"The nation, haunted by the stalemate in Korea, looks to Eisenhower. Eisenhower knows how to deal with the Russians. He has met Europe leaders, has got them working with us. Elect the number one man for the number one job of our time. November 4th vote for peace. Vote for Eisenhower."
Two of his campaign slogans were "I like Ike" and "Vote For Peace, Vote For Eisenhower."
Ike was a moderate Republican who stood up for working people -- who kept tax rates on the rich at 91 percent -- and made sure that the middle class in America was protected by FDR's New Deal policies.
As he told his brother Edgar in 1954 in a letter:
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history."
And Eisenhower was right -- the only way Republicans have been able to win the presidency since he left office in 1961 has been by outright treason, a criminal fraud involving conflicted members of the Supreme Court, or by being vice-president under an already-illegitimate president.
And that's where we are today, dealing with the aftermath of all these Republican crimes and six illegitimate Republican presidents stacking the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary.
And this doesn't even begin to tell the story of how the Republican majority in the senate represents 36 million fewer Americans than do the Democrats. Or how in most elections in past decades, Democrats have gotten more votes for the House of Representatives, but Republicans have controlled it because of gerrymandering.
This raises serious questions about the legitimacy of the modern Republican Party itself.
They work hand-in-glove with a group of right-wing billionaires and billionaire-owned or dominated media outlets like Fox and "conservative" TV and radio outlets across the nation, along with a very well-funded network of rightwing websites.
The Koch Network's various groups, for example, have more money, more offices, and more staff than the Republican Party itself. Three times more employees and twice the budget, in fact. Which raises the question: which is the dog, and which is the tail?
And, as we've seen so vividly in the "debate" about healthcare this year, the Republicans, like Richard Nixon, are not encumbered by the need to tell the truth.
Whether it's ending trade deals, bringing home jobs, protecting Social Security and Medicaid, or saving our public lands and environment -- virtually every promise that Trump ran and won on is being broken. Meanwhile, the oligarchs continue to pressure Republican senators to vote their way.
Meanwhile, a public trust that has taken 240 years to build is being destroyed, as public lands, regulatory agencies, and our courts are handed off to oligarchs and transnational corporations to exploit or destroy.
The Trump and Republican campaign of 2016, Americans are now discovering, was nearly all lies, well-supported by a vast right-wing media machine and a timid, profit-obsessed "mainstream" corporate media. Meanwhile, it seemed that all the Democrats could say was, "The children are watching!"
Fraud, treason, and lies have worked well for the GOP for half a century.
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