Aaron Burr

Anniversary Of Benedict Arnold’s Treason Brings Up Donald Trump’s Treason!

In late September 1780, General Benedict Arnold committed treason, plotting with the British enemy to hand over West Point, New York, the future Military Academy, and about 10,000 American soldiers to the British.

If the treason had succeeded, it would have ended the American Revolution, and the fight for American Independence.

Since the time of Benedict Arnold, there have been others who have been considered traitors to America.

This would include the leaders of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, including, most notably, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, along with leading Confederate Generals such as Robert E. Lee and others.

There have been others who conspired against American interests, including former Vice President Aaron Burr, after leaving the Vice Presidency in 1805, and those who consorted with Nazi Germany, including Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh; and those who consorted with the Soviet Union over the 75 years of that nation’s existence.

But now, we have a much more serious threat, in a former President, Donald Trump, who has consorted with dictators, including most notably Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, and who inspired the January 6, 2021 Insurrection at the US Capitol. And Trump illegally took national security documents to his Mar A Lago estate, and there are still questions as to whether other documents might be found at his other estates in New Jersey, Trump Tower in New York City, and elsewhere and whether he may have shared and sold national security details to Putin and others.

So many have stated that Benedict Arnold has been succeeded by “Benedict Donald”, who is seen as a “clear and present danger” to American national security and American democracy!

Commemoration Of January 6, And Condemnation Of Mike Pence For His Lack Of Appreciation!

The nation is coming up to the anniversary of the most dangerous attack on the US Capitol since the War of 1812, and the most dangerous threat to our nation’s survival since the Civil War.

The January 6, 2021 Insurrection will be commemorated this coming week by the Congress and the White House, but Donald Trump is planning an event to disrupt and further create instability in order to destroy American democracy.

And former Vice President Mike Pence has shown no apprecation for the sacrifices of US Capitol Police Officers who helped to save his life from likely hanging and death on that horrific day in Washington, DC.

Pence was a total toady on that day, making him the worst Vice President since Spiro Agnew, worse than even Dan Quayle, and on a short list of Vice Presidents who have disgraced the office, including Aaron Burr and John C. Calhoun.

For Pence to think he has a real opportunity to be President indicates how seriously morally corrupt he is, or how mentally deranged he is.

Imagine that Pence had to have Dan Quayle convince him to do his duty, and count the legitimate Electoral College votes, when he clearly was morally weak and considering caving in, and being part of the unconstitutional Insurrection to destroy American democracy.

21st Anniversary Of Al Gore Concession In 2000, Compared To Donald Trump In 2020!

The 21st anniversary of Vice President Al Gore’s concession to George W. Bush after the heated 36 day standoff in the Presidential Election of 2000 reminds us of the reality that Donald Trump has still NOT conceded he lost the Presidential Election of 2020 to Joe Biden, and is stirring up a dangerous scenario that could lead to another US Capitol Insurrection in the future!

Donald Trump must be held accountable and prosecuted for his crimes which led to the violence and bloodshed on January 6, and he must be prevented from being able to run for President again in 2024, as his goal is simply to incite division and a potential civil war, rather than unite the nation to a peaceful future!

Donald Trump is clearly a traitor to America, in many ways more so than Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, Jefferson Davis and others who put their own selfish desires ahead of what was good for the survival of America!

Six Months Since January 6 US Capitol Insurrection

It has been six months since the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection.

Over 500 seditionists and traitors to the US Constitution have been arrested for the domestic violence, bloodshed, and destruction they perpetrated on the cradle of American democracy, and they need the full effect of law enforcement to be brought upon them.

The investigation of what happened that day is moving ahead whether or not Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell and the Republican Congressional members want it to procede.

Those members of Congress or their staffs who collaborated in the events of that day need to be prosecuted and expelled from Congress.

White supremacy must be eliminated from the halls of Congress, and Donald Trump needs to be indicted for insurrection, treason, and sedition, and be shown in handcuffs, and sentenced to federal prison, as in the same disgraced company of such traitors as Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, Jefferson Davis and others in the American past!

A salute to Republicans Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois for being supportive of the January 6 House Committee creation, and Cheney’s accepting membership offered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi!

Enhanced defense and readiness for the US Capitol is essential, due to the right wing threats of more violence, due to the QAnon promotion of the crazy idea of Donald Trump returning to the Presidency in August.

And greater protection is required of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, their families, and the same for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other Democratic and Republican members of Congress who have expressed loyalty to the Constitution and rule of law!

Inauguration Day Has Arrived: A New Beginning, And Need To Insure Donald Trump Will Never Hold Office Again!

Inauguration Day 2021 has finally arrived!

A new beginning under a very decent, compassionate, empathetic, and genuine man, Joe Biden, who cares about unity and progress, is awaiting us in a few hours, and the cancer of Donald Trump, the great national nightmare, is over!

Let us all pray for a peaceful celebration of the inauguration of the 46th President, and yet feel sadness that 25,000 National Guardsmen are needed today to insure the safety and security of the new President and the entire group of government leaders that will commemorate the transition of power!

Every effort must be made to insure that Donald Trump will never hold public office again!

And every decent person must work to insure that anyone of the mentality of the extreme right wing, hateful and anti democracy, never again is a threat to come to office in America!

So those who wish to be the new Donald Trump, such as Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and others, must be denied any chance to be a national leader!

Both of those disgraceful Senators, as well as all others who attempted to overthrow an election result by insurrection, need to be expelled from Congress, and be prosecuted for their crimes!

These people who have committed treason must be added to the list of such traitors in history, including, the following—-Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Joseph McCarthy, and Donald Trump!

Mike Pence Historical Reputation At Stake As He Leaves Vice Presidency Next Month

Vice President Mike Pence, the 48th Vice President, has been a total disaster in that office, and has added to the horrendous record of recent Republican Vice Presidents, as compared to recent Democratic Vice Presidents.

Just going back a half century, and one can see how different the historical reputation is of the two party’s Vice Presidents.

There are two Republican Vice Presidents since 1969—Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush—who later went on to become President, and despite controversies, stand out as reasonably decent Vice Presidents. Nelson Rockefeller, under Gerald Ford, also comes across as having had a decent record and historical reputation worth defending.

But then we have Spiro Agnew under Richard Nixon, who was forced out of the Vice Presidency by corruption, and it remains terrifying that he came so close to becoming President.

We have Dan Quayle, who was a not very bright man, and very scary as potential President when George H.W. Bush had some health crises.

And we have Dick Cheney, often considered more a President in the first term of George W. Bush, who was terrifying in his “Darth Vader” type evil, and committed war crimes and abuse of power while Vice President, demonstrating the potential for harm done by a very bright man, who was transformed by September 11 in a dangerous way.

Now compare this to the Democratic Vice Presidents since 1969. We have Walter Mondale under Jimmy Carter, recognized by scholars as the most active, engaged and exceptional Vice President in American history, and still living 40 years after his time in office, and reaching the age of 93 on January 5.

We have Al Gore, who served Bill Clinton in a very reputable fashion, and influenced Clinton on environmental and other matters. And he had the dignity after a contested Presidential election in 2000, to concede in a manner that showed respect for the Constitution and rule of law.

And we have Joe Biden, who is seen as either equivalent of importance to Barack Obama or just second to Walter Mondale under Jimmy Carter, and now will be the 46th President of the United States in less than a month! Certainly, Biden’s Vice Presidency prepared him for the challenges he will face on January 20, 2021!

All three of these Democratic Vice Presidents in the past half century stand out as successes, and all three also ran for President, and they add to the dignity and significance of the office of Vice President.

The Republican Vice Presidents, at least Agnew, Quayle, and Cheney were, by comparison, true disasters!

Now, Mike Pence, who has demonstrated a complete lack of guts to challenge Donald Trump on anything he says or does, has an historic role he faces on January 6, to go through the ceremonial duty as President of the US Senate, to conduct a formal counting of the electoral votes before a joint session of Congress.

Every one of the Vice Presidents in office at the end of the term from Hubert Humphrey in 1969, through Nelson Rockefeller in 1977, through Walter Mondale in 1981, through George H. W. Bush in 1989, through Dan Quayle in 1993, through Al Gore, in 2001, through Dick Cheney in 2009, and through Joe Biden in 2017, have followed procedure and refused to allow challenges or controversies during that solemn ceremony.

But the odds are good that Mike Pence will allow such characters as Congressmen Mo Brooks of Alabama, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, and Jim Jordan of Ohio; and Senators Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin to delay the counting of the vote as they try to deny Joe Biden his rightful win in the Electoral College and in the popular vote nationally!

If Mike Pence does that, he will be condemned in history on the level of such disgraced Vice Presidents as Aaron Burr and Spiro Agnew!

Treason In US History: Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, John Tyler, Jefferson Davis, And Now Donald Trump

Treason is a tough issue to approach.

Certainly, Benedict Arnold committed treason, and is condemned for it in history, when he attempted to hand over West Point, New York and its thousands of soldiers to the British in 1780, during the American Revolution.

Some observers think Aaron Burr may have committed treason after leaving the Vice Presidency in 1805, attempting to seize part of the Louisiana Territory or take away Spanish territories further west. He was arrested, brought to trial for treason, and Chief Justice John Marshall ruled he had not committed treason by the normal definition, and conspiracy without actions should not lead to conviction. Still, many people then and since, think Burr was guilty of treason.

President John Tyler gave up his citizenship, and supported the Confederate States of America, becoming part of the provisional Confederate Congress in 1861, before his death in 1862, therefore committing treason.

Jefferson Davis committed treason, as President of the Confederate States of America, as did Vice President Alexander Stephens and other public officals, and arguably, General Robert E. Lee, and other Confederate generals, as well.

And now, it is becoming more likely that the 45th President, Donald Trump, has committed treason by colluding with the Russians to fix the Presidential election of 2016. The President is indicting himself by his own Twitter comments, and contradictory statements being made on a regular basis, and he exudes guilt, and has for many months.

The Robert Mueller investigation is mounting evidence that is leading to that conclusion, and the Southern District of New York investigation, particularly in relation to Michael Cohen, is also moving in that direction.

A proposal that I would wish to make regarding this whole situation.

John Tyler, when he died, was not accorded the normal situation of a President who passes away—that is, flying the flag at half staff, and giving a President a state funeral.

The same, of course, was the case with Jefferson Davis.

So it seems appropriate to say that when Donald Trump passes away, no matter what happens in the interim regarding the present investigation of his behavior and actions, there should be no flying the flags at half staff, and no state funeral, as a traitor should not be accorded such an honor.

Of course, his death and burial would be reported, but it should not be given the dignity of what every other President, except John Tyler, was accorded!

Traitors In American History Might Include Donald Trump If Mueller, Congressional Investigations And News Media Prove It To Be Reality!

The subject of traitors in American history is highly controversial, even incendiary. We are not referring to spies here, or those who gave information that might have undermined America, but only to people in government and in the military. Any list would be controversial, and being a traitor is not only based on actual judicial declaration, but on the deleterious effect that government and military people had on the security and stability of the American nation.

Certainly, Benedict Arnold would be at the top of the list, having plotted to hand over West Point and thousands of American military to the British in 1780, during the American Revolution.

Also, many would say, with some qualification, that former Vice President Aaron Burr, who plotted to steal the election for President in 1800 from his own running mate, Thomas Jefferson, and was brought to trial for plotting with others to create an independent nation in the middle of the North American continent. committed treason. He was arrested, charged with treason, and put on trial, although found not guilty by Chief Justice John Marshall in the trial that he faced. Of course, Burr also killed Alexander Hamilton in a legal gun duel over the issue of honor, caused by the bitter rivalry between the two men over Hamilton’s intervention in the Presidential election of 1800, when Hamilton helped to promote the election of Jefferson, his ideological rival, but one that he trusted, while he believed Burr was a scoundrel who could not be trusted with power.

Additionally, Civil War Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, and Confederate States of American President Jefferson Davis, have become the center of accusations that they were traitors, as they worked to separate the South from the nation in the Civil War. This has led to the movement to take down many Confederate statues and monuments of these and other Confederate leaders.

Once we get past these cases already mentioned, the issue of treason and traitors is more murky, but one could say that for someone to engage in league with a foreign nation’s plot to intervene in elections that would bring a person to power, could be considered treasonous. So if the accusations of Russian collusion are proved true, as is now being investigated by the Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and several Congressional committees, and supplemented by excellent investigatory research by major news media, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NBC, CNN and others, then we may be able to declare that Donald Trump and his campaign and many of his advisers and cabinet members have engaged in a conspiracy that could be seen as treason.

Trump The Most Vilified And Attacked Person In American History? HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yesterday, President Donald Trump gave the commencement address at the US Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut.

Instead of focusing on the futures of the graduates, Trump spent most of his time bemoaning the fact that he is under attack and widespread investigation due to his Russian connections, of course denying everything, and terming himself a “victim” of the news media and political opponents. And today, at his rare press conference, Trump claimed he is the victim of a “witch hunt”, something he learned about from the evil Roy Cohn, the Joseph McCarthy henchman in the 1950s “Red Scare”, who was an adviser to him in the 1980s, and taught Trump how to be a demagogue.

Does this sound familiar?

YES, it reminds us of 45 years ago in the midst of Watergate and Richard Nixon, and Nixon was lying, as Trump is lying today!

Trump claimed he is the most vilified and attacked person in all of American history? Really? 🙂 HAHAHAHAHAHA!

What stupidity and ignorance of our history our President has!

No other President has ever suffered such attacks, heh?

Ask Abraham Lincoln that question, and even today, Southern Confederate sympathizers call him a murderer and criminal and dictator!

Ask Richard Nixon, who also portrayed himself as a “victim”, and remains controversial ever since he entered public life in 1946, and continues to be so today!

Ask Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was called every nasty name imaginable, and still is vilified by the right wing conservatives and libertarians to this day!

Ask Jimmy Carter, who has endured more years alive of being bitterly condemned, and remains so at 92 years of age!

Ask Bill Clinton, who remains detested by millions of people for his sexual exploits, which led to Clinton’s impeachment a generation ago, while they ignore the greater sexual exploits of Donald Trump in his lifetime, and not even trying to keep it secret!

Ask all of the other Presidents of the United States, who all faced constant criticism and attacks, but understood when one is in the public sphere, this is par for the course!

And ask Barack Obama, our most recent President, who endured and still does, vicious and vehement condemnation by racists, and right wingers who worked to undermine the 44th President since Day One, and will stop at nothing even in retirement, and were and are encouraged to do so by the 45th President, who has spread lies about Obama, and continues to assert, with ZERO evidence, that Obama wiretapped him in Trump Tower. Knowing what we know today, that wiretapping that did not occur should have occurred, so as to prevent the election of this reckless, dangerous, and crooked 45th President, who is still trying to cover up his Russian connections, a true example of treason!

And getting away from Presidents, what about the vilification of such “villains” as Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, John C. Calhoun, Jefferson Davis, Joseph McCarthy, George Wallace, Spiro Agnew, and innumerable others?

Donald Trump is a constant embarrassment to himself and to the institution of the Presidency!

48 Vice Presidents, 45 (44) Presidents?

With the inauguration of Donald Trump and Mike Pence, we now have our 45th (really 44th) President, and our 48th Vice President!

Some reading this are saying: “Huh?”

So let’s explain the difference in numbers.

Donald Trump is the 44th person to become President, but Grover Cleveland served two nonconsecutive terms from 1885-1889 and 1893-1897, although he also won the popular vote in 1888, but Benjamin Harrison won the Electoral College, the third time out of five (with 2000 and 2016 the 4th and 5th cases) where the popular vote loser won the Presidency.

Now, as to the Vice Presidency:

Several Presidents had two Vice Presidents, and one had three Vice Presidents, therefore making for four additional Vice Presidents more than Presidents.

Thomas Jefferson had Aaron Burr in his first term in the Presidency (1801-1805), and George Clinton in his second term (1805-1809).

James Madison had Clinton stay on as Vice President in his first term, but he died in office in 1812, so only served from 1809-1812, instead of to 1813. In his second term, Madison had Elbridge Gerry as his Vice President, but he served less than two years and died in 1814, so only serving 1813-1814.

Andrew Jackson had John C. Calhoun as Vice President in his first term, but he resigned with three months to go in the term, after being dumped from the ticket for the 1832 election, so served from 1829-1832. Martin Van Buren served in the Jackson second term (1833-1837), and became the last Vice President to succeed directly to the Presidency by election for 152 years, when George H. W. Bush succeeded President Ronald Reagan in the 1988 Presidential election.

Abraham Lincoln had two Vice Presidents–Hannibal Hamlin (1861-1865) who he decided to replace for his second election, and Andrew Johnson for six weeks in 1865 until Lincoln was assassinated, and Johnson became President.

Ulysses S. Grant had two Vice Presidents–Schuyler Colfax (1869-1873) who came under investigation for corruption and did not run for reelection; and Henry Wilson (1873-1875) who died in office.

William McKinley had two Vice Presidents–Garret Hobart (1897-1899), who died in office; and Theodore Roosevelt, for six and a half months in 1901, until McKinley was assassinated, and TR succeeded him to the Presidency, and then won a four year term of his own in 1904.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, being elected four times to the Presidency, and prevented from occurring again by the passage and adoption of the 22nd Amendment in 1951, had John Nance Garner (1933-1941) in his first two terms; Henry A. Wallace (1941-1945) in his third term; and Harry Truman for 82 days of his 4th term in 1945, before FDR died, and Truman succeeded him, and then won a full term in 1948.

Finally, Richard Nixon had two Vice Presidents–Spiro Agnew (1969-1973), his first full term and nine months of his shortened second term, until Agnew was forced to resign due to corruption charges, and being replaced two months later by Gerald Ford (1973-1974) under the 25th Amendment, allowing for an appointed Vice President subject to majority approval by both the House of Representatives and the US Senate, with Ford serving nine months before he succeeded to the Presidency upon the resignation of Nixon, due to the Watergate scandal.

Realize that George Clinton served under two Presidents (Jefferson and Madison), and the same for Calhoun, who had served as Vice President to John Quincy Adams (1825-1829), before serving as Vice President under Jackson for all but three months of that term. So as a result, Jefferson, Madison and Jackson only had one DIFFERENT Vice President to add to the total number!

Also, realize that Grover Cleveland, in his separate terms, had two different Vice Presidents, Thomas Hendricks for 8 months in 1885, and Adlai Stevenson I (1893-1897).

Also realize that John Tyler (1841), Millard Fillmore (1850), Andrew Johnson (1865), and Chester Alan Arthur (1881), all succeeded to the Presidency because of the deaths of William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, and James A. Garfield, and never had a Vice President, since there was no 25th Amendment until passage in 1967, allowing Gerald Ford to pick Nelson Rockefeller as his Vice President in 1974. And the other four Presidents who had been Vice President, and succeeded due to the deaths of the Presidents in office (Theodore Roosevelt after William McKinley; Calvin Coolidge after Warren G. Harding; Harry Truman after Franklin D. Roosevelt; Lyndon B. Johnson after John F. Kennedy) all were elected in the next term and had a Vice President.

So only 40 men (plus Cleveland in two terms, so called the 22nd and 24th President) in the Presidency chose a Vice President, and only Lincoln, Grant, Cleveland, McKinley and Nixon had two Vice Presidents who were unique (not shared with another President), and FDR had three Vice Presidents with his four terms in office. So if you count 41 due to Cleveland’s unique situation, and add seven extra Vice Presidents, you get a total of 48 men who have served as Vice President of the United States!