Dwight D. Eisenhower

Republicans Divided Over January 6 Insurrection Defense By Republican National Committee!

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It is interesting how Republicans are splitting around the January 6 Insurrection defense (legitimate political discourse) of the Republican National Committee!

Mitch McConnell being critical, along with Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Larry Hogan, and others on one side are challenged by Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and a multitude of others on the crazy side!

Whether one agrees with the former group on every issue, they are the only hope for the Republican Party to survive, and the lifeline is getting weaker!

There must be a serious uprising against Donald Trump soon, or else there IS no future for the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, and Reagan!

The best bet is that the “dark side” will win out, and a new “Conservative” Party will have to form as an alternative to the Democratic Party in the future!

The Republican Party Has Gone Bonkers, And Conservatives Need To Leave And Form New Party!

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The Republican Party and its long history is ending, effectively, with the crazy decision of the Republican National Committee to censure Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, and Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois!

And the party apparatus has declared that the January 6, 2021 Insurrection was “legitimate political discourse”, an absolutely lunatic statement that is having all past Republicans shamed, and many principled moderates and conservatives in the party today stunned beyond belief!

The party can be considered to have committed suicide, and all decent people in and out of government, need to make clear that they are abandoning the party, as many already have, and start a new conservative party, based on principles, not lawlessness, bloodshed, and violence!

Can any sane person imagine any of the great Senators, Congressmen, Governors, and those connected to past Republican Presidents and nominees who would not be appalled by the total recklessness and conceding to a tin horn lunatic named Donald Trump that has now occurred?

What would Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush say?

What about all of the other luminaries of the Republican Party past and present?

How can such Republicans today as Lisa Murkowski, Ben Sasse, Mitt Romney, and others NOT quit the party and denounce what they have declared about the January 6 Insurrection, and the mistreatment of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger?

First Year In Oval Office Under Most Presidencies Problematical, And Joe Biden Better Than Many!

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One could argue that Joe Biden has accomplished a great deal in the first year, while often having disappointments and shortcomings.

Two major pieces of legislation were accomplished (The American Rescue Plan, and the Physical Infrastructure legislation), and the only reason why the Build Back Better bill and voting rights have failed to be accomplished is the opposition of two Democrats–Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema–and the reality of an equally divided Senate for only the third time in American history!

While inflation has become a major problem, the stock market dramatically rose, more jobs were created in the first year of a Presidency than any other administration, and the unemployment rate has dropped to a very low rate.

There are still the issues of the COVID 19 Pandemic, and the disaster of Afghanistan withdrawal, but the first issue was unpredictable as the worst health crisis in a century, and the second would have been the same result had Donald Trump stayed on as President, since he had made a deal with the Taliban without Afghanistan government involvement, to leave in May 2021, NOT as occurred in August 2021!

So some disappointing developments in the first year of a Presidency are not unique to the 46th President!

When one looks back at other Presidencies, it is actually quite common that the first year of a Presidency is a learning curve, and does not reflect on whether such Presidents will be, in the long run, successful, and also have the possibility of successful reelection.

The following Presidents had very successful first years—Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, George H. W. Bush!

Three Presidents had what could be described as mixed records in the first year in office–Dwight D. Eisenhower, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

The following Presidencies in the 20th and 21st century were far from successes in their first year:

Harry Truman 1945
John F. Kennedy 1961
Richard Nixon 1969
Gerald Ford 1974-1975
Jimmy Carter 1977
Ronald Reagan 1981
Bill Clinton 1993
Donald Trump 2017

Among these eight Presidents, four—Truman, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton–won reelection.

So it is not time to say that Joe Biden will fail to succeed, as he already has in many respects, and it is not time to say he cannot win reelection fo a second term!

The Republican Party Of History Is Gone! 1854-2022!

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The Republican Party of history once stood for human rights, civil rights, racial equality, in the age of Abraham Lincoln.

The Republican Party of history once stood for progressive reforms, in the age of Theodore Roosevelt, Robert LaFollette, Sr., and George Norris.

The Republican Party of history once stood for promoting internationalism and fighting the Cold War for democracy and against the threat of totalitarianism, in the age of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan.

The Republican Party of history once stood for Civil Rights in the age of Senators and Congressmen who joined with Democrats to promote political and social reform.

The Republican Party of history had its elements which were evil and divisive, but the party overall stood for basic principles of decency while promoting conservatism and the concept of limited national government.

But now, the Republican Party has promoted massive give aways to the wealthy, while having no concern about the needs of the middle class and the poor.

But now, the Republican Party consorts with authoritarian regimes of the Left and the Right, including collaborating with Vladimir Putin to fix the Presidential Election of 2016, and to make concessions to the Russian Federation during the era of Donald Trump.

But now, the Republican Party has the craziest conceivable elements in its party, who promote sedition, treason, and attacks on the Constitution and the rule of law.

Only a small element of the 2021-2022 Republican Party is part of the mainstream of American politics, and they are outnumbered and attacked for their commitment to decency, honesty, and the tenets of American democracy. Plaudits to Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Anthony Gonzalez, Peter Meijer, John Katko, Tom Rice, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Ben Sasse, Mitt Romney, Pat Toomey, and a small group of other courageous, principled Congressmen and Senators!

Donald Trump and his ilk, which include millions of ignorant, prejudiced white supremacists, antisemites, Islamophobes, racists, nativists and misogynists, represent a dire threat to the American republic, and must be combatted by every legal tool available, to allow America to reach its 250th anniversary in 2026 as a nation still keeping its values and heritage that are a model for democracy around the world in the 21st century!

Republican Party: From Joseph McCarthy In The 1950s To Kevin McCarthy In 2021!

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The Republican Party has fallen from the time of such leaders as Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and innumerable decent Republican Senators and Governors over the years!

But there has always been an ugly side to the Republican Party since World War II, characterized by Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin in the 1950s and now the disgraceful leadership of House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California!

The first McCarthy set out to destroy the lives of Americans by labeling them “Reds” or “Pinkos”, and now the modern McCarthy, NOT a family member or relative, has set out to destroy any decency in the Republican Party by backing a criminal attempt of Donald Trump to come back to the Presidency, “by hook or by crook”, with emphasis on the latter, and by promoting the “Big Lie”!

Kevin McCarthy is willing to destroy any honest, decent Republican in his quest to be two heartbeats away from the Presidency, even though he personally condemned Donald Trump after the January 6, 2021 Insurrection at the US Capitol!

Joseph McCarthy was a horror and a villain in the 1950s, and now another McCarthy is a villain in the 2020s!

It is essential that Kevin McCarthy be required to testify in the House January 6 Committee investigation, and that his immoral, unethical behavior be called out, and that he should pay the price for undermining American democracy!

America survived the first McCarthy after nearly a five year nightmare, and America needs to survive the era of the modern demagogue, Kevin McCarthy!

The Afghanistan Crisis Likely Insures A One Term Joe Biden Presidency

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Only about one of every three Presidents historically (14 of 44) through Inauguration Day 2021 has served two terms:

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
Andrew Jackson
Ulysses S. Grant
Grover Cleveland
Woodrow Wilson
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Ronald Reagan
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Barack Obama

Additionally, 7 others served more than one term, but not two complete terms:

Abraham Lincoln
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
Calvin Coolidge
Harry Truman
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard Nixon

And only Lincoln, McKinley, and Nixon were actually elected to two terms, so a total of 17 Presidents elected twice, while TR, Coolidge, Truman, and Johnson succeeded after deaths of their predecessor, and were only elected once to the Presidency.

So a total of 21 Presidents served more than four years, although Lincoln and McKinley for just a few months more, and Coolidge, Johnson and Nixon only months more than a year. So only TR and Truman were very close to two complete terms. Ultimately, 16 out of 44 basically served two terms.

Now we can add Joe Biden to the list of those who will not serve two terms or even be elected a second time, as with the Afghanistan debacle, it seems certain that he will not run again in 2024!

The “Ups And Downs” Of Ranking Presidents Over Time

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Historically, many Presidents have gone through periods of low esteem, and then, suddenly, high esteem in the minds of public opinion and also, Presidential scholars.

Abraham Lincoln had a very divided nation in response after his assassination, and only in the early 20th century, did the nation decide to honor Lincoln with the construction of the Lincoln Memorial, dedicated in 1922. He has been rated Number One by just about every Presidential scholar and poll, except those right wing Confederate sympathizers and white supremacists

Harry Truman left office in 1953 with a very low public opinion rating, and was regarded poorly in assessments of Presidents, until after he passed away in 1972. In the next five years, as TIME Magazine termed it in the late 1970s, we had “Truman Mania”, as massive research and writing on Truman caused his rise in stature to as high as Number 5 in scholarly polls on Presidents.

Dwight D. Eisenhower left office with an image of a passive, lazy President, and the vitality and youth of his successor, John F. Kennedy, did not improve his image, and he was seen as not an outstanding President. But his historical reputation has risen dramatically to the point that in many scholarly assessments, he is now seen as number 5 or 6 among all Presidents.

Lyndon B. Johnson suffered mightily in assessments due to the Vietnam War, despite his amazing domestic accomplishments of the “Great Society”, and was poorly rated for 20 years. But now, he is somewhere between number 9 and 11 in rankings of Presidents.

Jimmy Carter has never risen from the mid to low 20s in rankings and popularity, but it seems possible to imagine that when the longest lived President eventually passes away, that his rating may go up much more than many might now imagine.

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani Suspended From Practicing Law In New York

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Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani was suspended from practicing law in New York, due to his lying about the Presidential Election of 2020, undermining American democracy, and supporting the Fascist authoritarian Donald Trump in his quest to destroy America in every way possible. His misconduct and corruption is massive!

Giuliani could have retired from public life after September 11, and gone down as a hero, but his greed, selfishness, and growing dementia (which is clear to anyone who pays attention), has now doomed him to being a villain in American history long term!

Giuliani helped to incite the January 6th US Capitol Insurrection, and needs to be indicted, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison as a traitor and seditionist!

To think that in 2007, Giuliani led polls for the Republican Presidential nomination, and seemed a “reasonable” potential candidate at the time, makes one shocked at his fall and degradation!

Evil and the devil took over Giuliani’s personality, and he and another potential Presidential contender in 2007, former Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, will go down as mentally disturbed, corrupt individuals who deserve the total rebuke of historians who look back on the recant degradation of the Republican Party, which will never recover from what Donald Trump has done to the party of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower!

On Memorial Day Weekend, Republicans Show Contempt For Preservation Of Democracy!

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Memorial Day weekend is a time for remembrance of the contributions of generations of Americans who sacrificed their lives to protect and preserve American democracy.

It is a time to give thanks to those who gave their lives for their country in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and other lesser conflicts in American history.

But now, the Republican Party, the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan, has shown contempt for the concept of preservation of democracy, by refusing to back a bipartisan January 6 Commission to fully investigate the US Capitol Insurrection, which caused the death and injuries of scores of US Capitol Police.

The Republican Party has allowed itself to become part of the cancer of Donald Trump, which is destroying the party’s history and reputation.

No matter what, however, there will be full investigation and accountability for the horrid events of that day, including the threatened hanging of Vice President Mike Pence, and the murder of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and the dire threats to other Senators and Congressmen, who if not for the Capitol Police commitment, might have become victims as well!

Saviors Of The Republican Party Past And Future: “A Call For American Renewal”

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There are a substantial number of “name” Republicans who opposed Donald Trump from the beginning, or over time, and are now allied together to be the saviors of the Republican Party past and future, and have now issued “A Call For American Renewal”.

These are not people this blogger and author would support to be elected, as they are overwhelmingly conservatives, but they are people who believe in American democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law, and want to insure that Trump and his minions do not control the future of the party, as that is the death knell of our system of government!

The purpose is to stop the continuing “Big Lie”, about the Presidential Election of 2020, and about the Capitol Insurrection of January 6, 2021, as that is the cancer in the Republican Party right now, and there cannot be any possibility of avoiding the truth being exposed, and people needing to be prosecuted for treason and sedition.

Donald Trump is a menace, a Fascist authoritarian, who needs to be in prison, and be unable to control the future of the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush!