Donald Trump

52 Years: From Nixon And Agnew To Trump And Vance!

Ronald 122 Comments

Fifty two years ago, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned under scandal, and ten months later, President Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace, abandoned by his own Republican Party in Congress.

Who would think that a half century later, we would have an outspoken, obnoxious, obsequious sycophant, JD Vance, with few qualifications to be President, being a heartbeat away from the White House, which has in Donald Trump a President far worse and more corrupt than Richard Nixon ever was!

And to top it off, the Republican Party in Congress is a lapdog, unwilling to challenge the President and Vice President, unlike how many of their party did so in the 1970s.

American democracy and the rule of law was under threat back then, and was saved by Gerald Ford and by opposition Democrats who worked together to overcome the worst elements of the Watergate Scandal.

Can we expect a similar situation in the present tense? At this moment, it seems as if we are witnessing the most dire threat to American democracy, since World War II and the Civil War, and it is hard to imagine we will come out of it as a nation based on the US Constitution, and just as we are to “celebrate” the 250th Anniversary of the American Republic and the Declaration Of Independence!

“Red” Rural States To Suffer Most From Increases In Health Care Premiums!

Ronald 2 Comments

The Democratic Party in Congress has refused to sign off on the continuing resolution, leading to a federal government shutdown, due to the reality of the horrendous effect that the cutting of federal subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and Medicaid will have on millions of Americans, mostly poor or lower middle class, and most heavily in rural states that are “Red” states.

The Southern States and rural Midwest and Western States, that are strongly Republican in voting patterns, will be harmed the most.

While racial minorities will be greatly affected, so will white rural Americans who voted for Donald Trump in 2024.

This includes states such as Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, and Wyoming.

The Republican Party, by its refusal to move to restore health care subsidies, is undermining its own electoral future!

Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Maria Corina Machado A Worthy Winner!

Ronald 1 Comment

Maria Corina Machado, a human rights advocate of democracy in Venezuela, and a leading critic of the dictatorship headed by President Nicholas Maduro, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by the committee that decides that esteemed honor.

Machado is a worthy winner, but faces constant threats to her life, and lives in a state of hiding, as to her security and safety, and may not be able to go to Sweden to receive the award in December.

Twice a Presidential candidate in Venezuela with a great public following of millions of her countrymen, she is described as a “Woman of Steel”, who has devoted her life to promotion of democracy in her nation.

Her children live abroad, due to death threats at home, but she has refused to flee the nation that she loves! She has received many awards for her heroism and principles, most recently on the list of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in April 2025!

Sadly, Donald Trump was critical of the fact that he did not win the Nobel Peace Prize, but there is no way that he deserves it, with the way he deals with other nations, and his growing, belligerent and imperialist attitude toward other nations in the Western Hemisphere, and Trump’s close association with right wing authoritarian governments around the world!

The Rapid Decline Of Honest Journalism

Ronald 5 Comments

A very sad and dangerous situation exists, where journalism at all levels has been compromised in the time of the Trump Presidency.

We have seen courageous, challenging journalists such as Terry Moran of ABC News and Jim Acosta of CNN forced out of their positions for the “nerve” to challenge Donald Trump and his supporters on their policies and actions.

We have seen ABC News and CBS News making financial settlements after lawsuits by Donald Trump over their coverage of news and interviews that Trump decided to sue, and the settlements leading to contributions to a future Donald Trump Presidential Library in South Florida.

We have seen major newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post, making changes designed to avoid alienating Trump.

We have seen late night comedians, such as Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, along with “The View” and “Saturday Night Live” coming under attack, as well as the leadership and tone of “Sixty Minutes” being changed dramatically.

The new ownership of CBS by the billionaire Larry Ellison family is in process of destroying the long held, high level, reputation of that news network, that had such courageous journalists in the past as Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, and Dan Rather.

The coverage of White House press conferences and other activities, including the Pentagon, has been compromised by Trump, his Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, censoring who can be present, who can ask questions, and denying freedom of speech and press at every turn.

This is all very alarming, as without a free, uncontrolled media environment, and without the ability to have comedy shows that can make fun of government leaders and policies, we are on the road to a total Fascist authoritarian government, which, once accomplished, will be hard to prevent long term damage.

Massive Loss Of Federal Workers A Crime Against American Prosperity And Security!

Ronald 2 Comments

The ongoing massive loss of Federal Workers in a multitude of agencies, and the shutting down of various agencies, is a crime against American economic security, and a massive threat to American national security!

Many Americans may think that federal workers, many of them civil service, are insignificant in the daily lives of the nation, but nothing could be further from the truth and reality.

Many of these government workers may not be noticed in a direct sense, but they make all of our lives much more stable, secure, and humane.

The gutting of government agencies, such as USAID, FEMA, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Department of Education, and others, undermines the ability of the nation to continue its mission of protection of the vulnerable, whether national or international.

The effect on government workers, who are in larger numbers in Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, is already being felt in the rapidly rising unemployment rates in those communities.

Many of these talented workers have devoted their lives to government service, or have recently entered federal service with a commitment to do good, and now, their talents and abilities are lost to the nation and its future.

This is a tragedy of massive proportions, as now, loyalty to Donald Trump and MAGA Republican ideals dominates, instead of competence, decency, integrity, and the vast institutional knowledge of tens of thousands of dedicated federal workers.

This will undermine the American future, both in domestic and foreign policy, and the damage done will be lost for an eternity, and we have to hope and pray it will not do harm to the American Republic in the long term!

Hegseth, Trump Meeting With High Level Military A Totally Shocking Event, Beyond The Pale!

Ronald 6 Comments

Two days after the meeting at Quantico, Virginia of President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth with hundreds of top Generals and Admirals, an unprecedented event in person of so many defense and security people in one location, the nation is reeling from the event.

Trump came across as showing clearcut evidence of massive physical and mental decline, more like a ranting, raving, embarrassing maniac than anything else.

One would think this was as if he was the leader of the Russian Federation, or of China, North Korea, Iran, Hungary, Turkey, Egypt, El Salvador, or other like minded dictatorships than the leader of the American Republic.

Hegseth came across as a cocky, arrogant, egomaniac, who demonstrated total racism, misogyny, homophobia, and clearly a Fascist oriented, incompetent womanizer with a major alcohol problem, and with zero qualifications to lead the nation’s defenses.

The Generals and Admirals at this shocking event stayed silent, as is required, rather than what Trump was asking, that they applaud him, and with a threat that any opposition expressed would lead to the end of theif careers.

But in the aftermath, retired military people communicated with many of these hundreds of military leaders, and there was a clearcut judgment that the gathered audience was stunned and had grim looks on their faces.

Since the military is supposed to be loyal to the Constitution and their oath of service to that document, not to any individual who happens to be President, one wonders whether elements of military leadership at some point might be ready to take action against any threat to the Constitution and rule of law, in some form.

The thought that this government, more Fascist and authoritarian oriented by the day, might spend the next three plus years further consolidating power, and denying basic human rights, makes one wonder what can or should be done about the dire threat to American democracy.

Will there be fair elections in 2026 and 2028, or will this authoritarianism suspend the heritage of free, fair, and regularly scheduled elections?

The future of American democracy and the rule of law may lie in what these military leaders decide is their duty as the threats grow of the loss of freedom for 330 million Americans!

The Greatest Criminal President Promoting “War On Crime” To Keep Support Of MAGA Base, While Undermining American Domestic Tranquility And Threatening National Security!

Ronald 66 Comments

Here we are, 250 days after the Presidential Inauguration of 2025, and we have never had any Presidency quite like the present situation.

Yes, Franklin D. Roosevelt had tremendous intervention in the Great Depression in his first eight months and beyond of his “New Deal”.

But now, Donald Trump has managed to conduct the greatest “Criminal” Presidency, way surpassing Richard Nixon by massive amounts.

He has utilized more than 200 Executive Orders in eight months, an all time record, and higher than almost all past American Presidents.

He has promoted a so called “War on Crime”, which is victimizing thousands upon thousands of immigrants, racial minories, and citizens as well, ignoring due process and establishing what could be considered a non death series of “concentration camps” to hold the victims.

But there is the horrifying possibility that an unhinged Donald Trump, in league with his corrupt Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and his corrupt Attorney General Pam Bondi, and with the support of other Cabinet officers, and other aides, including the extremely dangerous Stephen Miller, Thomas Homan, Russell Vought, and a multitude of others, could go further and decide to utilize summary justice, meaning executions!

It is not beyond the realm of possibility in the lunatic world we live in now, and undermining American economic security, our national defense, and our position in world affairs!

Growing Concern About Hegseth Meeting With All Military Leadership In Virginia: Is Its Purpose A Danger To American Democracy?

Ronald 14 Comments

There is growing concern about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calling for hundreds of Generals and Admirals around thw world to leave their posts, and all arrive in Quantico, Virginia this coming Tuesday for a meeting, without announced purposes, and now, with President Trump stating he would attend.

This endangers readiness and preparedness for our national defense and national security, and there is the potential threat that enemy nations could attempt a potential attack on this mass group of military leaders from all the military branches being in one location that is known publicly.

It may seem hysterical to some, but the idea that Russia, China, North Korea, or Iran, could coordinate a potential December 7 or September 11 type of attack by drone warfare or otherwise, is not believed by some observers to be outside of possibility.

We must all pray that such a horrendous event, underminining our national security, would never happen, but it is concerning.

There is also the thought that this meeting could be a stepping stone to an isolationist turn in American foreign policy and national defense, toward the concept of “America First”.

This could lead to the feared idea of our militery being turned on Americans in so called “sanctuary cities” and on implementing much greater mass ICE raids on immigrants, and even American citizens, therefore undermining and threatening American democracy itself!

Massive Setbacks On A Century And More Of Reforms Since Theodore Roosevelt!

Ronald 36 Comments

The United States, from the time of Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Era (1900-1917), began what has been a century of massive political, social, and economic reform, making America a growing vibrant democracy that survived two World Wars and the Cold War.

But now, under Donald Trump and his evil aims, America is in the process of losing a multitude of reforms that have benefited the nation.

Among them:

Environmental legislation
Consumer legislation
Social Security
Medicare and Medicaid
Women Suffrage
Civil Rights Legislation
Labor Legislation
Corporate Regulations
Housing Legislation
Agricultural Legislation
Disabilities Legislation
Immigration Reforms
Educational Legislation

These areas of reform occurred under multiple Presidents of both parties.

But leave it to “Project 2025”, and the entire century plus of reforms and commitment to a better nation for all, is in the process of being wiped out!

With Pending Government Shutdown, Trump And His Extremist Supporters Are Becoming More Of A Threat Exponentially! :(

Ronald 6 Comments

With the growing likelihood of a government shutdown looming on Tuesday evening, September 30, there is a growing threat exponentially of Donald Trump and his supporters becoming an ever greater threat to all Americans.

Such individuals as Stephen Miller and Thomas Homan on immigration; Russell Vought on the budget; Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard on defense and national security; Kash Patel on intelligence gathering; and Pam Bondi on legal and justice matters, are a growing nightmare that could lead to major disasters in so many ways.

But this is not the time to concede, give up, lose faith,as that will only embolden the authoritarian bent of the Trump Presidency.

It is a reality that a minority of Americans, maybe 35-40 percent are ignoring or supporting what has been happening over the last eight months, but history tells us that Donald Trump will continue to lose public support as the months go by!