Presidential Election Of 2016

What If All Four Florida Potential Republican Presidential Candidates Ran?

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The “Sunshine” State (Florida) could, potentially, have four of its citizens who have served in public office all announcing for the Presidential nomination of the Republican Party for 2024.

Donald Trump has already announced, back in November 2022.

Governor Ron DeSantis is certain to announce after the Florida legislature finishes its session in April.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio already ran for President in 2016, and without a Senate race coming up, could announce another attempt for the Presidency.

Florida Senator Rick Scott, former Governor, faces a Senate reelection contest, but still could decide to put his name into the battle for the White House.

The concept that four political leaders from one state could be competing is a first.

Also, the question is how would these four Florida Republicans stack up if all were on the ballot in the Florida Primary, and what would be their total support for the nomination in competition with other Republican contenders.

Earlier in American history, there were two Floridians in the Democratic Party who mounted unsuccessful campaigns for President–Governor Reubin Askew (1984) and finalist for Vice President for George McGovern (1972); and Governor and Senator Bob Graham (2004), with Graham also on short lists a number of times to be a potential running mate of various Democratic Presidential candidates, including Michael Dukakis (1988), Bill Clinton (1992), Al Gore (2000) and John Kerry (2004).

Donald Trump Likely Soon To Be Indicted In Three Jurisdictions!

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It now seems clear that former President Donald Trump will soon be indicted in Georgia for interfering in the vote count in that state in the Presidential Election of 2020.

It also seems clear that in New York, the case against Trump on the payments to “Stormy Daniels” to cover up the affair Trump had with her, but which he wished to hide due to his Presidential campaign, is also coming to a head very soon.

And the federal case against Trump for the January 6 Insurrection and the hiding of government documents at Mar A Lago also is on its way to another indictment.

These indictments will come in the midst of the Presidential campaign of 2024, and should derail Trump from being able to run.

If only the 14th Amendment, Section 3, designed originally to deal with the rebellion of the Confederate States of America, were to be utilized, Donald Trump would be unable to run for President, even without any indictments or trials.

But sadly, the likelihood of such action by a divided Congress, with so many Republicans kowtowing to Donald Trump, prevents such action, so the threat of Donald Trump is very real and dangerous to national security, as he is the leader of domestic terrorist forces!

Two Year Anniversary Of Joe Biden Presidency: Should He Run For Second Term?

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Today at 12 Noon marks the two year anniversary of the Joe Biden Presidency!

Considering the difficult political circumstances, of an evenly divided Senate for only the fourth time in American history, and a five seat margin in the House of Representatives, Joe Biden accomplished a great deal in his first two years in office.

From a progressive view, he was the most successful in his first two years domestically than any President since Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s with his “Great Society” legislation, which was far greater, but with a massive margin of his party in control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Biden accomplished more than Democrats in the Presidency after Johnson, including Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and even Barack Obama, after their first two years in the Oval Office!

Foreign policy has been difficult, as it always is, but Biden’s strong support of Ukraine in its war with Russia, and backed by NATO, has been a very strong example of his promotion of democracy against totalitarianism, reminiscent of Franklin D. Roosevelt coming to the aid of Great Britain in 1940-1941, before America’s entrance into World War II.

Having said all the above, the question now is should Joe Biden, having reached the age of 80 precisely two months ago, run for a second term, and would he win a second term?

This author and blogger has always had great and warm feelings toward Joe Biden, going back to when he gravitated toward Biden as, in my mind, the replacement in commitment and personality traits of Hubert Humphrey, who was this author’s original political “hero”!

I wish that Biden had been able to run for President in 2016, but his son Beau’s death prevented that, as I believe he would have won the nomination, and would have defeated Donald Trump, and saved America from the nightmare four years of horrendous policies and criminal actions.

Hillary Clinton had too many barriers, including controversies surrounding her and her husband, along with simply being the first woman nominee for President. Of course, Hillary Clinton still won the national popular vote by 2.85 million, and only lost because of Russian collusion with Trump that threw the Electoral College vote to him in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Even a Republican controlled Senate committee came to that conclusion, despite the continued lying and deception that continues unabated to the present.

But the present is the issue, and this author and blogger sincerely believes that while Joe Biden would win a second term, against Donald Trump or anyone else on the horizon, that for the future of the Presidency and of Joe Biden’s own lifespan, that he should announce that he will retire.

It would make him a “lameduck President”, but freed from politics of his own ego, he could be seen as a statesman, helping to bring the future of the nation toward a Democratic Party successor, who would pursue his principles, goals, and common decency and compassion!

We need a future President who has the character traits of Joe Biden, as we do not want to promote selfishness, greed, nastiness, and lack of compassion and common decency, which too many Republicans who plan to run for President, possess as their basic character traits!

This way, Joe Biden can leave office at age 82, with head held high, having accomplished a decent record under difficult circumstances, having assisted for his own succession. And he can have peace of mind, planning his own Presidential Library and Museum, writing his own memoirs, and enjoying his wife, Dr Jill Biden, and his family in a relaxed, well deserved retirement, which is likely to lead to a longer life, than having the stress of another four years in office!

He should not join the list of Presidents who either died in office or had very short retirements, such individuals as Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, and Lyndon B. Johnson!

So, President Biden, do what is best for you and for the nation you have served so well, and announce your decision to leave office two years from today, having insured the succession of a Democratic President who will carry on with your commitment to decency, fairness, and compassion!

Democrat Tim Ryan Deserves To Be Elected As Ohio Senator

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Ohio has an opportunity to elect a Congressman who has made a distinguished record in the House of Representatives for the past 20 years to be its new US Senator.

Tim Ryan is clearly a person of distinction and principle, who would join Democrat Sherrod Brown in the Senate, and replace Republican Senator Rob Portman, one of the small number of Republican leaders who performed in a reputable fashion in his years in the upper body of Congress.

Ohio deserves to have two principled Democrats who care about the state and the nation, not about pleasing Fascist demagogue Donald Trump, as Republican Senate nominee J D Vance does (after having denounced Trump in 2016). Vance also is an “Election Denier”, regarding the Presidential Election of 2020, so cannot be trusted with power in the Senate!

Fascinating Senate Race In Utah: Evan McMullin Running As Independent Against Mike Lee, And Mitt Romney Remaining Neutral!

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One of the most interesting and fascinating Senate races in 2022 is in heavily Mormon Utah, where Republican Senator Mike Lee, who has emerged as a MAGA Republican, despite being very critical of Donald Trump six years ago, faces a challenge NOT from a Democrat, but from an Independent Republican who ran for President in 2016 in protest against Donald Trump’s candidacy.

McMullin won 21.5 percent of the vote in 2016 in Utah, and half of one percent of the total national vote, close to 750,000 votes. And in 2020, he endorsed Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden. McMullin had been a CIA agent, and believed Trump was a danger to national security.

When McMullin decided to run against Mike Lee, the Democratic Party in Utah agreed to stay out of the race, and right now, the polls indicate a very close race, with Lee only ahead by 4 percent, and more than ten percent of the voters still undecided.

McMullin, a strong conservative with principle, and never a Trump loyalist, has pledged he will not join the caucus of either the Republicans or Democrats if he wins the seat.

And the controversy over this race is magnified by Utah Senator Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican Presidential nominee, refusing to take a stand and endorse his Senate colleague, Mike Lee. This is causing an uproar, but remember Romney voted to convict Trump in both impeachment trials, and has been condemned by Donald Trump.

This race of Lee vs McMullin will certainly be one of the most intriguing Senate races in November!

Results Of Tuesday’s Primaries Indicate The Upcoming Midterm Elections Favoring Democrats

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The feeling is developing that Democrats are going to have an unexpected advantage in November’s Midterm Elections.

The strong support of Florida Democrats for Charlie Crist and for Val Demings portend, hopefully, difficult races for Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Marco Rubio. It would seem that both races will be close, and the hope is that the Democratic nominees, the strongest possible nominees, have a good chance of victory, but it will not be easy in any sense.

DeSantis is acting more every day like an authoritarian tyrant, and there is pushback on his actions that centralize too much power in the governorship, and give us a hint of the horrors of this man, were he to run for and win the Presidency in 2024.

Rubio has been a lazy and unprincipled Senator, who did not even want to run for reelection in 2016, but did after his failed Presidential candidacy in that year. But his total obsequious nature toward Donald Trump makes him clearly a weak, indecisive figure, who has no concern about the danger to American democracy of the former President, whom he once condemned harshly.

In New York, moderates won out over “progressives” in a number of Congressional races, including Dan Goldman (who was engaged in the prosecution of Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial); Jerry Nadler, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee; and Sean Patrick Maloney, the Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Also, in upstate New York, in a Congressional election to elect a person to finish a Congressional term of someone who resigned, seen as a battle over abortion rights, Pat Ryan, the Democratic nominee and strongly for abortion rights, defeated a Republican, and this is seen as another sign of the strong support of Democrats, Independents, and some moderate Republicans for abortion rights to be insured, following up on the Kansas state abortion vote in July!

Pulitzer Prize Board Upholds Awards Of 2018 To NY Times, Washington Post, On Trump-Russian Collusion In 2016 Presidential Election!

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The NY Times and Washington Post, the two “national” newspapers, have received the most Pulitzer Prizes for Journalism in American history–with the NY Times winning 132 and the Washington Post 65.

In 2018, both newspapers won the Pulitzer Prize once again, for their reporting of the Donald Trump Presidential campaign in 2016 colluding with the Russians and Vladimir Putin to help defeat Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump was and remains outraged by such accusations, although a Senate Republican committee in 2019 reaffirmed the truth about that election, that Trump’s narrow victory in three states was fixed!

But now, the Pulitzer Prize Foundation has upheld the correctness of the awards given four years ago, a reaffirmation of freedom of the press and promotion of the truth!

Senators Susan Collins And Joe Manchin Were Bamboozled By Supreme Court Nominees!

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It is now clear that Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia were bamboozled by Supreme Court nominees Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

All three claimed that they understood that Roe V. Wade was established law, and that they had no intention of conspiring to reverse abortion rights.

This is a major embarrassment for both Collins and Manchin, and sullies their reputations long term, although it seems clear that they are arrogant personalities, who really do not care about public opinion, which is overwhelmingly pro choice on abortion.

The three Supreme Court Justices, by all ethics and morality, should be forced off the Supreme Court for lying under oath before the US Senate Judiciary Committee, but of course they will face no such action.

And all three were chosen by a President, Donald Trump, who lost the popular vote by 2.85 million, and who was put into office by Russian collusion, confirmed by a Republican Senate majority in 2010 to be reality.

The Supreme Court has lost any respect or reputation, and clearly has become a right wing extremist group wishing to destroy much more than abortion rights!

A move to add members to the Court seems urgent, but can only happen as a long shot at this point, so the nation is a victim of right wing extremism, very disconcerting!

Two Republican Majority Courts Supported Abortion Rights, But Not Now In 2022!

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In the case of Roe V. Wade (1973), decided by 7-2, Abortion Rights for women was made federal law, with five of the seven votes being Republican appointments:

Harry Blackmun (Nixon)
Warren Burger (Chief Justice) (Nixon)
William Brennan (Eisenhower)
Potter Stewart (Eisenhower)
Lewis Powell (Nixon)

In Planned Parenthood V. Casey (1992), a later case on abortion, with some limits, the decision was 5-4, with all 5 in the majority being Republican appointments:

Sandra Day O’Connor (Reagan)
Anthony Kennedy (Reagan)
David Souter (HW Bush)
Harry Blackmun (Nixon)
John Paul Stevens (Ford)

All of these Republican appointed Justices were considered to be “conservatives” in their time frame, although Blackmun, Brennan, and Stevens came to be seen as “liberals’ over time, and O’Connor, Kennedy, and Souter came to be seen as “moderates”.

The definition of “conservative” has changed dramatically in the past half century, so all of the Republican Justices would be seen by right wing Republicans in 2022 as “RINOS”, Republicans In Name Only!

In 2022, in Dobbs V. Jackson’s Women Health Organization, all six Republicans voted to end abortion rights, although Chief Justice John Roberts wanted only further limitations on abortion, and therefore dissented while joining the other five Republicans.

These appointments were by two Presidents who lost the popular vote when they were elected by the Electoral College, along with Clarence Thomas appointed by George H W Bush.

Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh both had charges of sexual impropriety brought against them, while Neil Gorsuch gained a place on the Court that was meant for Barack Obama appointee Merrick Garland, and Amy Coney Barrett replaced the recently deceased Ruth Bader Ginsburg just a week before an election in which Donald Trump lost by 7 million votes to Joe Biden, who should have been allowed that appointment.

First Time Ever A Constitutional Right Granted Has Been Taken Away: Abortion Rights!

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This has been a very emotional, disturbing 24 hours, causing the rise in blood pressure in millions of Americans!

The Supreme Court has taken away abortion rights after 49 years, as the right wing extremists on the Court, appointed by Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump, both of whom lost the popular vote in Presidential elections, have decided women should not control their own bodies.

This has never happened before, to take away a right granted, and to say that abortion is not in the Constitution, is a ridiculous argument! For instance, political parties, Cabinet members, end of African American slavery, rights to vote for women and racial minorities, Social Security, Medicare, and a massive number of other activities and basic functions of government, all came AFTER the writing of the Constitution 235 years ago! Originalism is preposterous in running a goverment centuries later!

The Trump appointed Justices lied in their confirmation hearings when they said Roe V. Wade was established law, as if it was, there is no justification for making women bear children, especially those who have been victims of rape or incest, or where life and well being of the mother is at stake!

The Court Justices lying are grounds for their impeachment and removal, as they tricked Senators who voted for them, including Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Susan Collins of Maine!