Texas A & M

Former Presidents George W. Bush And Barack Obama Come Out Against Trump, And Bush, Sr., Bill Clinton, And Jimmy Carter Are Also Opponents

Ronald 1 Comment

Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama both made speeches on Thursday, denouncing the policies and mentality of the Trump Presidency, but without mentioning his name.

Bush has never criticized his successor, Barack Obama, but he is clearly, along with his brother Jeb, and his parents George HW and Barbara Bush, willing to speak out against the nativism, nationalism, isolationism, and xenophobia of Donald Trump.

Obama has avoided direct attacks, but spoke in a similar vein as Bush.

Their opposition has been joined with utterances by Bill and Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and indirectly by the elder Bushes.

So all five living former Presidents have become critics of a man who has strongly attacked all of them.

And all five former Presidents are co-sponsors of a hurricane relief concert for the benefit of the victims in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. All five will be attending the Texas A & M concert this evening, and that will make for a rare photo of five living former Presidents, which has only been accomplished three times before–1861-1862 during the Civil War and the early Presidency of Abraham Lincoln; 1993-1994 in the first year of the Bill Clinton Presidency; and 2001-2004 during the second Bush Administration.

Additionally, all five former living Presidents will be with their wives, five former First Ladies—Rosalyn Carter, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama, an amazing development, since both the older Bush and Carter are now 93, and their wives are 92 and 90, respectively.

They are adding to their stature, as responsible and statesmanlike, something that Donald Trump is incapable of accomplishing.

Dangerous Trend: Young White Males In Teens, 20s, 30s, Joining White Supremacist Groups: What Does It Tell Us About American Society?

Ronald 9 Comments

The shocking demonstration of racial violence and hatred this past week at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville demonstrates a dangerous trend.

To witness the scenes of hundreds of young white males in their teens, 20s, and 30s coming to Virginia, drawn there by white supremacy and white nationalism, and being associate4 with the Ku Klux Klan, neo Nazi and neo Confederate groups, was totally stunning.

It reminded one of Nazi Germany, and among the organizers and provocateurs were David Duke, Richard Spencer, Jared Taylor, and Jason Kessler, all right wing extremists who are antisemites, racists, nativists, and misogynists.

All of this was encouraged by the racist, nativist, miosogynistic, homophobia, and tones of antisemitism in the Donald Trump Presidential campaign, and his initial response to the tragedy was a disgrace, claiming that all sides were responsible for the horrendous violence, including the death of a wonderful young woman, Heather Heyer.

It was sickening to see right wing extremists attack Heather Heyer after her death for being single in her 30s and being overweight, a truly obscene display of how many of this ilk look at women in a very misogynistic and sexist manner.

Trump won the Presidency with a large white supremacist following in key locations, and his Alt Right aides Stephen Bannon and Stephen Miller remaining on his staff as one writes this is a cancer on the Trump Presidency, and another good reason to force him out of office as soon as possible, as he is a disgrace to the office he holds.

But meanwhile, what does one do about these young men with criminal intentions? How were they brought up to hate this much by their own families? This is a true sickness in our society, which portends large amounts of bloodshed and violence over the coming years. For sure, we must insist that the full measure of the law be applied against everyone who uses white nationalism and white supremacy as their mantra.

And it is good that Texas A & M prevents a similar rally in September, and the same should happen with the University of Florida, as this is not the First Amendment in play, but simply pure racial and antisemitic hatred, out to provoke violence and bloodshed.

Trump’s sudden meltdown this afternoon, attacking the victims of the white supremacists and equating both sides in the demonstrations as equals, led White House Chief of Staff General John Kelly to hang his head in shame and shock, as he realized Trump had become totally unhinged. This is further proof of just how mentally ill, and lacking in ethics and morality our President is, and he must be forced out of office for the good of the nation!

The Republican Party must, for its historical record and its dignity, stop pretending that what Trump says and does has no impact on them or the nation. They must show courage and moral authority, or else the GOP is dead!

The Rehabilitation Of George W. Bush’s Reputation Begins Tomorrow!

Ronald 20 Comments

Every American President has obvious attributes and shortcomings, and the job of historians is to assess both, and come up with a reasonable conclusion on the tenure of each occupant in the White House.

George W. Bush has now been out of office for four years and three months, and has stayed out of the public eye and controversy, unlike his controversial Vice President, Dick Cheney.

Bush’s purpose in life is to begin the rehabilitation of his shattered image, primarily based on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and the economic collapse in his last months, known as the Great Recession.

This is a lot to overcome, and having allowed Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to have so much impact on policy making does not help Bush’s quest to be seen as a President who did his best in difficult times.

Tomorrow, at the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library on the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas, a few hundred miles from his father’s library in College Station on the campus of Texas A & M, all four former Presidents will be present, along with President Obama, Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton, and many other dignitaries.

The new library will allow visitors to make judgments on whether they would have done any differently in the major crises of his eight years in office.

The library also avoids much attention paid to Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Bush’s political genius, Karl Rove, who, like them, remains highly controversial and divisive in the minds of many Americans.

It will be argued that Bush is trying to manipulate history, and of course he is, but every President in his library attempts that.

Will a reassessment of Bush change the view of C Span scholars who in 2009, rated him 36th of 42 men who have been President?

Likely, over time, and particularly after his future demise, whenever that is, the image of George W. Bush will rise somewhat from the depths, but it is hard to imagine him going higher than say number 30 out of 43, and certainly, there is NO chance that he will surpass his father, rated 18th out of 42 in the C Span poll in 2009.