Washington Merry-Go-Round

IMMEDIATE RELEASE 19 October 2024
WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND
Today’s Events in Historical Perspective
America’s Longest-Running Column Founded 1932
              Patriotism not Politics
By Douglas Cohn and Eleanor Clift         
 
WASHINGTON – In my book, “The President’s First Year,” I made the case that America has survived in spite of our presidents, not because of them. The title addendum read, “None were prepared, some never learned,” because every president made serious mistakes in their first year in office. Some were incompetent. Some even engaged in criminal activities, but none presented a threat to the Constitution or the survival of the republic – until now.
              Andrew Jackson committed a form of genocide by forcing native Americans from their homes in the infamous Trail of Tears; James K. Polk manipulated the nation into a war of aggression with Mexico; Andrew Johnson had a problem with alcohol; U.S. Grant led a thoroughly corrupt administration; Warren G. Harding died in office when on the verge of impeachment over his involvement in the Tea Pot Dome Scandal; Richard Nixon was facing conviction over Watergate until he was pardoned.
              Others were simply unqualified. In fact, when assessing qualifications, the best presidents were intelligent, highly educated, students of history, cultured, individuals with proven courage. Two come to mind: Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, and John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, and both of them had personal flaws.
              This brings us to the current conundrum: How has a system based upon constitutional rights and restraints and an engrained balance of power brought to the fore an individual so completely unqualified for the presidency? The answer is that politics have prevailed over patriotism.
              Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, who once described Trump as “America’s Hitler,” is now his running mate.
Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is quoted (he has voiced no denial) in Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Michael Tackett’s new book “The Price of Power” as describing former President Donald Trump as a “Stupid . . . ill-tempered . . . narcissist . . . despicable human being . . . and unfit for office.” In one 2020 speech, McConnell decried Trump’s “crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories, and reckless hyperbole . . . orchestrated by an outgoing president who seemed determined to either overturn the voters’ decision or else torch our institutions on the way out.”
              And, yet, McConnell is supporting Trump, the nominee of his party for president.
              Trump is currently a convicted felon and a friend of autocrats from Vladimir Putin to Kim Jong Un. He has threatened to pull troops and funding out of NATO and military munitions and equipment from Ukraine, thereby threatening its ability to survive. He has announced his intent to intern and deport up to 20 million people. And the list goes on. As McConnell said, “he is unfit,” yet the presidential race is virtually tied as half the nation is on the verge of political self-immolation, all for the sake of party over country.
 
See Eleanor Clift’s book Selecting a President, and Douglas Cohn’s latest books The President’s First Year: The Only School for Presidents Is the Presidency and World War 4: Nine Scenarios (endorsed by seven flag officers).
          Twitter:  @douglas_cohn
          © 2024 U.S. News Syndicate, Inc.
          Distributed by U.S. News Syndicate, Inc.
END WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND