Presidential Firsts 5/15/23

Thoughts with Richard Bleil

Another presidential first, as Trump continues to bring nothing but glory and pride to our nation and yes, that’s sarcasm.  He was the first president to be impeached twice (and no, although he was not removed from office, he was not exonerated in either impeachment).  He was also the first president to be criminally charged (what ever happened to that trial?).  Today, as I write this anyway, he is also the first president to be found liable of sexual assault and defamation of character in a civil case. 

The truth is that this probably will work in Trump’s favor.  His supporters are hard-core, believing any criminal activity, claim or trial is nothing but, well, trumped up charges to keep him, and their candidate, down.  But more than that, the American voter has a very short memory. 

The next presidential election is shaping up to be a Biden/Trump rematch.  Both options leave much to be desired, and Bernie Sanders has already announced that he will not run again.  This is very unfortunate, because if these two both with their party nomination (which I’m sure that they will), this could be the best political climate in decades for an independent presidential candidate.  Wouldn’t it be nice if Bernie ran, so instead of two excessively old white men, we could choose from three. 

I expect that this next election will have Democrats repeating Trump’s troubles over and over again, as Trump himself continues to proclaim his innocence and try to convince the voters that he is merely the victim of a witch hunt by the “deep-fake”.  Neither party will say much about policy because neither party has much to brag about in policy.

Republicans continue to court very unpopular policies to appease their ultra-conservative extreme religious and wealthy voters like anti-abortion laws and tax breaks for the wealthy.  Polls indicate that a majority of Americans oppose things like this, so Republican candidates try to distance themselves from these topics.  In fact, they are counting on the short memory of the American voters.

Biden, on the other hand, has proven to be ineffective at getting legislation through despite its popularity among voters.  Women’s and voter’s rights both remain vulnerable as the promise to codify law to protect them has remained elusive.  Unfortunately, the economy weakened as it was by Republican Presidents seemed to fall apart under the Biden administration, and good news never lasted long.  Immigration predictably has become a major problem as Trump’s inhumane policies ended leading to a dramatic influx from south of the border.  Biden’s response has not been sufficient, but the reality is that immigration has been a major problem, even in Trump’s administration.  The Republican party is very well practiced at making problems appear to be the fault of the Democratic party, who in turn never seem to be able to respond. 

Frankly, I’m tired of politicians worrying about their own re-election more than their ethics.  With their focus on re-election, politicians are focused on avoiding irritating their base and their own popularity.  They’re not in touch with people.  Even in the Supreme Court we’re dealing with a “Justice” who has found loopholes to accepting money.  By allowing the wealthy to pay for tuition and vacations, the end result is more money in the pocket of the recipient.  The Supreme Court has insisted that they don’t need ethical oversight, but unfortunately, they have been turned political by the Republicans who stole justices from Democratic presidents.  Those same justices lied to Congress and the American people to secure their seats, and remain on those seats today.

Today there are efforts to restrict even voter rights.  In the past week (as of the writing of this post), Texas has passed legislation allowing those in power to overturn the results of an election if the vote doesn’t go the way they want it to.  This means that no citizen of Texas has a vote, at all.  If the vote goes the way the Texas governor wants, then they’ll let it slide.  Otherwise, the vote will simply be overturned.  There is literally no point in voting in Texas now because the party in power will make sure that their party wins. 

It’s enough to make me wonder why I am still in this nation.  America was intended to be the land of justice, but our rights to vote are being removed, women’s rights are being shaved away and we are more interested in hiding social injustices of the past than reversing those of today.