Ronald Reagan

Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, Josh Hawley And Other Republicans Back Putin In Ukraine Crisis—Crazy!

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In the midst of the Ukraine Crisis promoted by Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation, we are seeing insane developments!

Former President Donald Trump; his former CIA head and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Missouri Senator Josh Hawley; and a multitude of other Republicans and Trumpites, incluidng the Fox News Channel evening talk show hosts, are praising Putin, showing no concern about Ukraine, and attacking Joe Biden in the midst of the worse foreign policy emergency since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962!

Just try to imagine what Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Senator Barry Goldwater, or Senator Joseph McCarthy would say, if they saw the Republican Party selling out to the Russians, a nation that has always been a menace and threat to American democracy!

The refusal of many Republicans to back President Biden in the midst of a massive emergency situation is a scenario that undermines our ability to deal with the danger of Ukraine being overrun by Russian military forces, in a manner not seen since World War II!

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 Of Joe Biden Presidency Has Greatest Economic Advancement Since Ronald Reagan In 1984!

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The statistics are in: America in 2021 had the greatest economic advancement since Ronald Reagan in 1984!

More jobs created; stock market advanced more; unemployment dropped at record level; and the economy improved 5.7 percent from 2020!

There is still the problem of COVID 19, which has dragged down the economy from what it might have been.

There is still the problem of supply shortage of many products, most notably cream cheese, but also many other products.

There is still the problem of inflation occurring worldwide, not only in America.

There is still the problem of too many jobs being unfilled, and the need to raise wages.

So the work on the economy is not done, but it is proper to salute Joe Biden and his Presidency for a fantastic beginning, with promise of more to come!

Justice Stephen Breyer Retirement Brings First African American Female Justice In Future!

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Associate Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, with 28 distinguished years on the Supreme Court, announced today in a meeting with President Joe Biden, that he will retire at the end of the Supreme Court term in late June.

Breyer is a very distinguished jurist, appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994, and adding stature and common decency to the Court in the past three decades.

However, Breyer will be 84 this August, and clearly, to insure a Biden appointment to the Court, because of the possibility of a Republican controlled Senate in 2023, it was urgent for him to leave the Court now.

Breyer will be the 22nd longest serving Justice when he leaves the Court, out of a total of 115 Justices in the Supreme Court’s history, so will be in the top 20 percent of all time service.

Biden will appoint an African American woman to be the first on the Supreme Court, a pledge he made when he was running for President, just as Ronald Reagan pledged to pick the first woman for the Court, who turned out to be Sandra Day O’Connor in 1981.

Diversity on the Supreme Court is essential, and will bring youth to the Court, even though the balance of power is still with conservative Republicans with their 6-3 advantage.

It is, however, a moment to celebrate Stephen Breyer, and celebrate another barrier to advancement in the judicial branch, long overdue!

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!

Comparing Kamala Harris To Mike Pence, Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle, Spiro Agnew!

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Kamala Harris has been Vice President for nearly a year, and has faced brutal criticism and attacks, and suggestions by some that she resign, because she has not been assertive in the role of Vice President.

Of course, these suggestions come from Fox News Channel anchors Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham, who are actively involved in attempting a coverup of the events of January 6, 2021, even though they were stunned by the events of that day, and tried to reach Donald Trump to express their dismay.

It is insulting that conservative supporters of the January 6 Insurrection have the gall to attack Kamala Harris, when the major issue is that she is a woman, and of mixed African and Asian American heritage, as her father is from Jamaican origin and her mother of Asian Indian origin.

Who are the critics turning to as models?

Is it Mike Pence, who refused to speak up at all to Donald Trump for four years, but at least had the guts to uphold the Electoral College vote for Joe Biden on January 6, facing the threat of being hanged by rioters? That is his only redeeming quality.

Or is it Dick Cheney, who while qualified by experience, was a dangerous, out of control Vice President, under George W. Bush, who enriched himself by America’s engagement in two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through leadership of Haliburton, and endorsed the use of torture against war prisoners?

Or is it Dan Quayle, who made everyone nervous for four years about the health of George H. W. Bush, as Quayle demonstrated how dumb and clueless he was?

Or was it Spiro Agnew, who resigned from office as a felon, after nearly five years a heartbeat away from the Presidency under Richard Nixon?

The only truly reputable Republican Vice President in the past half century was George H. W. Bush under Ronald Reagan! Although it must be said that the abbreviated Vice Presidency of Nelson Rockefeller under Gerald Ford was also decent!

Meanwhile, Democrats could be proud of their Vice Presidents—Walter Mondale under Jimmy Carter; Al Gore under Bill Clinton; and Joe BIden under Barack Obama!

Kamala Harris is in the tradition of decency and dignity of Mondale, Gore, and Biden, and will do a fine job over the next three years, with her excellent qualification as former San Francisco District Attorney, California Attorney General, and US Senator!

Assessment Of Biden’s First Year: A Lot Accomplished With A 50-50 Senate!

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Conservative journalist David Frum, who worked in the George W. Bush Administration, makes clear that Joe Biden has accomplished a great deal in his first year in office with a 50-50 Senate, more accomplished than even Barack Obama with a 57 member Democratic Senate in 2009!

But the naysayers are at work, claiming the Biden Presidency has not been a success, due to the COVID 19 Pandemic, inflation, and Afghanistan.

That is preposterous, as if Donald Trump had been in office, for certain the first and third issues would have been no different, and the second one would have occurred no matter what was done!

Trump had misled and botched up the COVID 19 Pandemic, and regarding Afghanistan, had made an agreement with the Taliban with no Afghanistan governement involvement in 2020, to withdraw from that nation in May, not August 2021!

Inflation happens in cycles, and under Ronald Reagan it was a major issue in 1982 midterms but was resolved by 1984 when Reagan ran for reelection.

The hope is that the same will occur in the next year, and will not be as big an issue as it is presently!

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!

Trump Republicans Have Become Pro Russian, Stunning Reversal Of Republican Party History!

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The Republican Party historically was always anti Soviet Union, and its peak was in the time of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Second Red Scare of the 1950s, and the tough line of Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan that followed in later years.

Now there is a complete reversal in the age of Donald Trump, with the 45th President cozying up to Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent, and leader of the Russian Federation since 2000, who has already invaded Georgia (2008) and the Crimean area of Ukraine (2014), and now threatening another invasion of the remainder of Ukraine!

Rather than unite around President Joe Biden against a potential Russian invasion, Republicans on Capitol Hill, the majority ignoring the January 6 US Capitol Insurrection perpetrated by Donald Trump and his authoritarian supporters, instead are critical of any strong reaction to Russia’s government!

This is mind boggling, and demonstrates how the Republican Party has become authoritarian and Fascist in nature, promoting the end of American democracy and instilling fear of what they call “white replacement” theory!