#Presidential Recordings

[deadpresidents]

Are there any tapes of lbj not being gentle with the johnson treatment?

You bet there are!

My favorite is this phone call with Senator Richard Russell of Georgia. Senator Russell had been one of Lyndon Johnson's mentors in Congress. When Johnson arrived in Washington, he quickly recognized that Russell was a lonely bachelor and workaholic with no close friends or family, so he ingratiated himself with Russell, invited him to meals and holidays at the Johnson home so that Russell felt like he was part of the family. LBJ relentlessly sucked up to Russell and treated him as a father figure throughout Johnson's time in Congress, even after Johnson became Senate Majority Leader (LBJ did the same thing with powerful House Speaker Sam Rayburn).

When John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the relationship between LBJ and his longtime mentor quickly changed. In the days following the assassination, LBJ formed the Warren Commission to investigate the President's murder, and he was determined to have Russell be a part of the Commission, but Senator Russell hated Chief Justice Earl Warren, who LBJ put in charge of the Commission. Russell kept trying to beg off of serving on the Commission for various reasons -- not knowing that, while he was speaking on the phone to LBJ, Johnson had already officially released the names of the Commission's members to the press. (Which led to this great exchange: RUSSELL: "Mr. President, please..." LBJ: "No, it's already done. It's been announced." RUSSELL: (Shocked and stammering) "You mean you gave..." LBJ: "Yes, sir. I gave the announcement, it's already in the papers...")

So we have the audio of this remarkable phone call from November 29, 1963 between Senator Russell and LBJ. If you listen to the entire phone call, you hear LBJ go from 0 to 100 with the Johnson Treatment -- he begins with flattery and heartfelt appeals to Russell's patriotism before making it clear (in the segment of the phone call posted below) that he's not really asking Russell; he's telling him that he's going to be a part of the Commission, making it clear that the dynamic has changed and that President Johnson is the most powerful person in the world and not afraid to prove it. The crazy thing is that, at the time of this phone call, LBJ had only been President for exactly one week. He hadn't even moved into the White House yet! But this is where we get this quintessential Johnson Treatment moment:

"You are my man on that Commission and you are gonna do it. And don't tell me what you can do and what you can't because I can't arrest you and I'm not gonna put the FBI on you, but you're goddamn sure gonna serve, I'll tell you that!"

[ceilidhtransing]

If you hear Republicans speak to other Republicans, you'll hear a lot of them say that they really don't like Trump for whatever reason (many of them aren't fans of the felony convictions, his personal manner, his business dealings, his family life, or whatever else) but that they'll still be voting for him because he'll get them closer to what they ultimately want. They're pragmatic; they don't demand purity in their candidate. They recognise him as their strategic choice so they'll set aside the issues they have with him and vote as a bloc. That's what makes them effective at getting their way. That's how they win elections.

And boy I wish we had more of that attitude on the left. Imagine what we could get done.

[thashining]

You all don’t seem to understand, they are going to amendment 25 trump and put Vance in office! THIS is what the heritage foundation wanted all along. VOTE BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!💙

[libraryjournal]

Never mess with an archivist.

[thelesbianthespianposts]

18 minutes in and he’s just mentioned Reagan for the first time

[jessica-marie-baumgartner]

I scoured Vance's X timeline for this one. Mainly to get my husband no board since he doesn't trust anyone but Trump.

[notyournightsky]

That was exhausting

[more-flotsam-and-jetsam]

[fishbonedotcom]

I think people need more faith in the d20 gang to tell a interesting story. Yah the bad kids are having a rough time rn, thats how conflict works. Like yes absolutely Fabian could pay for Riz to go to college. And he would. But thats not a story that takes 2 months to develop, its not interesting

[windandwater]

who's gonna tell tumblr that public figures saying violence is bad isn't "centrist" it's just how our culture expects decent people to behave when someone is nearly (or actually) assassinated

edit: oh and yes, everyone, people can care about the state of US politics *and* the state of the world! imagine! making a statement about this does not mean people don't care about violence overseas!

FUCK I'm tired

[deadpresidents]

A very gentle example of Lyndon B. Johnson using the "Johnson Treatment" in a conversation with Texas Congressman Albert Thomas on December 20, 1963, less than a month after LBJ assumed the Presidency following President Kennedy's assassination.

[rattenmann]

i swear i tried to watch the debate, i just couldn’t. i had to full on leave my house and go on a walk because trumps arguments were so bad.

[clothedinblack]

It is INSANE to me how yall (referring to the media and a large swath of mainstream public opinion, not my beautiful mutuals) are blaming Jill Biden for Joe's disastrous debate last week and his ongoing candidacy. First of all, for all we know, she could be urging him to drop out behind closed doors, but of course they have to put up a united front publicly even if they're having those conversations in private. Secondly, when has the media ever given a First Lady credit when the President does something good? Or is acknowledging the First Lady's relevance only reserved for when something goes wrong? It's amazing how many people are putting this all on her rather than Joe himself and his entire campaign team.

[pcttrailsidereader]

The Harris Public Lands Policy - What We Might Expect

By and large, the track record of the Biden-Harris contrasts with the Trump administration record and the 2025 Project outline as it relates to public lands. For decades, the federal government has prioritized oil and gas drilling, hardrock mining and livestock grazing on public lands across the country (for that reason, some have referred to the BLM as the Bureau of Logging and Mining). The Biden administration recently issued a far-reaching Interior Department rule that puts conservation, recreation and renewable energy development on equal footing with resource extraction.

This represents a huge shift in the management of roughly 245 million acres of public property — about one-tenth of the nation’s land mass. The extent to which this change will withstand the inevitable legal challenges from fossil fuel industry groups and Republican officials is unclear. It will be intensely contested.

It does open the door for the BLM to auction off “restoration leases” and “mitigation leases” to entities with plans to restore or conserve public lands.

The Biden administration has conserved more than 41 million acres of land and water. This includes restoration of some of the National Monuments reduced under the Trump administration (Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monuments). He also cancelled the leases granted by the Trump administration to explore for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.

Biden also established a national goal to conserve at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and freshwater and 30 percent of U.S. ocean areas by 2030, in an initiative commonly referred to as 30x30. This is an ambitious initiative that has received significant pushback as a government 'land grab'.

Although Biden has disappointed some in the environmental movement, the Biden-Harris administration has acknowledged that climate change is real and requires action, has significant achievements in land and water conservation, and has undone a number of the Trump administration decisions.

Whether Harris would continue this trend is likely but not a certainty. However, in her campaign speeches she has been pragmatic but aggressive in her support for the environment and careful stewardship of natural resources. And Walz has promoted a $2B initiative to help the State of Minnesota reduce its carbon footprint.

Although the Trump administration does have to its credit the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), the legacy of Trump is one that should be of concern to most of us who love the PCT, the wilderness, and are concerned about our climate. In looking at the record of both candidates, it seems clear based upon their respective records and stated plans, that it is very important that you get out and vote . . . and consider carefully the Trump and the Harris commitment to caring for the planet and how they fit with your values.

It is imperative that those of us who use and love the land, make our voices heard by voting!

[stirdrawsandreblaws]

screaming crying coughing up blood every time i have to fucking defend genocide joe bc ppl wanna lie and say he isn't responsible for most of the best domestic policy we've seen in decades

his foreign policy is dogshit, yes, and he should rightly be called on it and primaried out, but we can criticize the shit he's actually done wrong instead of making shit up about him ~not doing anything good~

[newsreleted]

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