“He thought “the people” (at least some of them) would follow him to the gates of hell.”
Enough of him to get him elected were willing. Not only by the party he walked away from but the party not of the people at the time, just like now. This fixation of party in the country has formed a fence between information and knowledge, concern and compassion, and has brought the halting of discussion on how to best handle the people’s problems and not trying to get a paycheck getting by.
“He couldn’t get the GOP nomination over President Taft, so he was going to go the third party route, nation be damned. He didn’t care about the people. TR cared about TR.”
In the 1908 presidential election, Roosevelt helped ensure that he would be succeeded by Secretary of War Taft. Although Taft entered office determined to advance Roosevelt’s Square Deal domestic agenda, he stumbled badly during the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act debate and the Pinchot–Ballinger controversy. The political fallout of these events divided the Republican Party and alienated Roosevelt from his former friend.
Progressive Republican leader Robert M. La Follette had already announced a challenge to Taft for the 1912 Republican nomination, but many of his supporters shifted to Roosevelt after the former president decided to seek a third presidential term, which was permissible under the Constitution prior to the ratification of the Twenty-second Amendment. At the 1912 Republican National Convention, Taft narrowly defeated Roosevelt for the party’s presidential nomination. You’ll notice the “party’s nomination.” Just like what happened to Trump, lack of support. And that continues today. In Reagan’s case, he made a deal not to put a muzzle on the liberals in congress and gave them some leeway in spending in the house. But they lied to him and went ahead with their agenda and the republicans sat on the lips and let Reagan take the hit for a bad economy. And that keeps repeating today.
Now, as for ego, there is no way you can tell me T Roosevelt, who represented the people with his square deal policies, was anywhere near as arrogant as Clinton and especially Obama. They both literally challenged the GOP through their control of party affiliation. Every major discussion was tossed not based upon the facts of the need, but the determination of the party platform. That has lead to huge inflation, illegal alien entries, threats from other nations that before wee scared to death of us, and the growth of hundreds of terrorist organizations that have infiltrated us, some right out in the open like the Reedley incident. Sound like they were trying to be concerned with the people? That’s what got people like Roosevelt, Reagan, and Trump elected. The need was more important than the platform.
“What kind of a person gets shot - as he did - and insists on delivering a political speech until he finishes, and then decides to have it treated? This is not someone playing with a full deck.”
I know a number of them. They belong to the US military and had determined for themselves they are going to complete the mission that in their case was protecting people. And the books are full of them many receiving the Congressional. This was the military T Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump supported. Crazy? Need more of them.
wy69
We’re simply not going to agree on TR at all. My favorite President of the 20th century is likely to remain Warren Harding. He wasn’t angling for wars. He wasn’t angling to “help” America with massive spending and government programs. He knew the enemy of America WAS the government. He cut it, cut taxes, spending and the actual size of government. He got out of the way to let America prosper. For that reason, he’s hated by the intellectual elite. The Harding Model remains one of the best of any President.