Trump Has Been Comparing Himself to Nixon. That's Hooey. John Dean

[elleng]

'The former president could only dream of wielding the police powers Mr. Trump has seized for himself.

President Trump has been comparing himself to Richard Nixon, tweeting “LAW & ORDER,” and claiming he learned a lot from Nixon. Others have been comparing Mr. Trump’s handling of civil disorder to Nixon’s. No one will ever tag me a Nixon apologist, but in Nixon’s defense these claims are hooey.

I worked for our last authoritarian president, Richard Nixon — a man who experienced violent protests and demonstrations throughout his political career. In 1968, he ran as the “law and order” candidate, for it was a time of tumult: assassinations of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy. Riots ripped Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Memphis, Washington and other major cities. Civil rights and antiwar protests closed down campuses large and small. There were nightly news reports of endless death from the killing fields of Vietnam, including the Tet offensive and the My Lai massacre.

Nixon was running on credentials established long before the 1968 presidential contest. As vice president, Nixon and his wife traveled though South America, where they frequently were confronted by protesters. Nixon used those protest situations to brandish his I-am-fearless image by walking among the protesters to make clear that he was not intimidated, nor would they influence American policy.

On becoming president in 1969, Nixon inherited a global anti-Vietnam War protest movement that had contributed to the decision of his predecessor, Lyndon Johnson, not to seek re-election. . .

Never once did I hear anyone in the Nixon White House or Justice Department suggest using United States military forces, or any federal officers outside the military, to quell civil unrest or disorder. Nor have I found any evidence of such activity after the fact, when digging through the historical record. . .

Mr. Trump, assisted by Attorney General Bill Barr, has assembled a mongrel federal law enforcement operation from the F.B.I., the Department of Homeland Security, the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals, and other federal agencies to proceed to cities throughout the country: Portland, Ore.; Chicago; Memphis; Oakland, Calif.

Neither governors nor mayors have requested these attack weapon-wielding federal soldiers, a few hundred men with minimal identification dressed up in battlefield camouflage. This unprecedented action is way beyond Nixon’s authoritarianism. And it raises serious questions.

Most conspicuously, for Donald Trump it creates optics he believes he can exploit in his re-election campaign. Indeed, Nixon successfully used images of disorder in 1968, and falsely charged demonstrators in 1972 as working for his opponent when he was running for re-election. But Mr. Trump is provoking disorder by using federal forces, which is quite different.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/opinion/trump-nixon-authoritarianism.html

[Moostache]

1. I put this in another thread earlier...

Vietnam War = 58,220 dead in 120 months or approximately 485 dead per month
COVID-19 = 155,000 dead in 6 months or approximately 25,833 dead per month.

Those are AMERICAN citizens. Condemned to death by an incompetent leader and a political party that enables his lunacy and criminality at every fucking turn.

25,833 DEAD PER MONTH....those are at the feet of Trump
Nixon? He is a complete piker by comparison, a rank amateur.

Trump is killing 26,000 American a month.
He is no Nixon...He is fucking Pol Pot soon.

[DonaldsRump]

2. I had the privilege of meeting John Dean a few years ago

It was after a speech that I was attending, and thanks to a push by my family, I went down to the stage to shake his hands. I told him that he was a genuine American hero. He was so shy about that and actually blushed (!), but I honestly do believe that.

John Dean became counsel to President Nixon at a very young age (very early 30s). He did some very bad acts that amounted to significant crimes, but he came clean and FULLY cooperated with Watergate Special Prosecutor's Office and the Congress regarding Nixon. He testified courageously in public, and went to prison, losing his law licence. However, he remade himself into an investment banker and then an extremely noteworthy author and commentator on governmental abuse.

I've read several of his books, and they are extremely well written, with a real clarity of thought and the experience of someone who was right in the middle of serious governmental abuse.

I would absolutely take what John Dean says as correct.

[elleng]

3. Lucky you met him.

He was a genuine American hero.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Trump couldn't wipe Nixon's ass. Bad as Nixon was, the half that was good was quite good...

from the Wiki on Nixon:

Nixon ended American involvement in the war in Vietnam in 1973, ending the military draft that same year. Nixon's visit to China in 1972 eventually led to diplomatic relations between the two nations, and he initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union the same year. His administration generally transferred power from federal control to state control. He imposed wage and price controls for 90 days, enforced desegregation of Southern schools, established the Environmental Protection Agency, and began the War on Cancer. He also presided over the Apollo 11 moon landing, which signaled the end of the moon race. He was re-elected in one of the largest electoral landslides in American history in 1972 when he defeated George McGovern.

[yellowcanine]

6. I am not giving Nixon that much credit on Vietnam. He sabotaged peace negotiations in 1968 to

help win election. He illegally expanded the war into Laos and Cambodia. And he lied about the status of peace negotiations in the fall of 1972 (Kissinger: "We believe peace is at hand." October 26, 1972) to help with his reelection, which it surely did. In fact there were significant obstacles to peace and Nixon ordered the massive Christmas bombing of Hanoi. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20719382

The biggest ever bombing campaign by US B-52 aircraft took place over Christmas 40 years ago, when the US dropped at least 20,000 tonnes of explosives on North Vietnam, mostly Hanoi. More than 1,000 Vietnamese died, but some claim the assault may have helped bring about the deal signed a month later that led to an end to US involvement in the war.

Some peace that was. And the irony of it all was that the agreement signed in 1973 was arguably no better for the U.S. or South Vietnam than what Johnson might have been able to get in 1968 if Nixon had not secretly sabotaged the talks. We will never know of course but Nixon gets no props in my book for Vietnam, given that more than 21,000 Americans died on Nixon's watch (not to mention Vietnamese deaths on both sides). That is more than a third of the total American deaths in Vietnam from 1960-1975. (58,000+)

Johnson invented the credibility gap. Nixon took it to a whole new level of outright lying to the American people. Not as bad as Trump, no, I will give you that. He wasn't a psychopath. Trump clearly is.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. That's a problem with C&P when you don't edit. I agree that he get nothing for 'Nam. FWIW, my unit.

in Germany at the time voted unanimously for McGovern.

It should be noted, though that beating up North VN was partly to impress China and the Soviets that we weren't kidding. And it worked, although there were no doubt other ways.

And then there was Nixon and South/Central Americas. And Cuba...

[yellowcanine]

8. I guess I am a little bitter because a good childhood friend shipped out to Nam in early 1970.

Yes he came back but it messed him up. He could not talk about it and I did not pry. Much later he committed suicide. Not sure if Vietnam had anything to do with that but the pattern fits with many other vets of that stinking war.

[TreasonousBastard]

9. We're all bitter. My unit was one where Nam vets were recycled before discharge...

You get drafted, spend 6 months in basic and AIT, then get sent to Nam for a year. That leaves you 6 months before you're out, so they stuff you somewhere. Why they sent so many to Germany I have no idea, but they were there, and many of them were severely disturbed. As with most soldiers, none would talk much about anything but the good dope and the whorehouses, but you could see things in their eyes.

And we didn't get the worst ones.

Now, 4, 5, more, tours in Afghanistan, who knows what's happening in theirs heads...

[yellowcanine]

5. Nixon was a criminal and a scoundrel but he wasn't a psychopath.

Trump is a psychopath.