Accepting Political Realities Soon Enough To Keep Trump Out of Office

 INTRODUCTION

 

Politics is very hard to understand because it’s very complex. And, honestly, it is filled with  a lot of the good, the bad, and the ugly!

But once again, America will be selecting candidates for the presidency and we need to get ready, as voters, to wisely select good ones. 

America  will do well if we elect for president an average (not radical) experienced politician. The personalities of our past presidents have varied tremendously. It is very, very hard work to be President, so we need a person who is a serious-minded hard worker.

To reach this goal in 2024, it is best that Donald Trump not run for president. And if he runs, it's important he not get elected. 

 

Many voters continue to believe Trump lost the last presidential election only because of election fraud.  It is for such voters that I have written this blog. I’m going to do two things:

First, I’ll summarize facts important to keep in mind about why Donald Trump and presidential politics just don’t work well together (Woodward, 221-223 for example).

Second, I’ll mention a few republican politicians I’ve followed for many years who can be trusted to always speak truthfully and realistically. And I’ll explain just how fraud free the 2020 presidential election was.

 

 

KEEP THESE FACTS AND IN MIND, STUDY THEM 

Former President Donald Trump made Jeff Sessions Attorney General (AG). Mr. Sessions was loyal to then President Trump; but when Trump was being investigated by the Department of Justice in the Russian investigation, Mr. Sessions could not be serving Trump and be in a prosecutor’s role at the same time. Mr. Sessions, a lawyer of course, made the correct professional decision and took himself out of the Russian investigation to avoid conflicts of interest. Mr. Trump was very upset and eventually fired Mr. Sessions.

Mr. Bill Barr, a republican who had been George H. W. Bush’s AG, was interested in helping Mr. Trump and was appointed as the new Attorney General.

Remember that, even before the 2020 presidential election, Trump was predicting fraud and that if he lost it would be due to election fraud or a conspiracy of some type. When the election results were all in, Biden was the clear-cut winner.  But Trump announced he, Trump, was the real winner; and he has never publicly admitted he lost the election.

But Trump took even more actions with the aid of members of his administration to “find votes” by various means to invalidate his loss. Mr. Barr, a very loyal attorney general to Mr. Trump, said to Mr. Trump and also publicly that Trump had lost.  I am confident  Trump has always known he lost the 2020 election. Trump historically has won conflicts by lying to himself and others and filing suits, using delay tactics, and just plain wearing everyone out. He has done this to the American people.

A small number of republican congressmen and women publicly said Mr. Trump had lost. One of those was Mr. Mitch McConnell, majority leader in the Senate. Senator McConnell, a very powerful man of few words, publicly said Mr. Trump lost the election. Remarkably, even by 2022 many republican congressmen would not admit Trump lost to now President Biden.

So, if you the reader, by feeling, intuition, or thought, believe Trump would have won except for fraud—then you are in good company. 

Most voters don’t have the time or interest to fully study and research the candidates. But maybe the worst problems are the political parties, the so called “experts,” and the media themselves. They present their views, have their biases, but fail in their attempts to provide useful voter information. When voters are flooded with hundreds and hundreds of conflicting stories, accusations and denials—then there is so much information, so many viewpoints on so many issues—it’s hard for a large percentage of voters to figure out who to believe about what.  

 

So, after the 2020 election results were announced, Mr. Trump, consistent with his long time business style, filed lawsuits.  He vigorously contested the election result and used the media to repeatedly plead his case that he had won the election.

 

But by 2022, a panel of attorneys, congressmen, and federal judges published a report titled, “Lost, Not Stolen: The Conservative Case that Trump Lost and Biden Won the 2020 Presidential Election.”  Among the materials studied by the panel were 64 failed lawsuits and multiple audits and reviews; these failed to show any significant evidence of election fraud or error. The findings did not support Trump’s contention or that of his supporters.  Additionally, the report also concluded that what the movie 2000 Mules portrayed is “thoroughly debunked” because the evidence the movie provided can’t support what it attempted to show.

https://www.newsweek.com/republican-judges-lawyers-conclude-2020-election-was-lost-not-stolen-1724826

 

Over the past eighteen months I have closely followed the news from many reputable sources concerning the 2020 election. I’ve discovered nothing suggesting the voting was mishandled or the result inaccurate.

 

Additionally, my opinion is that Trump’s behavior in his business life and his actions contesting the 2020 election strongly suggest that his endless denial of failures and wrong-doing has been for him a persistent life strategy. American’s were first alerted to Trump’s history of serious misbehavior by Senator Mitt Romney in the lead up to the 2016 election. I watched Senator Romney’s speech at that time on TV. You can watch that same speech on You Tube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iefXdC794I

The final subtopic for today’s blog has to do with what knowledge Trump had or lacked about how the huge American government actually works. Sadly, he had very little knowledge. He was painfully naïve. And he was stubborn in his false beliefs about government operations and current, necessary economic policies (Woodward, 221-223).

Trump has a big personality. He has a magical and attractive movie star quality that many people find enjoyable to watch. Certainly, for  important political drama, Trump delivers.  He’s a successful self-promoter. He’s a survivor. He’s very self-centered and impulsive. He has a very high opinion of himself and this made it easy for him to boldly campaign he was going to Washington D.C. and would “drain the swamp.” He brought loyalists into his administration who tried to reach goals he set, but he could not work successfully with many of his cabinet officers. He was good at being Trump but was not at all cut out for the patient, methodical politicking necessary to make government work (Woodward).

 

 CONCLUSION 

My sincere hope is that you find a capable presidential candidate to your liking. I hope you seek out reliable information from the following persons who have been honest about the realities of American government. Google them. Read about what they say is going on in American politics. Call their offices.

·         Republican Senator Mitt Romney

·         Republican Mr. Bill Barr (former Attorney General of former President Trump)

·        Republican Mr. Mike Pence (Pence was vice president and certified the election of now President Biden at the very time and place of the January 6^th riot at the Capitol. Pence performed his election duties as required by American law. He is a current a presidential candidate.)

·        Republican Senator Mitch McConnell (One of the most powerful men in the Senate who after the election simply and matter-of-factually, and as I saw on TV, said Trump lost.

·         Republican Senator John Cornyn (A Texan who has served America in the Senate for 21 years. He’s noteworthy as a politician who can take the lead in getting useful legislation passed. He was one of the first Republicans to acknowledge Trump lost the 2020 election.)

·         Republican presidential  candidate Asa Hutchinson is a former member of the House of Representatives and more recently was a two time governor of Arkansas. I recently came to know of him and wrote about him in a previous blog. He is a moderate, conservative.

 

I, by the way, am a moderate republican blogger dedicated to educating voters about how government really works and how to make their vote count for the issues they care about as an American citizen.

 

WORKS CITED

MacLean, Nancy. Democracy In Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Rights’ Stealth Plan for America. Penguin Books, 2017.

Newsweek. “Lost, Not Stolen: The Conservative Case that Trump Lost and Biden Won the 2020 Presidential Election.” Newsweek.com. 7/14/2022.  https://www.newsweek.com/republican-judges-lawyers-conclude-2020-election-was-lost-not-stolen-1724826

Romney, Mitt. Watch Mitt Romney’s full speech: “Trump is a phony, a fraud.”  PBS News Hour from seven years ago. Accessed 7/2/2022.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iefXdC794I

West, Darrell M., PhD. Power Politics, Brookings, 2022. Note: The research source for what's reported above comes from Patrick Murray: “Study Finds Differences between Two Types of Supporters,” Monmouth University Polling Institute. January 19, 2021.

Woodward, Bob. FEAR: Trump in the White House, Simon & Schuster, 2018.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A More In Depth Focus For My Blogging On Politics

 

 In January of 2022 I began publishing blogs on my website, powertomyvotes.com. The goal was educating American voters on politics. I have written that politicians have been herding voters around like cattle--rounding them up with expertly crafted slogans and sound bites--and locking up their votes. 

Then, after republican and democratic politicians get elected, the politicians fight with each other with the viciousness of divorcing parents struggling over possession of children and child support money.They are too filled with hate, fear, and anxieties to make reasonable compromises.

Thirty-eight blogs reside on my powertomyvotes.com website. These blogs reveal the inner workings and failures of the three branches of our government (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial). All the blogs are based on high quality reference books and to a lesser extent digital resources.

Now, going forward, my blogging will change its focus:

• I'm changing my blogging platform from GoDaddy.com to Blogger.com. This will speed up the writing process. And I expect to get more data on my readership.
• Since I've already educated voters about the three branches of government, I will shift my focus to covering deeper topics in more detail:
• In the first 40 blogs I've told the stories of many honorable and effective politicians--both republicans and democrats.   
• And, I've also revealed the outrageous lies and systematic deceptions of presidents and congressmen--both republicans and democrats.
• I'm motivated to continue blogging with a new content focus and style.
• Many of my blog topics are based on very complicated stories which develop over years and involve many different constituencies (i.e., voter blocks).
• My five + blogs on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) have been gratifying to write and publish, but there are several topics I want to write on which are far too extensive for a single blog. So they would have to be a series of blogs published over a month or more. 

I know from my reading that the work product of SCOTUS has built-in biases designed and implemented by the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. The Parties themselves serve the elite and the non-elite constituencies, respectively. Moreover, the income inequality in America has been getting worse over time; and American income inequality is even worse than that in Europe.

The SCOTUS justices believe they are being logical, constitutional, and "reasonable." But historically, they have confidently made some gross blunders which they later had to overturn. 

I now know from MacLean's unique research, detailed in Democracy In Chains, of an extensive and sophisticated political philosophy/movement which began back in the 1950s and 60s. It was spawned by the academic economist Dr. James Buchanan and funded by the billionaire brothers, Charles and David Koch. The ideas in this well-funded philosophy/movement are scary as hell! 

For several years I've wondered why republican election platforms would include privatizing social security, ending medicare and Obamacare, and year after year selectively suppressing access to voting.

Why would average Americans want to be rid of these beneficial programs. They don't! The majority of citizens really want those programs to survive. The Republican Party and its campaigns are stealthy in how they mention these ideas. Their intentions of cutting social welfare programs are more like signaling to their far right constituency. Mr. Buchanan died in 2013, but his legacy continues on for reducing social services funded by the federal government. Republicans recruit the more elite voters with promises of cutting social welfare and increasing tax cuts for the rich. The real economist, Paul Krugman in his book The Great Unraveling, reveals that the republican talking points claim, without any authentic economic basis, that tax cuts will stimulate the American economy. The Great Unraveling is a collection of Krugman's blogs, which entertain as well as teach citizens how not to be fooled ("Fuzzy Math" pp 131-210). 

Nancy MacLean's book, Democracy In Chains,  tells of an incredibly ominous radical right political agenda; it explains much of the Republican Party's platform over several decades. This agenda is not just fantasy, for the recommended methods of methodically enacting, small "reforms" of the constitutional rules has been implemented in the South American country of Chile. Mr. Buchanan recommended the changes to be made in Chile; but the end result was not good, and reversing the "reforms" as made to be close to impossible.

 

Earle Rice's short and easily read book, Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, tells a coherent story of how Hitler, step by step, legally took control of Germany and ultimately made his Nazi government into a ruthless dictatorship ended only by World War II. The Nazi regime finally ended when he shot himself in the head shortly before the Russian army reached his hideout in Berlin.  

MacLean's and Rice's books are authoritative and consistent with many other, related books on government. By knowing well-researched, legitimate history of how we got to where we are, voters can learn to spot fake history and fake news. Voters can learn to not be used and abused and herded around like cattle. Their vote can be something more than just another blank check. 

 

WORKS CITED

 

 Krugman, Paul. The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in The New Century. Norton & Company, 2005.

MacLean, Nancy.  Democracy In Chains: The Deep History of  the  Radical  Right's  Stealth  Plan For        America. Penguin Books, 2017.

Rice, Earle Jr. Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Morgan Reynolds P, 2006.

 

Note: Our citations and references have changed from APA to the newest and briefer MLA version.

Getting Back the Rule Of Law In American Politics

INTRODUCTION

Increasingly, the Rule of Law has come to the forefront defining what is or is not acceptable behavior for citizens, and politicians, and protesters. 

Over the last six months, republican politicians have been publicly admitting that the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterm elections were accurate and valid. 

This is a big improvement from 2020 election after which  Bill Barr (AG), Mitch McConnell (Senate), and John Cornyn (Senate) were among the very few republicans who publicly said Trump lost, Biden won, and there was no election fraud. 

As recently as 2021, 95% of republicans were election deniers; and many voted to prevent investigations and holding the perpetrators responsible. 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS NOT WORKED ON USEFUL ISSUES 

Instead, they have in most states enacted voting laws harassing minorities. Their justification is voter fraud--which is virtually nonexistent. The elections, including 2020, have been the most fraud free ever. The accuracy of the vote counts show less than one percent error. For full information on the amount of error or fraud in voting go to :  (https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/analysis/Briefing_Memo_Debunking_Voter_Fraud_Myth.pdf)

Furthermore, republicans boldly announce their legislation targeting those who violate conservative republican social norms. For example, criminalizing how LGBTQ+ express their gender identity.

A new NPR poll indicates the GOP risks being out of step with voters. Found at:

(https://www.npr.org/2023/03/30/1166969963/are-republicans-on-the-right-track-they-are-pushing-culture-war-issues).

 

A "culture war" is a conflict between social groups and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices. It commonly refers to topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization in societal values. Found at: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_war#2012%E2%80%93present:_Broadening_of_the_culture_war)

Common culture war issues are:

• Respect for the values of others versus verbal mocking, confrontation and outright verbal assault
• How much political correctness is appropriate in various social settings 
• Homosexuality and LGBTQ+ 
• Virtually any visualized styles or verbalized beliefs can elicit defensiveness from their owner on the one hand and/or aggressiveness from the observer. 
  

Some disgruntled GOP contributors won't be contributing in 2024, like billionaire Mr. Peter Thiel.  Fox News reports that one source told the news outlet that Thiel is unhappy with the Republican Party's focus on "hot-button U.S. cultural issues," including abortion and bathroom restrictions for transgender students." (https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/gop-mega-donor-peter-thiel-wont-fund-any-2024-candidates-report)

THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM HAS BEEN DOING ITS WORK

Following the January 6th insurrection, more than 1000 persons have been charged for offenses. As of a few days ago 570 have plead guilty and 78 have been found guilty at trial (https://www.axios.com/2023/04/06/jan6-riots-doj-charged). 

The Justice Department, of which the FBI is a part, has methodically investigated and prosecuted the January 6th rioters. Recently, The militant leader of the Oath Keepers and his top deputy were sentenced to 18 years and 12 years behind bars, respectively (writes in today’s Bulwark ). The previous Bulwark link will take you to that valuable article. Only after a couple years have we be able to be sure of what did or didn't happen on January 6th and what lit the match to set it off.

 

Here are other recent signs that radical right republicans will have to exercise more common sense:

Arizona republican and election-loser Kari Lake's first and now second lawsuits have both been deemed unjustified by the court. As a result she was censured by the court for filing suit without evidence she's suffered damages (the election she lost was without fraud). She is now liable to pay expenses for her suit. 

The scandal-plagued attorney general of Texas, Ken Paxton, faces an imminent impeachment vote, according to the New York Times. He was investigated by the thoroughly Republican legislature. I get the impression that there is a chance he might be convicted. But we'll soon see. UPDATE: ON MAY 29TH HE WAS IMPEACHED.

 

 CONCLUSIONS

1. Republicans tried to minimize the functioning of the January 6th committee investigation. That investigation could be watched on TV and I watched a great deal of it, including the testimony of the major witnesses. The witnesses were credible, and after the though investigation the Committee made recommends about charges to the Justice Department.  

As noted above, 570 defendants have plead guilty and 78 have been found guilty at trial. Most importantly, Americans now have the best information for assessing the seriousness of the January 6th riot.

In my opinion, it is accurate to call it an insurrection. In fact, "insurrection" is what some defendants have now been convicted of. This is a major accomplishment for American democracy. Trump, however, has repeatedly spoken in favor of pardoning the convicted insurrectionists.

2. In the past year there have been republican congressmen who have switched to become libertarian or even democrat. There are republicans who are routinely honest, devoted to integrity, and keep us accurately informed (Bill Barr, Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Mitt Romney). They have made crucially important decisions to keep our democracy alive. 

Citizens must grasp, comprehend, and value both liberal and conservative points of view. Open-mindedness is crucial for voters to learn what they need to know so they can make their vote meaningful.