Sunday, November 27, 2016

NIxon and Trump: Potential similar abuses of power


Nixon: "When the president does it, that means it's not illegal."

Trump: "The law's totally on my side, the President can't have a conflict of interest."

Both sound like people who don't respect the will of the American people. And Trump like Nixon will either eventually be impeached for not following the will of the people or Trump will crown himself Emperor and dissolve the Congress and the Supreme Court.

correction: Nixon wasn't impeached because he resigned before this happened in order to protect Office the Presidency itself for future presidents. So at least in this he respected the Presidency more than Trump appears to so far.

begin partial quote from:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/26/opinions/checking-and-balancing-president-trump-zelizer/index.html

(CNN)During his meeting with The New York Times, President-elect Donald Trump sent shivers down the spines of many observers when he announced that, "The law's totally on my side, the President can't have a conflict of interest."
The comment instantly recalled the infamous remark that former President Richard Nixon made to David Frost in 1977, three years after Nixon resigned in the midst of a scandal. "When the President does it, that means it is not illegal," he told Frost. Trump's early attitude about the prestigious office he will hold brings back unsettling memories of Nixon, who didn't see the boundaries of the institution he governed.
Indeed, the first weeks since the election have raised all sorts of concerns. While Trump spent much of his campaign blasting the Clinton Foundation as some big pay-to-play scheme, Trump has been defiant in his insistence that he has the right to let his children run his international business and that he has no plan to create any kind of serious firewall. Ivanka Trump sat in on a meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister and there have been numerous reports that Trump has brought up business issues in his meetings with several foreign leaders.

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