A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Photo Credit: Pixabay What's wrong with the Republican Party in the 21st Century? I mean, seriously, people. I've been around long enough to see the GOP, the supposedly grown up and sober party that allegedly promotes civilized behavior and "upholding the rule of law" that elected Richard M. Nixon to the Presidency 51 years ago morph into the "winning at all costs" wild bunch that supports Donald J. Trump in 2019. Well, if one cares to examine the historical record, the Party of Lincoln has been taking the nation to oblivion for a long time, even though pinpointing the exact era of American history in which Republicanism lost its way is difficult. In my lifetime, though, I'd say that the madness that has led us to Trumpism and its bizarre, MAGA cap-wearing cult of personality began in the mid-1960s with the aforementioned 1968 Presidential race. That campaign season, which took place during a tumultuous year that included the Tet Offensive in V...

On Quora, conservative Mark Watson asks: If President Trump is impeached should he be reelected in 2020? And here's my response: This question is problematic, mostly because the person who posted it doesn’t seem to understand what  impeachment  is, but partly because the “corroborating” link he provides is to a decidedly biased (in this case, conservative) website. First, let’s deal with the term “impeachment” shall we, class? Per Merriam-Webster.com: Definition of  impeach (Entry 1 of 2) transitive verb 1 :  to charge with a crime or misdemeanor, specifically:   to charge (a public official) before a competent tribunal with misconduct in office  After Andrew Johnson, the first president to be impeached, finished his chaotic and disgraceful administration, Grant was the inevitable successor. — Richard Brookhiser “Impeach” or “impeachment” does not mean “the automatic removal from office of a public official.” In the context of Preside...

President Andrew Johnson being served with the summons of impeachment by Congressional Sergeant-at-Arms George T. Brown, as sketched by Harper's Weekly in 1867. (Library of Congress) If President Donald Trump were impeached and Mike Pence became president, how long would his term be? Would it be for 4 years or would there still be a 2020 election? First, let’s clear up certain misconceptions that are laid bare by the wording of the question. Impeachment does not mean “automatic removal of a Federal official by Congressional fiat.” It is a trial under specific conditions that have to be met Impeachment only results in removing a President or other official if, as implied by the term “trial,” if he or (eventually, she) is found guilty by the Senate It’s now late July 2019, and the 2020 election cycle is currently underway. As in, there is a group of aspiring Democratic Presidential candidates already jockeying for prominence and a decent shot of winning the nomination of...

Why was Nixon impeachable but somehow Trump isn't? The times, they have a-changed since the 1970s. There are various reasons as to why Richard M. Nixon was easier to consider impeachable in the 1970s and Donald J. Trump seems to be “untouchable.” The biggest factor is, of course, the differences in the political environment in which both Administrations existed. Nixon was elected in 1968 and took the Presidential oath of office on January 20, 1969, and was re-elected in November of 1972 and managed to stay in office until he resigned on August 9, 1974. Trump was elected in November 2016 in a vastly different electoral and cultural environment. Nixon’s Presidency took place at a time when the Internet was not quite a thing; a proto-Internet existed in 1969, but it was essentially limited to the federal government and academia. The Vietnam War and its divisiveness were sowing the seeds of social discord that made Trumpism possible. The war - which America was losing an...

This question appeared on my Quora feed today. I've answered variants of it on the questions-and-answers site several times already, but I haven't chosen a good topic for today's blog post, so here goes: To the people who voted for Clinton during the 2016 election, why did you choose to vote for her in the first place, and what do you think of the current president of the United States, Donald Trump? Do you support him now? I voted for Hillary Clinton because, after being a lawyer, First Lady of Arkansas, First Lady of the United States, junior Senator from New York, and former Secretary of State, she was far more qualified, smarter, and far better prepared for the Presidency than Donald J. Trump. As for what I think of the current President: He is absolutely the worst President ever elected to the office. He’s a con man, a divisive person who - despite the public image he has cultivated as a dealmaker and successful businessman - is not as wealthy or successful as h...

(C) 2018 Simon & Schuster Whenever I see – or hear – Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan that he will “make America great again,” I can’t help thinking that many of his mostly white, older, and politically conservative supporters are pining for an America that – in their minds – existed between 1945 and 1961: the “age of Eisenhower.” To most Americans who long for a return to those seemingly idyllic years between the end of the Second World War and John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s Inauguration as President on January 20, 1961, the world was a better one than the one we live in now. The United States, with its huge advantage in nuclear weapons over its deadly Communist rival, the Soviet Union, was the undisputed leader of the “free world.” Its industrial capacity was second to none, and as an ascendant Republican Party reclaimed control of the Congress and the White House after 20 years of Democratic dominance, conservatives began the long process of undoing Franklin D. Roosevelt’...

Episode Nine: A Disrespectful Loyalty (May 1970-March 1973) Written by: Geoffrey C. Ward Directed by: Ken Burns & Lynn Novick South Vietnamese forces fighting on their own in Laos suffer a terrible defeat. Massive U.S. airpower makes the difference in halting an unprecedented North Vietnamese offensive. After being re-elected in a landslide, Nixon announces Hanoi has agreed to a peace deal. American prisoners of war will finally come home - to a bitterly divided country. - from The Vietnam War 's Episode List On September 27, 2017, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) aired "A Disrespectful Loyalty (May 1970-March 1973), the ninth episode of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's The Vietnam War. Produced by Burns, Novick, and Sarah Botstein, this 10-part documentary series is an attempt to explain, as best as possible, one of the most tragic and controversial events in American history. A decade in the making, The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn...