The similarities have been hiding in plain sight. Sometimes it was almost too obvious, like when Trump plagiarized Nixon to declare himself "the law and order candidate" who would stand up for the cop on the beat -- even if Trump had to manufacture phony crime stats to make his point. Nixon and his No. 2 Spiro Agnew had the eloquent William Safire to keep average voters furious at "the nattering nabobs of negativism" in the news media; under Trump that's been reduced to the more pedestrian "very, very dishonest press." But the goal of firing up the base while silencing dissent remains exactly the same.