Watergate Scandal

US V Nixon; Clinton V Jones; And Now US V Trump?

Ronald 6 Comments

In 1974, the Supreme Court, by 8-0 vote, told Richard Nixon that he had to hand over the Watergate tapes to the Special Prosecutor, which led to Nixon’s resignation a few weeks later.

In 1997. the Supreme Court, by 9-0 vote, told Bill Clinton that he could not avoid trial on sexual harassment charges brought by Paula Jones, simply because of his Presidential duties, which led to the impeachment and trial in 1998-1999.

The point of these two cases, US V Nixon, and Clinton V Jones, is that the President is not in total charge, and can be held to account by the Court system of America.

Donald Trump is about to get the same reality check, as the case involving the ban of all immigration from seven Muslim nations goes to the 9th Circuit Court, after a District Court Judge showed courage in stopping the enforcement of the President’s executive order. This is seen by most legal experts as unconstitutional, as a violation of the First and 14th Amendments, and being used against nations that have sent no terrorists to America, while other nations that have, are not included in the ban.

Donald Trump seems to think he is above the law, and his authoritarian, autocratic and tyrannical behavior must be nipped in the bud right now!

More Racial Incidents Involving Police, And More “Lone Wolf” Terrorist Incidents Building Support For Donald Trump, A Clear And Present Danger!

Ronald 5 Comments

The more that one thinks about the trend that is developing—-more racial incidents involving police shooting and killing African American men at traffic stops and in other situations—and the growing number of “lone wolf” terrorist incidents, involving young men of Muslim faith—-the more, sadly, a growing sense of fair and paranoia is turning white Americans against both African Americans, and Muslim Americans. This is fueling the rise of Donald Trump in the polls, as people somehow see Trump as the “solution” to their trepidation that the streets are not safe.

And this even includes Hispanic and Latino Americans and the issue of illegal or undocumented immigration also making many feel we need a “strong man” who can, magically, resolve all issues in a short time, which is, of course, totally preposterous and ridiculous!

Yes, we have troubles in this nation, but there is no magic wand, no magic potion, that will solve these issues.

It is terrifying to witness how many people seem to think that a character like Donald Trump, who is a reality star, can be looked upon as able to be their savior for their fears, when, if he were elected, we would be giving a mentally unstable and dangerous man the power which could undermine American democracy and constitutional order.

America is in a crisis that can now be seen as the greatest since the Watergate Scandal under Richard Nixon, when we brought a lawless President to resign. We are about to consider electing a man who will embolden White Supremacist groups, including Neo Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan!

And yet, now, we are ready to give a man much more dangerous than Richard Nixon, and far less qualified than he was, the power of the Presidency.

This is a time for prayer and common sense before we go into the abyss that will cause all kinds of grief and damage long term, if we, as a nation, do not come to our senses over the next seven weeks!

August 9–One Constitutional Crisis (Richard Nixon) Solved, But Three Months To Potential New Constitutional Crisis (Donald Trump)!

Ronald 5 Comments

On this day, August 9, 1974, a major constitutional crisis was solved with the resignation of Richard Nixon, who had abused the law and the Constitution, and who finally decided to resign under pressure of an impending impeachment.

But there were concerns that he might declare martial law, and the Chief of Staff, Alexander Haig, told the Pentagon to ignore any such order that might come from the President, who clearly was unraveling mentally in his last days in the Presidency.

But Nixon had enough sense to realize that his historical reputation would be even worse, so he still had a sense of reality, as he fell from power.

Now 42 years later, we have a true maniac, a madman, a demagogue, a Fascist, a bully, a misogynist, a racist, a nativist, a xenophobe, an ignorant person on foreign policy, a threat to world stability, and a very mentally unstable individual, in Donald Trump!

And just today, on the 42nd anniversary of the Nixon crisis coming to an end, the present crisis grows as Trump called for “Second Amendment’ supporters to do what must be done if Hillary Clinton was to win, a hint of assassination!

Trump’s language today at a rally in North Carolina only encourages the nuts and whackos among us, and he should be prosecuted for what he said.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut has called for prosecution, and former CIA head Michael Hayden said that if any ordinary citizen said what Trump uttered today, he would be lo9cked up and prosecuted.

This is the time to stop Donald Trump, as he is emerging as a direct threat to civil order, with hints that he will not accept defeat, and will encourage violence among his lunatic and clueless followers, even after November.

This is, without a doubt, the worst moment in our political history since the Watergate scandal, and in many ways, more dangerous!

“Law And Order” Theme Of Donald Trump Reminds Us Of Lawbreaker Richard Nixon!

Ronald 13 Comments

Republican nominee Donald Trump is making “law and order” the major theme of his convention this week, reminiscent of Richard Nixon a half century ago.

For a candidate for the White House to use such a theme is always suspect, as what Presidential candidate or occupant of the White House does not believe that we need “law and order” as a basic reality?

So to use this as a weapon against Democrat Hillary Clinton, as Republican Richard Nixon and third party candidate George Wallace did against Democrat Hubert Humphrey a half century ago, is pure demagoguery, and a sign of what would happen if the nation was crazy enough to elect Trump to the White House.

One must realize that Nixon, Vice President Spiro Agnew, and Attorney General John Mitchell all invoked “law and order”, and all three were lawless, with Nixon forced to resign; Agnew forced to resign; and Mitchell indicted and convicted for crimes in the Watergate Scandal.

No President was more corrupt and lawless than Nixon, and Trump is likely to become the most scandalous President, if he won, of all time, as his whole life, in so many ways, is a group of scandals, both personal and financial!

Warning To All Potential Vice Presidential Candidates For Donald Trump: Turn Him Down Or Lose Your Reputation!

Ronald 2 Comments

Donald Trump has become ever more insulting in his rhetoric, and more emotionally unstable by the day, and this is fair warning to all potential Vice Presidential candidates for Donald Trump: TURN HIM DOWN OR LOSE YOUR REPUTATION!

Why would any sane person be willing to serve as Vice President under this demagogue, this narcissistic egotist, who is so mentally unbalanced? It will destroy that person’s lifetime reputation, and assuming Trump loses, that will be the end of that person’s political career!

Hopefully, Trump will lose in the end, as if he wins, the nation and the world are in tremendous danger. But should he win, any Vice President will be unable to change Trump’s mind or control his emotional outbursts that could destroy the American economy, lead to disputes with former allies, and lead to the danger of future wars and mass loss of life, with Trump in charge of the nuclear codes!

We are now in the midst of the worst constitutional crisis since 1974, when, thank goodness, Richard Nixon resigned, rather than try to declare martial law in the Watergate Crisis!

40th Anniversary Of “All The President’s Men” Film: A Great Moment Of Investigative Journalism!

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If it was not for Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, and the investigative journalism of the Washington Post four decades ago, we would never have learned about the illegalities of the Richard Nixon Presidency.

It was their courage and willingness to go where leads took them that held Richard Nixon and his administration accountable for the scandals that besmirched the Presidency, not just Watergate but many others.

The film, starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, came out forty years ago this week, and can be considered one of the very best political films ever produced.

Sadly, journalism has declined dramatically, and too much of it now is entertainment or sensationalism oriented, and this has caused the American people to lose confidence in the reliability and accuracy of journalists.

And newspapers and magazines in print have rapidly disappeared, a tragic turn in journalism, as online has become dominant!

If Hillary Clinton Loses Iowa Caucuses, Full Panic Mode Is In Effect, And Joe Biden, John Kerry, Or Al Gore Might Enter Presidential Race!

Ronald 26 Comments

If Hillary Clinton loses the Iowa Caucuses tonight, full panic mode is in effect, and one of the following might enter the Presidential race belatedly:

Vice President Joe Biden; Secretary of State John Kerry; Former Vice President Al Gore

It is claimed that Hillary will not be in panic mode if she loses tonight, but to lose tonight AND New Hampshire next week, if it happens, will be a major blow no matter what future states might do!

Bernie Sanders has great ideas, but despite polls that show him beating Donald Trump and other Republicans, it is hard to believe that will happen, as Sanders’ background as a democratic Socialist will be made to look as if he is a Communist, with the hammer and sickle emblem to be planted on all commercials and in all speeches by Trump or any other GOP Presidential nominee!

Sanders is, sadly, reminiscent of South Dakota Senator George McGovern, a wonderful human being with great ideas, who defeated Establishment favorite Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine in 1972, and then was smashed by a landslide of epic proportions, 49 states, by flawed President Richard Nixon, soon forced out of the Presidency due to the Watergate scandal.  But the Nixon campaign was able to make McGovern out to be an extreme leftist, and the Democrats went into eclipse, and moderation took over with Jimmy Carter in 1976.

It is very sad, but already Trump is labeling Sanders a Communist, and for the ignorant population of much of America, that will be enough to make it impossible for Sanders to win the White House!

And as said before many times, the Supreme Court future is at stake, so we may yet see other Democrats enter the race in the near future, IF Hillary has major troubles in the next eight days!

The Constitutional Crisis We Tend To Forget: Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew, And Gerald Ford In 1973

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The tragedy of the John F. Kennedy Assassination in 1963 led to a decision that the nation needed an amendment to provide for a replacement Vice President, when there was a vacancy in that office.  We were faced with a Speaker of the House, John McCormack, who was 73, and a President Pro Tempore of the US Senate, Carl Hayden, who was 86, at a time when the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson, had had a severe heart attack eight years earlier.

This was a delicate time, and led Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana, and other legislators, to promote the 25th Amendment, which was added to the Constitution in 1967.  And that made the constitutional crisis which followed six years later a little easier to deal with.

Richard Nixon became the most lawless President in American history, as a result of the Watergate Scandal and other scandals.  But Vice President Spiro Agnew also became the most lawless Vice President in American history, and thank goodness we found out about Agnew’s lawlessness, including bribery and accepting cash gifts in the Vice President’s office, which Agnew had also done while Governor of Maryland and Baltimore County Executive.

Instead of having Speaker of the House Carl Albert of Oklahoma as next in line, with Albert unwilling to take on the responsibility, the 25th Amendment allowed the appointment and confirmation by both houses of Congress of House Minority Leader Gerald Ford.

Ford became Vice President within two months of the Agnew resignation on October 10, 1973. and when he became President, Ford appointed and gained the approval of both houses of Congress to the appointment of former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller as his Vice President, although it took four months to get him confirmed.

The problem of most Speakers of the House is their lack of competence to be President, which is still a problem for a period of months until a new Vice President is appointed and confirmed.  And also, three out of four years since 1947, the Speaker and or the President Pro Tempore of the Senate have been from the opposition party of the President.

So this still requires what this blogger has suggested in the past week in the midst of the Speakership crisis—a return to the Presidential Succession Act of 1886, which provided for Cabinet officers to succeed the President and Vice President, rather than the present law, the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, which leaves us with the crisis we face now!

New Revelation About Richard Nixon, Watergate, And Resignation!

Ronald 19 Comments

The historian Douglas Brinkley has just published a new book, “The Nixon Tapes, 1973”, which reveal the details of the Watergate White House tapes, now all released after 40 years.

The point that is most noticeable is that Richard Nixon considered resigning, and said so to his White House Chief of Staff, Alexander Haig, on May 25, 1973, almost 15 months before he actually resigned on August 9, 1974.

Had he done that, Vice President Spiro Agnew would have become President, just months before the revelation that he had engaged in illegal activities, including accepting cash bribes as Vice President.  That revelation in October 1973 led to his resignation, and his replacement by Gerald Ford, under the 25th Amendment, a very lucky break for the nation!

So history would have been transformed, with Nixon quitting, and possibly revelation of President Agnew as deserving of removal from office as well!

So Gerald Ford was a blessing, and Nixon’s thoughts of resigning but not doing so, transformed American history!

The End Of A Dangerous Situation: The Resignation Of Richard Nixon In 1974

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When one looks back at crises in American history, the top of the list are the Civil War, the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, and the Cuban Missile Crisis up to that time in our history.

But in all four situations mentioned, we had a strong, decisive President who handled the situation extremely well.

We were fortunate to have Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy as our Presidents at the times of these crises.

But once one goes beyond these four transformational moments in our history, then we come to the Watergate scandal and the resignation of Richard Nixon on this day 41 years ago.

Yes, the argument can be made that Richard Nixon had a dramatic and positive effect on areas of domestic and foreign policy, during his five and a half years as President.

But Richard Nixon was also, without question, the most corrupt, dangerous President we had ever had in our history, bar none.

Richard Nixon had mental issues, and saw opponents as enemies, and seemed willing and able to allow aides to abuse power, and for himself to set out to destroy opposition in any way possible.

There was concern in the tense times of the summer of 1974 that Nixon might try to declare martial law, and his Chief of Staff, Alexander Haig, had already told the Pentagon to ignore any potential order from Nixon to suspend the Constitution, which would have established a dictatorship.

This is not to say that Nixon actually would have done so, as he was well aware of the need to do what he could to protect his damaged legacy in history, in any way that he could, but still, the threat, and the sense of mental instability was terrifying at the time.

And this lesson of Richard Nixon makes clear that the news media must be aggressive in pursuing the truth about the true character of all Presidential candidates, and despite attacks, make us aware of their shortcomings, particularly in the mental health area, as the nation cannot afford to elect a man or woman who might be dangerous to our national security and safety due to mental instability.

No one is entitled to be President, and we do not need an unstable person holding the powers of the most significant political position in the entire world!