Nixon and Trump

I think it was about nine o’clock at night on August 8th, 1974, that we gathered at Crystal Lake Lodge in the Adirondacks. Think Dirty Dancing. Middle-class liberals came and stayed in cabins for a week, and I was a waitress, receiving tips on Sunday and dancing late into the night all summer with other employee college peeps.

They had set up a TV (no TVs in the rooms) and chairs, and I stood at the back, a soon-to-be college junior at the University of Nebraska, where I had voted for Nixon the year before. I wasn’t a real Republican. I wasn’t anything at all, really. My parents were Republicans, and I was too, I thought.

Nixon went on, and I could feel his shame and discomfort. I could feel his rage too. Then he said it: “Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow.”

And the room erupted. Cheers. Just like the ones I watched on the news yesterday that Trump was declared guilty by a jury of his peers. People dancing in the street. Friends posting things about DT in orange jumpsuits, and ‘oh happy day.’ Yesterday I felt euphoria from my peers.

Back to 1974.

I stood at the back of the room and silently wept. I love my country. All these years later, I still write it in the present tense. I thought it was a very sad day when the President of the United States had to resign for cheating, lying, corruption, and most importantly, total disregard for the laws of our country and the Constitution that I had never read but thought meant we didn’t do those things.

And yesterday, I also cried with sadness, fear, and shame.

First of all, when Nixon resigned, he hadn’t a friend in the country. We felt that our safety valves worked. He didn’t get away with it. Those who assisted him were in jail. All was safe in the Republic.

But yesterday, many men and women put out major untruths (oh, wait, I think they are called lies) and supported him. They said it wasn’t a jury of his peers, but rather, a liberal conspiracy and the breakdown of democracy. Many people in powerful positions lied. They don’t believe those statements. They said it to preserve their own power and money sources. Simple.

And the press? They showed it all. They didn’t ask the questions they should to uncover the lies, and Americans similar to me back in 1974, uninformed and part of a Lord of the Flies mentality of following the group that mirrors who they think they are, took sides and prepared for battles.

Friends reached out, and I said, “This is not a victory for anything.”

If he does time, I think he will win the election. I think it will be the rallying cry needed to get his lackluster following to shine again. And if he doesn’t, then justice was ignored out of fear. Lose-lose, my friends.

Here is the thing. Stop clicking… I beg you. Stop clicking on the shiny news object that makes you feel something but accomplishes nothing. Get the vote out. Ask your friends to stop following news that doesn’t inform, which is the only thing that will stop news programs from showing endless repeats. Imagine if the same episode of the hit show Friends was played 24/7 for three days straight? Would you watch it? Let me give you a clue. He was convicted by a jury of twelve that his defense counsel helped choose. Takes five minutes to get this information.

This is a sad day in America. Beware the ides of March. There is no reason to rejoice.