Lyndon B. Johnson

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!

Fact: Democrats Clean Up Republican Economic Disasters Since 1933!

Ronald 17 Comments

It is historical fact, whether Republicans and conservatives believe it or not, that Democratic Presidents clean up Republican Presidents’ economic disasters since 1933.

Franklin D. Roosevelt with his “New Deal” helped to resolve the Great Depression that occurred under the watch of President Herbert Hoover.

John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson brought about great economic prosperity in the 1960s after three recessions in the 1950s under President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Jimmy Carter had to deal with the economic recession in 1974-1975 under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and the economy revived in the first three years of his term in the late 1970s.

While Jimmy Carter had to deal with a brief six month recession in 1980, a contributing factor in his defeat for reelection that year, successor Ronald Reagan had to deal with a much more damaging recession in 1982, and later again with a stock market crash in 1987.

Bill Clinton brought about great economic prosperity after the recession that occurred under President George H. W. Bush in 1992, which led to his defeat for reelection. And Clinton brought about a balanced budget in his second term in the late 1990s.

Barack Obama brought about a recovery from the Great Recession that began under President George W. Bush, leading to the greatest economic recovery in American history.

Joe Biden brought about a recovery from the COVID 19 Pandemic under Donald Trump, which caused a massive loss of employment, but economic growth in the stock market and lowering unemployment made Biden a success.

Now, with Donald Trump, second term, undermining the American economy with his lunatic Tariff Wars against the entire world, the stock market has had massive losses, and unemployment is rising, and inflation is occurring, and it wil be up to the next Democratic President in 2029 to work to overcome the massive damage being wrought!

Delusional And Unconstitutional Ideas Of Third Term For Donald Trump!

Ronald 40 Comments

As public opinion polls make clear that Donald Trump is becoming very unpopular with his dizzying, chaotic policies after just ten weeks in office, Trump is speaking about a third term as President.

This is impossible, as the 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951 after Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected four times to the Presidency, limits any President to two elected terms, or if succeeding to the office, a maximum of ten years is allowed,meaning only if a Vice President comes into the Presidency with less than two years left, then he could be elected twice, for a total of up to ten years.

Already, Lyndon B. Johnson, before he dropped out of the Presidential race in 1968, could have had 9 years and two months in office, while Gerald Ford, who came in with 2 years and five months left in the term, could only be elected once, but was defeated in 1976.

To overcome this amendment would require a repeal of the 22nd Amendment, and a succession amendment that changed these limitations.

But that would require a two thirds vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, followed by support of 38 states out of 50 by majority vote in both houses of the state legislature.

Such is not going to happen, and certainly, not rapidly enough for 2028.

Clearly, Trump is delusional, with his idea that JD Vance might be elected with Trump as Vice President, and then would resign to allow Trump to come back to the White House.

But that would never happen, and still violates the 22nd Amendment.

Also, when Trump says he loves work, that is purely a lie, as he spends too much time golfing, and everyone who has observed him, knows he is lazy and does not like the details of the job, and hardly reads any important information more than one page in length.

This whole concept of a third term for Trump will never happen constitutionally, and is just a smoke screen for Trump to gain constant attention.

And his comment that he is the most popular Republican President in the past century shows his lack of knowledge and reality about Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, who had much higher public opinion support than Trump, who has never had the backing of a majority of the American people.

It is also ignoring the massive election victories of Richard Nixon in 1972 and Ronald Reagan in 1984, compared to the less than a majority victory of Trump in 2024 and his failure to win the popular vote in 2016, losing by 2.85 million votes!