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Thank you for another Letter linking key elements of now and then,,,, How the crimes of Republican Presidents and their supporters have multiplied---without consequences. Really horrifying when totaled up. The Iran-Con events wrought horror upon horror in Latin America to the disgrace of this nation. We created the horrors people are now fleeing..

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Agree! Thanks for tying the Reagan administration to the chaos in Central and South America which, in part, is responsible for the failure of small nations and the subsequent flood of migrants. Also at fault are climate issues resulting in failed crops and farms.

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HCR’s concluding paragraph tonight neatly illustrates the problem America has had, at least through my long adult lifetime, and possibly throughout our entire short national history:

“Walsh’s warning seems to be coming to life. The Republican Party now stands behind a man whose legal troubles currently include indictment on 40 counts for taking and hiding classified national security documents and on four counts of trying to steal an election in order to stay in power. “

And yet most citizens here continue continue to swallow the myth that “no man is above the law” in this “exceptional” nation. We condemn other countries such as China for their records on human rights violations and yet we continue to demonstrate gratuitous systemic racism to the world at large. We condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine while the echoes of Viet Nam and Iraq still reverberate.

Two words spring to mind in the face of this righteous pontification: “arrogance” and “hypocrisy”. It’s easy to see why America is viewed with suspicion and disdain in so many parts of the world, in spite of the positive things we occasionally try to achieve. And it’s sometimes difficult to face this reality.

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Well done. We have done good things for the world but hubris (and I would add Puritanism thinking of the Dulles brothers) has given US some terrible excesses to tarnish our reputation for giving.

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I am glad to hear someone else bring up the the dull-is brothers. Assassins and creeps tarnishing Christian values.

Take their names off our airport!

Get all the tarnish off and polish our domains with young energetic Americans who will live with their accomplishments with pride.

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Like many Americans, their “mistaken” actions outweighed their useful ones. Encouraging wars is high on the list of “get their names off our airport.!” The besetting American sin is greed run amok. The Dulles brothers probably had another problem: a sense of entitlement.

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Well said and thank you. I love it when I read someone who can articulate my thoughts on subject.

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Reagan was guilty of so much, I remember lying Oliver North, who went on to become worse than the Watergate crowd, just no tapes…

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And they've gotten progressively worse with each one that weasels his way into office. McConnell aided and abetted by Traitor45 destroys SCOTUS, and then Traitor45 tries to overthrow the election and thereby what's left of our democracy! Surely they've reached the nadir by now!?

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Don’t count on it. They still blather about civil war.

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Grover, if we do not stop Trump and his minions, more Americans will be fleeing the US!!!It is frightening however, the people who actually believe this man's lies. I could never understand how so many of the great German people could believe Hitler or go along with his plans...until now!!!!

Are we paralyzed??? Is the truth so difficult to accept??? Are we too proud, or shocked, to shake ourselves into the reality that is being played out before us??? We are reading about and writing about and angry about the things that are happening before us....to the United States of America...."the land of the free....the home of the brave....."

What we are seeing now did not just happen!!! It is like the old "frog in the kettle story".....the frog does not even realize what is happening to it....gradually the water heats up and the frog dies without even realizing (or admitting) its life was/is at risk. The life of our country....our freedom.... is at risk!!!! Were WW1 and WW2 for naught???

Thanks to women like Heather and Joyce Vance who speak the truth from our history...from our legal system and to others whom I deeply appreciate, who help us understand what is happening within our country.

Thanks and prayers to the judges who are working for justice...God protect them and their families....may our laws stand firm!!!!

I was so grateful for the recent voting in Ohio....Americans CAN stand up for freedom...we CAN come to the voting booths .... we CAN make our voices heard!!!!

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HCR continues to peddle the groundless and baseless partisan propaganda insinuation that Trump knew that his accusations of election fraud were false.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-9-2023/comment/22143214

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The evidence is there. The ONLY solution he would have accepted is that he won. Evidence be damned. Don't believe her? Do your own homework.

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Rickey Woodey,

lin gave a response to my developing presentation of my assessment that contains a lot of food for thought, here:

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-9-2023/comment/22147663

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One of two things about Trump’s knowledge of his loss is true: he either knew and decided on a course of action to conceal that knowledge or he is truly stupid and clueless. You choose. I suggest it the former, what do you think?

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A third possibility, and one which I think is most likely, is that January 6 Defendant #1078 knew Biden won the election fairly, but J6 D1078 is also stupid and vain, and considers that the law can't touch him, so chose to go along with "attorney" (that leaves a foul taste in the mouth) cheesybro (or whatever)'s "bold, controversial" strategy, suborning some Americans and lying to others to become false electors and then arm-twisting VP Pence into stealing the election. And if there are riots after millions of Americans votes were stolen? Well, to quote one of the as-yet unindicted (or indicted, but under sealed indictment) co-conspirators, "that's what the Insurrection Act is for", appealing to the internal mob boss persona of the disgraced individual which formerly infested our White House.

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Kathleen Reed,

lin gave a response to my developing presentation of my assessment that contains a lot of food for thought, here:

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-9-2023/comment/22147663

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meh

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Heather Elowe, your source does not address the question of whether Trump BELIEVED that his claims of election fraud were true.

HCR also dishonestly avoids this point:

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-9-2023/comment/22143214

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He "believed" what he wanted to believe, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Just another ploy on his part to avoid responsibility for anything.

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Ann, just like he “believes” he’s never done anything wrong despite glaring proof and numerous indictments.

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John it matters not that Trump “believed” he won. He broke the law.

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I believe I'm a millionaire-my belief doesn't make it so.

How do you know he believed it?

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Gail Adams,

lin gave a response to my developing presentation of my assessment that contains a lot of food for thought, here:

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-9-2023/comment/22147663

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I read it.

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LOL.

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