For those not around for Watergate, Trump crimes are mirroring exactly what it was like back then.

[dixiegrrrrl]

At first a few news stories, indicating something that made most aware people go "hmmmm"..the DNC break-in , kinda of strange, wonder why, what was THAT all about, back page of the newspaper, passing comment on the tv news.

followed a few days later by "gee, one of the burglars was ex-CIA, etc"
double Hmmmm.

Then we heard "WH denying" stories, which gradually got bigger and bigger and connected more dots.

and suddenly, dots came together and led to the WH, which led to WH denials, and then reports of trying to cover-up the burglary connections, then snowballed so that the story was staying on the front page.

and THEN....special prosecutor, followed by Nixon firing him, and BOOM! where we are now with Trump.
totally predictable behavior.

The difference was reporting was a bit slower, compared to Internet. So actions, followed by reactions, took a bit longer.
We had basically 3 tv news broadcasts, normally at 6 pm....ABC, NBC, CBS ( Cronkite, most people watched him) and newspapers usually came in am and in pm. That was it.
It did reach the "we interrupt this broadcast to bring you this important update"..that would happen during the day but networks were loath to break into evening programing..........JFK's murder was extremely rare coverage at the time.

When you think that Mueller was appointed only 9 months ago......just 4 months after the inauguration....we are moving at light speed.
It took years to get Nixon, and that included his re-election.

[TomSlick]

1. I was around during Watergate.

This feels the same, only much faster. Then again Nixon was a crook. The Orange Abomination is at least a sociopath.

[dflprincess]

5. I was around then too

faster, yes. But I think when it all comes out, it will be much, much worse.

[TomSlick]

14. Oh, yeah.

Watergate was small beer compared to what is coming. Nixon was a piker compared to the Orange Disaster.

[DeminPennswoods]

2. None of what Trump's doing is new

Nixon did the same things Trump is doing now like politicizing DoJ and the FBI, tried to get the IRS to audit his "enemies", laundered campaign money, fired the special prosecutor, tried to destroy evidence (18 min gap in one of the WH tapes), saw a "witch hunt" everywhere he looked, even appealed to the "silent majority", the equivalent of today's Trump base.

[Gabi Hayes]

3. Which hunt?

E Howard,

Or Mike?

[fierywoman]

4. Don't forget the role of the secret White House tapes, discovered when the process

had gone along quite far.

[YessirAtsaFact]

6. The coverup is the same, but Trumps underlying crimes are worse

Conspiring with a hostile power to win an election is much worse than breaking into the Watergate hotel.

Trump has a right wing media echo chamber that Nixon didn’t have, but Nixon had brains that the orange Mussolini doesn’t have.

And this investigation is moving much quicker because Trumps gang is clueless and criminal. Nixon’s gang was just criminal.

[pnwmom]

7. Right -- much worse and much more extensive. n/t

[Voltaire2]

8. Democrats controlled congress.

There was also general consensus within both parties about what constituted normal political behavior and what didn’t.

When Dean spilled the beans, when “deep throat” provided the key background information to the wapo, it was the “establishment” declaring that Nixon had fouled out.

There is no consensus on political normalcy anymore. The president’s party controls congress. This might look like watergate but it isn’t likely to play out like watergate.

[kentuck]

9. In a way, we are fortunate that we have that history to look back on....

Otherwise, this crisis could be a lot worse.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. Good point....

Esp. having the legal precedents that were made.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. This is way way worse

due to the foreign intervention and other ancillary things going on (money laundering), in addition to just throwing an election - and not just focusing on the top of the ticket, but for the Senate and some state races. I expect this went a bit faster because of that other stuff, which was itself, pretty egregious. But then trying to map it and see what connections there were/are to the election, has been more difficult and pretty convoluted.

I.e., it seems one group wanted to use the "break-in" to win for domestic policy purposes and the other group wanted to win in order to gain overseas financial relief for themselves by means of changing U.S. policy in a pay-to-play scheme (with the expectation that it was a long shot but one that could bring rewards - or at least stave off financial ruin).

[GeorgeGist]

12. Who's deep throat?

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. Whoever he is, he is probably on twitter

There are more than a few people there who are sharing info, with documents and links, about the whole mess.

[Orange Free State]

15. Stormy Daniels. Possibly Hope Hicks n/t