Author: Ronald

The Destruction Of The Republican Party Future

One thing is clear: All those Republicans backing a challenge to the Electoral College results on Wednesday are doomed, and their careers in national politics are over! This includes Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, but also many others.

The Republican Party will be known as the Treason Party, the Sedition Party, and only those who stand up against this outrage have a long term political future.

While this blogger and author is not a fan of many Republicans, one has to say that Senators, including Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rob Portman of Ohio, Susan Collins of Maine, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, and Tim Scott of South Carolina are part of the future of a party that moves back toward the moderate center.

Also, while not admiring of former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, third ranking House Republican Liz Cheney, Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland, Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio, and many others, they realize the insanity of backing Donald Trump at this point.

Tomorrow will be an historic day for certain!

As Georgia Votes For Two Senators Tomorrow, Donald Trump Commits Impeachable, Criminal Act!

The Georgia runoff elections are taking place on Tuesday, just as Donald Trump has been committing impeachable, and criminal acts, trying to force the Georgia Secretary of State and the Georgia Governor, both Republicans, to “fix” the election results in a vain attempt to deny Joe Biden the Electoral College victory he won nine weeks ago.

Listening to the hour long tape of his phone call to the Georgia state officials is shocking, and demonstrates how Trump is conducting himself as if he is a Mafia Chief, with no limits, and demonstrates the danger he presents to the nation!

The Biden victory has been affirmed in about 60 court cases, including two before the Supreme Court, which includes three Trump appointees.

It is clear that Donald Trump is obsessive compulsive, and unwilling to accept defeat, and is living in an alternate world reality!

He is violating his oath of office, and endangering the nation in a multitude ways, and should be impeached immediately by the House of Representatives, despite the reality that there is no way to have an impeachment trial, but for the record of history!

Trump also needs to face criminal indictment once he leaves office, and not just for financial corruption in New York State and New York City, but for massive abuse of power!

The danger with 16 days to go is that Trump is assaulting American democracy, the Constitution, and rule of law, and could, in theory, start a war with Iran; or try to use nuclear weapons; or order his right wing lunatic followers (The Proud Boys) to provoke violence, which may come on January 6 and after, including Inauguration Day, January 20!

The idea that 13 Republican Senators and 140 Republican Congressmen are still tied to Trump, and planning to disrupt the Electoral College vote on Wednesday, presents a crisis unseen before in American history, with a President who is totally unhinged mentally!

Mike Pence, A Dozen Republican Senators, And 140 House Members Are Promoting Treason And Sedition!

We are about to witness treason and sedition being promoted by Vice President Mike Pence, along with a dozen or more Republican Senators, and at least 140 House Republicans.

What is normally and traditionally a ceremonial counting of the Electoral Vote in a joint session of Congress, presided over by the sitting Vice President, is now becoming a mockery, as Donald Trump contested the result and has lost in every court setting, including twice in the Supreme Court with a Republican majority, including three Trump appointees!

Mike Pence is going along with a challenge in order to promote his own future Presidential candidacy, in the hope that Donald Trump will not run in 2024, and will support him, and the same is the reasoning why Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas are leading a fight that undermines the Constitution and rule of law.

The 14th Amendment, Section 3, makes clear that what these Republicans in Congress and the Vice President are doing is promoting treason and sedition. By all rights, they should all face arrest, trial, and incarceration, as they are provoking dangerous and reckless behavior by Trump and his supporters, leading to likely confrontations, bloodshed, and violence on Wednesday, January 6, and even more seriously, on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2021, when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are inaugurated President and Vice President.

America is not a banana Republic, but Donald Trump has no issue in burning down the Republican Party, and the future of public safety in the middle of a pandemic worsened by his own lack of concern for human life!

Mike Pence’s job on Wednesday is not to promote his own advancement, but rather fulfill his constitutional duty followed by every Vice President, those on the winning side of an election, but also those on the losing side, as for instance, Richard Nixon in 1961 and Al Gore in 2001.

History will condemn these law breaking Republicans and Mike Pence for the disgraceful actions they are taking, but at the end, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be in charge of the government in 17 days!

Biden Selection For Attorney General: Doug Jones The Best Choice

It is likely in this first week of 2021 that President Elect Joe Biden will select his Attorney General, arguably the most important Cabinet post, as the Justice Department needs major makeover, and the person in that position will have to consider action against Donald Trump and many of his Cabinet members and family members who have abused the Constitution.

And the perfect person for this position is former Senator Doug Jones of Alabama, easily the best Senator in modern Alabama history, as the state is sadly known for the horrible, horrendous Senators who have represented the state in modern times.

The best Senator earlier in the 20th century was Hugo Black, who served from 1927-1937, and went on to become a distinguished, outstanding Supreme Court Associate Justice from 1937 to 1971, overcoming his Ku Klux Klan past, revealed when he was appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Jones is most famous for being the US Attorney who pursued the Birmingham Church Bombers of 1963, who were responsible for the deaths of four young African American girls, with him successfully bringing the perpetrators to justice nearly four decades later, in 2001. He also pursued the Atlanta Olympic Park Bomber, Eric Rudolph, after that infamous terrorist attack in 1996.

Sadly, Jones only had three years in the US Senate, the first Democrat from Alabama since 1997, losing his seat to the former football coach, Tommy Tuberville, who had been at Auburn University many years earlier, but has no real intelligence or knowledge of government. This showed bad judgment by Alabama voters, but now Jones should be the Attorney General, as his ethics and principles are inviolable!

Senator Josh Hawley A Threat To American Democracy And Civil Order, And Must Be Repudiated!

The New Year of 2021 is upon us, and now we face a dire threat from a young US Senator, Josh Hawley of Missouri, at present the youngest Senator at age 41, who defeated Democrat Claire McCaskill in 2018.

Hawley has made a major blunder in joining the Trumpite extremists, mostly Southerners, in the House of Representatives, who are plotting to undermine the normally placid counting of the Electoral College votes in a joint session of Congress on January 6.

Vice President Mike Pence is responsible for operating a peaceful, ceremonial and routine counting of the electoral vote, as has been done constantly by the sitting Vice President at the end of every Presidential term.

Hawley is a highly ambitious young man, who is plotting a Presidential run in 2024, but he is ready and willing to be a threat to American democracy and civil order, by challenging the obvious victory of Joe Biden for the Presidency.

He is joining the true whackos who are a disgrace to the Republican Party, out to promote an outgoing President who is authoritarian oriented, and has no concern for the American people, only about aggrandizement of his own power.

Hawley is destroying his future, and is proving how reckless he is, despite criticism from fellow Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Mitt Romney of Utah, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania!

Hawley should be repudiated by all who believe in the Constitution and rule of law, and should be drummed out of the Senate for his abuse of power, as one can sense, in a fashion, he is a new Joseph McCarthy in relation to running rampant on an autocratic bent for his own advancement!

The Destructive Impact Of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Needs To End In Georgia Senate Runoffs!

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is the most powerful Republican in Congress, having a leadership position for 18 years, as Senate Majority Whip from 2003-2007; Senate Minority Leader from 2007-2015, and Senate Majority Leader from 2015-2021, with his future as either Majority Leader or Minority Leader depending on the two Georgia Senate runoffs taking place next week.

McConnell has been much vilified for his obstructionism tactics under President Barack Obama, and his refusal to allow hearings for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland in 2016. Also, he focused on adding over 200 judges to the federal judiciary, including three Supreme Court nominees, under President Donald Trump.

McConnell will be 79 in February 2021, nine months older than Joe Biden, and the two men have worked together over the years in the Senate and the Vice Presidency years of Biden, so it is hoped there might be some cooperation and bipartisanship, but one cannot count on that.

And the Georgia Senate runoff elections next week will decide the exact role of McConnell.

McConnell has the distinction of being the longest serving US Senator in Kentucky history; and the longest serving leader of Senate Republicans in US History, and now starting his seventh term.

So within the next few months, McConnell will go from being presently 23rd longest serving Senator in American history to being 16th longest, as seven Senators ahead of him include not only Joe Biden, but also others he will pass between January 3 and the end of March. And if he stays in the Senate until the end of his seventh term in January 2027, just less than two months short of age 85, he will have passed all but six Senators, or possibly seven, if Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa wins reelection in 2022 at the age of 89.

While in many ways McConnell is despicable and horrendous, his longevity is amazing, and he will go down in history as a major “player” in the history of the US Senate and the Republican Party!

The Refusal Of So Many Americans To Accept Science, And The Role Of Government

It is extremely frustrating to witness, both personally, and in coverage of the news, that so many people refuse to accept science, and also the role of government.

The first purpose of government is to PROTECT and DEFEND the American people, and that includes sacrifice and concern about others, NOT just about one’s own pleasures and desires.

And the promotion of science is essential, and needs to be respected over religious beliefs and whims, and this includes recognition of updates in science over the decades since one learned science when in school!

To see so many people claiming their rights over responsibility to society as a whole is infuriating, and it has made the struggle against COVID 19 ever more difficult, leading to one of every thousand Americans dying as the year 2020 comes to an end!

Any government leader who refuses to put restrictions on the population in a time of a once in a lifetime pandemic is someone who should be summarily removed from office, but instead, we have many Americans condemning such state governors as Andrew Cuomo of New York, Larry Hogan of Maryland, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, and Gavin Newsom of California, among others. These are both Democratic and Republican governors, so this is not a political statement!

Instead, these selfish, self centered individuals applaud such reckless and irresponsible governors as Ron DeSantis of Florida and Kristi Noem of South Dakota, who have presided over disastrous conditions, and lied and manipulated the truth, following the lead of Donald Trump, who is responsible for his refusal to accept reality, and promoted masks and social distancing as a model for America!

So the so called “greatest nation in the world” has the biggest loss of life, cases, and hospitalizations of any nation in the world, and it could have been otherwise, but politics and egomaniacal behavior mattered more to Trump than the lives and safety of Americans.

Donald Trump will never live down the massive loss of life in less than one year on his watch, and those who refuse even now to accept science and the role of government will carry the burden of guilt, and many of these same individuals will refuse to accept vaccination, and the hope is that fate will punish them for this stupidity and lack of concern for others!

Republican Double Standard: Massive Tax Cuts For Wealthy, But Limit Financial Aid In Pandemic

The Republican Party is proving once again that they favor the wealthy with massive tax cuts that add to the national debt, but have no interest in giving financial aid in the once in a century COVID 19 Pandemic, arguing it will add to the national debt!

Meanwhile, tens of millions are desperate, facing eviction, hunger, inability to pay basic needs. This is having not only a physical threat to health, but also emotional and mental!

A payment of $2000 would vastly help tens of millions of Americans get through the increasing pandemic, as the earlier $1200 payment in the spring of 2020 prevented the economic decline from being worse than it is.

Ultimately, more financial aid will be needed, and the wealthy, who have had “gifts” of massive tax cuts three times in the pat 40 years, under Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and now Donald Trump, will have to cough up more in taxes, as they have the patriotic duty to recognize that the entire economy is in the worst disaster since the 1930s, and demands their cooperation!

This includes the super billionaires, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and others, who have increased the wealth exponentially in the past nine months!

If Mitch McConnell does not allow a vote, the Republicans will lose the two Senate races in Georgia a week from today, but even if a $2000 payment is approved, the Republicans are harming themselves by their lack of concern for average Americans, only finally agreeing under duress, not a good image for a corrupt political party!

The Republican Party Potential Field (25) Seeking Presidential Nomination In 2024!

When one looks ahead to the next round of Presidential contenders in the Republican Party for 2024, one sees clearly that it is a “Group Of Horrors” that awaits the nation, if the party does not reform itself and reject the extreme right wing extremists who are planning to seek the Presidency in 2024.

There is a long list of potential contenders, and it will be a question of how one separates responsible conservatives from the monsters that wish to make even Donald Trump look less extreme by comparison! Imagine that!

The most extreme Right potential nominees as now perceived include the eight following in no special order:

Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas
Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky
Senator Rick Scott of Florida
Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida
Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota

Those less far Right but still unacceptable to any rational person include the five following in no special order:

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida
Senator Mike Lee Of Utah
Vice President Mike Pence of Indiana
Former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

And then there are those who are conservatives in the more traditional mold, including the nine following in no special order:

Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska
Senator Mitt Romney of Utah
Former Ohio Governor John Kasich
Senator Rob Portman of Ohio
Former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China and Russia Jon Huntsman
Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland
Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts
Former Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey
Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois

And finally, there are the true long shot whackos, including:

Donald Trump, Jr.
Tucker Carlson of Fox News Channel

And of course, Donald Trump could end up running, and putting the Republican Party in total disarray!

Past Bipartisan Actions: Can This Happen Again As Joe Biden Hopes For, Or Is This A Mirage?

In the past, despite political party conflict on beliefs and principles, we saw bipartisan actions and crossing party lines to accomplish major goals.

Here are four examples of such situations since World War II where a President of one party and a Congressional leader of the opposition party cooperated, and brought along other votes from their party to back the President of the opposition party.

When Democratic President Harry Truman was in office, and the Cold War with the Soviet Union was evolving, Truman was able to gain key Republican support from the Republican Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 80th Congress, Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, for the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan in 1947-1948.

When Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower was in office, he was able to work cooperatively with the Democratic leaders of both houses of Congress from 1955-1961 on many matters. Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, both from Texas, worked across the party lines in many situations, particularly on the first Civil Rights Acts (1957 and 1960) since Reconstruction after the Civil War.

When Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson was in office, he was able to gain support of Republican Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois on gaining necessary support on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Medicare passage in 1965.

When Republican President Ronald Reagan was in office, he was able to come to an agreement with Democratic Speaker of the House Thomas “Tip” O’Neill to protect Social Security long term by a bipartisan agreement in 1983.

Since the 1990s and the hardline partisanship of the Republican Party and then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in the Republican Revolution of 1994, we have seen unwillingness by that party to have any willingness to cross party lines, and his early efforts were also pursued by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell right up to the present!

So President Elect Joe Biden’s publicly expressed hopes for bipartisan actions in these disastrous times to be accomplished, is it a mirage? We shall find out soon!