Right Wing Populism

Disturbing Right Wing Trend In International Affairs, Mirroring Donald Trump!

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As the threat of Donald Trump continues to be a menace, we are seeing in international affairs a troubling and disturbing trend of right wing populism, mirroring his extremism.

Already, this has been evident in Turkey, Poland, Hungary, Italy, and now The Netherlands, along with Egypt, India, Myanmar, and now Argentina, and dangers of right wing extremism threatening to rise in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere.

Religion, whether Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist is a growing factor in these nations.

It seems as if the world is moving back into the Fascism movement that was so prominent in the 1930s and 1940s.

A Half Century Ago, The Nation Was Saved From Spiro Agnew!

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Exactly 50 years ago, the nation witnessed the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew on October 10, 1973, on charges of criminal conspiracy, bribery, extortion, and tax fraud, which led to a pleading of no contest to a single felony charge of tax evasion.

That moment, while maybe not reflected on then or since, in retrospect, was an absolute blessing for the nation, the Presidency, and American democracy!

Sprio Agnew was, arguably, the most dangerous and corrupt Vice President in American history, a man who worked to divide the nation and promote evil in a monstrous way, including attacks on news media, and being in general “an attack dog” for the corrupt intentions of President Richard Nixon.

Agnew employed racist language, reminiscent of later what Donald Trump would do, and forecast the right wing populism that would be used by Republicans in later decades.

Agnew attacked liberals and anti Vietnam War protestors, and was vicious in his rhetoric, reminding many of former Red Scare provocateur Senator Joseph McCarthy, and gained a reputation as “Nixon’s Nixon”!

Even now, a half century later, when this author and blogger gives lectures on Richard Nixon, and mentions Spiro Agnew’s name, it gets a negative reaction from audiences!

But what is often forgotten is IF Agnew had not been investigated and found to be corrupt, as well as his evil doings as Vice President, he would have succeeded Richard Nixon when he resigned 10 months later on August 9, 1974!

Instead, the nation was fortunate that there was a 25th Amendment, and that Gerald Ford became Vice President by nomination of Nixon and approval by both houses of Congress!

Gerald Ford proved to be a savior, being the right person at the time of the Watergate Scandal, to be the successor to a President seen as the most corrupt in American history, until the disgraced Presidency of Donald Trump surpassed Nixon in the level of venality! 🙁

Donald Trump, The Republican Party, And Two “Big Lies”!

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Donald Trump lost the national popular vote twice, by massive margins, much more than George W. Bush in 2000, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and John Quincy Adams in 1824.

Together, he lost by nearly 10 million votes–2.85 million in 2016, and 7.1 million in 2020.

The “Big Lie” is that Donald Trump won EITHER time, 2016 and 2020.

It is clear that the Russians and Vladimir Putin helped to fix the election in 2016 in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, giving Trump the victory by a combined total of about 78,000 votes.

In 2020, Trump lost much more massively, even in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, along with Georgia and Arizona, but his party is perpetuating a myth that helped to provoke the Capitol Insurrection of January 6, 2021, for which Donald Trump should be held accountable and be in prison!

Conservatism and the Republican Party are being destroyed, and the idea that nearly 70 percent of Republicans in polls believe the “Big Lie”, and refuse to acknowledge Joe Biden won the Presidency is beyond any sense of reality. This undermines American democracy, rule of law, and respect for the Constitution.

The Republican Party officeholders, with the exception of a small group, including Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, Adam Kinzinger, Lisa Murkowski, and a few others, has become a Fascist Party, a right wing Populist Party, a worshipper of Donald Trump, as if he is their Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini, unwilling or unable to accept the truth, and living in an alternate reality!

Donald Trump: A Mix Of Wendell Willkie, George Wallace, And Ross Perot

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Donald Trump’s Presidential candidacy has brought back memories of three other Presidential candidates.

First is Wendell Willkie, a corporate leader and Wall Street industrialist from Indiana who had never run for public office, who wowed the Republican convention in 1940 with his charisma, rhetoric, and attack on “career politicians”.  He was able to win the Republican Presidential nomination in 1940, and run a good but losing race against the master politician, Franklin D. Roosevelt, running for an unprecedented third term.

Next is George C. Wallace, Governor of Alabama, who formed the American Independent Party in 1968, rallying those opposed to the Civil Rights laws passed under Lyndon B. Johnson.  He attracted angry working class whites, and won 13.5 % of the popular vote, the fourth best percentage for a third party in American history.  He also won five Southern states and 46 electoral votes, making him the second best in total states and electoral votes in American history, only behind former President Theodore Roosevelt, who won six states and 88 electoral votes as the nominee of the third party known as the Progressive (Bull Moose) party, in 1912.  TR also is the only third party nominee to end up second, rather than third in the election results.  His campaign in 1912 decimated the Republican Party under President William Howard Taft, and helped to elect Democrat Woodrow Wilson.

And then we have Ross Perot, a billionaire businessman who had never run for public office, who ran an independent race twice, winning nearly 19 percent of the vote in 1992, and 8 percent of the vote in 1996, while winning no states in the Electoral College.  He appealed to those who were disgusted with the federal government, and worried about the growing national debt.  His candidacy undermined the Republican Party nominees, President George H. W. Bush in 1992 and Senator Bob Dole in 1996, and elected Democrat Bill Clinton twice.

Now we have Donald Trump, a billionaire, who has developed an appeal to those who are disillusioned with politics and the federal government, making him similar to Perot.  But Trump also appeals to the baser instincts in many people, those who dislike African Americans, Latinos, immigrants in general, in these ways having similar views  to Wallace.  These Trump supporters  also think women should not be treated equally, preferring the old image of women who should cook, clean, and be available for the sexual satisfaction of their men, but with no rights over their bodies and reproduction,  similar to the Tea Party Movement.  Also, there is a distaste for labor rights, and for the environment, and an orientation toward absolute belief in religion as the gospel, and a repudiation of science.

Can Trump “storm” the Republican Party, as Wendell Willkie did in 1940; or will he run on a third party, like Ross Perot, and make it impossible for the GOP to win the White House?  And will Trump continue to appeal to the George Wallace type voters, and promote a right wing populism as Wallace did?

This is what is yet to be evolving, but in many ways, Trump is a combination, right now, of Willkie, Wallace, and Perot!