Tag Archives: President Trump

Ukraine in Crosshairs of a New “Evil Empire”

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON | AUG 28, 2025

There’s a telling and disturbing story about Russian President Vladimir Putin in the new book, The Situation Room, by George Stephanopoulos.

During an interview with former President Joe Biden, Stephanopoulos asked him about reports that as Vice President in a 2011 meeting he told Putin he had no soul.

“I did say that to him, yes…I wasn’t being a wise guy,” Biden confirmed. “I was alone with him in his office. And that-that’s how it came about. It was when President Bush had said, ‘I looked in his eyes and saw his soul’, I said I looked in your eyes and I don’t think you have a soul. And he looked back and he said, ‘We understand each other.’”

As I sort through the reams of news reports on Ukraine, now coming every day, all day, that passage haunts me. Continue reading →

Trump Stumped by Putin, But Wants Nobel Prize

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON | JULY 15, 2025

President Donald Trump keeps getting stomped on by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Just in recent days, President Trump said he has had some “pleasant” and “lovely” conversations with Putin who he has called a friend for years. Shortly after those calls, Putin attacked Ukraine again.

With friends like that, who needs enemies.

At the same time, President Trump has publicly and aggressively campaigned for the Nobel Peace Prize. He really needs to suspend the campaign until he can fully recognize the delusions he harbors about the Russian President.

In the past couple of weeks there are indications he may be turning a corner. We must hope it doesn’t become a U-turn. He seemed to accept the fact that his Russian friend was not going to “STOP” (Trump’s word) the reign of terror raining down from the skies over Ukraine. He finally decided to open the pipeline for more weapons to Ukraine he says NATO nations will pay for.

When Putin continued the bombardment, Trump came up with a new threat: if Putin doesn’t agree to a truce in 50 days, he would impose severe economic sanctions (called secondary tariffs) on countries that buy oil and other critical products from Russia. Again, good effort, but maybe wasted. Former Russian President and Putin proxy Dmitry Medvedev said the Kremlin “didn’t care” about Trump’s “theatrical ultimatum.” Continue reading →

Cheney Dilemma Challenges Republicans to Think Again

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON | MAY 17, 2021

“As a republican, I say to my colleagues on this side of the aisle that the Republican party faces a challenge today that is not unlike the challenge which it faced back in Lincoln’s day. The Republican party so successfully met that challenge that it emerged from the Civil War as the champion of a united nation—in addition to being a party which unrelentingly fought loose spending and loose programs.”

Those were the words of Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith June 1, 1950, in the wake of what became the maniacal campaign of fellow Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy to purge Communist sympathizers from the Federal Government and the movie industry.

McCarthy encouraged bad behavior and perpetrated severe threats to our freedoms. He was the grandfather of cancel culture.

In her famous “Declaration of Conscience’ speech Smith dared challenge the intimidating McCarthy, warning against a Republican regime “embracing a philosophy that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty (that) would prove …disastrous to the nation.” Smith said “I do not want to see the Republican Party win that way. While it might be a fleeting victory…it would be a more lasting defeat for the American people…”

Democrats produced their own version of a popular despot. Just a short two decades earlier they had to face down Huey Long, a corrupt, mean-spirited, and flamboyant Governor of Louisiana and US Senator. When once challenged on acting contrary to the Louisiana constitution, Long declared “I’m the Constitution around here now.” He caused a near riot in the State Capitol, and later was the target of an armed insurrectionist movement in response to his attempt to stay in office illegally. Lt. Gov. Paul Cyre, who earlier supported Long’s impeachment, took control of the state when Long was out of town. Long was assassinated in 1935.

The similarities between then and now are striking. It is a shame we do not learn from the events in our history that give us perspective and map for us the road ahead. Continue reading →

Enough is Enough. The President Must Leave

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON | JAN 8, 2021

When President Trump invited his hard-core supporters to Washington to protest the congressional certification of the electoral college vote declaring Joe Biden the President-Elect, he surely knew what he was doing. He has been toying with and exploiting the emotions of his supporters for years and when they got to Washington, he incited them to head for the US Capitol for a “wild” protest.

The Capitol was desecrated by violence. It hurt. I saw rooms in which I once worked, in hallways and rooms once revered. But the President did not condemn the insurrection; he told the rebellious horde that he loved them.

Only on Thursday, Jan 7, after a category five storm of anger and repudiation did he step before a camera and read from a script that the invasion of the Capitol was wrong.

He should resign the Presidency immediately. Hopefully, everyone around him including his family will encourage him to do so. Continue reading →

The Election is Over; Time to Govern If We Only Could

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON | DEC 22, 2020

“Our mess of an election has finally, officially, irrefutably been resolved. We owe this to the brilliance of our Founders, but we deserve credit too for our continued fidelity to their vision.”
Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal 12/17/20

Hallelujah, Sister Peggy. Can we have an amen?

It is indeed over. The Electoral College voted 306-232 on December 14, ratifying the November results and completing a critical formal step in the American tradition of a peaceful transfer of power from one presidency to another.

It’s the Electoral College that calls the election officially.

It seems to be a common presumption in this country that the Constitution authorizes the national media to call our elections based on their keen political intuition, careful analysis of voting precincts, and exit polls. We then are expected to fall in line as though their declarations are formal, official, and final.

I looked again at Article II and the 12th Amendment of the Constitution and found no such instructions. Nor do I believe there are any written into any law other than the law of the political jungle. Good thing. The media of late have not been too swift at calling elections correctly as Thomas Dewey, Al Gore, and Hillary Clinton all discovered.

Continue reading →