Former Presidents, Nixon, Reagan and Trump. Images: Wiki Commons
Subscribe for Updates!
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.
You have Successfully Subscribed!
Donald Trump is not very unique in trying to screw up foreign and domestic policies as an election ploy. Treason in the pursuance of power in presidential politics by the GOP is a long-standing tradition.
It is being well reported and commented on that Donald Trump is intentionally interfering with the deliberations of the House and Senate in order to obstruct a border protection deal that will unlock a desperately needed aid package for Ukraine. Once again we have the former president trying to toss Ukraine under the bus to serve his electoral ambitions.
Essentially he is sabotaging the proposed solutions for border security simply so he can blame it on President Biden during the campaign. And all this while the sabotage is out in the open with his acknowledged finger prints all over it. He’s not even good at being covert like his predecessors Nixon and Reagan.
Nixon
Three days before the 1968 Presidential election, Lyndon Johnson was informed by the FBI that Richard Nixon’s campaign had been in communication with South Vietnam, attempting to delay peace talks that Johnson was trying to set up to end the war. This was revealed in a study of recordings of conversations between LBJ and then Senator Everett Dirksen and with Nixon himself.
Nixon essentially committed treason by usurping the authority he did not possess to affect US foreign policy. Johnson never went public with the information because it would have revealed that the FBI had clandestinely bugged offices in the South Vietnamese government. But Nixon’s actions were illegal nonetheless.
Reagan
In 1980 while campaigning against Carter, Reagan made a deal with the new Iranian government under Ayatollah Khomeini to have Iran continue to hold the 52 American hostages they had been holding for over a year—captured when Iranian “students” overran the US Embassy in Tehran.
The fact that Carter could not get those hostages released ended up costing him his re-election bid and Reagan became President. Of course then he got the hostages released with the dirty and treasonous dealings that became known as the Iran-Contra Affair. This information was further confirmed last year by Texas politician, Ben Barnes.
Power First, Everything Else? Who Cares
The blatant illegality and treason committed by or on behalf of these past presidents forms a disturbing pattern we have seen all too often in politics, not just in the United States. The idea is that getting into office is all that matters. “Then we can really make things right.” Of course this is the ethical dithering engaged in by just about every criminal who ever walked. “I’m really a good guy and just trying to help.”
But justifications for a crime have never in the history of everything ever erased a crime. In fact it just makes it worse.
Nixon’s treason caused the war in Vietnam to continue another five years with enormous casualties on both sides and even at home as well—the Kent State Massacre is a case in point.
And Nixon’s ultimate justification that “Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal” still haunts us today with another criminal former White House occupant trying to avoid a reckoning of his offenses.
Criminals ultimately want to be above the law, to be immune to the consequences of their actions. But this is something that has never and will never happen. Ultimately criminals know that what they are doing is wrong but will mercilessly attack and criticize anyone who they think might know the whole story. So with Trump, as much as we do know about his crimes, there’s a lot that hasn’t come out yet—this is telegraphed by his incessant and obvious behavior.
Traditions
As we can see from the examples above, Trump is hardly original.Treason in the pursuance of power in presidential politics by the GOP is a long-standing practice.
Trump tried to sabotage Biden’s campaign in 2020 with a fake investigation by Ukraine and by throwing them under Russia’s bus even then by illegally withholding $400 million in funds. That resulted in his first impeachment.
Of course there is his other little treason of trying to overthrow the election of 2020 with his attempted coup of Jan 6th. This is certainly a tradition we don’t need or want.
Trump is now trying to throw Ukraine under the bus once again with his overt sabotage of the border deal being hammered out in Congress.
Meanwhile he has made the ridiculous claim of being able to end the Ukraine war in a day. We can just hear that phone call now,
“Vlad, it’s Don. Yes, Trump.”
“You know that little deal you’ve got going on with Ukraine? We don’t care anymore. Over to you. Rock ‘n Roll, Vlad.”
“It’s an expression. It means go ahead, we’re not going to interfere. You can have the place.”
“Oh, yeah, and NATO? We’re out of there too.”
“Cheers!”
And to the press here at home, “I told you I’d solve it in day. Promises made, promises kept.”
Marty Kassowitz
Marty Kassowitz is co-founder of Factkeepers. As founder of Interest Factory and View360, he brings more than 30 years experience in effective online communications, social media management, and platform development to the site. He is a writer, designer, editor and long time observer of the ill-logic demonstrated by too many members of the species known as Mankind. After a long history of somewhat private commentary on a subject he totally hates: politics, Marty was encouraged to build this site and put up his own analyses as well as curate relevant content from other sources.
{"id":null,"mode":"form","open_style":"in_place","currency_code":"USD","currency_symbol":"$","currency_type":"decimal","blank_flag_url":"https:\/\/factkeepers.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/tip-jar-wp\/\/assets\/images\/flags\/blank.gif","flag_sprite_url":"https:\/\/factkeepers.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/tip-jar-wp\/\/assets\/images\/flags\/flags.png","default_amount":500,"top_media_type":"none","featured_image_url":false,"featured_embed":"","header_media":null,"file_download_attachment_data":null,"recurring_options_enabled":true,"recurring_options":{"never":{"selected":true,"after_output":"One time only"},"weekly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every week"},"monthly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every month"},"yearly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every year"}},"strings":{"current_user_email":"","current_user_name":"","link_text":"Leave a tip","complete_payment_button_error_text":"Check info and try again","payment_verb":"Pay","payment_request_label":"Factkeepers.com","form_has_an_error":"Please check and fix the errors above","general_server_error":"Something isn't working right at the moment. Please try again.","form_title":"Help Support Factkeepers","form_subtitle":null,"currency_search_text":"Country or Currency here","other_payment_option":"Other payment option","manage_payments_button_text":"Manage your payments","thank_you_message":"Thank you for being a supporter!","payment_confirmation_title":"Factkeepers.com","receipt_title":"Your Receipt","print_receipt":"Print Receipt","email_receipt":"Email Receipt","email_receipt_sending":"Sending receipt...","email_receipt_success":"Email receipt successfully sent","email_receipt_failed":"Email receipt failed to send. Please try again.","receipt_payee":"Paid to","receipt_statement_descriptor":"This will show up on your statement as","receipt_date":"Date","receipt_transaction_id":"Transaction ID","receipt_transaction_amount":"Amount","refund_payer":"Refund from","login":"Log in to manage your payments","manage_payments":"Manage Payments","transactions_title":"Your Transactions","transaction_title":"Transaction Receipt","transaction_period":"Plan Period","arrangements_title":"Your Plans","arrangement_title":"Manage Plan","arrangement_details":"Plan Details","arrangement_id_title":"Plan ID","arrangement_payment_method_title":"Payment Method","arrangement_amount_title":"Plan Amount","arrangement_renewal_title":"Next renewal date","arrangement_action_cancel":"Cancel Plan","arrangement_action_cant_cancel":"Cancelling is currently not available.","arrangement_action_cancel_double":"Are you sure you'd like to cancel?","arrangement_cancelling":"Cancelling Plan...","arrangement_cancelled":"Plan Cancelled","arrangement_failed_to_cancel":"Failed to cancel plan","back_to_plans":"\u2190 Back to Plans","update_payment_method_verb":"Update","sca_auth_description":"Your have a pending renewal payment which requires authorization.","sca_auth_verb":"Authorize renewal payment","sca_authing_verb":"Authorizing payment","sca_authed_verb":"Payment successfully authorized!","sca_auth_failed":"Unable to authorize! Please try again.","login_button_text":"Log in","login_form_has_an_error":"Please check and fix the errors above","uppercase_search":"Search","lowercase_search":"search","uppercase_page":"Page","lowercase_page":"page","uppercase_items":"Items","lowercase_items":"items","uppercase_per":"Per","lowercase_per":"per","uppercase_of":"Of","lowercase_of":"of","back":"Back to plans","zip_code_placeholder":"Zip\/Postal Code","download_file_button_text":"Download File","input_field_instructions":{"tip_amount":{"placeholder_text":"How much would you like to donate? You can change this amount to anything you would like.","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"How much would you like to donate? You can change this amount to anything you would like."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How much would you like to donate? You can change this amount to anything you would like."},"invalid_curency":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How much would you like to donate? You can change this amount to anything you would like."}},"recurring":{"placeholder_text":"Recurring","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"How often would you like to donate this?"},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"How often would you like to donate this?"},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How often would you like to donate this?"}},"name":{"placeholder_text":"Name on Credit Card","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter the name on your card."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter the name on your card."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please enter the name on your card."}},"privacy_policy":{"terms_title":"Terms and conditions","terms_body":null,"terms_show_text":"View Terms","terms_hide_text":"Hide Terms","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"I agree to the terms."},"unchecked":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please agree to the terms."},"checked":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"I agree to the terms."}},"email":{"placeholder_text":"Your email address","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"not_an_email_address":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Make sure you have entered a valid email address"}},"note_with_tip":{"placeholder_text":"Your note here...","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"empty":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"not_empty_initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"saving":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Saving note..."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Note successfully saved!"},"error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Unable to save note note at this time. Please try again."}},"email_for_login_code":{"placeholder_text":"Your email address","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."}},"login_code":{"initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."}},"stripe_all_in_one":{"initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"success":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"invalid_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is not a valid credit card number."},"invalid_expiry_month":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration month is invalid."},"invalid_expiry_year":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration year is invalid."},"invalid_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is invalid."},"incorrect_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is incorrect."},"incomplete_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is incomplete."},"incomplete_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is incomplete."},"incomplete_expiry":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration date is incomplete."},"incomplete_zip":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's zip code is incomplete."},"expired_card":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card has expired."},"incorrect_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is incorrect."},"incorrect_zip":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's zip code failed validation."},"invalid_expiry_year_past":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration year is in the past"},"card_declined":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card was declined."},"missing":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"There is no card on a customer that is being charged."},"processing_error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"An error occurred while processing the card."},"invalid_request_error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Unable to process this payment, please try again or use alternative method."},"invalid_sofort_country":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The billing country is not accepted by SOFORT. Please try another country."}}}},"fetched_oembed_html":false}
