It has been fifty years since Watergate which was the first time in my lifetime that there was a constitutional crisis in the U.S. We were lucky that disaster was avoided fifty years ago. But can we avoid disaster this time?
Richard Nixon, unlike what he proclaimed, was a crook. He tried to cheat on an election and then tried to cover it up. Donald Trump is worse. He asked the Russians openly to help him win an election. And when the CIA said that Russia was trying to interfere, he agreed with Putin rather than our own intelligence service. Nixon at first refused to turn over the tapes but eventually did although with 18 minutes missing. Trump refused to turn over records and has some records missing. We still have not seen his taxes yet. Some of Nixon's cronies went to jail. Some of Trump's cronies may go to jail. It is obvious that the scandal went all the way to the presidency in both cases.
Nixon actually won reelection and probably would have won anyway without cheating. Trump lost fair and square and then promoted conspiracy theories about fraud in the election. This led to the insurrection which Trump encouraged. Nixon resigned peacefully and let Gerald Ford become president and healed the nation. Trump did not care if the mob killed his vice president. Trump is still at it now, trying to divide the nation.
Back in 1972, I was glued to the tv after school for the hearings. I didn't understand what was going on a lot of the time. But I, like many people in the country, wanted to see the truth come out and make judgment based on facts. Today, most people don't care to watch because they have their minds made up depending which party they are affiliated with. Back then we have Walter Cronkite, whom everybody trusted. Today we have the conservatives and liberal media with their own distinct audiences.
Back then, many Republicans see that Nixon's actions were bad for democracy and the country. Today. the Republicans, with the exception of a few like Liz Cheney, only want to get power back and could careless about the state of democracy in the country. Nixon knew that he would be impeached if he did not resign and there was a good chance he would have been convicted and kicked out of office. Today, regardless what criminal acts Trump did, there was never enough vote to convict him in the Senate.
So that is why I believe that Trump and his followers are much worse for the democracy of this country than Nixon and his supporters were fifty years ago. And that is also why I am much more worried about the future of our country than I did fifty years ago.
After watching the hearings today, I will have to amend my view slightly. There are Republicans who love the country and willing to sacrifice their positions of power to keep our democracy. This include Jeff Rosen, the acting AG, Richard Donoghue, acting deputy AG and Steven Engel, assistant AG. These people refused Trump's plodding to say that the election was a fraud. They threatened resignation if Trump goes ahead to appoint Jeffrey Clark, who would do what Trump wanted as AG. It was the courage of these men and others in the DOJ who helped stopped Trump. If Trump becomes president again, I am sure he would not just appoint any Republican but only those who will be loyal to him rather than loyal to the country.
ReplyDeleteI was also very impressed with Adam Kinzinger, the Republican Congressman who along with Liz Cheney, joined the Democrats in the Committee. His questioning and closing statements were great. He seemed very presidential. Too bad, he is retiring despite his young age because of the take over of the GOP by Trump and his supporters.