Abraham Lincoln

Nikki Haley Self Destructs On The Issue Of Slavery And The Civil War!

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Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley has just destroyed her candidacy by refusing to state that slavery was the major cause of the American Civil War!

Asked at a New Hampshire campaign event, Haley seemed uncomfortable with the question, and avoided mentioning slavery, an outrageous blunder on her part.

Instead of showing leadership, Haley acted just like Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump, as they attack the issue of race as a major factor, instead promoting white supremacy, and demonstrate their ignorance of not only the Civil War, but American history in general.

This situation reminds us of the reality that the party of Abraham Lincoln, the party formed to fight against expansion of slavery, and having many abolitionists within its midst, in the 1850s through the 1870s, has now totally repudiated the basic principles of the founding of the Republican Party!

Any “edge” Haley might have been gaining is now lost, as she has demonstrated lack of commitment to the truth, and cowardice on a grand scale!

Donald Trump’s Threat To Utilize The Insurrection Act Of 1792 To Establish A Military Dictatorship

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Hard to believe, but a law passed under George Washington in 1792 to promote a stable American Republic could destroy the Republic under a demagogue such as Donald Trump 233 years later in 2025 if Trump is able to regain the Presidency a year from now!

The purpose of the law was to overcome internal rebellion, best exemplified by the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania in 1794, but also used by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War; by Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and Grover Cleveland in labor disputes; by Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy to promote Southern integration of schools during the Civil Rights Era ; and by President George H. W. Bush during the Los Angeles riots in 1992.

It is NOT designed to crack down on legal, constitutional right of dissent, including marches, demonstrations, and other displays of nonviolent action, but Trump has stated he would promote mass arrests and deportations upon taking the oath of office on January 20, 2025!

Something must be done to prevent such an outrageous movement toward Fascism, and the destruction of the Bill of Rights, and the first step would be to insure that Donald Trump never gets near the Oval Office again!

60th Anniversary Of JFK Assassination: It Still Reverberates Through America!

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It is now 60 years, six decades, three generations, since our youngest elected President, John F. Kennedy, was taken from us by the tragedy of political assassination.

No event has so affected American history as much as this horrifying bloodshed, since the Abraham Lincoln Assassination a century earlier.

The impact of this assassination changed the course of the future of American history, mostly in a negative fashion, including the assassination of his brother, Robert Kennedy, less than five years after the shocking event of November 22, 1963!

This author and blogger wrote on these assassinations in his book–ASSASSINATIONS, THREATS, AND THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY: FROM ANDREW JACKSON TO BARACK OBAMA, Rowman Littlefield, 2015, Paperback Edition 2017–well recommended to all who read my blog and this entry!

Death Of Rosalynn Carter A Major Loss To Nation!

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The death of Rosalynn Carter took place on the 160th Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettyburg Address, an irony, as she and her husband Jimmy Carter represent a different kind of South in their social justice mission.

Remember that Jimmy Carter was the first Southerner elected to the Presidency since Zachary Taylor in 1848.

The couple represented a progressive tradition on race, and a concern about other than themselves, as they both dedicated their lives to advancing of society and international cooperation.

Rosalynn Carter will stand out as the most significant First Lady chronologically since Eleanor Roosevelt, making the position of First Lady much more interacting and engaged than it had ever been before. She was a true partner of her husband in his responsibilities and duties as President.

Whether her husband can live on for long without her will be a question on many people’s minds, as Jimmy Carter has good odds that he might live to be a centenarian in less than ten and a half months with his 100th birthday on October 1, 2024.

160th Anniversary Of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address!

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Today, 160 years ago, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his two minute, ten sentence famous Gettysburg Address, arguably one of the greatest Presidential speeches in American history, despite its brevity.

Honoring the dead of both the Union side and Confederate side in the third year of the Civil War, the brief statement was panned at the time, but over the years came to be regarded as a brilliant, statesmanlike speech.

It has been glorified ever since as a sign of reconciliation, and recognition of the tragedy of the great loss of life in the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania on July 1, 2, and 3, 1863.

It added greatly to the historic stature of Abraham Lincoln, and a model for statesmanship!

Third Republican Presidential Debate Eliminates Three Candidates As Horrendous!

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Watching the third Republican Presidential debate in Miami, Florida on NBC last evening makes clear that three of the five candidates on the stage are horrendous and disgraceful!

Particularly so is Vivek Ramaswamy, but not far behind is Ron DeSantis and Tim Scott.

The first two have such nastiness and arrogance, that it makes one want to vomit, while Tim Scott comes across as truly a pathetically weak candidate!

Chris Christie and Nikki Haley are the clearcut “winners” of this debate, although the Republican Party clearly is captive to Donald Trump!

It is an embarrassment how far the Republican Party has fallen from its past periods of glorious history under such Presidents as Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and even Ronald Reagan, all of whom would be appalled at what has happened to the GOP (Grand Old Party)!

Joe Biden’s Five Speeches On Democracy Struggle Against Trumpism!

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Ever since Joe Biden was inaugurated President on January 20, 2021, he has discussed the threat to democracy represented by Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans.

Biden spoke on Inauguration Day in January 2021; in his first speech to Congress in April 2021; twice in 2022, in Philadelphia in September and at Union Station in Washington DC in November; and most recently in Arizona a few days ago when he dedicated a new John McCain Library.

It is clear to anyone who is paying attention that America faces its greatest crisis in preserving democracy since World War II.

In that regard, Joe Biden is following the lead of Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War and Franklin D. Roosevelt in World War II!

Pitiful Second Republican Presidential Debate

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Watching last night’s second Republican Presidential debate on the Fox Business Channel was a pure exercise in futility, as it clearly was a pitiful scene of candidates talking over each other and ignoring the moderators.

Chris Christie called Donald Trump “Donald Duck”, for refusing to participate, one of the rare funny moments.

Watching Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis was difficult, as both continued to come across as arrogant, nasty, unpleasant personalities, and both oriented toward Fascism, with DeSantis claiming he would do so much on “Day One”! 🙁

Tim Scott was really weak and ineffective, and Mike Pence’s highlight moment was stating he has slept with the same woman, his wife, for 38 years, a cringy moment from a candidate who is truly someone who showed no courage or principle under Donald Trump, except after former Vice President Dan Quayle, of all people, told Pence that all he had to do was count the electoral votes on January 6, 2021! 🙁

Doug Burgum was more aggressive, but has zero chance of moving forward, while Nikki Haley stood out mostly for showing more intelligence and personality than any of the men, but to believe she will be the Republican Presidential nominee requires a sense of delusion!

Clearly, the Republican Party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, and Reagan is dead!

Republican Party Destroying Itself From Within

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The Republican Party, born in 1854, is very likely to die in 2024, and be replaced by a different political entity.

Their decision to support a criminal President, Donald Trump, and start impeachment action against a decent, compassionate, accomplished President, Joe Biden, will put the final nails in the coffin of the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, Reagan, and Bush.

When Marjorie Taylor Greene calls for secession of states and a new Civil War, and when Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy allows an attack on a man, Joe Biden, he knows has done nothing wrong or illegal, it is clear that the party is in its death spiral.

There is a dire need for a solid conservative party based on principle and on support of the American democratic republic, and the GOP is in its death throes!

Should There Be A Second Mount Rushmore, And Which Presidents?

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Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, constructed between 1927 and 1941, is world famous with 60 foot head sculptures of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.

Millions have visited Mount Rushmore, and there has been discussion at times about the concept of a second Mount Rushmore, although not clear where it would be, but likely location might be in Colorado in the Rocky Mountains, a massive undertaking if ever agreed upon to do!

The question beyond whether there should be a second such monument to four more Presidents is what Presidents should grace such a monument.

In this author’s and blogger’s view, the likely choices should be the following:

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945)

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

Barack Obama (1961- )

FDR, Ike, and JFK have been seen as highly deserving, and Obama was a turning point, for sure, in Presidential history.

Not everyone would be contented with these choices, but it would seem that these four Presidents would make the best combination.