Lyndon B. Johnson

Presidents With Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Ronald 37 Comments

Many public figures have the psychological condition known as “Narcissistic Personality Disorder”, as well as do millions of ordinary citizens, wanting constant attention and adoration.

Among them are a substantial group of American Presidents, nearly one of every four Chief Executives.

The list would include, in chronological order:

Andrew Jackson
Andrew Johnson
Theodore Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
Franklin D. Roosevelt
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard Nixon
Bill Clinton
Donald Trump

The most destructive Presidents with this syndrome, clearly, are Donald Trump, Richard Nixon, Andrew Jackson, and Andrew Johnson in the long run of history, in that ranked order.

The other six listed here, while possessing NPD, can be seen as having a greater, overall, positive influence on their time in office, despite their shortcomings and weaknesses.

Of course, this above list and the judgment on these Presidents is subject to debate and discussion, which is welcomed in comments!

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.

For 15 Years, No Republican Plan For Health Insurance, And Still None!

Ronald 3 Comments

With five weeks to go until 2026 arrives, the Republican Party, once again, has no plan or ideas about health insurance for millions of Americans, who have relied on the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) since its passage in 2010, to provide health care coverage.

The truth is that Republicans have been, as a party, vehemently opposed to Obama Care, to a great extent, because it is the accomplishment of former President Barack Obama, so the reality is that Racism is a major factor in their rejection.

For 15 years, Republicans have shown a lack of concern about this premier issue, and if it was not for Chief Justice John Roberts in 2013, and Arizona Senator John McCain in 2017, the Affordable Care Act would have been obliterated years ago.

This is nothing new for the Republican Party, which has been opposed to Medicare and Medicaid, enacted into law under President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 and 1966 respectively.

It is also the reality that the Republican Party has been opposed to Social Security since it became law under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935.

Had the Democratic Party not controlled the House of Representatives for 58 of 62 years from 1932-1994, and controlled the US Senate for 52 of 62 years from 1932-1994, America would not have had these premier examples of social justice.

The fact that Congress has been so evenly divided since 1994 has complicated the ability of the federal government to deal with health care and so much else in a statesmanlike manner, and endangers the lives and health of millions of Americans, moving forward!

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!

Donald Trump Is Underming Multiple Areas Of American Progress

Ronald 66 Comments

After seven and a half months of his second term, President Donald Trump has used a “wrecking ball” that has undermined multiple areas of American progress of past Presidents and Congresses.

Trump has undermined a stable American foreign policy, upending our relationship with NATO and our Asian allies, and encouraging aggression by dictatorships worldwide.

Trump has undermined our heritage of civil rights and civil liberties progress, from the time of Lyndon B. Johnson onward.

Trump has undermined environmental and consumer protection, which has been a guidepost since the time of Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon.

Trump has undermined America’s economic progress with his crazy, mad dash toward tariffs that are already showing signs of bringing about an economic recession and make life more difficult for anyone not of the wealthy upper class.

Trump has declared war on immigrants, upending the concept of tolerance and the essential need for a work force that includes foreigners who wish to become part of the “American Dream”.

Trump has shown total lack of compassion, decency, ethics, morals and tolerance toward anyone not white male Christian, including setting back progress for nonwhites, women, gays and lesbians, and disabled people.

Trump has undermined the independence of universities, the news media, corporations, and law firms, all threatening American democracy and its institutions.

So Trump has declared war on much of the 20th and 21st century progress from Theodore Roosevelt to Joe Biden, Presidents and Congresses of both political parties!

Preposterous Idea: Nobel Peace Prize For Trump, Or Addition To Mount Rushmore!

Ronald 51 Comments

Donald Trump, and those who support him without any qualms, are promoting preposterous ideas, that indicate total delusion.

The idea of a Nobel Peace Prize for Trump is hilarious, as he has no credentials to win such an award, and it seems clear that the Nobel Committee will not consider giving an authoritarian who is Fascist and mentally deranged, such an award.

The fact that Trump is also a convicted felon, and was impeached twice, and has had multiple bankruptcies, and have lied so often that he has no idea of truth, only adds to the craziness of the concept of a Nobel Peace Prize.

Also, the idea of Trump being added to Mount Rushmore National Monument in South Dakota, is immediately a joke.

Of course, then South Dakota Governor, and current Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, was the loon who came up with that idea, which led to her gaining a position in the Trump Administration as close to the worst single appointment of a long list of many. Noem is a danger in her position, and an embarrassment to the idea of women in government!

For one thing, no one can be added to that monument, without creating damage to the tenuous condition of that site.

But also, if there were to be the equivalent of a second Mount Rushmore being created somewhere else on American soil, Trump would not be on the list to be considered.

Instead, the likelihood would be a combination of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman or Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama!

Reagan would be the Republican to add, not Trump!

This is silly season, overall, with the craziness of the Nobel Peace Prize and Mount Rushmore being bandied about as proper awards for Trump, and it will never happen!

The Voting Rights Act 60th Anniversary: Now Under Attack By Texas Republicans And Donald Trump

Ronald 1 Comment

Sixty years ago tomorrow (August 6, 1965), President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the momentous, monumental Voting Rights Act into law, ending a history of voting discrimination, denying African Americans and other racial minorities and poor people the right to vote.

This only came about after decades of violence and intimidation, particularly in the American South, and it was glorious that it was a Southerner, a Texan, Lyndon B. Johnson, who brought about this massive reform, with the support of a strong Democratic controlled Congress, but with many Republicans also joining in to support the legislation.

It is extremely sad that we are now witnessing a racist and authoritarian President, Donald Trump, attempting to promote what is clearly an attempt at a coup d’etat, advocating the diluting of voting rights of these various groups through extreme gerrymandering, which could lead to five seats gained by the Republican Party in Texas.

The battle to retain the hard fought voting rights gained, is one that must be pursued without compromise!

Horrible Tragedy: Gutting Of So Many Federal Commitments And Agencies!

Ronald 7 Comments

Six months have passed since the second Trump Presidency began, and it is now perfectly clear that Donald Trump has waged total war on the federal government, both commitments of long duration, and of agencies and departments of long standing.

The Republican Party in Congress, and the Supreme Court six member majority, are complicit in these horrendous actions.

USAID (US Agency For International Development), which provided life saving aid to millions of poor people, including particularly children, around the world, has been destroyed.

PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Program For Aids Relief), the major accomplishment of former President George W. Bush, which saved at least 26 million lives in Africa from the AIDS epidemic, has been gutted.

The Department of Education, created under President Jimmy Carter after being part of a combined agency under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a commitment to federal engagement in education standards and support, has been cut dramatically.

FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), created under President Jimmy Carter, had been on the chopping block until the recent Texas Flood Disaster, but still is in danger of being eliminated, as the federal government is moving toward leaving weather and natural disasters to the states to handle on their own.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service, created under Republican President Richard Nixon, are both crucial agencies facing massive cuts in personnel and ability to do their work to protect Americans.

Public funding of NPR and PBS, one tenth of one percent of the federal budget, is being cut completely.

Medicaid and SNAP (Food Stamps), both coming about under President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s, are suffering massive cuts, which will affect, in particular, rural states, but overall, the disabled, the elderly, and poor children, a total travesty!

Tens of thousands of federal employees in a multitude of agencies have lost their jobs, and with it, the federal goverment loses their generations of expertise on all kinds of issues of national security, health care, environmental protections, and so many other roles the federal government has engaged in since the Progressive Era, the New Deal, the Great Society, and commitments by Presidents of both parties in the past 50 years since the 1970s.

Imagining if Lyndon B. Johnson Were To Meet Donald Trump!

Ronald 20 Comments

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) was the second greatest domestic policy President after Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945).

Both Democratic Presidents gave America its greatest social welfare and social safety network with Medicare and Medicaid under LBJ, and Social Security under FDR.

But LBJ went much further with great accomplishments in other areas of reform, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, greatly expanded the National Defense Education Act, fighting poverty in both rural and urban America, environmental and consumer reforms, promotion of NPR and PBS, immigration reform, and other reforms, more than anyone since FDR and after LBJ to the present!

So, if LBJ were alive today, and saw what Donald Trump has done in his first Presidency, and his unmatched level of cruelty in his much more oppressive, repressive second term in just less than four months, he would have open confrontations with Trump, and would use the most vile, salty language imaginable!

And with his domineering personality traits, LBJ would put Trump in his place and tame him, without an ounce of being “gentlemanly” in any sense!

A Half Century Since End Of Vietnam War, A Continuing Tragedy!

Ronald 3 Comments

It is difficult to conceptualize that the most divisive moment in American history since the Civil War, the Vietnam War, ended fifty years ago tomorrow.

The tragic escape from the US Embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam, by the American military and diplomatic personnel, and many South Vietnamese trying to make it onto the helicopters, and many falling to their deaths, marked the end of an involvement by the US, lasting 20 years.

This caused the greatest loss of American lives, other than the Civil War and the two World Wars, a total of 58,000 American military personnel.

An involvement in the war begun by Harry Truman providing military and economic aid to France, beginning in 1950;

followed by about 2,000 “advisers”, under Dwight D. Eisenhower;

an escalation to 16,500 soldiers, including Green Beret combat forces, under John F. Kennedy;

a massive escalation to a final total of 549,500 soldiers in March 1968, under Lyndon B. Johnson;

and very slow withdrawal and dragged out combat until a peace agreement was finalized in March 1973, under Richard Nixon;

and then, the final collapse of South Vietnam by April 1975, under Gerald Ford.

The war divided the nation, as it was the greatest division since the Civil War, and so many survivors’ lives from the war effort suffered dearly, and many of them became victims for years after in so many ways, including those still alive fifty years later!

The nation owes a debt to these surviving veterans, which has never been fully repaid, and now, with cuts in the US Department of Veterans Affairs under Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, the failure to follow through on proper treatment and benefits will be a continuing tragedy!