The RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) are apoplectic over what’s going on in Afghanistan.  But wait!  I don’t mean Sen. Mitt Romney, Illinois Rep Adam Kinzinger, or any other Republican who former president Trump has labeled with this acronym.  Oh no, I’m referring to Trump’s former secretary of State Mike Pompeo, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, all the Republicans who voted on January 6 against certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory and for sure, Donald Trump.  Neither the former president nor his supporters are real Republicans in my book, much less patriotic Americans.

There’s plenty of blame to go around for the chaos in Afghanistan, of course, including some for President Biden’s decisions.  But two of the most shocking criticisms of the president came from Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Pompeo.  Both are former military officers who should know better.  Pompeo graduated first in his class at West Point in 1986; Cotton is a decorated veteran who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan during former president George W. Bush’s administration. 

Yet, as the Taliban was closing in on the Afghan capital of Kabul on August 14, the far-right Cotton typified the Republican response to this dire situation, “Joe Biden’s ill-planned retreat has now humiliated America and put at risk thousands of Americans left in Kabul,” Cotton said.  He added that Biden “must unleash American air power to destroy every Taliban fighter in the vicinity of Kabul until we can save our fellow Americans.”  

The following day, Pompeo advocated “crushing” the Taliban surrounding Kabul with American air power in order to, “inflict cost and pain on them.”   “This president [Biden] confronted a challenge in Afghanistan – he has utterly failed to protect the American people from this challenge,” he added. 

Both of these ex-military men should well know that air power alone could never destroy all Taliban fighters around Kabul, a sprawling city of over 4 million people.  As they were uttering their bombing nonsense, the Taliban had almost taken total control of the country and no doubt possessed some heavy weapons that had been abandoned by the Afghan military.  The international airport near the city would be the only way out for the remaining Americans and Afghan allies in the surrounding area and it’s likely there weren’t enough U.S. military personnel there to fully protect it. 

Unquestionably, massive bombing would have resulted in horrific civilian casualties.  And, it would be like trying to subdue a lion with a baseball bat.  No doubt, enraged Taliban fighters would have captured every American they could find.  Even if they couldn’t overrun the airport, any U.S. evacuation aircraft would likely have taken intense fire from Taliban rocket propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and artillery.  I believe the result would have been an incredibly worse catastrophe, with numerous Americans killed or held hostage and few being able to escape.   

Why on earth would Pompeo and Cotton have proposed get tough, reckless bombing campaigns?   Could it be their 2024 presidential aspirations?

Pompeo’s Afghan blunders, however, go much deeper.  As the U.S. secretary of State in 2018, he and former president Trump succeeded in pressuring the Pakistani government to release a Taliban co-founder, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, to negotiate a deal.  The bilateral agreement that was signed in February 2020 freed 5,000 captive Taliban fighters from prison and committed to the withdrawal of U.S. military and allied forces within 14 months (by May 2021).  In exchange, they got some promises from an untrustworthy enemy. 

It’s been reported that Trump even suggested a meeting with Taliban representatives at Camp David and mused about winning a Nobel Peace Prize.  Was this deal designed to bolster Trump’s 2020 reelection prospects?  Hmm, could be.

Regardless, The Trump/Pompeo agreement not only reduced the American military presence in Afghanistan, it reinforced the Taliban army by thousands of fighters and severely weakened the Afghan government in Kabul.  By the time Biden was inaugurated, Afghanistan’s fate was almost sealed, according to many observers.  He could either attempt to renegotiate the Trump agreement while rebuilding U.S. forces or carry out its commitments.  Neither was a good option for the United States by then.  And yes, chaos was probably inevitable under the circumstances Biden inherited, as there remained thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Afghans to be evacuated from this hostile environment. 

Still, why hadn’t the Trump administration begun the process of bringing translators and other at-risk Afghan allies to the United States before the U.S. withdrew troops in 2020?  Well, last Friday, Olivia Troye, who was a counterterrorism aide to former Vice President Mike Pence, accused former Trump advisor Stephen Miller of organizing xenophobic officials inside the Trump Administration to deny these refugees special immigration visas.  If true, this is beyond shocking.

The ongoing humanitarian effort in Afghanistan will playout over the next few weeks and every American should hope and pray that all of our fellow citizens are evacuated from Kabul, along with thousands of our Afghan allies.  Still, I believe the way Republicans are politicizing this tragedy – just like they politicized the coronavirus pandemic – is exacerbating an already horrible situation.   

And, we can be certain that Republicans will demand intensive investigations of Biden’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan while attempting to impede and downplay the investigations of the vicious January 6 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters.  They have no shame.

To me, these eight words sum up where we are as a nation today and it’s not a good place to be.     

How did we get here?  Well, I believe the seeds took root during Ronald Reagan’s administration in the 1980s and grew with the rise of conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and the vicious hardball political tactics of former Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).   Right-wing operatives like these wrote the playbook for the ultra-conservative Fox News anchors in the late 1990s and the Tea Party radicals in 2010.  Over time, the anti-government, anti-media rhetoric of the GOP kept getting louder and more unhinged until it spawned Donald Trump, a man whose every decision before, during and after his presidency has been based on how it might affect him politically.

Along the way, Senate Minority/Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) played politics to the hilt in obstructing virtually everything President Obama attempted to accomplish in Congress, including refusing to even hold hearings on Merrick Garland, Obama’s appointment to the Supreme Court.   McConnell’s middle finger to the president’s constitutional authority was outrageously unprecedented but it perfectly served his dangerously audacious political agenda.

Turns out though, the Republican Party’s back-peddling from democratic norms has been tracked by the V-Dem Institute, an independent research organization that measures how strongly political parties in 169 countries around the world are committed to democracy.  The “illiberal index” in its October 2020 report shows that – and I quote – “[T]he Republican party in the US has retreated from upholding democratic norms in recent years. Its rhetoric is closer to authoritarian parties, such as AKP in Turkey and Fidesz in Hungary. Conversely, the Democratic party has retained a commitment to longstanding democratic standards.” 

You won’t hear a hint of that report on Fox News, however, nor will that channel put much emphasis the many ways Trump and the GOP have politicized democratic processes, both before the 2020 election and since.  Here are just the worst examples.

Recent news reports reveal that Trump attempted to politicize and corrupt the Department of Justice and the rule of law.  He pardoned felons Roger Stone, Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, among others, simply because they were his friends.  The GOP leadership, of course, let him get away with this pure politicization of the pardon process with little comment.  An independent DOJ and the rule of law are two of the strongest pillars of our democracy but some Republican politicians see them as impediments to their political objectives.

Without a doubt though, Trump’s reaction to the coronavirus in early 2020 will go down in history as an all-time low for callous and deadly political maneuvering.  It resulted in hundreds of thousands of dead Americans as Trump, his Republican supporters in Congress and the right-wing media recklessly politicized protective masks and vaccinations. 

But this is what’s really chilling: Vanity Fair reported in a July 2020 that because the virus at first hit hardest in blue states, the president’s advisors weren’t very concern, specifically Jared Kushner’s team.  They thought a national plan to combat the virus was not necessary and that it would be an effective political strategy to blame the Democratic governors.  If true, not only was that approach to a crisis wrong-headed and cruel, I believe that it bordered on a criminal conspiracy.

High on the list of the most egregious political acts by Trump and company has to be the Big Lie that the 2020 election stolen from him.  In other words, they attempted to brand the election processes as fraudulent and untrustworthy and still are to this day.  In Georgia, where he lost, the president called on Republican state election officials to find votes for him.  They refused.  Trump operatives attempted to prevent certification of Joe Biden’s validly seated electors.  They failed. Trump urged the DOJ’s acting attorney general in December 2020 to state that the election was corrupt and leave it to him and the “R congressmen.”  He didn’t.

Trump tweets verify that he subsequently summoned a mob to Washington on January 6 to protest the certification of Biden’s win. Then during a speech that morning he urged them to “fight like hell” because if you don’t, “you’re not going to have a country anymore.”  Shortly thereafter he directed them to go to the Capitol. 

Can there be any doubt that Trump, and yes, the majority of Republicans in Congress, attempted a coup?

A bipartisan investigation of the resulting insurrection has been soundly rebuffed by Republicans as they try to blame Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the violence.  They are making a political charade out of what was probably the most serious threat to our democracy in history.  

Trump and his crowd even politicized the U.S. Olympic team, here-to-fore untouchable for anything but praise and full support.  Perhaps the most viscous attacks from the right were on world-class U.S. gymnast, Simone Biles, for dropping out of several events due to mental health issues.   They called her, among other things, a “quitter,” “arrogant,” “selfish sociopath,” “immature” and a “shame to this country” Hmm, would they have attacked like this if she were white?

Politics is like a drug, once hooked on it, some normally decent people do some undemocratic things.  And the bad people like Trump, — well, no act for political gain is off limits to them, which is why they’re an existential threat to our democracy.

Folks who’ve enjoyed the play or film “The Little Shop of Horrors” will understand why it reminds me of the Republican Party’s evolution over the past several decades.  In the Little Shop, a bumbling florist discovers a small, talking plant that lives on human flesh and blood.  He starts feeding it with his own vital fluid but soon must provide human victims as it keeps growing and becoming more aggressive.  In end, the plant eats him too. 

Well, the GOP once had a much smaller, far-right base until conservative Republicans kept throwing it more and more political red meat.  Like the fictional flesh-eating flower, that group just kept growing and getting more voracious until it has now almost completely devoured the establishment party. 

That process will continue as old-line Republican Senators like Alabama’s Richard Shelby, Ohio’s Rob Portman, Pennsylvania’s Pat Toomey, North Carolina’s Richard Burr and Missouri’s Roy Blount retire in 2022.  And it’s certainly possible that all five could be replaced by strong supporters of former president Trump or even a political bomb-thrower or two, like Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) who is running for Shelby’s seat. 

The likely retirement of Iowa’s 88-year-old Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley could make room for a sixth Trumpian. And Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who voted to convict Trump in the second impeachment trial, faces reelection next year, with well-funded, Trump-loving primary challengers battling to capture her seat.

Certainly, pro-Trump replacements for the somewhat more moderate Senate Republicans in 2023, along with GOP Senators like Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson, Texas’ Ted Cruz and Kentucky’s Rand Paul – to name a few of the most radical – would give Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) the most obstructive, anti-democratic caucus in modern history.

Over in the House, there are literally dozens of fanatics like GOP Rep. Margorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) who have demonstrated dangerous antipathy to democracy.  The 10 Republican representatives who bravely voted with Democrats to impeach Trump after the January 6 Capitol insurrection will also face strong primary challenges from ardent Trump supporters next year. 

Republicans at all levels of government, along with tens of millions of their supporters, have convinced themselves, without evidence, that the Democrats somehow stole the 2020 election.  With the enthusiastic support of right-wing media, they’re using Trump’s Big Lie to justify politicizing the election process with election laws that also seriously impede minority voting.

This voter fraud charade has confirmed my long-held belief that whatever Republicans wrongly accuse Democrats of doing, they are doing or want to do themselves, including stealing elections.  They don’t believe they can win in a free and fair election process so they try to project their devious methods on to Democrats, while using them to rig the system in their favor. 

You know friends, I keep wondering – when will this nation have an election again where our democracy isn’t being threatened by Republicans?  Obviously, it won’t be soon.

If the GOP takes control of the Senate and/or the House in 2023, as history would predict, and the numerous voter suppressing, election politicizing laws being passed by most Republican-controlled states are not nullified, it’s almost guaranteed that a Democrat will not be in the White House after 2024 unless he or she wins by a landslide.

I don’t wish to be an alarmist, but Republicans are openly and actively in the process of crippling – if not destroying – democracy in the United States.  That’s a fact!!  The only question is, can they be stopped?  If Trump or another Republican like him is elected president in 2024, along with a Republican-controlled Congress, I fear that our two-party political system could be virtually eliminated. 

The justices on the conservative-controlled Supreme Court may not rule against this GOP power grab, perhaps because political parties have no specific rights under the Constitution.  Or if they do, the Republican administration and Congress might simply ignore the decision. 

But here’s what strikes me.  I don’t think most Republican politicians and their supporters realize what they’re doing; their love of conspiracy theories, irrational hatred of liberals and impatient quest for power, is overwhelming all other considerations. 

First, the norms they are violating, the precedents they are setting and the types of laws they are enacting could be used against them if a left-wing tyrant is elected president sometime in the future when white people are certain to be in the minority.  That possibility alone should make them want to strengthen our democratic processes rather than weaken them.  Do they no longer fear Democratic payback?

Moreover, the GOP seems oblivious to the corporate and business interests it has long promoted.  Don’t Republican politicians realize that America’s strength – including that of its dollar – and its status in world affairs is primarily due to its strongly democratic history and the rule of law?  These qualities make America a business-friendly, economic powerhouse and a safe haven for foreign investment.   Do Republicans really believe that major U.S. corporations would support a conservative autocracy, any more than they would a socialist government? 

Until 2016, I firmly believed that no internal political force could easily subvert the U.S. Constitution or corrupt our democratic institutions.  But consider how Republicans and their right-wing supporters have managed to weaken our democracy in just the past year.  To them, this is necessary to ensure survival of the party – and they’re not about to relent.

Right after posting my last blog, my wife and I flew across the country to visit with our daughter and family for the first time in 18 months.  Needless to say, I didn’t have much time to write blogs or read all the articles that came to me via the Internet.  So, I compiled a file of interesting links on my computer.  In reviewing this collection for the past almost four weeks, I found enough material for a year’s worth of blogs.  One thing that stood out, however, was how good Republicans are at spinning the news.

It seems like ancient history now, but recall how the Tea Party and Republicans pounced all over President Obama’s “spending” and the huge federal deficits for fiscal year 2009 and several years thereafter.  Even the so-called liberal media was critical to some extent.  As a result, Obama’s stimulus package was smaller than it should have been for recovery from the Great Recession that President George W. Bush caused.  Republicans even managed to convince many of their followers that Obama caused that crisis.

GOP attacks on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) after 2010 led tens of millions of Americans to believe it was government control of health care and that it authorized “death panels” that would determine who got health care and who died.  Their campaign was ludicrous, of course, but quite effective.

House Republicans organized a select committee on Benghazi in 2014 and spent over two years investigating former secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s role in the tragic 2012 attack that killed four Americans in Libya.  Like the findings of numerous other congressional inquiries, they uncovered no malfeasance by Clinton.  They did, however, discover something they could use against her, a previously unknown private server where her emails were stored.  This became frontpage news almost every day during the presidential campaign in 2016 and Donald Trump – an expert in media matters – used it to great advantage.  As a result, millions of voters came to believe Clinton was crooked and joined in chants to “Lock Her Up!”  I believe this issue cost Hillary the election.

That brings me to 2020 and the Black Lives Matter protests after the horrendous murder of George Floyd.  One of the most unfortunate phrases that was promoted during that summer was “defund the police.”  No doubt, GOP officials began salivating the first time they saw it on numerous placards carried by the protestors.  It’s short and catchy, easy to message in all types of ways, particularly on social media, with audio and video to support their claims.  These three words are also subject to numerous interpretations and Republicans claimed their Democratic opponents wanted to eliminate police forces around the country.  I’m confident that their attacks cost Democrats numerous seats in the House in 2020 and probably in the Senate too.

A related phrase that may appear in Republican messaging is “qualified immunity.” This 1967 Supreme Court established doctrine protects law enforcement officers and other public officials from civil liability unless they are determined to have violated what the court defines as an individual’s “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights.”  Here, however, I would like to digress a bit. 

My legal experience causes me to warn liberal Democrats who may want to completely eliminate this protection for law officers.  It is difficult enough to get qualified individuals to take this tough job that typically doesn’t pay enough to justify the stress and the danger that it entails.  I fear that good candidates won’t even consider police work for fear they might incur personal liability or that the expense of an insurance policy would be prohibitive.  I would rather have their police department employers shoulder the financial liability in civil suits instead of individual officers. 

The GOP spin machine, however, now has a much better boogeyman to scare people than qualified immunity – critical race theory (CRT).  As I understand it, the study of CRT – mainly in college level social science classes and law schools – examines how institutions and laws have been structured over time to maintain white supremacy.  It’s absolutely perfect for messaging because hardly any layperson understands what this esoteric, academic exercise is all about.  Consequently, right-wing pundits and politicians can define it to their liking and then attack that definition.

According to Media Matters, Fox News has mentioned CRT nearly 1,300 times in the past several months and “has repeatedly amplified a lie that critical race theory teaches that one race is ‘inherently superior to another.’”  Republicans are expecting this race baiting messaging to help them win back control of the House in 2022 and perhaps the Senate.  It just might succeed.

Consequently, Democrats must never dismiss GOP campaign attacks or lies as being ridiculous or frivolous.  Millions of voters believe the “Stop the Seal” rallying cry that motivated hundreds of Trump supporters to attack the Capitol on January 6.

President Biden and Vice President Harris will be traveling the nation this summer, promoting their critically needed infrastructure program and their American Families Plan.  But we won’t hear Republicans trying to compete in 2022 or 2024 by touting GOP programs to create jobs, improve health care and uplift American workers.  If anything, they’ll be promising more tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.

To be sure, the GOP is long on messaging – but very short on policies to govern by.

Republicans Have a Plan for Never Losing

Dirty tricks and undemocratic tactics have been a part of politics in the United States since the Constitution was ratified.  Some have even been humorous. 

During the 1950 Florida Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, Rep. George Smathers was speaking to a group of rural – perhaps, not too sophisticated – voters.  He scandalously accused his opponent Rep. Claude Pepper of “matriculating” with young women in college, of being a “shameless extrovert” who has engaged in “nepotism with his sister-in-law,” and a man who habitually practiced “celibacy” before marriage.   Smathers continued by outing Pepper’s brother as a “practicing homo sapien,” and his sister as a “thespian in wicked New York.”  Smathers won handily, although he denied ever making these statements.

One of the most famous and disturbing attempts to sway an election, of course, was when President Nixon’s campaign operatives bungled the June 1972 break-in of the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C.  Nixon went on to overwhelmingly win the election but the Watergate coverup and scandal forced him to resign.  At least once, political misdeeds were punished.

More recently, in 2018, Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., a small time Republican operative in North Carolina’s 9^th congressional district, was caught harvesting mail in ballots and manipulating them in various ways to benefit the campaign of Republican Rep. Mark Harris who narrowly defeated Democrat Dan McCready.  A new election was ordered and Dowless was indicted for obstruction of justice and illegal possession of an absentee ballot, among other charges.

There was an election in Texas, however, that I believe predicts what could occur if the voting laws being enacted by Republican-controlled state legislatures remain effective for the 2022 and 2024 elections.  And it’s all about manipulating election results after the polls close. 

Texans alleged for decades that significant fraud enabled Lydon B. Johnson to win the 1948 Texas Democratic primary runoff election for U.S. Senate by 87 votes. They became suspicious when Johnson overcame a huge deficit to snatch victory from defeat. Robert A. Caro’s 1990 book, “Means of Ascent,” however, details what actually occurred during the vote counting after that election.

On a Saturday primary election night, Johnson trailed former Texas Governor Coke Stevenson by 20,000 votes, according to Mr. Caro, with a few areas yet to report.  When San Antonio tallies were included, Johnson had miraculously picked up 10,000 more votes than Stevenson, who had beaten Johnson in these precincts by 2 to 1 in the first primary. Johnson’s deficit to Stevenson narrowed more later that evening due to returns from rural Rio Grande Valley counties.  Next day a newly discovered, uncounted precinct went heavily for Johnson.

Then, on Friday, the Rio Grande Valley precincts made corrections to their returns that narrowed Stevenson’s advantage to 157 votes.  Later that day, Jim Wells County telephoned in its amended vote totals that put Johnson on top.  County officials had cast the votes of deceased and absent voters and had given Johnson an extra 200 votes by simply changing the 7 in a “765” tally to a 9.  Johnson had won because a South Texas political boss manufactured thousands of votes for him, according to Mr. Caro.

Caro concluded that although ballot fraud was common in the late 1940s in some parts of Texas, Johnson’s 1948 campaign raised it to a new level.  

Actually, a very similar situation could occur in several states like Georgia if the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate holds a slim lead on election night. 

Georgia’s current voting laws give Republican legislators control of the State Election Board, which has responsibility for election oversight and the power to replace local election officials.  This Board could easily use mere allegations of fraud or election irregularities to replace officials in Fulton County, which includes heavily minority precincts in Atlanta.   Politically motivated operatives could then find more votes for the Republican candidate and/or invalidate votes for the Democrat. 

President Biden won Georgia by a little less than 13,000 votes, despite winning the popular vote by 7,000,000.  He won in Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin by a combined total of just under 44,000 votes, which narrowly avoided a tie with then-President Trump in the Electoral College.  A tie would have thrown the election into the U.S. House where Trump would have won because Republican-controlled states are in the majority and each state gets one vote. That’s right; just 44,000 votes saved us from another four years of Trump.

Like Georgia, many of the voting laws recently enacted by Republican-controlled states have some mechanism for more easily challenging the final vote counts, giving the legislature an opportunity to flip close elections to the GOP candidates.

Republican state voting laws will surely be challenged in court, of course, but it is clear that federal laws governing the conduct of elections are critically needed.  Unfortunately, any legislation that would negate suppressive state election laws and prevent them from being enacted in the future – like the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act – has zero chance of overcoming a Republican filibuster in the Senate.

This arcane Senate rule was once used by segregationists to obstruct civil rights legislation.  Now, it will allow Republicans to block any legislation that would standardize fairness in state election processes or otherwise disrupt GOP plans to win by voter suppression and other election skullduggery. 

They’re trying to rig the system so Democrats never win.

If you’re like me, it’s totally depressing to read the current political news.  Virtually the entire Republican Party is either afraid of former President Donald Trump or they are actively attempting to subvert the election process on his behalf.  Republican-controlled state legislatures all over the country are attempting to enact voting laws that they hope will suppress Democratic voters – mainly minorities and young people.  They’re also minimizing the authority of elected secretaries of state and empowering themselves to politically control election outcomes.  It’s simply appalling.

After Democrats acceded to most of the GOP demands to create a commission to investigate the vicious attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, only 35 House Republicans voted for the resolution and Senate Republicans have filibustered and defeated it.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), along with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), fear such an inquiry would anger Trump’s base and hurt their chances to retake control of the House and Senate in 2022.  They apparently aren’t concerned about protecting our sacred buildings, our institutions and members of Congress.     

The people elect representatives to be leaders and to faithfully carry out their duties in accordance with the Constitution.  Most expect that these representatives will identify threats to our democratic processes – like Trump and his supporters – and enact measures to thwart their efforts.  Instead of calling out these insurrectionists, however, most congressional Republicans are too cowardly to fight them, so they stand by in fear or join them in weakening our democracy.  These pitiful politicians are so politically oriented that nothing else matters, not democracy, the Constitution, the nation nor the welfare of its citizens.  All they care about is regaining control of Congress.

Yet, what do they plan to do when they have the power to draft and pass the laws?  Will they diligently sponsor legislation – like President Biden and the Democrats – to shore up the election system, repair and upgrade the nation’s infrastructure, narrow the huge and widening inequality gap between the ultra-rich and lower income workers and provide more and better health care of all Americans?  Hell no!  McConnell was crystal clear about Republican objectives recently when he stated emphatically that he’s “100%” focused on “stopping” the Biden administration. 

I have been trying to take my mind off the blatant cowardice that is being displayed by Republican politicians by remembering some heroes who have shown real courage, even one who once stood among them, the late former Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.).  He endured over 5 years of captivity and brutal torture in a foul, North Vietnamese prison.  As the son of a U.S. Admiral, he could have been released but he refused to go without his fellow prisoners. 

What caused me to admire John’s courage as a politician, however, was a brief exchange he had with a supporter at a townhall meeting during his 2008 campaign against Barak Obama for the presidency. 

A woman who had the microphone approached McCain on the stage and said, “I can’t trust Obama. I have read about him, and ….. he’s an Arab.”  McCain immediately started shaking his head and took the microphone from her.  “No ma’am,” McCain said. “He’s a decent family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues …..”

I have watched the video of this exchange numerous times and wished that we had even a few Republicans like him in the Senate today.  We can only hope that John McCain was not the last of the courageous politicians with an (R) after their name.

Another man with great courage was Leonard Rivkin, a lawyer I worked with in the 1980s, who I was proud to called a friend. He wasn’t a big man physically but he had great legal skills and a larger-than-life personality. 

There was a small, framed document on a side wall in Len’s office that explained how he earned a Silver Star medal – the third highest military service award – for action against the enemy during World War II.

Army Pfc. Rivkin was with a column of 40 vehicles that was advancing down a road in Germany on April 14, 1945, when the road came under fire from two German 88 mm artillery pieces situated on the crest of a hill.  Other troops scattered for cover in nearby fields but Rivkin, “disregarding the fact that the enemy positions were protected by machine gun fire… dashed forward 400 yards across an open field and, without regard for his personal safety, single handedly set up his light machine gun and prepared to rake the enemy strongpoint.  Pfc. Rivkin, along with two officers, then boldly advanced across the field toward the enemy guns and captured 80 prisoners of war.  The valor and magnificent courage displayed by Pfc. Rivkin were a distinct inspiration to his comrades and reflect high credit upon himself and the armed forces of the United States.”

Len risked his life to save his unit from an attack by German artillery.  Senate Republicans won’t even risk their political careers to save our democracy from an attack by Trump and his radical supporters – and all Americans should be appalled.

Postscript: Like so many other heroes of World War II, Len Rivkin is no longer with us.  He passed away peacefully in his sleep last year at age 95, after a long, remarkable and productive life.

House Republicans will likely vote on Wednesday to oust Rep. Liz Cheney (Wy.) as their Conference chairwoman, the third most powerful GOP position in that chamber.  Why?  Well, she dared to challenge former President Donald Trump’s leadership of the Republican Party, stating that his lies about the 2020 election were responsible for the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. 

For those who aren’t familiar with this lady, she’s the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and the sole representative from the state of Wyoming.  She’s a fiscally and socially conservative lawyer whose focus has been on national security issues, a strong military and pro-business policies.  Ms. Cheney held positions in President George W. Bush’s State Department and was a Fox News contributor during parts of President Obama’s administration, even subbing for Sean Hannity on occasion.  She has also been quite controversial over the years.

On Larry King’s talk show in 2009 she gave credibility to the “birthers” – those who don’t believe Obama was born in the United States.  Instead of condemning them, she alleged that people had reason to question Obama’s national loyalty.  Further, she claimed that Democrats have more “crazies” among them than Republicans.  The birther-in-chief, of course, was Donald Trump.

Cheney was elected to the House in 2016 and promoted to conference chairwoman in November 2018.  Her rapid rise to leadership is probably because she has been described in various conservative publications as “Republican royalty,” and the “heiress to a neoconservative throne.” After taking her seat in the House, she became a Trump loyalist, supporting his positions 92.9% of the time with her votes.  She has also been one of the toughest talking Republicans in Congress, accusing the Democratic Party of promoting anti-Semitism, infanticide and socialism after the Democrats regained control of the House in 2019. 

There is no chance I would ever vote for Cheney if she were running in my district; I could never support her conservative positions and her disingenuous, nasty comments.  Yet, among the 260+ Republican members of Congress, she stands out as one of the very few who is willing to aggressively take on Trump.  She states clearly – and often – that he lied about the 2020 election result and is responsible for the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.  Cheney advocates banishing Trump from the GOP, even at the risk of seriously damaging her political career.  For that, I have to admire her courage and her recent bold comments.

“The Republican Party is at a turning point, and Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution,” Cheney wrote in a recent Washington Post op-ed, while touting the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power.  Well, Wyoming Republicans have decided; they censured Cheney for voting to impeach Trump.

During a recent GOP retreat in Orlando, Florida, Cheney told reporters that anyone challenging the 2020 election results should be disqualified from a presidential campaign in 2024, and that she herself would not rule out a run.  This fired a shot across the bow of election deniers, like Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who will apparently seek the GOP nomination.

Cheney called on the GOP to “make clear we aren’t the party of white supremacy.”  “You certainly saw anti-Semitism. You saw the symbols of Holocaust denial… you saw a Confederate flag being carried through the rotunda,” she said, referring to January 6 attack on the Capitol. 

She favors a 9/11-typed commission to investigate the Capitol insurrection that is narrowly focused – directly challenging House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) who has proposed a wide-ranging probe into Black Lives Matter protests and antifa.  For speaking truth to power, she will apparently lose her position in the GOP House leadership and may be ousted from her seat in Congress.  What does that say about the Republican Party?

CNN quoted Cheney as telling Republican donors at an American Enterprise Institute retreat in Sea Island, Ga. last Monday, “We can’t embrace the notion the election is stolen. It’s a poison in the bloodstream of our democracy. … We can’t whitewash what happened on January 6 or perpetuate Trump’s big lie. It is a threat to democracy. What he did on January 6 is a line that cannot be crossed.”  By making these comments, Cheney has ripped the stiches off the wound Trump has inflected on the GOP.

On Sunday, Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) – chairman of the ultra-conservative, 154-member Republican Study Committee – told Fox News’ Chris Wallace, “Republicans are almost completely unified … to oppose the radical Biden agenda.”  Referring to Cheney he said, “[S]he’s lost focus on the singular mission we have.”  Wait!  Did he just admit that the GOP is opposed to everything Democrats do, whether it is good for the nation and its people or not? 

On another Sunday show, Maryland’s Republican Governor Larry Hogan accused the GOP of becoming a “circular firing squad” for its criticism of members like Cheney who must “swear fealty to the dear leader or get kicked out of the party.”  “I think they’re concerned about retaliation [from Trump]”, Hogan added.

Well, this fight isn’t over and Ms. Cheney seems eager to confront her executioners.  So, I’m wondering, does she have some devastating ammunition to defend herself?  And will she use it?  We shall soon see.

Numerous articles are being written about the better mood in the nation’s capital now that President Joe Biden is in the White House and Democrats control Congress, albeit narrowly.  Competent handling of the coronavirus pandemic with millions of vaccinations in arms per day and a huge $1.9 trillion relief package signed into law have spirits on the rise across the country, as they should be.  A lot has been accomplished and the president’s first 100 days aren’t quite fulfilled.

Still, I am reminded of the many times I have walked by the National Archives Building in Washington, DC and experienced patriotic feelings as I read the words carved in stone at its entrance, particularly one sentence: “Eternal Vigilance Is The Price Of Liberty.”  I believe this admonition has never been more relevant than it is today and it should speak to those who might become less politically vigilant now that former president Trump has lost power.

Those so inclined, however, must keep in mind what happened on January 6.  First, a mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Biden’s victory.  Then, after they were repulsed, 147 Republican members of Congress – which included 60% of Republicans in the U.S. House – attempted to accomplish the same result by voting against certifying Biden’s election victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania.  Among them are Republicans who – like the insurrectionists – are openly racist and/or radical conspiracy theorists.  January 6 was not only shocking; I believe it was a dress rehearsal for the future.    

The Capitol attack and congressional Republican votes against election certification were based on Trump’s “Big Lie” about election fraud, which has no supporting evidence and has been thoroughly debunked.  Sadly though, six out of 10 Republican voters believe that the presidential election was stolen from Trump due to fraud, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. 

Republican state legislators in 43 states are using Trump’s false voter fraud claims as justification for drafting over 250 bills that would limit mail-in voting, early in-person voting, hours for voting and absentee voting.  Clearly, their target is Black and brown Democratic voters but this legislation also shows that Republicans fear competing in free and fair elections. 

Why?  Well, in my opinion, the GOP is no longer the party of ideas and sound policies; it’s the party of obstruction, fear mongering and fringe groups.  Today’s Republicans cater to voters who oppose abortion, gun control, LGBTQ rights, government overreach, immigration and similar right-wing social or cultural issues.  And although they don’t promote it overtly, they are obviously the party of whiteness.

My research indicates that bipartisanship became verboten in the GOP subsequent to President Bill Clinton’s two terms.  Sen. Mitch McConnell concluded that working with a Democratic president wasn’t advantageous for congressional Republicans.  Subsequently, he did everything he could to obstruct President Obama’s agenda and even proclaimed in 2010 that his number one objective was to make Obama a one term president. 

Well, guess what?  Republicans want to make Biden a one term president too.  One of their current lines of attack focuses on the president’s mental acuity.  They want voters to believe that he’s “not all there” and that he’s being “handled” by left-wing socialists.  And they will tell any lies they think will be effective, spread any disinformation they can dream up and do anything they can to win back control of the House and/or Senate in 2022 and the White House in 2024.

Backing them will be tens of millions of Republican voters who believe that loyalty to Trump is loyalty to the United States.  Remember, his supporters who stormed the Capitol called themselves “patriots.”  Although nothing could be further from the truth, the fact that this many Americans support Trump and/or Trumpism is cause for alarm. 

We must not forget that but for a few ethical Republicans, FBI Director Christopher Wray, CIA Director Gina Haspel and Georgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger, among others, Trump had a good chance to nullify the results of the presidential election and take control of the government in 2020.  He clearly had the intent, but he bungled the coup attempt.  Trump apparently lacks the killer instinct that most autocrats possess.  If former secretary of State Mike Pompeo or Sens. Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley or Rick Scott become president, however, they might succeed where Trump failed.

I believe that if voters put Republicans back in control of either chamber in 2022, it will be a repeat of the gridlock during Obama’s second term, or worse.  And if they put the GOP back in charge of the entire government in 2024, our democratic republic will again be in serious jeopardy.  Don’t get me wrong; I believe this nation must have a viable two-party system to preserve democracy, preferably with establishment Republicans back in control of their party.  It is clear to me, however, that the current Trumpian Republican Party doesn’t see the two-party system that way at all; they prefer to have only one party – theirs.

My October 30, 2019 blog about the GOP’s struggle to survive concluded, “[T]he GOP is fighting for its life, willing to do just about anything to survive.  And in the process, they pose a real and present danger to our democratic republic.”

Make no mistake, that warning is even more cogent today.

Note:  I have been publishing a blog about every two weeks.  Some that have a picture heading, or for some other reason, may end up in your spam or junk mail.  Just wanted to make you aware of this.  Again, I really appreciate it when followers reference my blog on their Facebook page or send a copy of a blog to like-minded friends.

America is strongest when there is an effective a partnership involving state and local governments, academia, private industry and the federal government.  World War II – probably this nation’s finest collaborative effort – proved this.  States and cities are always on the front lines dealing with human problems but they typically lack the cash to initiate large, effective programs; academia and private industry have the expertise and facilities to help but must be empowered and financially backed to act.  The federal government’s role is to supply the leadership and funding necessary to kick-start this powerful engine. 

Former President Trump’s administration marshaled private drug makers in a massive effort to produce coronavirus vaccines, which was quite laudable.  Trump failed to fully partner with the states, however, and politicized other aspects of the growing catastrophe.  As a result, procurement of personal protective equipment was a disaster, millions of his supporters refused to wear masks and social distance and the U.S. government appeared to be inept.  President Biden’s administration reestablished federal/state partnerships and is having growing success in getting shots in arms.  Hopefully, some faith in Uncle Sam will be restored in the process.

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Advisors to President Ronald Reagan probably invented Reaganomics – a.k.a. supply-side economics – as an excuse for cutting taxes on corporations and their wealthy supporters.  How else could they justify a policy that statistics show rarely benefits the middle class and lower income citizens?  Supply-siders argue that tax relief at the top will trickle down and benefit workers.  But it simply doesn’t work that way.  Companies hire employees and manufacturers build plants and buy equipment when there is a demand for their products or services, not because they get a huge tax break.

So, what occurred in 2018 after the December 2017 Republican tax cut reduced the corporate rate from 35% to 21%?  Well, around $1 trillion in corporate stock buy backs, that’s what.  This increased stock prices and mainly benefited the wealthy who own 90% of the shares.  Oh, and while U.S. budget deficits ballooned to pay for it, this giveaway also lined the pockets of foreign investors who, according to the Tax Policy Center, own 40% of the stocks on U.S. markets.

Now, as President Biden is proposing to increase the corporate rate to 28% in order to pay for much needed infrastructure improvements, Republicans, of course, are baulking.  Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who represents West Virginia, one of poorest states in the nation, is also erecting barriers to the president’s program.  He’s claiming that more bipartisanship is needed and that this increase in corporate rates is excessive.  Hmm!  Is Manchin speaking for his unemployed constituents that need the good jobs that infrastructure projects generate or the special interests that fund his campaigns?

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U.S. companies will be the losers if the United States falls behind China militarily, economically or technologically.  While corporations love the GOP’s tax cuts and anti-regulation bias, I believe some are beginning to realize that Republican austerity and anti-government ideology will not produce a stronger America in the long run.  Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ recent comments are a surprising example.  He recognizes that revitalizing U.S. infrastructure is critically important and agrees that a corporate tax increase is needed to pay for it.

J. P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon seems to be coming around too.  Section VI of his recently published yearly newsletter to stockholders includes a message that I find particularly cogent: Dimon laments that China’s leaders believe America is a nation in decline: “The Chinese see an America that is losing ground in technology, infrastructure and education – a nation torn and crippled by politics, as well as racial and income inequality – and a country unable to coordinate government policies (fiscal, monetary, industrial, regulatory) in any coherent way to accomplish national goals.”  Dimon concluded: “Unfortunately, recently, there is a lot of truth to this.”

What’s causing a lot of America’s problems?  Well, there’s no doubt in my mind – it’s the reactionary Republican Party, cutting taxes for the wealthy, gridlocking Congress and crippling the federal government.

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Lastly, I believe the world will experience much greater peace and stability as the vast majority of women approach equal status with men in the work place, in government, in religion and in the home.  While men may be physically stronger, in my opinion, the ladies are equal, or have an edge, in numerous skills and intelligence.  Generally, women are less motivated by huge egos and macho-like attitudes and are much more oriented toward family and the stability of society – nurturing instead of dominating.  Throughout human history though, men have used a myriad of methods to keep women in the background, in part, I suppose, because they fear being dominated by the so-called weaker sex.

Unfortunately – other than in the Americas and Western Europe – the prospects of female parity being realized during the life of our 11-year-old granddaughter do not look good.  Even within her grandchildren’s life times women may not achieve this status in other parts of the world.  For example, at current rates of progress, women in South Asia will not enjoy equality with men for over 195 years, according to the 2021 Global Gender Gap Report. 

Still, I believe it’s imperative that the U.S. government formulate effective policies to promote and protect women’s rights both at home and abroad.  The world will be a better place to live as a result.

My older brother came through Washington, D.C. where I was working in 1963 and spent a few days at my apartment in a Maryland suburb.  He was moving furniture as a summer job while attending grad school and I took a few days off work to help him; one delivery was near Annapolis, Maryland. 

We were having lunch at a small diner; you know, the kind with stools at the counter.  A Black workman came in dressed like many of the other blue-collar patrons.  Shortly after he took a seat a few stools down from us, a white waitress approached him, “What the hell do you want, spear chucker?”  I couldn’t believe what I had heard; it was shocking to me, even back then.  Yet, the man didn’t react or leave; he calmly placed an order.

Why relate this ancient event?  Well, last fall, I started a blog about the economic effects of racial prejudice.  It included some of my own experiences, like graduating from a segregated high school in Florida and working at the FBI where the only Black employee that I knew of was J. Edgar Hoover’s chauffeur.  The objective of this blog was to show how racism in America has not only been horrific for those subjected to its evils, it has actually dragged down the economy. 

This theory was confirmed when I found a September 2020 report by Citi GPS that detailed the economic cost of Black inequality.  It estimated that $16 trillion – yes, trillion – would have been added to the U.S. economy if the gaps in wages, education, housing and credit access due to race had been closed 20 years ago.  This report also projected that $5 trillion would be added to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) over the upcoming five years if those gaps were closed immediately and that the U.S. economy would gain 0.4 percentage points each year.

The aftermath of last November’s election caused me to focus on other issues.  But my blog on racial prejudice and the economy came back to mind during the recent controversy over including a minimum wage hike in the coronavirus relief legislation.  Aren’t some of the same economic shackles that impede Black Americans holding back millions of other middleclass and lower income citizens?  And how many more trillions could they have added to the economy?   

Sadly though, lots of evidence indicates that the American Dream – that hard work will bring economic and social advancement regardless of a person’s status at birth – is no longer realistic.  A 2020 report by the nonpartisan Peterson Institute for International Economics concludes that the United States has the most unequal high-income economy in the world and that the number of Americans in the middleclass has dropped from 61% in 1971 to 51% in 2019.  While some have moved up, many more have fallen out of this iconic American category.

One graph presented by PIIE shows that the average pretax income of the lower 50% of workers in 38 European countries has grown by 37% since 1980, while the same tier of Americans saw their pretax income increase by a mere 3%. 

Other research indicates that only the very wealthy in the U.S. are doing well.  For example, the top 10% of Americans on the wealth scale owned 87% of all stock outstanding in the first quarter of 2020, according to data from the Federal Reserve, while the percentage held by the lower 80% was in single digits.

Inequality has numerous causes, of course. Certainly, the pitifully low federal minimum wage of $7.25 has depressed workers’ wages across the nation’s economy and so has the decrease in union membership, which fell from around one-third of the work force in the 1950s to about one-tenth today.  Consequently, fewer American families have been able to buy a home or invest in stocks, two assets which have basically defined wealth over the past several decades.

The $1.9 trillion Republican tax cut of 2017 also exacerbated inequality by favoring higher income taxpayers. Yet, it barely budged the needle on the economy meter after only a slight bump to 3% growth in 2018.  President Biden’s Covid-19 legislation cost about the same, but it will benefit millions of struggling families.  This relief will help boost the economy by up to 8% in 2021 and reduce the unemployment rate to less than 5% by the end of this year, according to Goldman Sachs and other financial institutions.   

What does this tell us?  Well, since consumer spending is roughly 70% of the U.S. economy, putting money in the pockets of average Americans will produce more economic growth than enhancing the coffers of the wealthy. 

Yes, but if the poorer folks in the lower 80% gain a much greater share of the economic pie, will the wealth of the upper 20% suffer? 

Consider this.  A family of four with yearly household income at the 2021 poverty level of $26,200 qualifies for Medicaid, food stamps and other federal safety net benefits.  If most poverty level Americans earned enough to escape dependence on government programs, not only might their added spending boost the economy, but more tax dollars could be invested in infrastructure instead of welfare payments.  I believe the resulting economic growth would actually benefit the rich, along with everyone else. 

It just makes sense.  Each of us will do better, if we can all do better.