Thomas Friedman

Concept Of Political Coalition Against Donald Trump: Does History Tell Us It Could Work In America?

Ronald 6 Comments

Thomas Friedman, esteemed columnist for the NEW YORK TIMES, suggested in a recent column that the concept of a political coalition against Donald Trump might be the way to prevent him from coming back to power in the Presidential Election of 2024.

So Friedman suggests the following possible coalition tickets of a Democrat and an anti Trump Republican:

Joe Biden–Liz Cheney

Joe Biden–Lisa Murkowski

Kamala Harris–Mitt Romney

Stacy Abrams–Liz Cheney

Any Klobuchar–Liz Cheney

Friedman makes the comparison to the present coalition government in Israel, but Israel has a Prime Minister and a parliamentary system, which is totally different than our Presidential-Congress system of separation of powers.

And if one looks at past past attempts to have a Vice President who is not part of the majority party at the time, just look at John Tyler, not a Whig, under William Henry Harrison, who then had horrible time and constant turmoil after Harrison died after one month in office in 1841.

Or even better, Andrew Johnson, NOT a Republican, running with Abraham Linoln in 1864, and succeeding him after six weeks, and the horrible relationship and disaster of Johnson as President, facing impeachment and constant vitriol, much of it incited by his own prickly personality.

There was talk in 1968, of Hubert Humphrey selecting Nelson Rockefeller; of 2004, of John Kerry selecting John McCain; of 2008, of John McCain selecting Joe Lieberman. None of those would ever have been able to work out, and elect Humphrey, Kerry, or McCain.

Also, in the run up to 2020, some thought of a John Kasich-John Hickenlooper unity ticket, as an alternative to Donald Trump, and it never got off the ground!

And really, Liz Cheney, with strong right wing views on every topic except the danger of Donald Trump, paring with Biden? That is NOT serious, and Stacy Abrams or Amy Klobuchar paring with Cheney, so two women on the ticket, really?

And Mitt Romney running with Harris, really, with his strong criticism of Biden policies, and unwillingness to even back voting rights legislation?

The only one of these pairings that sounds at all logical, but really is not so, is Biden with Lisa Murkowski, the most acceptable Republican in national office, but how would Biden convince Harris why he has to “dump” her as Vice President?

Presidential Debates Are Worthless, Unless Donald Trump Agrees To Two Conditions: Taxes Revealed, And Fact Checker For Trump Lies!

Ronald 11 Comments

There is no point to Joe Biden agreeing to debate with Donald Trump, unless Trump agrees to reveal his tax records, as Joe Biden has done, AND it is also agreed that there will be a fact checking team approved by both candidates to be hired by the non partisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

That team would report with ten minutes left in the debate any misleading statements, phony numbers, or outright lies uttered by either candidate.

Trump lies as he breathes, as Thomas Friedman of the New York Times said last month, and Biden should not allow that to go unanswered by a fact checking team at the debate.

Since Biden is comfortably ahead in all polls, he gains nothing by debates, and by refusing to debate, will infuriate Trump, who will go even more looney.

Trump knows he is losing, and Joe Biden should just continue to make public statements before small audiences with proper distancing. Biden is being helped by various Republican groups who are dedicated to Trump’s defeat as the only way to revive the party of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Joe Biden has been right since January on the CoronaVirus Pandemic, and should make the effort to win as many states as possible, but the debates make no sense at this point, unless Trump agrees to the two conditions mentioned above, which will not occur!

Thomas Friedman Vs. Michael Steele: Who Is The “Nut Job”?

Ronald Leave a comment

Thomas Friedman, the esteemed columnist of the New York Times, wrote a column yesterday backing up my fear of death threats against President Obama multiplying because of the poisonous rhetoric spewing forth to deny the legitimacy of our President. and promote racist propaganda. He compared it to the atmosphere in Israel in 1995 before the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a right wing whacko.

In response to this respectable columnist, Michael Steele, the African American GOP National Chairman, called Friedman a “nut job”, again displaying what a burden he is on his party and on normal political discussion and discourse.

Besides the extremist talk show hosts and irresponsible members of the Republican Party in Congress, we also have to deal with a person who is truly the “nut job” that he calls Friedman.

Steele seems unwilling to recognize how he promotes an evil that needs to be eradicated, and he should be roundly condemned for his divisive, insulting behavior, which is not unique to this comment on Friedman, but is a common theme that causes any rational human being to feel that he loses all credibility as a political leader to be taken seriously.