General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: For DU'ers old enough to remember 'compare & contrast' Trump with Nixon [View all]PJMcK
(22,035 posts)I hated him. I became politically aware during his presidency and the experience made me a life-long Democrat.
However, Nixon was a product of the American political system. He went to Duke for his law degree. He served in the U.S. Navy Reserve during World War II. He was a member of Congress and then the Senate. He served as Vice President and eventually was elected President. He served our country.
Trump has never done anything like that.
There is no doubt that Nixon was a criminal. And yet he did some remarkably important things. He brought an end to the Viet Nam War and brought the American POWs home, subsequently ending the military draft. In 1972, his overtures to China eventually led to diplomatic relations between the two nations. His administration initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union. He enforced desegregation of Southern schools. He created the Environmental Protection Agency.
Trump will never doing anything like those accomplishments. He's incapable of the sustained thought that great accomplishments require.
To be clear, I hated Nixon. Yet one cannot deny real accomplishments and when comparing these two Republican presidents, Trump isn't even in the same universe.