The Republicans like to talk about stolen elections and election interference. There have been instances just in my lifetime that has shown election interference and collusion with a foreign country. The first one was in 1968 with the Nixon/Humphrey’s election. Vietnam was going really strong at the time and Johnson was desperate to end the war. If Johnson could have ended the war it would have almost ensured that Humphrey, Johnson’s Vice President, would win. Nixon had run on an anti-war stance, and if the war had ended his campaign would have been in the tank. I remember the Paris Peace Talks of 1968 and I remember their failure. Reading an article written by the Smithsonian March 2013, it wrote about Nixon sending Anna Chennault, one of his aides to South Vietnam embassy, a clear message that the South Vietnamese government would get a much better deal if Nixon was elected. The South Vietnamese withdrew from the talks and Nixon won the election. After he took office he escalated the war and extended it with the bombing of Laos. 22,000 additional Americans died before we finally left Vietnam three years later. Johnson knew what the Nixon camp had done because he had ordered the phones illegally tapped at the South Vietnam Embassy. Johnson should have come forward with the information that he had tapped the phones but he didn’t because of the scandal that it would have caused in his own administration. Both Johnson and Nixon took that information with them when they left office and it wasn’t discovered for 40 years. Nixon put power before the lives of our young men and by not coming forward with Nixon’s treachery Johnson put his legacy before those same lives.

Next there was Reagan/Carter Election. During Jimmy Carter’s time in the White House our embassy in Iran was attacked and the staff of 66 was held for over 400 days. If Carter had managed to bring about their release, in what would have been an October Surprise, he may have won the election. It has long been claimed that Reagan, through back channels, told the Iranians that they would get a better deal if they waited to release the hostages until after he won the election. Reagan won and the hostages were released right after his inauguration. Later during the Reagan’s time in office members of his administration were sent to jail for an illegal arms deal with Iran in what was called the “Iran Contra Affair”.  As time has gone on there has become more and more evidence that Reagan colluded with the Iranians so he could win an election. Again, we had a Republican politician put his quest for power before what was best for the nation. I voted for Reagan but if I knew the truth maybe I wouldn’t have.

Now we come to Trump. Again we have a Republican that has been charge with colluding with a foreign power to win the Presidency of the United States. His children met with representatives of the Russian government in an effort to come up with dirt against the Democratic candidate. Trump has denied any knowledge of the meeting but his personal lawyer at the time said Trump had approved the meeting. Russia is a country that has sworn to destroy us knew they were much better off with Trump in the White House than anyone else. Russia has been responsible for much of the misinformation and lies that have plagued the Internet in their effort to assist Trump. Trump was impeached because he tried to blackmail another country, Ukraine by withholding aid, in order to get dirt against the next political rival Joe Biden. It was an impeachable offense. Because of partisan politics put before the needs of the country Trump was not removed from office but he should have been. Corruption that comes with Republicans like Trump, Reagan and Nixon should not be tolerated in any country or any political Party. But, it is just standard operating procedure for the Republican Party.

It is always the quest for power that leads to corruption. That has been no different throughout history. Our system was one that was supposed to, by its checks and balances minimize the threat of one man becoming a king or dictator. Unfortunately, our Founding Fathers did not see the coming of the Republican Party. Democrats fight among themselves which is a good thing and there have been individual Democrats that have been crooks but Democrats tend to do a better job of weeding out corruption. Not perfect by any means but much better than the Republicans. Republicans think with one mind, if you disagree with that one mind you are thrown out of the Party. Party before Country should never be a thing but it is with the Republican Party. We have serious problems in this Country and they are not being dealt with by either political party enough but, climate change and healthcare are not being dealt with at all by the Republican Party. What do the Republicans do instead? They play party politics with the border, with the Republicans wanting to make it worse because they believe that is to their political advantage. Our system was one that was supposed to be about debate and compromise but that is not what the Republican Party does under Trump’s leadership.

I watched the debate against Biden and Trump and it made me angry. Our choice is a man that looked too old to lead the nation and a man too corrupt to lead the nation. I have always said that the lies and misinformation weakens our nation. That is what scares me the most, a weakened America that Trump brings with him. Trump kowtowed to Putin of Russia and Kim Jung-un of North Korea. Trump lost a trade war with China and our relationship with basically the most populated country in the world deteriorated because of that. Trump’s blustery talk, with nothing to back it up it just makes us look weak in the eyes of the rest of the world.