(ThyBlackMan.com) As a teacher of History/Economics during a career that includes educational roles comprising K-12 students in public and private institutions, and as an adjunct college instructor. This writer offers the following as proof that centrist American values will never accept Donald Trump as a non-consecutive 2 term president.
History will always unfold. Four American presidents have tried to return to the White House after leaving. Only one president succeeded and served two terms non-consecutively. President Grover Cleveland served as the 22nd and the 24th president respectively. In my first teaching assignment at Sumner Elementary School, in Chicago, this writer posted a graphic in the center of the primary bulletin board which contained the images of all the past American presidents. Meanwhile, one image (Grover Cleveland’s image) appeared twice in the 22nd and 24th position on the poster. I would always repeat this process each year while teaching History in a self-contained classroom during my tenure with the Chicago Public Schools. I would then explain to my students why it is next to impossible for a person to be successful as a non-consecutive two-term president in America.
Glover Cleveland won his first presidential election starting in 1885. He won the Democratic presidential nomination in 1884 despite the opposition of Tammany Hall. The 1884 presidential campaign was ugly and dramatic. Cleveland’s Republican opponent, U.S. Senator James G. Blaine (1830-93) of Maine, was implicated in several financial scandals, while Cleveland was involved in a paternity case in which he admitted that he had paid child support in 1874 to a woman who claimed he (Cleveland) was the father of her child. Despite the scandal, Cleveland won the election with the support of the Mugwumps, Republicans who considered Blaine corrupt. In 1886, Cleveland married Frances Folsom (1864-1947), a student at Wells College in New York who was 27 years his junior. Although Cleveland was not the first president to marry while in office, he was the only one who had the ceremony in the White House. At age 21, Frances became the youngest first lady in U.S. history. The Cleveland’s would go on to have five children.
By the historical record, Grover Cleveland was inconsistent in his social views. On the one hand, he opposed discrimination against Chinese immigrants in the West. On the other hand, he did not support equality for African Americans or voting rights for women, and he thought Native Americans should assimilate into mainstream society as quickly as possible rather than preserve their own cultures. He also became unpopular with organized labor when he used federal troops to crush the Pullman railroad strike in 1894. Will Donald J. Trump be the 5th president to try and pull this off? History suggests otherwise.
Why Presidents Serve Only Two Terms at most
It was George Washington who declared that two four-year terms ought to be enough. He refused to make a reelection bid even after they asked him to. After this, it became somewhat of an unwritten rule. Congress later made it official in 1947 with the 22nd amendment.
Three Things to Consider at This Point:
- Trump already had a strong support base. But he also faced resistance within the Republican Party. To win reelection, he needed to convince the people who didn’t support him in the Primary Election to vote for him in the general election. Trump might be too divisive a character for that to happen. If he had won the primary, his opponent’s followers might not turn out to vote.
- In 2016, Trump’s America First Message convinced organized labor to back him. Those eligible and crucial voters did not show up for him in 2020. This contributed to his loss. Workers lost motivation because of the economic slowdown during the pandemic. Some of them were disillusioned because manufacturing jobs did not return to the US as fast as Trump had promised.
- If Trump went independent after failing to clinch the nomination, the Democrats would most likely win. This is what happened to Teddy Roosevelt. Bill Clinton won because H. Ross Perot took away votes from George Bush.
Therefore, from this writer’s perspective, 2024 is still two years ahead, however, it is not too early for speculation. Evidently, Trump is unlikely to succeed in making a third stab at the presidency. No president in modern history has successfully secured two presidential terms non-consecutively. With a scandal-plagued administration in his rearview mirror; Trump is more than likely to hand the election over to his Democratic challenger; should he even decide to run.
Sidebar: The Baby Ruth Connection
In 1920, the Curtiss Candy Company introduced the Baby Ruth Candy Bar, causing a particular baseball player with a very similar name to take notice. Babe Ruth, the baseball legend, was having an enormous year—his 54 home runs in the 1920 season were more than any other team in the American League. If you were going to misappropriate someone’s name for a candy bar, Ruth’s was a logical choice.
Sensing an opportunity, the Great Bambino struck back by creating his own Baby Ruth Home Run Bar. Curtiss quickly sued Ruth’s company for trademark infringement. But what happened next was surprising. When the Sultan of Swat accused the company of using his name, Curtiss feigned shock. Its bar was named after “Baby” Ruth Cleveland, a daughter of President Grover Cleveland.
For years, this has been the oft-repeated explanation, but the argument makes no sense. Cleveland had been out of office for more than two decades and dead for 12 years when the bar debuted. “Baby” Ruth herself had died of diphtheria in 1904, at just 12 years old. Although the country’s most famous baseball star would seem much more likely to have a namesake candy than a former president’s departed child, the courts sided with Curtiss.
When Ruth learned of the verdict, he shouted, “Well, I ain’t eatin’ your damned candy bar anymore!” Somehow, the Baby Ruth Candy Bar survived without his support.
Therefore, like the popularity of a great Candy Bar; America will do just fine with or without the support of former president Donald J. Trump!
Staff Writer; Stanley G. Buford
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