Ever since the news broke Friday night of the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I have seen dozens of social media posts urging people to vote in November as a way to beat back efforts to hastily fill the late Justice’s seat.
I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you’ve already lost.
This is the moment Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others have been waiting for, and they’re not going to let it slip away. Senator Mitt Romney — who many had hoped would be the third voice of reason in the Republican caucus — announced his approval to consider a nominee before the election, solidifying the confirmation process will proceed. …
The Constitution prescribes but a few qualifications for the office now held by Donald J. Trump.
The president must be a natural-born US citizen who is at least 35 years of age and has lived in the country for no less than 14 years.
That’s it.
The Commander-in-Chief can be morally bankrupt, believe men can grab women by parts of their anatomy, side with dictators, belittle Gold Star families, call opponents names, and own a business without divulging debts.
The power of the presidency has swelled in the last century. Beginning with Teddy Roosevelt and his cousin Franklin, through Lyndon Johnson up until (and including) Trump, the executive branch has grown beyond what the founders intended. But over time, Congress — through willful abdication — allowed presidents of both parties to take more bites of the apple until the legislative branch had few remaining. …
With the “veepstakes” now underway for Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, history should serve as a guide (as much as it can) for the first election in history where both major nominees are in their seventies and the nation is gripped in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic.
There are a few times when the vice-presidential selection mattered more than others and an even longer list of vice presidents relegated to the ash heap of history. Of the eight presidents who died in office, four were by natural causes. …
For more than 25 years, I’ve been studying the life of John F. Kennedy — who was born 100 years ago today.
When I was 9, I read a biography for kids about the 35th president. Ever since, I have been fascinated with his life and legend. He appealed to me in the 1980’s and 1990’s for the same reasons he appealed to Americans in the 1960's: he was young; handsome; energetic; intelligent; and he made people feel a sense of excitement they had not felt in a long time. …
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