If Dean Is Right about Trump and Watergate, America May Slip into a Death Spiral

It’s well known that a major test of America’s democratic institutions was the authoritarian behavior of the President Richard Nixon. What’s not well known, however, is if this current test of America’s democratic institutions will be able to withstand the authoritarian behavior of President Donald Trump. Indeed, and in addition to partisan warfare, today’s Congress has very little oversight over the presidency. Together with a lack of civility and toleration and a shared mission to search for the truth, some warn that the Trump administration’s repeated lies and stonewalling may cause America to slip into a death spiral. This goes for safeguards which are supposed to protect the U.S. Constitution.

“I Don’t Leave!”
With Trump’s response to John Dean’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, it gets even worse. Dean, who was Nixon’s White House Counsel, compared the severity of Watergate to that of Trump and Russiagate. Trump meanwhile fired back and drew a distinction between himself and President Nixon declaring: “He left. I don’t leave. A big difference!” (1) Taken with Trump’s actions during the Russia investigation, which had already prompted comparisons to the Watergate scandal and obstruction charges, and with what Trump’s longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen said, in that: “I fear that if he loses the election in 2020, that there will never be a peaceful transition;” well designed constitutions can even fail. So too can democracies.

“Lock Them Up!”
First, Nixon never did fully embrace the norms of mutual toleration and respect-let alone the U.S. Constitution. Along with seeing public opponents and the press as enemies, his staff justified illicit activities with the claim that their domestic opponents-often depicted as anarchists and communists-posed a threat to the nation and constitutional order. (2) If this sounds familiar it should. Trump has also referred to the press as enemies of the state, going as far as singling out journalists as “traitors” and “enemies of the people.” He’s moreover conjured up a Deep State Conspiracy, attacked opponents with blistering names, and demonized them and their ethnicity. In several cases, he’s even led his supporters in chants to: “Lock them up!”

“Dig Up Dirt”
Something else Trump has done that the Nixon Administration did is to order/allow his campaign aides to break into the Democratic National Committee’s email servers and personal accounts. It included meeting with Russian agents to “dig up dirt” on opponents and accepting assistance from Russia’s Internet Research Agency and military operatives to rig the 2016 general election in his favor. It’s also hard to deny the similarities with Nixon who told his aide and co-conspirator G. Gordon Liddy, “We’re up against an enemy, a conspiracy. We’re using any means…is that clear?” (3) Liddy then justified the 1972 break-in of the DNC’s Headquarters. Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Gen. Michael Flynn, and Rick Gates did the same with Trump’s criminality.

Enemies List To “Kill List”
Meanwhile, both Nixon and Trump moved away from democratic norms and civility. Whereas Nixon kept an “enemies list” and sent a memo to his White House Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldeman, to compile a list of the administration’s opponents to develop an “intelligence program to take them on,” Trump has sent memos to his Attorney General William Barr to do the same. Hundreds of names have not only made the president’s first “kill list,” but the Trump administration is starting to deploy the Internal Revenue Service as a political weapon to audit key opponents. (4) Some warn this may in fact be why Special Counsel Robert Mueller ended his investigation early, quickly assigning the remaining fourteen investigations to different courts and lawyers.

Search for “Unvarnished” Truth
Although Nixon’s criminal assault on democratic institutions were contained, this time what’s worrisome is an important safeguard to protect the U.S. Constitution. Not only was The Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities to investigate Nixon very bipartisan and civil, but it consisted of a group of Democrats and Republicans that were committed to “bipartisan search for the unvarnished truth.” Just as important were the hearings. They did not attack each other nor call names. Neither did they distort the outcome of the findings and hearings. And when it came apparent that Nixon’s repeated lies and stonewalling had failed, and that more truth was uncovered, they put aside partisan politics. It was Nixon’s own party that requested him to resign.

America’s Many Caveats
The bipartisan cooperation of Democrats and Republicans, which included political civility and a search for the truth, eventually uncovered Nixon’s crimes. It also triggered widespread calls for Nixon’s resignation. So did a Supreme Court that was not as politically divisive as the one today. Consequently, America must conclude that a troubling caveat faces them. It consists of civil norms which have broken down and an extremely polarized Congress and Supreme Court. Together with the same extremities within society, episodes of intolerance and partisan warfare are bound to destroy the few remaining safeguards of democracy. This goes for democratic institutions, the most dangerous one now belonging to President Trump.

“Death Spirals” Which Destroy Democracy
Will President Trump remain firm in his threats to instigate violence if he loses the 2020 election? Or if he does lose, and unlike Nixon, “…I don’t leave. A big difference!”? Either way, whatever was left of America’s democracy has suffered. Nor does it appear that it’s about to improve. To be sure, executive privilege in the hands of an already privileged business executive is explosive. America may not pass the test this time. A test which not only effectively contains a constitutional crisis and democratic challenge but prevents it from sliding into more episodes of violence and intolerance or partisan warfare. The kind that so often escalated into the same “death spiral” which destroyed democracies in Europe in the 1930’s and Latin America in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.

(1) www.bloomberg.com. “Trump Says He’s No Nixon Because ‘He left. I Don’t Leave,’” by Margaret Taley. Jun 10, 2019.

(2) Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. How Democracies Die: New York, New York: Crown Publishers, 2018., p. 141.

(3) Ibid., p. 145.

(4) www.worldbeyondwar.org. “’Take Me Off Trump’s Kill List,’ Journalists Urge US Courts,” from reprieve.org. October 27, 2018.