Richard Nixon, Occam's Razor, and More

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Occam's Razor- Principle of parsimony. The explanation that requires the least amount of assumptions is usually the correct one. In that vein it never made sense to me that rational voters would blame Joe Biden for the chaos that's occurring in Trump's America and that he would worsen it if elected.

The biggest problem with Trump running on restoring order is that his performance in office has caused many voters to view him as the candidate of disorder. In a Yahoo/YouGov national survey conducted immediately after the Republican National Convention last week, only 30 percent of registered voters said they believe that Trump “will protect us from the chaos”; fully 50 percent described him as the “source of the chaos.”

...

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/why-trumps-law-and-order-message-could-backfire/615946/

Pundits, i.e. gasbags use 1968 and the election of Richard Nixon as an analogue. It's a poor analogue. Richard Nixon was running against the chaos that was occurring in Lyndon Johnson's America, not his own.

And in 1968 Nixon wasn't the skullcracker. He offered himself as the measured hand who would deliver justice and order. George Wallace was the skullcracker.

[CTyankee]

1. Yes, in these cases it is helpful to have history at hand, or at memory.

I am old enough to remember that event. Wallace was indeed a threat. It seemed to me to be remote, though, altho I was living in New York at the time. Wallace really frightened me.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. In my analogy Trump would be George Wallace. Nixon would be Biden

Whatever Nixon said in private publicly he offered himself as someone who wanted to bring the country together, not tear it apart.

[H2O Man]

3. Recommended.

Ah, 1968. LBJ was primaried, and then withdrew. MLK was killed. RFK was jilled. HHH won the nomination, without competing in the primaries. There were days of police rioting outside the Democratic convention.

While 2020 has been the most unstable year since 1968, the comparison ends there.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. In Nixon's defense he never once publicly poured gasoline on the fire.

He didn't encourage his people to attack their people. The moral stance happened to be the politically correct one.

[H2O Man]

5. Nixon was a

horrible human being, but a good politician. And I agree with you 100% .....in his own way, Nixon actually had respect for the Constitution, something that Trump utterly lacks.

Your OP had me thinking back to the infamous "hard hat riot" that took place in the spring of 1970. I think that was when it took place, shortly after Kent State .....which took place after the news about invading Cambodia, an action where Nixon didn't respect the Constitution. There was a serious divide in the public's reactions to these three things, that Nixon could have made much worse.

In fact, during this time, Nixon did something that Trump could never do. Although there is good reason to believe he was intoxicated, Nixon left the White House late at night, to talk to the young protesters at the Lincoln Memorial. As flawed as Nixon was, there was a hint of humanity in him, that is utterly lacking in Trump.

(I think I have the general time-line about right. Long night after discovering a nest of ground hornets, a few seconds after they discovered me. Just having my morning cup of coffee now.)

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. That was the conversation where Nixon discussed I believe Ohio State football...

That was the conversation where Nixon discussed I believe Ohio State football with the hippy protesters. That was probably the last thing on their minds but he tried. I don't believe Nixon was fundamentally evil like Trump. While Nixon had his demons and said and did some awful things and was resentful of the so called liberal elite he didn't purposely try to sow discord in the country. Nixon like most politicians tried to play the politics of addition, not division.