#presidential talk

[fictionadventurer]

I have to talk about Chester Arthur. His story makes me go crazy. A mediocre president from the 1880s who's completely forgotten today has one of the best redemption stories I've ever heard and I need to make people understand just how cool his story is.

So, like, he starts out as this idealist, okay? He's the son of an abolitionist minister and becomes famous as a New York lawyer who defends the North's version of Rosa Parks whose story desegregates New York City's trolley system.

Then he starts getting pulled into politics and becomes one of the grimiest pieces of the political machine. He wants money, power, prestige, and he gets it. He becomes the right-hand man of Roscoe Conkling, the most feared political boss in the nation, a guy who will throw his weight around and do the most ruthless things imaginable to keep his friends in power and destroy his enemies.

Because Arthur's this guy's top lackey, he gets to be Controller of the Port of New York--the best-paying political appointment in the country, because that port brings in, like, 70% of the federal government's funds in tariffs. He gets a huge salary plus a percentage of all the fines they levy on lawbreakers, and because he's not afraid to make up infractions to fine people over, he is absolutely raking in the dough. Making the rough equivalent of $1.3 million a year--absolutely insane amounts of money for a government position. He's spending ridiculous sums on clothes, buying huge amounts of alcohol and cigars to share with people as part of his job recruiting supporters to the party, going out nearly every night to wine and dine people as part of his work in the political machine. He's living the high life. Even when President Hayes pulls him from his position on suspicions of fraud, he's still living a great life of wealth, power, and prestige.

Then in 1880, his beloved wife dies. While he's out of town working for a political campaign. And he can't get back in time to say goodbye before she dies. Because he's a guy who has big emotions, it absolutely tears him up inside, especially because Nell resented how much his political work kept him away from home. He has huge regrets, but he just moves in with Roscoe Conkling and keeps working for the political machine.

And then he gets a chance to be vice president. The Republican Party has nominated James Garfield, a dark horse candidate who wants to reform the spoils system that has given Conking his power and gave Arthur his position as Port Controller. Conkling is pissed, and he controls New York, and since the party's not going to win the election without New York, they think that appointing Conkling's top lackey as vice-president will pacify him.

They're wrong--Conkling orders Arthur to refuse--but Arthur thinks this sounds like a great opportunity. The only political position he's ever held is Port Controller--a job he wasn't elected to and that he was pulled from in disgrace. Vice President is way more than he could ever have hoped for. It's a position with a lot of political pull and zero actual responsibilities. He'll get to spend four years living in up in Washington high society. It's the perfect job! Of course he accepts, and Conkling comes around when he figures out that he can use this to his advantage.

When Garfield becomes president, Arthur does everything he can to undermine him. He uses every dirty political trick he can think of to block everything that Garfield wants to do. He refuses to let the Senate elect a president pro tempore so he can stay there and influence every bill that comes through. He all but openly boasts of buying votes in the election. He's so much Conkling's lackey that he may as well be the henchman of a cartoon supervillain. On Conkling's orders, he drags one of Garfield's Cabinet members out of bed in the middle of the night--while the guy is ill--to drag him to Conkling's house so he can be forced to resign. He's just absolutely a thorn in the president's side, a henchman doing everything he can to maintain the corrupt spoils system.

Then in July 1881, when Arthur's in New York helping Conkling's campaign, the president gets shot. By a guy who shouts, "Now Arthur will be president!" just after he fires the gun. Arthur has just spent the past four months fighting the president tooth and nail. Everyone thinks he's behind the assassination. There are lynch mobs looking to take out him and Conkling. The papers are tearing him apart.

Arthur is absolutely distraught. He rushes to Washington to speak with the president and assure him of his innocence, but the doctors won't let him in the room. He gets choked up when talking to the First Lady. Reporters find him weeping in his house in Washington. Once again, death has torn his world apart and he's not getting a chance to make amends.

Arthur goes to New York while the president is getting medical treatment, and he refuses to come to Washington and take charge because he doesn't dare to give the impression that he's looking to take over. No one wants Arthur to be president and he doesn't want to be president, and the possibility that this corrupt political lackey is about to ascend to the highest office in the land is absolutely terrifying to everyone.

Then in August, when it's becoming clear that the president is unlikely to recover, he gets a letter. From a 31-year-old invalid from New York named Julia Sand. A woman from a very politically-minded family who has been following Arthur's career for years. And she writes him this astounding letter that takes him to task for his corrupt, conniving ways, and the obsession with worldly power and prestige that has brought him wealth and fame at the cost of his own soul--and she tells him that he can do better. In the midst of a nationwide press that's tearing him apart, this one woman writes to tell him that she believes he has the capacity to be a good president and a good man if he changes his ways.

And then he does. After Garfield dies, people come to Arthur's house and find servants who tell them that Arthur is in his room weeping like a child (I told you he had big emotions), but he takes the oath of office and ascends to the presidency. And he becomes a completely different man. His first speech as president mentions that one of his top priorities is reforming the spoils system so that people will be appointed based on merit rather than getting appointed as political favors with each change in the administration. Even though this system made him president. When Conkling comes to Arthur's office telling him to appoint his people to important government positions, Arthur calls his demands outrageous, throws him out, and keeps Garfield's appointees in the positions. "He's not Chet Arthur anymore," one of his former political friends laments. "He's the president."

He loses all his former political friends. He's never trusted by the other side. Yet he sticks to his guns and continues to support spoils system reform. He prosecutes a postal service corruption case that everyone thought he would drop. He's the one who signs into law the first civil service reform bill, even though presidents have been trying to do this for more than ten years, and he's the person who's gained all his power through the spoils system. He immediately takes action to enforce this bill when he could have just dropped it. He becomes a champion of this issue even though it's the last thing anyone would have expected of him.

He oversees naval reform. He oversees a renovation of the White House. He still prefers the social duties of the presidency, but he's respectable in a way that no one expected. Possibly because Julia Sand keeps sending him letters of encouragement and advice over the next two years. But also because he's dying.

Not long after ascending to the presidency, he learns he's suffering from a terminal kidney disease. And he tells no one. He keeps going about his daily life, fulfilling his duties as president, and keeps his health problems hidden. Once again, death is upending his life, and this time it's his own death. He's lived a life he's ashamed of, and he doesn't have much time left to change. He enters the presidency as an example of the absolute worst of the political system, and leaves it as a respectable man.

He makes a token effort to seek re-election, but because of his health problems, he doesn't mind at all when someone else gets the nomination. He dies a couple of years after leaving office. The day before his death, he orders most of his papers burned, because he's ashamed of his old life--but among the things that are saved are the letters from Julia Sand, the woman who encouraged him to change his ways.

This is an astounding story full of so many twists and turns and dramatic moments. A man who falls from idealism into the worst kind of corruption and then claws his way back up to decency because of a series of devastating personal losses and unexpected opportunities to do more than he could have ever hoped to do. I just go crazy thinking about it and I need you all to understand just how amazing this story is.

#history is awesome #presidential talk #i thought about his story again this morning #and was once again struck by the desire to chase people down and make them understand just how amazing this story is #and instead of harassing random strangers i decided to inflict it on tumblr again #my original essay was rather too long and dry and tangled up in too many other details #and didn't quite capture the 'i want to chase you down and look you in the eye and make you freak out about this with me' vibe of this stor #this still doesn't quite capture it but at least it's shorter #and prevents me from rambling to unsuspecting family members #sorry for inflicting this on you again but what else am i supposed to do?

[97b0n3s]

Shirt my friend got me :3 I’m so ready for the next Presidential election

#star trek #star trek tos #spirk #captain kirk #spock #k/s #spirk canon #literally from the Star Trek shop #looks like they married #First Lady Spock?? #and first officer (Vice president) #presidential election #2024 #talk about best #christmas presents #ever

[vrisbian]

Love this season Fig and Riz are really interacting one on one and being shown narratively as parallel characters. Both prioritize their friendships over their own personal wellness. Both so willing to support and not focus too hard on their own identities as people. And Sklonda and Sandra Lynn should get some coffee and chat.

#I do love having Brennan as parent npc going ‘yes I *love* that my child is putting their whole self into Kristen’s presidential campaign’ #Fig’s convo with her mom struck me like finally theyre talking about how Fig’s whole identity was wrecked at age 14 and she never dealt #with her personal emotions about it and what it meant for her as a person #fhjy #fig faeth #riz gukgak

[shikai-the-storyteller]

Bad and Max gasping: If the Code Monster that attacked you had two presidential lives, do you think that means ElQuackity is a Code Monster??

Etoiles: No, ElQuackity has only one presidential life left. Besides, the Code Monster was very fast. I love Quackity, but he does not play Minecraft like that.

#i talk #qsmp talk #Etoiles please LMAO #he's right though #Admittedly I also had the ''code monster'' thought but he's right the presidential lives don't match up

[magpigment]

i just remembered something!!

some of the qsmp fans who were around in the dsmp might remember this one stupid bit that some people on the server did, with the posters the Eggpire left around. one of them, when you rotate the middle panel, makes it look like it says ‘GEG’, which people of course found hilarious.

now, the point of this post:

c!slimecicle canonically bore witness to at the very least every major event that happened on the server. he also canonically bore witness to rather insignificant happenings (the building of certain places, for example, that had little to no lore significance). the chances of him seeing that poster saying ‘GEG’ is pretty high.

NOW, i’m not saying that there’s any correlation to that bit and q!slime naming his alter ego, who’s a funky little egg, Gegg, BUT!

i do think it’s a very interesting coincidence that i’m positive was completely on accident since irl charlie slimecicle would’ve had no idea this ever occurred on the dsmp seeing as he logged on like four times XD.

#dandy talks #from what i remember this is accurate to the events #i believe at least one of the streams was from ranboos pov on the dsmp possibly w techno that they did that bit #maybe ranboo techno and puffy?? it was around or a bit before the big egg lore involving techno and ranboo i believe #but the poster that could be rotated like that just said ‘the egg’ or something similar w a basic red white black and blue poster #like the presidential posters on the qsmp #and it had an egg on it and if you rotated either the bottom left or bottom middle panel it’d say geg #why do i remember this? no idea #but i thought it was a neat little parallel lmao #qsmp #qsmp slimecicle #qsmp analysis #<- i guess????? #dsmp #dsmp slimecicle #idk if this is anything but i figured i might as well comment on it lmao

[mxescargot]

there it is guys

#homestuck #dirk strider #politics #us politics #2024 presidential election #hom3stuck #helix talks #helixstuck

[littleseasalt]

I've been inactive lately because I got sick on friday and it got. worse throughout the days, but this person on twitter basically sums up my whole thought about the whole president debacle

#qsmp #dk if i should tag this as discourse #warn me if yes #but basically yeah its a weird mix of rp and meta #and looking back on it i sooo wish the “the federation can not approve it!” argument didnt exist during the debates #cause #rp aside. lets look on the meta #the admins went through all the trouble to think of the whole arc #the debates; el quackity; the voting system #and then after ALL THAT TROUBLE #they would just deny every presidential request ever???? lol #also this is something i dont think many ppl on tumblr know #because generally pt speakers dont talk about it a lot either #but the reason cellbit and forever disagreed with the council bbh and baghera proposed #was that their council would make it so there was no president #and their disagreement of this council was coming ONE HUNDRED PERCENT FROM META #because when cellbit and forever talked about it at the beginning of the elections #forever mentioned how the admins put limits on what they can do #and gave an example about the day they got felps and cellbit back where they had to do a certain way #and cellbit agreed with him #their logic was just that since the admins went through the whole trouble of coming up with the elections #its because the admins WANT to have a president and they wouldnt allow for the president to not exist #also Cellbit agreed that if you excluded the admins controlling the lore it would make sense to have a council #he said something like “in brazil we have like millions of people and we can't really have everyone give their opinions so thats why we #elect ppl to represent us. its not the case of this island where you can just go for a walk and you find out what everyone wants/thinks in #15 minutes“

[parakavka]

柴のティーさん on X: "下界はまだまだ暑いワンね🥵山は涼しい( ´罒`*)✧ https://t.co/m2j8yvybfA" / X

#shiba #shiba inu #red sheeb #looks like that one meme #bro you okay? #covid? presidential election? student loans? what are you talking about lets go chase squirrels

[omglescubes]

to answer to some criticism i saw in other posts ; antoine said in french to etoiles that why he's worried about Forever in a presidential fashion first is because he's worried about someone being so fully in the clutches of the Federation, a potential victim of their every whims

#qsmp #like. i get it that it's jarring to here him talk about forever mostly as the president #but thats what he is to him! hes not as close to him as baghera! #and he was always warry of the presidential function excately for those reason

[fictionadventurer]

The more I learn about Civil War politics, the more I'm convinced that Lincoln's most impressive and useful leadership trait was that he never let his pride get in the way of doing his job.

Other people in Lincoln's position would have come to Washington with something to prove. They'd have resented the insults and tried to disprove them. They'd have tried to seize power and credit, rejected help, spent a lot of time trying to reach a certain level of respect.

Lincoln's response to, "You're just a backwoods lawyer with no executive experience who makes too many dumb jokes," was pretty much always, "Yeah. And?" He had no interest in petty personal power plays. He had a country to run. There was a war on. It didn't matter what people thought of him so long as the job got done.

He was aware of his personal shortcomings and was always willing to accept advice and help from people who had more knowledge and experience in certain areas. He presided over a chaotic Cabinet full of abrasive personalities who thought they were better and smarter than him, but he kept working with them because they could get the job done. For example: Stanton was absolutely horrible to him when they were both working as lawyers. Just incredibly mean on a personal level. But when Lincoln needed someone to replace Cameron, he swallowed his pride and appointed Stanton as Secretary of War, where Stanton proceeded to be mean to everyone in the world, but he whipped that department into shape and kept it running efficiently through a very chaotic war. Pretty much no one except Lincoln would have been able to put up with that. He could put up with people who were personally difficult if they could do the job he needed them to do--which he was only able to do because his own ego didn't get in the way.

Lincoln's example is a prime demonstration of how humility isn't underrating yourself--it's being so secure in your own abilities and identity that you don't need to attack anyone or defend yourself to prove your worth. He knew his shortcomings, but he also knew his strengths. He was willing to give other people credit for successes and take blame upon himself for failures if it kept things running smoothly. He was secure enough in his own power that he could deal generously--but firmly--with people who tried to undermine him. In a city full of huge egos, in a profession that rewards puffed-up pride, that levelheaded humility is an extremely rare trait--which is what made it so impressive and effective.

#history is awesome #presidential talk #so i went to a teeny backwater thrift store today #their tiny history book section just happened to have an old lincoln biography #i opened to the page about the cabinet #which describes the situation like 'seward was calling himself premier and lording it over everyone' #'blair was causing problems everywhere' #'welles was insulting everyone in his diary and especially hated stanton grant and seward' #'and stanton hated absolutely everyone in the whole wide world' #and as i was reading this i was internally kicking my legs with excitement and cackling with glee because this is the good stuff #i don't know why but i love these horrible petty men #they're like a bunch of raccoons fighting over territory in a dumpster fire it's so great #i read the whole chapter right there in the store #and it impressed upon me yet again how impressive lincoln was to put up with all these guys #(the writer was a bit simplistic and made a lot of these guys come off as worse than they were) #(like he made seward sound like a complete incompetent when he was a pretty good secretary of state) #(he had some grandiose ideas but the man deserves a lot of credit for keeping england out of the war) #(but for a one-chapter summary of these guys it wasn't exactly wrong and it was a ton of fun) #i very much did not want another book especially another american history book #but it was only fifty cents and i have a pouch full of spare change #and the writer's style was so much fun that i decided to take the book with me #i don't plan to read the whole thing (i'm sick of lincoln bios) but it's fun to dip into for things like this #and i had to talk to you about it

[falst]

oh my fucking god it's an election year.

#I was so confused as to why everyones talking about presidential elections bc I kept thinking ''isn't that next year?? #do they start that early??'' and.

[dark-elf-writes]

Now that I think about it I think I’ve only read one omega4omega fic (which eventually added an alpha for both of them anyway) and I’m actually a little pissed about that why are we adhering to gender roles in the trope about explicitly fucking up gender roles? We need more omegas to fuck other omegas nasty style.

#the elf talks #omegaverse #this is my presidential campaign #also alphas. let alpha’s knot each other it’s good for their health :) #yes I paused the watch to complain about this I warned all of you I’m cold medicine posting today

[henessy]

buenos aires eras week was the last Good Week fr

#i was such a happy gal . and then the presidential elections happened #and i didn't even have eras to look forward to #lu talks

[klugpuuo]

max of sam fame is genuinely one of the best characters ever written. he's the perfect blend between "pure and utter chaos" and "serene, pensive calm". he's the perfect blend between amoral asshole and genuinely likeable. he's both the most proper guy in the room at almost all times and the most gross slimewad to exist in the s&m universe. he even kills racists. literally what is not to love

#klug talks #this has been another presidential announcement. all hail max :]

[mxescargot]

bye bye desantis

#politics #gop primaries #ron desantis #2024 presidential race #helix talks

[boatgameenjoyer]

Can we please all vote in the primaries pretty pretty pleaaasssseeeeee

#this one’s for Americans #idk anything about other countries voting systems #196 #American elections #american presidential election #vote blue #vote blue no matter who #only you get to choose who #but people aren’t talking about it for some reason #so stupid