To anyone who witnessed the long slide into Watergate,

[pnwmom]

it's starting to feel more and more like Showergate.

Only time will tell, but there is the same feeling in the air, of things slowly falling apart.

(And no, I don't think the sex stuff matters. But there is so much more -- just as there was so much more to Watergate than a burglary.)

[unblock]

1. We had people - republicans, even - who cared about the nation.

Now it's all in the hands of russopblicans who care only about themselves.

There's not a statesman among them.

Nixon is spinning in his grave, crying "look at what they get away with these days and I got pushed out for what...?!!!"

[pnwmom]

4. There are some whose self interest might turn them against DT.

Marco Rubio certainly hates him, and also Putin.

[unblock]

9. They're addicted to power

Donnie has pissed many powerful interests off during his tantrum to the top, but they can't help themselves as long as keeping him in the Oval Office keeps them in power.

They won't push him out unless and until he becomes a threat to their own power. Most likely, that just means not letting him run again in 2020.

Thing is, with control of both houses, they don't really need their potus to be popular. They just need him to sign whatever congress passes.

Maybe, maybe, he'll be so unpopular that they might lose congress in the midterms. That prospect is probably the only thing that might get them to kick him out.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. I think there are a lot of Republicans who would just as soon have Pence to work with.

Pence is a known quantity- straight up far right godbagger. They understand that.

[get the red out]

28. McCain, Graham

They hate him also. And Repubs blow with the wind, they got on the Trump ship when the wind was with him, they might jump off if it sails into a hurricane.

[Dorian Gray]

22. I think now

there are Republicans who hate Donald Trump almost as much as some Democrats do. Not necessarily who love our nation, but if the shit hits the fan, they'll jump on the chance to get rid of him.

[Chasstev365]

2. The key to the whole is Republican Reaction

On the one hand McCain and Graham are angry about it, but I think McConnell and Comey were in on it, so who knows?

If the GOP turns on Trump, the media will follow suit. We all need to start calling GOP Reps and Senators and demand an impartial investigation!

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

26. Can only hope that the Fuhrer- Elect has made so many enemies that he essentially impeaches himself.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. Watergate wasn't the burglary, although that started it.

Watergate was the cover-up.

I was an adult then myself, so I remember it fairly well. For anyone too young, the book and the movie are a very good representation of what happened.

About the only thing really missing is that the Washington Post was the ONLY newspaper covering it for a very long time. Every other respectable paper thought there was no story there. I lived in the DC area, so I was following the story.

People out in the hinterlands, including places like NYC, probably weren't aware of too much until the Watergate hearings started in May of 1973. Although that was more than a year before Nixon's resignation, and so you're right about the long slide of that year.

[Jim Beard]

7. Today Trump would not reveal sources. Though it was eere when they were saying that

with the cameras on Bernstein.

[pbmus]

5. The big cons slide has started and will end sooner than anyone is

Currently predicting

[Hassin Bin Sober]

20. I'm beginning to think that.

[MrPurple]

6. The Dems had majorities in Congress to keep the Watergate investigation going

I know that Nixon went down when Republicans in Congress turned on him too, but there were still Rockefeller Republicans then AND they were the minority. I'm skeptical that today's tea party Republicans would have the ethics to push Trump out. They're going to kow tow to his fanatic base. The DNC hack basically was Watergate and the R's didn't care.

The Republicans would never appoint a tough Archibald Cox prosecutor now and if Trump wanted him fired, his Attorney General wouldn't resign and refuse to do it. We're talking about a Republican Congress whose first act was to try to disband the House Ethics Committee.

[Jim Beard]

8. I still think the republicans will start impeachment.

[KittyWampus]

10. This has NOTHING To do with "showers". And the sooner DU'ers get over that stupidity the better.

[hedda_foil]

17. True. and Bill Clinton's impeachment had nothing to do with blow jobs.

Really, Monica was just the best excuse they could latch onto when whitewater and it's predecessors failed.

[pnwmom]

19. Yes, in the same sense that Watergate had nothing to do with water,

and little to do with a burglary.

[blue cat]

30. Golden showers

Is my new favorite thing to joke about. I'll try to work it in all conversations. What fun!!!

[brooklynite]

11. Reminder: when Nixon resigned, the Republicans were still in charge.

In many ways, Pence could be worse.

[hunter]

15. That's why we ought to be digging through Pence' and Ryan's closets.

An amicable and ineffectual Gerald Ford Republican would be much preferable to any of the evil clowns.

[MrPurple]

16. Pence wouldn't have Trump's cult of personality disorder

He wouldn't be in Moscow's pocket in the same way and likely wouldn't be as effective with the populist bullshit of creating fake jobs.

If Hitler was removed, probably Rudolf Hess doesn't generate the same enthusiasm.

[pnwmom]

29. That's what I think, too. He's not Svengali, and he doesn't

have a national following. His Indiana views aren't' going to be appreciated by most of the rest of the country.

[moonscape]

33. He would be predictably awful - but at least we would know

what we were getting. Dump is way too erratic, and not being able to believe a single word and have him pivot within the same conversation is mentally damaging. My brain is already scrambling from the surreality of it all.

Most importantly, Pence wouldn't start WWIII with a tweet.

[kentuck]

12. I remember it well...

There were some of us that knew there was enough to impeach Nixon but he won the election in '72 by a landslide anyway, over us McGovernites. But we knew he was guilty as all hell. It was a happy day when he waved, from the helicopter step-up, on his exit out of our lives.

[Tactical Peek]

13. I look forward to the end of these non-denial denials

and the beginning of the modified limited hangouts.

[tblue37]

32. I am dreading the inevitable appearance of the passive voice in all official statements:

"Mistakes were made"--and of course everything will have occurred "at that point in time," while earlier statements will become "inoperative."

[Hekate]

18. I recognize the drip drip drip (or in this case the splash) but in those days the GOP....

....was not yet completely rotten at its core.

Right now I feel like the entire country has gone off a cliff and we are just waiting to go splat.

[WiffenPoof]

21. This is what I find interesting...

I was somewhat surprised that those who Trump called names like Little Rubio as well as Graham and McCain may find their revenge over the next few months. They were quiet after the election but may find a way to get back at Trump as his antics wear thin.

[Gothmog]

23. There are parallels

[MrPurple]

34. Nixon was Abraham Lincoln compared to Trump

Trump is a twisted egomaniac and if there was any move toward impeachment, he would use every means of intimidation that was at his disposal with the immense powers of the office. Russian intelligence would be stirring the pot and going after his enemies.

I mean, he can't even tolerate a reporter asking a question he doesn't like. It would be holy hell dragging him out of office.

[DeminPennswoods]

24. Trump and Nixon believe(d) they are above the law

The two have similarities and, more importantly, they share advisors like Roy Cohn, Roger Ailes and Roger Stone who cut their teeth with Nixon. They are also surrounded by media experts and syncophants, not policy wonks, as staff. Until I read Richard Reeves' book "Alone in the White House", I hadn't known Haldemen and Erlichman were pulled from the J Walter Thompson Ad Agency. They were masters of creating the world Nixon wanted to live in. It's the same with Trump's entourage.

Trump's tax returns would show the loans he has outstanding with Russia/Russian-connected entities which is what I think the compromising material is.

But I think what will bring him down is the emoluments clause. He just thinks no law applies to him now. Nixon thinking he was above the law is what eventually brought him down and, imho, that will be Trump's undoing as well. It's clear his plan for his business doesn't meet the constitutional standard and someone will initiate a court case. There will be pressure for an independent counsel, then things will start hitting the fan. It will be gripping TV just like it was during Watergate which happened when I was in college.

However, having said that, expect there still to be 30ish percent of Americans who will never be convinced Trump did, or can do, anything wrong.

For fun, a link to the "The Waterbury Tales": http://www.amiright.com/parody/misc/geoffreychaucer0.shtml

[Vinca]

25. I agree. It does have the same feel.

It looks as if the Manbaby will probably be sued on day one for being in violation of the Constitution with his business holdings. And if a video emerges of the other "problem" . . . dream come true.

[JNelson6563]

27. I agree.

[GreenEyedLefty]

31. I think the scandal that will unfold will be unlike anything we have seen before.

There is no way in hell a criminal buffoon like Trump could have gotten as far as he has without a LOT of money changing hands.

[Maru Kitteh]

35. K&R