Mark Sanford

Republicans For Biden Or Not Supporting Trump

Ronald 1 Comment

There are many Republicans, mostly not presently in public office, who have made it clear they are not supporting Donald Trump for reelection, and some going further and endorsing Joe Biden.

Among those making clear they will not back Trump are the following:

Former President George W. Bush

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush

Senator Mitt Romney of Utah

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton

Former Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona

Retired Four Star Navy Admiral William McRaven (who directed the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011)

Among those expressing doubt but not yet committing are the following:

Former Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio

Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan of Wisconsin

Former White House Chief of Staff and General John Kelly

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska

Former Congressman and Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina

Former Director of National Intelligence and Senator Dan Coats of Indiana

Among those formally endorsing and supporting Joe Biden are the following:

Former Governor and Congressman John Kasich of Ohio

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Former New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman

Former California gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman of California

Former Secretary of Defense and Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel

Former Secretary of Defense and Marine Corps General James Mattis

Cindy McCain, wife of former Senator John McCain

Former Presidential contender in 2016 Carly Fiorina

Former Congresswoman Susan Molinari of New York

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell

Former Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff Miles Taylor

Retiring Florida Congressman Francis Rooney

Conservative commentator George Will

Conservative commentator Bill Kristol

Republican strategist Steve Schmidt

Republican strategists Rick Wilson

Republican strategist John Weaver

Republican strategist George Conway, husband of Trump advisor KellyAnne Conway

Also, a number of Republican groups opposed to Trump are spending tens of millions on advertising to oppose Trump, including

The Lincoln Project

Republican Voters Against Trump

43 Alumni For Joe Biden PAC (referring to George W. Bush)

Republicans For The Rule Of Law

Former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh As Challenger To Donald Trump

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Suddenly, with time short, Donald Trump is starting to gain opposition to his nomination for a second term as President.

Former Governor William Weld of Massachusetts, who was the Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee in 2016, announced months ago, with little to show for it, as polls indicate 85-90 percent of Republicans are ready to back Trump.

Weld is at least seen as a “legitimate” candidate, but now we have others who are much more right wing than Weld, and lack credibility as national candidates, who are emerging.

Already, former South Carolina Governor and former Congressman Mark Sanford, he of the sex scandal that forced him out of the Governorship a decade ago, saying he might join.

And now, this past weekend, we have a definite challenger, but of no greater reputation, former one term Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh, of Tea Party fame, who was a believer in the “birther” theory used against Barack Obama, and spewed poison and hate in his one two year term, followed by defeat and retirement to a career as a talk show host.

Walsh was reckless and confrontational in his one term, and came across as a mean spirited and nasty Congressman, with a record of driving on a suspended license, and failure to pay child support, and using racist and sexist language, often considered “a loose cannon”. And he supported Donald Trump in 2016, but now has regrets for that and has apologized and expressed regret on his treatment of Barack Obama.

The fact that Walsh is willing to attack Trump, and tell the truth about him as a horrendous man and President is great, but his own record and background, despite his trying to make amends now in 2019, make him suspect as someone to fully trust.

This is not a way to revive Republican fortunes, to consider Mark Sanford or Joe Wash as legitimate alternatives, when the real alternatives, as suggested in an earlier blog entry last week, would be Jon Huntsman or John Kasich.

The only good thing about Walsh is that he might, somewhat, convince a small number of Republican voters to abandon Trump, and weaken him enough that he will not win reelection. Any effort in that regard is certainly welcome.

And Walsh made an important statement, when he said that young people, women, and suburbanites were totally alienated from Trump. Let us hope that as if they are, in mass numbers, against Trump, and one adds African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Jewish Americans, college educated people, and those that possess compassion and empathy towards the victims of Donald Trump, then we will be liberated from the cancer of Donald Trump.

Need For A Challenger To Donald Trump In Republican Party–But Jon Huntsman Or John Kasich, NOT Mark Sanford!

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It is past time for some legitimate Republican to challenge Donald Trump, and attempt to save the Republican party brand.

As much as former Governor William Weld of Massachusetts is attempting such a challenge, he is not strong enough, or well known enough, to have any real chance.

The only legitimate challengers would be the two best in the 2012 and 2016 Presidential sweepstakes—Jon Huntsman, former Utah Governor, Ambassador to China under Barack Obama, and now resigning as Ambassador to Russia under Donald Trump; and former Ohio Governor and long term Congressman John Kasich.

The idea that former South Carolina Governor and former Congressman Mark Sanford might run is not a realistic or worthwhile endeavor, as Sanford had a sex scandal a decade ago that forced him out of the Governorship, and he is no model for Presidential leadership skills and ability, which at least William Weld does have.

Huntsman or Kasich would be a realistic alternative for conservatives who are appalled by Donald Trump in every way possible!

Former Congressman And South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford Considers GOP Challenge To Donald Trump For 2020 Presidential Nomination: A Waste Of Time

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It seems possible that Donald Trump may gain a second challenger for the GOP Presidential nomination in 2020, as former South Carolina Governor and former Congressman Mark Sanford is considering announcing for President in the next 30 days.

Sanford would join former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld as a challenger, but with far less legitimacy.

Weld was the Vice Presidential running mate of Gary Johnson on the Libertarian Party ticket in 2016, with the party gaining nearly three million votes. Weld was an outstanding governor from 1991-1997, and while there is no realistic chance that Weld can stop Trump, at least he has dignity and principle, unlike Sanford.

Sanford considered running for President in 2012, but was destroyed by a sex scandal ten years ago, and lost all credibility as a decent political figure, no matter whether one agreed with his principles. He resigned, and went on to be sent back to the House of Representatives, where he had served before becoming Governor. He then lost his seat in the primary in 2018 due to his open opposition to Donald Trump.

He is a rare figure who came out against Trump, and paid for it with loss of his seat, but he is no paragon of virtue, even on the subject of racism, as he says he might run against Trump, but not because of Trump’s racist, nativist, and misogynistic utterances and actions, but rather on the issue of the budget deficits.

So we have yet another disgraceful person, added to the late entry of Billionaire Tom Steyer, to the Democratic race, but at the end, neither Sanford nor Steyer is getting anywhere near the White House in 2021.

The Need For Top Advisers Around Trump To Resign, Or Lose Their Credibility

Ronald 6 Comments

It is now three days since Helsinki, and the President is totally off the wall in his view of the Russian involvement in the 2016 campaign, constantly changing his language, demonstrating total confusion and mental instability.

And we see his top advisers standing by smiling or having a poker face, and contradicting everything he says when not in his presence.

This includes his intelligence advisers, and his national security team.

Meanwhile, except for the few Republicans who are leaving Congress (Senator Bob Corker, Senator Jeff Flake, Congressman Mark Sanford), or Senator John McCain, who is in his last term even if he survives long term from his cancer battle, no one else is speaking out. There is the additional exception of John Kasich, who is leaving the Ohio Governorship, and also of Ben Sasse of Nebraska (who will face reelection in 2020 but has always spoken out), and Senate candidate Mitt Romney who is keeping his independence, knowing he will win the Utah Senate seat easily in November.

Everyone else is putting their career ahead of the country, absolutely despicable behavior.

As stated yesterday, US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman needs to resign in protest, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White Chief of Staff John Kelly, National Security Adviser John Bolton, and others in the cabinet, including Defense Secretary James Mattis, all need to group together and go to the White House and demand Trump resign, or they will announce their joint resignation.

One might say this would create total chaos, but it would be a public statement by the entire group, showing patriotism over political loyalty, and Vice President Mike Pence might be forced to join with them to insist, that for the good of the country, it is time for Trump to go!

We need a Barry Goldwater and Hugh Scott, as with Richard Nixon and Watergate in 1974, and the people named above have the ability to restore their integrity and reputation by doing the right thing, and soon!

The Surrender Of The Republican Party To The Cult Of Donald Trump Seems Complete

Ronald 2 Comments

The Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, George H W Bush, Gerald Ford, and even Ronald Reagan is gone.

So is the party of Robert LaFollette, Sr., George Norris, Nelson Rockefeller, Mark Hatfield, Clifford Case, William Scranton, and innumerable others who served as Governors or US Senators.

The Republican Party of 2018 has sold its soul to the idea of maintaining office at all costs, and all principles, morals, and ethics have totally disappeared.

No one, literally no one, who is running for election now or in the near future, is willing to gamble losing his or her position of power.

Only those who are dying, as John McCain–or not running for reelection, such as Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona—or not in office or those who have journalistic integrity despite their Republican or conservative credentials in the past—have the willingness to speak up. Or the most recent example of South Carolina Congressman and former Governor Mark Sanford, a strong conservative Republican, who lost his party’s primary despite his conservative credentials, because he had the “nerve” to criticize Donald Trump!

The only way to purge the party future is for all officeholders, or most of them, who are facing election and staying silent, to be forced out of office by the voters in the midterm Congressional and state elections in November 2018.

This is, and it is not meant to sound dramatic, but this is the only hope for American democracy, that the Democrats have a massive, overwhelming victory.

If not, we are living in a period where the Constitution and Bill of Rights are being destroyed before our eyes, with most Americans not caring, or complicit by silence and lack of interest and participation in voting, in the downfall of the American experiment as the great constitutional democracy America was meant to be!

We are living in a time of a cult, a mass worship of a very flawed, evil human being, who has no concern for the future, but only for his own material wealth and stroking of his ego.

We have a very sick, mentally deranged individual who has the capability of destroying the planet, or caving in to the whims of other totalitarian leaders who he wises to emulate.

If there is a history to be written in the future, however, Donald Trump will be condemned as the most despicable, evil leader we have ever manufactured!

Presidential Ambitions, And Political Scandal Destroying Ambitions!

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The ambition to be President is a “disease” which hits many people who think they are a “gift” to the nation, due to their own egotism and arrogance.

We have at least five potential Presidential candidates in the Republican Party who have gone through this metamorphosis of potential candidate, to the point of being engaged in a political scandal, destroying the careers of three of them, and potentially having the same effect on two others.

In the 2012 Presidential cycle, we had:

Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who became involved in a sex scandal with an Argentine woman, which forced him out of office, and ended his Presidential ambitions, although he is now back in Congress by vote of his Congressional district, from where he had emerged as Governor before his downfall.

Senator John Ensign of Nevada, who also had Presidential ambitions, destroyed by a sex scandal, now back in his veterinarian practice.

Most recently, we had Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia, whose Presidential ambitions went asunder, and now convicted of corruption, faces a prison term, a total downfall.

And then we have in the 2016 Presidential cycle two examples of ambition, egotism, and arrogance!

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are both involved in political scandals, but both seeking to run for President, with the likelihood of failure in their Presidential campaigns at the least, and possible legal issues for both of them at the most!

New York City Politics And Sex Scandals: The Redemption Of Anthony Weiner And Eliot Spitzer?

Ronald 4 Comments

Who would imagine that two New York politicians, both tragic figures involved in sex scandals, could suddenly emerge as likely choices to be the next Mayor of New York City, and the next City Comptroller?

That scenario is seen as very likely for former Congressman Anthony Weiner and former Governor Eliot Spitzer, spicing up the races for who will run the largest city, and who will be a watchdog over the city’s finances.

Weiner lost his Congressional career over his inappropriate utterances and photos on Twitter and with women, and Spitzer was involved in a high cost prostitution scandal, and yet both have now asked for forgiveness, and seem likely to have the voters give them another chance for public service.

No one can deny that their careers were dedicated to good deeds in public life, but their weakness in the area of sexual interests brought them down to humiliation and destruction.

The irony is that if both win the offices they seek, their egos and personalities will likely clash a great deal of the time, leading to lots of political “theater”, but also meaning New York City politics will be one of the most interesting political stories in America as we move into the future.

But would New York City and its residents want anything else other than center stage?

Redemption is part of the story of humankind, and Bill Clinton, David Vitter, and Mark Sanford have already proved that there is a life after scandal, in a nation in which ethics has suffered a massive decline! So the most interesting story of this off year election will not be the Governorship of New Jersey nor the Governorship of Virginia, but the New York City municipal races!

Top Three American Cities Now Have Jewish Mayors, A First, But Will New York City Elect Anthony Weiner To Succeed Michael Bloomberg In November?

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For the first time in American history, the top three cities in America will have Jewish Mayors.

We already had Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, and now we have Mayor Elect Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, who has a Jewish mother, and a fafher of Spanish, Italian, and Indigenous heritage, which is why his name does not sound Jewish! Garcetti will also be the youngest Mayor of Los Angeles, at age 42, in the past century.

However, Bloomberg is finishing up his third and last term, and the only Jewish candidate who could succeed him in the Mayoralty is former Congressman Anthony Weiner, who was forced to resign over his exposure of x rated pictures on the internet two years ago.

Weiner is attempting a comeback, and has $5 million in his bank account, plus name recognition, although a lot of it might be seen as negative, because of the sex scandal which brought him to resignation.

Is there redemption for Weiner, as there was for former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who won back the former Congressional seat he held before he was Governor, and in the wake of his pursuit of a lover in Argentina, while married and having three sons?

It is hard to know at this point, as New York City can be a forgiving place, and has already as an announced candidate the Speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, a woman who is a declared lesbian and is married to her partner: and Bill De Blasio, the NYC Public Advocate, whose wife is African American, while De Blasio is white.

Certainly, there are some who would not like someone involved in a sex scandal; or a married lesbian; or a white guy married to a black woman! So there is plenty of room for outrage by people of different stripes, who do not like any or all of these situations.

But this is modern America, and NYC represents a microcosm of that America, and the issues of sex, sexual preference, and race will play out and, likely, elect one of these three individuals as the next Mayor of NYC, and if Weiner wins, again, we will have the top three cities in America with Jewish Mayors!

The Republican Party: The Party Of “Family Values” And A Multitude Of Sex Scandals!

Ronald 44 Comments

The Republican Party broadcasts its belief in “family values’ constantly, and the most religious people in this nation tend to vote for that party on a regular basis!

The author is not trying to claim that Democrats are not capable of engaging in sex scandals, but they do not use the hypocrisy of claiming to be the party of “family values”, and the number of Republicans who have engaged in sex scandals is much longer than that of Democrats!

A selected list of Republicans involved in sex scandals includes:

Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, just elected back to his House seat
Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, who has been reelected by his state despite his scandal
Senator John Ensign of Nevada
Senator Larry Craig of Idaho
Senator Bob Packwood of Oregon
Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois
Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich of Georgia
Congressman Bob Livingston of Louisiana
Mayor Rudy Guiliani of New York City
Congressman Mark Foley of Florida
Presidential Candidate Herman Cain of Georgia

Instead of promoting “family values”, including concern about the lives of the elderly, the young, the poor, women, and the disabled, the GOP does the “religious” thing, while lining their own pockets with the money of lobbyists, who work against the interests of the American people, and promote the rich becoming more wealthy, and presiding over the poverty and deprivation of many of their constituents who, stupidly, vote for them!