Richard Nixon

Major Accomplishments Of Jimmy Carter Under Attack By Donald Trump!

Jimmy Carter’s funeral briefly united America around the greatness of this President in ways many had forgotten.

Among his multiple achievements that now are under attack by Donald Trump are:

The Panama Canal Treaty, which resolved a basic wrong in the proper way.

The Department of Education, which was separated from its original home, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Major Environmental Accomplishments, the most of any one term President, at least until Joe Biden.

The basic characteristics of Morality, Ethics, Compassion and Decency that Carter represented.

And now, Trump has raised the flag to full staff at Mar a Lago, against the 30 day mourning period for any President who has died, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has ordered the flag in the US Capitol raised for the Trump inauguration, defying the respect due to Carter having been President.

In 1973, Harry Truman had died on December 26, and when Richard Nixon was reinaugurated on January 20, 1973, the flag remained at half staff, but now that respect is being defied!

Fourth Anniversary Of January 6 2021 Insurrection, And Kamala Harris Presiding Over Electoral Vote Count!

Today is the 4th Anniversary of the US Capitol Insurrection, which will NEVER be forgotten, and any attempt at Donald Trump to make it go away as a FACT of history will fail, and will, permanently, put him in the basement of rankings of American Presidents, no matter what he does in his second term!

It is a sad day also for Kamala Harris, who has to certify her own defeat as the losing Presidential candidate but being the Vice President in the term ending in two weeks, and having the responsibility of counting the Electoral Votes in a joint session of Congress.

This has only occurred before for Richard Nixon in 1961, Hubert Humphrey in 1969, and Al Gore in 2001.

This is a very depressing day, due to the circumstances, but in the long run of history, Donald Trump will always be condemned, even if he has not been held accountable with a criminal penalty due to circumstances and timing.

Jimmy Carter’s Legacy Could Be Affected By Donald Trump!

Jimmy Carter’s legacy could be affected by Donald Trump, becoming President in 16 days.

Trump is threatening Panama over the control of the Canal Zone, which by treaty was agreed to be handed back to Panama during the Carter Presidency, and occurring peacefully in the year 2000.

Carter presided over the creation of the Department of Education, but ever since, Republicans have called for the closing of a federal agency on education, and now, it is a real threat to the survival of the cabinet agency during the Trump Administration.

Carter promoted the environment as a major goal of accomplishment, and warned of the dangers of long term dependence on oil, coal and gas, advocating nuclear and solar energy. Now, Trump is declaring war on the environment, and failing to see the dangers of climate change and global warming.

Carter promoted the importance of immigration for the future growth of America, while now, Trump is preparing to deport millions of immigrants.

Carter advocated high ethical standards and the importance of compassion and empathy, and Trump is the polar opposite of that.

Even now, Trump is complaining that Carter’s death has created a 30 day period of mourning, with the flags flown at half staff until January 28, therefore including the inauguration date of Trump on January 20. Who can say that he will not, possibly, order the return of the flags to full staff at his inauguration, as unseemly as that would be?

It should be pointed out that Richard Nixon’s Second Inauguration in 1973 included the flying of the flag at half staff for former President Harry Truman, who had passed awwy on December 26, 1972, and yet, Nixon did not complain publicly or make an issue of the flag being at half staff for his second inauguration.

In these ways and more, Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump are as diametrically opposite in dramatic and sad ways as is imaginable!

Jimmy Carter’s Post Presidency Unmatched By Any Other President!

Jimmy Carter’s post Presidency of 44 years will, forever, remain unmatched.

Carter left office at the early age of 56, and survived health challenges to reach age 100, also highly unlikely, ever to be matched or surpassed.

Carter established the Carter Center to promote human rights in 1982, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum was opened in 1986 in Atlanta, and this blogger and scholar visited the site two times, finding it a very impressive memorial to the President.

Carter also spent several years teaching at Emory University in Atlana.

Carter wrote a total of 33 books in his lifetime, more than any other President.

Carter participated in building housing for the poor through Habitat For Humanity.

Carter traveled the world, fighting disease, promoting free elections, and advocating resolution of various international conflicts.

Carter had varying relations with his successors and predecessors, becoming particularly close to President Gerald Ford, creating the closest friendship with a fellow President since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

Other Presidents who were active after their Presidency included John Quincy Adams, who served in the House of Representatives for nearly 18 years, and wrote a diary from age 12 to age 80.

Also, Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, and Theodore Roosevelt ran for the Presidency after their terms in office.

William Howard Taft served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for nine years after his Presidency.

Also, Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon, along with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama presently, have been active, but none on the level of Jimmy Carter.

Carter’s historical ranking is sure to rise from the mid 20s to the top one third over time, as his passing makes the true Carter scholarship ever more expansive in the next generation!

Jimmy Carter, The Best One Term Environmentalist President

Jimmy Carter may have only had one term in the Presidency, but regarding environmental issues, Presidential scholars and Environmental experts agree he had the most productive one term we have seen, although it may be that Joe Biden’s one term might be seen in evaluation in the future as having surpassed Carter.

Carter put solar panels on the White House, which his successor, Ronald Reagan, had removed.

Carter put tens of millions of acres in Alaska off limits to developers, specifically 56 million acres under the 1906 Antiquities Act passed under Theodore Roosevelt.

Before he left office, he added another 100 million acres in Alaska of Wildlife Refuge under protection, an amazing accomplishment.

Carter had a great Interior Secretary, Cecil Andrus, former Governor of Idaho, who worked against the domination of mining, oil, timber, and grazing interests, and limited control of dams that could harm the health of rivers.

Also, Carter presided over the creation of the Department of Energy as a Cabinet post.

One can only imagine how much more Carter might have done had he won reelection in 1980 over Ronald Reagan.

As it is, Carter is rated as one of the top eight environmental Presidents, alongside Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.

Mass Pardons To January 6 Insurrectionists, And Potential Prosecution Of January 6 House Committee Members Beyond The Pale!

Donald Trump’s declaration that he will give mass pardons to January 6 Insurrectionists at the US Capitol; and his promotion of the prosecution of all of the January 6 House Committee members who investigated and exposed the whole story of that tragic day, is beyond the pale!

It will insure that Donald Trump, already in the bottom five, and in many cases, dead last, in assessments of Presidents by historians, political scientists, and others, will remain solidly last in the rankings of Presidents!

It will stain him for all time with being the most corrupt, most abusive of the rule of law and the Constitution, of any President, and far more than even Richard Nixon.

It will undermine American democracy as we come up to the 250th anniversary of the American Republic!

A poll was taken about giving pardons to the insurrrectionists, and by vast margins, college educated, Democrats, African Americans, Latinos, urban, and young voters are opposed.

It will be a very obscene day when Trump shows that he has no respect for the loss of life and limb, and destruction of property, that occurred on January 6, 2021, one of the darkest days in American history, alongside December 7, 1941 and September 11, 2001!

Republican Presidents And Corrupt Administrations

It is a well known fact that it is Republican Presidents who stand out as having the most corrupt administrations in American history.

That is not saying that Democratic Presidents have perfect records without scandal, but in comparison, the examples of corruption are quite minor.

Also, not all Republican Presidents have presided over massive scandal.

But those Presidents who have had massive scandals include the following in chronological order:

Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877)
Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)
Richard Nixon (1969-1974)
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
George W. Bush (2001-2009)
Donald Trump (2017-2021) and the future admninistration (2025-2029)

Some might say it is presumptuous to predict the future, but with the well documented propensity of Trump in his first term, and the characters he is gathering around him for his second term, one can be assured it will reach new levels of corruption of all kinds over the next four years.

As far as ranking of corruption, it can safely be said that Trump already would rank number one on the list, followed by Nixon, Reagan, the second Bush, Grant and Harding.

The “saving grace” for Harding is that his term was less than three years, and he was not aware of what was going on around him.

And the same can be said about Grant in his two terms, but cannot be said about the modern Republican Presidents.

One would think that voters would have a clue and reject such leadership, but their ignorance of history and lack of concern about decency in government is mind boggling.

So expect massive corruption, and unlikely, with a right wing Supreme Court and federal judiciary, and a Congress too willing to bend its will to Donald Trump, it will be left up to the media to expose the evils, for the record of history.

But it will not stop the horrors awaiting us, sadly!

Democrats Have Cleaned Up Republican Economic Messes Since 1953!

It is amazing how Republicans have lied incessantly for the past 70 years about the economy under Democratic Presidents, when it is such Democratic Presidents who have revived the economy after Republican Presidents managed to preside over economic recessions.

John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson presided over economic prosperity in the 1960s, after three recessions under Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Jimmy Carter presided over an economic recovery from the Recession of 1974-1975 under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, but sadly had to deal with another short lived, six months, recession in 1980, which was one of the factors, but not the most important, in his defeat, as the only Democratic President who had an economic decline since 1953.

Bill Clinton presided over an economic recovery from the recession under George H. W. Bush in the early 1990s, having a long period of economic prosperity.

Barack Obama presided over a long economic recovery from the Great Recession of 2008-2009 under George W. Bush, over 75 months from 2010-2017.

Joe Biden presided over revival of the American economy, from a great economic recession in office in 2020 under Donald Trump, a time of dramatic economic loss due to the Covid 19 Pandemic.

While there were moments of high inflation under Joe Biden due to the aftermath of the Pandemic, as with all Democratic Presidents, there was job growth, with most jobs created under them, and the percentage under Republican Presidents being very few under Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and the Bushes, and a massive job loss under Donald Trump.

These are economic facts, no matter what Donald Trump and Republicans claim to be the truth!

Most Republicans Have Become Russian Agents Of Putin!

Donald Trump

Elon Musk

Tucker Carlson

JD Vance

Mike Johnson

Most of the Republican House Caucus

Many Republican Senators

All of these have become Russian agents, promoting Vladimir Putin and working against support of Ukraine, and moving toward repudiation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization!

What would the following past Republicans have to say about this collaboration with and support of the Russian Federation?

Joseph McCarthy

Richard Nixon

Barry Goldwater

Ronald Reagan

William F. Buckley, Jr. and The National Review

Most of the Republican House Caucus

Many of the Republican Senators

What has happened to the Republican Party under Donald Trump et al?

They have become collaborators, conspiring with Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation to undermine American national security and American foreign policy and support of NATO and other allies around the world!

Face the facts: the MAGA Republicans are traitors to America!

More Defections From Republican Party And Trump Than Ever Since 1964 And Barry Goldwater!

The nation is witnessing more Republican Party defections from Donald Trump than from any Republican Presidential nominee in the past 60 years, since Barry Goldwater in 1964.

Goldwater, the most right wing Republican nominee ever, by comparison, is now seen belatedly as a libertarian. While definitely a right wing conservative who alienated the eastern liberal wing of the Republican Party, led by Nelson Rockeller, William Scranton, George Romney, and others, in retrospect, he was not as threatening as Donald Trump is.

Golcwater attacked the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and spoke of defeating Communism and the Soviet Union, including escalating the Vietnam War, but he did not call for the end of the Constitution, or prosecuting critics, or deporting millions of people as Donald Trump is advocating.

And in later times, Goldwater supported Abortion Rights and Gay Rights, so clearly, dramatically different than the present MAGA Republicans who swear by tyrant Donald Trump.

Goldwater was not personally corrupt as Trump is; did not have multiple marriages and divorces; did not promote the idea of overthrowing the results of an election; and did not personally promote character assassination of his opponent, Lyndon B. Johnson.

And most importantly, in 1974, ten years after his massive Presidential defeat, as again a sitting US Senator, he went to the White House and told Richard Nixon he should resign, or would face conviction on impeachment charges.

So Barry Goldwater was a decent loyal American, unlike Donald Trump, who makes Richard Nixon look like a “choir boy” by comparison!

One can be certain that he would repudiate Donald Trump, and would not have backed him in 2016 or 2020, as well as 2024!