Here’s a stunning editorial from The New Yorker Magazine, by Jonathan Schell:

…..a question has been haunting our national life. It is whether the Republic will live or die. The question has been asked in countless forms. May newspapers print whatever they wish to print, and the people read whatever they wish to read? May the people assemble without fear of injury or loss of life? Must senators and others always support the President in his difficult decisions? Are the people to be treated like children or like adults? To what extent does the government have the power to check up on what the people are doing? To what extent do the people have the right to check up on what the government is doing? How do we spend our money? When do we go to war? Who decides? [...] On this occasion, as on many others in recent years, the President has flouted the law. He has not merely broken the law; he has overthrown the law. But this time, since his lawbreaking seeks to remove a threat to the very survival of his Administration in office, it is not just this one act but the continuation of the Administration itself that has become lawless. The question of whether the Republic will live or die has now been decisively posed in this form: Will we remove a lawless Administration from office or will we submit to illegitimate rule? The question has probably been put in its final form, and may not be asked again. [...] And the only resolution the President has left to us, unless he resigns, is for Congress to begin consideration of impeachment proceedings. The country surveys a scene of devastation. The wreckage of American institutions lies all around us. Any future under the present leadership is unthinkable. The point of no return has been passed, and the country has no choice but to take the first, dread steps toward putting its house in order. ♦

And the President of which Schell speaks is Richard M. Nixon .

The actual title of the article?

I have spent some time now inquiring into the similarities between Watergate and RussiaGate, and here is what I’ve found:

1. In both, activities investigated were during a presidential election, where the Republican candidate was caught breaking the law trying to ruin his opponent.

How Trump is worse: He used a foreign, adversarial government to do it

2. In both, Department of Justice officials have been fired to keep the investigation into lawbreaking from continuing.

How Trump is worse: He is attempting to discredit the entire DOJ as politically motivated

3. In both, the Campaign Chairman for each president has been indicted multiple times. Paul Manafort and John Mitchell.

4. In both, a lawyer close to the President has been implicated.

5. In both, Nixon and Trump retained support of most Republicans over course of investigation

How Trump is worse: It is likely that Republicans in Congress are also implicated in the scandal, AND they are in control.

6. In both, Nixon and Trump surrounded themselves with corrupt players. Trump: Roger Stone, Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, and George Papadopoulos. Nixon: Spiro Agnew, John Erlichman, John Mitchell, Bob Haldeman, G. Gordon Liddy, Chuck Colson.

How Trump is worse: Most of his corrupt players are ALSO assets of Russia.

7. In both, Trump and Nixon have publicly called for the ending of the investigations, calling them a “Witch Hunt”

How Trump is worse: Nixon waited until the investigation had gone on for two months to name it thus. Trump started before he was even inaugurated.

8. In both, a White House that sees the investigation as a direct attack on the President.

9. In both, Witness tampering. After Nixon’s Chief of Staff HR Haldeman “resigned” Nixon called him on the telephone and told him,

“You’re a strong man, God damn it and I love you and I love John. … Keep the faith, keep the faith. You’ve got to win this son of a bitch.”



After Michael Flynn was fired, Trump called him on the telephone

“I just got a message from the president to stay strong,” Yahoo News reported Flynn told supporters following a meal in Virginia.

How Trump is worse: Trump has veered into witness intimidation/ He didn’t stop at mere comforting words for his friends. He is not only holding hopes of pardons above his friends’ heads, but threatening those who prove to be against him.

10. In both, there are so many players, and so much illegality, it’s difficult to keep track.

11. In both, it took years to get to the bottom of things. The Watergate break-in happened in June, 1972, and Nixon resigned in August of 1974. RussiaGate Mueller started in May, 2017 and is still going strong.

12. In both, Nixon and Trump insolently denied involvement. Nixon, “I am not a crook” Trump, “NO COLLUSION!!!”

13. In both, HEAVY hypocrisy. Remember, Nixon’s 1972 election campaign theme was “Law and Order.” Trump: “I am the law and order candidate”

Watergate also resulted in the indictment of 69 people, with trials or pleas resulting in 48 being found guilty, many of whom were top Nixon officials.

How Trump is worse: Trump’s hypocrisy is far too broad and deep to take account of in one diary. I’ll just sum it up in two tweets:

x ATTN: @HillaryClinton - Why did five of your staffers need FBI IMMUNITY?! #BigLeagueTruth #Debates Ã¢ÂÂ Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2016

x Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion! Ã¢ÂÂ Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2017

One glaring difference though, and what Nixon had going for him: Nixon was no fool.

Trump is, as his then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called him, “A fucking moron"

prospect.org/…

Because (unlike Nixon) Trump is a fool, he announced on national television that he fired FBI director James Comey in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the investigation ("When I decided to just do it [fire Comey], I said to myself, I said 'you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won'"). Then he told the Russian ambassador and foreign minister, "I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job," adding, "I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off."

The possibly most dangerous difference though, is that Nixon had a Democratic-run Congress at the time. One that took very seriously both the investigation and the impending impeachment. But Republicans were on board as well, as the Senate voted (77-0) to create the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities.

Trump has a rather craven Republican Congress. One that is likely involved in the Russian collusion. And one that sees Russia’s ongoing aid of them in elections, as possibly their last chance at a permanent majority.

And for that, there is only one remedy.