George W. Bush And Dick Cheney

Fareed Zakaria CNN Special From May 2021 Updated: “A Radical Rebellion: The Transformation Of The GOP”

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The Welfare State–Secularism—changing racial situation.

Fareed Zakaria on a CNN Special today, updated from May 2021, entitled “A Radical Rebellion: The Transformation of the GOP”, presented an analysis of the disaster that the Republican Party has become:

in an era of conservatism attacking the concept of the Franklin D. Roosevelt New Deal and the Lyndon B. Johnson Great Society;

allowing Right Wing evangelical Christianity and theocracy to take over the party in the name of God;

and working against the reality that the white majority face a future in America of minority racial groups together being a majority of the population in about 2040-2045.

He covers from the John Birch Society in the 1950s;
to William F. Buckley, Jr and the National Review;
to Barry Goldwater and the conservative takeover in 1964, leading to massive victory of Lyndon B. Johnson and the Great Society;
to Richard Nixon and the “Southern Strategy”in 1968;
to Jerry Falwell and the “Christian Coalition” and the “Moral Majority” in the late 1970s and early 1980s;
to Ronald Reagan and the “Reagan Coalition” in the 1980s;
to Pat Buchanan’s challenge of George H W Bush in 1992;
to Newt Gingrich and the “Republican Revolution” of 1994 and after;
to the promotion of right wing propaganda and lies by Fox News Channel starting in 1996;
to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the 2000s;
to the Tea Party Movement rise under Barack Obama’s Presidency;
to the rise of Donald Trump in 2015-2016;
to the “Big Lie” about the Presidential Election of 2020;
to the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection;
to the present extremism in the Congressional and State Republican parties in 2021;
to the constant threat to women’s rights, including abortion;
to the right wing rejection of Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain, and Mitt Romney as not conservative enough;
and the growing racism, nativism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, misogyny, and homophobia that have become alarming realities for the future of American politics!

The What-Ifs Of History: 10 Vice Presidents And One Speaker Of The House Who ALMOST Became President By Succession!

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Anyone who has studied American history knows that NINE Vice Presidents succeeded to the Presidency because of death in eight cases, and resignation in the ninth case, of the President.

What very few people realize is how many times Vice Presidents missed being President by a stroke of luck, and this is not including those who became President later by election.

In the past century, a total of TEN Vice Presidents and ONE Speaker Of the House, came close to succeeding the President in office, but since they did not, they are pretty much forgotten! Here is the list and the circumstances:

1919-1921–Woodrow Wilson suffered a paralytic stroke, but recovered slowly, and his wife Edith held cabinet meetings, and kept Vice President Thomas Marshall in the dark about the medical status of Wilson. This was, by far, the longest period of medical incapacity of a President, 18 months! Had Wilson died, Marshall would have been President.

1933–Franklin D. Roosevelt was subjected to an assassination attempt 17 days before being inaugurated. Had the assassination attempt been successful, John Nance Garner would have been President.

1944-45–Franklin D. Roosevelt was diagnosed secretly with congestive heart failure, and had he died sooner than he did, Henry A. Wallace would have been President.

1950–A distant assassination attempt against President Harry Truman at Blair House, where he was staying while the White House was under renovation, would have led to Alben Barkley being President. Truman was not in the building at the time of the assassination attempt.

1963–The evening of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, past midnight, newly inaugurated President Lyndon Johnson was almost shot by accident by a Secret Service agent at the Vice Presidential home, which would have led to Speaker of the House John W. McCormack being President.

1965-1969–Lyndon Johnson, who had suffered a severe heart attack in 1955, and had bad drinking and smoking habits, and a gall bladder operation while President, would have had Hubert Humphrey succeed him as President, had he died in office.

1975–Twice, President Gerald Ford was subjected to assassination attempts in the month of September. Had either attempt been successful, Nelson Rockefeller would have been President.

1980–A plot against the life of President Jimmy Carter by John Hinckley, who later shot President Ronald Reagan, occurring in the fall campaign, would have led to Vice President Walter Mondale in office before the national election, and might have led to him defeating Reagan, out of tragedy and sympathy over the assassination.

1991–George H. W. Bush had a heart problem, atrial fibrillation, and had it been more serious, leading to his death, Vice President Dan Quayle would have been President.

1998-1999–When Bill Clinton was under investigation in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and faced eventual impeachment and trial, had he resigned or been removed, Vice President Al Gore would have become President.

2001- On September 11, there was theoretical danger by terrorists against President George W. Bush, as he flew to different locations on Air Force One. Had bad fortune occurred, Dick Cheney would have become President.

Just imagine Presidents Thomas Marshall, John Nance Garner, Henry A. Wallace, Alben Barkley, John W. McCormack, Hubert Humphrey, Nelson Rockefeller, Walter Mondale, Dan Quayle, Al Gore, and Dick Cheney!

It shows just how important the Vice Presidency is, and who is the occupant of that office!