Are We There Yet?

Recently I finished “The Final Days” by Woodward and Bernstein(All the President’s Men) telling of President Nixon’s final days in office in the summer of 74. I could not help but draw parallels and perhaps some lessons to be learned in today’s current political climate. After Robert Mueller’s testimony more democrats came to support impeachment. Some gave the estimate to be about 107 in the House of Representatives which represents about half the Democratic caucus. Although this is a significant amount it is still not enough to impeach. 

I believe there certain thresholds have not been reached yet and two in particular come to mind,  a smoking gun and congressional support (or lack of depending on viewpoint). I don’t believe we have reached either of these despite the already strong case against President Trump. 

In Nixon’s case it was the fatal tape of June 23, 1972 of him and Halderman(Chief of Staff) formulating a plan to have the CIA interfere with the FBI’s investigation in the Watergate burglaries of the DNC the week before. This clearly showed obstruction of justice and that he had been lying since then (about two years) about his knowledge of this happening. Nixon had been fighting a losing battle against releasing this and other tapes for quite some time until the Supreme Court decided unanimously he had to release them. 

I think may thought the Mueller Report would be the smoking gun but it has not been. Although it shows a lot of behavior and actions were deplorable an undeniable smoking gun was not found. A smoking gun is more or less something that is an agreed upon event or item. That threshold has not been met. 

That brings us to the second part, congressional support. Nixon’s Impeachment only became imminent because his congressional support had severely eroded by the summer of 74. Even before the release of the smoking gun tape Articles of Impeachment had already been voted on and passed by the House side of Congress. The only this that held in question was the Senate where it would need a two thirds majority to remove the President. The final nail in the coffin was when Congressional leaders, including conservative icon Senator Barry Goldwater, met with Nixon to inform him of how few still supported him he’d likely be removed from office if Impeachment went thru its full process.

Fast forward to today only about half the Democratic caucus support impeachment at this time in the House of Representatives. Obviously with Senator Mitch McConnell’s tight grip in the Senate they would never convict Donald Trump should it even get that far.

This means we are not anywhere near impeachment as of this writing. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is obviously aware of this too. Investigations are continuing despite blockages from the White House. A break thru or “smoking gun” may appear at any moment. It’s tempting to rush but even Nixon’s downfall came after two years after the ill-fated Watergate burglary. We are just into the 8^th month of Democratic’s controlling the House. Investigations take time.  Given Trump perchance for laziness and incompetence it’s more than likely to find more glaring examples of corruption at some point. The Resistance must be patient.

The Final Days by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein

The Final Days by Carl Bernstein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a behind the scenes look at the final days of the Nixon Administration. A quick background summary is that in 1972 burglars were caught breaking in into Democratic National Committee located in Washington D.C. . Eventually the the burglars were connected to the White House and Nixon. Much of this is covered in Bernstein and Woodwards more well known book(and movie) All the Presidents Men.

This book picks up in mid 1974 about the time the famous tapes were an issue before the Supreme Court because Nixon had refused to turn them over. These tapes are recordings of conversations and phone calls Nixon had started recording in 1971. Nixon tried various tactics like releasing only transcripts of tapes and then only certain tapes. Finally after a fruitless battle in the Supreme Court he was ordered to release them all. It was with this final tape release the now famous "smoking gun" tape that showed he had been lying since nearly the beginning about a cover-up. It was after that his support in Congress crumbled and impeachment proceedings were being started. Rather than going thru a certain impeachment and removal from office that could take months of turmoil and distraction he resigned in August 1974.

The book has a slow pace at first as it builds up to the impending finally. It does pick up towards the end as the drama builds. Nixon spends a lot of time fluctuating whether to resign or fight until the end the last few days.

The book still feels relevant today given current political climate and talk of impeachment. This kind of gives an idea of what it may take for it to happen again. It's not quite as easy as some may think. I recommend this for political junkies and 20th century U.S. history buffs.

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