Archibald Cox letter: "What should Americans learn from Watergate?"

[Nevilledog]

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Spiro Agnew’s Ghost
@SpiroAgnewGhost
This 1994 letter from Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox answering “What should Americans learn from Watergate?” is chilling. His two paragraph answer could absolutely have Trump & co subsituted in & fit perfectly. Is why I love delving into history.

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[Poiuyt]

1. Very prescient

I don't think Cox foresaw that a president could become a cult leader, demanding and receiving complete fealty. Nixon had several prominent Republicans come to him telling him to quit. Trump has had no such opposition.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. As an adult in that time,

and I lived in the DC area although I didn't work for the federal government, I always thought that the essential lesson of Watergate was that no one, not even the President, is above the law.

I also remember quite clearly, even though again I did not work for the federal government, to what extent the workings of the government came to a screeching halt in the last week or so before Nixon's resignation.

Here's the huge difference between then and now. The workings of the government have not been compromised. The work of the government and its agencies are carrying on as normal. Well, except for what Trump's replacement of officials might matter.

But yeah, things carry on.