He doesn’t deserve any of the negativity. He was a great president, fact.

This often seems the case with Democrats. Many understand their duty to serve the people of the country. Seems most Republicans only serve themselves or the ultra-wealthy.

What was good about his Presidency?

@Alienbeing [en.m.wikipedia.org].

@Flyingsaucesir The Camp David accords made such a big difference (not).

I guess you forgot, or maybe you are too young to remember the incredible interest rates under Carter, or the gasoline lines, or the fact that he allowed Iran to invade our embassy and hold hostages.

He was a horrible President.

@Alienbeing Hey lots of presidents have tried and failed to broker peace in the Levant.

None of the other stuff was really anything that any president could prevent.

@Flyingsaucesir Wrong! Initial proof is the day Reagan took over Iran released the prisoners. Iran knew Reagan was not a pussy cat as was Carter. Next, how come every other President was able to control interest rates by making good economic decisions.

Our current Administration almost hit Carter's high interest rates, but Carter still hold the all time record.

Now how about naming one thing he did that was good.

@Alienbeing I guess you don't remember the arms-for-hostages scandal, (AKA Iran-Contra affair) or Oliver North,...

[en.m.wikipedia.org].

Carter successfully pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, and the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. He also confronted stagflation. His administration established the U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of Education.

@Flyingsaucesir Umm the arms for hostages and Iran - Contra were Reagan issues. I have been asking why you think Carter was a good President, not wht your opinion of Reagan was or remains.

Establishing the Dept of Education was a terrible thing, and creates unnecessary taxes for something already taxed by each State.

The other accomplishemts you noted are OK, nothing special.

@Alienbeing I would argue that the Department of Education helps the states achieve certain quality standards that they might not otherwise meet. For instance, without the influence of the DOE some states might leave out any mention of anthropomorphic climate change or Darwinian evolution from their science curricula.

Voting is a function that is totally the purview of the states, but look what happens when the federal Voting Rights Act is gutted: local laws are enacted that make it harder for people of certain demographics to vote. In other words, the minimum standard falls below an acceptable level.

There is another dimension to the presidency that we haven't mentioned. The president should set a good example, be a unifying force, raise the level of discourse. With Trump we have seen, are seeing what a really bad president can do: sow division, set a bad example, create permission structures for people to be their worst selves, and generally lower the level of discourse. This aspect of the presidency is at least as important as any other, IMHO.

@Flyingsaucesir If we didn't have to pay taxes to fund the Dept of Education then States could tax more for education (with the same net tax result) and have no issues obtaining quality standards.

I am not a Trump supported, so don't look to me to defend him. Conversely I am not Kamala supporter either. We are tuly faced with two poor candidates.

I have no objection to the Federal Government promulgating minimum voting and voting eligibility standards.

@Alienbeing We won't know for sure what kind of president Kamala will be until after she has held the job for a while. But I think she is well qualified and could potentially be very good. One thing I do know for sure: Trump would be a disaster, and she's not Trump.

@Flyingsaucesir There is nothing in her backgroud that qualifies her to be President, and her complicity in our Border fiasco is reason enough to avoid her.

@Alienbeing Trump is not interested in solutions. He killed the toughest border bill in 40 years because he wanted an issue to run on.

@Flyingsaucesir Trump rightfully helped kill that bill because it CLEARLY do nothing to slow illegal immigration.

Kamala spent the last 3+ years doing nothing.

@Alienbeing The bill would have provided $2.104 billion for border wall construction, $496.2 million for 1,500 additional Border Patrol Agents, $305.4 million for additional non-intrusive inspection technology, and $276 million for new border security technology. It would also have expanded the number of judges that could hear and rule on asylum claims. Once the backlog was cleared, up to 90% of asylum claimants would have been immediately deported instead of being released in the US to await their hearings.

It's CLEARLY more than has been added to border security in a long, long time. But Trump killed the bill, because he would rather have the issue to run on than actually solve the problem. It was possibly the most blatantly cynical and self-serving action I have ever seen in American politics.

Tens of thousands of additional illegal border crossers could already have been caught and sent back this year if we had provided these resources. Instead, Trump let them in.

@Flyingsaucesir Why did you ignore the fact that the Bill allowed thousands of illegals in each week? Why did you ignore that the current horrible Administration wanted to use the additional Border Patrol Agents to process illegals?

It was a useless Bill.

@Alienbeing "Current Horrible Administration?" No. You're confusing the current administration with the previous one.

Some people do have legitimate asylum claims. We have both legal and moral obligations to let their claims be heard.

The additional agents would have been assigned to wherever they were needed, be it the field or the office. The vast majority of Border Patrol agents work in the field.

But I get it: you are unapologetically xenophobic. It sounds like you have fallen for Trumpty Dumpty's hateful rhetoric about migrants. Well let me allay your fears. The vast majority are good people who become productive members of society. And the facts are, they do a lot of work that native-born citizens don't want to do; they pay their taxes; and they are far less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens. They sure as hell don't vote illegally, as Trumpty Dumpty alleges.

Replacement theory is just a fascist trope designed to create fear and division. There is no actual evidence to support it.

@Flyingsaucesir First, no confusion. The Biden Admin will go down in history as one of the worst if not the worst.

Yes some people do have valid asylum claims, however single military age men from relitivly normal countries do not, and that is the majority of illegals Binden let in.

You allay no fear. My main fear is we can't handle the influx we got. How do illegals (who usually cannot get work papers pay tax? The answer is they don't. Who pays for their medical care?

The replacement theory may be incorrect but it sure is not fascist. You better check you dictionary regarding the definition of fascist, and stop listening to the DNC's most liberal use of that word.

Last merely because Trump stinks in no way makes Kamala any better, she is not too smart.

@Alienbeing You ultimately fall back on America's arch fascist's accusation; one for which there is no supporting evidence: that Kamala Harris is stupid. In fact, the opposite is true: she's smart as a whip. It's a qualification one would expect in the Attorney General of the 5th biggest economy in the world. And it was a quality on full display in the presidential debate where she owned his orange ass from beginning to end!

@Flyingsaucesir Listening to Kamala speak is perfect evidence that she is not very smart. I must also add that you again used the word "fascist" incorrectly. Whether or not one rates Kamala as smart or stupid is in no way a fascist conclusion. You really need to use your dictionary more.

Last, while one should expect any State Attny General to be smart, the evidence is Kamala did not clear that bar. Bpeaking of BARS, if she is so smart why did she fail the Bar exam the first time? I took and passed the NY Bar exam the first time I took it.

@Alienbeing Former White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly is using the word "fascist" to describe Trump. So is former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. These are serious people, who have studied history, who really know what a fascist is.

Trump got thoroughly trounced in the debate by a stupid person? Ouch.

@Flyingsaucesir Neither used the word in anywhere near the same context as you did. Perhaps you should visit your local dictionary.

@Alienbeing Context? Really? So there is a context in which a cabinet official can call the president he worked under a "fascist" and it's okay, and fascist doesn't mean fascist?

You crack me up!

[abcnews.go.com]

[msnbc.com]

@Flyingsaucesir Your last post clearly illustrates you don't have a clue.

YES, there is appropriate context to prior Cabinet officials calling their prior boss (Trump) a fascist. While some may disagree with their statement, the statements themselves were properly constructed.

You don't appear to have had much English education, if you did you would not have asked that question. You undoubtably had English classes, but not much stuch with you.

Have you bothered to look up the definition of the word fascist?

P.S. I don't like Trump so anything you say or infer about him is fine with me.

@Alienbeing You should listen to yourself

@Flyingsaucesir No need for me to listen to myself, I know what I typed.

What I see is a VERY stubbon person who, for some unknown reason, can't admit he used the word "fascist" incorrectly. It is either that or you failed English is school.

When you can justify your usage of "fascist" please do, until then get lost.

@Alienbeing John Kelly knows what fascism is, and he says Trump "fits the definition."

"Fascist" was the name of a political party in Italy in the 1920s to 1940s. (The German equivalent of Fascist was called "Nazi." ) Trump is currently using the name of a venerable old Party that originated in 1850s America, whose most famous member was Abraham Lincoln. But Trump's ideology bears no resemblance to the Party of Lincoln. In fact, Trump has assumed the mantle of leader of a cult of personality, and its tactics and language is decidedly fascist in nature. Since "Fascist" was a name specific to a particular time in a previous century and a different country, we can only correctly use the word "fascist" in reference to Trump as an adjective, not as a proper noun. The adjective is understood to connote a particular set of characteristics, all of which Donald J Trump embraces or embodies.

Here is a list of "fascist" tactics used by Hitler, Mussolini, and now Trump:

1. Elevate the will of the charismatic leader over the rule of law (This is big part of the personality cult)

2. Suspend or simply trash the Constitution

3. Vilify and demonize the free press

4. Scapegoat a less powerful minority group

5. Refuse to accept the results of elections that don't go their way

6. Embrace and/or refuse to disavow violence as a means for obtaining or maintaining political power

7. Pack government with sycophants and yes-men

8. Support other fascists and autocrats abroad

9. Whip up fear with lies and demagoguery

10. Falsely claim "I alone can fix it."

11. Double down on lies, repeat lies ad nauseam

12. Never admit to a having made a mistake

13. Demonize political opponents

14. Pander to the base; tell them whatever they want to hear

15. Claim to be persecuted; play the martyr

16. Use rhetoric and design policies centered on grievance

17. Overwhelm the electorate with chaos and lies

18. Fill the zone with shit: the goal is to get people to distrust everything they see and hear. To achieve this, denigrate and cast aspersions on all institutions that use evidence to establish facts, i.e. the judicial system, journalism, academia, and science; simultaneously produce a tsunami of disinformation and conspiracy theories. When people are sufficiently overwhelmed, throwing up their hands in fatigue and/or disgust, they are primed for the authoritarian/strong man/demagogue/fascist to take charge.
    

@Alienbeing "In his book How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them (2018), Jason Stanley defined fascism thusly:

[A] cult of the leader who promises national restoration in the face of humiliation brought on by supposed communists, Marxists and minorities and immigrants who are supposedly posing a threat to the character and the history of a nation ... The leader proposes that only he can solve it and all of his political opponents are enemies or traitors."

@Flyingsaucesir The list you supplied does not even attempt to justify its listings. You are an easy target aren't you?

@Flyingsaucesir I certainly subscribe to anything Jason Stanley says (not)

When you can exemplify anything Trump did during his Presidency that either of your two recent posts note, please do so.

If you muster strength to do so, remember I am not a Trump fan, I just don't like bullshit.

@Alienbeing There are none so blind as those who will not see

@Flyingsaucesir Such as yourself.

@Alienbeing I have created a post that answers your assertion, but the site (administrator?) keeps deleting my posts. I will try again using the workaround suggested by @DenoPenno

@Flyingsaucesir What assertion are you referring to?

P.S. I have never had any post or reply rejected, I wonder why you have.

@Alienbeing Neither had I, until this election came around. Silencing me is another manifestation of the Republican/MAGA need to cheat in order to win. Anyway, here are the links I would have posted.

A historian of fascism changes his mind. Yes, Trump is a fascist
[currentpub.com]

Is Donald Trump a fascist? Here’s what an expert thinks
[theconversation.com]

Ruth Ben-Ghiat: Trump’s Dehumanizing Rhetoric Is Adopting Franco’s Language of Fascism and Violence
[democracynow.org]

@Flyingsaucesir This site does not seem to be run by Conservatives, so your assertion that "Republican/MAGA" interests are behind your posts being deleted it totally without basis.

Citing other people that misuse the word fascist as you do does not enhance your argument.

@Alienbeing Your total lack of countervailing evidence to back up your pathetic and whiny opinion says it all. You got nothing!

Meanwhile, these "people" I cite are experts in the field: professors of history who specialize in 20th century authoritarianism. But go ahead and dismiss them, as you do anything that does not conform to your silly, preconceived notions.

Robert Paxton is one of the foremost American experts on fascism and perhaps the greatest living American scholar of mid-20th-century European history.

John Kelly is a retired 4-star Marine Corps general. Ever heard the phrase, "know your enemy?" It goes all the way back to Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

Mark Milley is also a retired 4-star general. Like Kelly, he has also studied history and knows our enemies.

Federico Finchelstein is a professor of history at the New School for Social Research.

Timothy Snyder is a professor of history and global affairs at Yale University

Ruth Ben Ghiat is a professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University. (Italy is where fascism was born, btw.) She observes that, so far, Trump has been forced to operate within the bounds of democracy, but if not so constrained, he would, based on his own rhetoric and actions, be a full-blown fascist.

(Sound of dusting off hands)

@Flyingsaucesir You are stubborn, too bad you aren't correct.

How will you look when/if you turn 100? At least he has his mental faculties intact.

@Organist1 lmao are you sure about that

@Communistbitch Yes.

@Organist1 that old man doesn't look like his mental faculties are intact. He looks like a corpse

@Communistbitch He has survived cancer that his doctors thought would kill him a long time ago. He just lost the love of his life, yet he wished to stay alive long enough to vote for Kamala. That makes him more with it than almost half the country.

@Organist1 sounds like a sad life to me.

@Communistbitch Carter did not live a sad life, and he is surrounded by love.

Don't worry, he is most likely dead most of the time mentally. They say he stayed alive so he could vote (like he would have any control over that other than suicide ) but that's a bunch of BS. I watched both of my parents go through this. Once they get to that stage, they're unable to do anything physically. They're just a shell waiting for the last couple of vital organs to shut down. The mind MAY still be there, but they can barely ever vocalize any coherent thoughts. Very sad condition to witness. Once my parents got to this stage of 'mouth open, eyes closed and asleep 95% of the time', it's usually just a matter of days. But don't worry, if the DNC has their way, he'll vote again next election. I want to see a video of him filling out his ballot. Don't care how, by hand, or even an eye tracking device on a computer. If you can't do it yourself, you can't vote. Otherwise, how do we know the one doing it for you actually does it correctly? There needs to be a way of verifying.

@Organist1 voting for kamala is an achievement? I don't think so. Maybe living to 100 is, but you didn't describe a happy life

@Communistbitch What do you think Jimmie Carter's achievements of the past decades have been? Do you think they made him happy? They seem to have made others happy. To a nice person like him, that describes a happy life. Some people live to make others happy. Other people like Trump live to make people miserable. I choose Carter's approach. How about you?

@Organist1 yeah I don't think so. I don't think neither one of these fools know who we are, or even give a fuck, it's part of your sick delusion.

@Communistbitch "either", not "neither."

@Organist1 I used to know a family that lived in one of the many houses built by Jimmy's organization, Habitat For Humanity. Without that house they would have been out on the street.

@Flyingsaucesir Jimmie Carter seems to have been one of the most selfless people in public life. I so wish there were more like him. My son used to work in a Habitat store as a volunteer. They furnished lots of peoples' houses for very little money.

Ja.

Biden did not win because he was an outstanding candidate. He simply was not Trump. The problem is that the odour of Trump's term has dissipated since.