Great Society

Donald Trump Needs To Be Forced Out Of The Presidency For The Sake Of The Nation And The World!

Ronald 6 Comments

Anyone with a clear knowledge of the history of the Donald Trump Presidency can see that his time in office has been a great tragedy for the nation and the world.

We have never seen a President quite like this.

Andrew Johnson was a nasty, mean, vindictive human being.

Richard Nixon was a paranoid, insecure man.

Andrew Jackson was a combative person who could lose his temper very easily.

Warren G. Harding was a very ignorant man, but he also knew his own limitations.

Trump is one and only, with elements of Johnson, Nixon, Jackson, and Harding, but far worse than all four of these Presidents.

He is in process of trying to destroy the New Deal, Great Society, and the good works of Barack Obama.

He has also destroyed the stability of the international order, and consorted with totalitarian leaders, while rejecting democratic nations with long alliances and friendships with America.

He is setting the worst possible example for children of both genders, by his racism, nativism, misogyny, and constant lying nonstop.

Donald Trump has lowered the standard of the Presidency to an all time low, and will be rated the worst President ever, already having been put in that position in February of 2018 by a poll of the American Political Science Association.

He has undermined America and must be forced out of the Presidency soon, for the sake of the nation and the world!

The Time Has Arrived For Republicans In Congress To Denounce, Repudiate, And Abandon Trump: Will They For Their Reputation In History?

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The time has arrived for Republicans in Congress to denounce, repudiate, and abandon Donald Trump, after the double whammy of the guilty plea of Michael Cohen, and the conviction of Paul Manafort, within an hour of each other yesterday.

There is no justification, none, for Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, and all other GOP Senators and Congressmen, even if they are running for office this November, to continue to back a President clearly involved in corrupt actions.

Either they do this now, or they will go down in history as collaborators.

One could say that they felt party loyalty before these events, but now there is no way to defend supporting Donald Trump.

Yes, they accomplished a massive tax cut for the top one to two percent.

Yes, they accomplished a massive attack on government regulation, trying to destroy the New Deal, Great Society, even Richard Nixon reforms, and Barack Obama’s healthcare law.

Yes, they managed to force right wing judges on us hurriedly, but should not be allowed to foist Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on us, at a time when the President is under investigation.

But now, the game is up, and they need to put America ahead of their own positions, and they still would be likely, in many cases, to win their seats again, particularly the House Freedom Caucus membership.

America First, NOT Donald Trump and party first!

Barack Obama Reaches 57 Years Of Age: His Legacy, Despite Donald Trump’s Temporary Destruction, Is Insured, And Will Be Restored Over Time

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Barack Obama reached the age of 57 two days ago, and many would think that his legacy is destroyed, by the words and actions of Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

Temporarily, yes, much harm and damage has been done, but the long term legacy of Barack Obama will survive the temporary setbacks, and his accomplishments will be restored over time.

The same desire to destroy the legacy of a successful Presidency was attempted by the Republican Party and the conservative movement after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death in 1945.

The same motivation, to destroy both the New Deal of FDR and the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson was attempted in the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan.

Both times, the Republican Party was unable to destroy the good programs that had been accomplished, although funding was often cut.

Now, under Donald Trump and the worst group of Republicans, far more disgraceful and despicable than after World War II or in the 1980s, the desire is not just to destroy everything Barack Obama did, but also to strike at the heart of progressive and liberal America, which brought about Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Civil Rights, and environmental and consumer reforms.

But the American people, or at least the majority of them, have seen the virtues of what FDR, LBJ and Barack Obama have done for the nation, as they are the three Presidents who accomplished the most of any Presidents in the past 85 years, although Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton made smaller contributions, and even Republican Richard Nixon, despite all of the reprehensible policies he pursued, actually did improve on the New Deal and Great Society.

The hate and viciousness of Donald Trump will never erase the decency, dignity, warmth, sincerity, empathy, compassion, ethics, morality, and accomplishments of the 44th President of the United States.

The record of the 45th President will be marked as the absolute bottom of the Presidency, while Barack Obama, already rated number 12 by the C Span 2017 Presidential Historians Survey, and number 8 by the 2018 American Political Science Association Executive Leadership Survey Presidential poll, will soar higher as time passes, and further reflection makes Americans realize just how great a President he was. Of course, he had his faults as all Presidents and human beings have, but he will rank in the top tier throughout the long run of American history.

18 Months Of Donald Trump Presidency, And Crisis Atmosphere Grows

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Today marks 18 months of the Donald Trump Presidency.

It has been 18 months of horrors, nightmares, disgrace to the office of the Presidency.

It has seen more corruption and abuse of power than any President in the past, including Richard Nixon.

It has put America into a massive foreign policy crisis, now marked by Trump’s invitation to Vladimir Putin of Russia to come to the White House this fall.

It has put America into a massive domestic policy crisis, as the the New Deal, Great Society, and everything good that Barack Obama did in eight years in office, is being systematically destroyed.

It has created the conditions for a potential Great Depression, with the imposition of tariffs about to explode into inflation of prices, loss of jobs and income, and alienation of all of our major trade partners with his crazy economic policies.

It has created the end of the post World War II alliance system of NATO that won the Cold War, but now the Russian government has declared a cyber World War on America, with a President whose loyalty is clearly with our rivals and enemies.

It has caused disarray among the two major political parties that have been our system since 1854, and now are in danger of total destruction, at least with the Republican Party.

It has demonstrated that the people who are elected and those who are appointed put their own jobs and wealth ahead of the interests of the vast majority of the American people.

It has shown us that our system of government, which allows a Supreme Court for life. It is guaranteed to create social and economic turmoil that will insure the danger of civil war, as the younger generation rebels against the future right wing extremist judicial system, packed with justices and judges who want to take us back to the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, and wipe out the 20th century social safety network that has made us great.

It has divided Americans, with many, including this author and blogger no longer communicating with former associates and friends, when we have discovered how disgraceful these people are. This also includes family members, relatives, who make one realize the old saying, that you can pick your friends, but not your relatives.

Donald Trump is clearly out to destroy the United States as we know it, determined to keep his ethical and moral issues, and his violations of the law a secret that only Vladimir Putin knows, and holds over the head of the 45th President.

The danger of a violent civil war, as we had in the 1860s, is becoming more a reality unless somehow we can turn the tide and excise the cancer of Donald Trump. But sadly, Mike Pence is, in many ways, even worse, with his right wing religious crusade in a nation that was based on separation of church and state, precisely because of the religious extremism of Puritanism in our colonial history. The threat of racial and ethnic and even gender conflict is real, and the power of the National Rifle Association, now shown to be allied with the forces of Vladimir Putin, can bring about violence in the name of profits.

It is hard NOT to have despair as to how this nation survives long term, without major damage to the republic!

Speaker Of The House Paul Ryan: A Failed And Disgraceful Figure In American Political History, And Total Sham!

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Back in 2012, when Paul Ryan was chosen by Mitt Romney to be his Vice Presidential running mate, this author made clear his total distaste of the Wisconsin Congressman, who had made his career on balancing budgets, and cutting social programs from the New Deal on through the Great Society. He has now proved once again that he is a failed and disgraceful figure in American political history, and is a total sham!

It was made clear that Ryan was a disgraceful choice to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency, had Mitt Romney won the Presidential Election of 2012.

As a result of my harsh criticism, I was bitterly attacked by the right wing, in a very vicious manner.

But I was correct in my assessment then, and since, and now, Paul Ryan is quitting Congress, and leaving the Speakership of the House of Representatives, at a time when he was facing a major challenge from Democrat Randy Bryce, an iron worker, who was totally disgusted by the hypocrisy and self serving of Ryan over his 20 year Congressional career.

Ryan set out from a young age, based on his Ayn Rand philosophy, to destroy the Social Safety Net of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and other programs to help the millions of poor, disabled, sick, children, and elderly in our society. And yet, when his father died when Paul Ryan was not yet an adult, he received Social Security benefits, but now wishes to destroy FDR’s signature program!

At the same time, his goal was to cut taxes dramatically for the wealthy, and he succeeded under Donald Trump, blowing a massive hole in the budget, and now creating a $1 trillion increase in the national debt by so doing.

Ryan has done more to harm the future of the nation economically than just about anyone, and he has been unwilling to take a strong stand, or any stand, against Donald Trump’s abuse of power.

It almost seems as if he gets sexual thrills from hurting people, and yet, he claims to be a “good Catholic”, which most decent Catholics would totally disagree with.

The best response to Ryan leaving is “good riddance”!

Fifty Years Ago Today, Lyndon Johnson Announced He Would Retire; Right Timing Now For Donald Trump To Do The Same!

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Fifty years ago today, President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had been elected in 1964 by the largest popular vote margin ever in American history to the present moment, announced his decision to bow out of the 1968 Presidential race, and retire, effective at the end of his term on January 20, 1969.

Johnson recognized that he had divided America, and had lost his credibility, and he did the right thing when he announced his decision.

Johnson had done a lot of good, as his Great Society brought the greatest domestic reforms since Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, three decades earlier.

Now, five decades since 1968, we have a President who is destroying all of the good works of both LBJ and FDR, as well as Barack Obama, and he is the most crooked, corrupt President in American history, far more than Richard Nixon, who also did a lot of good in the Presidency.

It is, therefore, proper timing for Donald Trump to show the courage and sense of reality of LBJ, and he SHOULD announce today, which this author realizes will not happen today, but hopefully soon, that he is resigning from the Presidency, as Richard Nixon did, not wait another ten months as LBJ did.

Trump has lost all credibility, and is a plague on the nation, endangering our domestic tranquility and national security, and MUST go, NOW!

The Undermining Of Recruitment Of Qualified, Outstanding Candidates For Government Service Careers By Trump Administration

Ronald 9 Comments

The most tragic aspect, above all others, of the Trump Presidency is the undermining of recruitment of qualified, outstanding candidates for government service careers.

We need the best people in the younger generation to wish to serve in the diplomatic corp, and in the various government agencies that serve our population.

But instead, young people are looking elsewhere than government careers, and not only because of Donald Trump, but also because of the Republican Congress, which is out to make government service a type of work that people will not get adequate compensation and benefits, and also respect.

The Republican Party is anti government, except for their elite, privileged group which knows how to make deals with corporations and special interest groups, like the National Rifle Association and the oil and coal industries, and the pharmaceutical industry, and many others, who care not a whit for the public good anymore than the GOP.

So therefore, the goal is to avoid regulation, and convince people who are committed to such regulation, to be forced out and replaced by party hacks and industry goons.

So we are seeing massive resignations early of people who might have stayed longer in their government jobs, and the word is out, to avoid government service at all costs in the future.

This will undermine our government in both domestic and foreign policy, and make America a backward place, going back to the Gilded Age and 1920s mentality, as the Republicans and their allies, and our disgraceful President, work to destroy all of the New Deal and Great Society and Barack Obama legacy as well.

This is a setback which will affect most Americans for the rest of their lives, even if Trump were to leave office soon, as the Republican Party would be no better under Mike Pence or Paul Ryan in the short term.

But this is why it is essential that the Democrats, against great odds, must win control of both houses of Congress in 2018, and convince millions of young people, women, racial minorities, labor, and educated suburbanites, that Donald Trump and the Republican Party are anathema to the long term prosperity and security of the United States.

The hard work of changing this country back to the way it was before the 2016 election must be at full speed and with great earnest!

Presidents Day On Monday, And JFK, Reagan, Obama Rated Top Three Presidents Since 1953, But Much Ignorance And Lack Of Historical Knowledge!

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Every year on and around Presidents Day, public opinion polls are taken to judge who the American people most admire among past Presidents.

For the past decade, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan have switched with each other as the best President of the past half century.

This year, the University of Virginia Center For Politics, operated by Professor Larry Sabato, and Ipsos, an international, independent marketing research firm have come to the conclusion that the rating of JFK is the highest, with Ronald Reagan close behind, but Barack Obama a competitive third place, followed by Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush and his son George W. Bush tied for fifth place.

Dwight D. Eisenhower is seventh, followed by Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and then Donald Trump in 10th place, just a bit ahead of Lyndon B. Johnson, and then Richard Nixon in last place.

This polls shows that Obama has remained popular a year after leaving the Presidency, and a sign he will likely remain high in public opinion, quite an accomplishment considering the bitterly divided America we have at the present time.

But it shows ignorance, to have the two Bushes in a tie, and probably mostly because the younger Bush is a recent President, and many are confused by the similar names.

To put Eisenhower seventh is more a lack of knowledge of a President from the 1950s, and to put Trump, a disastrous President low on the list, but ahead of LBJ and his Great Society and Nixon and his diplomacy, is a true sign of pure lack of historical knowledge by the American public. It is true that Johnson engaged America in the disastrous Vietnam War and Nixon was forced out of office due to the Watergate Scandal. But their accomplishments were enough to put them above Trump in a realistic situation where people know historical facts.

So clearly, there is a dire need for major emphasis on the study of history and of the Presidency, as this lack of knowledge brought us Donald Trump to the White House, with zero qualifications for the White House!

Trump Proposal To Eliminate Corporation For Public Broadcasting (PBS And NPR) Must Be Prevented, Best Bargain In Government

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The total federal government cost for PBS and NPR (Corporation For Public Broadcasting) in the present budget is $495 million, a half billion dollars to promote education, knowledge, public affairs, history, science, culture on television and radio.

Formed in 1965 as part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society programs, PBS and NPR have done great work and deeds for more than a half century.

How much tens of millions of Americans have gained from both PBS and NPR is incalculable.

It only costs $1.65 per person in the federal budget, with both PBS and NPR also asking for and gaining private contributions from millions of Americans, who appreciate the good work it does.

Considering so much wasted money that is spent by the federal government, this half billion dollars is a pittance, well spent and worth sustaining.

It is all part of a plan of conservatives, Republicans, and Donald Trump to promote ignorance, and discourage education, as ignorant people can more easily be controlled.

This is a battle worth fighting, and hopefully, both these valuable contributions to public discourse will be protected, along with the National Endowment For The Arts and the National Endowment For The Humanities, which promotes the arts and humanities in higher education.

Trump Tax Cuts Already Undermining Budget, And Threatening Social Safety Net Of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid

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The Trump tax cuts are already, just as they are going into effect, causing a massive shortage of government funds, and threatening the stability of the Social Safety Net of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and as well as educational, environmental, consumer, and labor laws.

This is precisely what the Republican Party of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the Trump White House wants, to destroy the entire social and economic reforms and regulatory laws of the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Great Society of the Lyndon B. Johnson, and the reforms of Barack Obama, along with lesser reforms of Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

The Republican Party is now an extremist right wing party controlled by the Freedom Caucus and evangelical Christians, who will not be satisfied until they take America back to the 1920s and the Gilded Age.

And this past week, the beginning of the end of what is now 88 months of economic expansion and job growth is evident, as today, the stock market collapsed with a 670 point drop, and a 1,000 point drop over this entire week. This is the biggest drop in two years, about 2.5 percent in the past week. It is also the biggest drop since the financial crisis of late 2008, which led to the Great Recession.

This was predictable, as no market or economic growth can continue to expand forever and already, the seven years and four months of expansion, since the last months of 2010, is an all time record.

We will go through very rough times from now on, and yet the wealthy top one or two percent will continue to gain massive tax cuts, while the rest of America suffers.

We are on the road to potential social uprising, as the American people realize that a President who lost the popular vote, and has engaged in illegal acts, works to undermine the investigation of Russian collusion, money laundering, abuse of power, violating the emoluments clause, and obstruction of justice, at the expense of the American people, but makes sure his class of wealthy people continues to benefit.

The Trump public opinion rating in the mid 30s is likely to collapse into the 20s at this rate, but will the Republican Party try to rectify itself in Congress, or will they continue to collaborate in treason and corruption, and destroy their historical legacy long term?

We shall see in the months leading up to a likely massacre in the midterm elections this November.