Amen, brother. Amen. The future of our Republic is very much at stake. Be prepared, or best get prepared quickly. It’s going to be a bumpy ride. May God bless America.
Trump is a lot like Truman
1. Harry S. Truman (1947–1949: The 80th Congress) Truman is the most direct historical parallel to an aggressive, embattled executive taking on a hostile legislative branch. The Situation: In the 1946 midterms, Republicans swept both chambers of Congress for the first time in nearly two decades. Truman was dismissed by Washington insiders as an accidental, weak caretaker president. The Opposition: Truman famously dubbed them the “Do-Nothing, Good-for-Nothing 80th Congress” and used them as an adversarial foil. The Achievement: Despite brutal partisan warfare, Truman’s executive tenacity—backed by foreign policy figures like George Marshall—pushed through the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, created the Department of Defense and the National Security Council (National Security Act of 1947), launched the Truman Doctrine, and integrated the U.S. Armed Forces via Executive Order 9981. He then went on his legendary 1948 "Whistle-Stop" tour and defeated Thomas Dewey in one of the greatest upsets in presidential history. Today, Truman is consistently ranked among the top ten American presidents.
2. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1955–1961: The 84th, 85th, and 86th Congresses) Eisenhower was a literal "Savior General" who spent six of his eight years in the White House with Democrats controlling both the House and the Senate. The Situation: After losing the Republican majorities in 1954, Ike governed from the center-right while facing Democratic leaders like House Speaker Sam Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson. The Achievement: Instead of grinding the country to a halt, Eisenhower leaned on his immense personal stature and executive discipline. Facing a Democratic Congress, he enacted the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 (building the Interstate Highway System—the largest public infrastructure project in world history), created NASA, admitted Alaska and Hawaii to the Union, and signed the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction (the Civil Rights Act of 1957). He ended the Korean War and maintained peace and fiscal solvency throughout the Cold War.
3. Bill Clinton (1995–2001: The 104th, 105th, and 106th Congresses) For a modern example of an executive boxed in by an opposition majority, Clinton's post-1994 term is the playbook for "triangulation." The Situation: The 1994 "Republican Revolution" handed both the House and Senate to Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole. The Achievement: After a government shutdown in 1995, Clinton declared "the era of big government is over." He used veto leverage to force concessions, signing major bipartisan achievements: the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and deregulation packages that led to four consecutive federal budget surpluses—the only balanced budgets in modern memory. He left office with approval ratings above 65%.
(Honorable Mention) Ronald Reagan (1987–1989: The 100th Congress) While Reagan had a Republican Senate from 1981 to 1986, the Democrats took back the Senate in 1986, giving them full control of Congress for Reagan’s final two years. The Achievement: Despite Democrats controlling both chambers during the height of the Iran-Contra hearings, Reagan operated from executive momentum on the global stage. He bypassed congressional skepticism to sign the INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) with Mikhail Gorbachev, eliminating an entire category of nuclear weapons and laying the groundwork for the fall of the Soviet empire.
We all need to pray is right....