Ronald Reagan

First Republican Presidential Debate On Wednesday August 23 In Milwaukee

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The first Republican Presidential debate is set for Wednesday August 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the Republican National Convention will be held from July 15-18, 2024.

Wisconsin was the birthplace of the Republican Party in 1854 at Ripon, and the 170th anniversary of the party’s founding will be a moment of decision as to the future of the party that once had such luminaries as Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan as its standard-bearers.

Whether Donald Trump will continue to dominate the Republican Party will determine if the party is on its last legs, meaning doomed to distinction.

Can Tim Scott, Chris Christie, or Chris Sununu save the party and its future, as they seem to be the “best” of a bad lot of potential nominees, but if they and others must follow through on a loyalty oath to back whoever the party nominee is, then the party is doomed!

The Republican Presidential Race Is About To “Explode” With Ronald Reagan Comparisons, Which Will Not Succeed!

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The Republican Presidential race for 2024 is about to “explode”, with at least three, and possibly more, contenders about to announce by Memorial Day, and with the first Republican Presidential Contenders debate scheduled for sometime in August.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis; South Carolina Senator Tim Scott; and former Vice President Mike Pence (Indiana) are about to announce, and others–including former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie; New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu; Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin; and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem seem likely to join in the fray.

They will join former President Donald Trump; former South Carolina Governor and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley; former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson; and former biotech executive Vivek Ramaswamy (an arrogant extreme right wing multimillionaire 37 years old without any government experience) in the race.

Many of the soon to be contenders are invoking the name and image of former President Ronald Reagan, failing to understand that none of them are really at all like Reagan.

But also, the Ronald Reagan “bandwagon” fails to realize the great damage that the 40th President did to America in so many ways, but at the same time his open mindedness on some issues, such as immigration reform, which is one of the horrendous sins of the present day Republican Party, the depth and extent of their nativism and racism!

Desperate Need For Immigration Reform For Past Generation

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In 1986, Republican President Ronald Reagan signed an immigration reform plan into law, legitimizing millions of migrants who might have come in without the normal channels.

Reagan understood that the lifeblood of the nation is immigration, as America has always been a land welcoming people from other lands who have suffered from violence, poverty, discrimination, and simple desire for a better life.

Everyone of us in America is here because earlier generations of immigrants took the arduous and often dangerous trip from foreign lands.

And yet, now, and for the entire 21st century, the Republican Party, with some exceptions, have blocked immigration reform under Republican President George W. Bush, and Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Many forget, conveniently, that Republican Presidentic candidate Senator John McCain of Arizona promoted such reform in his 2008 Presidential campaign, and before and after that time frame until his passing in 2018.

But now, the ugly nativism of most Republicans is distressing, and failing to realize that promoting more immigration is a long range strategy to deal with the aging of the American population, and the dire need for more young people to promote economic growth into the future.

Supreme Court Justice Quality Way Down From Decades In The Past!

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Republican Party Presidents since 1953 have selected the vast majority of Supreme Court Justices!

Dwight D. Eisenhower 5
Richard Nixon 4
Gerald Ford 1
Ronald Reagan 4
George H. W. Bush 2
George W. Bush 2
Donald Trump 3
Total 21 with William Rehnquist listed twice under Nixon and Reagan

in 40 years of Republican Presidents

Democratic Party Presidents have had far fewer appointments!

John F. Kennedy 2
Lyndon B. Johnson 2
Jimmy Carter 0
Bill Clinton 2
Barack Obama 2
Joe Biden 1
Total 9

in 32 years of Democratic Presidents

So twice as many Repubican appointments as Democrats!

Eisenhower had Chief Justice Earl Warren, Associate Justice Potter Stewart, and Associate Justice William Brennan stand out!

Nixon had Chief Justice Warren Burger and Associate Justice Harry Blackmun stand out!

Ford had Associate Justice John Paul Stevens stand out!

Reagan had Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy stand out!

H W Bush had Associate Justice David Souter stand out!

On the Democratic side:

Kennedy had Associate Justice Byron White stand out!

Johnson had Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall stand out!

Clinton had Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Associate Justice Stephen Breyer stand out!

Obama had Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Associate Justice Elena Kagan stand out!

Biden had Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stand out!

So 9 Republican appointments and 7 Democratic appointments have stood out!

Now, sadly, we have a group of appointments by Republican Presidents (the two Bushes and Donald Trump) that have been extremist and involved in conflicts of interest, and are not interested in being in the moderate center of constitutional law!

These include Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and sadly, Chief Justice John Roberts!

Donald Trump Raves About Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un, And Republicans Stay Silent!

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Former President Donald Trump is demonstrating yet again how dangerous and crazy he is, and yet the Republican Party acts prostrate toward him!

Trump went on Fox News Channel and was interviewed by Tucker Carlson, who we know has said he hates him, but still has him on his show, as the goal is, ever after, to make money for Carlson and Fox News Channel by allowing Trump to spew forth his authoritarian impulses!

Trump praised Communist dictators Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, Xi Jinping of China, and Kim Jong Un of North Korea, lavishing them with glowing statements about how smart they are, and how brilliant they are, despite their well known record of human rights violations against their own populations, and threats to their neighbors.

And although one might say Putin is NOT a Communist, since the Russian Federation supposedly replaced the Soviet Union in December 1991, reality is that Putin WAS a Communist functionary in the Soviet KGB in the 1980s.

Imagine this, Communism was the enemy to decades of Republicans from the time of the Russian Revolution to the downfall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

It made the careers of innumerable Republicans, including the infamous Senator Joseph McCarthy, President Richard Nixon, and a massive number of others.

But along comes Trump, glorifying and praising these dangerous and unstable authoritarians, who could also be termed “Fascists” in their tactics, such as past horrors as Adolf Hitler of Germany, Benito Mussolini of Italy, Juan Peron of Argentina, and Francisco Franco of Spain in the 20th century.

The differences between “old line” Communists and modern Fascists are miniscule, and to have an American President praise such tyrants, and his party stays silent, is truly proof that the Republican Party and Fox News Channel are a danger to American freedom, security, and democracy!

How is it that Republicans have completely changed their perception of foreign enemies, and are engaged in similar tactics to undermine the civil rights and civil liberties of millions of Americans, who do not fit the image of white supremacy Christianity?

What has happened that the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, and Reagan has reached this point?

Robert F. Kennedy’s Namesake Son A Disgrace To The Family Name!

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President Joe Biden is a great admirer of former Senator, Attorney General, and 1968 Democratic Presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated on June 5, 1968.

So much an admirer that Biden has a bust of RFK on his Oval Office Desk, often shown in photos when Biden is sitting at the desk.

And the two men share a common birthday, November 20, for Kennedy in 1925, for Biden in 1942.

Sadly, in the present, RFK’s namesake, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has been disgracing the family name and reputation as an anti vaccine conspiracy theorist, and collaborating with right wing extremists, while making a lot of money promoting attacks on the good name of Dr. Anthony Fauci. The former Chief Medical Adviser to President Biden, consultant to every President from Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden, and former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for four decades, has been pilloried without just cause!

Now, RFK Jr has announced his candidacy for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2024, challenging Biden!

This is laughable, as RFK Jr will receive only the support of anti science, anti medicine lunatics, who had no concern about the mass loss of life from COVID 19, which they contributed to by their reckless, ignorant repudiation of vaccines and masks in the most deadly epidemic in a century!

Biden should not agree to debate RFK, Jr, just ignore him, as RFK Jr makes a fool of himself, and embarrasses his mother, Ethel, who has lived 55 years since the tragic death of her husband, and will reach the age of 95 four days from now, mortified by her son, who seriously needs mental health treatment!

March 30 In History: Reagan Shot And Trump Indicted

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March 30 becomes an historic day in American history for the second time!

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot in Washington, DC, and miraculously recovered from his wounds, the last time a President has been victimized by a would-be assassin.

And 2023, former President Donald Trump became the first occupant of the White House to be indicted, and likely to be one of a number of indictments.

Ohio Train Derailment And Nebraska Child Labor Scandal Signs Of Corporate Abuse!

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Sadly, in 2023, we have examples of corporate abuse as seen with the recent East Palestine, Ohio derailment of dangerous chemicals, on a train two miles long, with only two workers operating the train.

Also, in Nebraska, we have early teens doing dirty and dangerous work as cleaning workers in a slaughter house, breaking the child labor laws, and exploiting immigrant children.

How this is possible is due to continued big business and conservative and Republican attempts to weaken federal regulation, as occurred under Donald Trump and earlier Republican Presidents, despite the work of Barack Obama to strengthen such regulation.

The issues of government regulation of business and labor rights were dealt with in the Progressive Era of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson; again in the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt; and again in the 1960s under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. It emerged again in the Obama Presidency, but then was backtracked on under Donald Trump, as with earlier Republican Presidents, particularly Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

It is essential to have actions to prevent the kinds of tragedies that have occurred recently. The answer is not to attack Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and President Biden. And the Republican attack on the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other federal regulatory agencies must stop!

Biden In Ukraine And Poland Being Compared To Kennedy And Reagan In Berlin!

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Joe Biden spoke in Poland yesterday, after having spoken in Ukraine the day before, and he showed why so many sane individuals love his Presidency!

He spoke up for freedom and democracy against Russian tyranny, and it brought to mind the brilliant speeches of John F. Kennedy in 1963 and Ronald Reagan in 1987 at the Berlin Wall.

Also, his speech in Ukraine reminded us of Abraham Lincoln speaking at Gettysburg in November 1863, while the Civil War was still raging, taking the gamble to speak in an area similar to Kiev, Ukraine, under war footing and without adequate military forces available to protect the President.

If this does not convince people that Joe Biden is a transformational President, then nothing will!

And the Republican party opposition is split by the Russia-Ukraine War, and with Donald Trump and now, Ron DeSantis, against support of Ukraine, if either is the nominee, they are on the road to a smashing defeat in the Presidential Election of 2024!

Presidents Day 2023: The Changes In Rankings Occurring

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Every Presidents Day is a time for reflection on rankings of Presidents by Presidential scholars and by ordinary citizens.

As more evidence comes out about Donald Trump, it just moves him closer to the bottom of the list with James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson.

Neither of them, as horrendous as they were, took action to stage a coup by inciting violence and bloodshed at the US Capitol, and no President was as immoral and unethical as Trump, not even Richard Nixon.

The reputation of Jimmy Carter, even before his announcement of going into hospice, has been on the rise, as it is understood that he was horribly underestimated, because of his loss in 1980 to Ronald Reagan.

The record of Barack Obama also looks better all of the time when compared to the Presidents before and after him—George W. Bush and Donald Trump!

Joe Biden is in midstream, but his record of accomplishments and his common decency and empathy are causing him to be seen in sympathetic eyes by most observers, except the hate mongers, of which there are, sadly, too many!

Gerald Ford’s reputation is also improving, as the Republican President truly seen as saving the Presidency after the tragedy and corruption of Richard Nixon. His pardon of Nixon cost him in rankings, but in recent years, Ford is seen in a different light!