Letter to US Senator Bob Corker 4-6-17

Dear Senator Corker,

I listened to your interview with Chuck Todd on MSNBC yesterday. You stated that “Trump was evolving…!” Have you been watching the same person as the whole country has for over a year? When are you going to put country ahead of party? He is now at 34% in the job favorability polls and the Washington Post has reported that he lies five times per day. In fact they have added up over 317 outright lies, falsifications   You are part of a party that created the recently created “monstrosity” that was supposed to replace the ACA. Your party refused to participate in the 18 month effort to reform health care seven years ago, and then you folks put out a bill in 17 days. The first and second version of that bill was a disgrace! If passed, it would have been a tax giveaway to the super rich and would have eventually eroded the benefits offered on corporate/company sponsored health plans that provide benefits for 56% of all Americans.

I have been paying attention to national events in America since 1960. I have been involved in local politics and government, on and off, for 45 years. I was an American History major in college, ran a business in NYC for 25 years, had a second career in financial services and did a radio show for eight years on WVOX 1460 am in Westchester County, NY and WJUP in Jupiter, FL. I did over 300 shows on public policy from 2007 through 2013, and in 2016. You can access my website at www.theadvocatesradio.com.

I would like to know when people like yourself, in the Congress of the United States, are going to stand up and say to your colleagues, “Enough is enough!” In other words, are you elected officials going to allow this country to self-destruct through the divisive efforts of Donald Trump? You especially should be doubly offended with regards to the treatment, the insults and the disrespect Donald Trump has shown many of your colleagues.

I would also like to know why you and your colleagues have not emphatically rebutted President Trump’s outright and continual lies! He has continually repeated these claims:

A.       Trump claimed that he was number one in his class at the University of Pennsylvania and he earned an MBA. A total lie!

B.       He said many times that he would release his Federal Income Tax statements. He hasn’t and will not. His taxes should be audited by a Congressional Bi-Partisan Committee to see if he has lied about his connections to Russia and Putin. If he has nothing to hide, let a responsible committee review them.

C.       He has stated that he has had no connection with Russia, but statements from his children and his own recorded remarks differ with that assertion.

D.       He stated that the murder rate in the United States was the highest in 45 years. That was a complete lie. The murder rate has been dropping in America for decades.

E.        He made a specious claim that his Electoral College victory was one of the largest in modern history, a complete misstatement and a lie. When confronted, he inanely remarked, and I paraphrase, “I heard it from others!” How can any person get away with such a specious retort?

F.        He has made the claim that he really won the popular vote, because of massive electoral fraud! Where is the proof of such mendacious claim?

G.       He stated that he had complete confidence in General Michael Flynn, and then fired him for misleading the country and his Vice-President. He knew for weeks what had happened with Michael Flynn’s contacts with the Russians. He lied about this whole episode.

H.       He has repeated often that Hillary Clinton transferred 20% of America’s uranium for a gift to the Clinton Foundation, a lie!

I.         He claimed that Admiral Harwood would not take the position of his NSA chief because of family obligations. That was a complete lie! Harwood and others want obviously no connection with his choice of a known anti-Semite, Steve Bannon on the NSA.

J.         He claimed that he had never heard from the Congressional Black Caucus regarding a meeting. That was completely refuted and another lie!

K.       He stated that the Supreme Court overturned a record amount of decisions by the 9th Judicial Circuit, another false statement.

L.        His ghost-written book, by Tony Schwartz has been repudiated as a complete fabrication. Why haven’t his specious claims been refuted?

M.     He lied about Trump University and settled for $25 million!

N.       He claimed that Senator Richard Blumenthal was disingenuous about his conversation about Supreme Court designee Gorsuch. That was a lie.

O.      He has lied about his wife’s immigrant status and promised a press conference to clear the air. He lied about that. She was here on a visitor’s visa and worked. Where are her tax records and her visa history?

P.       He has lied about crime in Chicago and made a specious claim about killings during President Obama’s farewell speech. Another lie!

Q.      He lied about his Trump Foundation. Why hasn’t there been a follow-up on how he has used that Foundation a personal checking account?

R.       He lied about his charitable giving. When did a person of his supposed wealth give practically nothing to any charities? His tax returns will show the level of his contributions! Every day his tax returns should be demanded.

S.        He has lied about the amount of immigrants coming from the countries he put on a “no travel list!”

T.        He stated that he inherited a “mess” in Washington! A complete lie!

U.       He stated that his administration was a “fine-tuned” machine! Another lie!

V.       He claimed that President Obama tapped his phone lines, where is the proof? Another lie!

W.     He claimed that president Obama released 122 Jihadists! Another lie!

X.       He claimed that Jews were behind the continual bomb threats, desecration of cemeteries and the painting of swastikas on building, another blood libel lie!

Y.        He claimed that the current bill in the House to replace the ACA will cover all Americans! Another lie!

This is only a partial list of literally hundreds of misstatements by Donald Trump. Are we in an unwritten chapter of “1984?” When is the media going to fight back on his blatant and unrelenting attack on Freedom of the Press? Our democracy is fragile and it can be lost if our free press doesn’t exercise its rights and muscle. The country is waiting for the truth, not banal interviews with his phalanx of apologists from the campaign.

By the way, I have been on a number of protests regarding Trump in Palm Beach County, and maybe you would like to know, that almost all the people I speak to and my hundreds of friends of Facebook want him impeached. Universally, all these people regard him as a valueless brigand, a sexual predator, a serial adulterer, a swindler, a con man, a carnival barker, a narcissist and a danger to America. He has no core values but self, he conflates the truth, he knows nothing of the economy, our history, science or any other discipline. In other words, he is a disaster. In the words of Joseph Welsh, Senator. “…You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” When are people like you, along with your colleagues going to admit to the public what the country is dealing with? When are you going to understand the illegitimacy of this man to serve in any type of office?

Sincerely,

Richard J. Garfunkel

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About admin

A lifelong New Yorker, who now lives full-time in Palm Beach County, Richard was raised in Mount Vernon, New York and he was educated in the Mount Vernon public schools He graduated from Boston University with a BA in American History. After spending a year on Wall Street as a research analyst with Bache & Co., he joined a manufacturing and importing firm, where over the next twenty-five years he rose to the position of chief operating officer. After the sale of that business, Richard entered into the financial services field with Metropolitan Life and is a Registered Representative, who has been associated with Acorn Financial Services which is affiliated with John Hancock Life Insurance Company of Boston, Ma. Today, he is a retired broker who had specialized in long-term care insurance and financial planning. One of Richard’s recent activities was to advise and encourage communities to seek ways to incorporate “sustainability and resiliency” into their future infrastructure planning. After a lifetime in politics, with many years working as a district leader, which involved party organizational work, campaign chair activity and numerous other political tasks, Richard has been involved with numerous civic and social causes. In recent years, Richard served in 2005 as the campaign coordinator of the Re-Elect Paul Feiner Campaign in Greenburgh, NY and he again chaired Supervisor Feiner’s successful landslide victory in 2007. Over the next few years, he advised a number of political candidates. He has served as an appointed Deputy Supervisor of the Town of Greenburgh, with responsibilities regarding the town’s “liaison program.” He was a member of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board of the Town of Greenburgh, NY. Richard has lectured on FDR, The New Deal and 20th century American history in the Mount Vernon schools, at the Westchester Council of Social Studies annual conference in White Plains, and at many senior citizen groups, which include appearances at the Old Guard of White Plains, the Rotary Clubs of Elmsford and White Plains, and various synagogue groups around Westchester. In the winter of 2006 Richard was the leader of the VOCAL forum, sponsored by the Westchester County Office of Aging, which addresses the concerns of Westchester County’s Intergenerational Advocacy Educational Speak-out forums for senior citizens. Richard has given lectures for the Active Retirement Project, which is co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Center on the Hudson, the Greenburgh Hebrew Center, and other groups around Westchester County. Richard also is the founder and Chairperson of the Jon Breen Memorial Fund, that judges and grants annual prizes to students at Mount Vernon High School who submit essays on public policy themes. He also sponsors the Henry M. Littlefield History Prize for the leading MVHS history student. Richard serves on the Student College Scholarship Committee of Mount Vernon High School. In past years Richard chaired and moderated the Jon Breen Fund Award’s cablecast program with the Mayor and local and school officials. Richard has been a member of Blythedale Children’s Hospital’s Planned Giving Professional Advisory Board, and was a founding member of the committee to re-new the FDR Birthday Balls of the 1930’s and 1940’s with the March of Dimes’ effort to eliminate birth defects. Their renewal dinner was held at Hyde Park on January 30, 2003. Richard is currently an active contributor to the Roosevelt Institute, which is involved in many pursuits which included the opening of the Henry A. Wallace Center at Hyde Park, and the Eleanor Roosevelt – Val-Kill Foundation. In 2007, he proposed to the City of Mount Vernon an effort to develop an arts, educational, and cultural center as part of a downtown re-development effort. Richard was a team partner with the Infrastructure & Energy Solutions Group. IEFG which has developed innovative strategies for the 21st Century. Richard hosted a weekly program on WVOX-1460 AM radio, called “The Advocates,” which was concerned with “public policy” issues. The show, which was aired from 2007 until May 15, 2013, has had amongst its guests; Representative Charles Rangel, Chairperson of the House Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Jonathan Alter of Newsweek, along with hundreds of others. All the 300 shows are archived at http://advocates-wvox.com. Richard currently gives lectures on Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR and the Jewish Community, The New Deal, FDR and Douglas MacArthur, 20th Century American Foreign Policy Resulting in Conflict, and Israel’s Right to Exist. Richard lives in Boynton Beach, Fl, with his wife Linda of 44 years. They have two married children. Their daughter Dana is a Rutgers College graduate, with a MS from Boston University, and is the Assistant Director of Recruitment at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Their son Jon is an electrical engineering graduate of Princeton University and a senior software architect at NY/Mellon Bank in NYC. Richard J. Garfunkel rjg727@comcast.net Recent Appearances: KTI Synagogue, Rye Brook, NY- Long Term Care & Estate Conservation- Anshe Shalom Synagogue, New Rochelle, NY- Long Term Care- American Legion Post, Valhalla, NY- Long Term Care and Asset Protection- Doyle Senior Ctr, New Rochelle, NY-Long Term Care and Asset Protection- AME Methodist Ministers, New Rochelle, NY, LTC and Charitable Giving- Profession Women in Construction, Elmsford, NY, LTC and Business Benefits- Kol Ami Synagogue- White Plains, NY, Long Term Care and Disability - Beth El Men's Club-New Rochelle, NY-Long Term Care-Is it Necessary- Greater NY Dental Meeting Javits Ctr, NY, NY- LTC and Disability- IBEW Local #3 , White Plains, NY, Long Term Care and Asset Protection, Health Fair -Bethel Synagogue, New Rochelle, NY-LTC and Disability, Heath Fair- Riverdale Mens Club CSAIR- Riverdale, NY- LTC- Life Weight Watchers of Westchester and the Bronx-LTC and Tax Implications Sunrise Assisted Living of Fleetwood, Mount Vernon, NY-LTC Sprain Brook Manor of Scarsdale-LTC- November 15, 2001 Sunrise Assisted Living of Stamford, Connecticut, February 2002 Kol Ami Synagogue, White Plains, NY, February, 2002 The Old Guard Society of White Plains, NY, April, 2002 The Westchester Meadows, Valhalla, NY August, 2002 Kol Ami Synagogue, White Plains, NY, October, 2002 JCC of Scarsdale, Scarsdale, NY, November, 2002 The Westchester Meadows, Valhalla, NY, January, 2003 The Rotary Club of White Plains, NY January, 2003 The Westchester Meadows, Valhalla, NY April, 2003 Westchester Reform Temple, Scarsdale, NY January, 2004 Mount Vernon High School, Mount Vernon, NY March 2004 Kol Ami/JCC of White Plains, NY November, 2004 The Westchester Reform Temple, Scarsdale, January 2005 The Sunrise of Fleetwood, Mount Vernon, April, 2005 The Woodlands of Ardsley, assisted living, November, 2005 The Woodlands of Ardsley, assisted living, December, 2005 The Woodlands of Ardsley, assisted living, January, 2005 Rotary Club of Elmsford, April, 2006 Kiwanis Club of Yonkers, June, 2006 Greenburgh Jewish Center, November, 2006 Temple Kol Ami, White Plains, February, 2007 Hebrew Institute, White Plains, March, 2007 Temple Kol Ami, White Plains, NY, April, 2007 Westchester Meadows. Valhalla, November, 2007 Hebrew Institute. White Plains, November, 2007 Art Zuckerman Radio Show- January, 2008 JCC of the Hudson, Tarrytown, February, 2008 Matt O’Shaughnessy Radio Show, March, 2008 WVOX –Election Night Coverage, November, 2008 WVOX – Inaugural Coverage, January 20, 2009 The Advocates-host of the WVOX Radio Show, 2007- 2010 Rotary Club of Pleasantville, February, 2009 Hebrew Institute of White Plains, May, 2009 JCC Hudson, Tarrytown, December, 2009-10-11-12 Brandeis Club, Yonkers, March 25, 2010

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