Those of you who lived and understood the Nixon stuff, how does this compare?

[demtenjeep]

I knew about it because I remember hearing my parents talking about it. My dad was a machinist Union Man through and through. Rarely did I ever hear my father curse. The first time was that Nixon was a son of a bitch.


My dad voted D all his life. He was a working class man and knew what party was taking care of us.

But I was under 10 so all I knew was that Nixon was a bad man and that the system took care of the problem.


SO those of you that actually lived and understood, where do we compare?

[yardwork]

1. This is much worse.

[enid602]

82. Spiro

I saw something recently on TV that was talking about Spiro Agnew resigning after the IRS discovered he under reported his income by $20000. Yes, this is much worse.

[dchill]

2. It's off the charts. Nixon involved a few guys.

Trump involves an entire political party, which happens to be illegitimately in charge of all three branches of government.

Edit to add: It's also treason.

[bettyellen]

3. Sooo much worse! It's another planet to see him work w Putin.

[spanone]

4. nixon was a petty thief compared to this monstrosity.

[Volaris]

38. Mueller final report is gonna make Watergate look like a fucking littering ticket.

[DUgosh]

5. Watergate on steroids

With the exception of complicit gOP Congress

[Best_man23]

80. Christmas 2016, I said those exact words to my relatives

I told them then that Trump had a "Russia problem" as well as other potential scandals (conflicts of interest, extramarital affairs) and that once they were brought to light, it would be "Watergate on Steroids." In terms of a Watergate vs Trump Scandals comparison, what is going on now is far worse. Compounding the tension now are three factors that were not in play during Watergate: 1) a complicit Congress, 2) an ongoing information warfare campaign on the US by a hostile foreign power (Russia) sympathetic to Trump/GOP, and 3) RW talk radio and a "news" network (Faux) that operates like Soviet-era state run TV and provides cover for the Trump cabal.

If you had to ask me which scandal presents the greatest danger right now to Dolt 45, my pick would be the Stephanie Clifford (I say her real name) and Karen McDougal lawsuits, as they are exposing the cover-up of what may be a number of significant campaign finance violation. The Cohen tapes may well provide the "smoking gun" just like the Watergate tape that showed that Nixon obstructed justice by trying to order the FBI to stop their investigation of the Watergate break-in. The Russia investigation is complex and under daily attack by the three factors described earlier, the emoluments lawsuits are just getting warmed up.

For those too young to remember/understand Watergate or who were not born when Watergate happened, there is a great documentary on YouTube that goes deep into the Watergate affair. Its in three parts and is about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. If you have the time, recommend watching for historical context.

[secondwind]

6. I was a young mother back then. What we have now is off the charts.

I remember staying up late at night watching the hearings, and admiring Hillary Rodham Clinton.

We are so much worse off now.

Nixon is Mother Theresa compared to Trump.

[phylny]

7. This is worse because we had journalists who were respected and not under attack

and a Republican party that protected the United States, no matter what. Our democracy was not in peril then as it is now.

[Hamlette]

86. The press was under attack then too

and for a long time, the only media outlet reporting on Watergate was the Washington Post. People were saying the Post was prejudiced.

In my household, Mom was a Dem and Dad was a Republican. I got both sides. On August 9 I had been in Scotland visiting my parents. They put me on a plane that day. When we saw the headlines in the paper over there, I asked my Dad "do you finally think it is time for him to go?" Dad said yes. I got home just in time to see him resign.

Another note from that summer. My sister was working for the University in Aarhus Denmark and I spent a week with her in the dorms. Each floor of the dorm had a communal kitchen and the kids made their own meals. Talked to a bunch of Danish college students that week and I was shocked that they knew more about it than I did. Rattling off the names of everyone in Nixon's cabinet, and all the witnesses at the hearings. I didn't even know if Denmark still had a King!

I thought a lot about that. When you depend on another country for your defense, you pay attention.

I thought Watergate was a huge deal. I'm not sure it feels any different now. I've heard people say if there had been a Fox News in 1974 Nixon would have remained in office. If that's true, we have no hope of getting ride of Trump until 2020.

[phylny]

89. I suppose you're right.

I was thinking about the television reporters/journalists, since there were fewer, and I had the impression they were more respected.

Good insight from you!

[jalan48]

8. Worse. Nixon didn't have media outlets dedicated to defending him 24/7.

[area51]

62. Faux "news" vs. North Korean state TV

http://thehill.com/homenews/media/393517-the-daily-show-compares-fox-newss-praise-of-trump-with-north-korean-controlled

[unblock]

9. Some of the scandal and investigation and unraveling are similar

But the scale of the holy crap is staggeringly different. Nixon's crimes seem really petty in comparison. We're going from a crisis of one man's paranoia to a monumental upheaval of western civilization and an international coup here.

Also, there was much more confidence and faith and respect in our institutions back then. The news was sober and serious, lawmakers had loyalties other than just to party, etc.

[Hekate]

56. Yes

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. This is worse. Nixon was a nasty, paranoid crook; and he did some of the same things

Trump has done - like trying to discredit the media and calling the investigation a "witch hunt." He was also a racist and an anti-semite, which was not all that evident until the tapes were disclosed. But Nixon had at least some respect, if maybe not a lot, for the law. There was speculation that he would defy the Supreme Court and refuse to release the tapes, or that if he was impeached and convicted he'd refuse to leave the WH or that he would even call out the army to protect himself. Ultimately he did none of those things. But I am more and more convinced that Trump might do those things if it came to it. Nixon was bad. Trump is evil.

[Sneederbunk]

11. There were some decent Republicans investigating Nixon.

[Kingofalldems]

12. This is worse.

[skylucy]

13. This is way, way worse.

[C_U_L8R]

14. Nixon was a crook. Trump is a traitor.

[YessirAtsaFact]

45. Nixon was a crooked politician

Trump is a mobster hooked up with the Russian mafia.

Nixon actually cared about the country,unlike the OrangeTurd.

Nixon was an attorney and a career politician. OrangeTurd is a white collar criminal and has been for years.

[hlthe2b]

15. really too young to absorb much, but boy did my Mom get fixated on the hearings...

The soap operas she used to watch had always bored me too, but these hearings--how could anyone find them mesmerizing? Obviously many years later, I see the obsession, but then, no.

I'd always thought my Mom likely did not vote for Nixon. (I sat with my Mom after the horrific JFK assassination and later when Oswald was shot, and I know she was upset in a way that meant she'd likely supported jfk too). However, I know my Dad did vote for Nixon. I really can't recall my Dad defending him during all this though. I think his opinion had already turned.

I remember Sam Ervin, who seemed sort of funny to me and my Mom's "crush", Howard Baker, who, I think brought the real gravitas. Even a little kid could see that.

I know there were similarities early on in the manner in which R's closed ranks around Nixon, but once the flood wall broke, that really fell away. Still, there were some who always defended Nixon, no matter what (Pat Buchanan for ex).

There is a podcast recently released that covered watergate in about four episodes. It was pretty revealing. Probably an NPR podcast/series. Sorry, don't know the name, but might be worth seeking out.


But, I can feel confident that this is worse... especially the disinformation campagin.

[Crunchy Frog]

66. I was a little kid too, and mostly just remember my dad being glued to the TV.

I never had any sense of the shock and fear that people are feeling now.

[hlthe2b]

67. Yeah... i don't get the feeling they were fearful, but just riveted and increasingly...

annoyed.

[McCamy Taylor]

16. Gotta disagree. THAT was worse for Cambodia, Argentina, Chile and a whole lot of other countries.

THIS is worse for the U.S. So if by "worse" you mean more threatening to the citizens of the United States, then yes, this is much more threatening to the citizens of the United States. But the Great War Criminal Henry Kissinger makes Putin look like an amateur.

However. as Noam Chomsky pointed out at the time, Americans by and large did not give a rat's ass about the Killing Fields of Cambodia. They cared that their favorite celebrity was on an "Enemies List." So Trump will be judged as much, much worse than Nixon, because he has name-called and threatened so many Americans, even though Nixon/Kissinger were many orders of magnitude more evil in their wholesale slaughter of third worlders.

PS Makes you wonder, where was Trump during Watergate? He is doing all the dick stuff that got Tricky Dick in so much trouble with the American people. Trump has absolutely no feel for how to play the role of US President and what a US president can get away with and what he can not get away with. It is like he is doing secret oval office tapes 24-7--his whole administration is one big "expletive deleted"--makes for great television but does not inspire voter confidence.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

54. Chomsky really said that?

[McCamy Taylor]

92. Yep. Great essay. Here is a link.

https://chomsky.info/19730920/

Still more cynical is the current enthusiasm over the health of the American political system, as shown by the curbing of Nixon and his subordinates, or by the civilized compromise that permitted Nixon and Kissinger to kill Cambodians and destroy their land only until August 15, truly a model of how a democracy should function, with no disorder or ugly disruption.

Liberal political commentators sigh with relief that Kissinger has barely been tainted — a bit of questionable wire-tapping, but no close involvement in the Watergate shenanigans. Yet by any objective standards, the man is one of the great mass murderers of the modern period. He presided over the expansion of the war to Cambodia, with consequences that are now well known, and the vicious escalation of the bombing of rural Laos, not to speak of the atrocities committed in Vietnam, as he sought to achieve a victory of some sort for imperial power in Indochina. But he wasn’t implicated in the burglary at the Watergate or in the undermining of Muskie, so his hands are clean.

If we try to keep a sense of balance, the exposures of the past several months are analogous to the discovery that the directors of Murder Inc. were also cheating on their income tax. Reprehensible, to be sure, but hardly the main point.

[JohnnyLib2]

17. Much worse

Nixon's crime and cover up were narrow in focus and limited to him and a few close officials. What we have now is much broader and has dire implications.

[ornotna]

18. This is worse

Nixon didn't sell his country to the enemy for power and profit.

[sinkingfeeling]

19. The damage to the country is a thousand times worse.

[tonyt53]

20. Nixon was a self-absorbed prick, BUT he would never have done what trump has done.

Nixon is the reason I registered as a Democrat the day I turned 18. I was in the first 18 y/o's that got to vote.

[pangaia]

21. There is no comparison whatsoever....

The only thing that might come CLOSE is the Civil War..

But, I would say this is the worst in the history of the country...

[Autumn]

22. No comparison. This is uncharted territory.

[Poiuyt]

23. In addition to the above posts, I think that trump, his administration, and his whole family will

be known as the most corrupt and unethical in US history.

Nixon was slimy and a crook, but he had the best interests of the US at heart. Not so with trump who can best be described as a traitor.

Nixon was also good at foreign relations. He didn't try to break up alliances with our allies or cozy up to dictators.

[moondust]

24. This is worse.

Watergate was a limited domestic matter. This, on the other hand, involves what may turn out to be an international crime syndicate operating for years, potentially treason, potentially financial crimes, and foreign adversary election tampering. Republicans still had some integrity during Watergate and were important in delivering "justice." There are currently very few Republicans with enough spine to do their Constitutional duty to provide checks and balances on the Executive branch. Today Republicans have their own propaganda outlets aiding and abetting them; Nixon didn't have any of that.

[oberliner]

25. Twitter was going crazy during the Nixon stuff

[VOX]

34. Hey, stop that.

Have you no sense of history? You know darn well it was Facebook.

[oberliner]

37. Those AOL message boards were on fire

[VOX]

40. The MIDI music theme was cool, though.

[oberliner]

43. I also made a funny reference to AOL

[Hekate]

44. Revisiting Dick Nixon does not enhance my sense of humor

[oberliner]

68. Fair enough

Was just trying to bring a bit of levity.

[sprinkleeninow]

55. Hay now! Watch it.....😄 (AOL)

💙🇺🇸🌊
'em all out!

[VOX]

26. This has global impact, and the U.S. president is acting on behalf of a hostile foreign power.

During Watergate, Republicans and Democrats worked together, dealing with facts and the rule of law, without the contamination of partisanship.

The TV networks reporting of Watergate was straight, informative news, not packaged as entertainment or crosstalking “wrestling” matches.

There was also a pervasive understanding of law and lawlessness, of honor and dishonor — involving all Americans, regardless of political party or “team.”

[Sancho]

27. This involves many GOPers...they are up to their ass in Russian money and crimes...

BTW, I met Nixon once, and I watched the Watergate hearing from start to finish.

Nixon was a cheat, but tRump is much, much worse as far as being a crook. The biggest difference is the involvement of both the Russians and the repubs! They all were in on the fix.

[dlk]

28. Ironically, this Many Years Down the Road, Some of the Republican Players Are the Same

[Cracklin Charlie]

29. So much worse now.

Trump is like an F5 tornado of destruction unleashed on the nation.

Nixon was a petty, vindictive, paranoid personality, but he was not a traitor.

This is bad.

Mr. Mueller, keep your head down, Sir.

[Volaris]

41. And for God's sakes, stay the hell off small airplanes please.

[Turbineguy]

30. This is worse.

In those days, the republicans didn't put up with that shit. Now they eat it up and ask for seconds.

[Jarqui]

31. I too think it's much worse on several levals

Nixon's crime was a cover up of a little burglary that wouldn't have changed the trajectory of the election (unlike what he pulled on the Vietnam peace talks). It was a relatively small circle of men in the White House involved.

In today's case, they appear to have successfully overturned an election and worked with an enemy to do it. And the people perpetrating this seem to span far outside of a small circle in the White House.

This is far more troubling.

In Nixon's years, Trump would have been impeached long ago. It's currently uncertain if Trump will ever be held to account.

[Hekate]

32. This is much worse.Nixon was a bastard,but he would never have actually sold the USA out to the USSR

Trump makes Nixon look sane, rational, and visionary.

And Nixon, as your father knew, resides in the bowels of Hell now.

[dixiegrrrrl]

84. But he DID sell out So. Vietnam to get re-elected.

He continued that damn war even as he knew it was a lost cause, because he did not want to be seen as a loser with the elections coming up.
"Peace with honor" was his new motto. So the fucker was re-elected, as thousands more Americans and Vietnamese died in a futile war.

I hated that man with a white hot fury, which his death did not diminish. I had family members over there, it was agonizing for so many of us.

[Kajun Gal]

33. Nixon wasn't a traitor. So, this is worse.

[lapfog_1]

35. There were Nixon holdouts too

The big difference is that this time, the Repukes in office are dependent on the base. If they want to remain in office they have to hang with Trump and his base. And there is a state run propaganda channel now to feed the "correct version of the truth" to that base.

In the Nixon era... we had only three channels of national news media... and they were bound to more or less report the facts and were trusted to do so without bias (although conservatives even at that time charged that there was a liberal media). But people trusted the Huntley and Brinkley's of the world back then.

Anyway... republicans, seeing the writing on the wall... went to nixon after the oval office tapes were made public and it was clear that Nixon ordered the cover up... they went to Nixon and told him to resign.

I don't see this happening this time... and this time the crimes of the President are much much worse.

[Different Drummer]

77. "And there is a state run propaganda channel now to feed the 'correct version of the truth'...

to that base."

Excellently stated!

[nancy1942]

36. There is no comparison.

This makes Watergate pale in comparison. Nixon was a creep, but he was not a threat to the world like this monster is. The current situation is an ongoing nightmare.

[dflprincess]

39. Nixon was involved in a cover up of political dirty tricks

but he didn't commit treason and, as little as I thought of him, I don't think he would ever have entertained the thought of doing that.

Remember, when the Supreme Court told him to turn the tapes over, he complied with the order with out any additional "stonewalling". I really doubt Trump would.

[Golden Raisin]

46. Without diminishing the seriousness of Nixon/Watergate

that was comparatively like the White House Easter Egg Roll next to Trump and the complicit Republican Congress. With Trump and today's Republicans we're talking Treason, and unlike domestic Watergate, it's all on an international scale and canvas, with a foreign power/adversary manipulating our electoral process and installing a puppet in the Oval Office.

[WhiteTara]

47. While the violence was there

Co Intel Pro, FBI killing Black Panthers, bombing BofA, a war that was killing an entire generation of young men and ripping the country apart. The debacle of the Democratic Convention the loss of both Kennedys and MLK but still, it was absolutely nothing compared what is happening now.

Reagan started unraveling the threads of our society, Bush the Meaner put in his secret administration and his son Bush the dumber and his henchmen staged a successful coup in 2000 and trump is finishing us off.

[Frustratedlady]

48. I know experts compare the two, but Nixon's fiasco was sandbox play compared to Drump's.

At the time, we were glued to the TV, similar to the Gulf War or OJ Simpson's trial, but you need a roadmap for this one...or a machete to make our way through all the webs. Like many here, I spend hours trying to follow all the various roads it leads down, but with the Russian names, I often get lost.

Both lied, but Trump wins hands down for that tactic.

I don't remember a spy in Watergate, but it looks like we have at least one, if not more with Trump's circus.

Of course, one faction that adds to the mystery and confusion are the Stormy Daniels/MacDougal affairs. (Nixon didn't have those.) Granted, those were personal activities before Trump became POTUS, but if they used or even "borrowed" funds from the GOP, the pieces fit into the overall puzzle and add a bit of drama.

I don't remember the heavy support for Nixon like Trump has from the GOP, Congress and other Repubs...not to mention Putin.

Your father was right about the SOB descriptor. I think there were a variety of them, and all were deserved. In the end, he spent his evenings getting drunk. Trump doesn't drink, but I've heard there might be some white stuff keeping him on target.

[bobbieinok]

49. In 73 I visited thTower of London. The guide pointed out the Watergate 'for our American visitors'!!

[Awsi Dooger]

59. Same!

Albeit summer 1974 for me, not long before the resignation.

Great memory. Word for word was identical. Thanks for bringing it up. I hadn't thought about that in decades.

I can envision exactly where I was in relation to the tour guide when he said it, and I can hear the loud reaction from the crowd. It continued to linger in everyone's memory to the point we repeated it among ourselves throughout the remainder of the tour. I guarantee everyone took it home with them.

[Awsi Dooger]

61. Nixon was paranoid but not an overall lowlife like Trump

It was never, "How many lies will he tell today?" or "Who will he lash out at today?"

Awkward tension with the press, like that famous exchange with Dan Rather.

Nixon actually welcomed some form of wide coverage health care, and hardly made every decision to spite and reverse every Democratic decision before him.

I don't want to make it look like I'm praising Richard Nixon. But virtually every category favors him, in relation to Donald Trump. If we had every behind the scenes Trump audio tape from the campaign until now, Trump would be guilty of so many felonies nobody would know where to begin or what to focus on. One 18 minute gap wouldn't accomplish anything.

[bobbieinok]

72. Oh yes! I had not known there was really an entrance there with such a name!

[benld74]

50. Nixon was PreSkool THIS is a

Real life fight for our country!!!


VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MaryMagdaline]

51. This is worse. People still respected the rule of law

We were on teams ... right up to when a member of our team was proven to be a law breaker. We were loyal until the facts came out. And there were facts, not our own private version of reality.

Trump is worse, but so are Americans. Nothing matters anymore. There are no standards, no objective truth.

[G_j]

83. I remember it that way also.

My mother supported Nixon until she realized he was lying, and that did it.
Imagine that!

[MaryMagdaline]

90. Pretty much the same in my household

I don't think my father ever voted Republican after Watergate

[2naSalit]

52. Waaay Worse...

it triggers my PTSD every day, and I wonder how long before I snap.

[Buzz cook]

53. The media didn't suck as much. Still sucked though.

There was a strong element in the media that either defended Nixon or acted skeptical of the investigation. That was until The Watergate committee was televised and they were unable openly lie.

There weren't a bunch of religious idiots willing to defend the true servant of god.

But the right learned a lesson from Watergate that they have applied to every scandal since. Stonewall and obstruct, attack the messenger and the process. Above all pardon when you can.

Unfortunately the Democratic take away was how cool Sam Ervin was. That led to a lot of stupid showboating and very little progress.

[Hekate]

57. Some newspapers gave excellent journalism. One printed the Pentagon Papers. Never forget...

Never ever ever forget the Washington Post, 2 young reporters, and Deep Throat.

[Buzz cook]

73. The Pentagon Papers were not Watergate

And the Time was skeptical of Woodward and Bernstein's reportage as was most of what we call the main stream media.

Certainly there were reporters doing good work; just as there were a few good reporters during the run up to the invasion of Iraq.

Even then the media acted as gate keepers for what was proper news and as guardians of inside the beltway wisdom.

[Hekate]

85. I know

Didn't mean to garble my history-- I think fighting a fever the past week has something to do with it. Still, somewhere in my garage in a cardboard box are the newspapers put out by some very fed-up journalists in cities far away from my own.

[edbermac]

58. Tricky Dick was a juvenile delinquent compared to Cheeto.

Was in high school during Watergate. And there were some Republicans back then that actually had a spine during the impeachment hearings, not the cowardly tRumpswabs nowadays.

[JI7]

60. People turned on Nixon once they learned the Truth. Trump Supporters don't care about the Truth

the truth was known before and they voted for him and they defend him now.

just look at how they are happy russia attacked the elections in order to help him.

[Meowmee]

63. I lived through that period

As a child old enough to understand it. In spite of the trauma of that time with all of the various events this is on a completely different level and I believe a disaster with a whole party gone crazy over time, traitors conspiring to steal an election and sellout the country and a large portion of the population that is crazy, fascist and still supporting it all apparently.

[Vinca]

64. Watergate was a prank compared to this and Nixon was a choir boy compared to Trump.

Nixon even had a heart. Years after he left office he suddenly appeared at a small hospital in Vermont to visit the dying GOP Senator George Aiken (who famously said about Vietnam "declare victory and get out). And, curiously, it was Nixon who started the EPA and Trump who is destroying it.

[diane in sf]

65. This is much worse. The whole Republican Party wasn't crooked back then.

[HAB911]

69. MUCH WORSE

existential threat to the core of our country. Nixon was a crook, not a traitor

[mcar]

70. No comparison

For one, at least some Republicans had some honor back then.

BTW, I was 12 when Nixon resigned but studied Watergate in college journalism classes.

[marked50]

71. The thing that I remember is that although people were

pretty divided along political lines, especially about things like Vietnam and Chile and civil rights, those divisions were not so much "in your face" while Watergate was going on. They were there but not as confrontational. This is obviously not the case now- everything is "in your face" and confrontational.

An observation of mine is that Watergate and Nixon resignation was a precursor and a rallying cry for the now "fascist" swing of the Republican party. The core, hard right conservatives have never forgiven anyone or anything (including Democracy) involved with Watergate that lead to Nixon's resignation.

This was the beginning of their plan to extract "revenge" in some way, also thought of as taking over our system of government for their own ends. Democracy be damned.

Gingrich was sort of the start of the "in your face" aspect but the behind the scenes stuff was ramping up. Koch brothers, conservative think tanks, plans for converting the judiciary, state legislative take overs, voting rights suppression, right wing media take overs, etc.

Culmination at that time was to go after the Clinton's in the most debased of ways. Ultimately to try and do to Clinton what was done to Nixon. The craziness of revenge and subsequent damage was now front and center. The stealing of the election in 2000 was just another step along the path and so was 2004 with all its voter suppression and subterfuge.

Enter Obama and his wins of 2008 and 2012. That pesky under-pinning thing of Democracy called voting got in the way for them. This only outraged the now more fascist and authoritarian aligned Republican party. Hence the total obstruction of our government and Democracy and final demise of any semblance of bi-partisanship. Preserving confidence in our system was certainly not of any concern to them, only their interest in power and control.

Although the voter suppression concept and subterfuge methods had effects it wasn't enough to prevent Democrats from briefly taking back the reigns of government. To the Republicans and their shadowy backers it just meant they had to get even more ruthless. Enter the Russians and their alignment with Republican goals. Is it surprising that election interference is part of this?

We are here now with this total mess, and it is way worse than Watergate times. Started somewhat simple and revenge and power seeking has created a Hydra head of problems.

It is literally scary what will happen next when it all comes crashing down.

[appalachiablue]

74. All of the above, and they really can't be compared. THIS is far WORSE.

During college I watched the Watergate hearings on TV and saw Jimmy Carter debate Gerald Ford live in 1976.

After moving to DC, I lived in a neighborhood hear Amer. Univ. and one time c. 1979 I walked right past John Sirica, the infamous 'Watergate Judge' standing outside a drugstore at a nearby shopping ctr.

In 1973, DC Judge Sirica had ordered Nixon to turn over the taped conversations in the WH.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sirica

[marlakay]

75. I was a teen but my dad watched the news non stop

The main difference is the moral values of the rest of congress. Sure some republicans stayed with Nixon but a good majority wanted a clean honest president.

I was upset at time when Ford pardoned him as I am sure Pence will try to. There wasn't the state crimes like now.

I think what makes it worse is the news and how split the country is into teams. The news then was just the facts and no commentary. So people on both sides trusted it. No internet so propaganda was spread less. Fox news has brain washed the people that would normally see that what is going on is wrong.

I just came back from my daughters and her boyfriend thinks Trump is doing great! I just about said some things that would cause me to lose relationship with my daughter. Don't even ask why she is with him? I sure don't know, but she isn't a democrat, a independent and has been surrounded at her work for 15 yrs with republicans and I think she is taking on some of their views combined with boyfriend who she didn't know anything political about him for years.

[elfin]

76. Much much worse

And much scarier.

While Nixon was a liar and paranoid and had his "enemies list", he wasn't an incompetent President. Yes, a Republican, but started the EPA, had an inner cities initiative, opened to China etc. A practical guy despite John Mitchell and the like.

His personal demons led to spinning out. His domestic various policies were sane and centrist. Not Viet Nam of course, but much better than the current pResident.

While Nixon destroyed his presidency, he did not totally destroy the country in every cabinet area as this nut job is doing.

[PoliticAverse]

78. It's not to the level of Nixon because the evidence hasn't been presented demonstrating that it is

yet. Nixon was on tape directing a coverup that constituted obstruction of justice - that's what did him in finally.

Note though that you can impeach a President for most anything even just making bad appointments to office, so Trump
could be impeached already.

[SharonAnn]

79. I was a Republican then and initially didn't believe Nixon could've been involved

After all, he had a commanding lead and there was no reason for his people to break into Democratic HQ. Long, slow dribble of info and then the Watergate hearings! Interesting but I thought it was all just political theater. And then, and then more info emerged. By the end of it I decided that I was never going to be so gullible again. Skepticism took hold. Over the years I observed that rumors of misbehavior of politicians usually proved true. I considered myself an Indepent for a while and then realized, WTH, the Democrats are more my people. Still skeptical, I pay a lot of attention to candidates and parties now. No longer blindly partisan, but a strong Democrat partisan nonetheless.
And definitely anti-GOP.

[ucrdem]

88. That's inspiring.

[appalachiablue]

81. 100-1,000 times worse for the many reasons posted here. In the 1970s

there were still decent Republicans who believed in America, the Constitution, democracy and the rule of law.

Back then, many in the GOP still remembered and had lived through the hardships and horrible times of the Great Depression in the 1930s and the WWII Allied fight against Nazi fascism and Japanese Imperialism in the 1940s. Most of those Republicans are now gone. By the late 1970s extreme conservatism began to spread and took hold in the 1980s.

As some posters have stated, the era of Watergate, Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement had a very different political and social atmosphere especially concerning the US media compared to what we're going through lately.

In the 1970s there was also no extreme right wing media proliferating everywhere- HATE RADIO & FOX News. Roger Ailes, later FOX Manager had approached Pres. Nixon in the early 1970s about creating a new "GOP TV Channel." But Nixon undervalued the power of television and said the Repub. Party didn't have money to start something like that.

In the 1980s, during the Reagan administration, the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE was repealed and led to the rise of Limbaugh and HATE RADIO. The US Fairness ruling for broadcast media was enacted in 1949 post WWII war to ensure fair, balanced broadcast news over the public airwaves (radio and non cable TV), particularly after the powerful influence of Nazi radio propaganda in the 1930s and 1940s.

In 1996, the Telecommunications Act loosened rules on media ownership and began the break up of print, radio and TV news organizations that were then absorbed and consolidated into 5-6 giant media corporations that we have today. "Infotainment' news started after 1996 and has dominated much mainstream media in the last 25 years. *FOX News was created in Oct., 1996.

[ucrdem]

87. Nixon was worse, far far worse. Don't forget that he only won after 2 Kennedy assassinations.

No I'm not claiming any connection, but nevertheless. Also Nixon bombed the daylights out of Cambodia for no particular reason and kept the war in Vietnam going for his entire first term. It was only when he finally let up on the war pedal that the FBI took him out (Mark Felt was an FBI agent). Trump hasn't done any of that crap, not that he won't. Also Nixon was a lawyer and knew damn well what he was doing when he hired those plumbers; Trump is an idiot and can always claim ignorance, and make himself believed, whether it's true or not. But there's no denying that Nixon accomplished more evil in his many years in the white house, over 3 decades, than trump will ever begin to contemplate.


p.s. JMHO, YMMV!

[lanlady]

91. Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming

On the one hand, US society was in a post-traumatic state back then. Vietnam, Kent State, the Kennedy and King assassinations, the rise of OPEC, the economy was bad... there was so much tension all around. And then Watergate comes along. It was CRAZY.

These days, what’s so sad is the sense that we did this to ourselves. Obama left us a sound economy, a treaty with Iran, a decent if flawed health care law, no big flash points. But were people happy? Nooooo, they let low-life tabloid trash Donald Trump come along and run roughshod over all norms of decency.

Trump’s crimes are far more serious than what Nixon did, and the misery of his presidency is all self-inflicted. No question that what we’re going through now is worse than the Nixon era by an order of magnitude.