There have been
comparisons to Richard Nixon, the 37th President and Donald Trump,
the 45th. At first glance, it’s
not a far stretch. Both were considered extremely corrupt. Both made use of the
existing divisions in the country. Both made populist appeals, Nixon to the “Silent
Majority,” and Trump to angry (mostly) white voters who felt disaffected by
Democratic politics, the Affordable Health Care Act, and changing demographics.
Both men had highly questionable pasts, Nixon politically as a Red-baiter
(someone unjustly accusing people of being Communists) and being fast and loose
with finances. Trump had multiple accusations against him for questionable
business dealings, such as Trump University and Trump Tower. And there are
other similarities between the two men.
The first similarity is the word “impeachment,” a word that
will be written in the histories of both men. But for Nixon it was only a
threat, a highly likely one given his admitted obstruction of justice in the
Watergate affair. The threat, however, was enough to cause Nixon to be the only
US President to resign. If he had been impeached would he have been removed
from office? That is only for lovers of counterfactual (What-if?) history to
debate, but it should be noted that three presidents, one before him and two after
him (Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump) all survived the
impeachment process, if only barely. Trump survived his impeachment, but, as of
this writing, is undergoing an unprecedented second impeachment for his incitement of riot in Washington, D.C.
on January 6, 2021. However, by the time that process is through, Trump’s term
in office may already be over. For both
men, the end of their terms were and are highly controversial, leaving many
Americans cynical about the government while others breathed a sigh of relief
that it was over.
But here the similarities end.
Nixon, for all his faults, was a brilliant man, at least
in some areas. His knowledge of foreign affairs is legendary. Had it not been
for Watergate, Nixon would have been most likely remembered for the president
who ended the Viet Nam War, sent a man to the moon (though that process started
under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations), and, most of all, “opened” or
re-established a diplomatic relationship with China. Unfortunately, he was also
a Shakespearean man, like Hamlet or Romeo, sowing the seeds of his own demise.
Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s Secretary of State, said, “Can you imagine what this
man would have been like if somebody had loved him?”
Trump is not brilliant. He seems not Shakespearean, but
Faustian, like a man who had sold his soul to the devil, gained the world, lost
his soul, and then lost the world he craved. His story is not over and is too
current to be history, and maybe that’s why it’s easier to feel some sympathy
for Nixon because time can soften anger and create perspective.
Both men seem narcissistic, craving constant attention and
approval, but Nixon was far more introverted. He was also sneakier. He secretly
taped all his conversations from 1971 to 1973 and that was what undid his
presidency. Trump, far more extroverted, constantly “tweeted” his thoughts
without hesitation or filter. Unlike Nixon who kept his thoughts secret though
ultimately they became public, Trump wanted everyone to know what he was
thinking at any moment. Finally, Twitter, the app he used as his public
platform, closed his account, but only at the end of his presidency during
which time he incited the first American insurrection.
History allows us the privilege and the burden of never
ending our stories or our interpretation of events. But for the sake of this
country, I hope our stories get better than Nixon and Trump.
