American Democracy

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

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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!

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

Ronald 4 Comments

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 Growing Danger Of Trump “Confederates” And Right Wing Christian And Jewish Extremists

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America, as the Electoral College formally elects Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, as the President and Vice President of the United States, being inaugurated on January 20, 2021, is facing a growing danger that includes the potential of violence and bloodshed.

Donald Trump’s refusal to concede, and to stop spreading the myth of a fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020, in inciting crazy and deluded people to call for violence and bloodshed, and to refuse to ever accept the results of the election.

Trump is inciting the danger of civil war, and will have to face prosecution in 37 days when he is a private citizen, and continues, as seems clear, to promote violence and bloodshed.

We have two thirds or more of Republicans in polls saying they will never accept that Trump has lost, and we have lunatics such as conspiracy theorist Alex Jones; Republican state chairman in Texas Allan West (former one term South Florida Congressman); and right wing Christian preachers, such as Franklin Graham; and even Orthodox Rabbis, including one this author is aware of through his delusional wife, who allows him to manipulate her, to spread the lies and undermine American democracy!

We have crazies calling for a new Confederacy of Republican States who oppose Joe Biden being inaugurated, and threats against the lives of both Biden and Harris!

There is nothing worse than people who claim to be devout Christians or Jews who preach anti democratic propaganda, all in the name of enriching themselves on the backs of gullible congregants who keep on donating to these preachers of hate and lies!

And Donald Trump has managed to manipulate and fool many of his supporters, to donate over $200 million to be used by Trump in whatever way he wishes, including personal use and inspiring ever more lies and deceit, and create an alternate reality!

A Glorious Day For Democracy, The Rule Of Law, And The Supreme Court Saying “NO” To A President!

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Friday, December 11, 2020, will go down in history as a glorious day for Democracy, the Rule of Law, and reaffirming the Supreme Court for, once again, having had the courage to say “NO!” to a President who thought he was unaccountable!

In 1974, in US V Richard Nixon, the Supreme Court ordered that the Watergate Tapes be handed over to the Special Prosecutior, by a 8-0 decision, leading to the resignation of the President. Three of the votes against Nixon came from Justices he had appointed.

In 1997, in Clinton V Jones, the Supreme Court ordered that the President testify in a civil trial dealing with sexual harassment, leading to his impeachment for lying before a grand jury. The vote was unanimous, with even the two Clinton appointees in the majority!

And now in 2020, the Supreme Court unanimously, with even the three Justices appointed by Donald Trump, throwing out the frivolous case backed by 17 state Attorneys General and 126 House Republicans (two thirds of the party in that chamber), that wished to throw out the votes of the four swing states that went to Joe Biden, insuring him of victory in the Presidential Election of 2020!

The Supreme Court has its critics, and has some members whose ethics and morals are suspect, but the Supreme Court proved its mettle in a crisis moment, and once again limited Presidential power. It prevented a dictatorship from being established by the most corrupt President in American history who, even with a potential pardon by himself (which would be illegal) or by Mike Pence, will pay the price for his violations of the law in New York State, and face likely conviction and a prison sentence!

Donald Trump Obsesses On An Election He Lost, And Endangers America On COVID 19 And National Security

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Donald Trump is wasting his last two plus months in office obsessing on an election he lost, undermining faith in American democracy at a time of America being endangered by the COVID 19 Pandemic, which he refuses to relate to, or care about the massive loss of life, now 250,000 men, women, and children after only 8 months.

Trump is also a danger to national security, with his reckless plan to attack Iran, and withdraw troops precipitously from Iraq and Afghanistan, undermining the fight against terrorism worldwide, and angering even many Republicans.

It has made this transition the most dangerous and tense since 1932-1933 (Franklin D. Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover), and 1860-1861 (Abraham Lincoln and James Buchanan).

Joe Biden faces a series of crises even greater than Barack Obama faced after his election in 2008.

Incredible Numbers Of Voters In 2020: Two Thirds Early Of 2016 And Potential For 150-160 Million!

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The Presidential Election of 2020 will see an all time high number of voters participating, potentially 150-160 million!

Amazing that 93 million early voters by November 1 had participated by mail or in person in early voting, two thirds of the entire votes of 2016, which was 137 million people!

It seems likely that the voting percentage will be 60-65 percent, the highest since the Presidential Election of 1908, although the all time high of 82 percent occurred in the Presidential Election of 1876, which was, ironically, the closest Electoral College result of 185-184, after four months of stalemate!

The fact of such massive participation is a victory for American democracy, and would seem clearly to be a vote to oust Donald Trump from the White House!

But we will have to wait until Wednesday morning or a bit later to be certain that is the result!

The Corruption Of The Supreme Court, With Five Appointees By Presidents Who Lost The Popular Vote!

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With the likelihood that Amy Coney Barrett will be successfully confirmed to be the replacement of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg on the Supreme Court, we are about to have a Court with five appointees by Presidents who lost the national popular vote, but still won the Electoral College.

George W. Bush lost the national popular vote to Vice President Al Gore in 2000 by a 540,000 margin, but was able to select Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito in 2005 and 2006.

And now Donald Trump, who lost the national popular vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016, by a 2.85 million margin, has been able to select Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch in 2017, Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and now Amy Comey Barrett in 2020.

And even more infuriating is that three of these five appointees helped the George W. Bush campaign in the Bush V Gore Supreme Court case, assisting him winning the case in a majority Republican selected Court in December 2000–specifically, John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Comey Barrett!

And the right wing Federalist Society, which has been on a 40 year campaign to make the federal court system move to the extreme right on such issues as health care, abortion, gay marriage, gun rights, so called freedom of religion, deregulation of the economy and the environment, suppression of voting rights and labor rights, has fully succeeded in its campaign to undermine American democracy and a sense of humanity!

So when one complains from the right side of the political spectrum at the “horror” of Democrats “packing the Court” if they were to add seats to the Supreme Court, one has to say the level of hypocrisy is enormous, when that has been the commitment for four decades of the Right in American politics.

And who can say that if the Republicans were to win control of both houses of Congress and the Presidency, that they would not be willing to promote “packing of the Court’, so that they could add two to four more seats to the Supreme Court, and make the Court not just the 6-3 margin it will now be, but possibly 8-3 or 10-3, if two to four seats were to be added!

And one more point: Two of the six member Republican majority have had sexual misconduct hanging over their heads, although it has not affected their tenure on the Court, speaking specifically of Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh. So the ethical and moral standing of the Court has been damaged irrevocably!

But do the conservatives and the Federalist Society care about this? Not one iota!

Trump Proved Why He Is Unfit To Be President In Presidential Debate, So Just VP Debate And No More!

Ronald 23 Comments

Donald Trump was a total disgrace in the first Presidential debate last evening!

He would not follow the agreed upon rules, not to interfere, and to stop interrupting when Joe Biden or moderator Chris Wallace were speaking. The moderator should have shut off Trump’s microphone when Biden was being allowed his two minutes to give an answer to a question.

He refused to condemn white supremacists, and refused to agree to concede if he is declared the loser, and encouraged his supporters, in such a circumstance, to provoke civil unrest.

He acted like a 2nd grader, and lied incessantly, and was totally rude and bullyish throughout the debate!

Donald Trump declared war on decency and democracy. He endorsed white supremacist terrorist groups, such as “Proud Boys”, which is anti Semitic, anti Islamic, anti gay and transgender, anti immigrant, and misogynistic, and provokes violence, with Trump promoting them going to the polls and “watching”, a guarantee of bloodshed and violence!

He acted very UnPresidential, as Joe Biden declared, and embarrassed all decent people, as no President or candidate in any debate has acted in such a manner in the history of Presidential and Vice Presidential debates!

Meanwhile, Joe Biden kept his cool, and acted very Presidential, doing a lot of shocked and laughing gestures at the shameful display of horrible behavior by the man child who is our disgraced 45th President! 🙁

One cannot imagine how Joe Biden will not gain much more support nationally, and hopefully, defeat Donald Trump in a massive landslide in November! And early post debate polls indicate Biden “won” the debate two to one!

The Vice Presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris one week from today should go forward, but the last two Presidential debates should be canceled, as America has seen enough, and there is nothing positive to be gained by Biden debating Trump again!

If Donald Trump Loses Just 4 Percent Of Republican Voters, He Loses Election Massively!

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Donald Trump is losing more than four percent of Republican voters, according to public opinion polls, who seem mostly to be cultish like, willing to accept any Trump outrage as acceptable.

But the revelation that Trump has paid no federal taxes for 10 of the last 15 years through 2017, and only paid $750 each year of 2016 and 2017, is enough to turn a small sliver of Republicans, who still have a brain and reasoning power, against Trump!

After all, they and the rest of us, except the very wealthy, DO pay federal taxes, so why should Donald Trump NOT pay his fair share of taxes?

Trump also has exploited the federal budget with all of the costs of all his golfing adventures, and charging everyone who goes to any of his Trump hotels, including Vice President Mike Pence and others, higher rates, paid at federal budget expense. And when his children travel and spend, it is all on the rest of us taxpayers!

So statistics indicate that Trump has no chance to win simply by losing a small percentage of Republican voters, which now seems certain!

Beyond the small sliver of Republicans who have a brain and ethics, also consider that Joe Biden’s lead among women is nearly double that of Hillary Clinton in 2016, and that similar statistics hold for independents and moderates for Biden as compared to Clinton in 2016.

And third parties will not take nearly 6 percent of the vote and help Trump this time around, but rather no more than 2-3 percent at most.

Joe Biden will go into Tuesday night’s debate with a tremendous edge, and all he needs to do is expose the lies, the danger, and the incompetence of Donald Trump.

Also, realize that Trump is losing MORE former Republican officeholders and cabinet and military personnel who served under Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush, as well as those who worked for the Presidential campaigns of Bob Dole, John McCain, and Mitt Romney!

And many conservative commentators, those NOT connected to Fox News Channel, or other further right wing media, also long have condemned Trump, and are engaged in working to retire him, and bring him to justice!

So watch as Donald Trump deteriorates before our eyes in the next month, and yet threatens American democracy, while the military has made it clear that they will not back any undemocratic moves by the Fascist in the White House!

America Is In The Most Dangerous Constitutional Crisis In All Of Its History, More Than 1860 Or 1932!

Ronald 4 Comments

Shocking but true, America has just entered into its most dangerous constitutional crisis in all of its history, more than 1860 or 1932.

The Civil War has always been regarded as the most difficult moment constitutionally, as the Civil War was on the horizon, but Abraham Lincoln won the election, and was inaugurated peacefully on March 4, 1861.

The Great Depression was at its worse at the time of the election in 1932, but Franklin D. Roosevelt won the election, and was inaugurated peacefully on March 4, 1933.

Both Lincoln and FDR faced assassination threats, but both survived and became our greatest Presidents.

Other times, we have had contested or close elections, as in 1800, 1824, 1876, 1880, 1916, 1960, 2000, and 2016, but always there was a peaceful transition of government from one President to another, without rancor.

But now, yesterday, President Donald Trump indicated that he would not guarantee a peaceful transition of power, that the mail ballots should be thrown out, and his administration continue in office beyond January 20, 2021, and that an extra Supreme Court Justice might be enough to rule in Trump’s favor. Also, there are plans behind the scenes to have Presidential electors in many swing states be convinced to support Trump in the Electoral College, even if Trump is seen as losing the popular vote in many states.

This is alarming, and presages a constitutional crisis that would be worse than 1860 or 1932, and a move by Trump to destroy the Constitution and rule of law, and the establishment of an authoritarian Fascist oriented dictatorship!

It means we have a tense 40 days until the election, and a potentially tense 78 days to Inauguration Day, whereby Trump could declare martial law, or we could have both Trump and Biden coming to Inauguration Day as the perceived winner by their own camps, and how that would be handled.

Our system of government has always been based on the loser accepting defeat, not being a sore loser, and not threatening to provoke violence by his supporters, but Trump is already doing this at his no mask, no social distancing, rallies, an alarming development.

This is a moment of reckoning for all elected Republicans, that while they want to compete to win power, that they have to respect the Constitution and rule of law, and NOT support a renegade President, if the election results are clearly in favor of Joe Biden, as is expected.

We have to hope that Biden wins by a massive margin, as otherwise, we are in uncharted territory, and even if it is a massive victory, Trump might claim it is a stolen election, and throw it to the courts, and a newly appointed Associate Justice could be the decisive factor in deciding whether we retain our democracy.

The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, ironically, could be a major turning point in American history in a negative fashion way beyond the passing of this great woman!

We cannot allow that to occur!