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Donald Trump

It’s Morning Again in Half of America

May 2, 2021
by Peter Feinman
The Rising Sun (https://teachingamericanhistory.org)

“Now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.”

Ben Franklin uttered these words on September 17, 1787, at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention. He was looking at George Washington’s chair which was topped with half a sun and rays shining forth. Franklin, of course, was passing judgment on the work just completed in fashioning the very document in amended form that continues to constitute We the People to this very day.

Franklin’s comment was an expression of hope and optimism. He used the sun metaphor to exclaim his positive feelings about the Constitution. Franklin did not invent optimism in America, but he certainly exemplified it. As the oldest member of the Convention, he had the longest view of what had occurred in the time since even before the French and Indian War to the new beginning after the American Revolution.  Even in his old age, Franklin embraced the future with faith and confidence that became part of the American cultural heritage.

In 1932, one hundred forty-five years later, America was depressed. That old-fashioned optimism seemed obsolete in the face of the mounting challenges that had overwhelmed the country for several years. A new President was elected, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a name that has been in the news lately due to the new President today.

Happy Days Are Here Again (https://politicaldictionary.com)

Franklin Roosevelt did not draw on the sun metaphor of Franklin, Benjamin, at least not directly. But his campaign song did. “Happy Days Are Again” would become indelibly etched in the American cultural heritage as the Republican-written post-World War I song about returning veterans acquired a new meaning. It would be vigorously sung anew by Barbra Streisand among others as a clarion call to the positive outlook that is at the essence of the American Dream and way of life. And, yes, there is a shining sun.

Happy days are here again,
The skies above are clear again
Let us sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again.

Altogether shout it now
There’s no one who can doubt it now
So let’s tell the world about it now
Happy days are here again,

Your cares and troubles are gone
They’re be no more from now on
Happy days are here again,
The skies above are clear again

Let us sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again,

So long sad time, so long bad time
We are rid of you at last
Howdy gay times, cloudy gray times
You are now a thing of the past

Happy days are here again,
The skies above are clear again
Let us sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again,

Altogether shout it now
There’s no one who can doubt it now
So let’s tell the world about it now
Happy days are here again,

Your cares and troubles are gone
They’re be no more from now on
Happy days are here again,
The skies above are clear again

Let us sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again,
Happy days are here again,
The skies above are clear again

Let us sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again.

(Source: Musixmatch, Songwriters: Jack Yellen / Milton Ager, lyrics © Wb Music Corp.)

Could this song be sung again today? Who would you choose to sing it?

It’s Morning Again in America (https://politicaldictionary.com)

In 1984, fifty-two years after Roosevelt and nearly two centuries after Franklin’s declaration, Ronald Reagan’s “It’s Morning Again in America” became the definitive successful presidential campaign ad. The phrase lives on usually without the “again,” a testament to the hope and optimism that continued to define this country. Part of American Exceptionalism has been this indestructible fully-embraced belief in a better tomorrow, in the best is yet come, in life is worth living. That deep-seated faith has drawn millions to this land. People who want a seat at the table in the room where it happens come to America and thrive here to fulfill dreams and live lives they could not at home.

Until recently. One President changed the song, altered the vision, and lost faith. The legacy of the one-term 45th President will include that the presidency was inaugurated and departed in carnage. It became with an inaugural description of America that resembled the landscape of Blade Runner or a Batman movie. It ended with an attempted insurrection to overthrow the government. January 6 will join December 7 and September 11 as a day of infamy in American history (and as April 12, 1861 has not). Instead of embracing America’s future, this loser sought an imagined American past, an America he knew when he was a child. It is a vision shared by tens of millions of Americans who no longer have the optimism and hope for the future expressed by Benjamin Franklin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan unless their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name can restore it.

Our current President seeks to renew that faith and optimism, to lift us from the viral carnage of the previous President. On April 28, 2021, in an address to a joint session of Congress, President Joe Bidden drew on the American legacy while acknowledging that it is being tested at home and abroad.

Can our democracy deliver on its promise that all of us – created equal in the image of God – have a chance to lead lives of dignity, respect, and possibility? 

 Can our democracy deliver on the most pressing needs of our people?

 Can our democracy overcome the lies, anger, hate and fears that have pulled us apart?

With these words, Biden harkened to the challenge faced by Roosevelt compounded by the ongoing effort of the previous President to tear America apart far beyond what Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis did. They sought to secede from the United States, not to overthrow the government and rule the entire country. This time the stakes are far higher.

America’s adversaries – the autocrats of the world – are betting it can’t.

They believe we are too full of anger and division and rage.

They look at the images of the mob that assaulted this Capitol as proof that the sun is setting on American democracy.

Here President Biden draws on the sun imagery of Franklin. Without specifically saying so, he is addressing the claim Abraham Lincoln made in his annual address to Congress on December 1, 1862 about the United States as the last best hope on earth. Like Franklin, Biden envisions a rising sun but it won’t be easy.

They are wrong. And we have to prove them wrong.

We have to prove democracy still works.

That our government still works – and can deliver for the people.  ….

The autocrats will not win the future.

America will.

The future will belong to America.

Perhaps no one expected this President to join the ranks of his illustrious predecessors in boldly championing America’s future. Stirring oratory is not his political past. Yet for one moment and the right moment, he rose to the occasion to vigorously embrace the future that is stunning in its rejection of his predecessor’s carnage.

I stand here tonight before you in a new and vital hour in the life of our democracy and our nation.

And I can say with absolute confidence: I have never been more confident or more optimistic about America.

We have stared into an abyss of insurrection and autocracy — of pandemic and pain — and “We the People” did not flinch….

With light and hope, we summoned new strength and new resolve.

To position us to win the competition for the 21st Century.

On our way forward to a Union more perfect. More prosperous. More just.

As one people. One nation. One America.

It’s never been a good bet to bet against America.

And it still isn’t.

We are the United States of America.

There is nothing – nothing – beyond our capacity – nothing we can’t do – if we do it together.

Amen.

 

Presidential Shrine versus Presidential Library for the Former Guy

March 2, 2021
by Peter Feinman
Location of the Unpresidential Library (Google Maps)

The tradition of the Presidential Library began with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Library was located on his home grounds in Hyde Park where he had served as the local historian before moving on to bigger jobs. I used to take teachers there for professional development programs. Depending on the program we might be there for a few hours, a day, a weekend, or a week.

While we were there we would walk the grounds, tour the buildings, meet with the curators, and even have dinner at Top Cottage as Roosevelt and Churchill once had. Over the years a visitor center was built and the Library was renovated. More public programs and conferences were held. A shuttle between the site and the Poughkeepsie train station was established. It was no longer necessary for visitors to come by car, they could take the train and spend a day with the Roosevelts. The complex was a major destination site in Duchess County.

Since that low-key origin, a lot has happened. Presidential libraries have become a major phenomena that have outgrown the private property of a former president. They also have become prestigious academic institutions. Even pre-Roosevelt Presidents have gotten into the act. Existing sites have been upgraded to become research centers and not just places for a house tour.

So what does all this mean for the 45th President?

PRESIDENTIAL SHRINE LOCATION

First, where would the Presidential shrine be located? It could not be in Queens where he was born and grew up. He hasn’t lived there in years, is disconnected from that site, and probably not welcome there. The only time he might to be in Queens is when landing at an airport. It’s hard to imagine him watching the U.S. Open there once tournaments are back to normal. Its international audience hardly seems Trumpican!

It could not be in Manhattan either. He no longer lives there. He is likely only to be there for judicial reasons in the years to come. It is hard to imagine the United Nations inviting him to speak there…or any of the law schools! It is conceivable that he would at some point donate a tower to be the Presidential Library. Naturally he would take a huge write off which would immediately be subject to investigation. Besides, do Trumpicans really want to travel to New York to worship their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name? I suspect not.

It could not be at a university with which he is affiliated. He isn’t affiliated with one. He had to pay someone to take the tests so he could get into an Ivy League school. We may never learn whom he paid to write his papers and take his tests once he matriculated. He has had no contact with his alma mater as President nor is there any sign that the University of Pennsylvania welcomes him. Pity the poor college that lands a graduate in the White House and is ashamed.

Perhaps there is another college which may seek to house his shrine. There are many evangelical seminaries and colleges throughout the land and which have sufficient open space. Presumably at least one of them would be more than eager to be the location for the shrine to the 45th. Trumpicans would flock there and it would make a great recruiting tool. So keep in mind the possibility of the shrine being located on a religious campus.

Finally, there are his own properties including where he now resides in Florida. These golf courses have plenty of land. Once again there would be a huge write off which would be investigated. But in a way we would have come full circle: the library could be located on the home of the former president.

PRESIDENTIAL SHRINE CONTENTS

This past weekend, we were witness to a preview of what the Presidential Shrine would look like. Besides the golden calf courtesy of a true believer, we could see that the shrine would be dedicated to him as America’s greatest president. It would bear witness to his deserved status as a Mount Rushmore President. Better yet, he deserves his own mountain since he is in a class by himself.

The shrine would be dedicated to all his victories over the forces of evil that tried to cancel him. His triumphant battles against Deep State hoaxes and Fake News reports would feature prominently. His enemy list would be displayed. There would be testimonials from his worshipers. Truly it would be a religious experience like to Graceland itself with suitable souvenirs available for sale at the gift shop.

THE UNPRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY LOCATION

What about the location for the Unpresidential Library? What about the location of the research center for people interested in the truth about the 45th? What about the people who want to know the truth about his failed business career, his abuse of women, his Russian collusion, his Ukrainian attempted extortion, his mismanagement of the coronavirus, his attempt to steal the election, his attempt to end the American constitutional republic, his nastiness, his lack of morals, ethics, conscience, empathy, sympathy, and compassion. Where will they go?

As it turns, such a library location for the loser President has been found. It is a prime piece of real estate in 45th’s former beloved borough of Manhattan where his building career began.

The following comes from an obituary to Sheldon Solow, a real estate developer in New York.

Sheldon H. Solow, Manhattan Real Estate Mogul, Dies at 92

By Robert D. McFadden (Nov. 17, 2020, NYT)

But Mr. Solow’s most ambitious and visionary undertaking, by far, was his unfinished $4 billion project to transform the 9.2-acre site of a former Con Edison power plant on the East River into seven glass towers, with 4.8 acres of gardens, lawns and esplanades. The site, just south of the United Nations headquarters, was the largest undeveloped, privately owned plot in Manhattan.

A decade after buying the sprawling property in three parcels with a partner for $630 million in 2000 and spending $125 million more to demolish the power plant and clean up toxic debris, Mr. Solow was still bogged down in public-approval processes, community resistance, financing issues and other problems. He had shed his partner but had not yet begun to build on the site.

In 2013, he sold the southern parcel for $172 million. Two residential towers were built, but not by Mr. Solow. His first building on the site, a 42-story condominium-and-rental tower on the west side of First Avenue between 39th and 40th Streets, was finished in 2018. But most of the site, bounded by 41st and 38th Streets, First Avenue and the F.D.R. Drive, has remained a grassy wasteland, awaiting three residential condominium towers and an office building that were approved in a master plan in 2008.

This ideal location would pack people in by the thousands. The Unpresidential Library of the former guy would be an international destination site. In the past I have written several blogs about the Unpresidential Library (Fox & Friends and the Unpresidential Library April 30, 2018; The Unpresidential Library: The Adolescent Room, July 30, 2019;  Murderers’ Row: The Trump Hall of Fame October 27, 2020 among others). Now is the time to start planning it. Is there a university in Manhattan that would like to be the lead academic institution for the Unpresidential Library? Is there a history organization that would like to be the lead history organization for the Unpresidential Library? Is there a rich person or rich people who want to ensure that the 45th is remembered for the true person that is and not as the Presidential Shrine will portray him? Let’s make it so.

Kamala Harris Vows to Do What Mike Pence Didn’t Do

February 28, 2021
by Peter Feinman
Trumpican Justice (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images)

In 2021, Vice President Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and the Constitution. The penalty for the failure to rise to the occasion and be a profile in courage to save the country is simple, direct, and brutal: death, death by hanging, death by hanging in public. However despite the efforts of the domestic trumperists, Mike Pence escaped the fate he deserved. No wonder the Loser President was enraged and declined to express any concern about the safety of the Vice President who was not loyal.

Kamala Harris is well aware of the new rules. She does not want to be lynched. Therefore she will do what needs to be done to avoid the lynching Mike Pence managed to escape. To prevent a reoccurrence she is putting the states on notice that their electors will be subject to disqualification. In particular, she will warn the states implementing voter suppression bills. If the votes in those states in 2024 do not support the Democratic candidate, she will prevent the Trumpican effort to steal the election and disqualify those Electors through the powers granted to the Vice President in the Constitution.

ELECTION RULE CHANGES

The election rules have changed. Never again will presidential elections be as simple as they once were. I don’t mean there weren’t contentious elections in the past. I mean that once upon a time, people knew what the rules were. Now they have changed.

Once the actual vote on Election Day mattered. Now it doesn’t.
Once the certification of the vote mattered. Now it doesn’t.
Once the Electoral College vote mattered. Now it doesn’t.
Once evidence mattered. Now it doesn’t.
Once the Congressional ratification was routine. Now it is all that matters.

STOP THE STEAL: 2022 AND 2024

Given the importance of Congress in determining what Electoral College votes to count, control of Congress looms ever more important than it already was. The Trumpicans are fully aware of how critical control of Congress is in the selection of the President. They are moving full bore in an open and brazen manner to rig the vote count and steal the election(s). It is an all-out national assault on a state-by-state basis where they are in control of the legislature. It almost as if there is a special Olympics to see which state can best rig the count in elections and the gerrymandering to ensure that the Trumpicans remain in power at the state level and regain power at the federal level.

What are Democrats going to do about the Trumpican STEAL THE VOTE initiative?

Will the Democrats launch their own STOP THE STEAL counterattack to prevent the Trumpicans from succeeding? Does this effort even have a campaign name that will be used repeatedly?

Will the Democrats pass national legislation FOR THE PEOPLE to curtail such effort? In time to make a difference?

Will the Democrats will prepare a list of dos and don’ts. This list should include specific actions that Trumpicans do to rig the vote through voter suppression. The Democrats should announce that the application of these STEAL THE VOTE actions by states will be grounds for disqualification of Electors. The list also will include specific actions to promote voter turnout which if not done, also will result in disqualification of Electors. Of course, if the efforts to rig the vote fail and the state votes Democratic, then the Electors will be accepted.

Unlike the 2020 election, the scrutiny of the vote will not be limited to the Presidential vote. Senate and House elections will be subject to the same rules as applied to the Presidential election. Efforts to rig the vote for one federal position will be treated as applying to all federal offices. Just as the Presidential Electors will be disqualified in event of the rigging of the vote through voter suppression, so Senators and Representative elected through voter suppression similarly will not be seated.

Trumpicans have shown Democrats the way to win elections regardless of the vote and lack of evidence. The one and only method of determining the winners is through Congress. Those bodies in themselves may be subject to challenge if supposed House and Senate winners are the result of rig elections. The stop the steal effort will be expanded to all federal positions so by the time Congress meets to certify the Presidential elections, there may be open issues as to who is to be seated.

ELECTION CHALLENGES 2022 AND 2024

Obviously it is still early, but there still are some thoughts to consider. At this point, 2024 is shaping up as a rematch of 2020. It would be the first rematch since Adlai Stevenson and Dwight Eisenhower in 1956.

Spoiler Alert: the rematch didn’t change the results from the 1952 election.

Barring any medical and/or criminal procedures, there is no alternative for Trumpicans from the founder of the Trumpican Party, their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed be his Name. Indeed, his worshipers rolled out a golden calf before which they could frolic as they sang his praises as if they were reliving a scene from the Bible. As things stand now, he will be the candidate for as long as he wants before turning over the Trumpican Party to a junior version of himself. It is almost funny watching politicians sell their souls to be the chosen one as if the Trumpican party could anoint a non-Trump and that he would ever relinquish power.

The few Republicans left in the Party have four choices in the real world:
1. stay at home and don’t vote
2. swallow their pride and vote Trumpican
3. support the Democratic candidate as long as it is Joe Biden
4. launch an independent candidacy in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt, George Wallace, Ross Perot, and Ralph Nader and hope they make a difference the right way.

If they choose to nominate a Republican, then time is running out to start the 50-state effort to create a third party especially given that the Trumpicans in power at the state level will obstruct the effort to do so.

The Democrats have no reason to be complacent.

Joe Biden was the only Democrat who could win in 2020. That still may be true in 2024.

Without the coronavirus, Joe Biden might have lost.

Even with the coronavirus, Joe Biden might have lost if the Loser had worn a mask, faked compassion, and put Mike Pence in charge.

In order for Joe Biden to win, a major effort behind the scenes was undertaken to ensure a safe and fair election in 2020 as just detailed in a major article in Time. Whether or not that effort is repeated in 2024 remains to be seen.

The Democrats still have to decide what to do about the loss of House seats and state legislatures in 2020 and the impact of the 2020 Census moving forward.

The Democrats still have to struggle to hold the House in the post-Census districts. There are reasons why Kevin McCarthy is foaming at the mouth anticipation of 2022 when he is not otherwise kissing the Donald’s ring on bended knee.

The Democrats still have deal with the fact that at any given moment the Woke will hand the Trumpicans an issue on a silver platter again and again.

The Democrats still have to deal with the fact they have maxed out the votes they can gain by playing the race card. Many of the voters the Democrats have been taking for granted for years actually identify as Americans, are proud to be Americans, and don’t wallow in 1619. The Trumpican Party made unexpected inroads with the supposed Democratic hyphen-voters in 2020 without even trying. An adult Republican could clean up with those voters unless the Democrats change their ways. Even a Trumpican could make additional inroads if the candidate caught on to this movement. It might not even be necessary for Trumpicans to steal the election in 2024 if the Democrats continue to alienate their hyphens.

The Woke effort to create Trumpican votes will be relentless. Their success in alienating Americans continues unabated. They have been so successful, the ridicule against them as seeped out into the general public and is not just confined to Foxhub. The cancel culture has become a national joke.

To counter the Trumpican STEAL THE ELECTION effort, the Democrats need to launch their STOP THE STEAL counterattack now.

To counter the Woke and the Trumpicans, Joe Biden needs to keep reaching out to all the American people in his speeches, his legislation, and his actions. Good thing for the Democrats the pandemic should be over, the economy will have recovered and that Joe Biden is a nice guy unlike that former guy.

Will the Constitutional Republic Survive America’s Third Civil War?

January 26, 2021
by Peter Feinman
For want of wearing a mask, the presidency was lost. (https://nailstip.blogspot.com/2019/08/for-want-of-horseshoe-nail.html)

The fate of the constitutional republic of the United States of America remains unknown. Will it survive to celebrate its 250th anniversary? Will it dissolve into its constituent parts? Will it simply muddle along under constant strain because the alternative is too scary?

No one knows the answer to these questions. Before beginning a series of history blogs on the subject, I would like to note how easy it would have been for the constitutional republic already to have ended. A lot of things had to work out for us to get even this far and anyone one of them could have turned out differently.

THERE COULD HAVE BEEN A BIGGER TURNOUT ON 1/6

Approximately 8000 people showed up on January 6, not all of them armed. When I first wrote Seven Days in January: This Time It Is Not a Movie on January 3, I asked what would happen if different combinations of heavily-armed right wing militias had stormed the Capitol. I wondered if there were sufficient ground forces to stop them. Now we know. Even with the lower number of insurrectionists the defensive forces were inadequate to do the job.

1. Why weren’t there adequate forces to defend the Capitol?
2. Why was the turnout for the insurrection so low?
3. Despite the low numbers, what would the response have been if Mike Pence had been hanged and Nancy Pelosi had been killed?

SUPPOSE THE TRUMPICANS HAD BEEN AS WELL ORGANIZED AS THE WOKE

The Woke were prepared for the post-election attempt by the Trumpicans to steal the election; the Trumpicans were not. The Woke correctly anticipated the Trumpican attempt to steal the election. They had planning sessions as to what to do. More importantly, they had planning sessions on what not to do: No cries to “Defund the Police.” No toppling of statues. No burning of flags. They conducted training sessions. They planned for contingencies. They coordinated. They vowed not to provide Trumpicans with the slogans and photo-ops that would undermine their cause. They were organized, disciplined, ready and successful.

By contrast, the Trumpican side was true to their leader. He bought a lifetime of incompetence and ineptitude to managing his post-election attempt to steal the election. He was not prepared at all. He had no planning sessions. He developed no strategies. He organized nothing. When your legal effort is being led by Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, you know you have a weak case. Everything was ad hoc, impulsive, on the fly. The DOJ wasn’t ready; in the end a nobody from left field attempted to stage a coup within the department that went nowhere. In the end the corporations that were being accused of criminal activity based on wishful thinking decided to strike back through legal action.

The planning for the insurrection itself consisted of a call to show up, attend a rally, and walk to the Capitol – it will be wild. There was no planning about what the people should do once they got inside the Capitol. As Mary Trump said about her uncle, a child in the body of an adult with the emotional maturity of a three-year old, he “enjoyed every second…He is a physical coward but he’s perfectly happy when other people commit violence on his behalf.” Even the rightwing groups mocked the effort for being unorganized and inadequately planned. Once inside, the insurrectionists were busy taking selfies and souvenirs. Skilled revolutionaries they were not.

1. Suppose next time the insurrection leader is an adult?
2. Suppose next time the insurrectionists turn out in force and do have a plan?
3. Suppose next time the Woke aren’t as well organized and prepared to stop the steal?

WHAT IF THE CORONAVIRUS HAD OCCURRED EARLIER IN HIS TERM?  

On numerous occasions during the pandemic, various people in the administration have made fools of themselves for their ineptitude, incompetence, and ignorance. They did not understand the science nor did they want do. One of the questions historians will ask, if they aren’t already, is why did the eventual loser throw away the opportunity to be a winner.

1. Imagine if he had worn a mask.
2. Imagine if had pretended to be sympathetic.
3. Imagine if he had put Mike Pence in charge.

Of course, he couldn’t change who he was even though it cost him the election. He simply was too simple-minded, narcissistic and lacking in mental necessities to transform the virus into a leadership challenge as a wartime president. Instead all he cared about was the Dow Jones and once that crisis was solved he lost interest.

But if the virus had struck earlier and if the vaccine had been ready earlier and if the vaccine had been distributed earlier and America was looking back on the virus on election day the way China is, he would have been re-elected. He will never understand that.

WHAT IF THE DEMOCRATS HAD NOT NOMINATED JOE BIDEN?

While 7 million votes is a lot numerically, in percentage terms, it is not that great. A small shift of votes in Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, and one congressional district and there would have been no need to try to steal the election. All things considered, that is not a lot of votes. It also shows how thin the Democratic bench is and how Democrats may need Biden to run again in 2024 to prevent a Trumpican victory.

Our next presidential election is the bicentennial of the election of 1824. That presidential election was one of the ugliest in American history. There were five candidates. American was transitioning from the First Party system of Federalists and Anti-Federalists/Republicans of Adams and Jefferson to the Second Party system of Whigs and Democrats with Clay/Webster and Jackson. I first wrote about it in September 2016 The Presidential Election of 1824: Lessons for Today and tried to resume the discussion in December 2020 Biden and Cuomo: The End of an Era. In that blog I wrote about the Diversity Party and the Democratic Party as two of the parties. The question was how long the two factions could remain united in one party. The answer is still unknown but I think it is safe to say both groups understand the stakes if they don’t.

In that blog, I deferred writing about the corresponding division of the other party between the Republicans and the Trumpicans. In a little more than a month since then, that division has become obvious to everyone. The actions of the state parties such as in Arizona and really-off-the-rails Oregon, the votes in the House on the electors and the impeachment, the vote in the Senate on constitutionality of the impeachment all show that there is no civil war in the Republican Party. The Trumpicans have won. The Republicans are retiring from the battlefield. The Lincoln Project Republicans aren’t welcome anymore and they know it. There is no place for them.

Mitch McConnell is four years too late to battle to save the Republican Party from the Trumpicans. He got his tax cut to help rich people get richer and he got his judges. If the price is the destruction of the Republican Party for the Trumpican Party, then he will have to decide if it was worth it. The people who need to set up a third party are the Republicans and not the Trumpicans. There is no Republican Party left to take back.

That is why the fate of the constitutional republic remains unknown and precarious. The United States of America now has one national party that is dedicated not to the rule of law under the Constitution but to the wishes of one immature individual with no conscience, no ethics, and no morals. For now at least, he is in complete control of his party. The vaunted Biden working relationships with members across the aisle means nothing. Those are the Republicans on their way out. He has no Senate experience with Trumpicans. He has no House experience with Trumpicans. They do not consider him legitimate.

The Democrats still control the House…by a little and the in-power Party tends to lose seats in the non-Presidential election. The Democrats barely control the Senate but there still are some Republicans left there so some legislation may be possible. The Democrats have no margin for error. The continued existence of the United States of America as a constitutional republic depends on them not making one.

January 20, 2021: The Day of the Janus

January 19, 2021
by Peter Feinman
It Was the Best of Times; It Was the Worst of Times: A Tale of Two Countries (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7404342)

The Roman god Janus look back and ahead as we are doing this January 20, 2021. The morning is the time of looking backward to one of the worst years in the history of the United States. In the afternoon, we begin to look forward. We stopped the steal attempt by our criminal insurrectionist President. Now we have to end the carnage so we can make America great again.

I apologize in advance for my technical shortcomings and any ads you may see.

You’re terminated, daughter trumper.

Ding dong, the wicked witch of the White House is dead.

America is dancing in the streets. So is the world.

Even with Covid 19 and economic collapse, happy days are here again.

Imagine what Time Squares would like if only…

At last there is light at the end of tunnel!

 

Ameristan: Did He Bring the War Home?

January 18, 2021
by Peter Feinman
He Built a Wall

America’s Third Civil War is not a new topic. Typically, people have spoken a “culture wars” which sounds less violent than “civil war.” But underneath the more refined talk of a difference in culture or values was the threat of violence. That violence spilled out into the open on January 6, 2021. Now people are wondering if that was a one-time event or whether it signaled the elevation of a verbal conflict to a physical one: are we at Defcon OMG!?

The Third Civil War: A Look Back

America’s Third Civil War (The Atlantic)

In December, 2019, The Atlantic magazine cover proclaimed the need to act to prevent the culture wars from becoming violent civil war. In December 2020, I decided to do an anniversary examination of the articles in that issue. The goal was to compare what the writers thought back then with what had actually happened since their articles were written.

I did manage to write a couple of blogs that did just that. The blogs were

America’s Third Civil War: An Update

 The Texas Secession: Legally Dividing America

I thought I would be able to proceed in a nice methodical and leisurely manner through the magazine reviewing what people had written. Little did I know that the President of the United States would launch a “Steal the Election” campaign to undermine American democracy. Little did I know how far he would go to prevent the country from being able to celebrate its 250th anniversary because it no longer existed as a constitutional republic. As a result, I had to recalibrate. Perhaps I will resume this retrospective after January 20, 2021, depending on what happens.

 

New York Times Magazine, November 10, 2019, by Paul Sahre

  AMERICA’S THIRD CIVIL WAR

My first foray into America’s Third Civil War occurred during a battle for a Supreme Court appointment

America’s Third Civil War: Kava-Noes versus Kava-Yeses (10/19/18)

After writing about the first civil war in the American Revolution and the second civil war in the Civil War, I turned to the third one.

The third civil is different from the previous two.

It may be said to have begun in the 1960s. At that time, baby boomer males could be drafted into a war they did not want to fight and baby boomer females could have babies they did not want to have.

It may be said to have begun on August 17, 1992, when Pat Buchanan delivered his “Culture War” speech to the Republican National Convention.

It may be said to have begun in 2008 with Sarah Palin’s rally cry “to take back the country.”

Regardless of the preliminaries, history may well record that with the contentious and close vote on October 6, 2018, of 50-48 between Kava-Yeses and Kava-Noes the battle was fully engaged. There is no turning back now. When Charles Blow writes an op-ed in the New York Times that “Liberals, This Is War,” he fails to recognize that for conservatives it has been war for decades and appointing a fifth Republican legislator to the Supreme Court is a long overdue victory.

As with America’s first civil war, America’s third civil war will be intensely divisive at the local level. People who have known each other for years as best friends for life suddenly will morph into combatants. The family Thanksgiving meal will become a battleground. While it will be illegal for Kava-Noes and Kava-Yeses to marry, there is always the possibility that some of the guests will be from opposite sides of the divide. Any social engagement will run the risk of degenerating into a brawl. Hosts and hostesses will be obligated to do due diligence to ensure a peaceful event. College admission officers will need to scrutinize applicants carefully to maintain the purity of the campus. God forbid people from different sides should be assigned as roommates!  In short, people will constantly have to be on guard to make sure they know when it is safe to speak….

[W]e have a president who feasts on divisiveness. There will be no “come let us reason together” in this administration. Far from it. Instead he will stoke the flames of hatred and rejoice in the dividing of America. Never have We the People had a president who is so antagonistic to the very idea of We the People. Never have We the People had a president who is so willing, eager, and ready to campaign on behalf of hatred. Never have We the People had a president who is so antagonistic to the very goal of e pluribus unum, a motto that has been abandoned by both national political parties and mocked by our president. But there should not be any surprise that our president promotes the division of the country. What else would you expect from Putin’s poodle?

The Third Civil War (New York Times Magazine)

In general terms, the preview has come true. The Senate vote on the judicial appointment did not prove to be the breaking point nor did the judicial appointment two years later just before the presidential election. I was still writing from a cultural wars perspective and not a physical war with deaths from violence. I expected the presidential election to be the point of no return.

In my second blog on America’s Third Civil War (7/23/19), I quoted Nancy Pelosi saying:

This coming election, it is really an election that the fate of this country is riding on. This presidency is an existential threat to our democracy and our country as we know it.

Turns out she was exactly right. During the second impeachment she almost said the same words only now the election was in the past tense. Still the conflict was verbal. Then it changed.

JANUARY 6, 2021

Now the war has turned violent. My two political thriller blogs Seven Days in January: This Time It Is Not a Movie and Seven Days in January: Impeached Again were written immediately before and after the failed insurrection attempt. What happens now?

For the domestic trumperists, there are consequences to their actions.

1. They face the prospect of prison time.
2. They face mounting and expensive legal bills.
3. They may have lost their job.
4. They may rethink what it means to assault the government in the real world as opposed to at a political rally or in online chatter.

On the other hand, for many who participated in the attack or watched it, it was victory that produced a natural high. That intoxication may embolden them to try again.

For the country, there are consequences just as there were after 9/11. The post-9/11 changes have mostly been confined to airports where people now take security inspections for granted. Otherwise, life pretty much has returned to normal. This time may be different.

1. The Capitol is now in the Green Zone – How long will that last? What will it mean to tourists and school trips to see the nation’s capital in a permanent shutdown due to terrorist threat?

2. How many more Green Zones will be needed? Will even Alabama and South Dakota need to protect themselves? A lot of the chatter may turn out to be hype. Think of the army of 50,000 poll watchers that was supposed to be raised on November 3. Maybe the expected assaults will fizzle out.

3. Will there be lone wolves and soft targets? – After 9/11 there was a lot of attention/discussion on soft targets. The veterans with Iraq and Afghanistan experiences are well-trained in such tactics. There is plenty of information on the web about how prepare a bomb and the tactics to be used to deploy it to maximize effect. Will mentally-ill young males switch from attacking schools to attacking other locations that provide more vulnerable targets?

4. Who can you trust? – The supporters of the insurrection can be in Congress, the Capitol Police, the National Guard, the local police, the military, and the Secret Service. They could be your neighbors, your co-workers, and even members of your friendly local historical society. How do you know?

At this point it is too early to tell what will happen. The people who participated in the insurrection and who have been arrested are claiming they were following orders, answering the call of their President, and requesting pardons. Such pardons would be an open admission that the President really is an “existential threat to our democracy and our country as we know it” just as Pelosi said and the second impeachment claims.

The next round in the war will be the pardons issued on the final full day of his presidency. The parting gesture of the Loser undoubtedly will unleash another round of at least verbal conflict. It also may be seen as throwing the insurrectionists under the bus if they are excluded.

January 6, 2021 transformed the culture war into a civil war. It’s become a double civil war. It is a war between the Trumpicans and the Woke for control of the country. But it also is a war between the Trumpicans and the Republicans for the control of a political party. No one knows how either war will turnout. What can be said, is that it won’t end on January 20, 2021 and it will prove more dangerous to the future of this country than COVID-19 has been.

Seven Days in January: Impeached Again

January 12, 2021
by Peter Feinman
Freedom of Speech for Real Americans and Patriots

It was only 10 days ago when I wrote a blog on Seven Days in January: This Time It Is Not a Movie. Little did I know what would happen just four days later on January 6 or what would happen afterwards. Now seven days later history will be made with the second impeachment of single President. Time moves very quickly now. What you write can be obsolete before you are done [Mitch McConnell believes impeaching Trump will help! Mitch McConnell: Howard Baker (Time to Go) vs Stay the Course (Go Down with the Ship) June 8, 2020]. Has hell frozen over? Has he seen the light?

There are issues to be considered which I didn’t address in my blog about political thrillers from the early 1960s and the world today.

PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION

There has been a lot of discussion about the 25th Amendment but very little about Presidential succession. The Vice President is necessary to activate the removal process. The Vice President also was a target of the insurrection. The phrase “Hang Mike Pence” was heard and a functioning gallows had been constructed as if its builders were prepared to use it. WHAT HAPPENS TO THE 25TH AMENDMENT IF THERE IS NO VICE PRESIDENT?

Next in line for Presidential succession is the Speaker of the House. However the Speaker is not next in line to fill a Vice President opening. There is a process of selection and confirmation involving the President and the Congress to fill that slot. Suppose the President doesn’t name anyone to fill the position in case the Trump insurrectionists had hanged Mike Pence? What then?

Assuming the Vice President had survived the attempted coup, which he did, then what? Let’s say what is left of the Cabinet had approved the initiative. That action then is to be transmitted to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives according to the Amendment. Suppose they are dead? What does the Vice President do?

Political thrillers are out of vogue now. Perhaps the recent events will cause a revival. It is easy to see now in an emergency situation how inadequate the 25th Amendment is. With all its checks and balances built into the text the process could drag on for weeks. That doesn’t cut it in during an insurrection.

True, it never occurred to the authors and ratifiers of the 25th Amendment that one day a President of the United States would foster an insurrection to remain in power. Now we know better. The Amendment needs to be amended.

LOSS OF CONTROL

In all the political thrillers, the instigator or brains behind the action is in charge. That person knows what is going on and is in command of the actors. On December 7 and 9/11, the chain of command was established and maintained. The people did what they were supposed to do according to the plan. That is what was expected.

In the Trump Insurrection, the instigator brought all his shortcomings and inadequacies to the event. That doomed it to failure. The person with no management, organization, or planning skills in his business career and in the coronavirus pandemic, demonstrated the same shortcomings on January 6….for which we should be grateful. The simple-minded immature child President lacks the mental necessities or cognitive skills to effectively organize an insurrection. All the weenie in-chief could do was light a match, pour oil on the fire, and then vanish to go watch it on TV. Next to taking away his Twitter account, imagine taking away his TV!

He had no idea what the insurrectionists would actually do. It was not a 12/7, 9/11, or political thriller situation. He had no control over the people acting in his name. If his defense lawyers are smart they should plead he has the brains of a child and should be tried in juvenile court.

MY PEOPLE

Who are the “people” the twice-impeached President always refers to? Remember in the Georgia telephone call how he talked about “people” who would be angry. Then there really were the “people” who supported the telephone call – it proved he was fighting for them and hadn’t given up. Now again we hear about the “people” who would be very angry if he was penalized for his actions on January 6. After all, didn’t he give a “perfect” speech, an appropriate speech, just like his “perfect” call on his failed extortion attempt that led to his first impeachment?

I first became aware of these “people” after the 2016 election. One of the stock phrases Hannity used to attack those who criticized the legitimacy of the election was along the lines of he had been “duly elected by 63 million people.” He never mentioned the 66 million who had voted for the Democratic candidate. Why not? It would seem because those “people” aren’t “real people” and part of We the People. The 63 million who voted for the correct candidate are the Real Americans, not those other people.

Remember, Real Americans don’t get the coronavirus and die from it; “those” people do.

The exact same sequence is being played out today. All you hear about on Foxhub is the 75 million (or more accurately 74 million) who voted for the Sore Loser. Look at the increase over the 2016 vote total of 63 million! Somehow the 81 million who voted for the Democratic candidate are ignored. The 3 million fraudulent votes in 2016 became 5 million fraudulent votes when he needed more to overcome his growing gap by at least one vote. In 2020, it became over 7 million rigged votes. Over 7 million, because he really won by a landslide. Just as the 66 million in 2016 and the 81 million in 2020 don’t exist on Foxhub, so they don’t exist in the mind of the twice-impeached President. When he refers to “people,” he means only his people, the Real Americans. Confederates are Real Americans and patriots in Trump’s universe.

Such thinking also applies to Trumpicans. They feel that they have been disenfranchised by people who are not Real Americans. What are they to do they asked at the insurrection?

ENDGAME

The Capitol is our goal. Everything else is a distraction. Every corrupt member of Congress locked in one room and surrounded by real Americans is an opportunity that will never present itself again.

Did that include Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and all the other Trumpican traitors who voted to reverse the election? If the insurrectionists had confronted the Representatives and Senators would they simply have open fired on all of them?

At the end of the day, you mark my word, we will plant our flag on the desk of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. And Donald J. Trump if it boils down to it.

What flag is that? The American flag or the Trump flag? Once the forces of rebellion were unleashed, they were beyond the control of the twice-impeached President gleefully watching the mayhem on TV. He was more upset about losing the PGA Championship than he was about risking the lives of 536 elected officials and their staff.

And suppose they had disrupted the vote, what would have changed? Nothing. No matter what happened on January 6, Joe Biden would still become President on January 20. Did they know that?

So now there are 50 additional targets besides the Capitol. The story is not yet over. It will not end with the departure of the twice-impeached President. At this point, the ending to this political thriller in the real world remains unknown. On seven-day period stretched from insurrection to impeachment. The week will take us to inauguration. Who knows what will happen then? How many people can the FBI round up before they are pardoned?

There is one thought expressed at the insurrection which deserves attention. It was a call by one of the participants for exactly that:

We are here. See us! Notice us! Pay attention!”

If Joe Biden wants to be a unity President that is exactly what he has to do. Painful as that might be, he can’t unify the country unless he does pay attention to the people who oppose him. After all, Trumpicans still are Americans.

January 6, 2021: Blacks, Jews, and the American Dream

January 10, 2021
by Peter Feinman

January 6, 2021 may join December 7 and 9/11 as dates that will live in infamy in American history. Right now it is too early to tell. Many Americans already don’t know those earlier dates anyway. So far January 6 is like the other two in that it was a one-time attack on America. That could change on January 20 or in scattered state capitols throughout the country. It also differs in that it was an attack on America led by the American President and the attackers themselves were American and not foreign. Now the President is being impeached for a second time and the attackers are being arrested as may the current President may be once he loses his immunity.

But January 6, 2021, is an historic date for other reasons as well. It was a date when the deaths from the coronavirus exceeded 4000, a milestone. It also was the date the results of two Senate elections on January 5, 2021, in Georgia became known. That event would have been front-page above-the fold-news in other times. It was big news in the morning but by the afternoon it had become eclipsed. This blog is dedicated to those elections.

HIDDEN FIGURES

The movie “Hidden Figures” already has been the subject of blogs (Hidden Figures, The Right Stuff and the Coronavirus: Who Will Tell the Story?, April 30, 2020 and Negroes and the American Dream: Hidden Figures, Open Dreams, March 11, 2018). It is regrettable that so many of the movie’s great moments turned out not to be literally true The Kevin Costner character was not a historically-real person. One powerful scene in which he did not participate also was not literally true although it was symbolically true.

Karl Zielinski: Mary, a person with an engineer’s mind should be an engineer. You can’t be a computer the rest of your life.

Mary Jackson: Mr. Zielinski, I’m a negro woman. I’m not gonna entertain the impossible.

Karl Zielinski: And I’m a Polish Jew whose parents died in a Nazi prison camp. Now I’m standing beneath a spaceship that’s going to carry an astronaut to the stars. I think we can say we are living the impossible. Let me ask you, if you were a white male, would you wish to be an engineer?

Mary Jackson: I wouldn’t have to. I’d already be one.

The Polish Jew who encourages her in the movie is fictional, but apparently the real life NASA engineer Kazimierz Czarnecki did encourage her to pursue advanced training and became her longtime mentor.

So here we have this episode of a “negro woman” and a “Polish Jew” exemplifying the American Dream in a positive and optimistic setting. Life as it should be.

GEORGIA SENATE ELECTIONS

Jon Ossoff (L) and Raphael Warnock (R) bump elbows on stage during a rally with US President-elect Joe Biden outside Center Parc Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 4, 2021. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

The Georgia Senate elections demonstrate the exact same upbeat message as the movie scene. While Ossoff is not a Polish Jew (Russian/Lithuanian descent), the parallel is close enough.

The importance of the Georgia Senate elections transcends the election itself. If either candidate had won individually, the election would have been historic for Georgia. The unusual circumstance of a having two simultaneous Senate elections only added to the historical significance.

The national implications magnify the historic importance of the elections. The very same person who instigated the insurrection on January 6 was the person who affected the results of the Georgia Senate elections to his own detriment. He had sought to “find” votes which would have made him the winner of the state in the presidential election. He had sought to disqualify votes which would have had the same effect. The U.S. District Attorney would not comply with the request to do the latter and is now gone from his job. The Georgian Secretary of State did not comply with the request for the former. He still has his job. But he has had to spend some time in hiding and has been threatened over his re-election prospects. The Republican Governor similarly has been threatened. Undoubtedly these assaults within the Republican Party along with the claim that the voting system was rigged and could not be trusted contributed to the Democratic victories.

As a result of his self-inflicted wound, the Democrats now have control of the Senate. These two votes are not sufficient to ensure that the impeached instigator of the January 6 insurrection will be removed from office and prohibited from running in 2024. In fact, by the time the Senate votes to remove him from office, he already will be out of office and quite possibly facing criminal charges. Still, it will be quite an introduction to the Senate for the two Georgians.

BLACKS, JEWS, AND THE JANUARY 6 INSURRECTION

At first glance, one would have expected that the “Stop the Steal” rally would focus on the presidential election. Certainly the actions to reverse the results by having the electors from various states be disqualified were the major focus. However, the participants communicated interests that were not directly connected to the election. Instead they relate to concerns that predate even the 2016 election.

 

 

 

 

 

These images involve longstanding hatreds in the United States that will not disappear January 20, 2021.

One inadvertent benefit from the insurrection is that it flushed people out of the woodwork. Instead of white racists and anti-Semites restricting themselves to various websites, they appeared in open in the light of day clothed in their hatreds. Not only did they appear in public, they took selfies, posed for pictures, sent texts and emails and otherwise broadcasted their white racism and anti-Semitism. At first, it may have seemed like a lark to them. They occupied the Capitol and took souvenirs as if they had signed up for a tourist extravaganza. Now their pictures of them in the action of committing a crime are available to law enforcement organizations across the country. The people with the Confederate flags and the concentration camp T-shirts apparently never thought through the consequences of the public display of their white racism and anti-Semitism.

In these two actions on January 6, 2021, one may see two faces of America. One embraces the future, the other is scared of it. The Warnock/Ossoff elections represent an optimistic view of America’s future. The insurrection represents a fear of it. The Democrats do not have a monopoly on that future. They do not own it. It is possible the Party of Lincoln will abandon Trump and embrace the future as well. The vote in the House of Representatives in support of his effort to steal the election and the polls show a split party. The Trumpicans support the attempted coup as a great victory to be celebrated whereas the Republicans do not. At this point, it seems unlikely that the Lincoln Republicans can regain control of their Party. In that case, one can anticipate more elections like the Georgian Senate elections and more widespread violence. In other words, both aspects of January 6, 2021 will continue for better and for worse to be on display (see my comments in Grand Ol’ Prospects: Republicans abandoning Trump lick their wounds and plan their future by Leonard Greene, The Daily News, January 10, 2021).

Captain Queeg and the Republican Party: Is the Party Iraq?

January 8, 2021
by Peter Feinman
Has he lost his marbles? Did he ever have them? (Wikipedia)

Whither the Republican Party? To some extent merely to ask that question implies that a Republican Party still exists. It is important to keep in mind that the Republican Party had ceased to be the party of Lincoln even before the 2016 elections [R.I.P. Party of Lincoln (1856-2016) March 12, 2016]. While individual admirers of Lincoln still exist within the Republican Party, they did not define the Party on a national level. It had become a weenie party of stupid (see Bobby Jindal, remember when he was a rising star in the Republican Party?).

The idea that the Republican Party would face the truth about its leader has been a pipe dream for years. Starting particularly with the Access Hollywood, there has been a constant sense that there was a line to be crossed and he had just crossed it. I plead guilty to having thought there would be a moment of truth, there would be some action where Republicans would stare into the ugliness of the person with no conscience, no morals, and no ethics and say, “Enough is enough.” Despite Lindsay Graham’s pro forma protestation, that moment still has not arrived collectively for the Party.

Take the Georgia phone call as an example. On one side there was an immediate hue and cry about an illegal act and an impeachable offense. Meanwhile the Impeached-only-once-so-far President said people liked the call. By “people,” of course, he meant his people, the real Americans, and not We the People. But the fact is, he was right. Trumpicans loved seeing him fighting for what is rightfully his. After all, he not only won Georgia, he won the election and did so in a landslide.

The same applies to the January 6, 2021 occupation of the Capitol. For weeks if not months the Impeached-only-once-so-far President had been inciting Trumpicans to gather at the Nation’s capital for an apocalyptic showdown with forces of evil. On the day of the assault, he and his son had incited Trumpicans to storm the Bastille as it were, to force the weak RINOs to do the right thing. As with the Georgia phone call, there was an immediate hue and cry about an illegal act an impeachable offense with the additional option of invoking the 25th Amendment. But the same Mike Pence who stood by his man after the Access Hollywood tape is standing by his man after the failed coup attempt.

True, the outcry among Republicans is greater now. They know even when Congressional Trumpican lives were on the line inside the Capitol, he would not lift a finger to help them or denounce those who threatened them. After, for the longtime-fake-Democrat-and-Clinton supporter, it is all about him. Don’t expect any sympathy or empathy for collateral damage in the Capitol. As the days dwindle for the Impeached-only-once-so-far President, there are some Republican voices being heard saying enough is enough. In the House, the Trumpicans still dominate but their vote is not needed for impeachment. In the Senate, the Republicans seem to outnumber the Trumpicans and the opportunity to deny him the right to run for President again has an appeal even to Senators who had sold their soul.

It would appear now that the Republican Party has gone as far as it can along those lines. While it was able to defeat the Democratic Party of the Politically Corrected People and its terrible candidate in 2016 despite losing the popular vote, it has reached the limits of what it can achieve unless aided by the Woke.

As things stand now,

1. it has lost the House, the White House and the Senate
2. the three male Trumps have vowed to “primary” the weak disloyal RINOs who did not come to the aid of the failed coup to reverse the election
3. the Georgia Trumpicans have lost three statewide elections in short order and the current Republican office holders have been vilified, denounced, and even taken into hiding for their safekeeping from Trumpicans – do you really think a Trumpican can first primary the current governor and then win the state election?
4. the Arizona Republican Party is now chaired by a perennial loser who has become a permanent resident of an alternate reality – after also losing three statewide elections – two Senate seats and the presidency – do you really think a Trumpican can first primary the current governor and then win a state election?
5. the initial attempt to primary the South Dakota who placed loyalty to the Constitution over loyalty to an individual has failed
6. a Trumpican could not win statewide elections in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Vermont, Republicans could and have
7. Trumpican outbreaks have occurred in multiple states throughout the country and most likely will continue as the battle is engaged – they even have a t-shirt to mark the launch of the civil war.

For Trumpicans Lincoln, Roosevelt (T.), Bush, McCain, and Romney are RINOs and Romney is to be vilified as a traitor as he just was in an airport. No place is safe from Trumpicans. The Rubicon has now been crossed. The moment of truth has arrived. The Trumpican goal to win primaries trumps the Republican goal to win elections. America’s Third Civil War is really two civil wars: one between Republicans and Trumpicans and one between Trumpicans and the Woke.

I conclude with a blog from 2016 that unfortunately represent a long-standing and false hope (Star Trek Anticipated the Trump Meltdown October 9) and (Empire State Presidential Elections (2016): A Day in Infamy, August 6). As the monster became uglier and uglier in the real world, I thought the disgusting ugly incarnation of evil that he is would be exposed for all to see. I thought he would suffer the same fate as the alien in the Star Trek episode. I even wrote:

What happens if the party of Lincoln seeks to take back its party from ugliness? What happens if non-elite heterosexual white males who love their country and are in pain catch on that they are being slicked, conned, hustled, flim-flammed, bamboozled and lied to by a staggeringly ignorant narcissist who just as easily would rip them off at his phony university for their desire to live the American Dream as he would for their vote?

I was wrong then and I would be wrong now if I thought Trumpicans would see the truth. Rather, they do see the truth. He is not an alien monster. He is their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name. How can Lincoln compete with that!

Mike Pence: De Facto President?

January 7, 2021
by Peter Feinman
Mike Pence has been no Captain Merik from Star Trek “Bread and Circuses." Will he be a hero now? (William Smithers)

Mike Pence’s moment in history has arrived. These times will define him for life. When he is standing in judgement before St. Peter the question he will be asked is what did he do when the President of the United States of America incited a coup to remain in power.

Up until now, Pence hardly seemed like the person who could or would rise to the occasion. He was one of the first people to sell in soul in the hopes of being the successor. He saw it as part of God’s plan.

Back then it was easy to make fun of him. Vice President Brown Nose was the butt of many jokes. Some of his pronouncements about thanking God for being blessed to share the same space-time continuum as his Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name, will haunt him for the rest of his life.

Now after four years, what does he have to show for having sold his soul?

He tried in a private meeting to inform the President that as Vice President he did not have the Constitutional authority to do what he was being asked to do. He should have known better. He was speaking to a person blessed with having no ethics, no conscience, and no morals. He was speaking to someone who lives on the basis of do what you want until or unless someone stops you. Legal limits are merely obstacles to work around. The Presidential statement that “The Vice President and I are in total agreement that the vice president has the power to act” highlights the futility of Pence’s efforts to convince the President of the United States of America to obey the law.

“I hope Mike is going to do the right thing. I hope so, I hope so, because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election. [O]ne of the top constitutional lawyers in our country [said Pence] “the absolute right to” throw out the election results.

Mike Pence has to agree to send the Electors back. Otherwise the Criminal in chef would be “very disappointed” in him.

Mike Pence should not have been surprised that this President would throw him under the bus. Loyalty is a one-way street. You don’t acquire Loyalty Points for all the actions you have taken in the past; your loyalty always is based on the current request for complete and total obedience. Although Pence had complied, the final straw had been placed and it broke the camel’s back. As it turns out, Pence’ loyalty to country and Constitution trumped loyalty to an individual.

When the assault came at The Capitol, Mike Pence did rise to the occasion. He did what needed to be done. While the Criminal in-chief voiced his supporter for the insurrection, Pence prevailed to have the National Guard to intervene even though he had no authority to do so.

A change has occurred. There has been a lot of talk about what our deranged unhinged immature child president might do during his waning days in office. There is one thing which won’t happen: he will not step down at the last moment so Mike Pence as the President can pardon him. Previously I had raised the question of whether the Impeached President would even be willing to resign and trust Pence to pardon instead of his just having the last laugh. Now that scenario will not happen.

While the President of the United States has a lot of power, here are limits to what he can do on his own. For example, he lacks the mental necessities to write more than “I pardon Donald Trump.” Someone else has do the work. Someone else has to carry out the orders. We already have had the experience with the last days of Nixon where procedures were put in place to prevent his actions being implemented without sign-off by an adult in room. We are at the moment now.

Back on October 3, 2019, I wrote a blog entitled “Will Mike Pence Become a Profile in Courage?” I wrote:

In the early months of this administration there was a lot of silly talk about the 25h Amendment. Somehow V.P Brown Nose was going to lead a cabinet coup against the mentally impaired immature child President and restore decency to the Oval Office. The idea that Pence would rise to the occasion was so absurd as to be completely laughable. None-the-less, adult human beings even with college educations, would discuss this option as if it were a real possibility.

Now once again the 25th Amendment is under consideration. This time it is more serious. The situation is more serious and the conversations are more serious. Regardless of the outcome, it is beneficial for Mike Pence to publicly announce his intention to pursue the 25th Amendment. True, our immature-child President will want to lash out. However, Pence’s action will put the Federal Government on notice that the times have changed. People will be more willing to defy the President and/or resign knowing that the Vice President has initiated this effort.

Second, Mike Pence should announce that in any Congressional or DOJ investigations on anything that happened during this Administration that he will testify freely and willingly.

I began that blog Will Mike Pence Become a Profile in Courage? with the comment that:

To become a profile in courage is not easy. First there needs to be a situation where there is a need for someone to be a profile in courage. Second, one of the people in that situation then needs to rise to the occasion.     

I concluded the blog by saying he would not. Perhaps now, it will be different. The country needs him to be the hero and not a zero.