Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Trump is like Nixon.



You say that like it is a bad thing.

I think they have a lot of similarities. They are both going to govern from a center/right position. They are both fans of big government.They are not afraid of big government programs. Realpolitik in foreign affairs. They have the support of the blue collar working man in opposition to those stupid kids. Hippies then hipsters now. They have the same bitter enemies. The  press. The Republican establishment.

What Trump has to fear is one misstep. If he does the Republicans will throw him under the bus. They will impeach him and throw him out just the way they did with Nixon. With Nixon it was the tapes and the break-in at the Watergate. With Trump is will most likely be some business deal.

I think Trump has a strategy to stop this. Going directly to the people. Through Twitter. Youtube. Facebook. The new technology. He has galvanized a true populist movement. If he delivers on most of his promises he will intimidate the so called "conservatives" and not have to worry that they will stab him in the back the way they did to Nixon. He needs to develop a following of populists who are beholden to him and not to the Republican party or some phony conservative agenda.

Right now there is a lot of speculation that he is taking in Rhinos like Romney and Nimrata Randhawa into his administration. The theory is that he can co-opt them and have them inside the tent pissing out instead of outside the tent pissing in.  This is a big mistake in my view. So far nothing has happened so we shall see what we shall see.

Nixon took in some of his rivals. He even had a Romney in his cabinet. In the end it didn't matter. Trump should take a lesson. Reward your loyalists. Both in the campaign and your voters. You can extend an olive branch. But keep the olives for your people. Otherwise you will regret it.

12 comments:

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Melanie is not like Pat though...

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Ivanka is not like Trisha...

The Dude said...

Nixon was from California. He went to Duke law school. He served in the Navy in WWII. His wife wore a cloth coat. He had a dog.

Trump is no Nixon.

Trooper York said...

Like Nixon. He is not a crook.....err....a clone.

Third Coast said...

Yup. I can't stand virtue signaling, which seems to be what Trump is trying to do. The Romney types will be the first ones to start leaking crap to the press when their feelings get hurt. John Dean anyone?

edutcher said...

Nixon was undone as an "unnamed co-conspirator" (whatever that is) because of the cover-up.

I don't see Trump falling for that. You screw up bigly, you're fired. I think he gets that.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Tricia...my bad.

deborah said...

Nixon was an alcoholic, paranoid anti-Semite.

People have often likened Hillary to Nixon.

The Dude said...

Trump is a liar.

Trooper York said...

You say that like it is a bad thing.

The Dude said...

If you like your prosecution of Mrs. Clinton you can keep your prosecution of Mrs. Clinton.

What else will go by the wayside, other than the rule of law?

Trooper York said...

Dramatic much.

The US Attorney for the Southern District just indicted a slew of Cuomo's crony's. He put Shelly Silver and Dean Skelos the leaders of the Democrat and Republican parties in NYC in jail last year.

He is handling the Weiner case. He is a scalp hunter. Hillary is a big scalp. Trump can step back and let him handle it. Giuliani has a wire into the office. So he knows he can step back and not spend all of his political capital on a show trial. He can keep his hands clean and get the same result. He will be all "I didn't want to hurt her but what can I do? The US Attorney is an independent entity and I can't tell he to drop the case." Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. That is how he is playing it.

I think we just need to wait and see a little.