The Craziest Political Maneuvers of My Life Time!

One of my most significant pleasures (maybe it’s even a hobby) since the latter part of the 1960s has been observing national politics and the politics in my home state (Minnesota). I’m intrigued by the strange twists and turns politics takes in America. The last ten years have seen the most horrifying political activities I’ve ever witnessed – even stranger than the paranoiac activity of Richard M. Nixon and the very devious (and, I think, even illegal) manner in which Ronald Reagan ensured his presidential victory over Jimmy Carter.
by Charlie Leck

As for my own state, we’ve had some remarkable national and Minnesota politicians to observe and even analyze as a psychiatrist might – former congresswoman Michel Bachman and former governor and professional wrestler Jesse Ventura. In this time since the late sixties, we've also had some reasonable and stable Minnesota politicians to watch and try to figure out – Senator Eugene McCarthy (a scholar and poet) and his 1968 presidential bid that tore apart the traditional Democratic Party; Hubert H. Humphrey and his catastrophic loss to Richard M. Nixon is that 1968 election; Paul Wellstone’s ultra-liberal (but likeable and popular) tenure in the U.S. Senate; Norm Coleman (a thoroughly non-Minnesotan type of Minnesotan) and his occupation of a U.S. Senate seat for a short time); and now a former nationally-known comedian, Al Franken, getting himself elected, in a rout, to a seat in the U.S. Senate.

And now comes along Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders and Hillary (Mrs. Bill) Clinton. 2016 will be regarded as one of the most baffling, strange and ludicrous years in the history of American politics (it really, really will). So, you are living in a moment that will be regarded as very significant in American history, so shut up and pay attention and enjoy a few laughs, or even a lot of laughs, and guffaws

Neither national party has a monopoly hold on the strangeness, but I do think, if a cake were given to the weirdest political party situation, the Republican take one with double or triple chocolate with a dense filling of amazing, sticky, gooey stuff.

Donald Trump wants to be president of the United States and he has lots of followers who also want him to win his way to that national office. However, there are a lot of big-wigs in the national Republican Party who want him to go away and leave them alone. They have nearly as much distaste for the strange, evangelical Christian U.S. Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz. Together, these two guys, who are pursuing the nomination as the party candidate for the White House, have given the GOP party’s grand masters a heaping big bunch of ulcers.

Now – in the next several weeks – we get to watch how these top-shelf Republican masters will put together a strategy that will not allow Cruz or Trump to walk away from the national convention as the party’s presidential nominee. I’m betting on it and I’m preparing to watch the circus, and especially the clowns, very, very closely.

Donald Trump will not win the party’s nomination! Neither will Ted Cruz! Both are regarded by GOP insiders as losers and weirdos.

But, who will they put up instead? That is the wonderful question and that is what we, who love this kind of stuff, will try to figure out in the next several weeks. Will it be Mitt Romney who was found to be no match for President Obama in 2012? No, I don’t think so. Here, however, is a list of good and loyal Republicans who are very probably under consideration…

• Paul Ryan (Speaker of the House of Representative and Wisconsin Congressman)
• Condoleezza Rice (former Secretary of State and well-known scholar of no small proportion)
• James N. Mattis (former U.S. Marine General and a strong intellectual)
• Jeff Sessions (U.S. Senator from Alabama with a great deal of insider support)
• Rick Scott (Governor of the State of Florida)
• Ben Sasse (U.S. Senator from Nebraska and an early member of the never-Trump movement)
• Tom Coburn (former U.S. Senator from Oklahoma and a super-conservative who is likable)

There are whispers about each of these loyal Republicans. However, if I were a betting man, I’d put my money on the Speaker of the House. He keeps shouting (perhaps too loudly and too boldly) that he is not a candidate and will not be a candidate; and that’s just the kind of thing good candidates keep saying in these days before the national convention in Cleveland).

I don’t like Ryan and I don’t want him to be President; however, I would not lock myself in my bedroom if he were elected and I wouldn’t threaten to move to some other nation. Now, if Mr. Trump or Mr. Cruz were elected to that high office I would immediately go into a permanent fetal position.

It’s all going to be fun, so sit back and watch; and don’t forget to vote early and often (especially if you’re a Democrat)!

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