This is by far, worse than Watergate

[GP6971]

I lived through Watergate and it was nasty. This is much, much worse.

[msongs]

1. people who serve at the will of the president come and go regularly. nt

[cynatnite]

2. Not like this. n/t

[GP6971]

3. Oh, I know.

But this whole situation is heading south and heading south fast.

[LeftInTX]

8. I had a therapy appointment today

Therapist and I both agree Trump is crazy
Situation worse than Nixon. Nixon at least got off to a normal start. Every day in this admin brings more chaos. I was actually thinking that today seemed "normal", then he fires acting AG.

[kentuck]

24. Do you think he is schizophrenic?

On top of everything else?

[LeftInTX]

52. No. He said he's narcsistic

When he said crazy, he didn't mean it clinically. His behavior is crazy, incompetent, all the stuff we see.

[3catwoman3]

71. Is there a DSM-V code...

...for fucking nuts? If there isn't, there should be.

[pnwmom]

76. He is so narcissistic that he has a grossly distorted view of reality.

So he isn't actually lying all the time when he does it (though he certainly lies freely); sometimes "down" does look "up" to him. His brain simply can't process information that threatens his inflated self-esteem.

[C_U_L8R]

4. Trump is crazier, meaner and more dishonest than Nixon

He's also really dumb (yet, scheming) and self-absorbed.
Trump's failure will be all his own doing. And may be sooner
than anyone imagined

[jeanmarc]

10. Agreed.

Nixon at some point had some honor to leave.

I'm not sure Donald has any of that.

[GP6971]

22. True. Trump doesn't

have a bit of honor or decency in his body

[brush]

17. He's going down. Just look at his businesses, the bankruptcies, the scams, the failures

Last edited Tue Jan 31, 2017, 02:40 AM - Edit history (1)

Failure follows him like that hair down his neck and we're watching him fail at politics right before our eyes.

He's not smart at this but thinks he is.

Who in the hell would appoint and listen to a white supremacist, anti-semitic web site manager as his senior advisor, and have said white supremacist and anti-semitic a-hole write legally indefensible executive orders without consulting department heads whose purviews are affected.

Not smart.

Dumb.

[C_U_L8R]

20. +++

[Bernardo de La Paz]

38. Yeah, & appoint said white supremacist, anti-semitic web site manager to National Security Council.

[brush]

43. YES! That too.

[orangecrush]

69. Yup

[The empressof all]

5. It is far far worse...

The VP, Speaker of the House, President of the Senate and most of the senior White House staff appear to be complicit. That was not the case during Watergate. No one felt Ford was in cahoots with Nixon. Well maybe when he pardoned him.....

[GP6971]

7. Very true

the malice at the time was directed to Nixon and his actions. Now it's "the president" and a complaisant congress. At least so far.

[Zo Zig]

9. Beg to differ

Ford cut a deal with Nixon, appointment to VP, to assume POTUS, and pardoN for all actions during Nixon term.

[The empressof all]

25. Ford had no political agenda to seize total control

I never felt he would declare Martial Law or attempt to circumvent Congress or the Judiciary. I always think of him as the Place Holder President.

[Zo Zig]

37. OK

But, Ford did circumvent the legal process by issuing the pardon for Nixon. He was Nixon's button man. Agree that the orange shit gibbon is a horse of a different color, and the drunk running the country is a f-ing nazi.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

39. martial

[The empressof all]

47. Thanks....

I try to be carefull butt a lass I fale misarably to offen... Piece!

[pangaia]

32. Putin/Dugin...

Planned chaos..

All intentional

here and in "Western" part of Europe..the Baltics, Romania, Hungary..... etc

USA...........

[Bernardo de La Paz]

42. Plan, but this is succeeding beyond Putin's wildest dreams.

I'm sure even he was surprised that Дональда Трампа actually won.

And now he is surely surprised at the speed that Trump is sewing chaos and destabilizing the USA.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

60. We need to remove them all... ASAP!!

[Ms. Toad]

6. Watergate dragged out more.

This is worse becasue it is so condensed.

Watergate was also surround by a lot more crazy use of force on US citizens. Trump is just starting - but it is accelerating rapidly.

[GP6971]

11. I remember it dragging out

for weeks. I was in the military at the time and it was tough not being able to discuss it at work.

[mobeau69]

75. For months. n/t

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

78. More than a year. Over two, actually.

I was living in the DC area at the time, and in the three or four weeks before Nixon's resignation the government all but came to a standstill. Essentially nothing was being done. No one knew how it would all end.

I was working as a ticket agent at DCA at the time. On August 8, 1974, when Nixon made his little speech announcing his resignation, the airport came to a stop in a way I never saw before or after. Planes stayed on the gate, and passengers didn't board so they could watch his speech. We were all in our back room, watching his speech, with the door to the ticket counter open in case any passengers came up. For at least 15 minutes no one came to our counter, something completely unheard of for a Friday evening.

As he was speaking, my one fear was that he'd announce his determination to stay in office. And ever since, every single time I see that speech, I hold my breath, terrified he's going to tell us he's staying in office.

Trump will not go out with that level of dignity. That you can count on.

[wishstar]

12. Let's hope he gets forced out much, much sooner than Nixon

This misadministration is only getting warmed up, many more disastrous policies set to roll out so we can expect continual disarray as long as he's in power

[GP6971]

14. I'm afraid you're right

this "administration" doesn't live in the real world.

[underthematrix]

13. I did too and you're right. This is much much worse.

Again. People really don't get it. Expect a ground war on US soil very soon. America is in extreme danger.

[GP6971]

15. Very deep danger

I'm not sure about a ground war on US soil, but I don't rule it out.

[WheelWalker]

21. I don't believe a North American ground war is in the cards, at least

as a symmetrical conflict between nation states. Someone would bang off a warhead well before that. Are you talking about an internal civil conflict?

[GP6971]

26. More political than military

I see this going to outright war between states rights vs. federal. I think the blue states will fight against the administration.

[WheelWalker]

27. No argument here.

[pangaia]

34. In the Baltics and western Europe for sure...

[WheelWalker]

77. That might be only a feint whilst Rashputin marshals his oil reserves worldwide.

But if it's a feint, it's impressively threatening.

[politicat]

16. There's a good chance he's going to break Harrison's record for shortest term in office.

Look... there's something to the benefit of us all that he hasn't held back and tried to be normal. He hasn't lulled anyone into thinking he's reasonable and can be negotiated with. He's pissing off everyone from Jason Chaffetz (who is advocating for mental and physical health exams) to old Yertle. His circle is getting smaller and tighter and less stable every hour. Not every day. Every hour. He's got every agency in some level of rebellion.

Yes, worse than Watergate. But less drawn out. More obvious.

[GP6971]

19. We can only hope it's shorter than Harrison's. n/t

[Rex]

18. This is as bad and actually going to be worse than the BFEE/PNAC bloc.

King Trump is ruling unilaterally like a dictator. Meanwhile GOP Congress is trying to figure out how to gut the economy President Obama built up over 8 years.

Trump is worse, he might steamroll them too and just rule with some crazy SCOTUS pick.

It can always get worse.

[GP6971]

30. We'll know tomorrow about the SCOTUS pick

I'm sure it will be a radically conservative pick

[Sugarcoated]

53. Can the Senate Dems keep him/her out

can they block proceedings indefinitely?

[herding cats]

64. No, they can't.

The most they can do is filibuster. The flip side is the Republicans have said they'll kill the filibuster if Dems do so.

[BlueSpot]

23. Just for the record

I am *not* buying a Mike Pence watch.

[GP6971]

31. Pence. As in

English currency?

[BlueSpot]

51. Spiro Agnew was VP to Nixon

In the early 70's, somebody put a cartoon image of Spiro Agnew on a watch (pic in my original post). It became a major fad.

So if Trump = Richard Nixon, I am just saying I am not buying a watch with his VP (Mike Pence) pictured on the face, cartoon or otherwise.

The humor definitely goes away when you have to explain it but I guess everyone wasn't a part of the era.

[GP6971]

55. I was joking

I remember Agnew very clearly

[LisaM]

35. Ha! I had a Spiro Agnew wastebasket.

It had a cartoon of him hitting a womab in the head with a golf ball and saying, "But I did yell fire!" I wish I knew what became of it.

[NBachers]

79. I was traveling through Syracuse the night Agnew resigned.

[Leghorn21]

48. Ah dear Blue, I have smiled tonight because of you!! So many thanks!! eom

[LeftInTX]

57. Did you own one? Lol

[BlueSpot]

67. Nope

They were like $15 IIRC. I was not yet old enough to work and the allowance was pretty lean so I didn't have that kind of money. I was Jonesing though. LOL

[LeftInTX]

68. Haa!!

[MFM008]

28. The republican on MSNBC from FLA.

On Larry O just said maggot is headed for impeachment.

[Sugarcoated]

56. Who?

[MFM008]

80. a representative from florida

he was beaten in 16 by Charlie Christ. I didnt catch his name.

[Trust Buster]

29. This can become worse than Wayergate in time but there is no comparison yet.

[GP6971]

33. I agree.

I think Watergate will be dwarfed by this.

[Greywing]

40. I think so too ... during Watergate there were a few ethical Republicans willing to do what had

to be done for the good of the country. I don't see any of those type of Republicans in this Senate.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

36. Watergate Saturday Night Massacre was the ** turning point ** of people power

On November 14, 1973, federal District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell ruled that the dismissal of Cox was illegal, in the absence of a finding of extraordinary impropriety as specified in the regulation establishing the special prosecutor's office.[8] Congress was infuriated by the act, which was seen as a gross abuse of presidential power. The public sent in an unusually large number of telegrams to both the White House and Congress.[9][10] Less than a week after the Saturday Night Massacre, an Oliver Quayle poll for NBC News showed that for the first time, a plurality of U.S. citizens now supported impeachment of Nixon, with 44% in favor, 43% opposed, and 13% undecided, with a sampling error of 2 to 3 percent.[11] In the days that followed, numerous resolutions of impeachment against the president were introduced in Congress -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Massacre

[GP6971]

44. The trouble is congress

is not infuriated. When will the repukes stand up and support the law?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

54. They are working their way to that point. Trump's amateurishness will get them there.

For now, the Republicons are happy to see the EPA destroyed (see tomorrow's Exec Order), see LGBT rights trampled by christian dominionists (see another Exec Order tomorrow), and oligarchs running the cabinet, among many things.

But incompetence of the Bannon-Трампа presidency is moving the public decisively away from the Republicon Party who are tied to Trump and must be repeatedly tied to him. They made him and they must sink with him.

So at a certain point they will panic and decide that President Pence is their best option for at least professionally shafting the citizens of the USA.

[GP6971]

58. I agree

Pence will royally screw this country. But if we can hang Trump around his neck, we may have some hope for sanity.

[triron]

41. maybe the people will have to

do what congress should do.

[GP6971]

46. I think that's what it going to come to

I remember the Vietnam protests. We have to get to that level. And I think we're getting there.

[WheelWalker]

45. Lived it. In hindsight, Watergate by comparison was an exercise. A drill. This is not a drill.

[GP6971]

50. Very true

Watergate at the time paralyzed the country. This is polarizing the country which can only lead to a worse outcome.

[mvd]

49. Illegal! Dictatorial

Democrats should suggest impeachment now, and if the Repukes do not go along, then it will be up to the people to put the constant pressure on.

[GP6971]

61. repukes will not roll over

as they're too concerned about their pay, health care etc. They'll mimic my weather vane....gp which ever the direction the wind is blowing.

I'm convinced we have to get out it the streets.

[triron]

66. yep big time

[mvd]

70. Yep

I will volunteer to march if need be.. make it the 60s again.

[Initech]

59. Overwritten protocols, gutted agencies, cut off communication, destroyed the press...

Fired people like it was a bodily function, eroded our basic freedoms... This asshole has got to go!

[GP6971]

63. And not soon enough

Unfortunately, Congress, our representatives (speaking of the majority) are not behind us.

[greatauntoftriplets]

62. I am completely with you

Watergate did not scare mee. This madman doses.

[GP6971]

65. I leaning more terrified.

This guy is bigly dangerous to the US way of life.

[herding cats]

72. I've only read about Watergate after the fact.

Which means I have no experience with this level of realtime political upheaval, and the emotional impact it curtails. Even Iran-Contra was before I was an adult.

Before Bush was ever elected I predicted he'd find a way to get into a war in Iraq if he became president, but that didn't stop me from being horrified as I watched it evolve. That feeling, as terrible as it was, is eclipsed by the sheer terror I feel watching Trump's reign evolving. In part, I think it's due to how polarized we are as a nation, and how the Republicans hold all three houses. At least so far, there's not a lot of concern by the Republicans over their current leader. They're apparently too high on their new political power to push their own agendas to be bothered by trivial things like a maniac destabilizing our national security, demoralizing the rest of the world about us, thumbing his nose at the constitution, and just generally raging about in the WH like a dictator.

From where I'm sitting, Watergate looks like a walk in the park by comparison.

[zentrum]

73. It's worse than Watergate

...because we don't have Repugs with any sense of honor at all. In those Watergate days the Repugs still cared about government and wanted it to work. They were appalled enough at Nixon to expose him.

These guys will never pursue another Repug.

Any investigation they mount will be weak tea and operate only to give him cover. They'll go through the motions, if that, and he'll come out untouched.

[AlexSFCA]

74. stop bringing watergate

there is no comparison. We are experiencing the destruction of governemnt; takeover by a hostile power on a quest to fulfill duginist global order. For all I know they may try to nuke something right this moment.