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“Start a war with a weak country and your chances for reelection are high”—that is what some American presidents learn from U.S. history.
When we look at the US history, it becomes obvious that many American presidents start a war to get reelected.
They check the past history and realize that when a sitting US president starts a war with another country, a majority of Americans get united behind a sitting president. When the next election comes while this war is going on, usually the majority of Americans blinded by massive propaganda vote for the sitting president and the macho looking sitting president gets reelected! There is a close connection between a war president and his chance for reelection. Rarely, has a sitting president been defeated during a war. History proves this. Let’s look at history:
- The war of 1812: James Madison gets reelected in 1812
- The Civil War of 1864: Abraham Lincoln gets reelected in 1864
- World War-I: Woodrow Wilson was not at war but near it- gets reelected in 1916
- Spanish-American War’s end in 1900: Willian McKinley reelected
- World War-II: Franklin D. Roosevelt, not at war yet but nearing it; gets reelected in 1940. Then at war, gets elected 3rd time in 1944.
- The Vietnam War: Lyndon B. Johnson: He was supportive of escalation of the Vietnam War. Fake ‘Gulf of Tonkin” incident, gets reelected in 1964.
- The Vietnam War: Richard Nixon: was reelected in 1972.
- Iraq and Afghanistan Wars: George W. Bush: was reelected in 2004.
George H. W. Bush Sr. attacked a small weak country of Panama and started foolish Gulf War on Iraq but lost to Bill Clinton due to bad economy and Ross Perot’s candidacy which took away close to 20% of the Republican votes.
Jimmy Carter, perhaps the most honest president in recent American history, never started a war even though Iran had captured 52 Americans as hostages for many days. Also, he achieved a major peace agreement between Egypt and Israel but peace dividend did not help him in his reelection to the presidency. So, he was depicted as a weak president that destroyed his reelection chances and he lost the reelection to Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Also, the 38th President Gerald Ford was in office from 1974 to end of 1976 never started any foreign war. He too like President Carter was defeated in the next election. Of course, there are other reasons for his defeat. But if he had started a major war, it is likely that the country would unite behind him and vote for him in the next election.
President Barack Obama unnecessarily started a war with Libya on 19th March 2011. There was no legitimate reason for this foolish war. France and Britain (as always) were also complicit in this immoral war that resulted in the death of its leader of many years, Muammar Gaddafi. Today, Libya, once a normal country, is ruined and in chaos. Of course, Obama’s eyes were on his forthcoming reelection of 2012. This attack on Libya turned out to be a disaster but Obama had likely hoped that he would establish a ‘democracy’ in Libya, exploit its vast oil reserves and boast about it in his reelection campaign of 2012.
Recently, why did Joe Biden provoke Russia to start a proxy war between Russia and Ukraine? There was no need for this war. All Russia wanted was for Ukraine not be allowed to join NATO. A very legitimate reason because Ukraine’s eastern border is 10 minutes’ flying time to Moscow for a nuclear armed US supplied missile that NATO would have placed on Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia as a member of NATO. It should be noted that United States had given promises to Gorbachev in 1989-90 by the Bush Sr. administration not to expand NATO “one inch eastward from East Germany’s border after allowing East Germany to join West Germany.
It is quite likely that President Biden wants to look “macho” by cowing down Russia in this manner and get reelected in the coming 2024 election.
American history proves that majority of American presidents start a war with or attack a weak country—where quick victory is assured—and claim ‘victory’ during the reelection campaign. Unfortunately, history repeats itself. Additionally, there are other reasons a US president starts a war or attacks another small and weak country if he is in trouble due to a recession, economic downturn, sex scandal, impeachment, or very low popularity votes.
Bill Clinton is a recent example of this: Did he bomb Sudan and Afghanistan with missile strikes to deflect attention of the American public from his domestic troubles emanating from his sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky—his 22-year-old intern—and forthcoming impeachment? It is quite likely. A pharmaceutical factory—the only one they had–of Sudan was destroyed by this criminal bombing.
For an incumbent American president, it does not cost him anything to attack a weak country. He is immune from prosecution. The American people pay for these illegal, immoral wars. People in the victim country pay heavily for this war. But they have no power or no say. But the dividends are great. He looks strong, macho, and very likely gets reelected.
In conclusion, though other reasons for a president’s defeat or victory do play a part, but on many occasions, a war president in America does get rewarded with getting reelected by a majority of Americans, deluded by massive government propaganda, vote for the running president.
Incumbent American presidents and their administrative cronies don’t care how many innocent civilians they kill by starting a criminal and illegal war against a weak country, as long as they get reelected in the next election. That is the sad story of American Empire.
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Chaitanya Davé is a Chemical Engineer and a businessman. He has authored three books: CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY: A Shocking Record of US Crimes since 1776-2007, COLLAPSE: Civilization on the Brink-2010, CAPITALISM’S MARCH OF DESTRUCTION: Replacing it with People and Nature-Friendly Economy. Author of many articles on politics, history, and the environment. Founder/President of a non-profit charity foundation helping the poor villagers of India, Nepal, Haiti, USA-homeless and other poor countries. He can be contacted at [email protected].
He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
