in 2016 but I had truly hoped that he had come to his senses by now rather than gone round the bend.

I had little to say to my friend about his revelations. The few things I did say to him seemed to be falling on deaf ears. That seems to happen with Trump Voters. With Trump Voters all the rules of Civilized Society seem to go out the window quickly.

Donald Trump's Republican Insane Clown Posse Members don't care that Trump:

Paid off a Porn Star to win an election.

That he threw people who were close to him or members of his Campaign and/or his Administration under the bus whenever he felt it was an advantage to him. There always seems to have been someone other than himself to blame for everything that went wrong when the going got tough for Donald Trump.

That he virtually led many of the Kurds who helped America defeat ISIS to their deaths in Syria as he opened the door to Turkey and Russia to come in and slaughter them.

That he lies every time he opens his mouth.

That he disrespects our actual Allies and seems to love the most Despicable Dictators in the World.

What the hell is wrong with these Insane Clown Posse Members. They seem to have changed like Invasion of the Body Snatchers Pod People from Truly Conservative Russian Hating Patriots into Putin Puppets like the leader of their Organization.

Where the hell are the Barry Goldwaters, The William F. Buckleys, The John McCains in the present day Republican Party. Where are the Commie Haters and Dictater Haters in the present day Trump Republican Insane Clown Posse.

Today we have people like Republican House Member "Mad Matt" Gaitz leading his followers into what are supposed to be secure Impeachment Hearings in which most of the Gaitz followers are actually members of the Committees they are breaking into.

We also have Senator Lindsey Graham kissing up to Donald Trump at every turn and a Senate full of Trump followers who seem ready and willing to follow the leader into whatever disgusting cesspool he is aiming this country.

Sound the alarm, people. We are heading for the end of Democracy in America if we don't get rid of Trump.

I am getting ready to do whatever I can next year to elect a Democrat for President in 2020. Although I like Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren if another Democrat ends up as the front runner and the eventual nominee of the Democratic Party, I will gladly support their Campaign for the Presidency against Donald Trump.

Any one of the Democrats who have stood on the 2019 Campaign Debate Stages so far would be a hundred times better President than Donald Trump, the Criminal Leader of the Trump Republican Insane Clown Posse.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 50

Five Days That Shook The World

November 10th, 2019

My Dear America:

Thirty Years Ago something extraordinary happened to me that not only changed my life but also changed your life, as well, America. I can't recall all of the details of what happened 30 years ago as well as I would like to but certain aspects of that fateful week are still embedded in my brain.

I was working for a local Children's Home as a Caseworker back then. As part of my job I was required to spend a week with most of the kids from the Children's Home at Camp Trexler, A Boy Scout Camp in the Pocono Mountains that the Children's Home rented out for the week.

It was my first time going with the kids to Camp Trexler and I was a little apprehensive. Although I liked many of the kids I worked with, I recognized that some of the kids had some serious behavioral issues that could, and often did, explode at times unexpectedly and sometimes violently.

On my drive to work on the Monday morning of the Camp Trexler trip I was nervous. I didn't know what to expect in being with the kids in the desolate Pocono Mountains for a week. If kids wanted to run away (Which they often did) how in the world would we be able to find them? Were there going to be fights that I and other staff members would have to break up, as we did often at the Children's Home. I was quite frankly excited about the camping trip but also worried about what was going to happen in the upcoming week long outdoor excursion.

The radio was on as I drove to work and I was listening to the news. The Newscaster indicated that there was some sort of trouble brewing in Russia. Apparently there were indications that Soviet Leader Gorbachev was being held against his will under House Arrest by members of the Russian Communist Party. The information was sketchy and unclear. Gorbachev had been under pressure by his own party as he moved Russia closer to the ideals of his friend and United States President, Ronald Reagan. According to the radio broadcast no one seemed to know what was going on.

As I listened to the broadcast I became more nervous, not only about Camp Trexler, but also about the status of the world. Were we on the brink of Nuclear War? Who knew? I certainly didn't. I suddenly thought about the fact that I was going to the Boy Scout Camp at exactly the wrong time. The fate of the world was hanging by a thread and I was going to be stuck out in the woods away from my family. It had already been proclaimed by the powers that be at the Children's Home that radios, phones and other electronic devices would not be allowed at Camp Trexler. I decided to take my car to the Boy Scout Camp so that I could listen to my car radio every day and try to keep a handle on maintaining knowledge about the fate of the world.

Suffice it to say that with a few minor exceptions the week spent at Camp Trexler was fantastic. The kids and the staff were kept busy every day with swimming, boating, hiking, playing cards and board games and sitting around campfires singing at night. There were a couple of kids that were taken back to the Children's Home after acting out but their quick departure from the camp was an obvious lesson to the other kids who were having a good time and genuinely wanted to stay for the rest of the week.

I had so much fun and so much to do during the week that I completely forgot about my plan to listen to my car radio. I didn't even think about my car radio until I turned it on at the end of the week on Friday as I was driving out of Camp Trexler.

I listened to a radio broadcast on Friday that partially filled me in on how much the world, and in particular, the Soviet Union, had changed during the course of the past week.

Looking back today on my week in the Poconos I have to say that I am grateful that my camping trip with the kids from the Children's Home kept me from experiencing the depressing terror that must have been experienced by everyone following the story of the Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Collapse of the Berlin Wall.

Although we tended to get used to the worries about the prospect of a Nuclear Showdown between the United States and Russia it was a relief, at least for a little while, when Boris Yeltsin came to Gorbachev's rescue and Russia as we knew it became a thing of the past, or so we thought.

Certainly the Berlin Wall was a symbol of Soviet Terror and Tyranny. It was heartening to the world when it came down.

Now, however, in our day and time we in the United States of America have been forced to witness our discredited American President constantly pledge allegiance to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, who seems to constantly benefit from Donald Trump's cowardly attempts to placate the Russian Dictator.

It is understandable that young Americans do not understand the stress of living in a world of Soviet Terror. It is not understandable that older Americans who lived for many years and decades under the Soviet Threat would now pledge allegiance to a Russian Stooge like Donald Trump and watch their Democracy fall apart piece by devastating piece.

We still have a fighting chance to get it right. United States Republican Legislators don't seem to care that Democracy in America is in danger of going the way of the Dinosaurs. The latest elections in which the State of Virginia turned blue and Democrats won the majority of election victories nationally should give Republicans some serious concerns about what is coming for them and for Donald Trump following Impeachment Hearings.

Wake up American Republicans. You can't hide your heads in the sand forever. The Freedom Bell is tolling for all of us and it is time to recognize that you have been backing a Dictator in a not too good disguise.

It is once and for all time for you to do the right thing for America.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 51

Donald Trump – Corruption Fighter

A Fictional Narrative

November 23rd, 2019

My Dear America:

Well, it took a little longer than George Orwell anticipated, 35 years longer as a matter of fact, but we have finally arrived at 1984.

Orwell predicted in his Classic Novel that in 1984 Black would be White, Wrong would be right and the world would be turned upside down. People would be locked up in cages and sometimes killed for minor crimes against the state. To put it mildly, 1984 would be a very, very, bad year, indeed.

Actually, 1984 began in 2017, when Donald Trump took office. Remember his choice for National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn. President Barack Obama warned Donald Trump not to hire Flynn but, of course, Trump hired Flynn anyway. Anyone Obama didn't like or didn't trust had to be good for Trump.

What a surprise to find out that Flynn was a Russian Asset who had assured the Russians that Trump would not continue sanctions put on them by the Obama Administration. Then, of course, Trump allowed Russian Diplomats (Spies) in the Oval Office where he allowed Russian Cameras but not American Media Cameras. Trump then bragged to the Russians about how he fired James Comey and what a "Nut Job Comey was.

Suffice it to say that 2017 and 2018 were not good years for you, America and things have not gotten better. They have gotten far worse.

Clearly to anyone who has their head on straight Donald Trump is either a Russian Asset or is just an Ass when it comes to Russia. To me it seems as though Donald Trump is just a Dumb Ass who thinks that kissing Putin's Ass is going to lead him to further riches.

We have seen some things happen, however, in recent times that I personally think are encouraging. For one thing, the Democrats won back the leadership of the House of Representatives in 2018 and that legislative body came alive. They voted through a ton of worthwhile legislation that, unfortunately Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell and the Republican led Fairly Brain Dead Senate Majority managed to kill by inactivity.

The issue of Impeachment has been a hotly discussed issue for some time. For awhile Donald Trump continued his assault on Democracy and unfortunately Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi was unwilling to support efforts to Impeach the President.

But of course, Donald Trump in his infinitely witless wisdom kept up his Assault on American Democracy and pushed so far to the Extreme Right that even Nancy Pelosi, who was genuinely trying to avoid Impeachment proceedings, had to agree to begin them.

Although there were many Democratic House Members who were already on board the Impeachment Train, something happened in late September or early October that spurred even Nancy Pelosi and many other House Members to get on board the Impeachment Express.

Dates and times concerning the Whistleblower and their contacts are sketchy but what is certainly not sketchy is the influence that the Whistleblower's Complaint has had on the House Intelligence Committee and the start of and the continuation of efforts by Committee Chairman, Adam Schiff and the Democrats on the Committee to begin Impeachment efforts. These efforts seem to be roaring along at breakneck speed even though Republican Members of the Intelligence Committee seem to have been doing everything in their power to stymie the Impeachment Investigation. Republican efforts to kill or even slow down the Impeachment Investigation seem to have been in vain, however.

After a series of closed door testimonies by significant witnesses Republicans complained that the closed door testimonies were unfair to them and to the President. So Committee Chairman Schiff this past couple of weeks brought back the most significant Impeachment Witnesses for Televised Testimonies. Those public televised testimonies have been fascinating but extremely disturbing.

After spending an inordinate amount of time watching the Televised Testimonies over the past two weeks I have found that all of those testifying seemed to be credible witnesses in one way or another to the effort that President Trump made to force Ukraine's newly elected President to open up clearly politically motivated investigations on Joe Biden and Biden's son, Hunter Biden, who admittedly and unfortunately caused his Father a lot of grief by becoming a highly paid Board Member of Burisma, A Ukrainian energy company of questionable reputation.

While Hunter Biden did not do anything illegal, he certainly didn't do his Father any favors by raking in 50 Thousand Dollars a month from this sleazy energy company. In addition to seeking dirt on the Bidens, Trump also held up nearly 400 Million Dollars in funds that had been voted on almost unanimously by everyone in Congress to help the Ukrainians out in their efforts to repel Russian Military efforts. While Trump held up the Congressionally funded money, Ukrainian Freedom Fighters continued to die in battle with the Russian Invaders.

The Impeachment Testimonies stand alone as efforts by distinguished governmental employees, for the most part, to do the right thing. There were some very important lessons in government, however, to be learned through these testimonies. Some of the lessons I have learned by watching the Impeachment hearings are the following:

I felt that throughout the hearings the Intelligence Committee Chairman, Adam Schiff conducted himself in an admirable and exceptionally fair manner. As many Republican Committee Members railed at Schiff for being unfair to the President and Republicans on the Committee, I observed Schiff maintaining his cool and leading the Committee in what I observed to be a fair and consistent manner.

The Republicans, and in particular Ranking Committee Member, Devin Nunes, however, conducted themselves, for the most part, in a very unfair, totally biased and sometimes uncivilized manner. They were overall disgusting in their treatment of some very decent individuals who had the nerve to show up to testify at the Hearings even though the President had told them not to.

The Intelligence Committee witnesses were, with the possible exception of Gordon Sondlund, good, decent, hard working and competent individuals who had a good sense of right and wrong. It was difficult for me to watch as people like Jim Jordan and Nunes tried in vain to disregard and disrespect witnesses who had a decent sense of right and wrong, unlike their Republican Aggressors.

Although many of the witnesses have much to be proud of certainly Former Ukraine Ambassador, Marie Yovanovich and Former White House NSC Advisor on Russia, Fiona Hill, as well as Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman were not only brave and outstanding witnesses, they were also outstanding examples of why the United States should continue to be a beacon of hope for immigrants interested in coming to the United States and becoming Citizens.

All in all the Impeachment Hearings accomplished in my mind what they should have. They showed clearly that Donald Trump is not fit to be the President of the United States and should be Impeached and removed from office.

Most certainly Donald Trump has racked up enough dirty dealings to deserve many Articles of Impeachment. As it looks now only Democrats will vote in the House to Impeach Trump and it is doubtful that Republicans in the Senate will have the balls to vote him out of office.

But who knows what will happen. At least for now we have the House Democrats ready to do the right thing. If enough voters begin to pay attention to what is going on and contact their Representatives and Senators perhaps we may well rid the White House of Donald Trump and his cesspool of corruption. We can only hope that will happen but for now we can be proud of those individuals who spoke up for Liberty and Justice for us all.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 52

Republicans Are Heading Down To The Crossroads

And Seem To Be Ready To Dance With The Devil

December 15th, 2019

My Dear America:

I know this has been an exceedingly difficult week for You, America. In fact it has been several exceedingly difficult weeks for all of us observing the one sided view of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

I found myself glued to the Television for large segments of time especially during the testimony of so many witnesses in the hearings guided by Representative Adam Schiff during the Intelligence Committee Hearings. During these hearings many witnesses showed up and testified honestly despite the President's Ominous Warnings to them not to testify.

Certainly without the bravery displayed by the witnesses to Donald Trump's Brazen Shakedown of Ukrainian President Zelensky and the bravery of the Whistleblower, as well, nothing of Trump's Political Treachery would likely have seen the light of day.

Although clearly Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi wanted to avoid the subject of Impeachment like the Plague throughout Trump's Controversial Presidency, Trump's Arrogant and Recklessly Political Actions and Behavior toward Ukraine made it impossible for the Speaker to avoid supporting Impeachment Proceedings any longer. It had to be done. It was a matter of Right and Wrong and the Speaker finally knew it. So after the hearings in the House Intelligence Committee it was clear to the Democratic Members of that Committee that Donald Trump's behavior with regard to Ukraine had gone way out of bounds and was clearly something that could more than reasonably be described as "High Crimes and Misdemeanors."

The behavior of the Republican Members of the House Intelligence Committee was Truly Shameful throughout the hearings on Trump and Ukraine. Republicans on the Committee often acted rudely and intimidatingly toward nearly all the brave witnesses exposing Trump's Treachery. The Republican Committee Members disrupted the proceedings at almost every turn and when they weren't disrupting the proceedings they were attempting to distract the proceedings in some form or another. They were, almost all of them, dismissive of the Committee Hearings.

Although other Republicans on the Committee were also guilty of harassment of Committee Chairman Schiff, as well as Committee Witnesses, certainly Intelligence Committee Ranking Member, Devin Nunes and "Jacketless" Jim Jordan were in almost all cases acting as though the facts weren't the facts and the Committee Chairman and Witnesses were undeserving of civility. The egregious conduct of Nunes was not unexpected. It was well Known by this time that when Nunes was the Intelligence Committee Chairman prior to the Democratic House Landslide Victory in 2018 that he had made many late night trips to the White House to alert the President of what was going on in the House Intelligence Committee.

Now that Nunes had been relegated to second fiddle on the Committee his behavior and attitude was constantly rude and dismissive to Schiff and the Democrats, as well as to Committee Witnesses. Although it didn't come out to the public during the Intelligence Committee Hearings on Ukraine, it was revealed shortly afterward that certain phone logs showed Nunes communicating with Rudy Giuliani and Rudy's recently arrested allies in the Ukraine/Biden/Trump Investigation Conspiracy by phone and in personal contacts with Rudy overseas.

Certainly the Nunes connection to Rudy & Company would have been helpful to know during the Intelligence Committee Hearings. Nunes has yet to comment on his curious and certainly questionable contacts with Giuliani and Company at the same time that he was supposedly investigating these contacts. Something smells very fishy here.

Eventually, however, the matter of Trump's Highly Inappropriate contacts with Zelensky, after being voted out of the Intelligence Committee on a purely partisan Committee Vote moved on to the House Judiciary Committee. The Judiciary Committee turned out to be no less partisan than the Intelligence Committee had been. Once again "Jacketless" Jim Jordan with Judiciary Committee Ranking Member, Doug Collins led the charge to defend the President, as well as Distract and Disrupt the Judiciary Committee Proceedings as much as possible. Despite the Republican efforts to Distract and Disrupt the Proceedings, Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jerry Nadler did an admirable job of keeping the proceedings on track during the Hearings. After seemingly endless and pointless Republican efforts to Delay and Disrupt the Hearings eventually Nadler was able to bring the Hearings to a halt with, once again, a completely partisan vote of 23 Democrats voting Yes and 17 Republicans voting No on whether to prepare Articles of Impeachment. The Democrats voted to prepare 2 Articles of Impeachment and have them voted on in the Full House of Representatives.

Article Number One that was approved by the Majority Democrats on the Judiciary Committee is Abuse of Power.

Article Number Two that was approved by the Majority Democrats on the Judiciary Committee is Obstruction of Congress.

It is certainly gratifying that these Two Articles of Impeachment will be presented to the Full House this coming week and will undoubtedly result in a Purely Partisan Vote in which the Articles of Impeachment will be approved by the Democratic Members of the House of Representatives.

Fortunately it appears as though, based on the behavior and votes in the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees thus far, this coming weeks vote will pass the Articles of Impeachment in the House. Unfortunately, though, although the Articles of Impeachment will pass in the House of Representatives and be sent to the Senate for Trial it is clear that at least some of the Republican Leaders in the Senate already have their minds made up and despite the facts proving Trump's "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" that will mean little or nothing to the Republicans in the Senate.

Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell has not only advertised his "No" Vote for Impeachment prior to the Senate Trial, he has announced that he will be coordinating Impeachment Proceedings with the White House. In other words The Defendant, Donald J. Trump, will be involved in calling the shots in his Impeachment Trial in the Senate. That does not sound like McConnell will be an impartial juror in the Senate.

Also South Carolina Republican Senator, Lindsey Graham, has also arrogantly announced that he will also support the President in the upcoming Impeachment. Indeed, it certainly appears as though despite the fact that Trump will be Impeached by the House, Republicans will not agree to convict the President in the Senate.

The Republican Congressional Solidarity against the Impeachment of Donald Trump is something that almost needs to be admired.

The fact that Republicans seem to have lost all perspective regarding the Reign of Terror that Donald Trump has put you through, America, is not something to be admired.

Surely every American, Republican or Democrat, by this time needs to be aware that Donald Trump is not just a Bad President. He is, by far the Worst President that I have ever seen in my lifetime and I would not be surprised if he turns out to be the Worst President that you have ever seen.

At every turn Trump has colluded with Russia. He is so disliked and disrespected by our allies that World Leaders laugh at him at World Conferences. He has pulled us out of the Paris Accord on Climate Change. He has pulled us out of a Treaty with Iran that was working and was keeping Iran from developing Nuclear Weapons. Now they are doing so freely and with no controls. He has made a fool of himself with this "Love" expressed for North Korea Dictator, Kim Jong Un, who continues to develop Nuclear capability to hit the united States. He has started a Trade War with China. He has unexpectedly pulled our troops out of Syria and allowed Russia and Turkey to turn Syria into a slaughterhouse, with our long time Allies in fighting and controlling ISIS, The Kurds, being those people being slaughtered.

What Donald Trump is being Impeached for is trying to get negative information on Democratic Candidate, Joe Biden, from Ukraine's newly elected President and holding up much needed financial aid that was voted on by the House and Senate on an almost landslide bipartisan vote to provide the aid to Ukraine in order for that country to be able to defend itself from Russia.

I fully suspect that one of the reasons that Donald Trump held up the money for weapons that Ukraine badly needed was that once again he was helping his Russian Dictator Buddy, Vladimir Putin, continue to make progress in his war against Ukraine. I have yet to hear anyone, Republican or Democrat, voice the concern that my suspicion might be true. I hope that my suspicion is not true but Trump's actions in Ukraine to hold up the money fits in with his pattern of Trump being a Russian Stooge throughout his Presidency.

As I sit here tonight worrying about what this week will bring I think of the fact that those Republicans who trashed Trump during his Campaign in 2016 don't have the balls to stand up to him now.

What we are going to see in the coming days, weeks and possibly months are Republicans voicing their support for a man who only supports himself. He cares nothing for what he can do for you, America. He only cares for what you can do for him.

I am thinking tonight of the passage from the bible that says something like "What does it matter if you gain the whole world and suffer the loss of your soul." Many Republicans during the past few weeks have shown themselves to be rather soulless individuals with only a dedication to Trump and almost no dedication to you, America. But then you have had the Democrats on your side caring what happened to you. You had Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler standing up to incredible unwarranted and unfair criticism because they were standing with You, America, and not bowing down to Donald Trump.

As we march toward Impeachment, tonight, America I am reminded of a Mississippi Legend concerning Blues Singer, Robert Johnson.

Legend has it that Robert Johnson was a man that endured some very tough times in his life. One thing that seemed to keep him focused and moving ahead was his music. According to Blues players and others who knew him throughout his life, Johnson was mostly a below average guitar player and hanger on to better playing musicians. Those better players said that for about a year none of them heard anything from Robert Johnson and then suddenly he was back.

When Robert Johnson reappeared on the Blues Music Scene he was a different man. He sang differently. He wrote very good songs and he had gone from being a below average guitar player to a masterful guitar player. His friends and comrades couldn't believe his remarkable progress and he continued to be a successful blues player until he was supposedly poisoned by the husband of a woman he had been seeing.

When asked by some of his comrades what happened to allow him to become such a great blues player Robert Johnson told his friends that he had gone down to a well known Mississippi Crossroads near where he lived and made a deal with the Devil that the Devil would give him his Highly Improved Blues ability if Johnson pledged to give his soul to the Devil when he died.

We will never know for sure whether or not Robert Johnson truly sold his soul to the Devil in those bygone days in Mississippi. What we do know, America, is that those Republican Senators and Congressional House Members who pledge their support to Donald Trump and not to you in the coming days, weeks and months will be at some point called to account for their actions.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 53

Whatever Happened To Decency and Patriotism

In The Republican Party

December 20th, 2019

My Dear America:

From my recollection the Republican Party used to be a party of Anti Communist Patriots who cared about decency and the rule of law in America and around the world.

What in the world happened to that party?

The answer to that question is Donald Trump.

Instead of Donald Trump moving himself toward the strong decent values of the Republican Party, Trump managed to bully his way into the Presidency and tear down the values of decency along the way.

In the Republican Party Donald Trump is a Pariah. At least he was during the 2016 Election according to every Republican Candidate he was running against, with the possible exception of Chris Christie, who found that kissing Trump's ass would leave him with a very bad taste in his mouth.

Trump bad mouthed and disrespected not only all of his Republican rivals. He even bad mouthed Republican Icons like John McCain. Although Trump bone spurred his way out of serving in the Vietnam War he still had the nerve to disparage and disrespect John McCain, who spent years locked up in a Hanoi POW Prison. Trump had the incredible nerve to say that he liked those servicemen who weren't captured. I have to admit that I didn't volunteer to fight in Vietnam either but I would never disrespect anyone like John McCain who did volunteer to do his duty in Vietnam and suffered the consequences.

Just this week at the same time Members of the House of Representatives were voting to Impeach him, Trump was at a rally in Michigan disrespecting a recently deceased Michigan Democratic Member of Congress, John Dingell and Dingell's Widow, Debbie Dingell, who would be among the Yes votes for the Impeachment of Donald Trump. In a mocking manner Trump described Debbie Dingell thanking Trump for his apparent well wishes at the time of her husband's death. Trump described Debbie Dingell saying she knew her husband was looking down (obviously meaning from Heaven). Trump in his tremendously obnoxious manner jokingly told the crowd that maybe John Dingell was looking up (obviously referring to the prospect that John Dingell might be in hell).

This was not the first or last time that Donald Trump would be proving himself to be one of the foulest human beings on earth. Democrats and Republicans have found themselves often to be on the receiving end of Trump's insults. It is no longer shocking. It is routine. It is business as usual with Donald Trump.

It is time for the Republican Party to follow the lead of Mark Gail, the Editor of Evangelical Christian Magazine, "Christianity Today," who set Trump off today by writing a scathing editorial characterizing Trump as morally bankrupt and worthy of Impeachment.

Finally, after an Impeachment Hearing in which not one Republican stood up and voted for Impeachment, an Evangelical Christian Leader has shown the courage to recognize what has been obvious to most of us for the past 3 years. The fact is that Donald Trump is a man without any moral compass. The Emperor, not only is without clothes, He is without Empathy and Simple Human Decency. Mark Gail is right on the money in his assessment of Donald Trump. Trump is a man without a conscience but still has his flunkies in the Senate, including the same Senators who had nothing but disgust for him in 2016 until he won the nomination, ready to prostrate what is left of their principles in the coming impeachment trial.

Senators Lindsey Graham, Mark Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul all trashed Trump when he was trashing them in the 2016 Election. Now they are all ready to bow down to Donald Trump in this hour of Impeachment. How can they live with themselves?

Thank God for Mark Gail taking his courageous stand against Trump. He has recognized that Evangelicals need to get off the Trump Train and get off fast.

I only hope that he is the first crack of many in the Trump Camp. I sincerely hope that Gail will not find himself alone in his Republican Assessment of Trump. Donald Trump is a dangerous Egomaniac with his shaky and thin skinned hand on the Nuclear Trigger.

It is time for Democrats like those at last night's debate to lead the charge that will get Donald Trump out of the White House and out of our lives for good.

It is time to write your Senator, as I will mine, to pressure them to stand up to the Bullys and the Morons who think that Donald Trump is a Political Genius.

Wake up Republicans, Democrats and Independents and recognize before it's too late that our Democracy is falling apart.

I have always wondered how it was that Germany could be taken over by a Madman like Adolph Hitler. I don't wonder anymore about how this happens. It happens a little bit at a time. It happens when good people do nothing when Immigrants, Minorities and Democrats are targeted and no one pays attention.

Do we have to be carted off to Death Camps ourselves to wake up to what has happened and continues to happen in our Country.

I hope not.

In the meantime I would like to give a Shout Out to Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler and Nancy Pelosi for sounding the alarm in the House of Representatives this week. I only hope that Americans recognize that alarm and that we can keep our Republic in the wake of what has been and continues to be Stormy Weather Ahead.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Chapter 54

2020:

Looking Backward and Looking Forward

April 30thth, 2020

My Dear America:

It has been one Hell of a Year, so far.

It started out with the Trial in the Senate of The President of the United States, Donald Trump. With the same degree of Solidarity that the Republicans had in the House of Representatives every Republican Senator, except Mitt Romney, voted to acquit Donald Trump for his Criminal Extortion of President Zelensky of Ukraine in Trump's zealous search for dirt on Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, along with Trump's Blackmail Scheme of holding back nearly 400 Million Dollars in Congressionally funded Military Aid for Ukraine to defend themselves against the Invasion of their country by Vladimir Putin's Russia.

While not many people were surprised by Trump's Acquittal in the Senate, many people were surprised by the fact that after the strong presentation by Adam Schiff and his fellow House Impeachment Managers of the evidence of Donald Trump's International, as well as National Political Treachery, that only one Republican Senator, Mitt Romney, broke ranks and voted for one article of Impeachment against Donald Trump.

Many Republican Senators came up with interesting justifications for their "No" votes on Impeachment. Those who were willing to answer questions about why they did not vote to impeach Trump generally talked about the fact that they expected that President Trump would learn from his mistakes and not continue to make them in the future.

In the weeks and months following his acquittal by the Senate Donald Trump seemed to take great pleasure in making fools of his apologists who expected him to learn from his mistakes. Trump has gone on a vengeful firing spree and has gone out of his way to punish those brave individuals who answered the Legally Issued Subpoenas and testified to the House Intelligence Committee and other Congressional Committees regarding what they had seen and heard regarding Donald Trump's outrageous and unethical behavior. Those brave individuals like Colonel Alexander Vindman were fired in the most humiliating way. Vindman and his twin brother (His brother, who also worked at the White House had nothing to do with testifying against Trump) were marched off the White House grounds as if they were Traitors instead of the Military Heroes that they truly were.

Many more individuals on Donald Trump's Enemies List, including the Intelligence Inspector General who was responsible for informing the House Intelligence Committee of the existence of the "Whistleblower Complaint" have also been purged by Donald Trump from Government Service in his efforts to show that he has, indeed, learned his lesson from the Impeachment Trial. What he has learned from that experience is that there is no limit to what he can get away with as long as Republicans in the United States House and Senate continue to be cowards, afraid to confront a President who is completely out of control.

Clearly Donald Trump has been brazen and bold in his behavior for the last three plus years but his Republican cronies in Congress have now truly emboldened him to a level in which he seems to be untouchable and has possibly arrived at what he feels is a level of invincibility that leaves him feeling like an American Dictator. He's finally in the Club, Man.

The Democratic Race for the Presidency has also taken some strange turns during the early days of 2020

Much has been happening with the Democrats who have been running for President of the United States. By the beginning of January the massive number of individuals running for President on the Democratic ticket had been whittled down to a rather manageable number. No longer were there too many people to fit on a stage together. A lot of good candidates had dropped out of the race by the beginning of January with more to come.

The beginning of the Primary Season seemed to show that it appeared as though Joe Biden's Presidential Candidacy was Dead on Arrival. In Iowa he was beaten by Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders. In New Hampshire Biden took a back seat to Buttigieg and Sanders once again and even Amy Klobuchar beat him in the New Hampshire Primary with Elizabeth Warren tying him. In Nevada Sanders beat everybody soundly including Joe Biden, who came in a far down the line second.

But then came South Carolina and the First Miracle happened for Joe Biden. After a strong endorsement by James Clyburn, one of South Carolina's most highly respected black Congressmen, Joe Biden finally showed South Carolina and the Democratic Party just how stunning a victory could be. Biden had been talking all along about his strength with black voters that would be shown in South Carolina. It turned out that Biden was not just whistling Dixie. His victory in South Carolina was clearly fueled by black voters and it was a landslide.

It turned out that it was just the beginning, though. On Monday March 2nd something unexpected and startling happened. Two of the Top Tier Democratic Presidential Candidates who had shown themselves to be formidable vote getters in Iowa and New Hampshire, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar, as well as former Congressman and former Presidential Candidate, Beto O' Rourke, all gathered on a Texas stage for a rally in which Mayor Pete and Senator Amy gave up their hard fought and largely successful Presidential Campaigns and, along with Beto O'Rourke, they endorsed Joe Biden, who cheerily joined them onstage.

This monumental Multi-Endorsement couldn't have happened at a better time for Joe Biden. It was the night before Super Tuesday and the results of Super Tuesday showed a Biden Surge of epic proportions. Joe Biden won in states where he had little or no campaign offices. It not only put Biden on the map all over the country but it slowed the growth of the Bernie Sanders Campaign greatly.

Within a few days of Super Tuesday Mike Bloomberg had left the race for the Presidency and had followed through on his promise to donate his money and his campaign organization to the eventual Democratic Nominee, who he had determined to be Joe Biden.

Elizabeth Warren also ended her Campaign but refused to immediately indicate who she would support at the time of her exit but it was clear that she was not going to support Donald Trump.

Bernie Sanders would take some time to make his decision to abandon his pursuit of the White House. Although he had some very nice things to say about his "Friend," Joe Biden, he hesitated, at first, to make a full throated endorsement of Biden. He made it clear, however, that in the end Bernie would be following through on his campaign promise to support the eventual Nominee of the Democratic Party for President.

Something else that has completely altered life in 2020 not only in the United States but around the world is Covid 19, the Coronavirus.

Although Donald Trump claims that he was never warned about this virus back in January when it began to rear its ugly head, it turns out that there is considerable evidence that he was warned much earlier than January but downplayed the warnings. In one of his Campaign speeches Trump called the Coronavirus a "Democratic Hoax." Although Trump was warned of the deadly consequences of Covid 19, he failed to warn anyone else about the virus until the virus was way out of control and killing thousands of Americans. At the time I am writing this in April of 2020 Coronavirus continues to kill thousands of Americans and infect many others.

Anyone following the Television "Information" Sessions that Donald Trump conducted almost daily will note that when Trump takes questions from reporters he doesn't like to take "Nasty Questions," In other words he only wants to take questions which put him in a good light concerning the virus.

Clearly Donald Trump doesn't know what he is doing with regard to the Coronavirus. Luckily for us, Mike Pence, who Trump put in charge of the Covid 19 Task Force seemed to be at least trying to take the Coronavirus seriously and has other individuals on board the Coronavirus Task Force who seem to know what they are doing such as Doctor Anthony Fauci of the CDC.

Yet Donald Trump continues to ignore standing six feet away from people which is recommended by the experts with regard to this virus and he is on television constantly bragging about himself and his spectacular job in dealing with the virus, when the truth is that his ignorance has probably been responsible for countless deaths in our country. He calls the Coronavirus "The Chinese Virus" constantly and as a result there has been a spike in attacks on Asian Americans.

If Donald Trump is not the worst President ever, he is certainly close to the top of the list. The damage he has done to you, America, and to our citizens is staggering.

We do have a chance to recover from our damage, however. In November of 2020 we will have an election and there will be two Candidates to consider voting for.

Joe Biden, The Democrat is a man of faith and conscience who has been highly regarded by all who know him for the many years that he has been in politics. He was a successful Senator for most of his life and a very highly regarded Vice President in the Obama Administration.

Donald Trump, The Republican is a man who seems to have no end to his limitations. He is Egocentric to the point of megalomania. He sees none of his limitations. He sees himself as a "stable genius" and he is neither Stable nor a Genius. Trump is not shy about bragging about himself. Unfortunately, he has managed to pull the wool over the eyes of many Americans who don't seem to recognize the realities of his constant lying, his constant belittling of people and his constantly making the wrong choice when decisions need to be made.

To me it is clear who is the better choice for President of the United States at the Ballot Box in November of 2020.

To be honest as I saw the list of candidates grow exponentially during the Democratic Campaign for determining a potential Democratic Party Nominee for President I was worried that 2020 would be a year of strained party loyalties and hurt feelings on the part of many Democratic Presidential Candidates and their supporters. I am thrilled and surprised to recognize that it appears that my worries were premature and that in April of 2020 the miracle of Joe Biden's Candidacy seems to have occurred. Although Joe had some serious problems in the early Democratic contests he seems to have solved his problems and all of those Individual Democratic Candidates who were formerly Rivals of his on the Campaign Trail are now his supporters.

Hallelujah.

A miracle of Democratic Cooperation has occurred and the Democrats seem to be Fully United behind the Candidacy of Joe Biden. Even Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, whose Health Care Ideas were much different than those of Joe Biden have recognized that it is much more important to Defeat Donald Trump than it is for them to be correct about Health Care.

Democrats united behind a Presidential Candidate this early in the Democratic Process is a very encouraging sign. This does not always happen but when it does it is something to be very thankful for.

Democrats also recognize that although it is important for Democrats to unite behind a Presidential Candidate, that it is also extremely important for Democrats to vote for Democrats in the House of Representatives and especially the Senate, where Republicans revealed their true colors earlier this year in 2020.

In addition, it is important for Democrats to convince voters in all political races that there is a basic difference between Democrats and Republicans. Somehow Republicans have managed to convince voters somewhere along the line that Republicans, not Democrats, were the party that cared about the average individual in the United States. Nothing can be further from the truth. I must admit that Rush Limbaugh and Fox News have done a good job in convincing the average voter that they should vote Republican over the years.

In every case during the Trump Administration Republicans have propped up Millionaires, Billionaires and Corporate Executives. While Republicans have constantly expressed outrage against Giveaway Programs for the Poor and Middle Class, they were more than willing to give permanent Tax cuts for the Wealthy in the United States. How long are Democrats going to allow Republicans (Especially Donald Trump) to lie their way to success at the Ballot Box.

I certainly hope that the choice is clear for every American in 2020. A serious mistake was made in 2016. It is time for Democrats to be United in their strong support for Joe Biden and for all Democratic Candidates in 2020.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

About The Author

Donald Trump And The Death Of Democracy: 2020 is Jerry Gallagher's Sixth Published Book. This book is available as a Paperback and in most E Book Platforms on Smashwords.com and also on Amazon.com, as well as other publishing outlets. Jerry wrote most of the Chapters of this book as postings on his Blog, Letters To A Lost Nation.

From the start Jerry had serious misgivings about the Presidential Candidacy of Donald Trump. Like many Americans, Jerry never expected that Donald Trump would ever have a serious chance to become President of The United States. Like many other Americans, Jerry was shocked to find on Election Day, 2016 that unfortunately he had underestimated Donald Trump.

Over the Past Three Plus Years Donald Trump has shown himself to be many things to many people. In this book Gallagher looks back on the Disastrous Presidency of Donald Trump with shock and Anger at what Trump has recklessly done to America.

Jerry Gallagher has prepared this book not with the purpose of making money but with the purpose of reminding America and Americans just what we have put up with for the past few years. Gallagher hopes that making this book available for free as an E Book through Smashwords and at cost for the paperback through Amazon might help change some American minds in time to change some votes prior to the November 2020 Election and help to Save Democracy from the ravages of Donald Trump.

Other books written by Jerry Gallagher and available through Smashwords.com and Amazon.com include the following:

Lonesome Travelers is Jerry Gallagher's Fifth published book and is his First Non Fiction Novel. The book is a Memoir describing a long distance road Trip that the Author took along with his friend, Hal, through the United States and Canada in July and August of 1977. Jerry admits to being inspired by other road trip books including Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" and John Steinbeck's "Travels With Charley"

Jerry's Fourth Published Book is a Novel titled The Man On The Grassy Knoll: The Assassins which is Book One in a Fictional Series dealing with some of the Most Controversial and Disturbing Political and Moral Issues of the 20th Century. The JFK Assassination, Vietnam and Watergate are all topics that are central to the Story of The Man On The Grassy Knoll.

Jerry's First Novel and third Published Book is The Folksingers, which takes place in and around The Newport Folk Festival of 1963 and features an interesting array of characters, who interact at that famous Music Festival.

Jerry's Published Non Fiction Books include Letters To A Lost Nation: A Watergate Chronicle (A Serious Review of the 1970's Watergate Scandal) and The Triumph Of Barack Obama: More Letters To A Lost Nation, (A Review of the 2008 Presidential Campaign resulting in the Historic Election of President Barack Obama).

Jerry Gallagher's Letters To A Lost Nation Blog can be accessed at the Following Web Address:

letterstoalostnation.blogspot.com

Jerry Gallagher's Writers Website can be accessed at the Following Web Address:

jerrygallagher.wix.com/jerrygallagherwriter

