I lived through the Vietnam war in the US. The government had lost all credibility. There were riots in Boston and elsewhere and students were shot and killed by The National Guard for demonstrating peacefully on campus in Kent, Ohio. Tens of thousands fled to Canada and Donald Trump claimed he had bad feet. And that was just about a civil war we had no business getting in the middle of in the first place.

What Nixon did

Essentially President “tricky dick” Nixon did was try to spy on the DNC and then lie about it. The price he paid was to be forced to resign his office, the first, and so far, only US president ever to resign.

But the real reason Richard M. “Tricky Dick" Nixon earned his nickname, reminiscent of Mafia nicknames, and had to resign in total disgrace was because he lied and lost the trust of the American people with his “secret plan” to end the Vietnam War - a plan which remains a big secret to this day, and lies about white house support for “the plumbers” who were caught burglarizing the Democratic National Committee Headquarters in The Watergate offices. Nixon lost all credibility with the people of the United States and paid for it.

Nixon was at war with the press also.

What Trump has done.

By contrast Candidate Trump called on Russia to electronically burglarize his opponent; his campaign staff was in almost constant contact with Russian intelligence officers; he lied about this even after he and President Obama were both told about these unusual contacts; he kept his top security aid Flynn in top secret conferences for 17 days after being told Flynn was vulnerable to blackmail by Russia - only firing him after The Washington Post broke the story about Flynn’s contacts; he keeps praising Vladimir Putin, and lastly, president Trump seems to have kept his Vice President in the dark about these things.

All this and much more in 3 weeks. Nixon lasted into his second term.

Meanwhile, General Raymond Thomas, head of US Special Operations Command less than a day after Flynn’s resignation told a symposium in Maryland, "Our government continues to be in unbelievable turmoil. I hope they sort it out soon because we're a nation at war."

After all this what does the White House insist is the problem?

The leaks which enabled the press to inform the public about all these blunders and conspiracy theories about the recent campaign.

White House staff and Trump insiders would benefit from reading what happened to a number of highly placed Nixon White House advisors in the wake of his resignation.

> The White House Chief of Staff, H. R. Haldeman was charged with various criminal offenses and could have gotten a Federal vacation of 25 years in a minimum security prison.

> John Mitchell, Attorney General, was also indicted and faced up to 25 years in prison, he served 19 months.

> John Ehrlichman, domestic affairs assistant to Nixon, faced 25 years in prison, served 18 months.

> Charles Colson, White House Counsel, served seven months because he cut a deal and testified against the others.

> Gordon Strachan, aid to Haldeman faced 15 years but charges were dropped.

And don’t look for a presidential pardon from President Trump. Nixon refused to pardon any of his co-conspirators (Nixon was the first president ever to be named as an unindicted co-conspirator) because he would then be forced to pardon Viet Nam deserters and draft dodgers which his opponents wanted.

Remember too that White House Counsel is a lawyer, but not YOUR lawyer. Colson testified against others in the Watergate scandal. You have no privilege when speaking to Donald McGahn, he has no obligation to keep your secrets for you in fact he has an obligation to use your information against you in service of President Trump, his client.

It is also important to remember that even being deposed by a congressional committee or the FBI means hiring a very expensive law firm to go with you and if you are charged with something it might bankrupt you to defend yourself.
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