Politics – Presidential – education and deconstruction.com

American Lion

[Please note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger, but apparently was inserted by WordPress, and it cannot be removed. NO post in this blog is sponsored.]

The Book of the Week is “American Lion, Andrew Jackson in the White House” by Jon Meacham, published in 2008. This hodgepodge of a volume described the subject’s military and political careers and his times.

Born in March 1767 on the border between North and South Carolina, Andrew Jackson was orphaned by the time he was fourteen. Nevertheless, he got a license to practice law in 1787.

Jackson was elected president of the Union (the United States) in November 1828, and served two four-year terms. Throughout, he increased presidential power over the legislative and judicial government branches. He showed he believed in white supremacy (over the Native Americans and black slaves) while speechifying that he cared about them. He forced the Native Americans to take up residence west of the Mississippi river, claiming he was protecting them, as they would forever be fighting with the white man. His family owned slaves, who took care of his plantation in Nashville, TN.

In November 1830, he made his nephew’s newspaper, his administration’s communications outlet. He was accused of running a military dictatorship.

Read the book to learn much more about several of the kinds of political episodes that have repeated themselves beginning approximately two hundred and ten years ago; including but not limited to:

accusations of a sex scandal involving the wife of president Jackson’s secretary of war;
South Carolina’s threat to secede from the Union due to financial harm done by Jackson’s imposition of a tariff;
Jackson’s persistence in trying to eliminate the hegemony of one man named Nicholas Biddle who owned a monopolistic financial behemoth called the Bank of the United States;
deaths of various family members and friends.

Our Gang

The Book of the Week is “Our Gang (Starring Tricky Dick and His Friends)” by Philip Roth, published in 1971.

A satire of the Nixon administration, this was also a book-long rant. Major aspects of the then-political situation are so familiar now. There was an inflammatory passage of Nixon’s dim view of wounded veterans. Trump has taken a dim view of prisoners-of-war. The author wrote what Nixon was really thinking, about various crises he either exacerbated, or brought on himself.

Of all the presidents, Nixon and Reagan were the ones from whom Trump has copied the most. The author claimed Nixon said, “We’ve had foul language, we’ve had the cynicism, we’ve had the masochism and the breast-beating– maybe a big dose of innocence is just what this country needs to be great again.”

No American leader has been innocent, but Carter came close. Nixon’s war crimes were many times more evil than the repeated financial and more-likely-than-not sex crimes Trump has committed.

Deaths directly caused by Nixon’s war criminality cannot be reversed. Trump’s breakage of the American legal system can be reversed, over the next few decades.

But the repetition of Trump’s protestations of innocence have: 1) played a part in convincing some Americans that he’s the victim of witch hunts, and 2) desensitized others into acceptance of reality– quiet desperation over his overwhelming power and influence until his name fades from public memory.

Nevertheless, the author harps on Nixon’s thoughts regarding the anti-war protesters on his enemies list. Nixon called the protesters, “Boy Scouts” (perhaps for irony) but Trump spares no expletives in his labeling of anti-ICE protesters.

The author described Nixon’s method. The president received advice from a legal coach, a highbrow coach, and a military coach– on the three major crimes allegedly committed by the Boy Scouts: inciting to riot, tampering with the morals of minors, and corrupting the youth of the nation.

Then the gang came up with a short-list of people and groups to blame for the unrest: Hanoi, The Berrigans (religious brothers who influenced others to practice pacifism), The Black Panthers, Jane Fonda, and Curt Flood (a baseball player who sued MLB for racial discrimination). Trump has also smeared and retaliated against an endless number of scapegoats in his political career.

Nixon explained how he distracted Americans from his avoidance of addressing the nation’s serious problems. “It never fails– every time they start marching on Washington, I’m the one who has to leave town. Now does that make any sense to you? I’m the President…” Trump does the same thing, and furthers his profiteering, too.

Read the book to learn much more about Nixon’s take on previous administrations, and other dirty tricks in his play book.

Reagan – BONUS POST

Trump is obviously ruminating on his legacy at this time. He’s trying to out-Reagan Reagan in terms of instilling fond memories in his base’s hearts and minds. Below is what Trump was secretly singing when his thinking was lucid.

Trump is praising the president he most imitated, and with whom he had the most in common. He:

passed big tax cuts;
sent US troops and law enforcement on international and national adventures because he believed in “might makes right” in the name of national security;
was extremely focused on maintaining America’s worldwide hegemony and dominance at the expense of catastrophic environmental damage;
has symptoms of senility which his handlers are hushing up– they’re implementing his messaging and policies on his behalf.

REAGAN

sung to the tune of “Woman” with apologies to the Estate of John Lennon and to whomever else the rights may concern.

Reagan, I was so impressed

with your ideology and cleverness.

After all, I’m forever in your debt.

And Reagan, I will do no less,

in my dealings and dominance.

You taught me, the scheme for success.

Ooh, al-so, I sue-sue-sue, sue, sue.

Reagan, I hope you understand, why I rile up my fellow men.

Please remember, their lives are in my hands.

And Reagan, you were close to my heart.

But as presidents, we were far apart.

After all, I’ll be a bigger star.

Ooh, al-so, I sue-sue-sue, sue, sue.

Reagan, you were consistently plain.

My style is to cause sorrow and pain.

And I will do it again and again and again.

I’ll outlast you-ou ou, yeah, yeah. Now and forever.

I’m above you ou-ou, yeah, yeah. Now and forever.

I’ll outlast you-ou ou, yeah, yeah. Now and forever.

***

But Reagan was pre-internet. In the Trump Era, just as electronic words can globally, instantaneously appear, they can be changed, or disappear. Electronic historical revisionism is easier, faster and more environmentally friendly than book-burning. It remains to be seen whose propaganda will prevail as conveyed by the latest technology, in the next century.

Where Tyranny Begins

WARNING: VERY LONG POST

The Book of the Week is “Where Tyranny Begins, The Justice Department, the FBI and the War on Democracy” by David Rohde, published in 2024.

In this hodgepodge of a volume (which frequently contains the word “being” in the middle of sentences– awkward writing), the author described president Trump’s first-term shenanigans, that completely bucked established democratic order through making a mockery of the American justice system. The consequence has been that people now have total distrust of their government. On the other hand, there has been “creative destruction” that might be cause for optimism.

Interestingly, American voters have shifted from electing war-hero presidents (the last was George H.W. Bush in 1988) to electing draft-dodger presidents (except for Obama). And although the internet spreads disinformation of politicians’ cover-ups and denials, it also allows the sharing of stories among families and friends who experience genocide and atrocities.

There is actually more free speech than ever, as anyone can put in their two cents on the internet, in all different ways. The Nixon administration was suppressing free speech through the FCC’s power to license all kinds of broadcasting outlets, before cable TV was widespread. Yes, there were many more newspapers and magazines then, but ordinary Americans had to write “letters to the editor” and get them published, or call in to a radio or television show, if they wanted their voices to be heard.

In nations that have free and fair elections, initially, disinformation helps get a leader elected. Eventually, if he becomes a dictator, dissatisfaction among the people will reach critical mass, and the pendulum will swing the other way.

Many people think they’re learning history from sound bites and trivia awkwardly written by AI. But the library’s history section contains entire books that are likely to be more contextually comprehensive, written by actual people (yes, some of whom are myth-makers). And yes, depressingly, so much of substantive human history has been about war. It’s still worth reading lots of books on all kinds of history to understand the big picture, even though there might currently be doom and gloom, and one might feel powerless to stop it.

Obviously, no matter how much people learn how devastating and expensive war is, a few people keep instigating it!

So how are these instigators (recently consisting of the unbloodied elite, chicken-hawks and profiteers) allowed to make war, considering there’s a majority against the war?

This is how the cycle goes, in the United States:

Careers in media, entertainment, sports, the licensed professions and academia have been politicized. Nowadays, it seems most jobs might be highly lucrative in the short term, but they’re fiercely competitive and stressful. Job security is uncertain, given cancel culture and an uncertain economy.

Young job-seekers who can’t afford an education, or whose prospects are poor for other reasons, join a federal-law enforcement outfit, or the military– where they are ordered by the instigators to go to war.

Bottom line: There are sufficient people who owe their jobs to the instigators of war!

Trump has not yet not sent American troops in great numbers to foreign shores, but he has exacerbated home-grown hostility, in terms of hyper-partisanship, conspiracy theories and mistrust and distrust of American institutions.

A number of cliches apply to the second half of the twentieth century, into the first quarter of the twenty-first; among them, “The people gets the government it deserves” and “There is nothing new under the sun.” It might be recalled that the 1960’s were a tumultuous decade. There was violence in the streets of certain cities and on college campuses. Journalist P.J. O’Rourke wrote, “The Baby Boomers threw a decade-long temper tantrum.”

Over decades, that rebellion has actually resulted in more societal tolerance for divorce, re-marriages, interfaith marriages, and various arrangements of people of different sexual orientations. Societal pressure has eased on getting married and having children.

Now Americans can stay single, live together, give birth to or adopt children, or not– and not be socially ostracized. Interestingly, Trump’s daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism upon marrying, for the purpose of increasing her family’s power in their social circles. Even she had to conform to the tenor of the times.

At the dawn of the 1970’s, Americans were gob-smacked by the crimes of the Nixon administration. Part of the wrongdoing was war crimes. Nixon finished what LBJ started: contamination and devastation of the countries of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. And Nixon’s secrecy only exacerbated the mistrust and distrust of Americans in their government.

The Nixon Era ushered in a whole host of cultural changes. Since then, two generations of the social manipulative boys who entered politics have learned that if they stick together, they can evade punishment (or even be rewarded!) for behaving disrespectfully toward people of different walks of life. At the very least, they immediately have a leg up in society having been born white and male.

This trend began with younger male Baby Boomers who didn’t serve in the military. A few circumstances have contributed to their continued domination. They:

didn’t have their lives interrupted or willingly risk their lives while the government supervised their every move for two or more years.
missed the life-or-death situations in war zones and the exposure to different cultures, religions and class differences that military service would have imposed on them.
came of age among their own kind; at private school, boarding school, and fraternities, but have still be been able to take advantage of the “old boy network” to advance their careers because they still experienced the military-service environment of the abusive hierarchy which leads to male bonding.

The 1990’s saw various franchises (TV and movies) featuring two fictional male friends who exhibited some aspects of this teenage boy culture; among them: Beavis and Butthead, Wayne’s World, Bill and Ted’s, and Clerks.

Donald Trump has taken this trend to its logical extreme, to run the country. This nation has been brainwashed into saying, “Boys will be boys.” Now, the boys have nowhere to go but down.

The author briefly described how independent counsel Ken Starr launched an overzealous witch hunt into Bill and Hillary Clinton’s activities. The sordid episode began in 1995, when their enemies investigated a land-deal called Whitewater. The Clintons themselves were deemed not to have broken the law, so their enemies desperately sought additional sources of dirt.

As is well known, Bill Clinton was eventually caught lying under oath about having an extra-marital affair on company time. BUT, that affair was with a consenting adult.

Which is the worst:

war crimes,
financial crimes, such as tax evasion, accounting fraud, bribery or racketeering (that are NOT victimless; they hurt society by [excuse the cliche] making the rich richer and the poor, poorer), or
lying under oath about having committed adultery???

So, Americans entertained or disgusted by Bill Clinton’s story might have concluded that the investigators were extremely incompetent, desperate for blood, or that there was a backroom deal not to break the story until after Clinton was reelected. When someone is dishonest about one thing, there is trust erosion in other things they might say or do. Regardless of real motives, this stupidity is one more reason to mistrust and distrust the American government.

As an aside, an inconceivably large amount of taxpayer dollars was wasted on frivolous investigations on the Clintons. Not coincidentally, people who pay little or no income tax, also don’t have their money wasted on that kind of nonsense.

At least Clinton complied with the rule of law. Trump dictatorially broke tradition by bypassing the Justice Department entirely when he signed an Executive Order to impose a travel ban on all Muslims from several countries. His philosophy was (pursuant to Moses’ line in the movie, The Ten Commandments): “So it shall be written, so it shall be done.” His thinking was, why should he need to fool around with pesky rule of law? He was the new sheriff (or rather, outlaw) in town, and his whole life, had always got his own way by bullying his opponents into submission.

Going into the 2024 presidential election, American voters knew what they were getting into. Obviously, they would rather have a brain-dead male dictator, than a woman president.

In any case, read the book to learn about Trump’s trials and tribulations in his first term, and the characters involved, such as Bill Barr– who became a hyper-partisan cheerleader for Trump, and a hypocritical crybaby to the media.

ENDNOTE: Speaking of politicization of employers, here’s a little ditty that explains the situation.

POLITICAL BOSS

sung to the tune of “Party Doll” with apologies to the Estate of Buddy Knox and to whomever else the rights may concern.

Everyone has got to have a political boss,

to punish you when he’s feeling cross,

to be involved in honest graft,

to run sweetheart contracts, like for aircraft.

No one wants a political boss,

no one wants a political boss,

but if you’re loyal, he’ll support you, help you.

If you’re loyal, he’ll help you.

Everyone’s got to have a political boss,

to choose candidates,

make you pay his costs,

to use media to spread-smears unfair,

to have lawyers on hand with tactics that scare.

No one wants a political boss,

no one wants a political boss,

but if you’re loyal, he’ll support you, help you.

If you’re loyal, he’ll help you.

Everyone’s got to have a political boss,

so when scandal hits,

you’ll take the loss,

to hand out jobs and to raise funds,

to add to his base, train daughters and sons,

train daughters and sons.

No one wants a political boss,

no one wants a political boss,

but if you’re loyal, he’ll support you, help you.

If you’re loyal, he’ll help you.

No one wants a political boss,

no one wants a political boss,

but if you’re loyal, he’ll support you, help you.

If you’re loyal, he’ll help you.

Nervous About A Woman – BONUS POST

While a woman has served as the top leader in numerous nations of the world (including Third World countries!), citizens of America would still rather have a male dictator than a female president. Here’s a little song about that.

NERVOUS ABOUT A WOMAN

sung to the tune of “Natural Woman” with apologies to the Estate of Aretha Franklin, and to whomever else the rights may concern.

Looking back at 2016,

a dictator over female-prez, was hired.

After 2024, women still have to wait until someday.

Now– of that dictator, we’re tired.

The gender-biased AI vets you. Trump is so unkind.

Decades of messaging on your mind.

‘Cause Americans still feel,

Americans still feel,

nervous about a woman. (woman)

When a Wall was discussed,

and threats worked better to obviate it.

We didn’t know just how evil Trump would be,

until his ICE men became sadists.

Lots of Americans are regretful,

of what they voted for: greed and hypocrisy.

Trump is rotten to the core.

‘Cause Americans still feel,

Americans still feel,

nervous about a woman. (woman)

Now Trump’s courts are topsy-turvy, (topsy-turvy)

admin’s his personal PIGgy bank, (piggy bank)

aided by his wannabes, (wannabes) hoaxing you.

Who knows whether his brain is still alive?

‘Cause Americans still feel,

Americans still feel,

nervous about a woman. (woman)

‘Cause Americans still feel,

Americans still feel,

nervous about a woman. (woman)

‘Cause Americans still feel…

Criminality – BONUS POST

It is interesting to note that the late president Richard Nixon has extremely few, if any entities (such as roadways, bridges, dams, tunnels, buildings, schools or research institutions) named after him. It appears that by imposing revenge-tariffs, Donald Trump is striving to be the anti-Richard-Nixon– trying to escape criminality-comparisons so that he won’t suffer the same fate.

Two differences between Nixon and Trump include: In 1972, Nixon initiated trade with China, and he was a heavy drinker. Trump revels in his absolute power to wreak havoc on the world’s financial markets! Don’t worry, there won’t be a Great Depression, because nowadays, America has insurance of financial institutions, and bailouts.

Nevertheless, speaking of criminality, here’s a list of presidents on whose ultimate authority rested,

post-WWII wrongdoing– NOT unethical behavior, but explicit law-breaking and crimes against humanity, which consists mostly of Cold War / CIA shenanigans, blood-for-oil, or both, secret weapons-research, war-related crimes (genocide and atrocities, in terms of deaths, destruction and devastation), which shall hereinafter be referred to as “classified crimes” if they have yet to be declassified; and other kinds of crimes, from MOST to LEAST [president: kinds of crimes]:

1) Nixon: war, political/election, financial
2) George W. Bush: classified, political/election, financial, treasonous (draft dodger)
3) LBJ: war, political
4) Truman: war– BUT arguably ended WWII sooner than otherwise via nuclear weapons, thus limiting the deaths and devastation; however, arguably unnecessarily wasted lives in Korea.

Due to lack of data on classified crimes, the rest of this list is debatable; plus, it is difficult, if not impossible to determine the number of deaths and amount of destruction and devastation DIRECTLY caused by all the other kinds of crimes. It stands to reason that the shorter a president’s time in office, the less likely he was to order the committing of classified crimes.

5: Reagan: war, treasonous, political
6: Eisenhower: war– at minimum, regime changes in Guatemala and other countries
7: Trump: classified, political/election (impeached twice), financial (adjudged guilty of 34 felony counts), more-likely-than-not sex crimes, treasonous (draft dodger)
8: George H.W. Bush: war
9: Bill Clinton: classified, treasonous (draft dodger and lied under oath about adultery), more-likely-than-not sex crimes
10: Barack Obama: classified, born in Hawaii and became president (but adjudged not guilty)
11: JFK: war
12: Biden: classified
13: Ford: war
14: Carter: ?

As can be seen, the above consists of seven Republicans and seven Democrats. Nonetheless, if one adds up the numbers of the rankings for each party (with the LOWER total signifying a HIGHER level of criminality) the Republicans total 42; the Democrats, 63. Hmm.

Anyway, now here’s a little ditty about the latest law-breaker in the White House.

ALWAYS UNWORTHY

sung to the tune of “She’s Always A Woman” with apologies to Billy Joel and to whomever else the rights may concern; Trump is unworthy of the temper tantrums, hissy fits and conniptions thrown by anyone who is wasting their time on him; this includes everyone who pays attention to him.

He rewrites history.
He inherited his rise.
He’s ruined-America’s fate with his countless lies.
He’s mesmerized his base with his demagoguery.
He behaves like a child,
and he’s always unworthy to me.

He thinks he’s tough.
In a second he’ll betray you.
His billionaires snoop while his media deceives.
His victims all quiver and he keeps criminals free.
Yeah, he’s caused so much grief, and he’s always unworthy to me.

Oh, he thinks only of himself.
He gets what he wants.
He’s led a life of crime.

Oh, history has borne out:
The best liars win.
We’ll reverse course in time.

He’ll promise from his actions you’ll get rich quick.
Then he’ll take away the carrot and give you the stick.
And he’ll hire loyalty over competence, ev’ry time.
He blames everyone else when his messes are all on your dime.

Oh, he thinks only of himself.
He gets what he wants.
He’s led a life of crime.

Oh, history has borne out:
The best liars win.
We’ll reverse course in time.

Oh, he’s losing his mind.
To his wannabes, he’s cool.
They’re eager to please him.
They’re all his fools.
And he can’t be convicted, he’s bought his degree.

And the most he will do is throw riches to his crew,
and he’s always unworthy to me.

Crossing Lines – BONUS POST

Here’s a little ditty on the current situation in the American government.

CROSSING LINES

sung to the tune of “Borderline” with apologies to Madonna and to whomever else the rights may concern.

Backroom deals are SHOWing criminality.
Trump didn’t want to be a prisoner so his sycophants set him free.
It’s his usual history.
It’s no mystery.
Both parties let us down.
Election year is done.
The bad guys have won.
THEY’RE back to fooling around.

They’re, just undermining our land.
They get away with all they can.
Trump’s sycophants set him free.

Crossing lines.
The justice system lost its mind.
Just like when Ford pardoned Nixon.
They are crossing lines.

Crossing lines.
The justice system lost its mind.
Just like when Ford pardoned Nixon.
They are crossing lines. Crossing lines.

Backroom deals are SHOWing criminality.
When someone’s power is so great,
they defy reality.
Both parties let us down.
THEY’RE fooling around.
The truth just can’t be found.

The hypocrisy’s so rife.
You can cut it with a knife.
[The original lyrics are so bad. That’s life.]

They’re, just undermining our land.
They get away with all they can.
Trump’s sycophants set him free.

Crossing lines.
The justice system lost its mind.
Just like when Ford pardoned Nixon.
They are crossing lines.

Crossing lines.
The justice system lost its mind.
Just like when Ford pardoned Nixon.
They are crossing lines. Crossing lines.

When Ford pardoned,
when Ford pardoned,
when Ford pardoned Nixon…

CRIMinality.
CRIMinal-government.

No punishments.

duh duh duh duh
duh duh duh duh

Kissinger

The Book of the Week is “Kissinger, A Biography” by Walter Isaacson, published in 2005.

Kissinger was born in May 1923 in an eastern suburb of Nuremberg. His ancestors came from Bavaria. When he was in his teens, his family arrived in America. Toward the end of WWII, Kissinger served in the U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence division, engaging in diplomacy to de-Nazify a whole region of suburbs in Germany.

In 1951, Kissinger recruited tens of foreign-nationals and licensed-professionals for the Harvard International Seminar– a summer multi-disciplinary program featuring lectures and field trips that was later revealed to be a front for the CIA. Kissinger amassed a vast social network from the program. He had superior social-climbing skills, appealing to his betters (who were just as egotistical as he was) with flattery, but fiercely competing with colleagues of status equal to his own.

Kissinger always argued that injustice and order (a benign dictator) was preferable to justice and disorder (a revolutionary environment or anarchy) in a nation. He felt the purpose of a summit wasn’t to get a monstrously brutal leader to change his ways, but rather, to: reassure allies, get on the good side of neutral nations and show the world one’s own civility. Yet he was always listening to all sides in a debate in order to get them to agree with him.

Kissinger achieved full tenure at Harvard University in 1962. Less than a decade later, he served as a very close aide to president Richard Nixon. Just as parties are thrown to annoy those who aren’t invited, at the dawn of the 1970’s, the Nixon White House consisted of socially manipulative cliques who kept one another out of the loop of their own furtive meetings, memos and covert operations. The Nixon camp loved secrecy and tried to stop information from leaking to the press with their “plumbers.”

The president ordered that a total of seventeen secret FBI wiretaps be placed on the home telephones of high-level employees of his administration for as long as nearly two years for some, beginning in 1969. In 1973, when the media exposed this spying operation, Nixon claimed he alone authorized it. But Kissinger– a drama queen– had incited the emotional environment that led Nixon and his subordinates to commit the crimes they did.

In 1971, Kissinger participated in clandestine meetings with the Chinese government to invite trade with the United States, and change China’s mind on its claim on Taiwan. The U.S. was reducing its military presence in Vietnam, and saw that the Chinese and Soviets weren’t getting along. Thus, extending an olive branch to China was a supposedly geopolitically brilliant move on Nixon’s part.

If America got friendly with the Chinese (contradicting Nixon’s previously vicious anti-Communist stance), and negotiated arms reductions with the Soviets– America would stave off nuclear war with them, further weaken the alliance between China and the U.S.S.R., and get an economic boost.

China’s officials began the talks by requesting that the Americans tell them the issues thought to be deal-breakers. This saved a lot of time, as the Chinese considered Taiwan a minor issue and weren’t going to budge on it. They both secretly used Pakistan as an intermediate messenger. As a result, the Soviets got friendly with India. That turned into a cluster screw-up.

Kissinger could dish it out but he couldn’t take it. He became infuriated when Nixon’s aide, John Ehrlichman told him that a spy ring had been stealing documents from his office and leaking them to the press. Kissinger’s self-delusion was most cringeworthy on Vietnam. He rationalized the war’s aims, attempting to persuade ordinary Americans that the decade-long colossal human waste wasn’t the result of several alpha males’ stubborn insistence on America’s involvement (plus in Cambodia and Laos). In other words, Kissinger couldn’t admit that at least hundreds of thousands of people died for nothing.

One Bertrand Russell quote in connection therewith bears repeating:

“There is something feeble and a little contemptible about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths. Almost inevitably some part of him is aware that they are myths and that he believes them only because they are comforting. But he dare not face this thought! Moreover, since he is aware, however dimly, that his opinions are not rational, he becomes furious when they are disputed.”

There is nothing new under the sun. The media flip-flopped insofar as their stories on Kissinger brought them ratings and sold newspapers. In mid-October 1972, less than a month before Nixon’s reelection day, the New York Times and Newsweek celebrated Kissinger as he claimed to have achieved agreement on a peace treaty with North Vietnam from his confidential peace talks in Paris. He himself reveled in the glory of saving the world.

In December 1972, the seasoned propagandists turned around and labeled Kissinger a war criminal (which they should have been doing all along!) after he was found to have completely excluded the South Vietnamese leader from the agreement-announcement. Kissinger pretended to be outraged that Nguyen Van Thieu refused to sign the treaty. But the treaty’s wording hadn’t said what Van Thieu had agreed to.

Kissinger used the emotionally-charged, last-minute discord as an excuse to urge Nixon to order the resumption of America’s bombing of the North Vietnam capital Hanoi, and Nixon did. More than a thousand additional U.S. servicemen and civilians lost to history, died needlessly. Not unbelievably, given the fallibility and gullibility of human beings, in autumn 1973, Kissinger and Le Duc Tho were awarded the Nobel Peace prize.

In sum, Henry Kissinger achieved name-recognition in numerous communities of American life, in the following order: academia, presidential politics, foreign affairs, Hollywood, big business, and jet-set society.

As an aside, Donald Trump achieved name-recognition in the following, in the following order: big business (as a matter of inheritance), jet-set society, Hollywood, and then presidential politics. He hasn’t been all that competent in foreign affairs and academia, though.

Additionally, Trump bears many similarities to Nixon. Trump:

has a sidekick in Elon Musk as Nixon had a sidekick in Kissinger.
alternates between deep insecurities and megalomania.
appoints largely white alpha males in the White House (with a few white females thrown in).
was directly or indirectly responsible for sending to jail– almost every legally-troubled individual with whom he associated.
has a major goal of wreaking vengeance on his political enemies, using hush money when necessary.
claims attorney-client relationship and executive-privilege to weasel out of legal trouble.
projects the image of the outsider, and excessively exhibited mean-of-spirit, obnoxious behavior, but adjusted his image to become somewhat like the “new” Nixon in order to make a comeback.

It seems that Trump’s inauguration is going to be like the 1945 Yalta and 2024 Davos conferences. On steroids. Here’s a little song about the situation.

INAUGURATION

sung to the tune of “Revolution” with apologies to the members of The Beatles, and their estates, and whomever else the rights may concern.

Trump’s gonna have an in-au-gu-RA-tion,
well, you know,
in 2017 he insulted the world.

It’s a see-and-be-seen cel-e-BRA-tion,
well, you know,
his frat boys will rule the WO-ORLD.

And if he goes through with DE-portations,
he’d have to kick his own family OUT.

You know he used to be,
all-fight, all-fight, all fight.

He says he’s got resolutions,
well, you know,
it’s called Project 2025.

Billionaires make contributions,
well, you know,
they’re keeping Trump’s image a-LIVE.

Big tech and media have money for people
who SPREAD around hate.
For a grown-up Vance,
we’ll just have to WAIT.

And you know he used to be,
all-fight, all-fight, all-fight.

Trump gets to interpret the Consti-TU-tion,
well, you know,
he owns most of the Supreme-COURT.

It WAS a respected insti-TU-tion,
well, you know,
He’ll pardon THEM as a last resort.

He’s getting friendlier with the world’s tyrants NOW.
Don’t worry,
he’s losing his mind, anyHOW.

And you know he used to be,
all-fight, all fight, all fight,
all-fight, all fight, all fight,
all-fight, all fight, all fight,
all-fight, all FIGHT!

Anyway, read the book to learn much, much more about how Kissinger prolonged his name in history due to his self-absorbed attention whoredom; about how his dishonesty shaped America’s never-ending, extremely complex political, ideological, cultural and economic controversies over its “detente” versus “might-makes right” mentality with regard to the Soviet Union, Soviet Jewry, Israel, global trade, human rights, weapons stocks, neocons (the description of which was murky), the Portugal/Angola mess, etc.

In the Shadow of the White House

The Book of the Week is “In the Shadow of the White House, A Memoir of the Washington and Watergate Years 1968-1978” by Jo Haldeman, published in 2017.

As is well known, at the time this book was written, America was entering the Trump Era, some of whose aspects smacked of the Nixon Era. In addition, the author also could not escape writing with 20/20 hindsight, as almost fifty years had passed since her husband was implicated in the major historical event known as “Watergate.”

In October 1970, while backing his Republican party’s candidates at rallies during the midterm races amid expletive-shouting hecklers, Nixon said,

“The four-letter word that is the most powerful of any in the world is ‘vote.’ “

Strangely enough, in 1972, Nixon was reelected in a landslide due to low voter turnout– possibly due to influential propaganda and dirty tricks that discouraged or kept Americans from voting.

Bob Haldeman was the president’s advisor and lapdog, at his beck and call 24/7. He got the most face-time with Nixon as chief of staff, giving orders to underlings from wherever he was; it was not uncommon in the course of two weeks for the two to travel from Camp David to a foreign country to Key Biscayne in Florida (where Nixon had a residence) to another foreign country to New York City to San Clemente in California (where Nixon had another residence). Haldeman’s wife Jo and their four children sometimes accompanied them.

Nixon vacillated between: deep insecurities that required frequent consulting with his gatekeepers Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and Henry Kissinger; and megalomania that led him to install a taping system in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room in February 1971. This, in an effort to record his administration’s every word and move, for posterity. He wanted to give his name undying fame. The listening devices of the two previous presidencies had been removed years before.

The author commented in her notes that in May 1974 (three months before Nixon resigned), “Although [Nixon] proposes national health insurance in a radio address, it goes nowhere and his public support continues to erode.”

The author’s husband was one of five defendants (there were many more) who were all tried together in a court of law for their roles in the Watergate scandal. Their cases dragged on through 1974.

The tenor of the times was such that alpha males with hubris syndrome populated the White House, Haldeman included. On August 6, 1974, he beseeched Nixon to pardon him and all his alleged Watergate co-conspirators (twenty-one of whom went to jail), and also to salve the leaders’ consciences– grant amnesty to all men who violated the Selective Service Act during the Vietnam War.

Read the book to learn Haldeman’s fate, and much more about the experiences of the author’s family during a particularly turbulent time in American history.

Jailing – BONUS POST

As is well known, Donald Trump is forever spewing hatred against all kinds of people other than white Christian males. As the presidential election winds down in the next two months, many people are drooling at the prospect that he might actually be locked up, not just fined. This would still be a tiny amount of punishment if he’s truly guilty of all the crimes of which he’s been accused.

This is the next development in the political soap opera. In politics, turnabout is considered fair play. The ultimate fantasy some people have is that Trump will end up like Jeffrey Epstein. If not, they’ll settle for his ending up like Paul Manafort or Michael Cohen– both of whom were subjected to ugly conditions in jail as revenge.

Here’s a little ditty on the situation.

JAILING

sung to the tune of “Sailing” with apologies to Christopher Cross and Universal Music Mgb.

Well, it’s not rocket science to analyze
Trump’s fall from grace lately.
If adverse winds bite, he’ll lose his way, and know humility.
Oh, political-canvassing can do miracles, just you wait and see.

Study history.

He’s always in never never land,
no reason to pretend.
And if you just wait it out, you’ll see the joy of leaders, working for YOU again.
Oh, political-canvassing can do miracles, just you wait and see.

Study history.

JAIL-ing would take Trump away to where some think he’s always DEserved to be.
His former teams were nobodies. THEY weren’t all sprung free.

Candidacy. It brings out the haters, you see.
But Trump’s jailing…

THAT would show democracy.

His whole world is a cacophony, of all that is SLI-my.

JAIL-ing would take Trump away to where some think he’s always DEserved to be.
His former teams were nobodies. THEY weren’t all sprung free.

Well, this country’s coming back to sanity.
Trump’s fallen from grace lately.
If adverse winds bite, he’ll lose his way, and know humility.
Oh, political-canvassing can do miracles, just you wait and see.

Study history.

JAIL-ing would take Trump away to where some think he’s always DEserved to be.
His former teams were nobodies. THEY weren’t all sprung free.