22nd Amendment

Talk Of A Trump Third Term And Putting Trump On Mount Rushmore Pure Lunacy!

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The lunacy and craziness around Donald Trump continues, with talk of a Trump third term, which will never happen, as it would require a new constitutional amendment and a repeal of the 22nd Amendment!

Both would need a two thirds vote in the House of Representatives and in the US Senate, followed by three fourths of the states (38) ratifying by a majority in both houses of the state legislatures in 49 states plus the one house legislature in Nebraska.

Additionally, Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna has, crazily, proposed that Donald Trump be put on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt!

First of all, putting anyone else on Mount Rushmore is a massive job, and highly unlikely ever to occur!

But if such a suggestion was to be followed through on over time, it should be Franklin D. Roosevelt, not Donald Trump!

And if one was to propose a Republican President, it would be more reasonable to put Dwight D. Eisenhower or even, although not something this author and blogger would promote, Ronald Reagan!

As it is, Mount Rushmore has a Federalist (Washington); a Democratic-Republican (Jefferson); and two Republicans (Lincoln and TR), so the argument for an additional President should be for a Democratic President, with FDR clearly the major example, or possibly Harry Truman!

All this is silliness, as there will never be additions to Mount Rushmore!

And with Trump rated either number 45 or at best number 43 tied with Franklin Pierce and above James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson, in surveys of historians and political scientists, it is truly delusional to consider him worthy of being on Mount Rushmore!

The way Trump is beginning his second Presidency will only insure that he will be number 45 in all rankings of intelligent, educated scholars, and with any American who has a brain, and ethics and morals!

Donald Trump’s “Wrecking Ball” On The Federal Government!

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Donald Trump, in just four days in office, has applied the “wrecking ball” on the federal government.

Thousands of civil servants in many different government agencies have been told not to come to work, and have lost access to their offices and websites.

The Civil Service system set up in 1883 under the Pendleton Act is being eviscerated before our eyes.

The plan is to end government agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) created under President Jimmy Carter; the Department of Education, also created under Carter; and radically changing the State Department, Defense Department, the intelligence agencies, and the Department of Justice, all of whom Trump considers to be the “Deep State”.

Additionally, undocumented immigrants and gay and transgender people are subject to threats and lack of protection of basic human rights.

Plans are in place to undermine public education, and promote a right wing agenda on the curriculum, ignoring the reality of American history, and denying the reality of climate change and global warming.

Access to health and medical information is being limited, and if Robert F. Kennedy Jr is confirmed as Health and Human Services Secretary, or even if replaced by some other extremist, the nation will not be ready to deal with future health crises and potential for pandemics, since there is a denial of the reality of disease threats. And any investigation of racial disparities in disease study, and also of health issues involving gays and lesbians, has been halted, an absolutely horrifying scenario!

And Trump is trying to undermine the Constitution by promoting the end of Birthright Citizenship, which is protected by the 14th Amendment, clearly a racist move to limit migration and citizenship of immigrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa.

His proposal to allow a third term defies the 22nd Amendment, and is clearly a power grab by his supporters in Congress.

And his decision to deny continued security to former members of his earlier administration, including John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, is an outrage, putting their lives in danger!

But clearly, he only cares about himself, and does not value human life beyond what it can do for his power grab.

And to top it off, the pardoning of known violent extremists who attacked the US Capitol viciously gives these threats to public order the potential to cause more violence and bloodshed, and likely receive future Presidential pardons, so it is like the Brown Shirts of Adolf Hitler!

We are living in a time of right wing radical extremism, which is a threat to the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, the rule of law, and the concept of American democracy.

And at least short term, there is not much of a reaction or counter plans to deal with this crisis which is on the level of a potential equivalent of the Civil War or the Great Depression or World War II in the past of American history!

“Originalism” And “Textualism”: The Battle For The Future Of Constitutional Government Against The Late 18th Century!

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The battle over how to interpret the Constitution in the 21st century is in full swing, with the extremist right wing Supreme Court majority emphasizing “Originalism” and “Textualism” as their basic ideological doctrine!

They want America to be judged by late 18th century interpretations, which means they challenge Alexander Hamilton and his “broad” interpretation of the Constitution.

Hamilton emphasized a broad interpretation, not a strict interpretation, of the Constitution, saying it needed to be a living document.

Even Thomas Jefferson, the original ideological opponent of Hamilton, came to recognize that Hamilton was correct, and so backed away from his original strict intepretation to support the Louisiana Purchase deal with France in 1803, doubling US territory and insuring that no other foreign power would gain further control in North America.

If one is to judge the Constitution by “originalism” and “textualism”, then America should not have had the multitude of changes that has made America a democracy, including among others:

Creation of Cabinet Agencies
End of African American Slavery by Amendment 13
Civil Rights Laws And Amendments (14, 15)
Women’s Suffrage (19)
Federal Government Agencies and Regulations
Federal Income Tax Amendment (16)
Democratizing of the US Senate by Amendment 17
Limitation of Presidential Terms by Amendment 22

This battle is over the future as compared to the limitations of the past, and America has come too far to allow the right wing interpretation to dictate the future of the nation!

The 80th Congress (1947-1949) Vs. The 118th Congress (2023- )

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It has often been claimed that the 80th Congress (1947-1949) under President Harry Truman was unproductive, or as Truman claimed it in his 1948 Presidential campaign, a “Do Nothing” Congress.

While it is true that the Republican dominated 80th Congress worked against Democratic President Truman and his “Fair Deal” proposals, most notably passing the anti Labor Taft-Hartley Act over the President’s veto, in reality a lot was accomplished in that Congress.

The following actions were accomplished:

The Truman Doctrine
The Taft-Hartley Act
The Presidential Succession Act
The National Security Act–including the Defense Department at the Pentagon in Virginia, the National Security Council, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, separate Department of the Air Force, and the Central Intelligence Agency
The Marshall Plan
22nd Amendment to the US Constitution

At the same time, NOTHING significant has been passed into law in the present first session of the 118th Congress, making it the least productive in modern times since the Great Depression 1931-1933 72nd Congress, split between a Democratic House of Representatives and Republican Senate under President Herbert Hoover!

Governorship Term Limits Likely To Affect Future Presidential Campaigns

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The American Presidency was limited in allowable terms of office by the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution in 1951, after passage by Congress in 1947, two years after Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected to a fourth term in the White House, died 82 days into that fourth term.

So even popular Presidents such as Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s, Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, and Barack Obama in the 2010s, could not have returned to the Presidency at any point after their two terms in office.

The issue of term limits also affects state governorships, as 23 states limit governors to two terms maximum consecutive terms. Three other states allow a return after one four year term away from the governorship, and one allows a return after two four year terms away from the governorship. And nine states have a lifetime limit of two terms.

So a total of 36 states limit gubernatorial terms in some form. And one state (Virginia) limits any governor to one term.

So only 13 states have no term limits, including Vermont and New Hampshire, which have terms of two years, not four years!

So when one analyzes these realities, it means governors such as the following, would have to be considered potential Presidential contenders in the future!

Ron DeSantis of Florida
Jared Polis of Colorado
Gavin Newsom of California
Brian Kemp of Georgia
Andy Beshear of Kentucky
Wes Moore of Maryland
Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan
Phil Murphy of New Jersey
Roy Cooper of North Carolina
Doub Burgum of North Dakota
Mike DeWine of Ohio
Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania
Kristi Noem of South Dakota
Glenn Youngkin of Virginia

All of the above 14, 6 Republicans and 8 Democrats, would be out of the governorship, or finishing a second term by the time of the Presidential Election of 2028.

Besides Republicans DeSantis and Burgum, who are already seeking the Presidency, there are strong rumors that other Republican Governors, Youngkin and Noem, might enter the race belatedly, and Kemp and DeWine are long shots for now or 2028!

And certainly, Democrats on this list are not running in 2024, due to Joe Biden, but certainly, it would seem likely that Polis, Newsom, Moore, Whitmer, Murphy, and Shapiro are all likely to plan to run in 2028. Less likely would be Beshear and Cooper, but being from states that Democrats have more difficulty winning, who can say they would not enter the race for President in 2028?

Trump Is Behind Biden Nationally By 7 Points, And Fear, Panic, Hysteria, And Accusations Of Radicalism Are NOT Working!

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Donald Trump has been behind Joe Biden all year, and presently is seven points behind Biden in national polls. The numbers between the two men have been very stable and consistent, amazingly so!

Trump has promoted fear, panic, hysteria, and accusations that Joe Biden is a radical and Kamala Harris, the black and Asian woman, is a danger as she is the power behind the throne, as if Joe Biden has no brain matter left, when it is precisely Donald Trump who has been acting very wacky and unstable, more so every day.

Again, Trump is using the psychological term of projection, looking in the mirror and then accusing Joe Biden of any one of Trump’s shortcomings.

It is not Joe Biden who threatens a radical government, as that is not his history!

It is Donald Trump who is promoting the concept of seizing absolute power as a Fascist, and defying the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment, which limits an elected President to two term as a maximum.

It is obvious that many different voting groups are seeing Trump as what he is—the criminal who has caused more deaths in peacetime than any President in history, and has presided over the most corrupt, venal government imaginable, and has done horrible damage to America domestically and in foreign policy.

Donald Trump will face prosecution and prison time, which he richly deserves as a traitor, and a tragedy as, by far, the worst President ever in the Oval Office!

Commemorating Death Of George Washington To Impeachment Of Donald Trump: How Far We Have Fallen!

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Today, December 14, marks the 220th anniversary of the death of President George Washington, who set such a great standard for Presidential leadership.

Washington could have stayed in office until his death, as many idolized him, but he believed in a term limit, and set standards for Presidential behavior in the way he conducted his office, that benefited America for the long term.

But now 220 years after his death, we have a President who has abused power more openly than even Richard Nixon, and far more than Bill Clinton or Andrew Johnson, and has wished he could be President for life. He has also hinted that he will refuse to accept defeat or leave office whether in 2021 or 2025, now a constitutional limit as a result of the 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951.

This moment of impeachment of Donald Trump is one when the nation must unite to rid us of the cancer of this evil, corrupt man, and if not by trial in the Senate, by massive defeat in November 2020!

The Disgraceful Sycophants For Donald Trump: Rudy Giuliani, Stephen Miller, Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Lindsey Graham, And More

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History will record in a condemnatory way the long list of disgraceful sycophants who have legitimized Donald Trump’s abuse of power and obstruction of justice.

The leading sycophants include:

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has gone totally off the rails, and seems clearly to have lost all morality and ethics, amidst signs of dementia.

Stephen Miller, the 34 year old senior adviser for Trump, who has demonstrated his total lack of decency, compassion, and empathy, and is perceived by some as the new modern young Roy Cohn of the Joseph McCarthy era, a Jewish man who shows totally despicable and indefensible behavior, including racism and nativism to the extreme.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, who makes Paul Ryan and John Boehner both seem far less objectionable than they actually were, and a total liar and phony who disgraces the Republican Party in the lower chamber.

Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, a truly obnoxious, nasty and arrogant Tea Party activist who spews forth poisonous propaganda on a regular basis.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who thought Bill Clinton should be impeached, but now sees no grounds for Donald Trump to be impeached. His former friend, the late John McCain, would be sorely disappointed with his behavior defending Trump,

The list is much more than these five, and now includes Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General William Barr, both of whom, by their lies and deception and unwillingness to cooperate in the impeachment investigation of Donald Trump, could face legal action and impeachment on their own.

Never has there been so many people willing to sacrifice their careers and reputations to defend a President who is the most unethical, immoral, and cruel person we have ever had in the White House, who now has the gall to say he will never leave the Presidency, implying the end of the 22nd Amendment and democratic elections in the future, as if he is an Emperor or King,

The threat of civil war enunciated by religious right wing fanatics must not prevent the rule of law, and the willingness, if need be, to remove Donald Trump forcibly from the Oval Office in chains and handcuffs if need be, to uphold the Constitution of the United States!

Donald Trump, The “Manchurian Candidate”, And Vladimir Putin: The Downfall Of The Western Alliance System

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The idea is finally sinking in that Donald Trump is similar to the main character in the 1962 film, “The Manchurian Candidate”, a candidate for President planted by the enemy of America.

His constant praise of Vladimir Putin of Russia, and his constant criticism of the leaders of Canada, Germany, France, Great Britain, and other allies in NATO makes one come to this conclusion as a rational thought, as the Western alliance system is in danger of disintegration.

His worship of the authoritarian leaders of China, North Korea, Turkey, Egypt and the Philippines among other dictators, is further proof that Donald Trump despises democracy, civil liberties, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and the traditions of American history in both domestic and foreign policy.

So for someone to assert that Donald Trump is dangerous to America’s present and future, is not just political hyperbole.

We are in a situation where Russia clearly intervened in the 2016 Presidential election, and is attempting to influence the 2018 Midterm Elections for Congress and the state governments, and is looking ahead to the Presidential Election of 2020.

The thought that Donald Trump might just win a second term, and then challenge the 22nd Amendment, and wish to stay on as President for life, is not just an idle thought, and everyone must work together to insure that such does not happen.

229th Anniversary Of First Presidential Inauguration Of George Washington In 1789: A Moment To Reflect On The Dangers To The Presidency As An Institution

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On this day, April 30, in 1789, George Washington was inaugurated, 57 days late, in lower Manhattan in New York City, as the first President of the United States, setting important standards for Presidential actions and behavior over the next two and more centuries.

Washington arrived late due to the need to plant the crops on his Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon, and traveled by horse from Virginia to NYC, being wined and dined along the way.

So Washington was the only President to serve two terms, but less than eight years, due to the loss of those 57 days in his first term, but his second term ending on March 4, 1797.

Two hundred years later, President George H. W. Bush commemorated the bicentennial of that event in New York City.

Now we have a President who challenges the institution of the Presidency in dangerous ways, and wishes he could be President for life, rather than the constitutional limit of two terms or ten years if succeeding during the last half of the term, as set up in the 22nd Amendment, passed through Congress in 1947, and ratified and going into effect in 1951, affecting all future Presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower onward.

Any person with rationality and knowledge of the history of America well knows that the threat of Donald Trump is real, and that the news media, the Congress, and the Judiciary must coordinate their efforts to remove him from office, as he has already done great damage to the institution of the Presidency.

We have not survived the Civil War, the Great Depression, the Cold War, and the danger of Richard Nixon, to allow ourselves to be undermined by the clear and present danger of Donald Trump!