Foreign Policy

The Best Candidates To Be Vice President For Joe Biden

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Within the next few weeks, Joe Biden will be selecting his Vice Presidential running mate, with the strong possibility that the woman he chooses could be the next President after Biden, whether by succession, as Biden would be the oldest first term President on Inauguration Day, or by election after Biden has left the Presidency.

There has been much speculation about a very large number of potential choices, but this author believes that three candidates stand out above all others in their credentials.

My first choice, and preferred, is former National Security Adviser and earlier Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice. She has more foreign policy experience than any other potential candidate. She would be 56 on Inauguration Day, the precise average age of all Presidents when combined together, and she has worked for many years with Joe Biden, and gets along very well with him.

The two together would be a fantastic team on foreign policy and national security, an area badly damaged by Donald Trump, and an area not as much paid attention to by many, but really significant. Her major liability may be that she has never been elected to any political office, but she has tons of experience under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

My second choice, which is speculated about as a “dream”, would be former First Lady Michelle Obama, who would be 57 by Inauguration Day. Many observers feel that if she was the choice of Joe Biden, it would guarantee victory in November.

Michelle Obama is much admired and respected, is very intelligent, and knows a lot from being the wife of the 44th President, but she also has never been elected to office, although that is not a requirement. However, she has given no hint of interest, and it highly unlikely that she would accept the Vice Presidency, but she would be a fantastic choice.

My third choice is California Senator Kamala Harris, who would be 56 on Inauguration Day, with the interesting point that all three ladies in this group were born in 1964, with Obama in January, Harris in October, and Rice in November.

Harris has been a Senator for four years, and earlier was District Attorney of San Francisco for seven years, and California Attorney General for six years, before being elected to the Senate in 2016. Being an elected official who campaigned for President, she has more controversies about her career in law enforcement and her votes and viewpoints as a US Senator than does Rice or Obama, but she would be an inspiring choice, often called the “female Barack Obama”.

We shall see if one of these three is the nominee, but this author and blogger feels all three are way above the competition, and whoever is selected will play a major role in the future of American government!

Donald Trump Being Fully Revealed By John Bolton And Mary Trump Tell-Alls

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This next week will be the further collapse of the Trump Presidency, as two books are coming out in the next few days.

And already, leaks from both books are devastating.

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton is revealing just how incompetent, corrupt, and ignorant Donald Trump is about American foreign policy, and how he loves and admires totalitarian leadership, as in China, Russia, and North Korea. Also, it is revealed how Trump has no knowledge of basic history or modern current events.

Bolton also informs us how top people around Trump, even today, have such a low opinion of the man.

And the publication of the book of Mary Trump, the President’s niece and daughter of his older dead brother, Fred Trump, demonstrates how nasty and uncaring Trump is with his own relatives, including his niece and nephew, the children of his brother.

It also reveals how Trump mistreated and ridiculed his own father, who set him up for success as a young man, with a one million “gift”. But once the elder Trump had Alzheimers, his son was totally lacking in empathy for him.

What else needs to be known about this disgusting man who is our President?

More than enough is known, with these revelations added, to say Donald Trump must be booted out of the Presidency pronto, and cannot be allowed to have a second term, as the nation, already horribly damaged, would not survive another term of Donald Trump!

A Sense That Pete Buttigieg Is On The Rise As A Moderate Alternative To Joe Biden

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The big winner of the Ohio Presidential debate this past week seems to many to be Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, who is seen as on the rise as a moderate alternative to Joe Biden.

Mayor Pete has been successful in raising large amounts of money in the third quarter, and his debate performance demonstrated his intelligence, his knowledge, and his perception of what Americans want, similar in his understanding of what Americans were looking for as when they voted for Barack Obama in 2008.

He is not promoting “pie in the sky”, massive changes in four years, as Bernie Sanders, and even Elizabeth Warren are doing, knowing full well that the nation is not going to elect a Democratic Congress large enough in majority to do the kinds of path breaking changes that Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson were able to bring about in 1935-1936 and 1965-1966, respectively.

As Pete has said, we first need to recover from the chaos and anarchy of Donald Trump, and to expect the nation to go to the far left, and support a required end of all private health insurance, is simply not reality.

This blogger takes the view that Americans should have a choice of keeping the health care coverage they have, or move toward government control through Medicare, but not force it on everyone over a four year period, and always allow private health insurance as an alternative, left up to the decisions of individual Americans and their families.

A long range goal is extend Medicare in stages, first to those between 50-65, then those in their 40s, then those in their 30s, and continuing on, but again with private insurance allowed if preferred.

And in foreign affairs, Mayor Pete would offer a revival of American respect and responsibility, veering away from the disastrous and reckless diplomacy of Donald Trump, and would restore American rationality and respect among our allies, and recognition that he would not be pushed around by authoritarians as has been occurring with Donald Trump.

A young, dynamic President is needed, and Mayor Pete fills the bill, following in the Democratic Party tradition of John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. A new generation of leadership is required.

Donald Trump Self Destructing By His Maniacal Statements And Policies: Signs Of A Seriously Mentally Ill And Dangerous President

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Every day of his Presidency, Donald Trump has demonstrated signs of being a seriously mentally ill and dangerous President.

He is self destructing by his maniacal statements and policies, in a way that no past President has done so consistently.

Yes, Andrew Jackson made statements and took actions that he has been roundly condemned for in history.

Yes, Andrew Johnson was extremely nasty and confrontational and undermined his own Presidency, having long range effects on the office and worsening the racial situation long term in America.

Yes, Richard Nixon was a very dangerous and corrupt President, who abused power and brought upon himself the impeachment process, which led to his resignation.

But none of these three Presidents with major faults ever reached the pinnacle of instability and corruption of Donald Trump.

The difference is that there was a strong political opposition to Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, and Richard Nixon, that kept them under a semblance of control and accountability.

But there is no counter reaction by Donald Trump’s Republican Party to hold him in any sense of control, and every day his utterances and his actions endanger both domestic and foreign policy, and his behavior gets regularly worse by the week.

The thought of a second term of President Donald Trump threatens American democracy and international peace, and must be prevented!

Major Roles To Be Played By Democratic Committee Chairs In 116th Congress

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The 116th Congress will see Democrats taking over the committee chairmanships in the House of Representatives.

Adam Schiff of California will be the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, and will require many Trump Administration figures, including his children and son in law, to testify.

Elijah Cummings of Maryland will head the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Jerrold Nadler of New York will head the House Judiciary Committee, which might move to have impeachment hearings against Donald Trump.

Eliot Engel of New York will lead the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and deal with the problems of unstable foreign policy of Donald Trump.

Maxine Waters will lead the House Financial Services Committee, and is sure to demand lots of testimony and documents from the Trump Administration.

Nita Lowey of New York will be the Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, clearly crucial in dealing with spending programs.

Raul Grijalva of Arizona will be the Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, and will be engaged in combat with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department over Donald Trump’s refusal to combat global warming.

These seven committee Chairs are going to face a constant assault by the right wing extremists, Fox News Channel, and Donald Trump himself, along with others who are Chairs of other committees in the House of Representatives.

One point of particular concern is that four of these seven committee Chairs named above are Jewish (Schiff, Nadler, Engel, Lowey), two (Cummings and Waters) are African American, and Grijalva is Hispanic, which makes it likely that white supremacists, encouraged by Donald Trump rhetoric, are likely to pose a growing threat to these committee Chairs, and makes it likely they will need security services to protect them, a horrendous reality.

But the move to investigate and hold Donald Trump and his administration responsible is urgent, even with the growing threat.

The Jamal Khashoggi Torture And Murder The Greatest Foreign Policy Crisis For Donald Trump, Undermining Human Rights For Personal Financial Gain, An Impeachable Act!

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Donald Trump has just confronted the greatest foreign policy crisis of his Presidency, and it seems that he will work to undermine human rights for personal financial gain.

Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and the heir to become King when his elderly father passes away, is clearly involved in ordering the horrific torture and murder of Saudi national but American resident Jamal Khashoggi, who was a journalist for the Washington Post.

The thought that Trump, and his Tea Party Kansas Congressman Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and his National Security Adviser John Bolton, would work to defend Saudi Arabia after this horrific assassination, and be more concerned about defense profits and financial gains, over the life of a human being so brutally murdered, is enough to make one vomit!

Trump is now reaching a new level of obscenity in defending torture and murder, and that makes him complicit with Mohammed bin Salman as a war criminal, and both of them should be immediately removed from power, and sent to the Hague to be tried for war crimes against humanity, and in the case of Trump, that would include his harsh treatment of immigrants and their children at the US-Mexico border!

How Vice President Mike Pence, who professes to be a “good Christian” can sit back and accept what is going on, and NOT condemn Trump and break with him morally and ethically, makes it clear that Mike Pence should immediately resign from the Vice Presidency as a moral degenerate, a crook who should be prosecuted for complicity in the same human rights violations of his boss.

This government, elected by Russian collusion, corrupt to the core, destructive of common decency, and promoting Fascism and undermining of the rule of law and the Constitution, needs to be repudiated in November, and action taken as soon as possible to remove this cancer from the body politic of America. That means movement toward impeachment, and pressure on the Republican Party to realize it is time for them to abandon their dictatorial leader, and vote to remove him in a Senate trial.

We have lived through 21 months of nightmares, and have reached a point of no return, and any decent American will see the need to remove Donald Trump and Mike Pence from power as soon as possible, and in the interim, break off diplomatic relations and economic relations with Saudi Arabia until reform comes to that nation, including the removal of Mohammed bin Salman from power and his prosecution and conviction for torture and murder of Jamal Khashoggi!

On Constitution Day, Reflection On Danger To Our Constitutional Order From Nearly Two Years Of Donald Trump

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Today, September 17, is the 231st anniversary of the signing of the Constitution in Philadelphia by 39 delegates to the Constitutional Convention.

Every public school and public university is required, and rightfully, by federal law, to commemorate this path breaking event, and educate the future generation, and indirectly, all of the American people on the significance of what was done by the Founding Father generation.

This year, more than ever, being educated and aware of the the details and meaning of the Constitution is urgent, as America faces a lawless, corrupt President, with the most corrupt group of Cabinet officers we have ever seen in American history.

We are witnessing a wrecking crew, out to destroy the stability of American foreign policy, and to damage the great domestic reforms in so many areas, brought us by many Presidents and Congresses. This is particularly so with those accomplishments internally of Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Barack Obama, the four Presidents who had the most impact of all of our Presidents since Theodore Roosevelt onward, but with other Presidents also being important in their contributions.

The crisis now faced is greater than any since the Civil War, and more of a threat than even Richard Nixon was four and a half decades ago.

It will be through the utilization of the principles of the Constitution that Donald Trump will be removed from office.

100 Days To What? Another “Fixed” Election, Solidifying Trump Authoritarianism As Future Of Our Democracy, Now Under Attack?

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We are down to 100 days tomorrow to the Midterm Elections of 2018, which will have a dramatic effect on America and its future, more than any previous midterm election.

Usually, much more attention is paid to the years of presidential elections, but with Donald Trump in the Presidency, and threatening the economic and foreign policy stability of the nation, and posing an authoritarian threat unseen in American history, these upcoming elections are crucial.

42 House seats that were Republican are now vacant or the sitting member will be leaving office, and will have a new Congressperson, and that seems to insure a gain of seats by the Democrats, who only need 23 seats minimum to have a majority of the House of Representatives.

But with Russian interference and hacking again taking place, who can say whether we will get fair, honest election results?

The news media must continue to focus on the facts, and not be diverted by fake accusations of Donald Trump, and his attack on them as “enemies of the people”, a typical totalitarian statement made by Fascist and Communist dictators past and present.

Even as Secretary of Defense James Mattis, FBI head Christopher Wray, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, CIA head Gina Haspel, and many others in the intelligence and national security community continually warn of Russian interference, Donald Trump continues to attack intelligence information and the news media for reporting it.

if that is not treason, then what is it?

Trump’s “Bromance” with Vladimir Putin, including his now delayed invitation for Putin to come to the White House, and Putin inviting him to Moscow, with the likelihood of more private meetings without the participation of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, or National Security Adviser John Bolton, or other key individuals, is an alarm bell in the night, that must concern and alarm all patriotic Americans.

Bob Corker And Jeff Flake Both Retiring, Should Use Their Influence On The Senate Foreign Relations Committee To Quell Donald Trump

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Two Republican Senators have decided not to run for reelection, and both have been critics of Donald Trump.

Bob Corker of Tennessee is the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, and Jeff Flake of Arizona is on the committee.

Both have no reason to cooperate with Donald Trump, now after this horrific week of foreign policy. We have witnessed the trashing of NATO and the European Union, and criticism of leaders of major allies, including Angela Merkel of Germany, Theresa May of Great Britain, Emmanuel Macron of France, and Justin Trudeau of Canada by Trump. At the same time, we have seen the praise and secret diplomacy of Trump with Vladimir Putin, causing an uproar, and now Trump’s invitation to Putin to come to the White House in the fall, possibly before the midterm elections, or alternately to witness the military parade ordered by Trump for Veterans Day, to be celebrated Saturday November 10 in Washington DC.

Corker and Flake, along with others, should denounce the Putin invitation and the wasted money on an unnecessary military parade, so that Donald Trump’s ego is further glorified.

The two Senators should do everything possible to make life for Trump more difficult, and should refuse to move forward on any policy, foreign or domestic, where their votes are needed to make a majority.

Both should order more subpoenas to require administration cabinet members to testify under oath, and make clear that they have declared war on the corrupt Presidency of Donald Trump!

Their leadership could make a difference in so many ways, and encourage more Senators on the Republican side to join them and the ill Senator John McCain of Arizona, and the principled Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, who has been a never ending critic of Donald Trump, and could face retribution when he faces his own reelection in 2020.

Of course, it is possible to imagine that Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, and Ben Sasse could end up challenging Trump for the Republican Presidential nomination of 2020 against Trump, or Vice President Mike Pence, were he to become President later in this term.

The Danger Of A Manufactured Or Real September 11 Equivalent Crisis Leading To Donald Trump Declaring Martial Law And Suspending The Constitution And Bill of Rights

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After the debacle of yesterday, all Americans must be concerned about the danger of a manufactured or real September 11 equivalent crisis leading to Donald Trump declaring martial law, and suspending the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The danger of a terrorist attack is still present, but also, no one can trust Donald Trump in planning a “Reichstag Fire” incident to allow him to become an authoritarian dictator, as occurred in Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler in 1933.

The one third base would willingly give up their civil liberties and civil rights, with their blind and inane loyalty to Trump, and we could see a crackdown much greater than the two “Red Scares” that occurred in 1919-1920 under Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer after World War I, and under Senator Joseph McCarthy from 1950-1954, as well as the civil liberties violations under Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

It is urgent that more Republicans in Congress speak out and demand action against the abuses of power of Donald Trump, and his national security and intelligence officials need to work together to force Vice President Mike Pence and the cabinet to meet and take action under the 25th Amendment, Section 4, but it seems highly unlikely that any of this will happen.

So civil war is a terrifying possibility, not out of the realm of reality, and could make the Civil War of 150 years ago repeat itself, with the danger of widespread bloodshed, something that all government officials should work to avoid, by putting the nation over the loyalty to one man. Trump is a true demagogue who is the greatest danger to our nation in American history, as a lackey of a foreign power that wishes to weaken and divide us.

Why did Donald Trump insist on being alone with Vladimir Putin of Russia, and making decisions that no one else can be aware of, and his refusal to listen to top officials who warned him against what he was doing? What deep, dark secret is Donald Trump harboring that endangers our nation? Why is he giving aid and comfort to our enemies, a clear sign of treason?

This is not hyperbole, but real time alarm being expressed not just by this author, but by millions of patriotic Americans who treasure our Constitution and Bill of Rights, and all of the strides forward that have been made over two centuries to make the Founding Fathers’ experiment improve the lives and fortunes of our nation in both domestic and foreign policy.