Editor's note: Dr. Pierce Roberts co-authored this column.
There is an acronym in the military—RHIP—Rank Has Its Privilege. Another similar sentiment: "It’s good to be king." The 1981 Mel Brooks’ movie, “History of the World—Part I,” is a spoof on the idea that it's good to be king. Even the late-great rock star Tom Petty penned a song, “It’s Good to Be King”-- It's good to be king and have your own way, Get a feeling of peace at the end of the day, And when your bulldog barks and your canary sings, You're out there with winners, it's good to be king.”
The phrase should really be, “It’s pretty good to be a Democrat king.” John Fitzgerald Kennedy, whose father was a notorious bootlegger during Prohibition, was the role model for another Democrat president with his open philandering with beautiful women in the White House Camelot. Aware of his indiscretions, the press still covered for him and painted Kennedy as an American hero. Democrats revere him to this day.
Womanizer President 42 (pre-#MeToo), William Jefferson “Bubba” Clinton, also escaped with far less philandering ridicule during his two terms in office than the unsubstantiated claims leveled against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh; justified claims Bubba spent two decades earning. This was because of the high-tech boom that floated all markets to all-time highs during Clinton's time in office. He did nothing to enable the rise of high tech but was given erroneous credit for it by a fawning MSM. The press largely ignored Clinton's militant involvement in the NATO intervention efforts in the Bosnian War. That intervention grew in scope as the war raged on with the Serbs using a surface-to-air missile to shoot down an American pilot; the worst criticism Mr. Clinton received from his involvement was portrayed in the movie, “Wag the Dog,” which gently implied “a president” did this for political gain. The MSM even gave Clinton and his dominatrix wife, Hillary, a hall pass on the William J. Clinton Foundation, later renamed the Bill-Hillary and Chelsea Family Foundation, where criminal international favors were exchanged for financial support to the tune of $212M. It sure was good for Bill to be king!
Lyndon Baines Johnson received a press pass on his long history of racist remarks and buffoonery by signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1965. According to Robert A. Caro, Robert Parker, Johnson's occasional chauffeur, described in his memoir, Capitol Hill in Black and White, that Johnson once asked Parker if he'd prefer to be referred to by his name rather than "boy," "nigger" or "chief." When Parker said he preferred the use of his name, Johnson grew angry and said, "As long as you are black, and you’re gonna be black till the day you die, no one’s gonna call you by your goddamn name. So no matter what you are called, nigger, you just let it roll off your back like water, and you’ll make it. Just pretend you’re a goddamn piece of furniture." The press responded with crickets.
James Earl Carter Jr. escaped censure after his inept diplomacy during the Iranian Hostage Crisis when Ayatollah-inspired militants stormed the American Embassy in Tehran taking 70 Americans captive for 444 days. It wasn’t President Carter’s doing; he was just placed in an untenable situation and the MSM lionized him as a “God-fearing, decent man,” instead of a tin-eared incompetent which he proved to be.
On the other hand, President Trump’s treatment by the MSM -- despite taking out Iranian terrorist #1, Qasem Soleimani, and bringing Israel and several Middle Eastern countries peacefully together for the first time ever -- proves it's not always good to be king even when you do things really well. Fake news often only gives accolades to their fake heroes.
So, if you’re a conservative president, is it actually good to be king? The short answer is: not so much.
Richard Millhouse Nixon got us out of the Vietnam fiasco that Democratic Presidents Kennedy and LBJ mired American in at a cost of 58,220 American lives and 304,000 wounded troops. Some 2.7 million American patriots served in the protracted conflict. President Nixon resigned, facing impeachment for wiretapping Democrats at the Watergate Hotel.
Joseph Robinette (Sleepy Joe) Biden Jr. stood silently by without any concerted campaign presence as the media campaigned on his behalf. Long live the new king!
George H. W. Bush barely survived his invasion of Panama to remove dictator Manuel Noriega, his alleged support for the CIA intervention in the Gulf War, his appointment of liberal Supreme Court Justice David Souter and the creation of NAFTA, which disastrously began stripping America of its homegrown industrial production. Bush 41 served just one term as president, losing to “Bubba” Clinton because of a poor economy and Bush's decision to raise taxes for government funding. People read his lips and sent his political career to the guillotine.
H. W.’s son, George W. Bush befell the same anti-Republican litany. The MSM nicknamed him DUBYA (despite his “one-world” behavior, but NEVER a Democrat!) and “purveyor of endless War.” The MSM characterized DUBYA as a ruler “unconstrained by law.” In one example, Bush allegedly violated the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment by labeling a US citizen, Jose Padilla, an “enemy combatant” and holding him for three-and-a-half years without a charge. The Bush administration utilized the “enemy combatant” concept, which defines a class of prisoner beneath national and international law. In another example, Bush, upon signing the defense appropriation bill, also signed a statement saying he had the right to ignore the provision in the bill banning torture.” His alleged dictatorial abuse of power was in response to the unprecedented and tragic events of the September 11th terrorist attacks.
Some kings are born into power. Others are raised by outside forces and anointed to the position. Those forces often elevate political puppets whose strings are controlled for the purposes of the elites. Lion-hearted kings are a rarity now when leftist politics deny the truth and have no interest in serving the American people.
As we lose our lion-hearted Donald J. Trump to Joe Biden, one thing is now certain: It isn’t good to be king if you’re a Republican.