US Senate

Threat Presented By Third Party And Independent Presidential Candidates In 2024

The possibility of third party or independent Presidential candidates affecting the election results in the Presidential Election of 2024 is real.

While no such candidate could win the Presidency, they could determine whether President Joe Biden or Donald Trump or any alternative Republican Presidential nominee wins the White House.

Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips is challenging Joe Biden in Democratic primaries, as is Marianne Williamson, but they are highly unlikely to have any impact, other than as an annoyance.

But Independent candidates such as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr; Cornel West; Jill Stein on the Green Party line; and the No Labels Movement, with a potential nominee in Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, could derail election results and lead to major election issues.

Nikki Haley Emerges As Only Possible Alternative To Donald Trump

Former South Carolina Governor and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley has emerged as the only possible alternative to Donald Trump for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2024.

But the question is whether, even with growing business support, Haley can manage to overcome Trump in the upcoming Presidential caucus in Iowa and the Presidential primaries in New Hampshire, Nevada, and most significantly, her home state of South Carolina.

The decision of fellow South Carolinian, Senator Tim Scott, to drop out of the race certainly helps Haley’s bid, but leading South Carolina Republican figures, including Governor Henry McMaster and Senator Lindsey Graham, have endorsed Trump.

Also, can a woman of South Asian ancestry from India overcome those barriers?

The next few months will answer these questions!

Joe Biden, The Diplomat In Action

President Joe Biden demonstrated his diplomatic skills these past few days, having what is described as productive meetings with the leaders of China and Mexico at the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference in California.

Twenty one nations are part of APEC, including, among others, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia.

Biden has had long experiences in diplomacy as Vice President under Barack Obama, and earlier was engaged in foreign relations in his 36 years in the US Senate, including time as Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman.

Along with George H. W. Bush and Richard Nixon, Biden stands out on a short list of Presidents since World War II with foreign policy expertise before becoming President, and that is a major asset for American national security!

Republican Party Disasters: House Of Representatives And Senate!

The Republican Party is the party of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

It is the party of New York Congressman George Santos.

It is the party of Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin.

It is the party of Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville.

It is the party of Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

It is the party of Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert.

It is the party of Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz.

It is the party of Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan.

Does anything more need to be said?

And this is just the tip of the iceberg on the disaster that the Republican Party has become!

Senator Tim Scott Drops Out Of Presidential Race: Ho Hum!

South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott withdrew from the Republican Presidential race this week, and the reaction was “Ho Hum”!

Scott may be well liked by his Senate colleagues, and was the only US Senator running for President in this round of elections, but he contributed nothing at all to the race, coming across as very weak, and mostly invoking God to the point of turning many people off, as he is a supporter of church and state combination in government, which is NOT the plan of the Founding Fathers who started this nation!

His leaving the race emboldens his South Carolina colleague, former Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who actually appointed Scott to his Senate seat a decade ago.

Haley looks more than ever the prime alternative to Donald Trump, if he is able to be kept out of the race by legal matters, but Haley first would need to show her strength in New Hampshire and Nevada, and somehow, win her home state South Carolina primary on February 24, which seems quite a challenge at this point.

Clearly, Tim Scott did not make a dent in the Presidential race, so the Senate had no significance in this upcoming Presidential Election of 2024!

Joe Manchin Not Running For Reelection: No Great Loss For Democrats!

West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has announced he will not run for reelection in 2024, as it seems clear that the heavily Republican state would be highly unlikely to reelect him, despite his basic conservative voting record.

His leaving the Senate will make it more difficult for the Democrats to keep the Senate majority, also undermined by Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona becoming an Independent, and likely meaning her Senate seat will be a very difficult seat to retain, as well as West Virginia!

Manchin was a necessary evil in the Democratic Party, a person tolerated despite his right wing orientation, and the US Senate is now a body that will ever more be in danger of ending up under the control of MAGA Republican forces. This scenario is likely, unless the Democrats, who have been successful once again in political races, are able to overcome their disadvantage with a total commitment to maximizing the struggle for American democracy in the Congressional and Presiential Elections of 2024!

Disastrous Republican Leadership: Donald Trump, Mike Johnson, Tommy Tuberville!

The Republican Party has become engaged in disaster on all levels, including:

Donald Trump, facing 91 felonies over four trials, ranting and raving like a totally unhinged maniac, but still the clear frontrunner for the Republican Presidential nomination, and calling the January 6 domestic terrorists who have been convicted of crimes as being “hostages”!

Mike Johnson, clearly an extremist right wing Christian who has clearly shown his inability to cooperate with Senate Republicans or the White House, and is standing in the way of aid to Ukraine, and wishing to make tax collection by the Internal Revenue Service even more difficult, so creating greater national debt!

Tommy Tuberville, Republican Senator from Alabama, who has singlehandedly prevented promotions of hundreds of military personnel and leadership, over his opposition to the abortion policies of the Pentagon, despite the undermining of the military readiness and preparedness of America’s defense forces, at a time of great danger and threats with the wars going on in the Middle East and in Ukraine!

Battle Among House And Senate Republicans Over Support For Ukraine

The Republican Party in Congress is badly split over aid to Ukraine.

The majority of Senate Republicans, with top leadership including Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, want to give more aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

But a small band of House Republicans, the most extreme right wing elements led by Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and others of that group, are resisting aid, and they have found an ally in new House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who while not well known before now, is clearly a MAGA Republican as these extremists are, totally willing to bend to the will of Donald Trump.

So a major crisis looms for President Joe Biden and members of both political parties who do not wish to see Russia threatening the rest of Europe, if they succeed in defeating Ukraine!

New House Speaker Mike Johnson: An Election Denier! :(

Finally, the Republican Party has united around Louisiana Representative Mike Johnson, age 51, as their new Speaker of the House.

There was an urgency to elect a Speaker to stop the paralysis of Congress, but it is disturbing that Mike Johnson was an Election Denier over the Presidential Election Of 2020.

But now, with Donald Trump having backed his elevation, his becoming two heartbeats away from the Presidency, when Johnson is hardly a known figure, hopefully, he will act responsibly.

A social conservative, there will be clashes with the Senate Democratic majority and the Democratic President and Vice President, but for the moment, one feels give Mike Johnson some slack and let us hope for the best!

To Kevin McCarthy And MAGA Republicans: NO Cut In Aid To Ukraine! :(

As I write this, it seems as if we are on the road to a costly and unnecessary government shutdown on Sunday, provoked by extremist right wing MAGA Republicans, and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy unwilling to resist them, and instead to make a deal with Democrats and mainstream Republicans in the House of Representatives.

McCarthy and the MAGA Republicans now want a cut in aid to Ukraine, but some House Republicans and many Senate Republicans agree with Joe Biden and the Democrats that it is essential to continue to provide aid to that nation in its struggle against Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation.

The MAGA Republicans, Kevin McCarthy, and former President Donald Trump are promoting a dangerous isolationist attitude on world affairs, much like occurred in the 1920s and 1930s.

Practing appeasement to a dictator, as with Hitler in the 1930s, and Putin now, does not lead to peace, as it emboldens such evil people, and just as World War II was the result eight decades ago, so would be the result if Ukraine is conquered, as Putin will move on to NATO nations, including Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, if the US and NATO stop assisting the valiant battle of Ukraine.

So the answer to MAGA Republicans, Kevin McCarthy, and Donald Trump is NO CUT in aid to Ukraine, and the Republicans will suffer at the ballot box in November 2024!

It is tragic that there will be so much harm visited on vulnerable Americans, but in the end, Joe Biden, his party, and reasonable Senate and House Republicans must stand strong and refuse to give in!