It’s not the crime, it’s the cover up, or so the saying goes. This phrase, along with “Follow the money" came from the Watergate scandal of 1972-74, which ended Nixon’s presidency. The parallels to our sad national situation today are uncanny, differences being that the Republican Party’s campaign interference of the Democrats was conducted electronically and was at least partially outsourced to a hostile foreign government. This adds at minimum the charge of treason to the existing charges of conspiracy, perjury, obstruction of justice, burglary, contempt of court, government misconduct, and illegal campaigning, which were the downfall of Nixon’s co-conspirators.
It took a long time for Watergate to play out. As early as September 1971, Nixon had his secret White House special investigations unit, the famed White House Plumbers, trying to dig up compromising information on his enemies, and using government resources to go retaliate against “hostile news organizations". They got more people involved in campaign misinformation to interfere in the Democratic party’s presidential race, and then even more people when they decided to break into the national DNC headquarters in Washington, DC on June 17, 1972.
Parallels to today: Trump employs an extensive coterie of domestic and foreign persons to plant fake news and hack into DNC email systems. Trump blocks many news organizations from covering his campaign, publicly shames reporters and puts their lives in danger with his rants against individual reporters.
The Media: The media began reporting on the story right away, and the Nixon administration did everything they could to blame the media, accuse them of liberal bias against the Administration, and deny every single thing that was being printed as an outrage and disrespectful of the Administration. The stories weren’t enough to stop Nixon from being re-elected over George McGovern- the Administration played the “victim to the media” role too effectively. But, the break in investigtion began the unraveling of the lengths that Nixon and his cronies went to in order to conduct illegal investigations and campaigning, and using government resources to accomplish those goals.
Parallels to today: Trump accuses any media organization with any story he perceives as negative to be “fake news”, to be liars, untrustworthy and unpatriotic. Trump’s cronies threaten to eject reporters who ask questions Trump doesn’t want to answer. Trump’s campaign has connections to Russia via Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, who is “replaced” late in the campaign when the heat about those connections becomes too much to bear, but Manafort never really goes away, and just stays in the shadows. The FBI is engaged to put out negative information on the Democratic nominee for President, Hillary Clinton, thus costing her the election.
Today, we had Trump actually telling the entire world that he WANTS the Russians to hack the DNC, that the election would be rigged, that he has no conflicts of interest, and that nothing he is doing is criminal. “When the president does it, it’s not a crime,” Nixon said. Nixon had ordered the CIA to obstruct the FBI’s investigation, instructing aide Haldeman, "You call them in. Good. Good deal. Play it tough. That's the way they play it and that's the way we are going to play it.” Tough guy Nixon, and wanna-be tough guy Trump, cut from the same cloth. Except Trump is an even looser cannon than Nixon ever dreamed.
The Resignation: It wasn’t until August 8, 1974, over two years after the break in, that Nixon finally knew his goose was cooked. Even his own party had finally arrived at the point they could not tolerate the public demand for impeachment and prosecution of the president. Upon release of the transcripts of secret recordings from the Oval Office, "The Senate Republican Leader Hugh Scott said the transcripts revealed a "deplorable, disgusting, shabby, and immoral" performance on the part of the President and his former aides. The House Republican Leader John Jacob Rhodes agreed with Scott, and Rhodes recommended that if Nixon's position continued to deteriorate, he "ought to consider resigning as a possible option.”" (Wikipedia)
Parallels to today: We have some US Senators who have expressed concern over the seeming compromising of the US Intelligence Community by Trump and his campaign. However, no member of Congress has been willing thus far to step out any further to condemn Trump and his toadies for their actions. How long will it take? Will the appoint a US Senate Select Committee or Special Investigator to examine everything that has happened, as the prior Senate did with Watergate?
"The editors of The Chicago Tribune, a newspaper that had supported Nixon, wrote, "He is humorless to the point of being inhumane. He is devious. He is vacillating. He is profane. He is willing to be led. He displays dismaying gaps in knowledge. He is suspicious of his staff. His loyalty is minimal."[51] The Providence Journal wrote, "Reading the transcripts is an emetic experience; one comes away feeling unclean."[52] This newspaper continued, that, while the transcripts may not have revealed an indictable offense, they showed Nixon contemptuous of the United States, its institutions, and its people." (Wikipedia) Just change the name from Nixon to Trump, and you wouldn’t know the difference that 43 years had passed between then and now.
It took two whole years to get Nixon out of office. How long will it take us to rid the country of the scourge that is Trump? The actions taken by Trump and his toadies are even more egregious than what was once the worst political scandal our nation had ever seen. Today’s announcement that the Office of Inspector General inside the USDOJ will be investigating both the FBI and DOJ for their actions taken during the election gives us hope the process has begun, but who knows how much interference there will be. More must be done.
Watergate colored how the GOP was viewed for a few short years. Today, I believe if you ask Trump supporters, they would say they believe it to be a Democratic scandal, and that Nixon was not a Republican. Facts still count, folks. History still has lessons to teach us. Please keep up the pressure.
