Category: Politics

Politics has always been a topic of discussion and debate, and it’s no secret that people have strong opinions on political issues. However, have you ever wondered why you hold certain political beliefs and why it can be challenging to change them? Let’s explore the neuroscience of political persuasion and share some tips for understanding your political instincts and balancing them. 

The Neuroscience of Political Persuasion 

When it comes to political beliefs, our brains can be heavily influenced by a variety of factors, including our upbringing, cultural background, and personal experiences. Our brains also play a significant role in shaping our political beliefs through the process of social cognition. 

Social cognition is the way in which our brains process and interpret social information, including the beliefs and opinions of others. This process is closely tied to our emotions, and when we encounter political ideas that align with our emotions, our brains are more likely to accept and embrace those ideas. 

Research has also shown that political beliefs can be influenced by the brain’s reward system. When we encounter information that confirms our existing beliefs, our brains release dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. This can create a positive feedback loop, reinforcing our existing beliefs and making it difficult to change them. 

Understanding Your Political Instincts 

One of the first steps in balancing your political instincts is to understand where your beliefs come from. Reflect on your upbringing, cultural background, and personal experiences that may have shaped your political beliefs. This can help you to recognize the biases and assumptions that may be influencing your thinking. 

Another important step is to be open to new ideas and perspectives. This can be challenging, especially if the ideas and perspectives are different from your own. However, by actively seeking out diverse viewpoints and engaging in thoughtful, respectful discussions with others, you can broaden your understanding of political issues and gain a more nuanced perspective. 

Balancing Your Political Instincts 

To balance your political instincts, it’s important to approach political issues with a critical and analytical mindset. This means taking the time to research and understand the various sides of an issue, as well as the evidence and data that support each perspective. 

It’s also important to be mindful of the emotional impact that political issues can have. When we encounter information that challenges our beliefs, it can be difficult to remain objective and open-minded. However, by recognizing and managing our emotional responses, we can approach political issues with greater clarity and objectivity. 

Finally, it’s important to be open to changing your political beliefs if new evidence and information suggest that a different perspective is more valid. This can be difficult, especially if you have strong emotional ties to your existing beliefs. However, by remaining open to new ideas and evidence, you can ensure that your political beliefs are based on a thoughtful and nuanced understanding of the issues. 

In conclusion, the neuroscience of political persuasion helps to explain why we hold certain political beliefs and why it can be difficult to change them. By understanding the various factors that influence our political instincts and taking steps to balance them, we can approach political issues with greater objectivity and critical thinking. This can help to foster a more constructive dialogue and greater understanding of the complex political issues that shape our society. So the next time you find yourself engaging in a political discussion, take a moment to reflect on your own biases and assumptions and approach the conversation with an open and analytical mindset.

There are certain presidents who are remembered for generations after they’ve left office, with the likes of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt listed as some of the best and most memorable presidents ever. There are also those who are remembered due to a lot of negativity, especially in the 21st century when 24-hour news coverage made political figures a bit less-likable.

Then, there’s the third category, filled with presidents that didn’t really do anything remarkable, but also didn’t do anything catastrophically bad. These men led the nation for brief periods of history that have largely been forgotten in the United States, but today, we remember those men. Here are five US Presidents you probably forgot about, highlighting some of the things that most people should probably remember.

William Henry Harrison

There’s only one thing that people truly remember about William Henry Harrison, and it’s the fact that he died almost immediately after moving into the White House. The reason that people don’t talk about his death very much these days is because he wasn’t assassinated or a leader during a war, but because he died from getting caught in a rainstorm and not changing his clothes.

Harrison, at the time, was the oldest person to take office and died of pneumonia just 31 days after being inaugurated. Would he have made a good president? It’s hard to say since he barely had time to unpack, but his death certainly left a mess in Washington. It wasn’t really clear who should take over, and this caused American law to change so that the Vice President assumes office if the President dies.

Chester A. Arthur

After the rules changed, there became some instances where the Vice President had to take over as the leader of the nation, and one of those examples was Chester A. Arthur. The Vermont-born Arthur had accomplished a lot in his political career while living in New York, and he became head of the state’s Republican Party at the end of the 1870s. When James Garfield became president following the 1880 election, Arthur became his VP.

This is sort of a two-for-one package as Garfield’s term was mostly forgettable due to being so short (six months), but his presidency ended in an assassination. From September 1881 until Grover Cleveland’s inauguration in 1885, Arthur served as United States President, but at the time was very disliked. History hasn’t really portrayed him in a negative light to the general public, though, as he’s mostly been forgotten altogether.

Benjamin Harrison

On the other side of the Grover Cleveland presidency is another forgettable president with the last name Harrison. The grandson of William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison was born in Ohio and served as a United States Senator in the 1880s, representing Indiana. Harrison served in the position for six years and won the 1888 election over the one-term Cleveland.

The Republican had dominated in the northern states, collecting enough Rust Belt votes to edge out Cleveland. As for his presidency, it was largely forgotten. Harrison did some good things like moving the United States closer toward the Civil Rights Movement and antitrust laws, but rankings usually have him smack dab in the middle in terms of overall effectiveness.

Franklin Pierce

When it comes to the legacy of Franklin Pierce, you probably only remember his haircut. Presidents, for the most part, have had very short haircuts, but Pierce looked like a modern-day hockey player compared to the other presidents throughout history. Pierce was the 14th President of the United States, and the New Hampshire native had been a Senator for five years after moving up the political ladder in his home state.

Pierce didn’t just win the 1852 election, either, he dominated Winfield Scott of the Whig Party, winning all but four states. However, Pierce served just one contentious term where not much was accomplished. He didn’t even have a Vice President for most of his term as William R. King died in the first month, muddying things up even more.

Gerald Ford

Even people who were alive for the presidency of Gerald Ford can’t remember much outside of the fact that he pardoned Richard Nixon, nearly choked on a tamale, and fell down a set of stairs when walking off of an airplane in Austria. Other than that, Ford was mostly known for his pre-Presidential days.

Ford was a standout college football player for the University of Michigan and only assumed the presidency because of Nixon’s resignation. Ford did not win his re-election bid in 1976, and the biggest positive takeaway from his presidency was First Lady Betty Ford’s fight against addiction stigma.

One of the most common terms that you’ll hear in the political realm is “flip-flopper,” which became popular during the 2004 presidential election when it was used against Democratic nominee John Kerry for changing certain political views. Kerry is certainly not alone, though, as almost every politician has reversed course on at least one topic throughout their careers.

Democrats, Republicans, independents, and all other parties have their core beliefs, but some members have strayed away from those over the years. Here are five politicians who changed their minds on fundamental issues, and why they did it.

Joe Biden – Gay Marriage

It might be surprising to a lot of younger people, but even during the 1990s and 2000s, there were many members of the Democratic Party who were against gay marriage. Among them was one of the leading members of the party, Joe Biden. It wasn’t until his time as Vice President under Barack Obama that Biden changed his opinion on gay marriage being recognized by the government.

Michael Lombardo, former head of HBO, said that Biden met with him and his husband in 2012, and it helped the eventual President to change his mind. Since then, Biden has been a huge supporter of gay marriage, saying “Things are changing so rapidly, it’s going to become a political liability in the near term for someone to say, ‘I oppose gay marriage.’”

Bob Inglis – Climate Change

Bob Inglis served two terms as a member of the House of Representatives, representing the state of South Carolina from 1993-1999 and from 2005-2011. When climate change was first touted around the political realm, Inglis said that it was a hoax. After doing some research into the topic, though, Inglis changed his mind and it cost him his seat.

Republicans have held firm on their stance about climate change, and Inglis lost all support within his party. He has remained conservative but has spent his years since serving in Washington trying to get his fellow Republicans to accept that climate change is real. He added that because of tribalism, it has been hard to get many to agree with him.

Donald Trump – Abortion

Long before he became the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump was a businessman who identified as a Democrat and was a firm pro-choice believer. In fact, he said so in multiple interviews, including saying “I’m very pro-choice…I hate the concept of abortion, but still, I just believe in choice.”

When he began campaigning for the White House as a Republican, though, Trump changed his tune and became pro-life. When he selected pro-life justices to fill Supreme Court vacancies, Trump said “This brings everything back to the states where it has always belonged,” adding that “God made the decision” to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. “This brings everything back to the states where it has always belonged,” he said.

Mitch McConnell – Gun Control

There are times when a politician may not really change how they personally feel about a certain topic but want to make sure that they’re appealing to enough voters to keep their jobs. Many feel that that’s the way Republican Congress leader Mitch McConnell was when he changed his stance on gun control in the United States. For many years, McConnell said that he would go against liberal policies on gun control with full force, but then switched gears after Republicans didn’t perform well in the 2022 midterm elections.

Many suburban voters, even those who identify as Republicans, began scaling back their support of the second amendment following the increase in mass shootings in the United States. Dan Eberhart, a major donor to the party, said that “McConnell can read the polls as well as anyone…Republicans are being painted as extremists on every issue because of the MAGA issue. Guns are an issue where they can disprove that narrative.”

Tulsi Gabbard – Entire Democrat Policy

During the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, Tulsi Gabbard was one of the leading candidates for the Democratic Party’s nomination. The Hawaii congresswoman was seen by the party as someone who could potentially appeal to more moderate Democrats, but overall, Gabbard had many left-leaning policies that included the legalization of drugs. That changed after she didn’t earn the bid, however.

In late 2022, Gabbard left the Democratic Party (though she was already out of office at that point), and cited multiple reasons. Gabbard said that the party was “stoking anti-white racism” and that they “demonize the police but protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans…And above all, they are dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.” Though she officially said she was becoming independent, she has appeared at many conservative rallies and conferences since the switch.

The governor of a state is essentially that state’s president, making some of the toughest decisions that pertain to the laws and day-to-day workings. It can also be a thankless job as you come into it with almost half of the people in that state not wanting you there in the first place, but in most states, the pay is at least pretty good.

Then, there are a handful of states in which the governor is barely making above the national average. These elected officials aren’t held to the same standards as federal politicians in terms of pay, and it’s up to the people leading these states to increase their salaries. Here are the five states who pay their governors the least amount of money for one reason or another.

Wyoming/Nebraska

It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Wyoming has one of the lowest salaries for a governor as it has the lowest population for any state despite its massive land area. There are fewer than 600,000 people living in Wyoming, which makes it smaller (by population) than even Vermont and Washington, D.C.

Nebraska is a more interesting case as the state doesn’t have a large population, but it’s still the 38th largest state in the country. The short answer is that the state has never given a large salary to any government employees, as even state senators were only given $12,000 per year for decades. The governors from both states just barely make six figures at $105,000 each, making them unattractive jobs compared to that of a U.S. Senator or Representative.

Oregon

While Wyoming and Nebraska probably aren’t the biggest shockers on the list, we now start getting to a few which are downright stunning. The first of these is Oregon, which ranks right in the middle of the pack in terms of population. With more than 4.2 million residents, Oregon may be the least-populated west coast state, but that’s still a lot of people for the governor to represent for such a low salary.

Oregon has done well with boosting employee salaries overall, but the topic of the governor’s salary really hasn’t been a hot-button topic. Perhaps the state has been more concerned about the common citizen’s wage that it hasn’t seemed important, which would be a better reason than many of the other states.

Arizona

The most-populated state that appears on this list (and it’s not very close) is Arizona, which is close to the top 10 in terms of the total population at over 7.3 million people. That’s more than states which include Tennessee and Massachusetts, while on par with Washington. However, those three states have governors who are making much more money.

Arizona is another one of those cases where the governor’s salary has been talked about but simply hasn’t changed with the rest of the country’s state leaders. Former governor Richard Lamm said that “Colorado should be embarrassed…this is going to become a rich person’s sport,” when discussing the governor’s salary.

Colorado

Yet another surprise on the list, Colorado is near the top 20 in terms of the total population with more than 5.8 million people, and it’s a number that continues to rise as it becomes a haven for younger Americans. Colorado is about the same size as Wisconsin and Minnesota in terms of population, while also being much larger than states like Delaware and Nevada which have much higher-paid governors.

Colorado has the highest-paid governor…for states that pay their governors just five figures. While the overall salary for employees within the state has been ahead of the curve compared to the national average, the governor’s salary has remained stagnant for a very long time. The increases in salary have all been slight thus far.

Maine

After all of the unexpected states on the list, it probably doesn’t come as much of a curveball to see that Maine is at the top (or in this case, bottom) of the list. Maine is one of the least-populated states in the country, and actually has fewer people than New Hampshire, Hawaii, and Idaho. Maine ranks 43rd, while their governor ranks dead last in terms of salary.

There have been several bills introduced that would try to raise the Maine governor’s salary, but it has never come to fruition. Instead, the governor has only been getting $70,000 for years, which is more than $20,000 less than any other state in the country. So what’s the holdup? Well, the governor’s salary can’t increase while in office, and it seems that stubbornness has prevented governor’s from increasing the salary for the next person.

There are a lot of details that go into how much the governor state earns each year. Some states have massive populations which require governors to be very hands-on and work nearly around the clock. In these states, governors are paid extremely well to the point where they find themselves in the upper class of the United States.

Out of all of the states that have the highest-paid governors, many of them are probably what you’d expect. Then, there are a couple that come as pretty big surprises. Let’s take a look at the five states who pay their governors the most and how they came to be such high-paying jobs (even higher than a United States Representative).

Washington

The fifth-highest-paid state is the first surprise entry onto the list. While Washington is by no means small, it’s a bit of a shock to see them pay their governor so much. Washington is the 13th-most populated state in the country at over 7.7 million, which puts it in the same neighborhood as the likes of Arizona and Virginia. However, Arizona has one of the lowest salaries for a governor in the entire country.

Washington’s governor is paid over $187,000 per year, which is more than triple what the average American makes per year. As one of the leading states in terms of employee salary, Washington is one of those smaller states that has kept up with inflation compared to many others. For that reason, there are probably some people who weren’t shocked to see Washington ranked so high as it’s considered one of the best states to work in overall because of the wages.

Tennessee

You don’t have to go too far down the population rankings from Washington to find Tennessee. While the Pacific Northwest state is ranked 13th in population, Tennessee is just two spots behind with a population of over 7 million. Tennessee has seen a large influx in population due to the Nashville metropolitan area, with locals saying that they’ve never seen a boom like this in their lives.

Though the population increase has put Tennessee higher on the list in terms of largest states, the governor has always been a highly paid job in the Volunteer State. Tennessee was hanging around the top 10 early in the 21st century and saw a huge increase in salary when the population increased to make it a top-five paying state.

Pennsylvania

People who have never really been to Pennsylvania might think of the state mostly for its rolling landscape, mining, and steel industry, the state actually has one of the largest populations in the country. There are around 13 million people in Pennsylvania, many of which are within the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metro areas. Pennsylvania is the fifth-largest state and the third-highest-paying for governors.

Out of all of the states, Pennsylvania perhaps has the best history of making sure that their governor is well compensated. At multiple points throughout history, Pennsylvania has had the highest-paid governor in the country, though the wage hasn’t increases as quickly during the 21st century as some of the other states to balance things out.

California

Many of those who came into this list assumed that California would be ranked either number one or number two on the list, and those suspicions are confirmed. California is far and away the most populated state in the country with nearly 40 million residents. As a result, the governorship is the second-highest paid in the country, which makes sense due to the sheer size of the area covered, as well.

California has been in the number one spot on the list multiple times throughout the state’s history, but has switched spots a handful of times. Now, California is solidly in the second position ahead of Pennsylvania, which at one point surprisingly paid more than California. Unless the state purges millions of people suddenly, that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.

New York

Though it’s the fourth-most populated state in the country and not all that large in terms of area compared to others, New York has the highest-paid governor in the United States and it’s not particularly close. There’s a lot of wealth in New York, especially as it’s home to the largest city in the United States. With around 20 million people total in the state, there are plenty of folks for the governor to preside over, too.

There have been many significant increases to the governor’s salary in New York over the years, and it wasn’t too long ago that the state was behind California at the top of the list. After more than a 12 percent jump in salary, though, New York comfortably took the top position, surpassing its counterpart to the west.

Tucker Carlson has been a presence on television for decades now, getting his start as a host on CNN at the start of the new millennium after years of being a writer. Carlson spent the first half of the 2000s with the Atlanta-based news network and made his way to both PBS and MSNBC before heading to Fox News in 2009.

Ever since then, Carlson has been a staple for conservatism on the right-wing news network, with “Tucker Carlson Tonight” beginning in 2016. The show has been consistently near the top of the ratings since its inception, with some agreeing with what he’s saying while others see him as one of the most controversial people in the history of media. So what is it that Carlson says that makes him so controversial? Here are five of his opinions that had people reacting the most.

Climate Change

One major study conducted regarding the content of the Fox News Channel said that in the first half of 2019, there were nearly 250 segments that spoke about climate change. Of those, 86 percent were dismissive of the severity of climate change or outright said that it was a hoax. No other anchor on Fox News had more of these segments throughout the months than Tucker Carlson.

Carlson has hosted countless climate change deniers on his program, echoing his feelings regarding the topic. “It is a war against people,” Carlson said of the introduction of green energy. He went as far as to say that fossil fuels were “our greatest blessing,” and that “It’s not global warming; it’s global cooling. That’s what’s going to kill your grandmother.”

 Perhaps the most controversial line from Carlson came when he said “in the hands of Democratic politicians, climate change is like systemic racism in the sky. You can’t see it, but rest assured, it’s everywhere and it’s deadly.”

Race

And that line leads us to our next point. Nobody has stoked the flames of race-related topics quite like Carlson since he landed his own show on Fox News. Many of these times have concerned immigration in the United States. Many sources have said that Carlson’s show has promoted racism, which he has denied.

Carlson has said that white supremacy as an idea is “a conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power.” When pushed back on the issue, Carlson said “I’ve never had a white supremacist work for me. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a white supremacist…I’m stating my sincere views as reflected in my personal life and my professional life as clearly as I can.”

LGBT Rights

When talking about the LGBT community, especially transgender people, Tucker Carlson has been extremely outspoken. He has said that gender-related treatment for minors is “sexual mutilation of children” and encouraged parents to get in the face of any teacher who talked about transgender people.

Even during the Colorado Springs nightclub shooting, Carlson said “These horrifying murders in Colorado over the weekend quickly became a pretext for yet more censorship of your speech. You are responsible for this, they told you, because you said the wrong thing.” Members of GLAAD responded by saying that Tucker was fueling anti-LGBT hate speech.

COVID-19

Throughout the first couple of years of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tucker Carlson had opinions that seemed to be all over the place. At first, Carlson said that the virus was incredibly deadly and needs to be taken more seriously than Republicans had been. However, just two months later, he minimized the seriousness of the pandemic.

Carlson then went on to claim that people shouldn’t be vaccinated and that the entire pandemic was a hoax. This caused an uproar as his viewers that follow him loyally weren’t sure what to believe because of the constant changes. He has now stood firm on being anti-vax despite receiving it himself.

Abortion

Despite once being a registered Democrat, Tucker Carlson has been a long-time supporter of the pro-life movement. Carlson has only dug his heels deeper onto that side of the argument and said that many people only support abortion because they don’t want to spend money and it will affect the economy.

“When you get to this point, and this point is a place where the economy is so completely distorted that only Democratic voters – donors – can still afford to have normal families,” Carlson said. “When you get there, the solution is simple: Don’t reproduce. Childlessness is the cure for the economy they created. And that’s why abortion is so very important, especially now.”

Donald Trump has been a public figure for pretty much his entire adult life. In the early 1970s, he took over his father’s real estate company and enhanced the branding so that everybody in the world knew the name Trump. He then began making appearances across all forms of media, making him a celebrity of sorts. From board games to reality television and everything in between, Trump was as famous as just about any Hollywood actor.

During most of his business career, Trump was very opinionated about the political world. When he first got involved with politics, Trump identified as a Republican but switched gears in the late 1990s as he became a brief member of the Reform Party. 

In 2001, Trump became a Democrat until the late 2000s and has largely been a Republican ever since. Throughout the years, Trump has at least considered a run for president, with several full-fledged campaigns. Let’s take a look at Trump’s history with presidential candidacies, which goes back further than you may have thought.

1992

When Ronald Reagan was getting close to his second and final term, almost every Republican knew that then-Vice President George H.W. Bush would be the next Republican nominee for the White House. Everyone, that is, except for Donald Trump. Trump took out advertisements in newspapers across the United States voicing his political beliefs and was asked if this meant he was running for office.

Trump denied that he was running for president and said he’d win if he did, but Bush himself said that he was approached by Trump to become his Vice Presidential running mate. Bush called the encounter “strange and unbelievable,” while Trump said, “at that time I had no political aspiration.” It’s unlikely we’ll ever truly know how it all went down specifically.

2000

After sitting out the 1996 election between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, Trump decided that he wanted to throw his hat into the ring when it became a wide-open race in 2000. Instead of running as either a Democrat or Republican, though, Trump decided to run as a member of the Reform Party.

Trump, however, didn’t even win the presidential nomination from the party. Instead, that spot went to Pat Buchanan, the former speechwriter, and advisor for Richard Nixon who chose Ezola Foster as his running mate. There were two states in which Trump won his primary for the Reform Party, though (Michigan and California).

2004 and 2008

After failing to secure the third party bid in 2000, Trump decided to take a bit of a back seat during the following two elections. Trump considered running again in 2004, but it wasn’t a serious interest. In 2008, he initially supported Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primaries, but when she lost the bid to Barack Obama, he began supporting John McCain.

Two of those people would end up being direct Trump opponents down the road, so it was interesting to see him support both during the same year prior to his presidential run in 2016. Ultimately, Obama would win the presidency, and Trump would be one of his biggest critics with the advent of Twitter.

2012

Because he was gaining so much support on social media for his opposition to Barack Obama, there were many who felt that Trump should run for president in 2012 while Obama was up for re-election. Trump ran an “unofficial” campaign and dropped out rather early in the process. 

It was around that time when Trump attended the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner and was a massive target for Obama’s jokes. Many felt that this was the time when Trump began taking his political career seriously and started laying the groundwork for a 2016 campaign. This included requesting some of his records either removed or sealed.

2016 and 2020

In June 2015, Trump announced his official candidacy for the 2016 presidential election as a member of the Republican Party. Many felt that Trump had no chance, but continued to gain support in the primaries and knocked out candidates including Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich on his way to winning the bid.

Trump earned 1,441 delegates during the primary elections, though he still wasn’t given a chance by most analysts in the general election. However, Trump pulled off one of the biggest upsets in election history when he defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016. 

Four years later, though, Trump failed to win his re-election campaign in what has gone down as one of the most talked about elections in American history. Before even leaving the White House, though, Trump had announced that he was running once again in 2024 while contending the results of the 2020 election.

There have been plenty of politicians throughout the years who have revealed they have no aspirations of being the President of the United States of America. There are even people who have no background in politics, but enough felt like that person should be the leader of the country. One of the biggest examples was Donald Trump, who developed enough of a following to actually become president when he officially ran on the Republican ticket.

Trump isn’t the only Republican who people have wanted to run for president. There have been many instances of others who either ended up surprisingly not winning their election, or didn’t run altogether. Here are five members of the Republican party who could have been president had they run a serious and official campaign.

William Seward

When we hear the name William Seward, we tend to think of “Seward’s Folly” which historians have said was never actually a popular phrase in the 19th century. What we’re referring to is when William H. Seward was serving as the 24th United States Secretary of State and oversaw the treaty that led to the U.S. purchasing Alaska from Russia. Some saw it as useless land at the time, but Alaska has proven to be a valuable asset for the country.

Seward had a long political career, getting his start as the Governor of New York from 1839 until the end of 1842. He then served as a U.S. Senator representing New York before becoming Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln. Seward had moved from the Whig to Republican Party in the 1850s and was primed to actually become president instead of Lincoln in 1860. Seward withdrew from the race, worked for Lincoln, and decided to step aside for Ulysses S. Grant in the following election.

Robert A. Taft

If the name Taft sounds familiar, it’s because Robert Taft was the son of the 27th President, William Howard Taft. His son had become quite a popular politician of his own during the 1930s through the early 1950s, and was so ingrained into the Republican Party that he was once dubbed “Mr. Republican”. 

Taft was a state representative early on in his political career, and toward the end of the 1930s he represented the state of Ohio at the U.S. Senate. He became Senate Majority Leader for the final few months of his time in the Senate and attempted to run for President multiple times. Unfortunately for Taft, when Republicans felt he was finally ready to be the top candidate, he succumbed to pancreatic cancer at 63 years old.

Colin Powell

The amount of overall experience that the late Colin Powell gave him a resume that’s almost unmatched. Powell began his military career in 1958 with the United States Army and worked his way up to the rank of General. Powell served in three wars and became a member of the Republican Party in 1995.

Powell was the U.S. National Security Advisor under Ronald Reagan, then became the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He went on to become Secretary of State under George W. Bush but never ran for the White House himself. Instead, he gave his full support to John McCain in 2008 and didn’t support anyone in 2016.

Condoleezza Rice

Powell wasn’t the only one to serve as Secretary of State for George W. Bush as Condoleezza Rice took over from 2005 until 2009. Rice was also the U.S. National Security Advisory and registered as a Republican after spending her early life as a Democrat.

Rice has plenty of experience in politics and business throughout her career, though it seems that she’s been more interested in the world of sports as she serves as part of the College Football Playoff Committee. She shot down rumors that she will run for president, saying that she’s a “policy maker, not a politician.”

Elon Musk

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has changed his political affiliations a handful of times throughout his business career, but in more recent years has shown his Republican side. After his foray into social media (purchasing Twitter), many of his followers felt that he would be a good candidate for President on the Republican ticket.

There’s just one small problem, however. Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, thus disqualifying him as he’s not a natural-born United States citizen. There is a technicality that he could become Vice President, but a lot of electoral college rarities that have never happened before would need to fall in place, so don’t hold your breath.

The United States House of Representatives has seen a youth movement over the past few years, with millennials beginning to take some of the seats that were once filled by members of the Boomer generation and Gen X. Many of these younger representatives have been part of the Democratic Party, with nine in particular often joining forces on topics that appeal to younger liberals.

This group of nine representatives is known as “The Squad.” The Squad was spearheaded by New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and originally also consisted of Ilhan Omar (Minnesota), Rashida Tlaib (Michigan), and Ayanna Pressley (Massachusetts). Since then, several other members have been added, including Cori Bush (Missouri) and Greg Casar (Texas).

This group has received a lot of criticism from the right side of the aisle. Republicans have said that The Squad has ideals that are “too extreme” to the left, and The Squad has proven to be a thorn in the side of older right-wing politicians. If you’re not familiar with The Squad, here’s a look at some of their basic economic policies:

Student Loan Forgiveness

In 2022, student loan debt became one of the biggest news stories of the year. There were many that were above their eyes in debt, and the COVID-19 pandemic saw a lot of relief in terms of that debt as payments were postponed each month. President Joe Biden then said that he wanted to forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 per year.

Members of The Squad were strongly in support of Biden’s ideas, including Squad leader AOC. “I’m 32 years old now, I have over $17,000 in student loan debt,” she said when the idea was being floated around. “And I didn’t go to graduate school because I knew that getting another degree would drown me in debt.” 

AOC wasn’t the only member that shared their personal stories about student loan debt. All of the members said that put together, their debt was between $180,000 and $400,000. Of course, there were members of the Republican Party that criticized The Squad for not paying off their student loan debt sooner.

Build Back Better

One of the more divisive bills that has been introduced in recent memory is the Build Back Better Act, which was introduced as part of President Biden’s plan to rebuild American infrastructure in every state. The bill wouldn’t be a cheap one, as the budget for the project was said to have been $3.5 trillion from the start.

There was a lot of in-fighting in Congress about the infrastructure bill, with members of the Republican Party wanting a separate infrastructure bill passed. The Squad didn’t want any of the bills to be passed until there was more spending on battling climate change and supporting American citizens financially. In the end, members of The Squad voted against a bipartisan bill that was put in place of Build Back Better, with AOC correctly predicting that the latter would be ultimately blocked by Joe Manchin.

Universal Basic Income

Members of The Squad feel that it’s too hard for Americans to earn a living wage, and the future use of AI and robotics will leave many people unemployed. With that in mind, they support the idea that was introduced by Andrew Yang of a universal basic income. This was amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic when many people lost their jobs.

“This is not the time for half measures,” Ocasio-Cortez said during the height of the pandemic. “We need to take dramatic action now to stave off the worst public health and economic effects. That includes making moves on paid leave, debt relief, waiving work requirements guaranteeing healthcare, UBI, detention relief.” 

Medicare For All

There are a lot of people in the United States that don’t have any health insurance at all, with more than eight percent of the country falling into this category. Members of The Squad have been supporters of the Medicare For All Act, which would allow everyone in the country to receive medicare, no matter their employment status, healthy history, age, etc.

More than 120 Democrats have cosponsored the bill, but it has never been brought to a vote. At one point, AOC even said that she wouldn’t vote for Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the House until she brought the Medicare For All Act to the floor. The act would allow for a single-payer healthcare system in the US, but it seems that it’s dead in the water for now. Still, Squad members want it to be a big part of the country’s future.

Whenever there is an opening in the United States Supreme Court, the President of the United States selects a person to be appointed to that spot. Typically, that Supreme Court Justice will have somewhat similar political ideologies as the president, especially when it comes to hot-button topics like abortion and gun control. Justices that have been appointed by the Republican Party have had a stranglehood on the majority for decades.

During the days of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, the Democrats had a slight majority at 5-4, but that would change in 1970 when Richard Nixon was able to pack the Supreme Court. During his presidency, Nixon was able to appoint four Justices, while following President Gerald R. Ford was able to select one.

Jimmy Carter then became the next President of the United States, but during his one term, there was not an open position on the Supreme Court, and therefore didn’t appoint a Justice. That wasn’t the case for Ronald Reagan, though, as he had a big impact on the Supreme Court during his two terms.

Reagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor, William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, and Anthony Kennedy. George H.W. Bush then served just one term, but he was able to appoint both David Souter and Clarence Thomas during that time. Bill Clinton served two terms, but had just as many Supreme Court appointees in the form of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.

In the 21st century, both George W. Bush and Barack Obama appointed two Justices, while Donald Trump got three spots in just one term. In 2022, Joe Biden made Ketanji Brown Jackson the 116th Supreme Court Justice in history, so it goes to show that it’s all about timing when it comes to appointees.

At one point in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Republicans held a 8-1 edge in the Supreme Court, though it would dwindle during the days of Barack Obama when it dropped down to a 5-4 majority. Following Antonin Scalia’s death in 2016, Obama attempted to fill the seat, but Republicans blocked him until a new President was appointed, allowing Donald Trump to keep a Republican majority in the Supreme Court.

The Republicans now hold a 6-3 majority in the Supreme Court with Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett all being appointed as Justices between 2017 and 2020. The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020 an retirement of Stephen Breyer in 2022 made things difficult for the Democrats, but Breyer held off retirement until Biden was firmly into his first White House term so a new appointee could be made.

So how long will the Republicans have a majority in the Supreme Court? A 6-3 edge seems pretty sustainable, especially since the Republicans have held the majority for more than half of a century now. It really comes down to a couple of key players in the coming years to decide just how long that stretch will last.

Clarence Thomas surpassed 30 years of service as a Justice in 2021, with many wondering just how much longer he has. If he were to leave his seat before Joe Biden leaves, that would allow the Democrats to bring the count to 5-4 in favor of the GOP. Then, there’s Biden himself, who would give the Democrats a massive advantage if he were to secure a second term, or at least help the Democrats retain the White House.

The three longest-serving Supreme Court Justices were all appointed by Republican Presidents, as John Roberts and Samuel Alito are holdovers from the George W. Bush era. The Trump appointees and Ketanji Brown Jackson figure to be mainstays of the Supreme Court for years, so the eyes are on the older appointees.

Outside of Thomas, the oldest Justice is Samuel Alito, who was born in 1950. If the Democrats are able to stay in the White House through the 2028 election, it would be difficult for both him and Thomas to stay in the Supreme Court through that entire time. With that in mind, the 2024 Presidential election would be one of the biggest in Supreme Court history.

If the Democrats were to retain, that would likely signal the first Democrat majority in the Supreme Court since the late 1960s. If the Republicans win, those two would be able to retire comfortably, and the Republican majority would likely last for the foreseeable future.