George W. Bush

One Year Of Vice President JD Vance: A Worrisome Scenario As Potential Successor In The Oval Office!

Ronald 4 Comments

It has been almost a full year since JD Vance took the oath of office as Vice President of the United States,

It is an extremely worrisome situation that Vance is a heartbeat away from the Presidency, at a time when we have a demented, seriously abusive Commander in Chief, who seems in rapid decline, with the thought that he is unlikely to survive the next three years in office.

Republican Presidents and Presidential nominees have had a group of horrendous Vice Presidents and Vice Presidential nominees in the past six decades, but in many ways, Vance is worse than any of them, including the least government experience of any of them.

Some history—Barry Goldwater in 1964 had New York Congressman William E. Miller as his running mate.

Gerald Ford had Kansas Senator Bob Dole as his running mate in 1976.

Bob Dole in 1996 had former New York Congressman Jack Kemp as his running mate.

John McCain had Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008.

Mitt Romney had Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate in 2012.

Miller and Palin were particularly unqualified choices for Vice President, and Kemp and Ryan were just barely perceived as acceptable, while Dole was seen as a better choice than any of them.

But then, we had Vice Presidents who were horrors, including Spiro Agnew under President Richard Nixon; Dan Quayle under President George H. W. Bush; Dick Cheney under President George W. Bush; and Mike Pence under President Donald Trump in his first term.

Agnew was forced out of office for corruption and incompetence, and Quayle was clearly mediocre and not very bright. Cheney was competent, but abusive and scary, while Pence came across as too willing to bend to Trump, until finally, at the crucial moment on January 6, 2021, he demonstrated some guts and principle.

At the same time, other Republican Vice Presidents were seen as far more qualified, including future Presidents Gerald Ford under Richard Nixon and George H. W. Bush under Ronald Reagan. Also, Nelson Rockefeller under Gerald Ford served in an admirable fashion, concerning right wing Republicans when President Ford was twice threatened by potential assassins in the month of September 1975.

Now, we have JD Vance, with only two years as a US Senator, promoted by right wing billionaire Peter Thiel, and willing to say or do anything to promote Project 2025.

Vance has disgraced himself with his utterances on a multitude of matters in one year in the Vice Presidency, including his outrageous comments about Rene Nicole Good, who was murdered by ICE agent Jonathan David Ross, in Minneapolis two days ago.

Instead of trying to avoid conflict and soothe public discourse, this man, who has completely changed his view of Donald Trump over the past decade from critic to sycophant, is willing to divide and incite in every way possible on all kinds of issues.

The thought that he could, shortly, become President, is an absolute horror, and at this point, he appears far worse than ANY Republican Vice President or running mate in the past six decades!

To be perceived as worse than Agnew or Quayle in the Vice Presidency in particular, or Palin as a potential Vice President in particular, is making clear just how dangerous the present situation is!

The crisis the nation faces, with a reprehensible combination of Trump and Vance being the leadership of our nation, is a massive constitutional crisis without an acceptable alternative at present!

The US Senate: Highly Undemocratic, And More So In Future With 15 States Having 70 Percent Of Population, But Only 30 Seats In Senate

Ronald 2 Comments

The future of American democracy is in danger from more than Donald Trump and an extremist right wing majority on the US Supreme Court.

The US Senate, considered the greatest legislative institution in the world, has, from its inception, been highly undemocratic in nature, with its idea of states rights, and every state having the same amount of representation.

So in a nation that now has 340 million people, we have the 15 smallest states in population, all tending to be Republican for a long term, have about 41 million people combined, and have 30 seats in the Senate.

At the same time, California, the largest populated state with about 39 million people, has 2 seats in the Senate.

So the estimate is that by 2040, only 15 years from now, 70 percent of the United States will be represented by just 30 US Senators, while the remaining Americans, disproportionately whiter, older, and more rural, will have 70 US Senators.

This will make progress and revival of policies and programs, that are now rapidly being demolished, ever the harder to achieve.

This means the great advances of American democracy from the time of Democratic and Republican Presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George H W Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden will, in many cases, be permanently impossible to revive, due to the deleterious effect of Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump on American democracy and the rule of law.

25 Years Since Bush V Gore: What Might Have Been!

Ronald 69 Comments

It has been exactly a quarter century since the US Supreme Court in Bush V Gore awarded the Presidency to George W. Bush over Al Gore, declaring Bush the winner of the popular vote in the state of Florida, governed by his brother, Jeb Bush, by the grand total of 537 votes out of 6 million votes cast in the Sunshine State, but with Gore winning the national popular vote by about 540,000 votes.

Bush won the Electoral College by 271-266, the second closest electoral vote in American history, after the Presidential Election of 1876, where Rutherford B. Hayes won the Electoral College 185-184, despite losing the popular vote by about 250,000 votes to Samuel Tilden.

Imagine the differences that would have occurred if Al Gore had been President, and most observers would think America would have been better off.

The major issue that arises is whether the September 11 Al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon would have occurred.

Also, how would a President Gore have reacted if such an attack had still taken place, meaning how would we have dealt with the issue of Afghanistan, and what turned out to be a 20 year war?

Also, there would have been an Iraq War which dragged on for years, alongside the Afghanistan War, since the decision to go to war in 2003 was based on false premises?

This is all speculation, a potential novel, as who is in office determines the future in so many ways that one cannot calculate ahead of time, or even for sure, in retrospect!

Unchecked Presidential Power Without Accountability!

Ronald 21 Comments

Donald Trump has, in a multitude of ways, and with the assistance of Republicans in Congress and the states, and the majority of the United States Supreme Court, gained unchecked Presidential power without accountability.

By comparison, Richard Nixon was a “choir boy”, and other Presidents who have been objectionable in different ways, such as Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, and George W. Bush, pale by comparison!

Trump has horribly abused executive orders and issued outrageous pardons and commutations to law breakers, not only those from the January 6 US Capitol Insurrection, but also others who have committed other kinds of criminal acts.

Trump has incited the most extreme of MAGA Republicans to threaten lives of politicians who speak out or oppose him in any way.

Trump has worked to fix the elections in 2026, by outrageous interference promoting extreme gerrymanderins.

Trump has become an abuser in foreign policy, and totally alienated foreign nations and their leaders, and is very willing to undermine Ukraine, and promote the aggression of Vladimir Putin, as well as other authoritarians all around the world.

Trump has demonstrated extreme racism, misogyny, Islamophobia, nativism, and consorted with antisemites, while supposedly working with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Every day for more than ten months, Trump has worsened and undermined the lives of Americans, and instilled fear in people who are not white Christians.

And the problem is that his followers and his Cabinet and other top figures around him are only too willing to do his evil deeds with glee!

So even when and if Trump leaves the scene, the fear is that the cancer he has introduced into American government will be pursued beyond his lifetime!

My Lai 1968, Abu Ghraib 2003-2004: Crimes Against Humanity, Now Being Promoted By Trump Administration!

Ronald 25 Comments

On March 15, 1968, Army Lieutenant William Calley led a horrendous massacre of Vietnamese civilian men, women, and children at My Lai, South Vietnam, during the Vietnam War, only revealed in November 1969.

Between 350 and 500 innocent villagers were murdered, with rape and mutilation and torture of women and children and the elderly, with 26 soldiers charged with the outrageous war crimes, but only Calley served a short time, eventually having his sentence commuted to house arrest by President Richard Nixon.

This massacre increased the antiwar opposition in America to the Vietnam War, which bitterly divided America.

In June 2003, the first revelations of horrendous abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison complex in Iraq became public.

Widespread human rights abuses were occurring, with the use of torture, all types of shocking mistreatment on a grand scale, and many US troops seemingly enjoying what horrendous acts they were perpetrating on prisoners.

These actions were authorized by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, and President George W. Bush, and many other White House staff, who knew what was occurring, even if not directly involved.

News media revealed the horrors, and showed many Army personnel, including many women, were involved in actions, and with photos showing their glee at what they were doing. Only a small number of troops were held accountable and served sentences after convictions.

It led to a belated apology by President George W. Bush in May 2004, but clearly, it led to greater troubles and expansion of the war in Iraq, which continued until 2011.

International law had been violated, and clearly, war crimes of massive abuses had occurred, and there was a sense that, like with My Lai 35 years earlier, there was never adequate accountability.

So many victims of both war crimes in 1968 and 2003-04 never received any justice, and so many victims lost their lives because of out of control military forces, which were also in league with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Now in 2025, we have attacks on so called “drug boats”, supposedly linked to Venezuela, and it seems likely that soon there will be an armed invasion of that South American nation, and a new military intervention, authorized by Donald Trump!

Dick Cheney, Most Controversial Vice President, Dies At Age 84!

Ronald 1 Comment

Dick Cheney, the 46th Vice President of the United States, under the two terms of President George W. Bush, passed away at age 84 on November 3.

The most controversial Vice President since John C. Calhoun under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson 170 years earlier, Cheney was termed “Darth Vader” by the multitude of critics, who condemned Cheney and Bush for intervention in Iraq on false premises of “Weapons of Mass Destruction” that were never found, but caused the deaths of about 4,500 American military personnel in a war that lasted for nearly a decade.

Cheney was seen as corrupt in his corporate dealings, and had a tough public persona that caused great anger and vehemence against him.

Cheney promoted the use of torture, including waterboarding, against Muslim suspects, in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Cheney came across as “tough as nails”, harsh, uncompromising, and many observers felt he was more the President in the first term of George W. Bush, than Bush himself.

In the second term, Bush became more assertive, and the role of Cheney declined in influence.

The public image never changed, but ironically, Cheney and his daughter, former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney, became the image of a family which resisted the threat of Donald Trump, making Dick Cheney in retrospect seem less evil and threatening by comparison.

The idea that Dick Cheney would actually “cross the aisle” and vote for Kamala Harris in 2024 is a sign of how much the Republican Party had changed from the time of Bush-Cheney to the time of the authoritarian oriented Donald Trump!

Cheney had served as a Wyoming Congressman and Republican Whip in the House of Representatives, after being White House Chief Of Staff to President Gerald Ford, before being a creditable Secretary of Defense under President George H W Bush.

Chief Justice John Roberts: A Total Disappointment And Disaster!

Ronald 1 Comment

Chief Justice John Roberts has been the leader of the Supreme Court now for 20 years, fourth longest service of the 17 Chief Justices since 1789.

Roberts came on the court as a “moderate conservative”, appointed by George W. Bush in 2005 right after Chief Justice William Rehnquist died, and the day before Roberts was to begin hearings to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, replacing the retiring Sandra Day O’Connor.

Fate would have it that due to the death of the Chief Justice, suddenly Roberts would be elevated to a special status of being the leader of the Court.

Roberts came across for many years as “reasonable”, including when he “saved” the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) in a court decision in 2013.

Roberts always spoke of the need for balance and reasonableness, but in reality, that was a false, misleading image of him.

Now, 20 years in, Roberts is revealed as a phony, who has moved the Court toward the extreme Right, and shocked people with statements in recent years that reveal just how Right Wing he is.

For instance, he has said that racism is no longer an issue, which is totally preposterous and outrageous.

He has led a Court that has brought Donald Trump to have awesome power and has undermined the separation of powers, and he has contributed to what is becoming an authoritarian and Fascist Presidency, undermining American democracy and the rule of law.

So Roberts will go down in history as a tragedy and disaster, and his reputation long term will be in tatters!

And now, the Voting Rights Act is being challenged in the Court, which could destroy the idea of representation for minorities, and making the possibility of a white dominated House of Representatives, that could make the Republican Party dominant into the future.

And if that happens in this Supreme Court term, the Roberts Court will have sealed its reputation of returning American to the time of JIM CROW, and white supremacy, which was overcome by the Civil Rights Movement and the massive positive contribution of President Lyndon B. Johnson and the “Great Society” in the 1960s!

Trump Is Promoting Division, Rather Than Unity, After Charlie Kirk Murder!

Ronald 16 Comments

In past times, when shocking events and tragedies occurred, whoever was President of the United States promoted a sense of unity, rather than division.

Such was the case when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, followed by Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, all under the Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.

Such was the case when September 11 occurred, under the Presidency of George W. Bush.

Such was the case when Donald Trump faced an assassination threat in 2024, under the Presidency of Joe Biden.

The four former Presidents—Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden–all issued compassionate and unifying statements after the tragic murder of Charlie Kirk on this past Wednesday.

But Donald Trump, as usual, is promoting division and threats, and making claims about the assassin, which are totally untrue.

Instead of “lowering the temperature” of the rhetoric, he is escalating the potential of political violence!

The assassin was a straight white Utah Mormon, whose family are Trump supporters, not some liberal or socialist or gay or Muslim or immigrant or Latino or anything remotely related to the so called Left!

Republican Vice Presidents Since 1969—Vance The Worst Of The Worst Since Spiro Agnew! :(

Ronald 4 Comments

In the past 56 years, we have had six Republican Presidents—Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H W Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump.

In that same period, we have had eight Republican Vice Presidents—Spiro Agnew, Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, George H W Bush, Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney, Mike Pence, and JD Vance.

It is well recognized that three of these six Republican Presidents are rated higher than the other three—meaning Ronald Reagan, George H W Bush, and Gerald Ford.

George W. Bush, Richard Nixon, and Donald Trump are in the bottom third, with Trump nearly at the total bottom.

When one looks at the eight Republican Vice Presidents, only Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, and George H W Bush are seen as above average.

Ranking the remaining five is ranking as much lower and far worse in performance, with Spiro Agnew seen as the bottom, but with Dan Quayle and Dick Cheney seen as not much better, and with Mike Pence just slightly above them.

And then, there is the present Vice President, JD Vance, who in seven months has managed to cause outrage by his utterances and his actions, making one fear the thought that he might be the successor to Donald Trump.

At age 41, if Vance became President by succession before the summer of 2027, he would be the youngest President in American history, as Theodore Roosevelt was 42 years and 10 and a half months of age when he succeeded the assassinated William McKinley in September 1901.

Compared to his predecessor, Mike Pence, Vance has managed to be much more controversial, and makes one at least admire Pence for having strong convictions, including refusing to accept Donald Trump’s assertion that he should support a rejection of the Electoral College results in the Presidential Election of 2020.

This led to the threatened hanging of Mike Pence by the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrectionists, who had set up a noose outside the building.

One cannot be sure that Vance would be any improvement on Donald Trump, as he is clearly totally unprincipled and insensitive in his statements and actions, and therefore, cannot be trusted as a potential future Commander in Chief.

Vance should be promoting the preservation of American democracy, but seems more interested in supporting the authoritarianism of Donald Trump, which presents a dire threat to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

By comparison, the Democratic Party has had four Vice Presidents since 1969—Walter Mondale under Jimmy Carter; Al Gore under Bill Clinton; Joe Biden under Barack Obama; and Kamala Harris under Joe Biden.

While the view of Harris is too recent to be reliable, any estimation of the significance of Mondale, Gore, and Biden makes it clear that they are the top three Vice Presidents of modern times, and arguably, of all time!

A Time To Celebrate: 17 Years Of “The Progressive Professor”, But Also A Time To Mourn The Demise Of The American Experiment! :(

Ronald 4 Comments

Today, August 11, marks precisely SEVENTEEN years of this author and blogger publishing commentary on this blog, “The Progressive Professor”, that was created in 2008, with the support and encouragement of my older son, David Feinman, who knew I had a passion to share my thoughts on American history, government and politics with others!

In those 17 years, there have been to date 8,550 articles published, and 28,532 comments made by my readers and followers. The comments added have been invaluable, and have, immensely, improved the whole concept of the blog, so I wish to thank all of those individuals who have committed themselves to contributing their thoughts and ideas, to the benefit of all those who read the blog daily.

In the present political climate, one cannot be certain that there will be a continuation of the blog long term, as these are dangerous times to be expressing thoughts, many of them critical, of events and personalities.

We may be witnessing the collapse of American democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law, and we may not survive the Presidency of Donald Trump, with the ability to restore what we had over nearly 250 years–an evolving nation with many faults which moved toward “a more perfect union”.

That has been destroyed by a quarter century of deceit and right wing extremism, motivated from the time of the Presidential Election of 2000, when Al Gore was denied the Presidency in favor of George W. Bush by a Supreme Court which showed it had no principles other than promoting aggrandizement of the nation by the wealthy.

Barack Obama came along and gave us hope of recovery, but faced great and fierce opposition, and the right wing extremist factions worked to, once again, undermine the American experiment by denying Hillary Clinton the Presidency in 2016 in favor of Donald Trump, who had ill intentions from the beginning.

Donald Trump worked at destroying the American Republic, and the nation was only, miraculously, saved in 2020 by the good fortune of Joe Biden coming along at the right time.

But the right wing forces attempted a coup d’etat, an Insurrection, NOT as some people claimed just a “riot”, but now being wiped out as if it never happened, as those who were involved in criminal acts have been “exonerated” by Trump pardons.

But the “disease” promoted by Trump and minions–the spreading of nativism, racism, misogyny, and homophobia by religious extremists—managed to convince gullible and poorly educated Americans to vote in 2024 to overcome and destroy the Republic that they did not fully appreciate, a shocking development.

Now, the rest of us are forced to suffer the ignorance, stupidity, and bias of ill informed and ill educated people, and are seeing our civil liberties destroyed.

Personally, having retired completely from teaching at the university level after 53 years, this author and blogger is, fortunately, continuing to give lectures to adults and senior citizens in South Florida, but it is difficult to predict what will happen in the short run and long run regarding this blog.

I just wish to hope for the best for myself, and all those who read my blog, as we move forward to chart whatever the future brings, which at this moment, does not look promising.

The future seems, sadly, likely to see the promotion of authoritarianism; the collapse of the economy with destructive tariffs; and the triumph of evil in international affairs, as witnessed by the Russia-Ukraine War and the Israel-Gaza War.

Thanks again, for your support and encouragement, to all those who read and contribute to this blog.