#Presidential Recordings

[deadpresidents]

"We've just got to go after him. And...put him right where he belongs: with [Barry] Goldwater] around his neck...He's got a better television personality and he's more effective. But he's more dangerous."

-- President Lyndon B. Johnson, telling California Governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, that the Democrats needed to portray Brown's opponent during the 1966 California Gubernatorial election, actor Ronald Reagan, as an extremist and link him with LBJ's unsuccessful opponent in the 1964 Presidential election, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, during a phone call recorded by LBJ's White House taping system on June 13, 1966.

[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

[weremuttz]

I'm less on team "what if more people voted" more "what if uninformed voters stayed the hell home."

The fact that so many people were googling in their booths "did joe biden drop out." The fact that so many progressive bills passed despite the advertisement campaigns against them in the same areas by the same margins that trump won. There were a lot of people this election cycle who checked the fuck out and voted based on name recognition. So many people who vote republican down the ballot out of ignorance, not because they align with those beliefs.

It reminds me of when my hometown had someone on the ballot who DID NOT LEGALLY EXIST because their name was first on the primary ballot, and people just voted for them because their name was listed first. (Guess who was listed first on most ballots....?)

Its still as useless as any other "what if," but still. More realistic than blaming people who didn't vote.

[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

[deadpresidents]

I’m curious about the friendship between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter (and presidential friendships in general,) I’d like to know what that looked like for them. Would they go and do things together or was it just a few phone calls a year?

Their relationship is really interesting because during the 1976 campaign and in the years right afterward, Ford and Carter genuinely did not like each other. It wasn't a normal, opponent vs. opponent rivalry, either. They straight-up disliked one another, and that was extremely unusual for Gerald Ford, who got along with practically everybody he met throughout his life, rarely had bad things to say about other people, and was almost physically incapable of being unkind to others, no matter what side of the political spectrum they belonged to.

What changed was when President Reagan sent all the living former Presidents -- Nixon, Ford, and Carter -- to Cairo in 1981 to attend Anwar Sadat's funeral following Sadat's assassination. The three former Presidents all flew together on one of the planes normally used as Air Force One, and there was some tension at the beginning, but the person who broke the ice, oddly enough, ended up being Richard Nixon. Ford then suggested that the former Presidents should drop all formalities and just refer to one another as Dick, Jerry, and Jimmy. As Ford remembered, "I guess we figured we were gonna be in a plane together forty hours, more or less, and in order to be pleasant, it was a good idea to just wipe the slate clean, which we did." Ford and Carter eventually started bonding, partly over the fact that Ronald Reagan was a major reason why each of them ultimately lost their respective bids for re-election.

At the time, Carter was having trouble building his Presidential Library, and he asked Ford for some advice since Ford had just recently opened his library. When Carter mentioned he was having some issues raising money for the library, Ford offered to come down and appear at fundraisers for him, and asked Carter to return the favor and visit the Ford Library for an event.

As Thomas M. DeFrank writes in his 2007 book, Write It When I'm Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations With Gerald R. Ford (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO):

"Carter accepted, triggering a Jimmy-Jerry tag team match extending over several years. These back-scratching appearances didn't convert them into friends, but the relationship was notably friendlier. They began staying in regular contact, talking on the phone, and exchanging birthday greetings. Their contacts were sufficiently public that some of Ford's closest political allies grumbled that he was spending altogether too much time with Carter -- not unlike similar complaints from [George H.W.] Bush 41 partisans today that he hangs around Bill Clinton too much. Ford brushed off the complaints. Beyond their shared practical interests in Presidential Libraries, another unifying bond was at play. Both ex-Presidents had strong reasons not to like Ronald Reagan, which helped cement their ties even though neither one would ever admit it publicly. To one old Ford friend, the calculation was simple: 'Once you did something for his library or museum, you were a friend for life.'"

As they got older, Ford and Carter would sometimes make joint appearances at Presidential Libraries or universities, or events for important causes, and they even wrote a joint op-ed during the Monica Lewinsky scandal urging Congress to censure President Clinton instead of impeaching him. They felt it was a bad precedent (which it has clearly turned out to be) and would be bad for the country. Unlike Ford, Jimmy Carter wasn't very easy-going or personable, so there were times when their friendship would get a little frayed. Ford once told a friend, "Well, you know Jimmy. He can be a real pain in the ass, but we get along."

Eventually, they promised one another that they would deliver the eulogy if the other former President died first. President Ford died first, on December 26, 2006, and Carter attended every event during the several days of ceremonies, from Ford's lying in state at the U.S. Capitol, to the national funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral, and traveled with Ford's family and the former President's remains to Ford's hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. At the church service in Grand Rapids, Carter delivered his eulogy, and also attended the private interment service when Ford was buried as at his Presidential Library. In his eulogy, Carter repeated the gracious first words he had said when delivering his Inaugural Address on the day he took over the White House from Ford in 1977, "For myself and for my nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land." It was a remarkable relationship between two former Presidents who, again, genuinely disliked one another for quite some time.

[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

[juniestar]

How on earth is harris v trump a tight race??? How do ppl look at donald trump having SEEN the way he acted in his presidential term, seen his LENGTHY criminal record, seen the fact that NOBODY else in his party aside from some loose hanging cultists wants to associate with him, seen the way he literally incited riots after losing an election which resulted in at least seven deaths, seen his total lack of coherent policy plan, and think yeah well but Kamala is a cop. Which isn’t even fucking true

[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!