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I read in Ron Chernow’s book, that while the men in his administration were corrupt, Grant himself was not. Was he naive in the ways of politics?
Another thing that I took away from Chernow is that Grant may have been one of our most underrated presidents. Of course, every person has flaws and made bad decisions (i.e. Grant’s treatment of Southern Jews), but I’ve also learned to greatly admire Grant the man.
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Well, it was a different “media environment” back then so you’ll appreciate that it’s difficult to compare just on the basis of the public record alone.
But even without checking precisely, we can say that at least a dozen of Grant’s people were famous for their lies. Plus the nepotism in those days far out-ran what we see in the Age of Trump. And Grant was even more generous with his pardons than Trump has been so far.
All of which adds up to … a whole lot of corruption.
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But you always much more colorfully (i.e. “lying pukes” etc.) explain the details.
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Grant was not a crook, the proof being that he had no money when he left the White House, and had to write his memoirs as he badly needed the $$$.
Grant was never good with $$$, and tended to trust people, and just ended up with too many crooks in his administration as a result of paying off factions of the Republican Party. But I might add, that the corruption was just a continuation of the graft that had occurred under Lincoln and was the result of more money flowing through the federal government than ever before, in an era when the internal checks were weak.
Trump is now removing those checks, which is what this firing is about at bottom.
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My view:
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Chernow is generally reliable (not that you asked).
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I’d agree that some of the corruption in those days can be ascribed to Grant’s being too credulous – but not all of it.
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As noted above, I’d agree that “as a human being, Grant himself was not as vile as Trump is.”
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Having said all that, I can’t disagree with you that Grant is, these days, under-rated.
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As noted, I can’t disagree with this.
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The honor code is repeatedly breached. Not much more than PR veneer these days
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I’m pretty sure that went out the window long before he took on a job in this maladministration. He was a hack of a Representative in the House when he served, chasing partisan witch hunts against Dems so he could make a name for himself. He was one of the original teabaggers endorsed by Americans for Prosperity and was knee-deep in Koch Bros. sludge who donated heavily to him in his election. He’s climate change denier and a Muslim-basher from way back as well. Also another one of tRump’s faux Xtians. He was deplorable before the label of deplorable became front and center among tRump’s cadre of crooks.
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And he died 3 days after finishing his memoirs.
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No wonder the first story to pop up was that Pompeo used staffers to run his personal errands. I wonder whose idea it was to plant that? It would have been much easier to sweep under the rug.
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Yes, and that’s why I’d like to see more discussion of the arms sales.
I have not checked to see where our journalists are focusing. Have you?
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I think any thesis that trump understands anything that is not spoon fed to him by Fox News, or was told to him by someone within the last 15 minutes is suspect.
Trump is a dumb ass, and the idea that he knows what anyone in his administration is doing is imho not supported by the last three years.
People are portrayed to rump as “loyal” and as long as they fluff trump, he knows nothing and does not understand what is going on.
When it shows up on tv, and makes trump look bad, he goes into a rage. Rule one is it is all about trump. Rule two, look at rule one.
That this is stealing by “poor people” makes it all the worse.
Bottom line is that the Republican fascist boot-lickers up for re-election in 2020 can’t cross trump, but they need some “independence” to be able to point too. This is why Pompeo just burned up his fat whale ass with this grift.
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Every time I think the immorality and illegality of these scumbags can’t shock me any more, something like this comes out.
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Another day, another dawn, another day of corruption revealed and a multitude of lies.
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I would have thought so after he fired Flynn but he’s ready to bring him back to serve him again even after he’s pled guilty to the FBI. Sure, tRump hates when people make him look bad but Pompeo isn’t being disloyal. He’s just modeling the behavior of his boss. For that tRump will forgive as he did Ben Carson and others.
Also, take into account the patronage system in place at the time - pretty much every government job was awarded on the basis of political favors, rather than merit.
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He’s never been great at following commandments of any sort.
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Keep an eye on that.
Watch as various republicans try to create some distance from Trump, and Trump turns his wrath upon them instead. A vicious cycle in that regard is beginning. Trump falls behind in the polls, causing an angry response from Trump…the same drop in polls motivates more down ballot republicans to create strategies for electoral survival…which causes Trump to lash out at them…
Its the nightmare they have all been dreading since at least 2018.
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Pompeo: “It can’t be corruption if I say it wasn’t. (Don’t you little people understand ANYthing?)”
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