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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow to Kill a Presidential Scandal (Depressing look back at Iran Contra)
A mysterious intrusion at the Democratic National Committee, an obstructive and besieged president, fears of an incipient constitutional crisis. Its been easy to draw parallels between Watergate and the Trump-Russia scandal.
This isnt entirely surprising. For decades, Watergate has been the touchstone whenever a scandal wafts through Washington. Theres been Chinagate and Plamegate, Bridgegate and Emailgate, and many others besides. But these comparisons have become particularly fervid lately. Historians of the Richard Nixon era and former Watergate prosecutors and protagonists are again cable news mainstays. Discussions about potential impeachment proceedings, should the Democrats retake the House in November, inevitably glance backward to the dark final days of the Nixon administration.
But the lessons of Watergate, through real, are overstated. And its persistence in our collective imagination reveals a particularly American tendency: our bedrock optimism, andeven in this era of cynicismtrust in the equalizing force of our political institutions. In Watergate, the American system worked, as Carl Bernstein said. Americans stared down an unprecedented modern threat to their democracy and won.
But this is an overly optimistic scenario. In truth, the other great political scandal of the last half-centurythe complex set of crimes known as Iran-Contraparallels President Donald Trumps alleged coordination with Russia to skew the 2016 presidential election much more closely and offers us greater insight into how the scandal will likely unfold in the future. And if Iran-Contras lessons have been oddly forgotten, we might want to consider why. Because there, the perpetrators succeeded.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/10/how-to-kill-a-presidential-scandal-trump-russia-watergate-iran-contra/
NRaleighLiberal
(60,022 posts)NewJeffCT
(56,829 posts)and, Iran Contra was probably a lot worse overall than Watergate, too.
NewJeffCT
(56,829 posts)think it's important
Docreed2003
(16,876 posts)Excellent article....thanks for sharing...even if it is a sobering message!
dalton99a
(81,598 posts)Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,505 posts)Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)Had he just left enough alone, some heads would have rolled but it probably wouldn't have reached the top. But he didn't. His reaction did him in.
That didn't happen with Iran Contra. Everyone played dumb.
The thing is, Trump is acting way more like Nixon than Reagan and that may prove his downfall.
NewJeffCT
(56,829 posts)he makes Nixon look like a very stable genius.
But, Iran Contra wasn't as big a deal in the public eye because the Republicans also played the media a lot better than Democrats. Despite engaging in behavior that was arguably treasonous, Oliver North was viewed favorably by many Americans at the time because he was a decent looking, clean cut guy and he said he was doing it all for his country. Team Trump is trying that now - playing the media game.