Roger Stone, known as a Nixon groupie (he's reportedly got a tattoo of Nixon on his back), was almost 22 when Nixon resigned. Was he most inspired by Nixon as a commander-in-chief, as a political strategist and philosophical, policy mind, or did Nixon represent to him some fluky anti-hero of his generation, Nixon as a strategic gamer? As one of President Trump's campaign handlers, is Stone more concerned about gaming the system or, for example, retaining Nixon's policies, such as protecting the environment (EPA, Clean Air Act), social benefits (Social Security and more)...https://nyti.ms/2oyMtAm
3
Neither Ms. Drew nor any of the commenters so far has said a word about Nixon's worst crime: He killed about 800,000 Vietnamese and Cambodians. George W. Bush killed at least 650,000 Iraqis. https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/32897. These facts make the "constitutional crises" created by Nixon and Trump pale by comparison. Trump, as vile as he is, is not a mass murderer, but merely a kidnapper of children. And that is Trump's worst crime, which, again, neither Ms. Drew nor any commenter has mentioned.
6
I was no fan of Richard Nixon, but the current creep is to Nixon what Nixon was to Lincoln. As others have pointed out 1968 was an absolutely horrible year, and Nixon exploited it.
The fact that McConnell and other pusillanimous (thanks for getting me to remember this word) GOPhers won't do the right thing and protect Mueller unequivocally is just pathetic. If you aid and abet a criminal, you are a criminal.
18
A famous quotation comes instantly and insistently to mind:
“Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? Quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet? Quem ad finem sese effrenata iactabit audacia?”
(“When, O Catiline, do you mean to cease abusing our patience? How long is that madness of yours still to mock us? When is there to be an end of that unbridled audacity of yours, swaggering about as it does now?”)
Cicero, In Catilinam 1 (Against Catilina), Speech One, 63 B.C.
While my deep-seated loathing for trump and everything trumpian takes up a lot of my time, it always helps me to remember (another famous quotation, this time from Ecclesiastes) that there is nothing new under the sun.
7
For over two years now, we have been hearing endlessly, and repetitively, that Trump is worse than any other person in recorded history (except Hitler, of course, with whom he is in a dead heat). Now apparently we are going to run through all of the comparisons individually.
And where does this all get us? Are there any contributors who would like to propose plans for defeating him?
9
Trump isn't pushing toward Fascism. He is a Fascist.
15
Drew is right. Nixon was crazy and smart, but cautious. Trump is stupid, crazy and reckless. There was never any danger that Nixon would start a nuclear war simply out of personal pique. Nixon was likely as bright and well informed a president as we have ever had. But for his debilitating paranoia, he had the tools to become an exceptional leader.
Nixon was a tragic figure. Trump is merely a buffoon made dangerous by his ability to exploit deep political and social divisions.
24
When someone shows you who they are believe them. A president who lies so frequently is a menace to the world especially with authoritarian tendencies. Trump has nuclear arms at his disposal and has demonstrated his erratic temper tantrums in public. Trump's survival is his priority launching a war to secure his presidency is possible and there is no one to stop him. The GOP loves tax cuts and conservative judges and the evangelicals hate abortion and gays so Trump is given a free pass to spew hate and division. Would his neo nazis turn out to defend him if he loses in 2020 due to imaginary fraud and deciding to attack the European Union allied with Putin is not that far fetched.
6
Trump is a narcissistic psychopath. He has no scruples with anything to promote himself. Any rule that applies to others only applies to him if he sees advantage in it. Thus, it is to be expected that he may be worse in any abhorrent way than any other POTUS in history.
16
Trump is indeed worse than Nixon. It's all that the Republicans have as they try desperately to remain in power. What makes Trump worse is the wrongheaded Republicans in the House and Senate who blindly believe that without Trump they cannot survive. The leaders of the GOP accept Trump because there is no alternative. And they are afraid to fight back. The old guard went to Nixon and told him he was resigning. They could no longer support him. There is no old guard in the GOP today. They are equal fear mongers, closet fascists, racists and white nationalists. The GOP has no moral compass. Trump is feckless, reckless and without a conscience. The GOP has no memory of Watergate and Trump could care less.
In January the world of politics should undergo a great upheaval. Donald Trump's monopoly on demagoguery will come to an end. I doubt he will seek compromise or conciliation. He will seek more confrontation, turmoil, escalation of racist and nationalistic rhetoric and of course, he will prey on the fears of too many Americans left out of the political process and the American dream.
If Democrats are smart they will refrain from calling for immediate impeachment. There should be a call for unity among Democrats who need desperately to find a way to reach out to all the Americans left behind the last 30 years. The elitists of the left are as terrifying as those of the right.
Trump is worse than Nixon. But an out of touch Democratic Party is equally irresponsible.
4
Who said Trump wants to fire Mueller? The entire editorial was based on faulty assumption. Why not wait before writing a critical article.
1
Nixon understood he was bending the constitution. Trump has no regard for the constitution. Therein lies the difference between a 'crook' and a 'fascist'. Americans need to know just how much more dangerous Trump than Nixon even dreamed of being.
15
Trump and the GOP are tearing your country apart and destroying its institutions ...very fast! Do something and do it as soon as possible; start with McConnell and follow up with Pence and Trump.Then, when those are out of office,beging the long healing and restauration; the Rule of Law is in danger.When I start reading in the newspaper that Trump may remain in function no matter what will be happening in 2020 you are in big problems...tomorrow it will be a car driver who take a decision to avoid respecting the speed limit...a police officer to use his gun against his wife...and so on.Stop playing with Trump, CNN has to go in front of a judge to avoid the unlawful use of his executive power and you have a part of the US army already deployed on your COUNTRY! Best of luck
5
Right on, Ms. Drew, and I hope that some of Trump's "base" will read, comprehend, and finally, agree with you.
Trump is completely unsuited to be President of the United States. He is president only of his "base", and they really need to come to their collective senses. Trump has damaged the country and the longer his in office, the more damage he will do.
3
"The current president is pushing closer to fascism than even the man behind Watergate."
Economically, fascism is closely related to socialism. Socialism requires the means of production be owned by the state, whereas fascism allows private ownership, but controls of the means is in the hands of the state. It tells "private" owners what to produce, how much to produce, of what quality, etc.
Both socialism and fascism are doomed to fail in the long run, because, unlike a market economu with prices and profits controlled by consumers, neither socialism nor fascism can rationally know how much, what quality in what quantity to produce. Lack of this knowledge brought down the Soviet Union, caused Italy to cede its part in WW II before any other nation, caused the Commies to loosen their grip on China's economy and install market incentives. No nation can survive for long with its productive resources managed by bureaucrats and "experts." Oh, and both socialist and fascist regimes eventually come under the sway of aggressive tyranny.
Trump has all the trappings of a would-be dictator, but lacks control of the nation's productive resources. If his ego plus a falling stock market push him--in his ignorance of economics--to exert more control of business, the reaction of owners is likely to sink his administration without the aid of Dems. So, in affect, the Democrats' embrace of socialists and socialism is a greater harbinger of tyranny than any of Trump's maniacal excesses.
2
Nixon was in so many ways not crazy in the layman's term. Trump is. If he's worse than Nixon, it's because Trump is plainly at least half insane in the literal sense.
In any case Donald Trump is the president. We can't change that, for all practical purposes. But we should be rational and try to do what we can to "fix" Trump.
I would say, with the threat of the 25th amendment, coerce him to accept a modest dose of a mood stabilizer, like lithium around 450 mg daily. Within three months, he will calm down. Will become rational. (I happen to be a psychiatrist) If that happens, he is unlikely to to run for reelection.
Forget about impeachment, even if he has committed impeachable offenses.
So far, as president he didn't do anything really bad. Whereas his predecessors GW Bush Obama have, in my opinion done really bad things, one by commission, invasion of Iraq, the other by omission, by not following through when Assad crossed the redline. Those were horrific deeds with disastrous consequences.
1
Thank god for the electoral college and Donald Trump. I wake up every day with a smile on my face knowing Trump is president for six more years.
1
"(There was no cable TV in Nixon's time.) There was no Twitter, as well!
2
It may appear to many is that Trump has a belief the presidency serves him along with the cabinet members, perhaps as corporate executives serve the CEO and board chair. And his leadership of his cabinet (take note of that statement) along with his executives would be fired quickly in the business world due in part to the chaos he foments and the turnover rate.
Trump serves himself and appears to have a mindset that states he had no oversight in conducting his businesses (save for bankruptcy trustees and grifted creditors and investors) which will injure this country for years.
Nixon was a scoundrel yet he served the country in realizing his failings was causing harm. Trump, in his arrogance and inflated ego will never realize the harm is is doing to the country in serving himself.
2
Unlike Nixon trump has no boundaries. He has zero respect for the rule of law. He has no respect for anyone. I would suspect that he would never voluntarily leave the WH even if ordered to by Congress. Trump believes that he is King, not president. Nixon understood at least that he was president.
6
The two should not even be compared.
Nixon was paranoid that he may lose an election and illegally tried to break into the Democratic Headquarters to get information to help him get reelected. He was not looking to damage the country.
Trump worked with Russia , a foreign foe, to get elected and in return Russia has been given more leeway to raise havoc across the globe.
We will soon discover that Trump has skipped out of the country and living comfortably in his condo on the Volga in Russia.
Nixon was a saint in comparison. He was not trading the country for personal gain.
3
It's a sign of how awful the current situation is, that I actually feel some wistful nostalgia for Nixon - at least he wanted a single-payer system.
7
The Rule of Law. No man is above the law. Equality under the law.
We shall soon see if America truly believes in the Rule of Law, I do believe.
Mr. Trump's lawyers say that 'some' of these questions Mueller has posed in a take-home, open-book test are not anything they are interested in answering.
Excuse me? What? There is a choice in what questions on the take-home open-book test are to be answered? Some questions are inconvenient and might pose problems? I wish I had such a choice! If I was suspected of something, I doubt if I would have a 'choice' about which questions I answered. Why does Mr. Trump? Is he above the law?
What a rigged system, Mr. Trump. A very rigged system.
10
There were a number of Republican Senators and his own Cabinet members who stood between Nixon and chaos. These people are all missing in action today.
It is unclear to me that the Democratic House, unilaterally, can prevent destruction of the constitution. The most serious risk factor, aside from Trump himself, is the perversion of the Justice Department and the higher levels of the judicial branch. We're still getting solid decisions from the lower federal courts. I fear a test in the Supreme Court.
Even if the Supreme Court ruled in favor of checks and balances, there is the Worcester v. Georgia problem. In that case, Andrew Jackson famously said in response to a Supreme Court opinion to which he objected, the chief justice "made his opinion, now let him enforce it." Technical features of the case left the ruling and the President's objection untested.
What if Trump took the same position, supported by Acting AG Whitaker, he who rejects Marbury v. Madison? Would the patsies in the Senate support American constitutional history and the Court? Or would they fold if promised another tax cut or some other goodie for their donors?
We are at the precipice of losing our democracy. We do not face a pending constitutional crisis. We face a constitutional crisis today.
4
Elizabeth points out the large difference between Nixon and Trump specifically with their experience in government service where Nixon had much and Trump none. This has been for me one of the more troubling items of the Trump presidency, it is much easier to maintain the popular position in the face of growing evidence of wrongdoing by virtue of the fact that he is an "outsider" and doesn't know better. Almost all fascist leaders have come to power with similar backgrounds, and none of those tyrants had the ability to speak directly to their followers as this one does. I can only hope that moderate voters ignore any of his "successes" and decide to remove him in 2020 for the good of the constitution.
4
Nixon was not dumb. He was morally blind. And is sometimes seen as a tragic figure who was last seen as almost a recluse under General Haig in the WH. He knew when he lost support from such senior figures as Goldwater. McConnell and company are not GOP. Noone can tell who they are. Time to 'go to the mattresses' for the good of the Family of Man.
4
It is difficult the 2 characters. Neither appear as admirable individuals. Nixon was crafty and scheming. Trump is inelegant.
His behavior is juvenile. His intellect primitive. His actions impetuous. His advisers birds of a feather. These characteristics are a risk to the nation. Woe that he in his role as President is provoked into vengeance.
It is his failing as a 'mench', an individual of integrity and honor, that is really to his discredit. If he were dressed for his role few would care for the acts of a tramp. But in his suits he appears as a clown and the acts of a sham.
He does not deserve insult. It is pity.
2
Trump is raising postal rates in order to hurt the world's richest man? He's a fascist! Propaganda on Fox News? It's fascism! Daring to question the motives of individuals at the Justice Department and the F.B.I.? Dear God, it's...it's...fascism!
2
Bob Woodward, who had a little something to do with Nixon's demise, is also parroting the "no collusion" line, having just testified under oath that he, try as he might, found no evidence of it while researching his recent book on Trump.
Trump is not worse than GW Bush, Reagan, or even Johnson. All these men got hundreds of thousands of innocent people killed via unjust war. You could be raped and murdered in your own home by American or American funded soldiers under any of these gentlemen. Given that my standards for malfeasance attenuate strongly around the stopping of beating human hearts, I do laugh when Neoliberals try to rehabilitate Nixon.
2
There is no comparison. Donald Trump is the worst president in history, in every meaningful category. I lived through the Nixon years as an adult, and they pale into insignificance compared to this presidency. I will never understand how 40% of the American people can so blindly support this monstrosity of a human being.
16
if you survived Nixon, you're old enough to remember brain damaging leaded gas, lead paint, "cold water" injections, and Strontium 90 in your afterschool glass of milk. most of The Trump Tribe is over 60, many over 70. do the math.
2
@hark
Trump represents white supremacy to those 40% of the American people.
You give lots of good comparisons between Nixon and Trump, but they only cover a fraction of the reasons Trump is so much worse than Nixon was. I wasn't paying much attention to politics when Nixon was president, but I know these things off the top of my head: Nixon lied a little, Trump lies constantly. Nixon followed the norms of the presidency, Trump flagrantly breaks them. Nixon may have been covertly racist and sexist, as his party was, Trump has made racism and sexism part of his platform. Nixon deserved to be impeached, but Trump deserves to go to jail.
7
Having lived through both Nixon and Trump, I understand the desire to compare and contrast. Nixon did not obey in providing the tapes. The Supreme Court ordered that the tapes be made available. Nixon claimed them as his personal property. Nixon was an educated man with many personality flaws: Insecurity, paranoia, resentment. Trump has ramped it up 10,000-fold. He is ignorant, arrogant, self-serving, narcissistic, intellectually and emotionally immature, completely unprepared to deliver a coherent speech, let alone even pretend to act in any way as the leader of the greatest free nation in the world. Simply stated, he has fulfilled the Peter Principle: Everyone, eventually, reaches their level of incompetence. Smart people know their limitations and Nixon accepted his. The smartest thing (ha-ha! smart?) Trump could do is resign.
Even when Nixon resigned, he still had an over 30% approval rating, so we know that on average, about 1/3 of the people are gullible.
I encourage my fellow Americans to take heart, have faith, trust in ourselves and each other. What the founders of our nation put in place and put into motion will always be tested. We have come a long way, but Trump only serves to remind us that we still have a long way to go. There will always be that 30% or so who usually live under rocks and have been briefly unleashed, but there is no way they will enjoy the sunshine for long.
111
"Nixon’s base nearly melted away in the face of evidence of his guilt in a cover-up. Mr. Trump’s base has yet to be so tested..."
And do you know why that is? After 2 years of investigations, THERE IS NO EVIDENCE of any collusion (or even wrongdoing) on the part of the Trump administration. Nixon's base had reason to desert him. Trump's base has none.
2
Why do the media continue to give Trump some aura of respectability by always referring to him as "Mr. Trump" or "President Trump"? This article repeatedly refers to President Nixon as simply "Nixon", but consistently refers to Trump as "Mr.".
I would not dignify Trump with any vestige of respect. He certainly appears to be worse than Nixon, and just plain old Trump suits him fine.
4
President Trump is now in office; Nixon is still dead.
@Richard
POTUS to be perfectly neutral, but will drive him nuts for not seeing his name in print.
2
Obviously Nixon was smarter, less mercurial, and had higher academics, but that only made him more dangerous.
His Trumpness disguises his clumsiness in a supposedly smart provocative attitude based on legal and moral short-cuts and 140 characters, but actually that's an alibi : he is just unable to reach Nixon's proficiency in double or treble tricking people.
Trump is lazy, and he hides his laziness with roars and eruptions. Nixon was cunning, and did not fire his close circles every other day.
Nixon waged torture-based wars and counter-revolutions all over the planet. I do not see this with Trump : he firstly makes America suffer, but the rest of the world less so than Nixon did - to the noticeable exception of the environment.
4
A small point, perhaps: There WAS cable TV during Nixon's Presidency. Not Fox News, but definitely cable TV.
2
It could be that Trump is already on the way out:
• Recent prominence of Pence and bunkering by Trump;
• anticipation of the Mueller report;
• upcoming Democratic House investigations (and exposure of Trump's finances);
• candor about Trump's incompetent sense of Commander-in-Chief role;
• harm to business caused by the trade war;
• facing prosecution for emoluments violations
• inability to work with informed advisors (i.e., ignoring prudence repeatedly)
• incriminating himself in interviews (i.e., endangering the Office)
—and the list continues—altogether suggest that Trump is dealing with encroaching dementia, and it's time for the Cabinet to give more concern for the good of the nation than their resumés, and invoke the 25th Amendment.
3
Nixon was not nearly as malevolent and despicable a figure as Trump. He had his friends and of course a family, including two daughters, who loved and trusted him. It would surprise me if Trump has a true friend in the world, or anyone he would sacrifice himself for. However you describe Nixon's moral compass, he certainly wasn't the obsessive narcissist Trump is. I can imagine Nixon putting others' or his country's interests ahead of his- Trump, never. And finally, Nixon had a brain. He had a worldly intellect and professional attainment, qualities that have never distracted Trump from his ignorance and incessant lying.
5
I lived through the years leading up to Watergate and then through the Watergate mess. It was a dangerous, often sullen time in our nation and people's trust in our president and his administration was divided as it is today. Nixon's Southern Strategy had attracted a lot of support among people that were opposed to the Civil Rights movement and the anti-war movement on the one hand. On the other people distrusted the government because of Nixon initiatives like COINTELPRO and misuse of the FBI as well as his creation of an "enemies list".
Congress proved to be a pillar of strength upholding constitutional law and principle and Nixon knew he could not overcome this, as hard as he tried.
Trump, on the other hand, is very self-centered, without any moral compass, and exploitative of loyalists whom he kicks aside when they lose their usefulness or prove weak. Nixon understood government and foreign policy. Trump doesn't.
This points to larger questions: what is our nation's current fulcrum of fate? Which face does our government present to the world at large? What national identity will most of us recognize and support: isolationist or globally engaged? Trump is a product of an America that no longer wants anything to do with the world. He ignores a century of U.S. global engagement and sees a few thousand asylum seekers as a national peril. And he plays down the violence and propaganda of right-wing extremists and foreign dictators as though he can make deals with them.
"Nearly impossible as it is to imagine a similar scene involving the current president and his pusillanimous party, Mr. Trump has given us reason to wonder whether he would defer to legal findings against him or even to a re-election loss in 2020..."
It might come down to whether rank-and-file security and military personnel stationed at the White House will do their Constitutional duty when the time comes. Of course they will. Mr. Trump commands the cheers of mobs at rallies but not the complicity of honorable Americans. In "It Can't Happen Here," Sinclair Lewis has his president-character arm the mob and make them an adjunct of the military. Thank goodness that hasn't happened here.
3
Nixon had endured some setbacks and though he declared that we wouldn't have him to kick around anymore, his ambition would not allow him to stay on the sidelines.
Trump, however, has not had to own failure. The casino failure, as many of the ventures in which he was involved, were funded with other people's money. He has never taken responsibility for himself. He has no self insight nor does he have any interest in developing any.
He lacks both empathy and impulse control, which is an incredibly volatile combination. He strikes out at anyone who would dare criticize him and seems unable to formulate a coherent counter point, instead engaging in bullying rhetoric.
What stands out in the article is the word pusillanimous, such a vivid and absolutely accurate word.
5
"Mr. Trump has other structural advantages over Nixon. Nixon’s base nearly melted away in the face of evidence of his guilt in a cover-up. Mr. Trump’s base has yet to be so tested, but it’s larger and more cohesive than Nixon’s. "
As far as I can tell, that is because Trump has exploited what is essentially a cult-style following. In turn, the ability of a cult figure like Trump to get elected to the highest office in the land is due to a highly partisan anti-intellectual impulse the likes of which has not been seen in ages. And I don't mean just IQ intellect. Many otherwise intelligent people haven chosen to set their faculties of reasoning aside in order to keep supporting Trump. It's a bizarre and frustrating spectacle.
2
We have to separate the different issues of Nixon's time: the VN war and its opponents, and Watergate. The mostly young opponents of the war were confronting the military-industrial complex, the whole system. Watergate had nothing to do with that, but was about abuse of presidential power. And we didn't have a political culture of racism, anti-immigration, anti-liberal like we do now. Nixon was no fascist-- starting the EPA, having liberal economic ideas, going to China-- just corrupt.
Trump is a whole different animal, a nationalist with supporters, an under educated half-wit with no respect for the American system, a real crook not a figurative one. He's a horrible human being. Nixon was a very flawed but talented individual.
5
Mr. Trump stumbled into office without any idea how to run a complex organization, how to convert challenging visions from tweets to reality, how government works and what the foundational principles and institutions of our country are. Eventually he found his groove but of course that was related only to getting smoothly through each day of playacting president, not scaling any learning curve. He is either too lazy to take any steps up that curve or too delusionally conceited to acknowledge that he was starting at the bottom, not at the top. There's no reason outside himself why he couldn’t have been a good president, an honorable president. Many people (myself included) invested in that hope as a way to deal with the shock of his election. But now, two years in, only a self-deluding citizen could still harbor such hope, let alone believe that he has any ability to achieve ANYTHING constructive or good or sustainable for this country. Water unchanneled tends to soak and ruin things, and similarly I see Mr. Trump's sub-Nixonian behavior as the predictable expression of entropy through someone with few moral, intellectual and organizational strengths. Someone who - for the desperate sake of the country - MUST be checked and channeled. I see it that way, and as demonstrated on November 6, I'm not alone.
8
The two threats to human life on this planet are climate change and nuclear war.
Nixon took significant steps to ameliorate both.
On the environment, he proposed what became the EPA (1970) and the Safe Drinking Water Act (1974). He signed the Clean Air Act Extension (1970), the Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972), and the Endangered Species Act (1973).
On nuclear proliferation, he negotiated the Treaty on Non-Proliferation (1970) and the Anti-Ballastic Missle Treaty, and Interim Agreement (1972).
By contrast, Trump announced the U.S. would cease all participate in the Paris climate agreement, claiming it would "undermine" the U.S. economy, and put the U.S. "at a permanent disadvantage."
As to the risk of nuclear war, Trump has withdrawn from the 1987 treaty with Russia (signed by Reagan), and his national security advisor John Bolton is blocking even talking about extending the New Start agreement of 2010, set to exprire in 2021, even though Russia has shown interest in extending it.
Trump is putting humanity at risk so he can help his true constituents grab all the profits they can before the apocalypse.
As Chomsky says
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcTJl5MsBSs) at 5:35-
not even Hitler intended to destroy the prospects for all human existence.
Yes, Trump is far more dangerous than Nixon or even Hitler.
5
The Republicans don't need Trump anymore. They got their tax cuts. They only need to figure out how to spin his impeachment and removal from office so as not to alienate his supporters. They don't like him; did they use him or did he use them?
This is a chess match between the Republicans and Putin, the U.S. oligarchy v. the Russian oligarchy, he may well be just a pawn.
1
If trump could negotiate (a) a $1 sale -- outright -- to trump org, of (i) the land 'under' "Trump Int'l Hotel, Washington, D.C.," and (ii) the improvements 'upon' those lands, (b) a 'golden parachute' worthy of a managing partner @ Goldman Sachs, and (c) transactional immunity 'for' and in respect of his, Don, Jr.'s, Ivana Marie's, and Jared's crimes against the state, and 'for' their 'criminally ridiculous' superciliousness ... I'm sure he (and they) would jump at the $$$ and unearned forgiveness available in the 'art of the deal.'
1
Trump is worse than a root canal
2
little donnie trump only cares about himself. It doesn't matter to me how he compares to Nixon. He should be removed.
Some other yuge differences: Nixon was intelligent and educated (even though he had an inferiority complex), while Trump is cunning but deeply ignorant and incurious. Nixon knew better, Trump only knows what he wants. Nixon felt shame, Trump is utterly shameless.
4
Bottom line, Nixon stepped down when the jig was up. Trump won't.
Also, wing tips on the beach is no crime, but the oranged skin, weird "hair," and long taped up ties are crimes against humanity.
2
Best comment I've read involving Nixon and Trump:
George Washington could not tell a lie. Nixon could not tell the truth. Trump cannot tell the difference.
193
@Ken L
And many, probably most, of his supporters don't care.
19
@Ken L - I wonder if you know that G. Washington was a land thief and therefore materially dishonest?
As soon as the British won the Seven Years War (French & Indian War here in N. America) they signed a treaty with the French that included respecting the land rights of French allies, the Native Americas who lived West of the Alleghenies, here. Colonialists including Washington were bound to honor that treaty. Washington, as greedy for land as any Virginia planter, proceeded to survey and steal Native land. As reference see Theodore Draper's "A Struggle for Power" perhaps the best single volume on the events instigating the American Revolution.
When you do read that and know your post is a bit of a joke, perhaps you'll be less apt to make judgements based on your personal affinities, when they are founded on misinformation.
5
Agree that Richard Nixon's "background as a creature of the establishment inhibited his actions," and would add that the current president appears uninhibited by contrast precisely because his imagination is freer than Nixon's. Scary thought, really.
I'd be grateful to have Nixon now. And I am not an admirer.
2
@Randall Holmes
One of the happiest days of my young life when Nixon resigned...and in the current context, I'd take him back in a heartbeat.
3
Neil Young sang "even Richard Nixon has got soul." If anyone can be said to lack a soul, I think it would be Trump.
4
I tend to believe Nixon was capable of seeing multiple sides to an issue. Unfortunately, he could calculate benefits to the bad parts of his GOP agenda and criminal activities. He was cunning, and as the tapes showed, quite different than his public persona.
Trump on the other hand, isn't capable of pondering the multiple sides of issues. He sees his side as the only side worth contemplation. He doesn't have a secret side, as he is more than willing to proudly display his character defects which, unfortunately, drive his actions.
2
Because Nixon was very much a part of the mainstream G.O.P., it took some convincing to bring 'round the Howard Baker's and Fred Dalton Thompson's (of the Senate Select Committee) and some Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee that Nixon had crossed too many lines. But there were Republicans who, eventually, showed integrity and even statesmanship. What astonishes is today's G.O.P.'s inability or unwillingness to demonstrate integrity, fidelity to the Constitution, or anything even remotely like statespersonship against someone so uniquely unqualified to be the president. Those G.O.P. lame duck members don't count.
Yes, Senator McConnell, your patriotism is questionable. (Don't you love it when they take umbrage at questioning their patriotism!) Too many people still suffer by being intimidated by the phrase, "But, he's the president." Trump is many despicable things, but his ability to intimidate is weak. Obviously, too many G.O.P. members are even weaker.
1
I'm willing to bet Trump doesn't make it past August 2019. He is actually starting to get hemmed in, and unraveling (France trip, for example) ...
It's possible that by then, after witnessing losses in slam-dunk congressional races and the flipping of deep-red senate seats, Republicans will equate trump with liability they can't outrun.
2020? Gotta make it thru 2019, and that's looking more dubious.
1
It is the nature of a narcissist to look down upon everyone he meets or knows, and to assume that he is better then all the rest. This is an insideous form of personality disorder, and is not amenable to reasoned discourse or the suggestions of others for ways to improve his communications style or his outlook. So, given that, our Chief Executive is the beneficiary of a father who taught him what the man knew about making a profit at others' expense, how to get rich in a mean & cruel world. He learned his lessons well, and he learned to become fundamentally dishonest in his business dealings in a cut-throat American corporate world where power and greed are the only values worth servicing.
Donald Trump is an authoritarian because fundamentally, corporate power is authoritarian. While corporations hire employees to serve their purposes and business needs, they do so with the understanding that employees will do what they are told (essentially, they are wage slaves). This is the essence of a culture that is both authoritarian and fundamentally disrespects the rights of the individual. In the corporate hierarchy, if you are not an officer, or in management, you have no say, and if you don't like it there, you can leave.
This is a culture that encourages fascist beliefs and behaviors, and it also fosters resentment and anger. While not all corporations are brutally racist in their hiring practices, most of them ARE misogynistic, many of them ARE racists.
1
Nixon was a patriot compared to Trump. Watergate was a two-bit burglary, while Trump’s theft of the 2016 election – very likely including conspiracy or some sort of quid pro quo with Russia - was a coup.
Also, Nixon was intelligent, competent and experienced. His flaw was paranoia.
Trump is incompetent, corrupt, racist, ignorant, lazy, self-serving, narcissistic, possibly sociopathic (the list goes on).
1
This was a wonderful and timely op ed by a writer whom on hears from too seldom these days.
I so looked forward to her New Yorker articles about politics.
Thanks you Ms. Drew. Please come back more often.
Never in my lifetime did I think I'd ever live to see another U. S. President as disgusting and mean spirited as Richard Nixon.
I've know now for more that a year that Trump just got Nixon off the top of the list of bad Presidents. Nixon now resides in second place, but he is still roasting over a bed of hot coals somewhere in the darkest reaches.
An adjacent spit has already been put in place and marked "reserved."
3
As you so clearly imply: The force that removes a President is not the law, but power, the power of having enough Senators who have your back and/or the power of having an adoring "base" to resist your removal.
The lawyers and the special prosecutor could prove Mr. Trump signed a blood oath of allegiance to Mr. Putin, accepted millions from Chairman Kim and shot someone on 5th Avenue and he would still remain in office. Until his own party sees him as a threat, he is safe.
"Whether, as some legal scholars argue, Mr. Trump’s choice was unconstitutional, ..."
The "legal scholars" Ms. Drew speaks of were "acting solicitor general under President Barack Obama" and the second is a litigator.
Neither of these individuals are experts or Professors who have a published record of constitutional law. Ms. Drew later actually quotes a professor who specializes in constitutional law that says Trump did not break the law. Moreover, she quoted someone who worked for Obama and who would naturally be suspect.
Ms. Drew is signaling that she cannot be trusted to write an independent assessment of the situation. Had she really been interested in giving a correct assessment, she would have quoted several professors and published experts in constitutional law. The astute reader should ask why she didn't and the suggested answer is that no expert would say what Trump had done was against The Constitution.
Ironically, Trump owes his Presidency to the fact that Obama did not prosecute Clinton for destroying over 30,000 emails 3 weeks after they are subpoenaed by Congress. Had Obama followed the law, we would have President Sanders.
Harvard Law grad Obama, who taught Constitutional Law at U. Chicago Law knowingly broke the law when he legislated DACA. The Supreme Court voted 4-4 (swing Justice Kennedy voted against Obama) that Obama broke the law. Obama knew he had broken his oath against the Constitution. Yet he was not impeached and I don't understand why
4
@David MD
Gee David, by your logic every president should have been impeached. Trump should have been impeached on his first day. Bush, junior and senior - PHHT! Out they go.
You just hate Obama and all democrats. Admit it.
2
@Butterfly
Do you agree that if Obama had only followed the law and prosecuted Clinton for destroying those emails that we would have a Democratic President Sanders today.
People knew that Clinton, who received $675,000 for 3 talks from Goldman, the icon of Wall Street, without the media present and who refused to disclose the contents of the talks despite Sanders repeated requests was nothing more than another candidate who was bought by Wall Street.
Say what you want about Trump, but at least he didn't betray the voters to Wall Street money. The Democrats had Sanders who wasn't bought by Wall Street, but they backed Clinton instead. Obama made that all possible by refusing to prosecute Clinton for destroying those over 30,000 emails subpoenaed by Congress 3 weeks after the subpoena.
Take your anger out on Obama and Clinton who refused to follow the footsteps of FDR, Truman, JFK, and LBJ. They're the ones that made a Trump Presidency possible.
1
@David MD
Sorry but Bernie would not have beaten Trump. It is likely that Trump would have taken even more states had Sanders been the nominee. He was way outside the normal center right of American politics.
2
I cannot get over how the Republican Party has surrendered to a complete dope.
9
Another important difference: Nixon was a decorated war veteran; Trump was a draft dodger.
3
@Ed You are half right. Nixon was a supply chain swabbie during WWII, best known among his war buddies as a very good card (poker) player. Trump was another Dick Cheney, as far as the number of deferments he hornswoggled.
Thank you for saying from inside what I have said from outside ever since Trump reared his ugly head as a national figure rather than a New York character and caricature. Really, America, we tried to warn you!
2
How do those around him, his minions, his willingly blinded enablers, a formerly Republican elite, continue to abide the obvious and repeated travesty that he presents daily, the startling risk that his distorted mind and twisted will have visited upon our America and the outraged political electorate? Can it be that there is a fundamental incapacity to imagine that we are not taken in, we are not blinded by the light, that we are not believers? Where the not-so-silent the voices of thought, of history, of reason and analysis, to call this enduring aberration to account for the abuse he now inflicts upon us all? Read, talk, discuss, meet, act, vote and take away this slippery slope of despotism, remove the fury and the fear of this tyranny from our lives and from our future. WE are the People and it is our work alone to make it better, to make it right, and to re-assume our position as a model of democratic power. Slink away in your hooded shame, you rabble without a cause, you artifacts of hatred, you bring deep dishonor to this noble family of man.
1
Whoever thought that many of us would have the pleasure of multiple Milhousian moments? Deja vu is definitely over rated.
The best part of Trump is his ineptitude. Hopefully it will crash the entire GOP.
2
I am unaware of President Trump refusing to honor any legal decree. He may object to some of the rulings, as is his or anyone’s else’s right, but I have seen absolutely none evidence that he has failed to comply.
5
Great to read Elizabeth Drew's article on 45 vs Nixon. I even learned a new word.
We had a less divided nation and there were still many levels of acceptable behavior enforced and the Repubs and Dems were more interested in the good of the country not just their own interests.. Times are different now. All of these things have changed and its tribal warfare. Trump will be protected by his tribe regardless of his crimes and lack of ethics.
5
@RichardHead
No, we had a way more divided country under Nixon. The Vietnam War divided people like nothing else since the Civil War, and unlike today where the battles happen on cable news or twitter, there were actual violent demonstrations in the streets on a regular basis. Young men were drafted and sent to die with no say in the matter, while other young peole took over their college campuses and battled the National Guard. Forget the guys with tiki torches, you had the actual KKK lynching people back then, and there were still many politicians who openly advocated segregation. It was a time of utter chaos in society. And hanging over all of it was the real, constant threat of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. By those standards, today is a complete cake walk.
47
@Samuel Russell"Forget the guys with tiki torches, you had the actual KKK lynching people back then" There are black people being lynched today - if you check the news, most of them for some strange reason are called "suicides."
The other things you mention are true, but I would hardly use the word "cakewalk" to describe Trump's assault on our republic.
Here we are, speculating as to whether Trump is worse than Nixon.
Anyone out there who still wants to be a Republican?
5
@Larry
Yes. Me, and very many others. As long as Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton headline for the Democrats, there will always be enthusiastic Republicans.
2
@Wine Country Dude
Why? I'd sincerely be interested in knowing why.
3
Great compare/contrast between two corrupt and obviously guilty presidents (also love the artwork by Adam Maida). There's Nixonian corruption and then there's Trumpian corruption, and Trump being Trump, he has to be better than anyone else at anything and everything. Future generations will laugh at the term "trump" because its meaning will become twisted over the years to mean BAD MAN.
What is clear is that neither valued honesty.
I agree with Ms. Drew that Donald Trump is a worse president than Richard Nixon. She might have added that Nixon had real accomplishments as president, especially in the realm of foreign policy. Nixon opened the door to relations with China. He signed nuclear ban treaties with the Soviets. He ended the Vietnam War (though he took far too long to do it). He established the National Endowment for the Arts. And so forth. Trump has no comparable achievements in either foreign or domestic policy. He is, quite simply, the worst president in American history,
2
Nixon was also better than George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan if we are looking at his policy achievements (EPA founding, opening the door to China). Though, like Trump, he may have conspired with a foreign power to get elected so I suppose they share that along with the narcissism and paranoia. Republicans sure know how to pick 'em!
Trump has accomplished the impossible. He has made me wax nostalgic for Nixon.
2
Trump will NEVER voluntarily leave the White House. Pray he doesn't fire Mattis so when he loses the next election someone will be there with the military power to make the results stick.
1
Impeachment is not about crimes, or not only about crimes. The founders set a high bar for over turning an election, and that is a good thing. Nixon had two things going against him that Trump doesn't have: the Nixon tapes and an unbelievable amount of blood on his hands.
The Nixon tapes produced the smoking gun of guilt. Even his own party couldn't spin that away. Nixon's war crimes weren't directly part of the impeachment considerations, but it created a climate of enemies determined to bring him down.
Lyndon Johnson really did wire tap Nixon and had proof that as a private citizen Nixon scuttled the 1968 peace talks that could have ended the Vietnam War four years earlier than it did. How many Americans died in those additional years? Tens of thousands? That blood was on Nixon's hands.
Trump might enjoy the company of killers like Putin and the Saudi Crown Prince, and Erik Prince for that matter, but I don't get the sense he has ever ordered any killings himself or taking action that directly resulted in the deaths of thousands. That is why you can't put Trump and Nixon in the same category.
2
Superb column from Ms.Drew, a not unusual occurrence. Trump is a real threat to the future of democracy in the US.
2
37th at least completed one full four year term. I doubt if 45th completes his. Then you will know who is real smart.
1
Do we really need the 1435th column telling that grass is green, sky is blue, and 2+2=4?
Other than Trump's utter lack of knowledge about government, law, the constitution, other countries and cultures, or anything else required of a president, the difference can be summed up in one word: unlike Nixon, Trump has no shame.
1
Trump is worse than Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, Jefferson Davis, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, David Koresh, Jim Jones and Tim McVeigh combined. Trump is the dummy pawn pet puppet of Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin focused upon preserving, protecting and defending the profits of the Trump Organization arising from the Oval Office of our White House. Nixon was not working for domestic terrorists and traitors. Nixon was not working for money nor enemy alien nations.
3
This is the scariest and most important commentary I've read...among all the pro-Democracy/anti-Trump musings published. Thank you, Elizabeth Drew.
2
Yes, the diminishing of our democratic norms and disrespect for the law, is much worse under our current bully president than Nixon. The tone and literal damage to decency worldwide is a consequence of 45.
1
My chief consolation as I watch this sorry spectacle unfold is imagining President Trump’s personal lawyers grinding their teeth and pulling out their hair.
Have any group of lawyers been cursed with a more frustratingly imprudent client?
1
Nixon was merely detestable. Trump is abominable.
Nixon was a creature of politics and law. Trump is a law unto himself and his well paid lawyers.
1
Nixon had a few positive traits. He served in the Navy during WW 2. Trump has no positive traits. Nixon was his own worst enemy. Trump is humanity’s worst enemy.
3
Until Trump commits pre-election treason in a time of war, Nixon will remain #1.
Donald is predictable. He is ignorant, impulsive, reckless and clumsy. So Republicans in Congress have an even greater obligation to apply the checks and balances required by the constitution.
And yet, they caved for tax cuts and right wing judges.
History will judge whether Trump was worse than McConnell. From my perspective, there is little to choose.
1
I have followed the immensely gifted Ms. Drew since the Watergate case. So it is with gratitude that she brought this comparison to The Times today.
Indeed, Nixon was a politician through-and-through. His resignation, as painful as it was for him (and for those who still believed his version of events), forced him to leave the job as POTUS and move on. Yes, he planned; he plotted; he was corrupt. But he knew when it was time to go. He and Kissinger could have accepted the 1968 terms for peace at the Paris talks but declined in the desire for a politcal victory later at home.
Trump is pure reptilian-brained. His next move is all about his next prey, his next dollar, and taking no prisoners in the course of anger and revenge (one of the few emotions he openly displays).
Nixon was a scholar of international diplomacy while his shortcomings in domestic management were always in doubt.
Trump is neither scholar nor diplomat. His preferred teacher/mentor was Roy Cohn, the hideous alter ego of Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy hearings of the 1950s. Adding to his father, Fred's, racist and greed-filled advice, Cohn taught the young Trump to never admit guilt, to never apologize, and to eviscerate your doubters and opponents — especialy those contractors to whom he owed vast sums of money.
Only Trump's children can convince him to leave the WH as quietly as possible. And this may depend on whether or not Donald Jr. is vulnerable to prison time.
1
Boy, what a hostile article. Sure, Trump is an egomaniac who has no regard for the integrity of the office, but he is no fascist dictator, nor likely to become one. For one thing, Trump acts on instinct, for better or worse, in making his decisions. You are not likely to find a subvert effort to overturn the government into a fascist state. Moreover, even with the Trump loyalists that he is now appointing to positions of authority, there are enough officials in high positions throughout government to prevent a Trump coup or a "Reichstag like fire."
Although Trump seeks to enact changes of which many Republicans approve, there is a tendency towards unilaterally revising the Constitution that makes Trump a threat to democratic principles. To avoid this, the Democrats must present the electorate with an alternative that the NPA's [no party affiliation] and independents can support.
The Democrats must not accede to their "Bernie Sanders" base by nominating a ultra-liberal who will lose the moderates & independents and thus cause Trump's reelection. Looking at the last three successful Democratic nominees, Obama, Clinton & Carter, we see [except for Obama, an outlier to normal politics] more moderate Democratic governors. Democrats need to search for a moderate liberal governor who can attract a moderate electorate. Perhaps 2020 is the year for Andrew Cuomo to join Obama in the "president with the last name ending in a vowel club."
1
@JAM
So Donald is too stupid to be a fascist?
3
Another VERY important difference is the things at stake for the two controversial presidents involved.
Nixon had good reasons to assume that being forced to resign (or, in the worst case, getting impeached) would be the ultimate negative outcome for him personally. There are people who, to this day, believe Mr. Nixon should have been criminally charged. But the majorities, of both the elites and the citizens at large, did accept the notion that leaving the office was a sufficient punishment in itself.
With Trump it is essentially the opposite. For him, leaving the presidency pretty much guarantees getting criminally prosecuted; if not for the misdeeds committed while in office, then for all the shady dealings from his past.
So we are in the situation where staying president for as long as he can is the only thing that separates Mr. Trump from losing all he's got and/or going to jail. I would like to point out that this is precisely how many dictatorships have started in the past.
2
Nixon also volunteered for service in the US Navy, despite being eligible for conscientious objector status as a birthright Quaker. Donald Trump dodged military service in wartime, and is openly contemptuous of people who serve and served.
2
This is just another in the long list of "Captain Obvious" columns about Donald Trump in which those who were familiar with his border line criminal business history, the moment it became clear that he was running for President and sadly, ultimately winning, we knew that he would be much more dangerous than Nixon.
Narcissism and sociopathy personified.
The moment he entered office he cooked up deals that allowed the Republican Party "free reign" to do practically anything they wish while, as their part of the "deal", protecting a very flawed and destructive individual. To them, it was worth the price to look the other way, hence, in exchange for whatever principles they had remaining, the Republican dominated Congress became his enablers, NOT, the check and balance the Constitution envisioned.
Ultimately, in Nixon's case even The Republicans realized that through his indiscretions Nixon was a liability and the Watergate hearings were bipartisan in nature and as a result, when the "jig was up" Nixon realized it and resigned.
Trump doesn't have that problem and he and along with his enabling cronies will continue to lie and cajole to avoid the law which he and his "Trump Party" no longer feel is applicable to them.
The author is correct, this is approaching Fascism, no other description is applicable and the sooner Americans realize they are not immune from it, the better off they will be.
4
Nixon or trump, Trump or Nixon. What difference does it make which is worse. It is Trump we are forced to deal with.
The more interesting question may be 'Did more people know that Trump would be an awful president before the election than Nixon?'
And I think the answer is 'yes.' Trump was a well known flim-flam artist, failed candidate and television huckster for many years before he ran in 2016. Nixon, though undeniably odious to many of us, was a plausible main stream candidate.
So let's ask ourselves who these Trump voters are that: a) Now claim voter regret at having elected him or b) Still love him to death. How obtuse can you possibly be?
And if we are going to do voter suppression right, I'd start right there.
2
Nor was Nixon being blackmailed by Russia.
5
The president said he appointed the new AG to stop the investigation into Russia's meddling. That is proof of obstruction of justice. Our president is a criminal. What more needs to be said?
6
Aw... give the bozo a break. He's an incredibly ignorant, stupid, and crude man. He's obviously suffering terminal flop sweat, in fear of his upcoming legal accommodations. It would be appropriate to remodel one of our largest federal prisons, with glass cell walls, and secure walkways for tourists observing the Lifestyles of Very Privileged Felons.
Fees could be charged, which in a thousand years might offset the waste of a single Trump golfing outing. Viewers could experience the orange-coveralled interactions of universally recognized bottom-dwellers such as Trump, McConnell, et al.
Time to make lemonade, folks.
2
Trump is an embarrassment to USA, men, and the human race. But he has not bombed Cambodia (a Cambodian friend says it is still dangerous to walk in the countryside due to unexploded bombs) and he has not invaded a country like Bush. Be careful what you wish for.
1
As bad as Watergate was, it seems almost docile compared to this current president. A break in for dirty info by a paranoid administration vs the very real possibility of treasonous activity with a foreign hostile. Trump is a grifter who played his cards too long. Now he will destroy our nation to preserve his own hide.
1
One question for the author: why is the current president "Mr Trump", while the ex-President is simply "Nixon". There seems to be a degree of respect for Trump implied by the term "Mr", which he has neither earned nor deserves. Mr Nixon was, for all his flaws, a far more accomplished and respected statesman than Trump could ever hope to be. Not that Mr Nixon was a President to be admired. He forfeited that with his duplicity regarding the Vietnam War, Watergate, and his well known bigotry and paranoia. But, despite all of that, he is not even in Trump's league when it comes to criminality, indecency, inhumanity, and dishonesty. Trump has never claimed to serve anyone other than himself, wins the title of "President entitled to least respect", and therefore should not be referred to as either President or Mr Trump. A simple Trump while holding your nose will suffice.
2
@Stu, I believe the answer to your question is found in the New York Times style book. Living people are addressed as Mr, Ms, etc. People who have passed on are identified by last name only. It seems almost quaint in this day and age, but I rather like it and prefer it to a lot of what I see on TV where people in high office are casually referred to by first name only as opposed to the honorific and their last name - for example, "Joe" vs. "Representative Sixpack." If it makes you feel better, living murderers when covered in New York Times stories also get the honorific Mr. or Ms.
At the end, at least Nixon understood the importance of Country first. It took a lot, but he did get there. He understood the concepts, ideals and values underpinning our nation.
Trump doesn't care at all about anything outside his hyper-focused world, which is all about him, and maybe his family.
Trump is worse than anything we've ever seen in the WH. Congress is a close second, in that they too, have lost their interest in protecting our nation from threats, both foreign and domestic. Maybe they should worry about corporate threats, too.
2
Hard to believe we now live in a time when the current President is so anti-intellectual, petty, venal, morally bankrupt, and sleazy that we pine for the wisdom and circumspection of Richard Nixon. What a time to be alive.
2
Criticising Trump is a total lost cause, he is mentally ill and cannot help himself.
America must BLAME Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan and hold these two accountable for ALLOWING Trump to continue his incessant lies and his egregious behaviors. They do nothing.
McConnell and Ryan know Trump is a delusional mess but they flatly refuse to rebuke or censure anything DJT says or does. They do nothing.
These two so-called "leaders" of Congress have utterly FAILED in their constitutional duty to exercise checks and balances on this unhinged president.
They do nothing.
McConnell and Ryan's silence not only enables Trump, they EMBOLDEN him as he grows more reckless and increasingly escalates his destructive attacks on any and every one he perceives a possible foe. They do nothing.
They know that Trump is delusional. They know Trump is completely addicted to the surge of power he feels from his furious raging attacks. They know he is a danger to our nation.
Yet McConnell and Ryan do NOTHING.
So next time (probably today), Trump does or says anything inappropriate, do something ... call and complain to the one person in Congress who CAN do something about DJT... Mitch McConnell, his enabler.
3
@JM
Spot on JM! These leaders have turned a blind eye to white house lies and corruption. They have let the country down by putting party first and being silent. Shame on Ryan and McConnell. We need patriots, not sycophants.
1
Thank you, Elizabeth Drew. Your opinion has certainly brought out equally well-written opinions from others.
1
This is all the more reason prison for DT is the only outcome that will preserve democracy and the rule of law.
1
Nixon, while one of our worst and most corrupt Presidents, respected democracy. Trump does not.
The possibility that Trump will refuse to accept an election result in 2020 where he loses is highly likely. He may declare, without evidence, that 10 million fraudulent votes were cast against him and order his armed supporters into the streets.
He is a malignant narcissist with a serious taste for death and destruction. No doubt he would rather see the country destroyed than lose an election. It's no joke.
3
There are big differences. Nixon wasn't nuts and he wasn't nearly as dumb. He was just republican.
Myopic, self-serving, embarrassingly shallow, he was just a simple guy who walked the beach in a hollow suit and tie.
He was a liar and a crook and he was GOP, almost redundancies. Like Trump, he was consistently resentful, bitter, angry. And he, too, loved to insult people; insulting dead students at Kent State for demonstrating against the Vietnam war. But what the hay, he was just GOP.
The GOP lets the NRA terrorize us, big oil poison us, big medicine and pharma gouge us, big ag fatten and sicken us and lets Trump walk all over our democracy and our values.
The people are such a drag to the Nixons and the Trumps of this world. Nixon was a lush, and though Trump reportedly doesn't drink, he compulsively relieves himself in other ways, in hateful tweets and hysterical rallies, revealing how needy and unstable he is.
But Nixon wasn't nearly as nuts and stupid as Trump.
The GOP has a lot to answer for; Nixon and Trump are just the tip of a very rotten iceberg. At least some republicans joined democrats in ridding us of Nixon. That couldn't happen today.
5
We are at fascism. We aren't being pushed toward it, we are there. We are knocking on it's door, straightening our tie, and spraying spritz into our open mouths!
Despite Nixon's failings he actually accomplished things. He opened the doors to China, embraced Civil Rights, understood working people and also, more importantly, knew what the Office of the Presidency stood for. He also did not try to rape our Treasury. What undid him was his personality disorder, paranoia.
Unfortunately, so far, Trump's personality disorder is undoing our country, not him.
The Congress needs to protect the Mueller investigation, or this country will be going down the tubes even faster than now.
3
Your description fits that person to a "T". But that person is a Democrat, Hillary Clinton.
1
Trump is worse than Nixon? Easy for a pampered American to say. Ask the Vietnamese and Cambodians who was worse.
Is there a competition to determine the most appropriate comparison to Trumpy? There seem to slews of articles where each writer tries to best every one else with their views on what Trumpy's like. Is he like Nixon? No he's worse. Hitler? No, worse. Ghenzhis Khan? Pontius Pilate? The man who clubbed the next guy to grab more than his share of the woolly mammoth?
It's obvious that the orange menace is just that, a menace. It important to talk of other things, like the environment, the economy, corruption, etc.
2
Both Nixon and Trump bear the mark of Roy Cohn.
2
After two dreadful, hate filled years of the Trump family I am beginning to believe The Post and The NYT owe Richard Nixon and his family an apology.
2
Nixon spoke and wrote English, in complete sentences. Trump - well, what can I say?
2
Trump is an ignorant bully. The Republican Party, its leadership in particular, is a scheming, conniving enabler. Worse, it goes beyond merely enabling to active encouragement of Trump's worst instincts. Mitch McConnell, especially, is willing to allow Trump to trample the Constitution. There are three reason for this: Power, power and power. And it would take only three senators among the Republicans to stop Trump and McConnell. Three senators who, at this point, who have the love of their country foremost in their values over fealty to Trump and the Republican Party. Three non-existent senators.
2
Trump is all about marketing, marketing, marketing. He has no substance, whether as a developer or as a president. Ironically, Trump's transparent lying, laziness, stupidity, inexperience and impulsiveness may be the only things that prevent him from successfully destroying our democratic institutions. In that respect, we should be thankful that he is no Dick Nixon.
This has to be an easy article to write. Nixon did a few stupid things. Trump does everything stupid. He has become an expert at stupid.
2
"The current president is pushing closer to fascism..."
------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, Trump is more dangerous than Nixon, not just to the country, but to the world. He is spreading fascistic ideas, worldwide, now.
Now, with instant communication, on the "worldwide web" the US provides ideas can spread like a forest fire. Fascism, as a chain reaction, may not be contained, like a fire can be contained.
The more economic good news with Trump, the more danger that this dangerous ideas will spread around the globe...
So, I hope that Donald Trump can be stopped, now before 2020.
===============================================
Nixon started the EPA and Title 9, even if it was for political reasons. Can't imagine current president doing anything remotely good for the public, environment, or future generations on planet Earth.
3
Yes, Barry Goldwater, one of the most right wing Republicans, and others went to the White House and informed Nixion he didn't have the votes to prevent impeachment.
Picture that happening with today's GOP.
And what also didn't exist was today's right wing media empire. Fox News has grown to be GOP state media for the party that has been dominating our 3 branches of govt and most states.
This propaganda machine was allowed to grow into a huge monopoly after Bill Clinton and the GOP repealed our long standing anti monopoly laws for media in the 90s with their Tele Communications Act.
Then the right wing could grow in influence, building up Fox TV/radio across the nation with no restrictions. An Australian who moved to the US told me when he 1st heard Fox TV he thought it was a parody, not the real thing. He says other countries do have right wing newspapers as well as left, but not the vast right wing TV radio of the USA.
Now what? What future Trumps lurk in the swamp, waiting to swim to the surface and propragandize the gullible through their media?
2
Nixon had hardcore supporters, but not an unthinking cult chanting for violence at rallies. The Republican Party did not cover itself with glory during the Watergate eras, but neither did it entirely surrender to a demagogue and completely abdicate its responsibilities as it has today.
I agree that America is at risk, not experienced since the Civil War.
11
Here's one key difference. Nixon was not a crook; Trump is - along with all the other issues he has.
Let's not let other GOP leaders off the hook. How about Reagan and Iran-Contra? Arms for hostages? Trees cause pollution? "Government is not the solution to our problems - government is the problem"?
How about George H.W. Bush, and all those pardons that let Reagan's conspirators off the hook? How about the missteps that gave us Gulf War One?
George W. Bush: Total failure on 911, failure to catch Bin Laden, total failure on Katrina, meltdown of the economy in 2008 - and trillions of dollars in deficits thanks to the invasion of Iraq for no good reason. Also torture and forced rendition, and domestic spying.
And now Trump. (And McConnell and Ryan.)
How is it the GOP keeps handing us these people for leaders, and getting away with it?
4
History does not repeat itself. Richard Nixon was a product of his times, comparable to an IBM Selectric and Stalinist Soviet Communist expansionism .
Trump as President is a product of our times--21st century technology, a down-sized Russia hacking the Internet, and post Cold War globalization.
If Robert Mueller proves collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and a foreign power (Russian government officials) and brings criminal indictments against the administration, it seems likely that Congress will have enough evidence against the president to prove obstruction of justice, tax evasion, and violations of emoluments clauses. Then Trump, like Nixon, will resign rather than face the indignity of impeachment.
@Fran B.
You are right, times are different, however, I am afraid it is not going to be that simple because Trump is a totally different individual from Nixon. He is a pathological liar in which conspiracy theories lurk around every corner and he has a significant portion of the media(Fox News), right wing radio and online sites that continue to back him up. Nixon did not have such luxuries nor support.
Trump is too much of a narcissist and anything that is done to depose him he will insist it was a conspiracy and all rigged against him. Dignity and principles are words that are non-existent in his vocabulary.
It would not surprise me in the least that if he was impeached or in 2020 voted out of office, he will have to be dragged kicking and screaming out of the WH.
He has never been the type of person to admit to blame for anything hence, to him, no matter what, resigning would not be an option.
@Fran B.
I hope you are correct, but this maniac will want to take us all down with him.
Nixon can't hold a candle to DT. This "Putin puppet" stands out as the worst president in history on every level. His egregiously destructive acts that are aimed at the core of our Democracy are clear. The results of his toxic words and deeds will be felt for decades to come at the expense of the American people and the rest of the world. The negative consequences are cascading throughout the world. His efforts will continue to tear at the fabric of freedom as evidenced by the rise of nationalism, despotic rule and the chaos we are witnessing across the globe. His enablers are just as culpable. He could not be as destructive as he is without the support of the Republican party and the bullhorn that the press handed him starting with the "birther" movement. Until we stand up as a country and stop him with the appropriate checks and balances clearly defined in our constitution, we will see an ever increasing loss of security for the people of this nation and the world. If it is found that he worked with the Russians or committed any other crimes while in office and is prosecuted for his crimes, he should not be pardoned. By any one. Ever.
8
Nixon committed crimes and treason. His treason came during his election campaign when he took steps to impede peace talks to enhance his electoral chances. This cost lives.
Trump has also committed crimes and treason, the treason is with Russia and is continuing. Don't see too much difference: both committed crimes and both committed treason to feather their own nests. Russia's involvement is the thing that makes Trump's treason more dangerous, because the objective is to destroy the West's post WWII political order.
President Trump, whom I voted for, has shown himself to be terribly naive and unhinged. His actions since becoming President is non-sensical. Assuming for the moment, as others have suggested, that he is playing some elaborate part to confuse his opponents and critics alike, then one would think he would have given himself a way out of his constructed maze. His tweets are fallacious bombast that a schoolchild would shake their head at and do. My grandchild of 12 asked if I could explain one in particular and I said I was sorry but I could not. The self appointed emperor has no clothes nor the ability to realise it.
2
Nixon knew and understood the constitution. He did have accomplishments that helped the country as stated by others in the comments.
It is amazing that we are saying that Nixon was flawed but he did some good for our country. At least at that time of history there were Republicans who recognized that Nixon needed to resign. Unlike the Republicans of today who support Trump.
Contrast that with Donald Trump who is a liar, cheat, misogynist, racist and lacks any understanding of democracy or the constitution.
3
The two should not even be compared.
Nixon was paranoid that he may lose an election and illegally tried to break into the Democratic Headquarters to get information to help him get reelected. He was not looking to damage the country.
Trump worked with Russia , a foreign foe, to get elected and in return Russia helped get Trump elected and in return has given more leeway for that nation to raisw havoc across the globe.
We will soon discover that Trump has skipped out of the country and living comfortably in his condo on the Volga in Russia.
Nixon was a saint in comparison. He was not trading the country for personal gain.
2
Ms. Drew shares keen insights, as always. Nixon was corrupt, yet he was also informed, experienced and capable of wisdom on some policy issues. Trump is unfit for office, as well as being dishonest, immature and narcissistic. The change that will harm the country long after trump is out of office, and likely in prison, is the existence of "the propaganda organ that is Fox [Entertainment]." As long as the shadows it casts on the wall of our society are embraced as reality by a large swath of Americans, we are on the road to ruin.
2
To borrow a phrase: "Lock him up!"
Richard Milhouse Nixon and Donald J. Trump has commonalities about their constitutional crisis.
But taht is all , Nixon was a authentic politician with an immense expertise, knowing the government in and out.
Trump is a mere average joe six pack who has no interest in anything in the world other than women and shady money making.
Roy Cohn was a Nixon era person , which Nixon didn't picked up for any reason for his white house, so Trump picked up, and yearns now where is he.
Malevolent instinct is just right there.
1
Trump is worse for a number of reasons, but the number one reason is his fanning the flames hate in the form of racism, antisemitism, misogyny and xenophobia.
Thus, Hate crimes have risen resulting in a number of deaths. According to the FBI, these crimes have risen 17% in 2017.
If Trump had been responsible for only one death, he'd be worse.
How many has he been responsible for?
Squirrel Hill Synagogue Pittsburgh?
Charlottesville rally?
Stoneman Douglas High School?
etc, etc etc.
3
Nixon served his country as a naval officer in wartime. The current Presitender: zip, zero, nada.
2
Unfortunately, the "Republican elders" today are as corrupt as the self ordained king. It is difficult to imagine the chaos that will ensue when his majesty loses the 2020 election.
5
A true comparison is impossible because you will never know what really went on with RMN. He was by nature a very secretive man and preferred to operate in the shadows and DT makes no effort to conceal his inner self. It should be pointed out however that RMN lied about Vietnam, interfered with the peace talks in Paris, bombed Hanoi on Christmas, engineered the murder of Allende and along with his handmaiden Kissinger secretly worked to undermine democracies of a leftish nature. Has DT done anything on that scale?
Ms. Drew writes that Nixon did not challenge the results in 1960, because he did not think the charge of fraud would stick, not out of “magnanimity.” But Nixon’s biographer, Steven Ambrose, might disagree. In Nixon: The Education of a Politician, the first volume of his three volume work on Nixon’s life, Ambrose writes (at pp. 606-7) that Nixon himself “could think of no worse example for nations abroad ... than that of the United States wrangling over the results of our presidential election, [or] even suggesting that the presidency itself could be stolen by thievery at the ballot box.” Nixon believed in the importance of American election integrity, even though, as Ambrose acknowledges, no one will ever know who really won the 1960 election. And Ambrose concludes that Nixon “was a model of propriety and statesmanship” during that bitterly contested 1960 campaign. (Id.) A far cry from Trump, indeed.
1
Sorry, but the left long ago forfeited its credibility on the "fascism" charge. Every Republican since Stassen and Eisenhower has been labeled a fascist: Nixon, Reagan, Bush Senior (to some extent), Bush Junior (with his evil henchman fascist Vice President), etc. etc. etc. Amazingly, none of them burned the Capitol down and blamed it on the liberals.
Nixon also presided over the establishment of the EPA, the "Philadelphia Plan" for affirmative action, the enactment of the Clean Air Act and proposed a guaranteed annual income for all Americans. To label him as some sort of fascist benchmark for Trump is ludicrous.
1
Trump, our 'mafiosi fascist' in chief, is a royal disgrace for the country...and the world, unhinged by any morals, and his demand for untethered presidential power...to abuse it. The complicity of the republicans in Congress is unprecedented, and a dereliction of duty, as the Legislative branch is supposed to contribute to the checks and balances of government. I don't knowabout you, but I strongly believe that Mueller'sinvestigation already has a file to put Trump where he belongs, in jail. And even Whitaker, assigned by Trump himself to get rid of it, won't escape scrutiny and be indicted for obstructing justice. This democracy, if it is to survive, demands justice to be done. Without it, peace in society is not possible. For that, the current pluto-kleptocracy must be brought down (by hook or by crook).
3
As indicated here, Nixon was a lawyer, and, having served in the House, the Senate, and in the White House as Vice President, he most certainly knew what the law did and didn't allow. When he decided to flaunt the law, he knew he had done that--and infamously tried to justify it by saying when the president does it, it's not illegal. But Trump has no sense of the law whatsoever. He doesn't know whether he is acting against the law nor does he care. He does what he finds expedient, and in that, astonishingly, he is president, he is outraged when it is pointed out that even the president is not above the law. But, again, that's something he doesn't understand nor wish to understand. That makes the Republicans' fealty so terribly dangerous.
178
@akrupat Right. Although you forgot to point out the obvious: Trump is an idiot and doesn't know it.
15
Nixon did not bow to a hostile foreign power, let alone collude with one to help his campaign. And, if it turns out there was no collusion, there can be no doubt that Trump has repeatedly and publicly obstructed the investigation into Russian interference in our democracy. This alone puts Trump in a category of his own, that of traitor.
2
@Dagwood Oh contair! Nixon colluded withe the North Vietnamese to assure his election over Humpty.
Why is there no jail penalty for violating the Constitution? Why is there no designated enforcement staff for violations done by the Justice Department staff?
1
Nixon resigned because he saw the writing on the wall, Trump doesn't read.
Getting rid of Trump is unlikely before 2020, the House may impeach but the Senate will acquit so long as the Republicans hold it. I hope the new Democrat House will focus on the business of the country and not tilt at windmills. The only development that could change that timeline is clear evidence of wrongdoing by Trump uncovered by the Mueller investigation.
6
"Civilizations die, as men die, by accident, then."
(Eiseley, in his poem The Kefti.)
Trump (R)...the accident.
3
When I read the headline for this story, I wondered, does any doubt it??
1
Cheers to the NYT for publishing Elizabeth Drew. Please do so MORE!
6
"And Nixon had nothing remotely like the propaganda organ that Mr. Trump has in Fox News. (There was no cable TV in Nixon’s time.)"
There was also no internet - and that changes the scope of propaganda today exponentially: breitbart and other alt-right trash websites, wikileaks and Assange, Russian websites/accounts/trolls/hacking, Alex Jones.
2
I for one will be happy to see Trump led from the White House in handcuffs. This is the only just way this can end.
6
Is there even one, spectacularly small, way T is a better president than N?
@L Martin Trump was correct in his criticism of Dodger Manager Dave Roberts for pulling Rich Hill in Game 4. Not much, but all I can think of.
his is "not news": his intentions and views have been obvious from the very beginning of his reign!
2
At least we never had to worry about Nixon being a potential Russian plant.
3
What an article to publish on your birthday, Ms. Drew. Let's hope your next is happier.
Nixon was self-involved, fragile, racist, authoritarian and fraudulent. But he wasn't a fascist. Both Reagan (who actually managed to creep - no pun intended - Nixon out) and W. were much closer, in deed if not in dress.
2
If you had to chose between having Richard Nixon and Donald Trump as president, which would you pick?
1
Never cared for Nixon but I do love Donald Trump!!
1
@Chris Anderson
As a non-American, I’m truly curious to know: you evidently believe that Donald Trump is one of the greatest – if not the greatest – president ever to assume office. But in your opinion, precisely what is it about this abusive, avaricious, egregious, illiterate, irrational, licentious, mendacious, narcissistic, rebarbative, squalid, treacherous, unfiltered, unhinged, vainglorious, vengeful, and deeply insecure little man that makes him a worthy successor to the likes of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln?
7
McGahn. You know, the friend of Kavanaugh? You know, friend of “acting” attorney general Whitaker? You know, former White House lawyer?
Trump isn’t bumbling along. He’s being coached.
5
Will Ms. Drew write an apologetic article if and when Trump is cleared by Mueller of any wrongdoing?
1
@Tuco
Of course! We'll all read it on our flying pigs.
2
Yawn. How many times to we have to read a reconstituted takedown by liberals of the man who beat “the most qualified candidate ever.”
4
Trump is worse than Nixon? Duh.
1
"Mr. Trump has given us reason to wonder whether he would defer to legal findings against him or even to a re-election loss in 2020."
Wait, I thought Trump didn't really want to be President. I thought it was a publicity stunt and he never expected to win. That's what the media kept insisting on not very long ago. So why wouldn't he step down? First you tell me he's a goofball celebrity who got in over his head. Now you tell me he's a fascist dictator addicted to power. Well, which is it? And why should I believe anything the media says?
Nixon followed his own twisted ideas.
Trump got his instructions from Moscow...
3
Ah, so now we're going back to the last successful Leftist coup to compare your current efforts. As with President Nixon, you have been relentless in your attacks, trying anything and everything to convince the public to get rid of him. Yet, like Nixon, Donald Trump hasn't had anyone killed (JFK, Clinton, Obama) or made huge amounts of questionable money (Clinton, Obama), or committed our country to more war (Bush, Clinton, Obama), or actually used our own government to deny rights/harass its opposition groups (Obama).
Like Nixon, President Trump has had to face ridiculous claims and smears (Hitler? Really?) and unending "investigations" to find any crumb of a "crime" to get him out of office and nullify the people's election. In Nixon's case, we not only lost an excellent and selfless leader - starting the processes to end the Cold War - but we also allowed South Vietnam to be crushed. In President Trump's case you are attempting to force out a man who sincerely listens to the people and keeps his word to us.
Your record is clear and your motives transparent and this time, we are paying attention. "Fascist"? How about an ardently Leftist media that allows no opinion but their own and no President that wasn't their own choice?
1
@independent uhm...obviously you are as "independent" as Fox News. What a bunch of malarky supported by totally unproven conspiracy theories...and to assert that the Trump gives a toot about anyone but himself is completely dillusional.
3
Nixon was dishonest. Trump is a traitor.
4
I understand that politicians will attack their opponents during a campaign.
But when your are President of the United Stars or a sitting Governor of a state, in this case Florida, and you personally attack our democracy by openly telling lies about voter fraud and saying “elections can no longer be trusted” just because you think you might lose, intentionally trying to undermine the entire legitimacy of our electoral progress, you should be removed from office. It doesn’t matter if your a Republican, a Democrat or independent.
A sitting Presdent and Governor lying and pushing conspiracies to divide, undermine our country’s core values and public confidence in our voting system for their own shameful self interests is sickening to watch.
How can anyone who calls themselves an American and patriot, regardless of Party, stand by and except this?
The behavior of Trump and Rick Scott over the last week has been reprehensible. And they have done irreparable long term damage to our society and democracy. A disgrace.
10
Until Trump, I considered Nixon the worst president in my lifetime, and probably the worst ever. The editorial and the many comments to it bring out positive qualities of Nixon, to illustrate how lacking Trump is to be fit for office. Not that Nixon was fit for office, but at least in Nixon's reign there were some things that were beneficial, such as opening China to the West. The evil done by Nixon was not by stupidity, but by plan. Not so with Trump. In years to come when Trump is gone, and we are faced with listing his good characteristics to determine his role in history, unlike the Nixon list, Trump's may be empty. No doubt that he has attempted to institute fascist goals. But rather than closely examining his fascist leaning ideals, I tend to identify him with Orwell's Big Brother from the novel 1984. Like Big Brother, Trump has his own loyal following who question nothing and aimlessly follow his utterances. "Ignorance is strength." Does this not describe Trump himself? Who else can make a make a failed president Nixon look relatively good?
1
Nixon was an ordinary crook. Trump... he is in a category unto himself. Ultimately, Watergate was a watershed moment for American democracy... and it showed it works. Years after Watergate, trust in our system of government actually grew. But Trump has single-handedly degraded our democracy to the point that it is on life support. And the power cord is ripped and sparking. No matter what happens to Trump, he has caused deep damage to the country, from which it may never heal.
3
I think it is wonderful that you are publishing Elizabeth Drew on your editorial pages. I have been reading her work for years. She is one of the best; let's see her on these pages more often.
2
Richard Nixon was the last Republican I ever voted for. I learned my lesson after that.
3
We might ask, are we ourselves worse now than Americans were then?
@Mal Stone
Depends on what we do about all the old white guys in Congress who ENABLE Donald Trump.
Ms. Drew inches towards saying this, but doesn’t: Nixon accepted laws and constraints, even as he broke them, but Trump doesn’t, he simply ignores them. That is authoritarianism, if not outright fascism.
6
The biggest difference between Nixon and Trump is that Nixon actually won the popular vote. More Americans voted for him in the 1968 Presidential election than the other guy. There are two ways someone can lead a country when more people are against him than for him. One, is to be a king or Dictator, the other is the Electoral college. The Electoral college is the greatest failure of the founding fathers, it is their biggest folly. It gave us George W who almost led the US into the great depression 2.0, and now it has given us Trump who is sure to lead us into depression 2.0. All we can hope is that when the great disaster hits, democrats will have the majority needed to abolish the Electoral college once and for all.
'Every Vote Counts Amendment. ... This proposed constitutional amendment sought to abolish the Electoral College presidential elections and to have every presidential election determined by a plurality of the national vote. It was introduced by Representative Gene Green (D) Texas on January 4, 2005.'
we can no longer go on as a country in which the majority of the people are against the President. It is not just foolish, but it is dangerous. A President who does have the support of the majority of the people and only rules for a select portion of society (Rural voters, non-college educated voters) is truly a President by accident.
Both Nixon and Trump were unpopular, but ironicall Tricky Dicky was the one who was bonafide.
5
Take of the Tape (no pun intended). Let us count the ways (not an exhaustive list):
Intelligence - Nixon
Experience - Nixon
Knowledge of government -Nixon
Contextual Criminal Intent - Nixon
Persistent Criminal Intent - Trump
Conniving - Trump
Nepotism - Trump
Malice - Trump
Lies - Trump
Audiovisual Evidence - Trump
Intent to Undermine Election - Nixon
Intent to Undermine America - Trump
Consort with Enemies - Trump
Public Denigration of Opponents - Trump
Public Denigration of Supporters - Trump
Public Denigration of Allies - Trump
Agent of a Foreign Government - Probably Trump
I could go on. My fingers are cramping.
6
@SMKNC
Resigned before being impeached: Nixon
Will fight impeachment to the bitter end: Trump
3
We keep condemning, but I've seen no serious discussion as to how we implement some basic fail safes in the future so this never happens again. We put more formalized scrutiny to a high school senior's college application than we do to the person in reach of the nuclear button. After FDR died in 1945 we banned a third term run for president, but the amendment was ratified in 1951. We should not wait six years. Our system works too slowly to respond to serious problems. It can only work quickly if we people our government with the morally grounded and serious. Seeing the rationalizations and selfish short term point of view of Trump's many enablers (NJ gambling board, Tony Schwartz for all his disclaimers, GOP) during the last 40 years is what shocks me. Remember: Nixon urged Trump to consider a career in politics and offered to help ! A culture of rise by serving the wealthy whatever their morals has been on full display in examining President Trump's biography.
Many enablers along this shameful journey.
1
@TJM . And these enablers were all old white guys
1
It’s not just Trump. If the republicans truly cared about America, they would have put a check on this president long ago. Pardon my naïveté but I thought politicians came to Washington because of their concerns for us, the people.
3
@Bunnifacia
McConnells and Comrades think they are now Trump's employees.
A deluge of calls from their constituents and one more election will set them straight though.
The difference between Nixon and Trump? Apples and oranges. Nixon was an intelligent man, a lawyer who was experienced in the ways of government. Trump is none of that. The only similarity between the two is that they were both flawed characters who had no business serving as president of the United States.
5
If Nixon were to have had this Congress, prior to the recent election that is, he would have never had to resign.
2
Prior to the 2016 election I announced that I would vote for Nixon before Trump. I was laughed at by family and friends. I still feel the same way and many of the scoffers have since joined me.
6
@James A
I regretfully did vote for Nixon and if I had ONLY a choice between Nixon and Trump now, absolutely no hesitation, I'd also vote for Nixon again.
1
If you start typing "Richard Nixon" into Amazon's search engine, the top suggestion for a related product is "Richard Nixon mask." Enter Donald Trump and you get "Donald Trump toilet paper." On that basis, we might want to give a slight edge to Nixon's reputation at this point, but admittedly it's open to debate.
Nixon shied away from the public eye after 1974, but he *did* write, and prodigiously - ten books or thereabouts after he left office, six of which are available on Kindle today. While he never came close to rehabilitating his reputation, in certain quarters he come to be considered something vaguely resembling an elder statesman. Even an unsympathetic reader - was there any other kind? - could find some genuinely thought-provoking ideas scattered across Nixon's writings.
One wonders what books Donald Trump will commission to have ghostwritten after he leaves office, and who will read them, and why. I'm already haunted by the specter of a regular time slot for his talk show on Fox. Even that nightmare will at least afford us the option of changing the channel. No such option exists under the present circumstances.
In retrospect, the name of the dog Nixon was gifted while in office - "Checkers" - seems prophetic. He left us a checkered legacy - a feat Trump is unlikely to rise to.
But never forget: Nixon subverted peace talks on Vietnam before being elected, created an Enemies List, aided in the removal of Allende and ordered the secret bombings of Cambodia.
8
Whatever his faults, Nixon did accomplish considerable good for the country. He did open dialog with China. He did sign into law environmental measures that made real progress. However messy and imperfect it may have been, he did bring a close to the insanity of Vietnam. Had he not made some unfortunate selections in his team, we might remember him in a very different light.
8
Trump has no redeeming features. He is an embarrassment on the world stage, his lies encompass all discourse, vindictive, arrogant, ill informed and has no desire to be, he and his family profit from his position, he hasn't assumed any responsibilities as President. He has relinquished his duties to Kushners, Kelly, Steve Miller, Mnuchin, Sean Hannity, Cabinet members and other rag tags.
Nixon did form the EPA. Living through the turmoil of Watergate looking back it seems minor compared the utter disaster on all fronts in 2018. We're also dealing with many Republicans who are self motivated and lack a conscience just like Trump.
9
@rhdelp
GOP were smarter back then. They even went to Nixon and asked him to resign.
Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are too cowardly to even $ugge$t that this President $top tweeting outrageou$ attack$.
It might affect their per$onal campaign war che$t or forthcoming very lucrative lobbying job....$$$$$!
1
Nixon made some really poor decisions that he paid a heavy price for. However, I never doubted that his priority was to do good things for America. And he did. He started the EPA that Trump is now dismantling and he opened up a dialog with China to name a couple of things. I have believed from day one that Trump is only in it for the money. He has articulated no principles. It has been 100% demagoguery, fear mongering and chaos. All, I believe, to deflect attention away from his money grabs. I doubt he knows what a fascist is. Rather, fascism and authoritarianism is something that comes to him instinctively. He is a menace to society. But if there is a silver lining it may be that Americans will reject him and his congressional cult followers. That rejection was evident in last week's election results.
4
There are still large pockets of Trump support. See senate election results in Florida, Missouri, and Tennessee, to name a few. Those states elected (assuming FL results hold up) Trump-supporting Senators who will make genuine progress difficult, and impeachment conviction impossible.
3
CONGRATULATIONS!
Having witnessed the Nixon era first hand, I have been relaxed in the knowledge that he was an aberration, a never-to-be-repeated mistake that simply could not recur. Our experience and outright pain as we watched his disgusting behavior would not be repeated. Both political parties would be sure no such candidate would be their choice.
Then, 2016 happened and we have all witnessed Nixon-on -steroids.
We MUST:
Rid ourselves of this destructive to our democracy.
AND,
Insure it can never happen again.
7
Trump has absolutely no redeeming features. He is an embarrassment on the world stage, his lies encompass all discourse, vindictive, surly, arrogant, ill informed and has no desire to be.
5
OK he is a horrible, terrible monster who got accidently elected or so they say, but as a citizen I want safeguards in place to protect me and my family from future plots, mistakes, etc., I do not want to go through the craziness of the past two years with the list of shady characters, mob types, criminals, liars, etc., Kurt Vonnegut could never dream these people up or Trump. It is like the biggest Potemkin Village the world has seen since the Caesers took over Rome.
6
@Betsy Herring
Yeah well don't hold your breath waiting for the "safeguards".
Remember why we had a crash in 08?
"Banks that were too big to fail"?
They are now bigger and riskier than ever.
1
@Betsy Herring
Dems are proposing some safeguards like forcing all presidential candidates to release their tax returns and show how they will relinquish control over their personal businesses, etc..Of course, Republicans will stop that from the get go if they can!
1
@ David Underwood
Shifting the blame for the Vietnam War from LBJ to Eisenhower is absurd. How many Americans died in Vietnam under Eisenhower? Both LBJ & Nixon should have been pilloried for squandering both American & Vietnamese lives.
Trump pales in comparison.
2
In a "Nut"shell--Manipulative, Self-Entitled, Materialistic, and Exploitive—And it certainly matters for everyone's sake. His approaches to money, power, and sex. He governs based on an inclination to commit crimes and disregard the law. In short, his behaviour captures something fundamental about a person's adaptation to a shared world: He is the epitome of a person's willingness to exploit others. Why this is especially unfortunate is that you can't only blame his genes and childhood as this behaviour is of his own free-will.
4
So, it's Pick-Your-Poison Friday in the NY Times! Ms. Drew makes excellent comparisons between the two men that are helpful in guessing how the Trump Show goes down, but for all those alleging Nixon's intellectual prowess, I recall hearing Pres. Nixon talking on TV one evening when he mispronounced the word "library" as "Lie-Barry." My mother was aghast. Of course, now we have a president who tells us that we need ID in order to buy breakfast cereal. The De-evolution leadership of the the GOP is complete.
2
@WRosenthal
Not sure what pronunciation has to do with intellect
@WRosenthal
One of my favorites from Trump:
"I have words, I have the best words."
I'm a Bernie Dem myself, but I try to be honest, even about Republicans. That said, Nixon was both brilliant and highly effective in many aspects of his administration, especially, of course, the China breakthrough. Trump is so much worse than Nixon not only because he's a much more fascistic, and yes shamelessly dishonest, demagogue than Nixon, but also because, unlike Nixon, he's stupid and incompetent. In every respect, Trump is by far the most dangerous president Americans have ever been moronic enough to elect.
7
Trump is far by the greater of two evils. If for no other reason than he’s still around and could be for some time to come.
How quickly, how despicably he has threatened the future of our democracy has been unparalleled.
Nixon may have been the Trump of his era, but Trump has thus far already exponentially exceeded the worst of Nixon’s character and behavior.
Nixon was at least a self made man from humble origins who strived
by hook or crook to achieve what he must have thought were noble goals for his country and his political party.
Trump has spent his entire life being a poseur and almost managing to get away with it while allowing himself and therefore his country to
be manipulated by its sworn enemies for his own personal gain.
Both men were always resentful of an ‘establishment’ that never accepted them. Both were hurtful and hateful to anyone who got in their way.
Both men felt themselves above the law, yet Nixon finally knew when to say when for the good of his country but Trump has no qualms about taking this country down with him.
Fortunately, Nixon was stopped by members of his own party who had the courage and wisdom to lead a bipartisan effort that stopped the escalating damage. Unfortunately, today’s Republicans have sacrificed the courage, wisdom and willingness to reach across the aisle, thereby being complicit in the continuation of this threat to our future.
6
Liz, if a rumor has to be believed, Trump is more edgy than he ever was.
Why ?
Because, thanks to his lackey Mathew Whitaker, Trump got wind of all the damning parts in Mueller's report.
No wonder as per some aides, Trump's voice now is blasting through the roof of the White House.
It is alleged that Trump is yelling now at anyone or anything that comes on his way, including his personal umbrella which as we saw last week he just discarded at the steps of AF1.
So as you've mentioned that although Nixon's and Trump's fate is quite similar in nature but Nixon being a political animal knew where the term "Buck Ends Here" meant.
But Trump being a political naivete doesn't want to know the term.
That mainly is the reason why he's using all his lung power to yell at his own stooges.
Trump is behaving at present as a patient whom their shrinks calls," Someone who's about to fall off the Wagon."
Nixon, like Trump, near his end was almost "falling of the Wagon" by drinking heavily, cursing at the tv sets in the White House.
In fact Nixon was so far down with his mental capabilities that his Secretary of Defense was fearful that he might order a nuclear strike on Russia or Cuba.
No wonder Melvin Laird had to order the officers in charge of Nuclear bombs not to launch nuclear missiles without consulting him first.
Gen. Mathis may have to do something similar if he finds out that his Commander-in-Chief is going cuckoo in his head just because Mueller's report is coming out.
2
Trump, like Nixon, will be elected for a second term; but unlike Nixon, Trump will never be impeached, nor will he resign.
I support the President. I support Trump. MAGA! Thank you.
1
@Southern Boy gives a great example! No evidence, no reasoning, no support, just a pure statement of faith.
Thank you.
2
@Dan Styer
Unlike everyone else who simply labels Trump stupid and/or the Antichrist. C'mon.
Look how this country has become.
Examining Trump’s personal life vs. Nixon’s. Could we ever fathom Richard Nixon publicly bragging about groping women? That’s not bad enough, but Trump still has supporters who don’t care about that, not in the least. All those Trump divorces, marriage to a model who has shown the country almost everything she has, this now First Lady. Ummm......vs Pat Nixon? I don’t recall Richard Nixon having a lot of personal businesses while holding office, reaping great profit on the sideline.
Will there be a John Dean in our presence? Who would that be? Anyone that brave?
Will there be a Woodward - Bernstein team or a Deep Throat?
After all, don’t we know, Trump has made a hit with all those “fake” news believers.
As much as we look at Nixon with disgust, to a point, he finally resigned, he left us alone and left others to carry on, and we was a lot smarter in real brain cells than Donald Trump ever has been, or will ever be.
2
Trump’s behavior in office suggests he’s a political cipher, at best. The “polis” ... the body of citizens, the commonwealth ... has no meaning to him, unlike his vested self-interest at the expense of the nation. Yes, of course he’s less in effectiveness than Nixon, as president. Trump’s excellence ... if one wants to call it that ... is in his ugly disruptiveness here and abroad, unmatched by any previous president. But the very troubling thing is that he has, nonetheless, so much solid, dedicated citizen support. To me, this suggests he’s more a symptom of the disease we now suffer than the disease itself ... though I’m not entirely sure of that.
4
Comparing Nixon to Trump is like comparing typhus to a bad head cold. In two and a half years Trump has done nothing irreparably damaging. Nixon by the third year of his administration had already launched a secret and illegal war against Cambodia: approved the Christmas time carpet bombing of Hanoi: and ordered the Watergate burglary. And there was much much more. Please read a book. Get a historical perspective. Trump may be bad, but Nixon was a whole-other-category of badness.
2
@johnyjoe. you have got to be kidding: "In two and a half years Trump has done nothing irreparably damaging." ask the leaders of our foreign allies, political refugees, state election commissions, the press, and OMB how long it is going to take to fix the mess that Donnie created.
@bobrt1
I’ll admit the Trump administration is GUBU (grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented). But it ain't Nixon. Really. It’s okay. It’s cool. Our European allies have seen worse than this. They’re a little shocked. But once sanity returns we can get together with them again. The press isn’t doing too badly either, and the election problems go back years.
I’m not saying that it’s the best of all possible worlds, but it isn’t fascism. Nixon was a real poison, tens of thousands died. Trump is just a vulgar manifestation of the times, and so far he hasn’t actually killed anyone.
That’s all predicated on his being a single term president. If he gets a second term, then all bets are off, and I’m going to start drinking again.
What few people seem to remember is that Trump learned the dark arts from a master: Roy Cohn, who like Nixon made his name by viciously pursuing and destroying American citizens in the name of anti-Communism. Cohn, unlike Nixon, stayed in the private sector, where he was free to continue his dirty work in the shadows, unlike Nixon who remained in government. Trump learned from a master. We shouldn't be the least bit surprised two years on from the election by his behavior....
1
American democracy is clearly at grave risk. Trump has to be constrained, even curtailed. When will the Republicans step up to this reality? Does McConnell have a patriotic bone is his body?
1
Nixon was a smart crook who understood international diplomacy and negotiated U.S. rapprochement with China. Trump is a dumb crook whose greed, narcissism and admiration for dictators threatens our economy and our national security.
3
Nixon should have been impeached. However comparing Nixon to Trump is a great insult to Nixon. Nixon was an intelligent, competent person who actually initiated some important programs, like the EPA and establishing relations with China. His personal demons were his downfall. Trump fails on all counts and is the most destructive force in U.S. society.
2
Maybe, but Nixon's bodycount of American and Vietnamese soldiers and civilians is much much higher.
1
The real reason Nixon did not challenge the results of the 1960 election, specifically the accusation that there was voter fraud in Chicago is that even if he(Nixon) won Illinois Kennedy would still have enough electoral votes to win the election. Often this fact is forgotten.
Oh, He also could not have made the accusation stick.
2
Nixon was many things, and far from it for me to defend his actions that were attempting to create an imperialist presidency, but the differences between Nixon and Trump are huge. Nixon understood the constitution, he understood in many ways about the office of the president, and in his own way he cared about this country, whereas Trump is a narcissistic train wreck who cares only about himself. Nixon had demons that brought him down, Trump is an ignorant boob whose only talent is firing up anger and hate in his base. Trump is dangerous in sum because he doesn't think through things, can't, he reacts, often with childish anger, and has no idea of consequences. Conservatives should be fighting Trump as much as liberals do, as any decent person does, conservatives talk a lot about personal responsibility and knowing the consequences of actions, something Trump has no idea of. Most people make mistakes, and pay the price for them; Trump his whole life makes mistakes, and either Daddy paid for them, or Trump' s investors, while he himself never does.
1
With everything that was wrong with Nixon, no one can or ever will compare to trump, who is now in panic mode. He is losing it day by day. Just imagine him when January comes around....I can hardly wait.
1
I have always believes that
Trump is a fascist. I have also maintained that Mr. Nixon was far more decent than Donald Trump. A criminal is a criminal but there are degrees of criminality.
1
Does logic have any role in pieces like this? The provocative subhead references"fascism." Well, good clickbait, I fell for it. But, of course, that was the end of that. The word is never defined and never shows up again. Rather, we are served the usual, rehashed list of leftist anti-Trump arguments. I'm old enough to remember Watergate, and believe me, Trump is not only not Nixon, he isn't even Clinton, who as a means of deflecting obstruction of justice routinely demonized Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr. Clinton did not have "Fox News," but he could always count on your paper and every other left-wing organ serving as mouthpiece. Indeed, the mainstream press wouldn't go anywhere near the Lewinsky story, it took the then new Drudge Report to make that sordid tail public. What, Ms. Drew, will you do when Mueller's investigation ends, after 2 years!, with Mr. Trump still standing and untarnished?
2
Trump is far worse than Nixon, for reasons Ms. Drew doesn't fully detail. Adjectives to describe Mr. Trump's person and administration themselves fail; in the future there will be "Trumpean" for leaders so spectacularly ignorant, incompetent, narcissistic, and vile ... those words failing to capture the essence of Trump's squalor and kakistocracy.
Trump's major failing however is his people. He is both their product, and produced them. No president has brought a stupider and less competent cabinet into office. So far they have not grafted to the degree of Grant's or Harding's, but none has been more nepotistic & shambolic.
Trump's "base" is his power. Trump is better compared to dictators like Peron, than to any president in American history. But Trump's descamisados are not the shirtless underclass. Instead they are downwardly-mobile angry white men of some substance, many even wealthy, united by peculiar grievance: "those people" are doing better.
Trump is the kafabe president leading his people soaked in "Reality Shows," and Limbaugh and Hannity and FOX. Those institutions built up the cray-cray slowly, by way of Palin and the Tea Party, created a Congress of their grievance and entitlement. That birthed Trump, and shielded him.
Enough white women revolted and the coalition of the sane took the House of Representatives. How the next act plays out ... we will see.
1
Elizabeth Drew has been one of my mentors. Not in person Iembarrassed to say, initially television. Calm, intelligent, reasonable still.
As much as the Rove/Cheeny syndicate think they can direct the pen (keyboard) of history. Utter nonsense.
We know Nixon. We don't really know(aren't told) how criminal he was. It will come out after we are all dead. Nixon supporters have a legacy they can point to with some pride.
The current president will comtinue to be an embarassment long after the grim reaper dolled and over made up "consents" to have sex with him in one of his rages.
Mathew Wittacre has about as much chance of corrupting the whole beautiful system as I do. Elections matter.
Nixon was a bad president (Watergate, southern strategy – I don’t agree it was inevitable; the Republicans could have joined the Democrats and made civil rights bipartisan) with some significant redeeming features (EPA, normalizing relations with China, getting out of Vietnam).
Watergate was particularly bad because he attempted to place himself above the law; Trump does that routinely.
I am not sure what redeeming features Trump has. The only good thing I know of about his presidency is addressing the lack of incentive for big multinationals like Apple to repatriate profit. Everything else has either been negative or so narrowly partisan that it only appeals to small fraction of the population.
Add to that attacks on the media, rhetoric that enables Nazis, sanctifying rape talk as locker-room talk, undermining law enforcement and a penchant for cosying up to authoritarian governments and what do you have that’s positive?
Internationally, Trumpism is enabling xenophobia, providing an excuse for violent suppression of protests, given cover for attacks on journalists and has given the Saudis false hope that they can literally get away with murder.
"... he went through the chain of command ..."
If you are going to tempt us with a link, why not find one far more informative than the one provided with the text above?
i have visions of U.S. marshals, armed to the teeth, hauling him out of the white house, kicking and screaming for his base to stand up and rescue him.
2
Another article screaming over the Mueller's firing which is not happening, after a year and half. Really there was no need for the umpteenth version of that.
But i'm surprised that the continuity of fascism and Trumpìs behaviour. Nixon, for as much as anyone can know was politicially corrupt by power, Trump is consummated by his fame, which obviously makes him talking about himself constantly, and that means, by any means, defending.
But as much as he didn't push any red nuclear button escalating any little international dissent into WW III, and oh, the nytimes had plenty of articles about that- from Krugman to the association of psychologists- so he is not firing Mueller, even if he fired Comey, Session essentially for disloyalty. Mueller?? He wasn't never on camp Trump, he had an interview for getting Comey seat again s director of the FBI with Trump himself and the next day was up as special investigator. Not exaclty the person Trump want into his circle of trust. That doesn't mean as Kavanaugh' preposterous argument would have that he has to passive accept any accusations hurled to him.
Mussolini, speaking of fascism, had his government and media seat covered by his allies, while his political activists opponents were killed or exiled, that is the kind of brutality of fascism. next time you wrote that word again think that people died because of it, and don't use it lightly, as you won't for "nazism".
1
Imagine Trump lived during the American Revolution. Who does he most remind you of, General Washington or the mad King George?
Come on, Ms Drew. Tell us what you really think of Trump.
Trump is the result of evolution in the republican party. Power at all costs. Winning by any means. Truth and democracy are for losers. Ethical decay the likes of which typically mean the end of society.
If it was just one man, it wouldn't be nearly so bad. But one look at the republicans in congress...one look at the typical Trump voter should tell anyone paying attention that Trump is a perfect representative for that segment of society.
Yes, of course, Trump does have Fox fake news...and they have him. And talk radio. And the internet troll sites Breitbart and Drudge. And don't forget the Russians. All of them attempting to trash the USA and shred the constitution to obtain and keep power.
The rule of law is in the dumper under Trump and the republicans. If we make it out of this mess, we need to strengthen the institutions of government before the next autocrat gets elected and is better able to bring this country to its knees and institute fascism.
The mid-terms was only one battle. Better be ready for the next battle, a bigger battle, in 2020. This country desperately needs saving. If we don't do it, you can kiss it goodbye.
And it's only going to get worse ...
Nixon v. Trump? Easy, shameless lying and vile name-calling as a modus operandi, to start. Oh, and low IQ for the one who won't reveal his tax returns (because we're too stupid to understand them), nor his report cards from his university.
While Nixon made us shake our head, Trump makes us want to vomit.
Who is worse? Tricky Dick Nixon or Don the Con Trump - now that’s a contest.
It is hard to make assessments until we know whether or not Trump collaborated with Putin in the 2016 election interference in exchange for policies favorable to Russia.
But, even at this point, Trump is formidable in his awfulness. Trump is much more overt and shameless, in using, or threatening to use, the federal government against his political enemies than Nixon. And this openness and shameleness is more damaging to the faith and trust of the citizenry in the government.
Trump is much worse in casting doubt on and damaging law enforcement, the DOJ, and the Judiciary.
And Nixon would never dream of using the Presidency so brazenly for personal gain. Or using foreign despots as props in his imagined great performances.
And even though Nixon was bad, he was kept somewhat in check by strong leaders in his own Party as well as the Democratic Congress. Trump’s wimpy Republican Congress has indulged him.
But Nixon still remains worse for interfering in the 1968 Paris Peace conference for political gain, thereby prolonging the Vietnam War and causing further deaths and injuries.
Of course, if it can be demonstrated that Trump made a deal with Putin, then Trump wins.
Regardless of the victor, the country is the big loser in this contest.
1
Nixon veered beyond the guard rails with Watergate but in general he seemed to be doing the job of being president. Watergate was a serious exception to an otherwise conventional presidency.
Trump has been outside the guard rails from the beginning of his presidency. He seems to view the presidency as a way to con people and to exploit the office for his own and his family’s personal gain. Trump has told so many lies and seriously harmed the US in too many ways to count.
1
Lawrence O'Donnell's book Playing With Fire, describes how Nixon undermined LBJ's attempts to end the VietNam War and charges Nixon with being responsible for an additional 20,000 American deaths in VietNam.
Trump is more of a direct assault on democracy and shows us the weakness of our "checks and balances'.
2
In addition to everything else being said here regarding Trump being worse than Nixon, look at their two families. I'm sure that Nixon's family urged him to carefully consider the writing on the wall as the Watergate investigation closed in, and to cautiously think over his best options. Trump's family is probably egging him on, urging him to fight the fight because they all have a lot to lose as things continue to unravel. Nixon's family may have been innocent bystanders while Trump's family will be exposed as enablers (at the very least) and possible co-conspirators.
10
Thanks Ms. Drew for your analysis. For years, I have felt Watergate was the beginning of the vitriolic negativism between the Democrats and Republicans. It was Republicans who went to Nixon and told him there was no support for him to stay on. Too many think it was Democrats who "got" Nixon. The truth "got" Nixon. Since then, it has been an ongoing back-and-forth. We desparately need someone who is willing to ask everyone to get back in their corners and start over. No fighting! Let's see what we can agree on and then move ahead from there.
2
@Dave Now the GOP is complicit in this mess and refuse to take the initiative to boot 45 out of office. McConnell being chief enabler.
Trump is the first President to TRULY seek to be an authoritarian dictator with limits on him, and with ZERO interest in honoring his oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
He is the end of our Democratic Republic if we don't stop him, and the Republican/ReTrumplican Party is perfectly happy to make him a life-long dictator with no one to answer to.
22
Compared to Trump, Nixon was a patriot and saint.
9
I'll bet anyone that, if Trump loses in 2020, he won't voluntarily vacate the White House. Talk about a constitutional crisis! I'll also bet anyone that he will be encouraged and supported by the Republican Party and Fox News
12
It’s much more extreme than this. Yes, Nixon tried some ultimately unsuccessful power grabs related to Watergate, but other than that—and of course his great failure to end the war in Vietnam quickly—he was kind of a conventional president.
Contrast this to President Trump’s thinly-veiled racism, his thousand-plus lies, his war on the journalists, his doing harmful things just to provide feel-goods for his minions, etc.—it all has us marching down the road to fascism.
11
I suspect that no matter how it ends (impeachment, being voted out of office), they'll have to carry D Trump out of the White House.
M Trump will have packed and headed back to NYC as soon as she got the word.
5
“Ya gotta” ask yourself, what’s going on inside the collective soul of the GOP that wickedness is a good thing and why simple common decency is not a governing principle amongst Republicans. It’s not that the Democrats inherently hold the moral advantage, but Republicans blatantly dismiss the rule of law and seemingly have have no regard for justice and fairness. Why is the GOP so good at dirty politics?
10
@GJJJ
Why is the GOP so good at dirty politics?
I'd say because it works for them. They cheat the system repeatedly (gerrymandering, election tampering, SCOTUS interference, etc.) and the supine and gullible electorate lets them get away with it. Simple.
Some editing was needed here: “One systemic and critical difference between Nixon’s situation and Mr. Trump’s is that Nixon wasn’t stupid nor ignorant of the laws.”
6
I never thought I'd hear the Times use the "F" word but here they have. While they've reached the right conclusion, that Trump is moving us toward fascism, they offer the wrong analysis.
This isn't about the two personalities, Nixon and Trump. What we are facing is inverted fascism. Unlike Europe of the 1920's where fascism rose as a mass movement with political parties, America is facing fascism from the top down with both parties acquiescing in the slow destruction of democratic institutions.
The cornerstone of this erosion is the slow decline of the rule of law. Mass incarceration is in effect the undermining of the 1st, 4th, 5th and 14th Amendments.
Then there was the Patriot Act and we voluntarily became a national surveillance state. Then there were the illegal wars, the massive human rights violations, the constant lies, the non-action by Congress.
Sec. Albright announces that we killed a half million children an no one even bats an eye. More recently both the former CIA Direction and National Security Advisor committed perjury before congress without the slightest worry that the law would apply to them.
Corruption is rampant in Washington, so the Supreme Court legalizes it. Is it any small wonder that Trump acts with such impunity toward rules, laws and norms of conduct?
We don't yet have full blown Fascism in America, but we are perilously close. And one thing is clear, we certainly don't have a truly functioning democracy.
7
I was only 12 when Nixon resigned, i.e. wise enough to understand vaguely that it was something important, but not knowledgeable enough to understand why it was as important as it was. It wasn't until my 30s that I started learning about and following politics that I could (in retrosect) understand why it was so momentous.
Now, in my mid-50s, I fully comprehend and agree with what Ms. Drew (and both Woodward and Bernstein) are saying: Trump is indeed worse than NIxon/Watergate, because now: 1) the Republicans in Congress have compromised their ethics, and are putting "winning" for their party above the good of the country; and 2) the Republican base of Deplorables is brainwashed by the Rightwing Media Cabal, and will never give up their alternative facts and accept real truths.
During the recent campaign, I was phonebanking for our Democratic congressional candidate. A woman that I called said to me: "Of course I'm voting Democrat. I'm 80 years old, and I never dreamed I'd see our country sink to the level we're at now." That's a sobering thought....
This woman lived through WWII, Hiroshima, the Cold War, McCarthyism, JFK's assasination, the Civil Rights struggle, MLK's assasination, the Vietnam War, Watergate, Iran-Contra, Columbine (and all the mass shootings since), hanging chads, 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan, etc. But to her, Trumpism brings us even lower than all of that.
What do we need to do to get the Republicans and their base of Deplorables to understand this?
10
Trump has yet to say "I'm not a crook."
1
@PJ Robertson
I hear "No Collusion!" and think of Tricky Dick all over again. Hopefully, the current guy will take the same helicopter ride Nixon did.
1
Lets call a spade a spade. It is not "closer to being a spade", it's a spade, plain and simple.
Would we talk about others in the same way? Oh, that guy Wayne Gretzky was "closer to being a hockey player than Bobby Orr was"? Or would we just simply call Mr Gretzky a hockey player?
Perhaps we should talk about Hemmingway as "being closer to being a writer than Mary Shelly was"?
A spade is a spade, no matter how you turn on it.
1
Trump is hand down the absolute worst president in modern history. There is no comparison. Trump is a joke on the world stage.
7
Nixon's lies and illegal actions in Southeast Asia cost hundreds of thousands of lives. He sacrificed many of these lives as part of cold, calculated plans to win election and reelection. He was every bit as racist as Trump, and almost certainly more anti-Semitic. What's scarier now, however, is that the environment has changed to one where Trump can lie and spew hatred openly and without suffering consequences.
7
The author of this piece has no sense of history. The casual use of the term fascism connotes comparisons with Hitler, Mussolini and Franco which is ridiculously exaggerated in context of Trump. One meaningful difference is that Nixon committed unforgivable crimes against his country. Notwithstanding in the apparent endless 18 months of investigations and unfounded accusations by the left and the press, no evidence of any kind has been produced to substantiate any criminal actions by Trump. One of the reasons this country is so divided is due to unfounded, hyperbolic, cliche ridden accusations of the kind contained in this piece. Political debate is one of the cornerstones of this country but animosity to this extreme is not much better than fascism. Time to turn down the rhetoric and this is not a good start.
3
@PK - Look up Elizabeth Drew's name and you'll discover that she is a respected journalist of manyyears and has no doubt lived through of what she writes. You, on the other hand, state reasons that Trump is under serious investigation as the accusations are unfounded, etc. How can you write that and dismiss Mueller and all that has happened under his direction? What about Manfort, Cohen, and the others indicted and facing real prison time? What about the constant lying by Trump as well as the arrogance and rudeness displayed when he visits France, meets other leaders? No one in my family died in battle yet the purpose of the trip to Paris was to honor the end of WWI. Not for our honorable leader. Whose rhetoric needs turning down? Who continues to attend rallies of the faithful who continue to yell "lock her up" and other inanities? Read more. Start w/some of Elizabeth Drew's writings that go back at least close fo a half century.
Is there really any comparison? Nixon is looking better and better all the time. Meanwhile, Trump lies constantly while calling everything except Fox "fake news," so that many people either begin to question the basics in our society or fall in line with his thinking. He steers most discussions to focus on himself and stirs up his supporters' anger at his taxpayer-supported rallies, feeding his narcissism and breeding a cult of personality. He declares himself a nationalist—America First!—while sending troops to the border and scapegoating Mexicans and other Latinos, immigrants, Muslims, Jews, women, and just about every other group except white men born in the USA. Like Nixon, Trump believes he is above the law, but surely Nixon had a better grasp of the law, the Constitution, and the functions and powers of the three branches of government and the states.
4
Truly, Trump aspires, and has aspired, his entire life to be, more or less, a master criminal. Has he aspired for this consciously? I think so. I believe Roy Cohn mentored him in this regard. Trump has aspired to be a master criminal in the same sense that Bernie Madoff aspired to the very same roll. The two men are actually quite similar in character. Madoff, actually, might be the better man, though we are comparing lizard to lizard.
Our beloved United States, is being fully run (into the ground I might add) by the equivalent of the Mafia. For this is precisely how Donald Trump views the world. Fascism is at the heart of Il Cosa Nostra. Again, John Gotti was probably a "better" man than Trump, comparing Iguana to Iguana.
Nixon was small potatoes compared to the evil now running our government. Malevolent, lacking anything resembling empathy, piggish, relentlessly greedy and unrelenting, Trump, the wannabe Satan, will hopefully go down soon. The eternal battle between essentially evil forces and good forces will have completed its latest "pure" incarnation.
The troubling thing to me about the heinous era of Trump, is what license he has given to what may come next- after the Democrats make an attempt to fix the horrific mess he has created.
6
Despite all the parallels to Nixon, and Trump's blatant "out-in-the-open" overreach, there's one overriding reason Trump is dealing with the special counsel like an out-of-control neo-facist adolescent: he's unread, unaware and uneducated on all issues of national history and ethical behavior. His transparent nonsense, day by day more irrational and incoherent, is driven only by his sick narcissism.
There are hopeful folks who say the federal institutions will survive this idiot, but I am less and less optimistic that there are sufficient checks and balances in Washington to put the brakes on his insanity. Mitch McConnell, as an example, is totally cowered by the threat of a Trump 3AM tweet - what a traitor to his office. The rest of the Republicans in Congress are also spineless, even after the drubbing last Tuesday. Trump will have to be indicted or at least convincingly accused of something really awful before they come to their senses. History will not treat this group of invertebrate politicians with any kindness. Watch "Judgement at Nuremberg" for a preview of our future.
4
In early 1972, political operatives of Nixon broke into the McGovern headquarters in the Watergate complex. It is not known whether they found anything of interest and it is also not known if Nixon knew about it when it was planned or when it happened. It was in the news well before the election.
Nixon was elected, winning 49 states.
Nixon was run out of office for attempting to cover-up the Watergate break-in. That was a mistake on his part. He should have just said I'm sorry my operatives did the wrong thing.
Private citizens committed a crime; Nixon tried to cover it up and was forced out of office.
Compare with Obama. Russians spent a year enhancing reality TV star Trump's ability to savage his Republican competitors for the Republican presidential nomination. Democrats and the media jumped on board, savaging both Trump and laughing at the Republican clown car.
After, shockingly, Trump got the nomination, Hillary paid millions for a fabricated Steele dossier [violating FEC rules], which was fed to the FBI, which used it to justify spying on the opposition campaign.
As long as the Russians were enhancing the electoral prospects of Hillary, Obama loved them. When the worm turned, he used official government employees to undermine Trump.
Hmm, private citizens spy on the opposition and the president has to resign in disgrace. Fascist president directs government agents to spy on the opposition and the victim is blamed.
2
@ebmem
I don't know what to say other than: WOW!
@ebmem and Trump has the evidence!
@Mike Westfall
Point taken. But to honor Stan Lee, I’m adding a WHROOOPH to your WOW.
If Trump decided to resign, we then get Mike Pence who scares me more.
4
well said, thank you from one who has voted for presidents since 1972.
3
@Paul Langland
I, too have voted for presidents since 1972. My first vote was for Nixon. I also remember being very disappointed when the evidence was revealed. I was frightful of our country falling apart.
I wonder what reactions we will see when the report is issued? Will it be seen as a definitive report as to what happened, or just another bunch of drivel. Many do not want to believe facts, even if they are unequivocal.
Truth hurts, and I believe it will catch up to the guy in the White House.
1
Ranking US Presidents is not much more than a parlor game.
As for Fascism, all it takes is for more people to read genuine Fascist writings to realize that Fascism can no more be brought to the US than can real democracy brought to China.
It has been tried. In the 1920s and 30s a sizeable number of intellectuals --- both Right and Left --- sweated bullets trying to promote corporatist/Fascist ideologies as the perfect solution for America's woes. They either had to back away hastily or became irrelevant.
4
I’m sorry, but how exactly is this news, two years after Trump, by the sheer stupidity of half the country, landed a snake oil salesman in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
During the first two months between the election and the inauguration and especially after Michael Flynn’s resignation not even one month into this corrupt and incompetent administration, I spent hours researching the Watergate scandal and wondering how long it would take to impeach Trump.
How impeachment hasn’t happened sooner was at first, beyond my comprehension, and now a sad statement on the state of the GOP, I tent to take this country down the toilet with the psychopath who hijacked their dying party.
This can’t end soon enough. And justice isn’t going to prevail. It is my only hope that when Pence tries to ascend to the presidency that congress and the courts rule this entire presidency was stolen and illegal. If, God forbid, he’s allowed to become president he won’t make the same mistake that Gerald Ford did by pardoning President Trump. Punishment can’t be swift of hard enough. Logan Act must be ratified.
2
One of the biggest and most frightening things that differ, and make Trump much worse, is that so many of his supporters, tens of millions of them, are just as fascistic as he is.
Trump and the current Republican Party are loathsome, but so are a great many of those who vote for them.
They clamor for bread and circuses, and if there is any skill that the Donald has mastery of, it is in delivering circuses. Bread, not so much.
3
Unfair comparison. In spite of promoting racial, cultural and civic division, Nixon actually ran a presidency, as opposed to our current carnival of idiocy.
6
Certainly interesting comparison and neat morphing image.
On an academic, history page style the theme of course has merit, on paper.
In practice though, having lived through Nixon over his many years, dragging in Trump does more to elevate Trump's status in the US political timeline than were he ignored or seen as a different creature from a diff era.
Nixon's "palace guard" costumes was a sign of what he thought the WH represents as top of food chain. Now along comes this 'outsider', shakes some trees, lives in a TV reality brain flash series of moments.
We had the pro pol now we have the pro prop. I think Trump figures the nationalist Nixon who evolved into a globalist overdid the gain side for the US. Certainly the US is bound to the globe, question is how much. Fair issue.
But to churn Fascism in a discussion, dang that's pretty extreme regarding both figures. Will change my viewpoint when the actual facts on the ground suggest it. Just being able to write this keeps me neutral at moment. Thanks NYT. You're my litmus paper.
Trump also has the advantage of Twitter, bringing his rants directly to the people, whenever he so chooses. Nixon was on television and in the newspapers, Trump is always right in our faces, whether we want him there or not.
3
Yes. Also, McConnell & Party of Trump have been egging Trump on to declare a fascist regime (not that Trump needs much encouragement) by repeatedly quashing the Senate resolutions to protect Mueller. Nixon's GOP wouldn't have abided fascism, unlike Trump's, which can hardly wait.
1
What motivates a man like Whitaker? He’s been called a lackey, unqualified, unfit — everything under the sun to basically say he’s not remotely qualified for the position to which he was named. And yet, shameless, he sits there, atop the US Justice Dept., while the basic legality of his appointment is in question and his role in a company he worked for is under investigation. Every day there are articles saying if he does what he was chosen to do he can be charged with obstruction of justice. Welcome to the Trump administration. Incompetents, fraudsters, liars, thieves and traitors. Do these people have no shame at all?
4
Happily, there is another difference. Trump, as we saw in his press conference recently, is capable of taking a defeat and claiming it was a victory. I can imagine a resignation speech that begins, “I’ve done what I promised, made America great again … and now I’m leaving the details of the job to my very able partner, Mike Pence!”
".... Mr. Trump has given us reason to wonder whether he would defer to legal findings against him or even to a re-election loss in 2020 — if, that is, he’s still in office then." This is laughable. Like Bush, Trump will be eager to get out of town as soon as his term is complete. It was Obama who made clear that he wanted to stay on, boasting throughout the 2016 election that if he were running for a third term, he would be certain to win. He then proceeded to follow Trump around the world, shadowing Trump as he made his way to world capitals to meet his counterparts in Japan, Korea, Germany and elsewhere. Obama even took up residence in Washington so he could continue to operate like fallen tyrant in a Banana Republic. Bush, of course, like his father, keeps his distance, and I am quite sure Trump will get out of town as soon as possible, eager to relax at one his fine private estates.
1
Agree completely, with one minor caveat from history. While Nixon did refuse to challenge the 1960 result because proving fraud would have been difficult (even though there was fraud), he also took into consideration the geopolitical implications of such a challenge. In 1960-61 the Soviets appeared to be on the move, possibly even winning the Cold War and the global battle of ideas. Nixon held back in part because he felt challenging the election result could hurt the country at home and abroad. Nixon was twisted, but he was still, in his own way, a patriot. Trump is just twisted.
3
While Nixon should have faced criminal charges. I never felt he was endangering the population or treasonous to the USA.
With Trump, we are facing the first real and present danger to America since the Civil War.
501
Trump is like Climate Change, it can only get worse.
19
@Stephan So, sabotaging the Viet Nam War peace negotiations to gain electoral advantage thereby directly leading to the deaths of thousands more Vietnamese and Americans isn't,"endangering the population or treasonous to the USA"? I beg to differ.
22
@Steve Bruns Tens of thousands of U.S. service deaths and more than a million civilian deaths in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
19
The big difference is Russia. Nixon hated Russia (Soviet) and famously argued toe-to-toe with Kruschev. Trump loves Russia and famously cuddles with Putin.
3
Nixon may have participated in the coverup surrounding the break in at Watergate - but he was not behind the break in. We need facts - and if facts don't lead the story, don't write the story. And, there is not one fact in this article that documents Trump is Fascist. This is more like what Putin has asked for - provoking discord among Americans.
1
Assuming Trump gets the nomination in 2020 and assuming (let us fervently hope) he loses the election, can we assume he will accept the defeat? I don’t think that assumption is warranted. He is a classic narcissist with onset dementia and his whole being would be threatened by the loss. You’re going to have to force him out of the White House, physically force him, and even then he will, as per the Papal Schism, set up an alt-government in one of his hotels. He will invite and encourage civil war.
1
nixon was merely a common criminal. trump is a pawn of an enemy power.
4
One has to wonder if Nixon would have a Twitter account. I wager he would not. He was not a malignant narcissist who was needy for attention. Trump is the worst President in the history of this country.
4
A weird dictatorship where the dictator’s allies and friends get investigated and prosecuted but none of the dictator’s opponents and enemies.
2
When Nixon was President, we wailed against the tyranny of "Tricky Dick."
Compared to Trump, Nixon was a man with Lincolnesque statesmanship, scholarship and service.
Furthermore, in fairness to Nixon he was not that much more corrupt or dishonest than his Democratic Party predecessors.
Trump screams about the press like an infant, but John F Kennedy told the New York Times, in private, to fire David Halberstam because of his reports about Vietnam. (I believe that the Times said No)
LBJ stole an election to become Senator of Texas (He was called landslide Lyndon as the official tally had him ahead by 77 votes), and lied to the American people to deepen our involvement in Vietnam.
1
Fascism is something ushered in by the state of mind for a majority of politicians (and public) and it is closer to fascism now in a sense because half of the politicians are awed to an amateur for his skillful agitations.
If Trump is a fascist, authoritarian dictator, why did he allow the Democrats to win enough seats in congress to have a majority?
If our democracy is imperiled and under attack, why would our dictator even allow an election?
Wake me when Trump tries to undo the 22nd amendment.
2
Richard M. Nixon was an intelligent man who had a vision of what was best for the country. Unfortunately, he was convinced that only he had the capability to successfully carry out that vision. He believed political tricks were an unpleasant, but necessary, tool to achieve the electoral mandate he desired. Yet, even within the realm of dirty politics with which he had to contend, he envisioned himself as a ethical man. Simplistic as it was, his "Checkers" speech showed his contempt for anyone who would suggest he would become rich at the expense of the American people.
Isn't Trump the one who was himself surprised about how much ethics mattered in government as opposed to his life in the corporate world where he viewed the concept irrelevant. Does anyone believe that Trunp has the best interests of the country at heart? Instead, he and his family has used the government to strengthen the Trump brand and wealth in the corporate world.
Trump and Nixon have very little in common.
What is sad, though, is that other columnists have made a much stronger case for a correlation between Trump's behavior to Mussolini's or Hitler's behavior. unfortunately. Unlike Nixon, who ultimately respected the law, will Trump continue to "double down" on his lies when facing the inevitable upcoming crisis. Does he expect to be pardoned for any and all sins, as Nixon was, to avoid national chaos? Isn't he , like the auto industry or the financial institutions, too big to fail (or lose)?
3
Put another way those who stand behind Trump at the bully pulpit, - whether his base, Fox News or worse, G.O.P. members of Congress without any ethical impulse - are equally complicit. Up until the mid-terms they have enabled Trump to careen unchecked by either fact or long established protocol. The United States and its institutions have been pummeled for two years by the current tenant of the White House, a ruthless assertion of power, an assumption that autocratic rule will prevail - but only if, we, the people, give our permission. What happens now leading up to January 3, 2019 will determine if we will heal as a country, slowly regain our stature and once again become recognizable as leader of the democratic free world. Should the staunchly red side of the aisle not cry foul in the event the Special Counsel, prior to Democratic control of the House, is either contained or removed by Trump or Whitaker, then indeed fascism is knocking loudly at our door.
Nixon got us pandas. Which is to say- he engaged China.
1
Except for watergate, Nixon was basically honest and highly competent. Seriously. He was more successful at dealing with China, Russia and he had a ton of domestic accomplishments too. Like the Clean Air Act, establishing the EPA. Can you imagine that before, coal plants belched smoke with no scrubbers? Cars used lead-containing gasoline?? It was like we were living in caves.
3
The Nixon years were soul destroying, 1968 was a year that left many lifelong scars, and now we have Trump! At this stage, I don't know which is the worse of the three events above, they're all very negative and traumatic experiences.
1
There's far too much intellectualising about Trump: Comparing him unfavourably with Nixon is a useless exercise.
If there is any comparison at all, it it simply that Nixon was a decent person, a visionary, who rose to the presidency and became a crook, while Trump was born a crook and rose to the presidency: The latter is Al Capone in the White House, someone without an ounce of moral fibre, who will do anything for money, and even boast about it.
Al Capone was finally defeated by the tax authorities. Trump considers himself the tax authority, as well as the arbiter for all three branches of government. This leech will be far more difficult to dislodge than Capone.
10
Your point is well taken. Recall, however, that it was the very issue of taxes that made for the undoing of Capone. I would venture that the same path could lead similarly to the undoing of Trump. If enough investigators will follow it, and we find a competent prosecution team, should the findings warrant prosecution. Always the big "if."
1
Another difference is that even thought Nixon suffered from depression and alcoholism , Trump `s mental state is a lot worse . This man is delusional and totally unhinged . The 2 words that I find missing when people talk about the bizarre behavior of the President are " mental illness " . I know this is a terrifying realization but we need to accept the fact that the Commander in Chief is not well . We will gain nothing by refusing to look truth in the face . You are right that Trump will refuse to leave office even when compelled by legal means . People with malignan narcissism never accept defeat . The hope I have is that his behavior is so self defeating that I cannot believe he will be able to destroy our democracy . He is his own worst enemy . He will lose and America will win . But be ready for a bumpy ride .
4
People are worried that Trump will never leave. That is true. Even after his death there will always remain whatever he etches into history. I have faith that people will move on from the huckster and in a very short time he will fall between the cracks and reside at the same level as The Know Nothings, a footnote in history. Donald Trump ain't no Elvis.
"...Mr. Trump has given us reason to wonder whether he would defer to legal findings against him or even to a re-election loss in 2020..."
Rhetorically, the scofflaw gadfly is going to be an absolute pain till the day he dies...as far as physically deferring, there's always the U.S. Marshall's and the Secret Service to help him along the way.
Donald Trump already stated in 2016 that he would not accept the results of that election if he lost.
So we know what to expect if he's running in 2020 and loses.
Democrats have to get ahead of this long before it occurs by lining up all the best attorneys and eliminating possible corruption and voter suppression in every district of every state.
Spend the money, Dems.
Unfortunately you have the wrong candidate for the one who won't accept the outcome of an election. Mrs. Clinton has never acknowledged her poor campaign for her loss, which has fueled this ludicrous "Russia, Russia, Russia" investigation that has yielded no evidence whatsoever. No Democrat is willing to say the vulgarian from Queens simply outplayed the "most qualified presidential candidate ever"!
Boundaries, norms, and traditions are not binding. These can be broken without consequence but for journalistic criticism and possible political repercussions. Trump couldn’t care less about breaking from any of these so-called limits of power.
One important lesson to be learned from his term in office, about presidential power and limits never anticipated by our founders, is that boundaries, norms and traditions are insufficient to control an autocrat like trump: we must enact laws that have serious teeth to hold the executive accountable.
For example, I think the articles of impeachment against Nixon, abuse of power, included the particular of lying to the American people. Perhaps to avoid future impeachment’s, codify the truth into law. That may deter future chief executives from systemically lying. Can our country afford another Trump?
1
It’s good to see Ms Drew’s work again. It saddens me to see the descent of republicans in the house and senate. They are no longer representatives of the people, they are in the pockets of special interests and the 1%. They will allow this president to run roughshod over his sacred office. At least with a Democratic majority now in the house, we should return to a semblance of checks and balances on this criminal presidency.
2
My senior year in high school, our class trip went to DC. Several of us planned to picket the Watergate hotel while there but our efforts were stymied by one of the "cool" chaperones. I closely followed the investigations and watched as cabinet members close to Nixon were indicted. As much as I despised Nixon, there was always the realization that he truly loved this country. He also listened to republicans that stood up to him and proclaimed that his departure was necessary because the people and his party had lost confidence in him. Not so with trump. Republicans have become trumps puppets. They do not believe in the rule of law and have touched the holy grail of greed and financial depravity that is trump. They are consumed with power and have lost any love of country. I never thought I would see the day that any president could be lower than Nixon. trump will not go willingly because he has no allegiance to this country. Finally, I would much rather see trump escorted from the WH by FBI agents than for him to slink off into the night. His time will come.
2
I have been saying this all along and having lived through Watergate I know this is true.
Richard Nixon is practically a role model in contrast to Donald Trump. Yes, the man may have been a racist, lying crook, but Nixon worked towards becoming that disrespectful. Donald Trump is the embodiment of a life shaped by nepotism and envy.
There are plenty of bad things that can be said about Richard Nixon, and a good deal of them are absolutely true. Then again, he ordered the shuttering of our national internment camps, and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.
1
I have missed Elizabeth Drew's voice and am so glad to hear it again.
Unregulated and out of control.
Consider please that this is the sphere that big thrives in.
Untraceable. Unaccountable. Untouchable.
There is a lot of big out here in the econo sphere that is not speaking out against Trump. Trump represents them to the letter, T. Big T for totalitarian. In many respects their brand of T preceded Trump. Unregulated and out of control.
You salute with your wallet and pocketbook. And each refill. You salute to big. That ain't going away. We've been Trumped.
Isn't it a disgrace that we have to discuss whether there were worse presidents than Trump!
If Nixon were worse, would that make us and democracy in the US safer today?
People like Nixon and Trump should never get near the presidency.
It's bad enough that so many political leaders do the bidding of those who reward them personally (with future jobs, for example) and carry out policies that are self-serving to themselves and those who lobby them (such as tax breaks and reduced regulations).
But mostly such borderline corrupt things have been done by manipulating (bad enough, and very dangerous) the institutions and laws of the land; not by ignoring them totally. Neither should be tolerated.
Nixon and Trump are mean-spirited, bigoted, and criminally inclined personality types, likely with serious psychological problems. Making a pact with the devil to elect them in return for some petty short-term benefits is unforgivable.
Our Constitution was forged with the intent, specifically discussed by Madison, to limit the damage caused by such bad apples (by checks and balances), and if needed could be fully stopped (by the open-ended impeachment clause).
So, where have the checks and balances been? Each person in Congress has responsibility for this. Who is not doing their job?
At what point will we be ready for impeachment? Hand wringing is not enough. A case needs to be put together just in case it is needed. Let's hope someone is doing this.
1
Have we ever seen a president so self-absorbed and grandiose while intentionally untruthful---and relying on conspiracy news outlets?
His schedule unfathomably light. Relentless attacks on perceived enemies, maligning ordinary citizens & certain companies, the Fed chair, our previous president & the free press.
"Fake News." "Deep State." "Climate Hoax." "Witch Hunt."
Every construct: all about him. And such questionable ability to competently discharge the duties of the presidency, as seen in Paris.
So routinely in our lives, on our television screens, even appearing on our private phones: It IS reality television.
And we'd like to change the channel.
OMG. Nixon was an honorable boyscout in comparison. Sick to the core but still capable of shame and still an abiding interest in the United States of America and its institutions as an ongoing thing.
So he relented, out of the last drop of honor. And sat for semi-contrite interviews and tried to sorta patch things up with the American people he ultimately loved just enough to respect.
"trump" is a sociopathic psychopath for which NONE of this applies. He is still - even as many are encouraged we might now have the upper hand - ENTIRELY DANGEROUS. We discount him at our peril. We should be demanding his ouster to preserve the republic. Anyone that is still giving him the benefit of the doubt, or is somehow confuse, only has themselves to blame. For "trump" has gone out of his way to vehemently tell us what he's up to. Let's believe him. Out of a sense of self-preservation. Let's BELIEVE what he is starkly telling us.
2
I just hope when that Mayflower moving van backs up to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. President Pence doesn’t hand this despicable character a pardon as the door slams shut.
Trump should be greeted back at his tower with choruses of Lock Him Up.
Nixon was no doubt the more dangerous of the two with his intentions. Tricky Dickie was a capable politician who built a powerhouse organization.
Trump is an incompetent twit who stumbles about chasing shiny objects hither and yond.
Fox has abetted and mobilized the Trump deplorables - that is the frightening aspect of Trumpism. We are in an era of belief trumping rationale. Nixon was done when his own party turned against him. Today's GOP uses hatred, envy and greed as it's lifesource. It is difficult to see this nightmare ending well. For the first time in my life I can imagine an armed insurrection aimed at keeping Trump in power.
I find myself imaging the day when this national embarrassment is finally over - will Trump flee with a Nixonian wave or just slip out through the back door?
It is though we are living a Netflix drama and the reality star potus just keeps hogging the stage.
1
I clearly remember Watergate, being riveted to the TV as it unfolded.
The Trump Presidency has also been the prime cause of my being riveted to my TV as it unfolds.
The real difference between the two presidential attempts to circumvent the Constitution is the makeup of the Congress.
Back in the 1970s there were Republicans in Congress who put country first over party, who personally felt what Nixon was doing was despicable, who were willing to vote against him in an impeachment trial in the Senate if it came to that.
We don't have that now. We have Republicans who are nothing more than enablers for this out-of-control dictator-in-training, who are willing to hold their collective noses and conveniently look the other way as he takes the country down the rabbit hole.
We have a window into what they all REALLY felt about Donald Trump when, during the primaries, they were aghast at his rhetoric, at his sordid history with women, at his ridiculous embrace of conspiracy theories. They all called him out, every one of them, from Lindsey Graham, to Marco Rubio. From Ted Cruz to Rand Paul.
Look at them now. They fight to be the first in line to not only shine his shoes, but to lick them. Only Sen. John McCain had the courage and love of country to go against Trump and his party out of principle. The real danger here is not Donald Trump. It is the Republicans in control of Congress who could actually do something to stop him, but are unwilling to take that step.
5
Nixon famously said, "I am not a crook."
I suspect, when all is said and done, our president will be exposed to be as crooked as they come.
IF Trump is worse for democracy than Nixon, which presidents were worse than Trump? I think we need more SHTEM learning—H is for history.
Even though Trump lies with abandon, that the White House would put out a doctored video of Jim Acosta is the most chilling. CNN may be indignant at the revocation of Acosta’s press credential, but the mainstream networks continue to enable Trump probably because of the competition between them for ratings. We’re not sliding toward Fascism; we’re already there.
Even if Trump's hatred of the press has been expressed by
"encouraging violence against it," that's not the same as actually
controlling it. As long as the press is free we have absolutely
nothing to worry about. Instead, enjoy the entertainment and try
to guess how things will turn out. As far as I can figure out,
we're in the middle of a giant fraternity stunt that somehow
involves religion and Russia, not necessarily in that order.
Nixon was a politician who resorted to gangster tactics in the name of expediency. Trump is gangster who discovered politics can be a profitable form of racketeering.
1
He's not worse than Nixon. He's awful in a different way.
The incitement of anger and fear, the rampant xenophobia, the politics of resentment, the incessant need for scapegoats, the relentless attacks on the media, and a hatred for the life of the mind inevitably combine to overflow into episodes of ghastly violence -- these are the hallmarks of fascism.
This is what the fake president promulgates, it's what the gop enables, supports and defends, and it's what all too many on the right are eager to make real. Our country is on the precipice.
As a lifelong Republican living in the OC, am so disappointed in Trump/GOP for giving away our money to ultra wealthy via $ trillions tax cuts, climate change denying, healthcare/SocSec/Medicare cuts, concealing tax returns, endless corruption scandals. I voted for all Democrats in midterms. I also donated $ to their campaigns. GOP, you lost your moral compass when you chose neophyte/scandal plagued Trump over your own longtime members!
Trump is no more a fascist than Obama was, and even less so. During the Obama adm, the press rolled over and played dead, the press fawned over Obama and especially Michelle Obama for 8 years. It did not seem very free or independent, but more like an extension of the DNC. At least with Trump, Americans know that the press is free and fair, because the press is quite free to hyper-criticize everything Trump does. The press does not even pretend to be objective while covering Trump. According to Harvard, 90% of the media coverage of Trump is negative. A fascist would never allow that, and Trump seems to relish in it – he enjoys fighting back by exercising his constitutional right to freedom of speech, and Twitter. The press takes the bait and proves his points better than he could do so alone.
Nixon also was not a fascist. He was accused of wrongdoing and fortunately stepped down before he could be impeached. The system worked. A fascist would not have done that. The US system was designed with so many checks and balances, it would be quite challenging for a fascist to take charge, especially with the opposition in power in Congress, starting in the next term.
It is absurd to throw around the fascism charge.
How Trump is worse than Nixon: In every way.
2
Fascist? Honestly, the guy just lost control of the House of Representatives. Do fascists submit to democratic mandates of their performance?
I don't like him but your criticism of changing Attorneys General is excessive. This investigation needs to reach a conclusion and then we'll debate its results, but he's hardly a fascist for appointing the people he wants.
This criticism that Trump is undermining the democratic process is self-serving anyway. What was the Kavanaugh circus if not Democrats undermining the democratic process? I realize you wanted Merrick Garland confirmed but losing the 2014 midterms made that point moot whether he got a hearing or not. The president has not picked a Supreme Court judge in an election year when he was not in control of the Senate since 1881.
Regardless, that did not give Democrats the right to dispense with due process and the presumption of innocence and then resort to mob rule. Since the confirmation, the complete FBI report, in which EVERY witness was interviewed (exactly what the Democrats demanded) has been released and it shows less than no evidence. It shows there is evidence Ford had the wrong guy all along. But no one (including the media) paid any attention. No apology. Just move along, criticize Trump some more.
Oh...and keep investigating Kavanaugh? That isn't undermining democracy?
The investigation needs to finish. But, enough hysterical nonsense. Especially when it crosses into McCarthyism.
Elizabet Drew says that Trump is "pushing us closer to fascism". This is not political rhetoric but a fact. The characteristics of fascist regimes from the WW II and post WW II period were identified in a 2003 article by Lawrence Britt. The fourteen common elements were: hyper-nationalism, disdain for human rights, the use of "enemies" and scapegoats to unify supporters, hyper-militarism, rampant sexism, control of mass media, obsession with national security, use of religion to manipulate public opinion, the protection of corporate interests and power, suppression of labor, disdain for intellectuals and the arts, obsession with crime and punishment, rampant corruption and cronyism, and undermining free and fair elections. Trump and his administration checks every box.
1
Ms. Drew took me back to those dangerous days when Nixon was on the descendant. The Republican leadership then included some genuine patriots like Barry Goldwater, Everett Dirksen and Howard Baker. Nixon had rapport with many Democrats including Patrick Moynihan. Yes, Pat Nixon, dignified, restrained and universally respected handled everything with the grace of the great woman she was.
As an active liberal Democrat, my heart at times ached for Nixon as I witnessed one misstep after another during the final days leading to resignation.
I met President Nixon several times. Once, I recall, was outdoors when it was raining.
4
"Mr Trump's base has yet to be so tested."
I've no doubt that Trump's base will fail the test. If Trump had orchestrated the cover-up of a break-in to the offices of the DNC and his illegal actions became public, I believe his most ardent supporters would find a way to rationalize his actions, and give him a pass. We'd hear "Yes, but what about...?" arguments from GOP die-hards endlessly on Fox News, along with renewed attacks on the Clintons about Whitewater, Travel-gate, and everything in between.
Nixon's base nearly melted away when his guilt became evident. Trump's base will never desert him, no matter what. Who is it who's worse?
7
That Trump was an “outsider” to politics was touted as a virtue in 2016, but that was always why he might be the man who ushers the end of American democracy and the beginning of American fascism. Nixon was an insider trained in the norms and rules of American government. And so, as corrupt and as power-hungry as he was, he had some ingrained notions of not crossing certain lines, even if only because he thought there was no way he could get away with it.
But Trump has no such qualms. He will cross any line (as he has proven time and again) because he sees no lines. His sense of what he could get away with is informed only by his own experience.
And since he has so far gotten away with everything, it means he believes he can get away with anything. That is what may take this country past a point of no return.
6
Nixon was awful and deeply disturbed but he was an intellectual, informed and contemplative, and he took his position as steward of the country seriously, no matter how misguided. Yes he was highly destructive, but he was a deep thinker and, like William Buckley, a force to be reckoned with, unlike Donald Trump who I imagine is a shallow mystery to himself.
401
@Don Pirrigno
"Donald Trump who I imagine is a shallow mystery to himself." Bingo. Excellent one-line description of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Living a contrived reality to protect an underlying damaged self. Tragic. And the band plays on.
30
@Don Pirrigno Trump is obviously an idiot. Nixon (?). We lived through all of Watergate, the CREEPs (Committee to Re-Elect the President), Erlichman and Haldeman, John Mitchell, and the famous "I am not a crook" statement by Nixon. Nixon was forced to resign by his own party. Hope the same happens to Trump, and soon.
8
@C.L.S., Nixon was not forced to resign. He did so to avoid what was becoming obvious: that the House would impeach him and that the Senate would convict.
5
Yes, Elizabeth Drew, Trump is worse than Nixon. The greatest threat against America and our democracy comes from our 45th president, Donald Trump. President Trump had no experience governing, and is an ignorant Queens-born New York businessman and TV "reality" show star. Richard Nixon --- a Republican politician familiar with governing for decades -- was elected our 37th president in 1968 and again in 1972. The crisis of Watergate brought him down on 9 August 1974. Nixon couldn't bend the Constitution to his will. Donald Trump is trying to change the democracy of America into a Kakistocracy (gov't by the worst element in society). We are in the midst of a far-worse-than-watergate crisis today. Who will bring down president Trump? And how? And when? Must we wait until he is re-elected by his Kakistocrats in 2020?
9
You can take to the bank the fact that Trump will not ever give in regardless of how much evidence there is. Nixon gave in because he knew he might go to jail like most of his administration did. The coming indictments will further unhinge Trump and we will all suffer the consequences. Here's hoping no one actually dies because of this horrid man-child.
9
@Kate Parina “Here's hoping no one actually dies because of this horrid man-child.”
I think it’s too late for that.
1
Trump is not only worse than Nixon, he is worse than any other president in history.
24
@janye
and probably worse human being in history, save maybe a few, but none really come to mind at the moment....
1
Nixon was accomplished, competent and corrupt. The current president is incompetent, dishonest and dangerous. Nixon made alliances and the current president likes to look for deals. Nixon had a law degree from Duke University and the current president doesn't like to read - books, newspapers, intelligence, written advice from advisors. Nixon broke laws for political expediency but the current president ignores human rights, ethics and due process of law.
587
@Sally
The late Sen J. William Fulbright composed Nixon’s epitaph to perfection:
“Aside from his criminality, Nixon was a pretty good president.”
44
@Sally
You forgot to mention that Trump unlike Nixon, as far as I know, never made it obvious he was controlled by a foreign dictator like Putin.
24
@Sally Actually, Nixon, before the 1968 election, cooperated, via Madam Chenault, with the South Vietnam government to prolong the war by 4 years. In many ways, this was the worst crime Nixon committed.
24
The title of this piece rang true for me from a global level. Nixon never deliberately undermined the leaders of our American allies. He didn't lay in wait when they were under political pressure and safely tweet away attempting to kick them while they were down. He didn't hold press conferences-- while a guest in their country no less-- and criticize them and show support for their political rivals.
Nixon did not profess 'love' for vicious dictators and congratulate dictators who won due to a corrupt election.
Trump is extremely dangerous and takes authoritarianism in America to a whole new level.
440
@Susanna Sorry Susanna, but Nixon did profess love for dictators (see Shah of Iran, Somoza, et alii) and even overthrew democratically-elected leaders to install his preferred strongmen (see Pinochet and Allende). Let’s not turn disgust for Trump’s blustering international idiocy into rose-colored glasses for Nixon’s embrace of anti-communist dictators. Millions and millions of people suffered under the despots that Nixon and Kissinger supported and (often) propped-up.
28
@John Ranta Agree. And thousands of others suffered even more when Nixon collided with the South Vietnamese leaders to keep them away from the peace talks in ‘68. It was treason then and still is although Trump is much, much worse.
12
@Susanna, Nixon did "... lay in wait when they [world leaders] were under political pressure and safely tweet away attempting to kick them while they were down." Though he didn't tweet, he did conspire with the government of North Vietnam and against our own president, LBJ, to influence the election.
2
McConnell, Ryan and the Republican enablers will go down in history as being complicit in the destruction of American democracy if this man is not stopped now. Everything about this administration is disastrous-the lying, the corruption, the collusion, the pathetic childish nicknames, the attack on the free press and on and on. Okay, the economy is not going down the toilet but it was doing fine under Obama. Everyone needs to wake up and commit to get this man out of office before our values and country are destroyed.
22
The difference is not in intelligence or morality. The difference is that Nixon worked hard, and Trump is lazy to his core.
282
@J c
Oh, c'mon. Trump has neither intelligence nor morality. He doesn't know what these terms mean. He has straight-on nerve attachments between cause and effect, with no mediating cognition.
The word I'm looking for is "lout".
17
@J c more difference than that Nixon had a shred of conscience - only - and Trump is pure evil.
12
@Remember in November
Lying, lecherous lout to be precise.
1
Trump embodies the worst attributes of Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon. And he has none of their virtues. For brevity, I'll list none.
What makes Trump more dangerous than those two, is his GOP acolytes - spineless sycophants - who lack any semblance of patriotism that existed in McCarthy's and Nixon's party. Yesteryear's GOP had the intelligence, integrity, and fortitude to resist the destructive impulses of these two. Today's GOP has none. Their sole allegiance is to Party (after self).
Our Republic dodged a disastrous situation by electing a Democratic House this year. Even that provides only a tenuous hedge against the still-strong destructive forces out there.
14
I don't find whether Trump is worse than Nixon" a very interesting question anymore. A more interesting question to me is whether Trump is worse than Mitch McConnell. I'd say McConnell is worse. Trump acts on the basis of narcissism and ignorance. McConnell knowingly schemes to enrich wealthy GOP backers at the expense of the vulnerable.
18
Trump may be worse than Nixon, although for those of us who remember Nixon that's hard to believe, but he's not worse than Reagan. Reagan was the worst. Reagan ushered in the neoliberal capitalism that led to everything that followed and has culminated in Trump. So if Trump is the metastasis, Reagan is the origin.
3
Nixon was a bad man, but not a bad President. He was both intelligent and thoughtful. And, at the end of the day, he didn't try to undo the LBJ legacy, and he was committed to a version of constitutional norms. We all know his sins, but he wasn't a degenerate monster, wholly lacking in the ability to engage in critical thinking. He did many "bad things," but he didn't push his authoritarian view of the presidency to the extremes that Trump has done and wants to do.
15
An insane denial of the rule of law by a sitting president made worse by the expansion of presidential power over the years has always been the greatest threat to our democracy. If he is surrounded by unblinking followers who protect him, the stage is set for an ultimate grab for power. That we are faced with this possible outcome was evident from his statements as a campaigner and Trump even boasted of his ability to do ANYTHING he wanted as his followers would overlook any crime.
The coup actually became apparent when McConnell denied President Obama a SCOTUS appointment, something about which he too bragged. And now it is even questionable whether SCOTUS will deny this president anything and if by some chance they find against him who will enforce the order? Will we have blood baths in the streets when the military follows Trump's illegal orders?
Am I over reacting? That these things should be thought and written about is terrifying.
5
@just Robert
I almost hope that the military, which in some ways is more liberal than most institutions, does launch a coup in time to keep Donald Trump from destroying this country. Mark my words, when his back is against the wall, he'll start a war.
Elizabeth Drew excoriated Nixon on almost every count. It is hard to defend a man like Nixon --his paranoia led to an impeachable offense -- but one is hard-pressed to deny that he was brilliant. In his dealings with Russia and China, in his practical work with Congress on such things as the environment, he was one of the most far-sighted presidents of the twentieth century.
To even think of Trump in the same category is itself ridiculous.
6
I wasn't quite 10 years old when Nixon resigned. But I have a fair amount of reading.
Nixon was corrupt, but he knew history, was intellectually curious, was competent, strategic, and knew how the world worked. He wasn't authoritarian or a demagogue.
Trump has no interest in anything other than money and himself. He's incompetent, corrupt, impatient, narcisistic, incurious, but he is a master of base human instincts and behavior.
Trump really doesn't give hoot America or its people other than what it can give him. I genuinely believe Nixon did care for America and its people.
Trump is a destroyer. Nixon was many things, but he wasn't that.
15
@historyRepeated, ditto!
I too was young but my father would tell us how terrible Nixon was, most of all he obsessed about Nixon’s nose! I think it reminded him of Pinocchio. Clearly.
1
Nixon was paranoid and power hungry. Trump is both -- and also totally shameless and depraved.
In the end, Nixon honored the system and resigned. Trump is incapable of honoring anything that threatens his bloated ego. As we have seen so far, there seems to be nothing too low for Donald Trump. When finally cornered for his corruption, Trump could well incite his base to violence.
Excising Trump's cancer from our body politic will be slow and painful. People of conscience must steel themselves for the ordeal.
6
Nixon knew better, and he knew of ideals. He would have loved to have been a successful, generous, honest, peaceful and just man. Sometimes he was.
When Trump put out the inflammatory caravan ad in the mid-terms, which even Facebook and Fox refused to run, because it was so racist, I saw a hidden irony.
The criminal chosen to be featured in the ad was an unrepentant murderer, shown laughing at his crimes, spitting in the face of justice. That ethos seemed to me to resemble that of he, who while not a murderer, chose to promulgate an ad, which would cause a suffering at which he laughs, himself.
Nixon's morality eroded to the point where he felt some ends justify some means. Trump rose from the sea foam with that mentality. It is all he knows.
3
Nixon, with all his faults, was smart. Trump is a snake oil salesman, with no evidence of a keen mind behind his machinations. That difference may best explain the difference between a grudging acceptance and respect for the system, and ultimately surrendering to it, and outright contempt for it, as well as truth.
5
Nixon supporters at the cabinet level actually believed in the rule of law. Trump would not be getting away with this behavior if he did not have amoral administrative support in his branch of government, the United States Congress, and now the judicial branch. Our citizens did not act like people do now. Watergate felt like a contained scandal. Watching Trump and his cult on a daily basis feels like we’re willingly turning towards fascism. Nixon never had that kind of following.
6
There will be no equivalent of the Nixon:Frost interviews. Trump is incapable of self-reflection, or, for that matter, intelligent conversation.
8
Both Nixon & Trump share enormous psychological flaws; both are embittered by an intractable sense of lacking the Good Stuff. But Nixon was driven to corruption by his fear of enemies while Trump seems to require enemies to fuel his corruptions.
Trump was exposed as a loser early by his harsh father's judgment- sent to military school to get fixed. Instead he got stuck in a 12 year old's imitation of Big Man posing.
Nixon aspired to govern; Trump needs to be surrounded by sycophants. Nixon understood history; Trump only remembers the 30 history of his own rigidly held opinions which he confuses with 'being smart.'
Welcome back Ms. Drew- although fascism by Trump is less a political travesty and more a personal perversion.
4
I lived through both of them.
It is just not possible to compare the two. I disliked both of them. However Trump by far is the worst.
I didn't think there would ever be another president like Nixon. How could the Republicans find another man like Nixon.
In the beginning there were a few (in fact, a lot more than a few) Republicans who tried to beat trump.
In a way they got stuck with trump.
But then those same Republicans found trump to be the best thing ever. We have those Republicans to blame for this state of affair and no one else.
And the Republicans did indeed find someone with less brains, less morals, more self centered and possibly more mental illness than Nixon.
One can wonder who will be the next Nixon, trump in another 45 years. Hopefully it won't be in my lifetime.
1
Ms. Drew compares Trump to the wrong President. Nixon was bad, but W. Bush was worse. Who led us into a War of Choice, against non-existent WMDs, at the cost of Trillion$ and hundreds of thousands of lives? Who promulgated economic policies that brought us to the Great Recession, in which millions of Americans lost their homes and jobs? Who approved torture? Who approved spying on American citizens, in direct violation of the Constitution? Obsess as you may about personality faults, the proof is in the pudding, and W. Bush remains the Worst of All Time.
8
All that is true but the real force behind all those decisions was tricky Dick Cheney.
What very few people seem to be talking about is that Donald Trump is behaving toward Robert Mueller and his investigation as if he is actually trying to hide something. He’s behaving as if he is a guilty man trying to discredit the person who has found evidence to incriminate him . If a man is innocent he should allow an investigation to continue without all of this unbecoming squawking that the president is doing. This is so transparently obvious to anyone who is paying attention - and what he is probably the most frustrated about is that if he tries to shut down this investigation , Robert Mueller will deliver his report directly to Congress. Either way , this man who has lived on a dose of daily lies is running out of ways to save himself . In this way and in so many others, Donald Trump has become his own worst enemy.
2
Trump makes Nixon look like Mother Theresa. Nixon understood government & respected its institutions. Many policies seem moderate by today's standards. He tried to undermine his opponent in an election he'd win easily without cheating;when he got caught, he made the mistake of trying to cover it up rather than acknowledge the problem & seeking to atone. When the his duplicity was exposed, he lost the support of even his own party, & resigned rather than face conviction after certain impeachment by the House.
Trump holds our government & its institutions in disdain & laughs at the notion of checks & balances. He went to great lengths to collude with a hostile foreign power trying to win an election he was destined to lose by a landslide; lost the popular vote by 2,865,000 votes, but squeaked out a narrow Electoral College victory. As evidence of his malfeasance mounted, he did everything possible to undermine the investigation & smear all of his perceived enemies in a blizzard of malicious lies.
A big difference between 1973 & now is the attitude of the GOP. Today's GOP shamelessly puts party ahead of country. They aid & abet Trump's reign of terror rather than risk political losses. Only when GOP leaders told Nixon that he'd lost their support did Nixon resign. McConnell & Co. lack any sense of integrity; yesterday's GOP leaders at least had some. Consequently, we will be stuck with the sad spectacle of Trump undermining the rule of law for 2 more years.
4
This article is carefully argued and spot on. But I would suggest the reference to Trump's "pusillanimous party" hardly does justice in describing the Republican Party of traitors. Is "traitor" to strong a word? Think again.
Our republic was established on the sound foundation of a balance of power and checks on abuse. The Founding Fathers understood that malevolent, self-serving demagogues could rise to lead an uninformed public. To guard against the failure of the public to elect good men of integrity, they divided power between three branches and empowered the Congress, the people's representatives, to investigate and prevent abuses of the powerful Executive Branch.
Richard Nixon was checked by a congress which carried out its duty. Donald Trump has been aided and abetted by a congress which refuses to do its duty. It is the Republicans in Congress who have placed out republic in jeopardy.
History will affirm that Nixon and Trump both abused our democracy, public trust and national security. History will also confirm that the Congress in Nixon's era was composed of men of honor carrying out their sworn oaths of office; that the present day Congress is led by malevolent, self-serving demagogues willing to sell out America, destroy the balance of power and refuse to carryout their sworn oaths of office.
Today's Congress is traitorous. If it were not led by traitors Donald Trump would not be the threat he is
16
What also makes Trump worse is his involvement with the Russians. It is exceptionally problematic that Trump publicly puts Putin's word over our federal law enforcement agencies!
4
As vile as Nixon was, he came from poverty, and rose to power by his own fortitude. He wasn't given everything, practically from birth, like Trump. He didn't squander millions of inherited dollars on cheesy failed business after sleazy failed business, only to have his father bolster him time and time again, with millions, upon millions of dollars. As much as I thought I detested Richard M. Nixon, he was at least his own man, and not just a reality show "star" to the deplorable herd.
5
I compared Trump to Mussolini in 2015 while in conversation with my nail technician who frightened me when she asked who Mussolini was. (That issue is for another day). While being king of the narcissists, the developmental age of a toddler, and never having to really come up against the immovable force, he will tantrum his way to get his way, in this case Whitaker. He has no appreciation for any democratic structures, traditions, or other aspects of governance that separates the U.S. from a two-bit despotically run banana republic. He has never had to "behave." As head of his own company, there is no one to tie the bell on the cat. Mueller will serve as the immovable force requiring Trump to "behave." Be ready for a raging two year old with his finger on the button. Hopefully, Mattis hasn't given him the codes. To Trump there is no limit that he respects when trying to come out on top.
4
Nixon was intelligent. Trump is street smart - cunning, manipulative, boastful, bullying.But he can't make sense of new information, and he has zero empathy. Nixon at least understood foreign and domestic policy and had political wherewithal. Trump understands nothing, except how to con people and how to get attention. He really is scarier than Nixon because he cares more about himself than the country, and knows no shame. Apparently.
486
@Lily
It is one thing not to know something, it is another not to be at all curious.
Not only does Trump not know, he cares not that he doesn't know.
His base is loyal because they believe he thinks just like them.
49
@mike
its still hard for me to understand how he has a base, Do they not read, have they not realized the promised jobs in coal mining have not come, have they not realized the middle class tax cut was a myth? Honestly this is beyond,
31
@barbara
As long as they believe he sees the world as they do, hates the same people they do, and makes them feel they are the "real Americans", he has them.
22
I'm surprised that Ms. Drew, who like me, lived through Watergate finds Trump worse than Nixon.
The country had never gone through something like the events that resulted in Nixon's unprecedented resignation.
Over these last twenty-two months, I find myself increasingly bored by the unfolding of events as there is little mystery left in a story that will end badly, not for the country, but for the man, as it did for Nixon.
I do not worry about the nation, not because of the resiliency of our institutions, but the certainty that members of the President's party, like during Nixon's last days, will not go down with a ship they boarded solely for reasons of political expediency.
7
Perhaps the difference is in the wives. Pat Nixon was very, very quiet and tried her best to stay out of public view. But she seems to have had some morals and sometimes reminded Nixon of them. Melania's sense of morality is very hard to discern. She seems more willing to perform on the public stage under certain conditions. I think Melania's foreign background makes it hard for her to assess the morality of what Trump does.
1
Never thought Nixon would put himself ahead of the country to save his own skin (he resigned instead) and surely believe Trump, guilt free, would in an eye blink. There's what Nixon achieved before Watergate against what Trump has (really) achieved. Their international relations and relationships - oy vey! Policies & attitudes, gadzooks...
Therefore, am immensely curious how anyone, born before 1952 or so, having paid attention in real time, could not think Trump has shown himself to be worse by far than Nixon on so many pertinent levels...
1
@Melda Page
Melania has the steely, vacuous look of a runway model and probably the morals of Natasha, the Soviet spy in 'Rocky and Bullwinkle."
Please keep reminding the country that the GOP leadership in Congress is exceedingly aligned with President and are abdicating their oversight responsibilities.
I look forward to you writing a book about Trump’s abuse of power and the state run tv network that is FOX TV.
8
Wonderful to hear from the great Elizabeth Drew. This analysis is spot-on - Trump knows not and cares not the damage that he does to the legitimacy of our government, while Nixon, and devious as he was understood that our institutions must survive and the system must maintain credibility. In Nixon's resignation speech he said it was against his every instinct to resign, but as President the country comes first - Trump in his current mental state would never make such a claim. He's given no indication that he would respect an election loss and/or an impeachment and removal. In fact, Trump's actions and those of his henchmen in Florida seem designed to set the table for a claim of voter fraud when Trump is soundly defeated at the polls in 2020.
We as an electorate seem attracted to "outsiders" but the Trump debacle makes it clear that this same electorate must ensure than an outsider understands and respects our institutions of government before voting for him. Obviously this simple standard was not applied in 2016. Hopefully, we'll learn from our mistakes.
8
How Trump is 'better' than Nixon: Trump can't stop telling people when he is doing things for the wrong reason.
4
The main implication of Ms. Drew's observations is that presidents have accrued too much political power. Under the Republicans, Congress has not acted as a co-equal branch of government. The Courts have, but they are being stacked with judges who want to give the president even more power.
However, the recent election was the most important since 1860. A Democratic House may not be able to check a runaway presidency, but it could slow it down until the next election.
14
The major differences between Trump and Nixon's fascist leanings is that with Nixon WWII was less the distant memory that it is today and his Southern Strategy had not yet had 40+ years of GOP FOX NEWS and rtwing hate radio propaganda scapegoating minorities and railing against democratic institutions Trump has the benefit of all of this Trump had a waiting base willing to surrender to a demagogue with Fascist leanings spreading race based Big Lies
That Trump is also a narcissistic sociopathic pathological liar devoid of compassion and empathy while lacking a moral conscience rendering him capable of cruelty that is free of guilt gives him the personality structure necessary to impose all the evils that Fascism inflicts on a nation That is why he has such an affinity for other authoritarian leaders like Putin Duterte Erdogan El-Sisi Kim Jong un and the Saudi prince currently ruling their kingdom
While Nixon may have been emotionally insecure it is not hyperbole to say that Trump may be insane In addition Nixon was a historian and no one called him incompetent I think Trump is proving himself to be incompetent uninformed as well as emotionally closer to insanity than neurosis
Nixon wanted to subvert existing institutions to serve his needs Trump wants to obliterate them
While Nixon fought to remain head of state Trump thinks he is the state and all institutions must be subservient to him While Nixon was like Trump is now a crook he was not like Trump is a Fascist
25
When faced with crises in the past (e.g., the Civil War, the Great Depression, WW2, Nixon) the United States has been lucky with the outcome. But there is no guarantee that our luck will hold. And as before, the greatest threat comes from ourselves rather than an external enemy -- even though we concentrate enormous money and effort looking to have an external enemy.
12
At the end of the day, Nixon complied with a court order to surrender documents which incriminated him.
Would Trump follow this precedent? Almost certainly he would not.
And the moment Trump defies a legitimate court order, we will have the constitutional crisis which even Nixon chose to avoid — for the sake of the nation.
35
@Ray Jenkins Great question. I can only see Trump, when he loses his re-election efforts, to not go quietly. What we are seeing in Florida and Georgia will be replicated across the country with legal challenges and fraud claims. Unless the margin is great, Trump and his minions will stop at nothing to stay in power.
4
Nixon was nothing if not the consummate politician. His considerable political skills certainly contributed to some major achievements during his presidency i.e. the EPA, OSHA, the Clean Air and Water Act, and the resumption of relations with China to name a few. When his deep-seated grudges and pathological paranoia came to override his political astuteness, we got Watergate.
I think it’s safe to say that the word “politician” now has a very negative connotation for most people and I heartily concur when applied to our current servile and calculating GOP Congress, but compared to the “the failed, amoral businessman” Donald Trump, I’ll take “the consummate politician” Richard Nixon any day of the week.
78
Don't give the man all the credits, Trump would not have gone this far without the Republicans, especially McConnell, Ryan, Graham and McCarthy. Collectively, the Republicans have sold America out long before Trump rose to power, overpowering the gang to conspire against this nation when the U.S. was marred in the Great Recession, the financial calamity they were partially responsible.
To refresh people's memory, McConnell, Cantor, Ryan et al schemed to undermine President Obama since day one of his presidency no matter what. And they did. From Cheney's "deficits don't matter" to "there is no money for routine airport maintenance," that gave Trump to sneak in with his birther movement. In a highly distressed environment, people were desperate to find a scapegoat. This is the Joe McCarthy & Roy Cohn special.
The Republicans thought they could control Trump but they were deluded to think they could be immune after poisoning the well.
Trump as a man may be worse than Nixon; but collectively it is the shame of America that will take a long time to erased
176
@Bos Exactly right. Consider: Who are the "Republican elders" currently in Congress and particularly in the Senate with the vision and moral courage to tell this president that he lacks the political support to survive? Certainly not Mitch McConnell. At one time, some (including me) might have considered Lindsay Graham as the most likely candidate for that role. How laughably absurd that now seems.
14
Both Nixon and Trump are lowlifes who care only about themselves.
The main difference is that Nixon faced a Democratic Congress while Trump had in first two years a GOP controlled Congress.
If Nixon had a GOP controlled Congress there would have been no Ervin Watergate Committee and the House Judiciary Committee would not have held impeachment hearings.
Now even with a Dem House there will not be 67 Senate votes to convict Trump even if he were impeached.
You do not have today the liberal GOP Senators like Javits who would have joined with the Dems to provide the 67 Senate votes to convict Nixon.
Trump is still free to do whatever he wants.
37
Nixon served in the military. I don't remember that he ever made comments about POWs that showed any disrespect for them as Trump has.
84
@Bashh
Nixon served on a large ship and played poker constantly and was so good he supported his family on his winnings. Careful about burnishing his patriotism.
1
Ms Drew, I loved your Letter from Washington that used to appear in the New Yorker magazine. I think you captured Nixon perfectly. Like Trump, Nixon had insecurities and grievances and resented people who had easier childhoods than he did. When he first became nationally known as a congressman, the famous Herblock cartoon of Nixon emerging from a sewer, in reference to Nixon's work for the McCarthy witch hunt of communists, was an image that stuck to him for the rest of his life. But he was much smarter than Trump. Now he would be way too moderate for the GOP. But he prolonged the Vietnam conflict and had a very high body count of Americans and Vietnamese killed, which I hope Trump will never get close to.
35
@Bonnie Trump may not get U.S. troops killed by a new military conflict, but he and the Republicans are enabling the slaughter of American civilians by failing to take any steps toward gun control.
"The big question is whether there will turn out to be a major difference between the two men when it comes to honoring the decisions of the law, or of the public."
That's my concern. Whether impeached or losing re-election, Trump would have to be dragged from the White House kicking and screaming (and Tweeting). It wouldn't be pretty.
35
As I understand it, fascism is a condition arising from advanced capitalism, characterized by openly terrorist government surrounding a cult of personality and constituted by the most militaristic, monopolistic, and chauvinistic elements of a society. As far as I can see, that's also a good definition of what we're living through.
57
@jimijames
"As I understand it, fascism is a condition arising from advanced capitalism."
Excuse me?
Do not forget that towards the end of Nixon's presidency the top generals were told to ignore any nuclear launch order by Nixon. His staff knew how unstable he was.
42
Nixon also governed as a liberal i.e. EPA, and proposed guaranteed income. Institutions i.e. the Republican party were far stronger then. We will be lucky to survive 2020 without a coup. The situation is far worse now.
61
It's even worse. Everything happening may be traced to this source of the problem with Trump: Top behavioral health specialists' observations (see Dr. Lee's edited book "Dangerous Case of Donald Trump") about Trump's ample behavioral features of a dangerous mental (behavioral) disorder. The personality disorder cluster is "ego syntonic" in that it's ingrained into the disordered person's sense of being, so that person has no awareness or insight into it. The only problem such people complain about is other people having problems with them. For those who are wealthy and/or well-connected, their typical involvement in crime is convicted later than those who aren't. Meantime, they are also highly behaviorally toxic people who can wreak havoc upon most anybody close to them, like family members and colleagues, as well as make a mess for people in general. Sound familiar? The most compassionate way of managing their clueless behavior is behavioral quarantine, either through court-ordered psychiatric monitoring or if convicted, through imprisonment (latter nicknamed "jail therapy"). Now we have someone like that having duped and conspired with like-minded people to gain just enough votes for access to the presidency. In hope against hope because of Trump being a master con artist, the sooner he is quarantined, the better--a.s.a.p.!
28
With Trump and his supporters, I do truly worry that he might not cede power if he were to lose re-election or if some legal proceeding found him unable to continue in office. Trump fears no law and no one because he has the power of violence to enforce his will. That is the practical definition of facisim and of defacto monarchy — or a third world (or now Chinese) “president for life”. Democracy and representative government died in the US in Nov of 2016.
20
I used to think that Trump led to fascism. I suspect that some of his supporters would like this outcome. His supporters may direct it that way.
In reality I think he views his position as the aristocracy. A royal heritable position. Does not need or want to be a knowledgeable or effective statesman.
Prefers to preen and be uniformly lauded. The royal "we" . The rules are made by the monarch including 'off with their head' when they do not amuse or agree.
Fascism is based on organized authoritarianism. Putin is smart and cunning and committed enough to pull that off. He would not pout. He would plan the next move.
Trump, not so much. He looks for the source of adulation and works to remain in that fold.
37
@Mnemosyne
Trump does not lead the way to fascism; he is walking the path toward fascist theocracy that was paved, with decades of policy creep, by Republican and some complicit Democratic politicians -- both on federal and state levels.
Nixon may have had his fascist qualities, but I would add his use of the racist Southern Strategy to his Watergate debacle... fascists do need their scapegoats.
However, it was Reagan who wedded the Republican Party to the religious right and extended the path of fascism with elements of theocracy. Think of the increased militarism and entrenched patriarchal misogyny and homophobia -- to name a few "qualities" -- that have occurred since the 1980s.
For me, the Trump presidency was the next logical step, but Trump in no way started or led the way to a fascist theocracy.
1
Thank you, Ms. Drew,
It was about time that someone had the guts to use the word fascism in the sub-title of an op-Ed and the text.
As a native of GermanyI I am well aware about the warning signs of fascism that were ignored in the late 1920s and early 30s.
These warning signs now repeat themselves on this side of the big pond, and a far too large number of my fellow American citizens and their representatives in the government completely ignore them.
"It can't happen here". It has already started quite a while ago.
61
@Sarah
You are on to something really scary here.
Signs of fascism is also seen in Europe.
In my own country (Sweden), the politicians are struggling to find out how to handle a party that have their roots in fascism.
Right now we don’t have a government and the outcome of this could very well be a new election.
2
@Oden
Yes, I have followed what is now happening in Sweden by mostly reading European publications.
In general, there is far too little information in the US press of what happens abroad, because the general American population is not interested.
The same of what is happening in Sweden has already happened in a few other European countries, including in Germany with the nationalist AfD becoming the third largest party in parliament.
1
Surely Nixon did something that Trump never does and that is he read books and perhaps other important historical documents, like our Constitution.
81
Here’s a basic principle of good government: Don’t endorse a government power that you wouldn’t want wielded by your worst political enemy. Democrats will soon be learning that painful lesson.
Obama’s most concerning legacy was to use congressional inaction as a justification for sweeping executive orders. In the DACA and DAPA immigration cases, the president decided that, if Congress didn’t do something about immigration, then he would. This is a shocking argument for asserting unilateral power in a constitutional system that depends on checks and balances, and it should not matter whether you agree with the policy outcome. Nevertheless, Democrats, by and large, endorsed Obama’s action.
3
@TREVOR BURRUS How about limiting the thought problem not to worst enemies but to plausible enemies? Investing too much in low probability worst case scenarios is the cognitive error that leads to things like insurance. We can have government, even if government could conceivably be bad. There are proper procedures for generating and changing executive branch regulations, and they should be based on statute or else they should be vulnerable to judicial nullification. As we are seeing, Trump is experiencing a learning curve in how to use executive orders effectively.
1
@TREVOR BURRUS Maybe Obama used his legal right to apply executive power because GOP didn't play by the book? With DT the difference is glaring.
1
@TREVOR BURRUS Or better yet, we had a toxic and malicious Republican party who tried to sabotage Obama's presidency, and refuses to even hold a hearing for his SCOTUS nominee. That same party then nominated the man who tried to delegitimize the election by falsely claiming the president was born overseas. Republicans endorsed and still endorse Trump, and should be universally condemned for their lack of patriotism.
1
Not only does Trump lack the political experience - not to mention the character, competence or temperament - to fulfill the duties of the presidency, he’s never even had a job of any kind other than being a receptacle of his father’s largesse. He doesn’t understand resistance or even accountability because he has been surrounded his entire life by a paid staff to tell him he’s right. He believes that he can make things true by simply saying they are true because up until he was elected president, no one ever disabused him of that fantasy. The unraveling playing out since the midterms is the result of a 72-year-Old-man finding out for the first time that his life is no longer charmed.
90
"The current president is pushing closer to fascism than even the man behind Watergate."
Absolutely. But it is worse than that. Fascism is a word that should be used far more liberally when discussing Trump, and, even more important, Republicans in congress.
Many mainstream media outlets have painfully slowly come to use the word "lie". The next big hurdle for them is the word "fascism" when discussing Republican behavior. Journalists can read all about it in Jason Stanley's new book, "How Fascism Works."
41
The amoral Trump’s total contempt for the rule of law probably necessitates that he also be indicted, and subjected to criminal prosecution, rather than place reliance solely on a political process, impeachment, for his removal from office. Of course, this assumes that the issue of indicting a siting President is favorably ruled upon by the Supreme Court in a certain appeal. Unlike Nixon, both Trump and his compromised Congressional Republicans cannot be trusted to solely allow the Constitutional method of removal to proceed in an orderly, uncorrupted manner.
15
The main difference between Nixon and Trump is thus; one colored mostly in between the lines and the other scribbled all over the place.
24
@damon walton Great assessment!
1
Trump will still be in office in 2020 if only because the Senate remains in Republican hands and they have no intention of agreeing to remove him from Presidential Office if the Democrats move to impeach Trump.
I can even imagine that should Trump lose his reelection bid in 2020 he will not only bellow and howl that the election was stolen from him, but may even have to be carried out bodily on his last day in the Oval Office by a specially chosen cadre of Secret Service agents.
12
Trump may have certain legal precedents on his side; can a sitting president even be indicted? And of course he has the protection of King McConnell and his gang.
Yet when Mueller releases his findings, what is really at stake is the legitimacy of Trump's presidency in the minds of the public. If Trump has done anything that would be indictable if he were not president, either campaign law-breaking or post-inauguration obstruction, the public tide would turn against him, even stronger than it has so far. It would then be a matter of time and mechanism to take him out. Worse case, he wouldn't get reelected. If he has done nothing wrong, he tweets along.
I do hope that even if Mueller is removed, he would place country above self and party and spill the beans, for the sake of democracy. We need to know the truth.
24
Trump thinks he is the king in large part because the majority party has treated him as such. Looking forward to January.
18
Nixon deserves more credit than I would have given him in 1973 for finally ending the Vietnam war, improving relations with China and Russia, and establishing the EPA. I would have also credited him with putting the country before himself but for the David Frost interview where he still defended himself by saying that "...its not against the law when the President does it!" He accepted that he was beaten, but still could not accept that he was wrong. Trump, I fear, will never accept that he is beaten, and hasn't a clue as to what he is doing wrong.
10
A lesson from this current political crisis is that the President of the United States simply has too much power. Our American revolution was fought in part to rid ourselves of monarchy. Two hundred some years later, we seem be allowing monarchy to reestablish itself in our land.
32
Richard Nixon, despite the deep-seated personal and psychological demons that ultimately were his undoing, was, at his core, a patriot, a student of history and a shrewd practitioner of global diplomacy. He was a lawyer, too, a competent one, and generally considered a smart man.
During World War II, he served in the Navy, albeit not in combat, and ascended to the presidency after serving as a congressman, senator and two-term vice president. In short, on merit. His margin of victory in the 1972 presidential election was almost 18 million votes, and he won 49 states.
Donald Trump, by sharp and disturbing contrast, is a draft dodger and malignant narcissist with no record of public service at any level and an across-the-board disrespect for the Constitution, governmental norms and global alliances. His manifest ignorance is well documented, as are his recklessness and impulsiveness.
By all available evidence, he is the most dishonest, divisive, malevolent, mendacious, bigoted and autocratic -- possibly even traitorous -- president in American history.
Mr. Nixon ultimately, though grudgingly, chose country over self and resisted the dark temptation to cling to power at any cost and take the country down with him.
Mr. Trump, on the other hand, has shown no such inclination. In fact, as an admirer of Vladimir Putin, quite the contrary.
Our democracy is in peril. And if Congress, Robert Mueller and the federal courts don't end up rescuing us, it's not clear who will.
70
@Dotconnector in a democracy it is ultimately the responsibility of the citizens to save it. That means you.
While they both share the desire to crush their opponent, for Nixon it was political. Trump has a true personal animus. Nixon had an understanding of how to govern and setting aside his personal/criminal behavior was actually IMHO an amazing President. He had BOTH a coherent domestic policy (EPA, addressing inflation, welfare) and foreign policy (opening up to China, a fairly evenhanded approach in the Middle East). He helped that he surrounded himself with bright capable people, who didn't view themselves as "yes people."
The same cannot be said for DJT. He surrounds himself with sycophants. Fall out favor--"you're fired!" after being publicly ridiculed on twitter or on the stump. He also seems unable to differentiate between DJT the person and DJT the POTUS.
Lastly, there's a difference between those who realize they're lying and those who can't. Those who skirt the law (hoping no one will notice) and those who believe they're above the law.
16
Richard Nixon was a deeply flawed man, but also a brilliant public servant. He went to China, but not to bully or brag. Under his watch, the U.S. EPA was created, as was the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Yes, Nixon was a crook, but he was much more than that too. The current occupant of the White House is nothing but a narcissist. There's really no comparison.
32
I remember Richard Nixon very well. He attempted to repay the South with two unimaginably poor, bottom-feeding Supreme Court nominees (G. Harrold Carswell and Clement Haynsworth), hard-line segregationists, both of whom the Senate declined to confirm.
One other thing here that the author neglects to mention: Nixon grew up poor. He scratched his way through life.
Donald Trump, by sordid contrast, grew up rich, and, unlike Nixon, never had to snarl "I am not a crook." Whether or not Trump is "a crook" is perhaps why he's so anxious to have Robert Mueller unfrocked as Special Counsel. Trump has, as the author writes, no guardrails when it comes to political common sense and precedence.
The author does not consider is the psychological state of the two men. Nixon's is well documented: tortured, paranoid, evasive, given to bait-and-switch ruses, his smiles betraying the demonic fires banked within. The current president, by contrast, has been described as a narcissist, an insecure juvenile wearing a man's appearance, a man who has breasted the tape of society's norms ("I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose votes"; the Hollywood Access admissions) and who lies recklessly.
Both presidents sought the office to expand the executive's powers; Nixon wanted term limits abolished. Trump, however, is clearly planning to reign--not to preside. Archibald Cox was a man of rectitude and legal acumen. The same cannot be said of Matthew Whitaker.
What else do we need we know?
32
@Red Sox, '04, '07, '13, '18 -- Nixon had H R Haldeman as his pit bull during the Watergate drama, while this president has the Republican Senate and House as his defenders. With their aid and encouragement, this president has removed democratic guardrails in his quest to establish an authoritarian dictatorship. Nixon, albeit unwillingly, bowed to the rule of law but this president, with Republican approval, will not. His desire to tweak the Constitution to suit his political ends shows that there are no boundaries he will respect.
2
Believe me,I never thought I would defend Nixon. But he was educated , very well educated. His was a flawed personality that was developed over decades. He was McCarthy before there was a McCarthy. He knew how to work the political system,but lacked charisma to complete the deal. He became President by using the ruse that he was the peace candidate. But he had a conscience. He along with being a demagogue,had ambition & political savvy. His known ruthlessness was just beginning in Watergate . He served his country in the military. He begged to be loved & respected. For whatever Nixon was or was not,Donald Trump is none of that. Never served. Never sacrificed. Never truthful. Doesn't love his country. Selects the dregs of his party to serve him & not the nation. Also, Donald Trump has exposed the Republican Party as having no one in leadership who will speak honestly to him.Is Donald Trump the most dishonest President we have ever had? Let's leave that one to be answered in 2019. Whatever party you belong to,let justice be served.
24
Nixon did some good for the country, and the world, in spite of a flawed view of the use of power.
Trump never will do any good for the country, or the world, because he only understands grabbing power to use as a weapon.
Nixon was an adult, who could have reached greatness as President; trump is...nothing...
18
Mr. Trump, with no government experience, and little knowledge of how the federal government works, has been a free if malevolent spirit, less likely than even Nixon to observe boundaries.
Trump has hung onto his ill gotten fortune (as detailed in the recent Times investigation into Trump family fraudulent tax avoidance going back at least two generations) and possibly even stayed out of jail by keeping a team of high priced lawyers on speed dial and shamelessly pretending to be clueless whenever his behaviour is exposed to have crossed legal and/or ethical lines. Children learn from an early age that ignorance of the law is no defence. Not only Trump, but the whole Trump family, has yet to be taught that lesson.
10
I completely agree with Ms. Drew’s thoughtful, if disturbing, analysis. Trump observes no rules or traditions that do not work to his financial or egotistical benefit. If cornered, he will lash out and create chaos, pit one group against another, pile one lie upon another. It’s obvious he can’t change or adapt. I forecaste darker days ahead, especially with the Democrats running the House and Mueller poised to drop more bombshells. The Republic will survive this, but at a terrific cost. Hang on, citizens, crunch time looms. Keep channeling your Jefferson and Hamilton and Madison.
7
Nixon was bad, but Trump makes him look like a Boy Scout. Trump wouldn't be anywhere, however, if the current Republican party hadn't been so awful in their own attacks on our democracy. Not standing up to that president was their collective greatest sin. 2018 cannot be the end of the Wave. There are plenty of Republicans that must be jettisoned. McConnell, Grassley, and Graham spring immediately to mind.
23
I imagine that if FOX had existed when Watergate happened, Nixon would have served out his term.
As an Australian, I apologise to everyone for the scourge on the world we released in the form of Rupert Murdoch.
63
@James Tapscott
Thank you, James Tapscott, for acknowledging the scourge we endure with Murdoch-owned Fox and other entities he's ruined.
2
There are several differences between Nixon and Trump and one of the most glaring is that the current gang of sycophants in the GOP are morally bankrupt. There are also no elders who would be willing, when the time comes, to take the necessary steps to stop the malignant narcissist and crime family boss from continuing to do more harm to this country. Proof of this has been seen in the wretched behavior of Mitch McConnell, Orin Hatch, Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham for starters. Also, Richard Nixon was, despite his paranoia, an intelligent man while Donald Trump proves daily that he is quite the opposite.
10
Plus the fact that Nixon was smart and Trump isn't.
13
@Pearl McElheranOh, but I've heard Trump say he's smart... very smart... several times!
Drew makes valid points here, but she clearly has no idea what fascism is. Trump is not a fascist, nor was Nixon. Authoritarian perhaps, but neither has sought to harness industry and the economy under government control.
3
Barry Goldwater had the courage and strength to lead the delegation that advised Nixon that his presidency was over. That he had lost the right to govern. That his behavior besmirched the office of the president. Nixon had enough respect for the office to leave. Today there is no leading Republican to stand up to Trump. And Trump has no respect for any office or institution.All that counts is Trump.
24
I'm surprised the comparison is even being made. Nixon prosecuted the war in Viet Nam, yes, but it was initiated by two Democratic predecessors. We got EPA and he made an overture on universal health care which Kennedy refused. Detente, arms control. He did hate the news oligopolies and brought us cable TV which was the beginning of a long downward slide, as was the repeal of the fairness doctrine. He could casually and easily discuss a string of nations from Morocco to Japan (I know because I listened to one of the non-Watergate tapes), proceeding in geographical order west to east. As far as I'm concerned Johnson towers over all the post WWII presidents, but I would by no means put Nixon at or near the bottom of the list. The southern strategy has been a dagger in the back of our republic, but I think it would have been invented anyhow, as Johnson foresaw when he signed the civil rights act. Nixon did indeed run roughshod over legal and constitutional principles when he came under fire, that is a certainty. But he was bush league compared to Trump in that regard. (Reagan was more like Trump in putting bandits in EPA and Dept of Interior).
17
@gnowell
The war in Vietnam goes back further than those Democratic presidents,it was the Dulles brothers who came up with the domino theory, and we were supplying the French under Eisenhower.
11
@gnowell Nixon will forever bear the unpardonable responsibility for the deaths of 25,000 Americans on his watch, fully half of those lost in Vietnam. I can't even guess as to how many hundreds of thousands of Asians were slaughtered by his quantum escalation of indiscriminate bombing.
In some ways, Nixon was rehabilitated. This was largely through his trip to China and his image as a savvy statesman. Moreover, he did not seek to undo the Civil Rights legislation of the Johnson Administration and the passage of the Clean Air and Water act passed under his tenure. Nevertheless, people like my father, who had been a lifelong Republican, broke with the Party over Nixon’s criminal overreach. I can’t imagine history will find much to rehabilitate in Trump’s presidency. Likewise, I can’t imagine Trump’s more rabid followers ever renouncing him over something like criminal overreach.
20
@Anthony Davis
Unfortunately Trump’s followers are the product of the USA educational system which is notoriously lax regarding history and geography. These people who are by and large good folks, have very little idea about the realities of politics and tend think America is in the right no matter what. Expecting them to examine the news with critical intelligence is unrealistic and so they will tend to support Trump because he is more like themselves than other educated, articulate politicians.
So I’m afraid that we cannot expect the majority of Americans to grasp the enormity of the Trump presidentcy and the very deleterious effects this will
have on America’s future relationship with those countries who have for many years been our allies.
Nixon being the educated man that he was, though he was corrupt, did not allow his his desire for power to prevent him from putting ( under pressure) his country ahead of political ambition.
With Trump there are none of these qualities evident, we must vote, demonstrate and vote to rid ourselves of this cancer.
1
Kompromat is part of the reason for Trump's behavior. The other part is that instead of the usual political strategies he uses the same methods he's used in his shady business dealings all his life. Trump is the perfect tool for both the Russians and the Republican party to get what they want.
52
There's one other "yuge" difference between Nixon and America's Great White Dope: the former was guilty of covering up a third-rate burglary attempt which, even had it been successful, would almost certainly have had little if any effect on the forthcoming election results. The Donald, on the other hand, is being investigated for possible collusion with a hostile foreign power to successfully swing the election his way. That's not petty theft we're talking about; it's treason. If material evidence of such collusion is located by the Mueller commission, Trump should be impeached, convicted, incarcerated and offered a choice between a death sentence and the forfeiture all social media access rights.
164
Great last line! I'm not sure which punishment Trump would pick, but I do know denying him access to all social media would be the one that best fits his crimes.
24
@stu freeman
Love that last line......amidst all this dire and distressing predictions forte d of American democracy it's nice to be able to chuckle.
4
@stu freeman indeed...Trump’s alleged crimes make Nixon look like a Boy Scout.
2
but unlike Nixon, Trump has the support of the Republican Congress, no matter what he does.
31
@bobdc6 Nixon had the support of the Republican Congress, too. Until he didn't.
Thank you so much for this opinion piece, Ms. Drew! Four years ago I read, with great interest, the new hardcover edition of your excellent book, “Washington Journal.” I was only 11 or 12 years old at the time of the Watergate hearings, and your chronicle of those days was very educational, and also inspiring.
14
Excellent and almost long overdue opinion piece.
I've been beating the drum that Donald Trump is a fascist for the past year. As the president increasingly showing, his anger and fear over "the Russia investigation" is leading him to pursue increasingly dangerous and reckless actions, from denying CNN reporter Bob Accosta a press pass to firing the FBI Director and AG, only to leapfrog the typical DOJ succession line in order to appoint an acting "hit man" on Robert Mueller, its clear Donald Trump believes he's above the law.
That's what fascists do, destroying democratic institutions in the process.
But the biggest reason why Trump remains unchecked, and hence unaccountable, is his solid Republican support in Congress as well as his entrenched political base that believes his lies and supports him through thick or thin .
the line between democracy and fascism here is exceedingly taut. While I fully expect the president to do something outrageous, I do not expect any much resistance from his party.
Fascists don't abuse power or pull off coups without the support of their police force, military, and party.
Get ready for a rough ride: I'm not sure the president won't be able to pull this off, since so far, he's never paid a price for any of his actions.
120
@ChristineMcM: Trump is a lying con artist. Those guys get away with it for a while, but eventually they crash and burn. The midterm victory of the Dems is the beginning of the end.
I just watched The Seth Myers Show. He played a series of clips in which Trump insulted Maxine Waters. Myers then pointed out that the Congresswoman now heads the House Financial Services Committee. She has the power to subpoena Trump's tax returns and financial records. Oh boy, oh boy.
He won't be pulling off much of anything from now on.
10
@Carson Drew assuming he doesn’t instruct the IRS not to provide the tax returns. Definitely a real possibility and with his Supreme Court he may well win that showdown.
1
@ChristineMcM We never really heard much about it, but it does give me a certain amount of glee that Trump did have to pony up (after he was inaugurated if I remember correctly) $25million because of his fraudulent "university".
2
Nixon, Murray Chotiner, Mickey Cohen, Roy Cohn, Lee Atwater, .... Americans are stupid about U.S. politics. The corruption in the soul of American governance didn’t go away simply because Nixon resigned. Roger Stone, Ailes, Rove... every cynical, self serving, self promoting, self interested, immoral unethical conniving con man in American business was there to pick up his standard.
Donald Trump is merely the most recent cancerous tumor. Comparing the two is to suggest that the Nixon cancer of the GOP lungs is somehow worse than the Trump cancer of the GOP brain and soul. They both metastasize and they both put at risk the body of the American experiment in Democracy.
96
Very nice column and graphic illustration too!
I find comparing the two, Nixon and Trump, very difficult. The times were so much different then. There were no reality shows and their ginned up emotions, and although folk have been insincere a long, long time, this is a whole other category of falseness and phony we experience today.
Of course Nixon, and the brutal degrading war, and the Civil Rights movement and assassinations prior, and the counter culture 60's, and the examination of both the FBI and CIA, and strong surges of environmentalism---all produced the reform Congress of the 70's. In my view the highest ethical point we have attained in my lifetime.
Nixon was bad but he helped produce a rebounding ethical concern in this country. He must always be given some slack for the Clean Water and Air Acts.
Hope it happens again.
43
@Nelly
I don't see how either the War or the troubles prior to Nixon taking office in 1969 can be blamed on Nixon. LBJ should get the lion's share of that.
Nixon was a symptom. not the cause. Too bad Gene McCarthy wasn't the opposition.
3
@Kevin Nixon did continue the Vietnam war for several years, and he had made secret overtures to the Vietnamese at the time of the 1968 election, telling them not to make any agreement with LBJ to stop fighting, and they would get a better deal from Nixon. There is also his extending the war into Cambodia, which some consider a war crime. He lied to everyone about Watergate, including his family who publicly defended him, apparently unaware of the tapes that proved he directed the coverup of the burglary.
23
@Kevin
I wasn't blaming Nixon for all of the discord, only to point out that that decrepit era boomeranged into relatively high ethical times for us.
Personally, I was raised to hate Nixon for his McCarthyism. Funny how time slips away but influences persist: Trump's mentor Roy Cohn was one of the chief termites in the House of Un-Americans.
2
For his first two years in office, Trump sunk nearly all his political capital into enacting huge tax cuts for the rich, wholesale Wall Street deregulation, large increases in military spending, and an extremely pro-Israel foreign policy—exactly the sort of policies near-and-dear to the establishment conservative candidates whom he had crushed in the Republican primaries. Meanwhile, his jilted grassroots supporters have had to settle for some radical rhetoric and a regular barrage of outrageous Tweets rather than anything more substantive. With Republicans in full control of Congress, finding excuses for this widespread betrayal was quite difficult, but now that the Democrats have taken the House, Trump’s apologists can more easily shift the blame over to them.
52
Richard Nixon read and understood the Constitution both before and after he swore to uphold it when he took the oath of office. There is no proof that Donald Trump has ever looked at the Constitution or had it explained to him. To accuse Trump of violating the Constitution is like legitimately ticketing a driver who has never held a driver's license.
The real offenders today who were not part of Nixon's time are Mitch McConnell and the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee who would rather pursue their agendas than the truth. Not a Sam Irvin or Howard Baker among them.
192
@lb I wonder if some of Trump's minions and his pals in the Congress ever consider the fate of Haldemann and Erlichman, Nixon's long time aides who were betrayed by Nixon and ended up doing time in prison. Mindless loyalty to the boss didn't work out too well for them.
10
@lb Mitch McConnell makes Newt Gingrich look like Richard Nixon.
1
@lb
Nor knowing the law is no excuse.
3
Nixon signed the legislation that created the EPA, OSHA, NOAA, the Clean Air and Water Act, the Endangered Species Act. He eliminated the draft and lowered the voting agents 18. He oversaw large scale integration of schools in the South. He proposed a guaranteed minimum income. He signed the initial SALT agreement with the USSR. He opened relations with China.
Noam Chomsky said he was our last liberal president.
We forget his accomplishments and remember his significant misdeeds. Accomplishments Trump will never match. Nixon, despite his deep flaws, actually governed. Trump mis-governs.
729
@Mandrake
Trump aspires to mis-govern. Any of the other GOP contenders (and I despise a lot of them) would have made a better president. *I* would have made a better president, and if that doesn't scare you, it should.
Spot on about Nixon, though. Someday someone will write the tragic play.
53
@Mandrake
Why did he do these things when he did not believe in them? Or did he? Perhaps he was trying to create a public image that would be popular and approved by the establishment even though he did not like or respect it. He was a very strange and twisted dude.
13
@Mandrake Nixon: A Great example of the contradictions inherent in our republic and in all humans. Truly a tragedy of Greek proportions.
14
Trump is ten times worse than Nixon. Back then, Nixon lied, he conspired, was exposed and resigned in disgrace. Today, with Trump, he lies, he conspires, he is about to be exposed, but we no longer have such a thing as the truth. Trump and his Republican lackeys have managed to destroy the truth. By doing so, he can always claim innocence because at least 40% of the nation, if not more, either doesn't know what to believe, or refuses to believe what is staring them in the face. In particular, they don't believe legitimate, professional journalism. Even worse, they don't believe in our system of justice.
Nixon committed crimes but our democracy worked and restored itself. Today, Trump has deeply injured democracy by destroying the truth. It remains to be seen if democracy can be restored. That's why Trump is ten times worse than Nixon.
279
There is no comparison between the two. In his misdeeds, Nixon was closer to JFK and LBJ than to Trump. There was never a time in the Nixon presidency when the nation felt that our political culture had been permanently damaged and that the president was a fascist. Never. Additionally, in intellect and experience, though not temperament, Nixon was superbly qualified.
12
@Bruce Rozenblit
That 40 or so % that follows Trump and doesn't care how he feels about the law and justice system, I finally figured out, do so because it's how they themselves feel.
THEY don't want to pay taxes and don't want any consequences to themselves if they do get caught.
THEY want to do as they please and if it be lying, cheating and stealing - they want to do so and again, not have any consequences to themselves if they do get caught.
So this is why they like Trump. He gets away with all the stuff they want to get away with and if they support him, in their twisted little minds they think they might be able to. If Trump is POTUS they feel then he might do away with taxes and laws for them too.
Delusional, but it makes sense.
4
@Bruce Rozenblit...Yes, Bruce Rozenblit, “The Truth has been destroyed.” Trump fiction totally Out Of and Beyond it’s scope and presence. With a few other responders, I
have long used the diagnostic term Psychopathic and Psychopathic Personality Disorder to describe this chronic Liar. My life (81+active Licensed Family Therapy Years) have fed this awareness today in this frustrated state of our being “Governed” as a Country by this public Fraud.
Our “President” does Not know enough to Care or care
enough to Know. We, the People, meanwhile, are in Need of Treatment.....while He is in full Enjoyment of his chronic
Exercise of Control.
2
After all, we should credit Nixon for admitting that, above all,
'The American people have a right to know if their President is a crook..'
55
Nixon's failure was that he was half-human with a modicum of a sense of shame. And that took him down. He was contrite. He caved.
"trump" will not. He's the honey badger. He will keep attacking no matter what. He is never leaving the white house willingly. He's made that abundantly clear. And no doubt Putin has coached him on that extensively.
2
I was a young adult during Watergate. I can absolutely affirm that Trump is much worse than Nixon ever was.
Nixon never said (at least publicly) that the KKK and neo-Nazis were very fine people.
Nixon never boasted about sexually assaulting women.
Nixon never ordered the Justice Department to put Hispanic infants and children in cages.
Nixon never ridiculed people with disabilities.
And when the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to turn over evidence, he did. Does anyone actually believe that Trump will do the same?
Nixon did not demonize immigrants, nor did he go on endless political rallies during his tenure, to attempt to stir up racial or ethnic hatred.
I remember presidents back to Eisenhower. Not one of these presidents -- including Nixon -- ever fell to the level we see with this current "president". Trump is by orders of magnitude the most unfit, disgusting, hateful man to ever occupy the Oval Office.
And whether they were Democratic or Republican, former presidents were intelligent men (perhaps with the exception of W) who cared about their country.
We are absolutely in uncharted territory with this "president". We have absolutely no reason to believe he will do anything other than to seize absolute power. The Constitution, under him, is nothing more than a badly broken honor system. And unlike Nixon, Trump will not go quietly. He will leave office when he chooses to do so -- whether or not he is re-elected. And he knows there is now nothing standing in his way.
583
@Henry Hurt
On the other hand, Nixon (as a private citizen) negotiated with the North Vietnamese to reject the peace plan that Johnson had initiated, saying that if Nixon won the Presidency, he would give a better deal to the North Vietnamese. Nixon won, and the "better deal" was ultimately another six years of war, twenty thousand US deaths as well as hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese deaths and "Operation Menu" - the year-long illegal and "secret" bombing of Cambodia.
49
@Henry Hurt The perfect scenario is for Trump to go out in handcuffs.
38
@Henry Hurt Except the true citizens of the US. We have made a start by taking back the House. PINO only has the power if WE give it to him. Just don't.
11
The Trump administration is Woodstock for grifters.
34
@bijom
No need to strain that far for a metaphor.
He's just pure evil.
2
Neither Nixon or Trump come close to being fascists. It is pretty obvious that Mr. Trump does not have the organizational skills to be a Hitler or Stalin. Being "mean spirited" (Michelle Obama's very accurate term) and the world's greatest tweeter does not make you a dictator. At all. Do a little research. Also, you might note that in the recent election the Democrats made significant gains at both the federal and state government levels. Looks to me like the system is working great. The anti-Trump forces should be happy at the result of the elections. A couple more years and Don Trump will go back to his natural environment--reality TV and the entertainment world in general.
21
I fear you and Trump's supporters and opponents have underestimated his innate malevolence. He was elected despite all we knew about him which means we risked going down a slippery slope with a man who's sole reason for running was to confound his enemies and amass power. At least with Nixon we had a known quantity and his crimes were committed in the execution of being re-elected. Does anyone seriously think Trump wouldn't do the same if he was threatened with removal or losing re-election? He's already built in the lie of election fraud (multiple times) debasing our deeply held principles of democracy, things Nixon never broached because he'd already won and lost many over a long career. Sorry but Trump's a loose cannon in the Oval Office with a very shady past and, yes, 10 times worse than Nixon; we survived Tricky Dick, we may not survive Don the Con.
6
@Gordon Wiggerhaus,
I think the point is that Trump is a fascist. Ms. Drew did not suggest that Trump has the organizational skills to be successful in creating a fascist government. (But I believe that he would if he could).
2
@Gordon Wiggerhaus I also am afraid of Trump’s reaction to total rejection H will not go quietly into the night. Consider a man who left investors holding the bag on his casino bankruptcies yet bragged about how smart the was while walking away with millions. No he will play the maligned victim and will have millions of agreeable followers. He has never done a gracious thing in his life. It is amazing and scary to me that people did not or do not know this.
4
Trump faces an American public that is far less able to contemplate impeachment than the public that Nixon faced. Trump benefits from the American public's exhaustion of politics
27
@Buoy Duncan Trump also benefits from 45 years of the hollowing out of the American educational system, leaving huge swaths of the population unable or unwilling to recognize the carefully honed, exquisitely crafted lies and half-truths that comprise political discourse these days.
27
@Buoy Duncan
Trump doesn't benefit from the public's exhaustion of politics, he benefits from the public's utter ignorance of politics.
Big difference.
15
@ejb
Exactly right! Just like the Republican party has planned. A well-educated public will not buy what the Republicans are selling. They have been aware of that for a long, long time.
12
Trump was bellowing again today about how the Mueller investigation 'is a mess' and how it is ruining the lives of people, as if Robert Mueller, a man of integrity and honor, is indicting people in Trump's circle for no good reason.
Roy Cohn was a key mentor of Donald Trump, his imprint on the young Donald is here with us today in the form of an ignorant, power obsessed, amoral and completely self absorbed 'president'.
'The tabloids couldn’t get enough of the Trumps’ theatrics. And as Donald Trump’s Hyatt rose, so too did the hidden hand of his attorney Roy Cohn, always there to help with the shady tax abatements, the zoning variances, the sweetheart deals, and the threats to those who might stand in the project’s way.'
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/06/donald-trump-roy-cohn-relationship
88
@Tim B I believe Nixon also learned from Roy Cohn. Nixon rather openly pitted anti-war protesters against the "silent majority" of uncritical citizens, and worked on the fears and anger of his "base." I think the fact that Nixon got a lot of mileage out of the divide & conquer approach then influenced every subsequent GOP president to try the same method of getting votes. Trump is the first to have absolutely nothing else than venting of rage & prejudice to offer voters.
12
@Tim B
I think that Michael Daly perfectly sums up Trump, and Nixon, both directly or indirectly associated with Cohn/Murray Chotiner/Lee Atwater/Roger Stone/Roger Ailes, in his discussion of Trump and Roy Cohn, attributing to him this attitude: "...attack, attack, attack and deny, deny, deny; to make no admissions, never give an inch, fight to win no matter who is in the right, win because winning is the only thing, especially if you are in the wrong..."
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-reads-once-again-from-roy-cohns-mccarthyite-playbook
Nixon believed in the forms of democratic government even as he needlessly tried to cheat his way around them to win an election that was going his way anyway.
trump has cheated his way through his entire business and now political career, and will undermine all accepted norms to hang on to power. His contempt for democracy is abundantly clear; he sees it only as a tool to be abused to his advantage.
He has already used the US militarily at the southern US border as a prop to highlight a non-existent threat for electoral purposes. Now that the House Republicans are about to lose their power to be his enablers, the megalomaniac will be in a tight corner and even more dangerous. He may well be tempted to flex his power as commander-in-chief to launch the military into actual combat against some adversary he will blame for starting hostilities.
112
You can bet on it....when the kitchen gets hot it's time for "patriots" to distract with foreign entanglements. Iran seems to be likely victim.
1
@mancuroc
He already sent troops to the border. It’s a knee jerk reaction from Republicans, "get the troops ready!” The big distraction, his base completely swallows it. Trouble is, a lot Democrats vote for war just to show their mettle, witness Hillary’s support for the Iraq war lie. Yea, she sure was tough. To his good credit Obama voted against it, (and was President for eight years.)
The pendulum has begun to swing in the other, better direction.
Since the election and the blue wave (and yes, there was a wave), 45 will now be accountable even if he won't ever admit it.
This is the beginning of the end of his so-called presidency.
128
@Von Jones
It just dawned upon me to realize the amazing resilience of the USA who have managed to survive for 2 years already without a real functioning president - because I and many others strongly believe that the snake-oil salesman (or rather hominid) at the top never had and never will have the required qualifications, attitude or temperament required of the function.
It is high time for a real leader at the top before the US democracy unravels irreversibly.
24
Nixon did not lose his base. When he left office he had a higher approval rating than Trump had had for almost his entire term.
33
@Doug
Both houses of Congress were held by democrats.
I believe that most of us have no idea how serious the time we are about to enter is for the salvation of representative democracy. I will admit that I have no idea either, but I know that the time is perilous especially given that we are living under the presidency of a man who is demonstrably mentally unstable.
215
@John lebaron
I don't think he is mentally unstable, he just wants to be our first Emperor.
But, he ignores the demise of Julius Caesar, Rome's first Emperor. Perhaps that is why the Republicans are so insistent on preserving the 2nd Amendment.
5
@John lebaron
Trump is more morally reprehensible than mentally unstable.
1
I do hope that the president doesn't take the country down with him. It would be a real tragedy if we were to be governed for the next two years by someone desperate to stay in power to practice his entertainment skills in public. Americans have dealt with situations in the past and done it peaceably. They just took a first step on November 6th when they elected 104 Democratic women to the House. While that number is only 24% of the total House; it is 44% of the Democratic party soon to be in power.
If Jeff Flake the Republican holds to his conviction in requesting a vote protecting Robert Mueller and he is joined by Lisa Murkowski of Alaska who already has proven to have a backbone, then the Republicans would be at a stalemate and the president would have to cut out all of the shenanigans or face the possibility of being Nixonized. Plus the president could not then take the country down and it would be preserved for future generations.
145
@Tom osterman By the time Nixon left office, Gerald Ford was Vice President, affording us a simple, straightforward, informed, if somewhat flawed successor ("a Ford, not a Lincoln").
Mike Pence is as wacko as Trump, just differently. Replacing Trump with Pence would offer no relief from this crazed administration at all.
7
Nixon was viewed as an anomaly in his time. But Trump is viewed as normal these days. That is the problem.
158
@WDP
So following your logic Nixon was ahead of his time? I refuse to believe that. There is something more at work here. Disinformation and propaganda is being spread by the right-wing media to undermine democracy by eroding the institutions and norms that protect it.
80
@WDP: Nobody considers Trump normal. The sane majority think he's a grotesque aberration. His fans believe he's one of a kind.
6
@WDP
You pinpointed the problem. When Nixon’s sins were exposed, those who voted for him were appalled. When Trumps sins are broadcast, those who voted for him cheer. So maybe we need to pay more attention to that segment of America that is so bloodthirsty for chaos that they actually support policies and actions that work against themselves. Trump IS a problem, but the larger issue is the dumbing down of America and the power grab if large corporations over or government aided and abetted by Citizens United decision in a partisan Supreme Court.
5
Can one make Trump seem intelligent?
Who’s tasteless, non-thinking, low rent?
Discuss with Macron
Anything ‘neath the Sun,
With no cortex under his tent?
To get that hair wet in the rain,
Just to visit some graves once again?
Does he view them as losers?
Non-deferment choosers,
This clown with the inutile brain?
A life lived in mental confusion
Marked by a tweet hatred effusion,
Words recalled are few
Reality? Adieu!
A hate contrived web of illusion.
Poor Macron must talk to this dolt,
3 words and Trump has shot his bolt,
That ill-informed brain
Can drive one insane
Expecting that hairpiece to moult.
This man’s thought to be President
A bottom feeder resident,
Construct electoral
Had a finish abhorral,
Not what the Founding Fathers meant.
216
@Larry
Bravo! Bravo!
30
@Larry Eisenberg
Dear Larry, I would love to see a collection of all your fabulous limericks. Do you have a blog or website with such a repository?
Chris
6
@Larry Eisenberg
Thank you so much for your poem!
6
Yes, it's just that simple. Nixon was a politician, Trump is not. And that's dangerous, because when it was time to accept his fate, Nixon was able to resign and plot his future. Trump will not do that. He doesn't have any imagination, and so he can't plot anything. He will simply react.
As much as I look forward to it, I dread the last day of Trump's presidency because I dread the possibilities of what it will be the first day of.
477
@Sera It will likely be the first day of a slow process that will inexorably lead to jail time.
12
@Ronald Aaronson
REPAIR AMERICA AGAIN---that's what has been happening after GOP administrations..
I doubt Trump will ever go to jail, but I know that our nation will need to act responsibly and justly for a very much needed change.
5
@Ronald Aaronson
If there is a God, and I believe there is, the last day of Trump will be quickly the first day of Al Gore as POTUS.
Something to look forward to. :-)
3
Agree that Trump is worse than Nixon. The difference is the current congress are derelict of duty and will not hold him accountable for any crimes he's committed. They are aiding and abetting him and helping him shut down the Independent Counsel's Investigation. We are dealing with a criminal syndicate at the moment, not a normal gov't. A new crew in the House will certainly investigate and might impeach him, but the senate is still flush with co-conspirators. I think it will all change in 2020 when the remainder of the senate is washed out in the election. By and large, and regardless of Fox News and other propaganda stations, Americans are paying attention judging from the midterm election. More democrats were voted into office then since Watergate and only extremely red and gerry mandered districts stayed red, and barely. When the republicans have a much less friendly map in 2020, they will lose the senate also and rightly so. Measures will be taken in the meantime to make sure this never can happen again. God bless the USA and God bless the Constitution. Justice is slow but it is coming.
246
I pray to every God there is that you are right. Our lives and our future depend on this.
3
@kay maybe but maybe not. It’s up to the country’s citizens to save the country.
@kay You got that right Chuck. Let's hope it happens!
Nixon at least was intelligent and competent. 45*? Not so much.
252
@Shiphrah
And yet at this point "45" is much more dangerous. All on his own, but also because senate republicans abet him, which was not the case with Nixon.
28
@Shiphrah
Nixon might have been competent but his corruption and demons overruled whatever competency he might have had. The insanity of the side deal to not end Vietnam....boggles the mind.
4
One technical point. You and most commentators suggest that Whittaker has never been Senate confirmed. That is false. He was a US Attorney for SD of Iowa. All US Attorneys are confirmed by the Senate. Perhaps the best argument is that he has never been Senate confirmed to a position in the Trump Administartion. But I doubt that could be a correct reading of the law, because after Truman and LBJ suddenly became presidents, they heldover the entire cabinet from their predecessors for a significant period of time. I do not believe the holdovers were re-confirmed by the Senate. Frankly Whitakker's involvement as a director of a company determined to be a scam by the FTC which fined it $24 million should be getting more attention than this arcane and arguably incorrect constitutional argument.
60
@James Ricciardi
Your "technical" point, at least the way you explain it is incorrect.
Yes, Whittaker was once Senate confirmed for US Attorney in the SD of Iowa.
But that is a huge difference of former VPs who due to the death of presidents keep the entire cabinet for quite a while.
Should a former Senate confirmed administration member be chosen to become a US ambassador, that person would have to be confirmed once more by the Senate.
As to your last point about his Whittaker's Scam company, I do agree wholeheartedly.
65
@James Ricciardi
The sad reality is that 99 pc of company directors have no real clue as to what the company (including its employees and contractors) is actually doing. They sit on the board, have drinks and dinner, get paid for showing up and then go back to the real world. CEO's and CFO's know the real stories, not the boards who are little more that bobble heads.
1
@Mark Shyres That is no excuse, especially for a lawyer.
Trump has no respect for the rule of law. For all his many faults, Nixon ultimately did.
359
The big difference is that Nixon believed in the rule of law, so when the Supreme Court ordered him to release the tapes he did so. Trump would insult the Chief Justice on Twitter, call the proceedings a "disgrace," and ignore the order. And his followers in the Senate and in the Stix would love him for it.
295
You assume the Trump Court would order Trump to do anything! The corrupt Supreme Court will do whatever Trump orders.
10
@Kevin Bitz I often call it the McConnell Court.
1
There is one major difference between Nixon and Trump that springs foremost to my mind: the Republicans are COLLUDING with Trump in order to protect his corroded reputation because he's promoting an agenda that, all illegal conduct aside, serves their myopic views on issues ranging from tax reform to ruining our environment so long as corporations in their states receive (short-term) gains in the process. NOT ONE of Trump's worst policy initiatives or unfit cabinet members could have proceeded without the consent of a corrupt group of GOP senators. Thanks to them, we are faced with a man out of control at the head of our Executive Branch. Withdraw the unequivocal support of a handful of mindless co-conspirators like McConnell and Graham and Cruz and this man would be left at the mercy of....? The Criminal Justice System and the Rule of Law, of course.
918
@ManhattanWilliam
And, by extension, to the voters that Congress answers to. We have to stop thinking Trump is the problem. It is his support—through every level, right down to the individual voter (either because they show up at his rallies and cheer or stay home)— that got us into this mess. And keeps allowing it to continue.
82
@ManhattanWilliam
Absolutely. McConnell, McConnell, McConnell. Period.
45
@ManhattanWilliam you are accurately describing his base. IMO They do not care one whiff about anything - except that their supposed "enemies" ie immigrants, liberals, democrats and Hillary are trying to steal the country, when the thieves are right there in front of them.
28
Neither Richard Nixon nor Donald Trump can be considered to be emotionally stable. However, the major difference between the two is that while Nixon was aware of his faults, Trump does not think he has any.
355
@Krish. Perhaps Trump knows he has them and simply doesn't care. For instance, after he decimated Blaisey-Ford, he publicly confessed his awareness he was rough on her but had to to what it took "to win".
15
@Krish
Another difference between Nixon and Trump was that the former neither murdered his native language and had an IQ of at least 40+points higher.
16
@Sarah
It’s aso worth remembering that Nixon had serious mental health issues compounded by alcoholism.
I’m not sure if we should be glad that Trump doesn’t drink? Perhaps it spares us the additional disgust of a drunken Tweet!
10
Trump does not believe in the Constitution, knows next to nothing about how this government works and wants to shut down Mueller. If that does happen, we have no other recourse but to demonstrate and ask for him to be impeached. We cant count on Republicans, we are the people who can change the course of history when the time comes.
242
@Sherry Moser steiker
We can only hope a brave Ellsberg or Snowden, et al within the Mueller group will release the known facts, even if T. attempts a shutdown of the investigation.
13
@Sherry Moser steiker
I would argue that GOP legislators also do not believe in your Constitution. They stood by, quivering in terror, as Trump smashed norm after norm, standard after standard, unaware apparently, that the legislative branch is no only supposed to be equal to the executive, but is charged with providing checks and balances to the worst president in my long memory.
39
@Sherry Moser steiker
"..we have no other recourse but to demonstrate and ask for him to be impeached."
When I was 16 years old I asked my father to buy me a Jaguar XKE. I think congress will give you the same answer my father gave me. Hint: it took him 30 minutes to stop laughing.
9
Richard Nixon, for all his many faults, did arguably love his country more than himself.
I am not convinced that the same statement can be made about Donald Trump.
642
@Winifred Williams
His affinity for Putin and "love" of Kim tell us all we need to know about Trump's love of the USA.
139
@Winifred Williams
The only thing trump loves is himself and money. He doesn't care who he hurts, scams or steps on to serve himself.
32
@Winifred Williams
What would it take to convince you that Trump does not
love his country?
9
In 1970 we had WW II in near living memory, as well as the spectacle of Sen. McCarthy. We also would have bristled at the idea of a ministry for propaganda in the United States. Today the lessons of the 1940s are historical anecdotes in amber, and at least one media outlet has conveniently taken up the propaganda function. Undergirding it all is a collapse of the difference between fame and infamy and a decadent culture coarsened by reality TV, persuaded of the lack of necessity for etiquette rules and prescribed forms of behavior. Neither Nixon nor Trump exist apart from the larger culture.
329
@Blair. I couldn’t agree more.
I had only on living grandparent in 1974, and her education ended with 8th grade. But she read the paper every day and understood far more about our government than some of the folks I have come across in recent years with high school and college educations. She voted for the first time in the year she turned 21, which was also the first year in which American women could vote, and she voted proudly in every election thereafter for the rest of her life. She never learned to drive, but into her 80’s she walked to the polls and stood in line.
Democracy is hard. It requires an educated electorate that will weigh the choices and then make an informed decision.
I was disgusted by the election of B movie star Reagan and amused by the election of Congressman Sonny Bono.
They at least had real careers in show business, and Reagan was a union leader and then a governor.
Trump is a fraud. He was not a “star” except in his own mind, and he was not a successful businessman except in his own lies. And of course, he has never cared about anything but himself. How tragic that so many Americans were unable to discern what would have been clear to my grandmother.
85
@Blair
Several years ago I was invited to teach a college course for aspiring arts managers. After noticing that they tended to use the terms "famous" and "infamous" interchangeably in their written assignments, I attempted to explain the difference. They looked at me blankly. These were not generally people who would be Trump supporters, but they were young Americans for whom the distinction between good and bad publicity had been largely erased. If I hadn't taught that course just when I did the whole Trump phenonemom would have shocked me even more. These were the same college students who didn't know when and where WWI was faught, or why. Sweet kids, but zero sense of history. Anything that happened before roughly 1985 was completely dead to them.
9
@Lawyermom
Sonny Bono was actually a very good and thoughtful Congressman. Cheap shot.
1