Month: May 2025

Financial Insecurity And Fear Of Immigrants Exploited By Trump, But America IS A Liberal Nation, As Proved In Public Opinion Surveys!

Ronald 5 Comments

Donald Trump won the Presidential Election of 2024, based on two factors: Financial Insecurity, and Fear of Immigrants.

But that does not mean that America is a right wing nation, a MAGA Republican nation.

When one examines public opinion ratings on a host of issues, America is truly a liberal oriented nation, which can, however, be swayed by Financial Insecurity and Fear of Immigrants.

For instance, 69 percent support legal abortion.

90 percent want more gun control laws.

72 percent believe the Climate Crisis is real.

79 percent want the wealthy to pay more taxes.

71 percent support Labor Unions.

73 percent want student loan debt relief.

72 percent want money out of politics.

69 percent support same sex marriage.

65 percent want to end the Electoral College.

89 percent oppose gerrymandering.

65 percent support term limits for the Supreme Court.

So when one considers the large number of women, young people, and people of color in our population, there is still hope for the future.

Federal Judiciary, Including Appointees Of Trump, The Bushes, Reagan, Put Limits On Donald Trump Power!

Ronald 1 Comment

The Federal Judiciary, including appointees of Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and even Donald Trump, have been clamping down on abuse of executive power, to the fury of Trump.

The fact that even some of his own judicial appointees are holding Trump accountable says legions about the abuses of power going on.

This includes all three of Trump’s Supreme Court Justice appointments—Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

Trump seems to be ready to refuse to obey any Supreme Court decision, or lower courts, and if that ultimately occurs, then we are in a no win situation in which the President and his appointees are unaccountable in any fashion.

This is a terrifying scenario, with horrifying potential for disaster in so many ways.

Death threats are mounting against judges across the nation, and the President’s rhetoric is encouraging such intimidation.

It is getting more difficult for critics, including this author and blogger, to keep up their optimism that democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution can, successfully, win out over the abuses of power going on in America, as we enter the fifth full month of the second Trump Presidency.

Grievance, Revenge, Retribution, Cruelty: Hallmarks Of Trump Presidency!

Ronald 17 Comments

America has NEVER had a situation as we have in the present: a President whose life is based on grievance, revenge, retribution, and cruelty.

It is a literal nightmare the nation faces, as there is no compassion, empathy, decency, morals, ethics present, and not only in Donald Trump, but also in his Cabinet and other advisers and appointees.

Everything that is said and done is meanspirited, and without any conscience.

Never has the nation had it anywhere as tragic as this, not even with Richard Nixon, as members of his Cabinet turned againat him, and Republicans in Congress cooperated in investigations that led to his resignation.

But even Nixon would be shocked to see the level of open corruption and venality exhibited by Trump and his top cohorts.

Never did we have a group of women, such as Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, Tulsi Gabbard, and even White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who exhibit no sense of propriety in their statements and actions.

Never had we had such evil, nasty aides such as Stephen Miller and Thomas Homan and Russell Vought who are so anti immigrant to an extreme hard to fathom.

Never had we had people who have such arrogance as displayed by Pete Hegseth, Howard Lutnick, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, and even Vice President JD Vance.

Scott Pelley Of “Sixty Minutes” Issues Warning On Authoritarianism!

Ronald 10 Comments

Journalist Scott Pelley of CBS’s “Sixty Minutes”, has many years of reputable work at that news source. He gave a scathing commencement speech at Wake Forest University in North Carolina a week ago, against the authoritarian ideology of Donald Trump, which has provoked wild, vehement accusations from Fox News Channel and its disgraceful talk show hosts.

Pelley, rightfully, warned of the threat to freedom of speech and press represented by the Trump Administration’s attack on journalism, higher education, and law firms.

He also condemned the arrest of foreign students on visas for their use of their right of freedom of speech to criticize the Israel-Gaza War, as well as the attacks on voting rights being perpetrated by the federal government under Donald Trump.

Pelley condemned the fear being promoted by Trump loyalists who are working to undermine the Bill of Rights, and his rhetoric was uncompromising, setting an example for Americans who are terrified at the authoritarian bent of Trump and his supporters.

Pelley has been attacked as being “unhinged”, another of a multitude of examples of “projection”, accusing critics of Trump of what Trump and his supporters do regularly, speak and act in an “unhinged” manner.

Pelley is doing a great service in using his reputation to promote opposition to the dangerous trend that is running amuck around Trump, the movement toward authoritarian Fascism.

If Americans lose the First Amendment, then democracy and the rule of law is lost long term.

Announcing Two Podcast Interviews With The Author

Ronald Leave a comment

I wanted to make everyone who reads my blog aware of the fact that I had two Podcast Interviews recently, regarding my Presidential Assassinations book (published in 2015, and in paperback in 2017).

The first was a Daniel Tintle “No Politics” interview March 14, a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

The second interview was with a former student of mine, Andre Dutra on May 1, regarding my Assassinations book,but also my 53 year teaching career.

Last month, I decided it was time to retire, so it was nice to speak about my more than half century in the classroom.

I continue to give lectures regularly to senior citizens and adults at many venues in South Florida, including Lifelong Learning at Florida Atlantic University.

Both Podcasts have been added to the “Interviews” column on the right side of the blog–“Interview With Andre Dutra”–and “No Politics with Daniel Tintle”.

Any comments or thoughts about these Podcasts are welcome in Comments.

Thank you!

Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, And Other Artists Challenge Trump Destructiveness, Inspiring Millions!

Ronald 1 Comment

Leading entertainers, including most notably, Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift, recently, are speaking out about the cruelty and horrors of the policies of Donald Trump in the past four months.

It is causing Trump to act irrationally in his utterances on Truth Social and in public statements.

Trump is trying to silence these and other cultural critics, but they are refusing to back down, inspiring millions of Americans!

Insults and looney statements are only empowering such entertainers to ramp up their attacks on a President, who is acting in a dictatorial manner in a multitude of ways.

All Americans should honor and praise these entertainers for refusing to bend the knee, as giving in to a bully, which is what Trump is, only emboldens him to go further in abuses of power.

The same support is needed for news media, universities, law firms, and courageous politicians who are promoting resistance, as well as principled judges who are taking action to stop the abuses of power being promoted by the most dangerous President in American history.

It is such groups and individuals who will, in the long run of history, be seen as the true champions of the Constitution, rule of law, the Bill of Rights, and the promotion of freedom and democracy.

With the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence only 13 months away, these various champions of tolerance are the true heroes setting an example for all Americans!

Republican Senate Critics Of Trump “Big, Beautiful” House Bill!

Ronald 32 Comments

Now that the “Big, Beautiful” Donald Trump House bill has passed by the bare margin of 215-214, it is up to the US Senate and Republican majority to have its role in the process.

This bill is so horrendous, that it is hoped that the Republican Senate will balk at it, but hard to imagine that it can be stopped.

Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Josh Hawley of Missouri all have registered problems with the bill, for different reasons.

To count on these four objectionable legislators to, somehow, save the day, and prevent the horrors of this proposed legislation, causes a sense of despair.

If all four, along with Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Susan Collins of Maine, and were to ally together, it could possibly occur, assuming no Democrat would join the majority.

But that is even assuming that Murkowski and Collins would not disappoint which is no certainty!

The War On Science, Health, Education, Public Safety Is Pure Insanity!

Ronald 39 Comments

After four months of the Trump Second Term Presidency, it is alarming the extent of the war on science, health, education, and public safety, clearly pure insanity!

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has undermined confidence in the ability of the federal government to deal with the realities of science, and with the health needs of 330 million Americans.

The attack on vaccines, and the admitted lack of knowledge of the lunatic, RFK Jr, who admits he should not be paid attention to, and yet is making extreme policy changes, is a danger to all Americans, when and if there is a future health crisis, which likely would be greater than the COVID Pandemic.

Research in the Sciences and Medicine fields is being cut, and many talented scientists and doctors are being forced out of their careers, undermining the future of all Americans.

The war on education, particularly on higher education, is interfering with the search for knowledge, facts, and truth, in a whole host of fields of study. Cultural institutions, most notably but not only, the Library of Congress, are under attack, as well.

American Public Safety is also threatened by cuts in the National Weather Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, among other agencies.

America is in unparalleled crisis, in many ways more than since the Civil War, and no easy alternative at this time!

Financial Graft And Malfeasance From Spiro Agnew And Abe Fortas A Half Century Ago To Donald Trump And Clarence Thomas Now!

Ronald 4 Comments

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, we had famous financial graft and malfeasance that led to the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew in 1973, and Supreme Court Associate Justice Abe Fortas in 1969, both over comparatively small amounts of corruption, as one looks back on that time. Both were held accountable, and had to resign their positions of influence.

Now in 2025, we have massive financial corruption by President Donald Trump, and Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (accepting major gifts from Harlan Crowe and others).

And neither Trump nor Thomas, nor many others in the Trump orbit, who are also engaged in financial malfeasance, even try to hide it.

There was a crypto investors dinner last night, hosted by Donald Trump, where wealthy investors, paying at least $1 million to Trump for the opportunity to invest in his memecoin, had the opportunity to have their corrupt requests listened to and accomplished. But apparently, Trump made a brief speech and left the gathering, so those who paid to speak with him did not get that chance, but invested in making Trump and his family ever more wealthy.

This comes after Trump’s business trip to the Arab oligarchs of the Middle East, and his sons and son in law gaining investment opportunities in many countries, because of their connection to Donald Trump. It also follows Trump being offered the “gift” from Qatar of a replacement for Air Force One, which has already been accomplished despite many questions and doubts about the veracity and safety of accepting such a gift, from a nation that has backed the Palestinian terrorist group, Hamas.

This is how deteriorating the sense of honesty and ethics have occurred, as there is no shame in today’s politics!

It makes the corruption of past administrations, including Ulysses S. Grant, Warren G. Harding, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush, look minor by comparison!

And much of the corruption of those Presidencies was not personal, rather people around the Presidents, who served in their administrations and enriched themselves, as a result of their being part of those administrations.

So in the time of Donald Trump, the corruption level is greater than at any time in American history, and yet, it seems to be unstoppable!

Horrific Murder At Israeli Embassy In DC Of Young Couple Committed To Promoting Peace In Middle East!

Ronald 12 Comments

The tragic murder of a young couple at the Washington DC Jewish Museum, at an event sponsored by the Israeli Embassy, is a great human tragedy, and a sign of how antisemitism and hatred, along with the Israeli government total war on Gaza, has led to this disastrous event. This couple was dedicated to promotion of Middle East peace.

Unfortunately, Antisemitism has been mixed with opposition to Israel’s government policies, and all Jewish institutions and Jews on college campuses are threatened as a result of a war that has, seemingly, no end.

One should mourn the deaths of these two young people and others who are threatened and intimidated, but one can also say that people in Gaza should not be treated as if they are all Hamas terrorists, after the horrendous October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

Innocent women and children being killed endlessly is not something that anyone should support.

There has to be a solution whereby the humanity of both Israelis and Arabs can be appreciated, even more at a time of a tragedy such as this.