President Donald Trump’s tirade against the media at a Florida rally recently echoes similar sentiments spoken by Richard Nixon (aka “Tricky Dick,” the racist anti-Semite responsible for Vietnam and Watergate) during his own Presidency. Trump called the New York Times, along with the news outlets of ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC, “the enemy of the American people."

The comparison comes from John Dean

John Dean, who worked in the White House as a part of Richard Nixon’s administration, has drawn the comparison between Trump and Tricky Dick. While he described the act of speaking on behalf of the President of the United States as “pretty outrageous,” he justified it by saying that Trump is “a pretty outrageous President.”

Dean says that Trump “makes Nixon look like a choir boy,” his reasoning being that “what Nixon used to do behind closed doors, Trump does openly.” Nixon’s involvement in shady backdoor politics made him untrustworthy, so at least Trump sticks to his word; it’s just the kind of word that causes mass outrage and protests and borders on grounds for impeachment (but unfortunately, not quite there).

Dean exposed Nixon during the Watergate scandal

During Watergate (aka the biggest political scandal of all time or at least up there in the top ten), Dean exposed some of Nixon’s secrets. When he gave his testimony at the Senate hearings, he revealed Nixon’s “Enemies List,” which is dodgy to say the least. Dean says that the Trump/Nixon problem is that the two Presidents “reflect the same attitude,” but he worries that “Trump has taken it to a much higher lever, a more intentionally intimidating level,” which could be dangerous.

Dean’s main concern is the consequences of Trump’s Presidency, saying that if he is really “as hell bent as he seems to be, who knows how much further he’ll take it?” The Trump tweet that set this comparison off saw the President once again describe the thriving New York Times as “failing,” before calling out the Times and all the named TV networks (right-wing Fox not being one of them, of course) as “FAKE NEWS media,” saying that they are “not my enemy” (although he’s certainly treating them like they are), but rather “the enemy of the American people!”

Dean supports the press

Unlike Trump, Dean appears to be a big supporter of the press.

He refers to them as “the last check and balance,” as in the ones bringing public attention to Trump’s madness and therefore instigating the protests that make as much effort as possible to stop him, and at least they’re trying and not just idly standing by and letting terrible things happen. He also worries about the ramifications of demonising reporters and calling them America’s enemies, because Trump supporters “don’t think before they act, and they have a lot of guns.” A conspiracy theory peddled by the Trump administration has already led to a shooting incident in Washington, and this is the President himself singling out a group of people. Expect journalists to start getting shot by conservatives real soon.