Chappaquiddick Scandal

Families Of Presidents: Any “Bad Apples” Before Donald Trump Family?

Ronald 1 Comment

With the growing likelihood of federal prison in the future for Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and maybe even Ivanka Trump, with all engaged in serious corruption, the question arises if this has ever happened before.

That is, have family members been involved in criminal activities, which undermined or embarrassed the President in their family line?

The answer, as far as can be researched, is a negative.

Yes, Roger Clinton, half brother of Bill Clinton, was pardoned by his brother for cocaine possession and drug trafficking when the President left office in 2001, and had served some time in federal prison, and also had two DUI arrests in 2001 and 2016.

Yes, Billy Carter, brother of Jimmy Carter, was a drunkard, who had a loose mouth, and became too close to Libyan dictator Muammar Gadaffi, eventually registering as an agent of a foreign government. The President separated himself from his brother, and claimed he had no influence on him, clearly an embarrassing time for Jimmy Carter.

Yes, Ted Kennedy, brother of John F. Kennedy, was involved in the Chappaquiddick incident, which led to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, undermining the possibility of the Massachusetts Senator being able to be nominated and run for President in 1980.

Relatives of some Presidents were known to be alcoholics, and some committed suicide, and some were engaged in corrupt business dealings, but none made it to the front pages and major attention, and are hard to track.

So Donald Trump’s family is unique in its scandalous and corrupt nature, in a manner which will condemn the Trump relatives in history.

49 Years Since Robert Kennedy’s Assassination: The Beginning Of The End Of The Triumph Of Liberalism In The 1960s

Ronald 12 Comments

It is now 49 years since Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York was tragically assassinated in Los Angeles, where I am right now, in my first visit to the number two city in America.

RFK was seen as likely to win the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1968, and it is believed that he would have defeated former Vice President Richard Nixon in a close race, without being tied to the Vietnam War policy of Lyndon B. Johnson, which Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey had as an albatross around his neck, from which he was unable to escape.

It often seems as if RFK’s death marked a turning point to the right, from which America has never fully recovered, despite the best efforts of Barack Obama, the most liberal President since LBJ, but with the reality of a strong Republican opposition that helped to prevent much of his agenda.

Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, while certainly more “liberal” than any Republican President in the past half century, were unable, and also to a great extent, unwilling to go anywhere as far as Obama attempted.

So in a sense, America lost its liberal champion, which Ted Kennedy represented after his brother’s death, but due to his own Chappaquiddick scandal, was unable to promote, with one failed attempt in 1980 against President Carter.

RFK was certainly one of the most talented and creative politicians we have seen, and had a broad appeal, and his goals and aims to unite people of all backgrounds in promoting progressive change, remain the goal of Democrats as they look ahead to 2020, and wish to find the best Presidential nominee possible.