Principled Republicans were key to Nixon’s resignation. Today’s GOP enables Trump’s shameless corruption | Editorial
Many Republicans know their party's leader is dangerous, but they continue to look away at great risk to democracy.
Fifty years ago, Richard Nixon became the first and only American president to resign. A half-century later, that tumultuous event seems almost quaint compared to Donald Trump’s unending corruption and criminality.
Nixon was toppled by what his spokesperson initially described as a “third-rate burglary.” In the end, Nixon’s lies, obstruction, and cover-up did him in.
That came about because many Republican lawmakers, law enforcement appointees, and judges put the country before party politics. In a disgraceful turnabout, the opposite has happened throughout the Trump era.
A different media landscape played an important role back then. Three major TV networks and mainstream newspapers were trusted and ensured the public was provided a similar set of facts. There was no Fox News or social media landfill shaping public opinion with disinformation and conspiracy theories.
Today’s right-wing echo chamber enables Trump to continue to get away with his crimes and corruption, while insulating Republican officials who enable him. Many within the GOP know their leader is dangerous, but they continue to look away at great risk to democracy.
Republicans can continue to avoid the truth, but the facts and history don’t lie.
Trump is the first president to be impeached twice, including for inciting a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol where his supporters hunted for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and wanted to hang then-Vice President Mike Pence. After both impeachments, most Republicans in the Senate refused to convict Trump, despite overwhelming evidence that detailed his roles.
Trump has been criminally indicted four times, including for widespread efforts to overturn an election and for stealing classified documents. Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed federal judge overseeing the classified documents case, ignored legal and historical precedent and dismissed the matter.
The Supreme Court, which includes three Trump appointees, went one extreme step further by granting Trump and future presidents immunity from many crimes. The court’s bending to Trump’s crooked will stand in stark contrast to how a Supreme Court with four Nixon appointees held him accountable.
Trump has been criminally convicted for a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election by paying hush money to an adult film actress who said the two had sex. Rather than condemn Trump’s conviction, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other leading Republicans attended the trial in support while Fox News worked to discredit the case.
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More than two dozen women have accused Trump of sexual assault as he bragged about grabbing women by their genitals. A jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing a woman, which a federal judge said met the common definition of rape.
Trump’s treatment of women should be more than enough to disqualify him from holding office. Instead, Trump supporters threatened the life of the woman he assaulted, E. Jean Carroll, who now says she sleeps with a loaded gun.
A judge found that for more than a decade, Trump orchestrated a massive business fraud and ordered him to pay a $355 million penalty. That’s on top of Trump’s six bankruptcies, tax-dodging schemes, and more than a dozen other failed businesses. Yet the majority of Republicans think Trump was a successful businessman.
Trump also profited off of the presidency. His businesses received millions from 20 foreign governments during his time in office. Trump’s son-in-law received a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia for his fledgling private equity fund, with no experience in that line of work. Republicans responded with unfounded claims about the “Biden crime family.”
Then there was the recent blockbuster story by The Washington Post. The same paper that led the Watergate coverage reported that while Trump was in office, federal investigators uncovered evidence that he received $10 million from the Egyptian government days before the 2016 election.
If true, Trump was apparently on the take before he set foot in the White House and should never be allowed back. The story has received little attention, especially in Republican circles.
Federal law prohibits U.S. candidates from taking foreign funds. In fact, Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) was recently convicted of accepting bribes and acting as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government. He plans to resign.
But Bill Barr, Trump’s attorney general, reportedly led the effort to shut down the investigation. Barr also dishonorably led the cover-up of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 election. Mueller’s report did not find any collusion between Trump and Russia, but it detailed 10 instances where he attempted to obstruct the investigation.
Barr released a summary of the report that claimed no wrongdoing by Trump. But a federal judge later found Barr made “misleading public statements” to spin findings in his boss’ favor. A federal appeals court found Barr wrongly withheld information regarding the findings of the Russia probe.
Trump’s corruption and criminality make him unfit for office. But Republicans have nominated him for president for a third time. The shameful support of a convicted felon by the GOP, Fox News, and MAGA followers differs from the Watergate scandal.
Back then, many Republicans put their constitutional oath above subservience to a corrupt leader. Starting with Attorney General Elliot Richardson, a Nixon appointee, who named Archibald Cox, a Democrat, as special prosecutor to investigate the Watergate break-in.
After Nixon fired Cox, Richardson quit in protest. Leon Jaworski, who twice voted for Nixon, was named special prosecutor and soon pushed for a subpoena seeking the release of conversations Nixon recorded in the Oval Office.
Nixon tried to quash the subpoena, but federal Judge John Sirica, an appointee of Republican Dwight Eisenhower, ordered Nixon to release the tapes in a search for the truth.
Nixon appealed to the Supreme Court, claiming presidential immunity. But the court, which included four Nixon appointees, voted 8-0 to order the president to turn over the tapes. They showed Nixon approved the cover-up plans six days after the break in.
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Justice William Rehnquist recused himself because he served in the Justice Department under Nixon. That’s unlike Clarence Thomas, who has participated in all Trump cases before the court despite his wife’s role in supporting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection — which legal ethicists say is wrong.
Eventually Republican House and Senate leaders, including Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, traveled to the White House to let Nixon know GOP support had evaporated. During Trump’s impeachments, no Republicans dared pay a similar visit.
Facing likely impeachment and a criminal grand jury preparing charges of bribery, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice, Nixon announced his resignation on Aug. 8, 1974.
Nixon said he “must put the interests of America first.” Gerald Ford became president and pardoned Nixon, a move that cost him any chance of election in 1976.
In the end, many Republicans understood then that no one in America is above the law, including presidents. The GOP of yesterday stood up to Nixon; the GOP of today continues to bow down to Trump.
Voters will soon have a chance to get on the right side of history.