The View from Right Field

A Thought on Using the 25th Amendment to Get Rid of President Trump

If you use the 25th Amendment for a purpose for which it was not intended, even if it is a really good purpose, do not be surprised if you are not happy the next time the 25th Amendment is used for a purpose for which it was not intended.

Being a Republican in the Age of Trump

People ask me how I can be a Republican with Donald Trump as President – or at least they would ask me that if I wasn’t socially distancing from just about the entire world.  I understand the question.  And I would add people like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, more representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives than I care to mention, and others, too.

But then I read about Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Ryan Germany, his counsel.  Those guys are very impressive.  Plus there’s Senator Ben Sasse from Nebraska and Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois – and more, even if, at times, it seems like not enough.

As Donald Trump’s World Continues to Turn – Around Him

I have no idea if Donald Trump really thinks he didn’t lose the presidential election.  But then I generally have no idea what President Trump is thinking about anything.  And he will be gone in seventeen days (even if he doesn’t think so), so I don’t have to worry about him too much longer (– I hope).  What is worse (at least for me) are the Republican politicians who are continuing to lend support to President Trump’s claims that he really won the election – even after the Electoral College met on December 14.  (I would have preferred if they had done it before December 14, but continuing to deny Joe Biden’s victory after that date is appalling.  I wrote here about what a better person did 60 years ago where there was real evidence of fraud.)

It now appears that Missouri Senator Josh Hawley will support claims by several House Republicans challenging one or more state’s electoral votes when the House and Senate meet for the counting of electoral votes on January 6.  Obviously, Democrats did this to President George W. Bush in January of 2005 with respect to Ohio’s electoral votes (even though President Bush won Ohio by over 100,000 votes).   Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California supported claims by Democrats in the House.  It wound up delaying the counting of the electoral votes by a couple of hours, but that was all – other than maybe setting a bit of a precedent for what supporters of President Trump are doing today.  (John Kerry did not support the effort to overturn or reject Ohio’s electoral votes.  He was a classier guy.)

Getting Ready for the Next Pandemic. Will We?

With vaccines on the way, it looks like we may be able to see the end of the pandemic.  It is still a ways off, but, unlike in April and May, we can see an end coming.  The question is, though: What about the next one?  Will we be prepared for it?  I talked about this in April.  I won’t repeat what I said there, other than to quote from my conclusion:

“Robustness.  Resiliency.  Nimbleness.  These are what we need if we are to be ready for the emergencies and disasters that will happen, though we don’t know which ones or when.” 

What Donald Trump Is Doing Doesn’t Have to Damage Our Democracy

Democrats and much of the mainstream media¹ are saying Donald Trump is damaging American democracy by his continuing refusal to accept defeat in the presidential election and to start the transition process for President-elect Biden.  I agree that what President Trump is doing is appalling and that it makes the United States look stupid around the world, but it’s not the first time President Trump has done that, and given that January 20 is still two months away, it may not be the last (unfortunately).  It is, after all, what President Trump does.  We all know that by now.  Why should we be surprised he continues to do it?

But, as for whether President Trump is causing lasting damage to American democracy, that’s up to us.  What he is doing doesn’t have to cause lasting damage to democracy – unless we let it.  We can agree that what President Trump is doing is wrong and that we will never do it ourselves.  We can make what President Trump is doing a one-time thing by agreeing that we will concede when our opponent gets more votes and that we won’t go around saying our opponent wasn’t really elected once the votes are counted. 

Covid-19 Leadership: Is Anybody Leading?

When it comes to Covid-19 leadership, Donald Trump has been a disaster.  Too often he said the virus wasn’t that bad.  Other times he suggested almost quack solutions.  And masks were seemingly verboten around the White House.¹  Clear, confident, national leadership could have made things less bad.  He didn’t provide it.

But too many of our governors and mayors haven’t been effective leaders, either.  I understand it is hard to lead when the national message isn’t clear.  But that doesn’t mean state and local leaders couldn’t have done a better job. 

The Greatest High School Football Player Who Never Was

This is the story of the greatest high school football player who never was.

One late summer morning, the high school football team was having try-outs.  Just as the tryouts were ending and everybody was leaving, the coach noticed a new kid walking up, sort of hesitantly.  The kid apologized for being late, but said he had just moved into town and didn’t know what time the tryouts were.  He asked if he could still try out.  The coach asked him if he had ever played before.  The kid said he had, a little. 

Even though the coach really wanted to leave, he decided to give the kid a chance.  With everybody else gone, the coach said he would give the kid a tryout himself.  When the coach timed the kid on the 40-yard dash, the kid was so fast, the coach thought his watch was broken.  The kid kicked field goals from 50 yards out and threw passes that hit the target 40 yards away.  He was the best player the coach had ever seen.  The coach knew, with this kid on the team, they could beat anybody.

I’m Hoping for a Landslide Come November

I hope the election in November is a landslide.  In saying that, I’m not saying who I want to win (you can find that elsewhere).  I’m just saying I just hope it’s not close because I’m not sure we, as a nation, can handle another close election.

I am especially worried because the pandemic means voting is going to be very different this year.  There’s going to be a lot more vote-by-mail.  In person voting will probably be different, too (who knows how many polling places we’ll have open).  I’m afraid there will be a lot of confusion, among voters and among election workers.  Plus who knows if the election authorities are ready for an election as different as this one will be.

Where Did All This Partisanship Come From?

I will assume most people will not say that it started with Donald Trump.  He certainly is bad, partisanship-wise,¹ but it didn’t start with him.  Some people might go back to Joe McCarthy or Richard Nixon,² but I’m thinking of something more recent.  Republicans might point to Ted Kennedy’s attacks on Robert Bork in 1986, when President Reagan nominated him to the Supreme Court.³  Democrats might point to attacks on Bill and Hillary Clinton in the 1990s (the “vast right-wing conspiracy”).  And so on.  But I am going to suggest something else.

Sometimes it is hard to remember how you felt about a particular event at the time because things that happened afterwards color your recollection of how you felt then.  Even reading contemporaneous news articles about something in the past will sometimes surprise you because you know what has happened since and the article doesn’t. 

52 Years Ago I Met a Future President

Actually, it was 52 years ago yesterday, July 10, 1968.  Here is a picture of me, a lot of other people, and Richard Nixon. 

I was one of a group of Young Republicans helping at a Nixon fundraiser.  After the picture, I shook President Nixon’s hand and said, “Thank you.”  He said, “No, thank you (for helping).”  A great man.  I am so happy I got to meet him.