Donald Trump as Absolute Ruler

Donald Trump seeks to make himself an absolute ruler of this nation in a form similar to Vladimir Putin in Russia. His objective is to end all opposition to his goal. The evidence is everywhere. Trump’s claim of massive voter fraud and his demand for voter information was his first step. A warrant seeking the names and personal information of those viewing the anti-Trump website Dreamhost is a perfect example of the behavior of Putin or Turkey’s president Erdogan. Trump’s threat to deny licensing for NBC is further evidence of his desire to have absolute control over the media. Erdogan like Putin now has authority to issue law, declare a state of emergency, dismiss parliament and to appoint ministers, public officials and judges. There is no limit to the number of times they can be elected to office. Trump has two dictator/ presidents to emulate. Too many Americans seem willing to surrender their freedom to an autocrat. However many of us, like the Von Trapp family in Austria, will be wise enough to depart before Trump reaches his objective.

Is Age a Criteria for Holding Public Office?

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein ended months of speculation Monday when she said she was running for re-election in 2018. “I’m all in!” she tweeted and wrote in a Facebook post. At age 84, is Feinstein too old to run again? (If she won, her term would extend past her 91st birthday.)

My question is why should she be denied another term in office because of her age? I have seen her on many Sunday morning news shows and she is obviously able to hold her own against those that question her on the topic of the day. Her big issue is gun control and her responses to Chuck Todd on Meet the Press and Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday are always very well spoken.

Robert Byrd was the longest-serving Senator in United States history. In addition, he was, at the time of his death, the longest-serving member in the history of the United States Congress. That record was later surpassed by Representative John Dingell of Michigan. Byrd died at 92 still holding the office of senator from West Virginia.

Age should not be a criteria for holding public office. Donald Trump is now 71. If he holds office for eight years he will be 79 when he departs Washington. Ronald Reagan was 69 when he was inaugurated.

Trump Wants to Kill Free Press

Donald Trump just gave cable TV show “Morning Joe” a wonderful free piece of publicity. The program hit an all-time high passing more than one million viewers for the first time ever in May and beat CNN’s third-place “New Day” for the 27th straight month, the program’s best streak ever.

Trump gave the show a boost by his name calling of the hosts. He called Mika Brzezinski “low I.Q. Crazy Mika” and Joe Scarborough “Psycho Joe.” This name calling is nothing new for Trump. He had names for Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Carly Fiorina.

Today’s claim by Brzezinski and Scarborough that they have been threatened by a possible piece in the National Enquirer, that could be killed if Scarborough called an apology to Trump might be true or it could be a publicity stunt. More people are likely to be watching Morning Joe on MSNBC just to see what will happen. It is like a soap opera but is real. Great entertainment value.

While it should be beneath the president to be involved in name calling, I suspect there is a more serious intention to this entire story.

Previously CNN was accused by the White House of issuing “fake news” reports. There have been other actions by the White House to deny coverage of new events. An example is the meeting between Trump and Russian officials on May 10 where White House officials block reporters from covering the meeting. Photos were released by the Russia. Just today there was another event where video was not permitted.

The entire behavior of the White House is to block and discredit the news media. America as we have known it is under attack. Whether it is WordPress or Morning Joe the media must remain on guard. There is a man in the White House who wants to destroy our institutions.

Harry and Bess

(This seems unreal.)

Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation’s history as any of the other 42 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.

The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence Missouri. His wife had inherited the house from her mother and father and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there.

When he retired from office in 1952 his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an ‘allowance’ and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.

After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them.

When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, “You don’t want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it’s not for sale.”

Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, “I don’t consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise.”

As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.

Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale.

Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, “My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference!

I say dig him up and clone him!

Enjoy life NOW! — it has an expiration date!