Several times over the last few years, political observers have compared Donald Trump’s presidency to Richard Nixon’s. Audio tapes implicated each of them in criminal behavior. Both tried to manipulate the Justice Department to avoid prosecution. Both made history as “firsts” — Nixon for resigning from the presidency, Trump for being indicted while an ex-president.
What’s different is how Republicans responded to the Nixon and Trump scandals.
When evidence showed Nixon obstructed justice, a sufficient number of Republicans were ready to impeach and remove him from office. Instead, they pushed him into resigning; rank-and-file Republicans signaled their support.
After special prosecutor Archibald Cox tried to force Nixon to turn over tape recordings that proved his involvement in the Watergate scandal, Nixon fired him. Within 36 hours, Western Union’s Washington office received 71,000 telegrams, most supporting impeachment. Polls showed only 24 percent of Americans approved of Nixon’s job performance.
When it comes to Trump, however, there has been little pushback from Republican leaders or audible outcry from GOP voters about Trump’s improprieties, including his alleged crimes.
In 2021, only seven of the Senate’s 50 Republicans dared to vote for his conviction after the House impeached him for inciting the insurrection to overturn the 2020 election. Only one Republican in the Senate voted to convict Trump of abusing his power and obstructing justice during his first impeachment trial in 2020.
Trump apparently concluded he was untouchable. Had Congress held him accountable for bad behaviors, he might have been more careful to avoid the criminal conduct he’s charged with today.
Similarly, strict law enforcement is necessary to discourage Trump’s people from obscene threats of violence. Last week, The New York Times reported that Trump supporters characterized his latest indictments as an act of war and called for violence and an uprising. Thankfully, the MAGA militia did not answer the call when Trump appeared Tuesday to face charges under the Espionage Act. A relative few turned out in Miami for his arrest. The Justice Department may have intimidated them with its arrests of about 1,000 participants after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Nevertheless, calls for violence continue. Trump recently accused special prosecutor Jack Smith of being a terrorist and characterized Smith’s wife and sister-in-law as “Trump haters.” On social media, Trump supporters reacted to his latest indictment by threatening civil war, declaring “we need to start killing these traitorous f—kstains […] until bodies start stacking up,” and writing that Attorney General Merrick Garland’s daughters are “fair game.”
After Trump’s latest indictment, even his principal political opponent at the moment, Florida’s rightwing governor, Ron DeSantis, came to his defense, saying, “The weaponization of federal law enforcement is a mortal threat to a free society.” While no one can deny DeSantis’s expertise in threatening free society, his statement is nonsensical. Government should always “weaponize” law enforcement to deal with lawbreakers. That’s one of the keys to a free society.
U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) tweeted “We have now reached a war phase. Eye for an eye,” after Smith issued the indictment regarding classified documents; Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is engaged to Trump’s eldest son, posted “RETRIBUTION IS COMING”; and Kari Lake, defeated in Arizona’s gubernatorial election last year, reminded us that many of Trump’s supporters own guns. A conservative talk show host suggested obliquely that U.S. Marines should remove President Biden forcefully from the White House.
As the New York Times reported earlier this month, “The calls to action and threats have been amplified on right-wing media sites and have been met by supportive responses from social media users and cheers from crowds, who have become conditioned over several years by Mr. Trump and his allies to see any efforts to hold him accountable as assaults against him.” The key word is “accountable.”
The Times continued, “Experts on political violence warn that attacks against people or institutions become more likely when elected officials or prominent media figures can threaten violence with impunity.Political violence experts say that even if aggressive language by high-profile individuals does not directly end in physical harm, it creates a dangerous atmosphere in which the idea of violence becomes more accepted, especially if such rhetoric is left unchecked.”
“So far, the politicians who have used this rhetoric to inspire people to violence have not been held accountable,” Mary McCord, a former senior official at the Justice Department, said. “Until that happens, there’s little deterrent to using this type of language.”
Federal law enforcement officials are doing their jobs, but where is the pushback from the American people? Where are the 71,000 telegrams today? Where are the respected members of society and the two political parties who should be on talk shows and social media to make clear it is not only unacceptable but also un-American to advocate or participate in political violence, domestic terrorism and armed threats, including declarations that children of law enforcement officials are “fair game”? Shouldn’t we take back the American flag from the violent extremists who claim to be patriots by wrapping themselves in it?
Perhaps Trump and his supporters feel smug in the body armor of the First Amendment as they try to intimidate and terrorize those who enforce the law. But the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled speech is not protected when it’s “directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.”
If there is one lesson we should take away from the Trump years, it’s that failing to punish wrongdoing encourages more wrongdoing, including violence and incitement to violence. Loyal Americans should stand up against terrorism and violence in all forms, verbal and physical, overt and implied, from both sides. Prominent influencers from sports, entertainment, religion and elsewhere in civil society should go public to condemn political violence and threats. And the Republican Party should officially disassociate itself from Trump, kick him off its ticket and recommend that its 36 million registered voters do the same.
Those who remember Watergate know the turmoil it caused. We also remember how Republicans ultimately did the right thing. Who would have thought 50 years later that Watergate would be considered the “good old days” of standing against corruption?
William S. Becker is co-editor and a contributor to “Democracy Unchained: How to Rebuild Government for the People,” a collection of more than 30 essays by American thought leaders on topics such as the Supreme Court’s perceived legitimacy.