Trump's outburst of rage just sent the Russia scandal hurtling forward

[DonViejo]

By Paul Waldman June 16 at 2:08 PM

We are heading toward Donald Trump’s version of the Saturday Night Massacre.

While the details aren’t precisely the same, the parallels are many. A president under a widening investigation for (among other things) possible obstruction of justice. A special counsel targeted by the president’s ire. High-ranking officials in the Justice Department unwilling to put loyalty to the president above their obligations to the country, and losing their jobs because of it. All that’s left is the dramatic round of firings and resignations and the headlong rush toward impeachment.

Richard Nixon didn’t have Twitter, but Donald Trump does. And this morning, he attacked his deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein:

Link to tweet

In addition to everything else, Trump confirms here the reports from anonymous sources that he is the target of an obstruction of justice investigation. Glad we cleared that up.

What does this have to do with Watergate? Let’s go back to the Saturday Night Massacre. In October 1973, Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal, demanded that President Nixon turn over recordings of his Oval Office conversations. Nixon refused, and tried to negotiate a deal that Cox rejected. Nixon then ordered the attorney general, Elliot Richardson, to fire Cox. Richardson refused, and resigned. Nixon then ordered the deputy attorney general, William Ruckelshaus, to fire Cox. Ruckelshaus refused, and resigned. Nixon then ordered the next person in the Justice Department hierarchy, Solicitor General Robert Bork, to fire Cox. Bork agreed. While it would be 10 more months before Nixon himself resigned, the Saturday Night Massacre may have been the point where his determination to obstruct the Watergate investigation became the most clear to everyone in the country.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/06/16/trumps-outburst-of-rage-just-sent-the-russia-scandal-hurtling-forward/?tid=pm_opinions_pop&utm_term=.5ec3cba4da0c

[dalton99a]

1. The GOP got themselves a president without any vetting

[The Genealogist]

2. It is hard to see a potential trainwreck of state when you're blinded by power and dollar signs

[appal_jack]

3. Important history & parallels.

How incredible (not really) that the Repubs later tried to put Bork (the man who would have covered-up Watergate) on the Supreme Court!

k&r,

-app