In a 1977 interview, former President Richard Nixon implied to British journalist David Frost that the United States Constitution had granted an American President extraordinary powers and allows him to break the law. In other words, the President is above the law applicable to all other US citizens. If he—and, he alone—deems his actions to be beneficial to the country, then, by definition they are not illegal.
Utter nonsense!
Frost: So, what in a sense you’re saying is that there are certain situations and the Huston plan or that part of it was one of them where the president can decide that it’s in the best interest of the nation or something and do something illegal.
Nixon: Well, when the president does it … that means that it is not illegal.
Frost: By definition –
Nixon: Exactly … exactly… if the president … if, for example, the president approves something … approves an action, ah … because of the national security or in this case because of a threat to internal peace and order of, ah … ah … significant magnitude … then … the president’s decision in that instance is one, ah … that enables those who carry it out to carry it out without violating a law. Otherwise they’re in an impossible position.
To be sure, Richard Nixon was a crooked, corrupt politician, and given his disgraceful political history during the McCarthy Era, one of the more paranoid people ever to become President of the United States. He was forced to resign in August 1974 for a multitude of crimes, as I wrote out in this 2013 diary — "I Hereby Resign the Office of President of the United States."
“You don’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.”
At the heart of this unprecedented decision was the political train wreck and a "third rate burglary" which is forever etched in the nation's conscience. The Watergate Scandal involved the actions of elected and unelected men who went to extreme lengths in seeking to demonize and destroy their political opponents. Secretly taped conversations—whose release was ordered by the Supreme Court of the United States—divulged heretofore unknown details of the extent of Nixon's complicity in enabling this disaster. It involved maintaining enemies lists of journalists and politicians; sanctioning illegal break-ins; authorizing wiretapping; conjuring up conspiratorial schemes; tainted campaign funds through the appropriately-named CREEP (Committee for the Re-election of the President); and a host of other unlawful, unethical, and unsavory activities, including the ”Saturday Night Massacre.”Many of these findings came as a result of riveting investigative hearings on Capitol Hill and through the reporting of the Washington Post.
Few people—other than perhaps diehard staffers and GOP loyalists—shed tears for one of the most paranoid men ever to become President. For one whose political career was built on strident anti-Communism, dirty political tricks, race baiting, and blatantly lying about prolonging an immoral war, it was finally over.
This time, the country really didn't have "Nixon to kick around anymore."
I hope Attorney General Merrick Garland isn’t someone who is persuaded by this outrageous Nixonian argument in evaluating Donald Trump’s role and his criminally seditious behavior in the events leading up to the insurrection and storming of the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.
Imagine if a Democratic President, say, Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, had been accused of the same sleazy and treasonous behavior as Trump, how would Republicans have responded? We have some clues from the recent past. Remember Clinton’s impeachment in 1998-99? The “Birther” accusations engineered by Trump and his minions against Obama? It was weeks and months and even years of ugly, relentless, and unfounded accusations hurled on cable television against those two men. Did it have a political effect? Of course, it did!
With the recent US Supreme Court rulings on guns and abortion turning the clock back for millions of people, it is high time to stop looking for some mythical action of “bipartisanship.” It isn’t about to happen. Given Trump’s many crimes, which are abundantly clear, the Democratic Party needs to politically go after the Republican Party. The stakes are enormously high and the future of this country depends on the Democratic response.
In early 1918, when World War I was still almost a year away from ending, President Woodrow Wilson proposed his famous Fourteen Points as a guide for peace and international conduct in the post-war world. To him, the 14th point was the dearest: it called for the creation of an international body, The League of Nations, to mediate future disputes among countries.
Being an accomplished academic at Princeton University before he became a politician, Wilson was not known as a modest person. When he arrived for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, the French Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau, was asked about Wilson’s 14 Points. His rather curt and sarcastic response.
Mr. Wilson has his Fourteen Points; God only had ten!
In that spirit, here are only three suggestions for the Democratic leadership. It can use a new political playbook.
- Don’t play politics by the polite Marquess of Queensberry Rules. Otherwise, you’ll get your clock cleaned. Know your political opposition and the level they will stoop to in order to destroy you. Fight fire with fire.
- When you send out these political surrogates on television and radio to make your case, please don’t choose technocratic Harvard or Yale Law School types. I live among many of these good folks here in Washington, DC. And, have more than a bit of familiarity with that world. These folks are smart, rational, cerebral, analytical, and... boring. Their arguments don’t necessarily persuade voters to support the Democratic Party. In Washington, DC, Hillary Clinton received more than 90% of the votes in 2016. Having worked on several presidential and other campaigns, I can attest to the fact that “DC-Speak” is a foreign language in Middle America.
- Throw caution to the wind. This is as much a political and moral fight as it is a legal one. Choose younger elected officials who can make the case in plain language that voters around the country will understand. AG Garland will do what he’s going to do. You can, however, flood cable news and other broadcast airwaves with elected officials hammering Trump’s illegal behavior day in and day out. Put pressure on Garland to, yes, thoroughly examine the evidence. Trump is as innocent as OJ Simpson.
This is your chance to not only seek justice against Trump but also make a positive case for your policies that have a real impact on the lives of ordinary Americans. Don’t screw it up. And, good luck.
