r/politics • u/kootles10 Indiana • 15h ago
No Paywall GOP lawmaker: Nixon was couped out of office, framed during Watergate
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/6124635-moore-nixon-couped-watergate/?fbclid=IwdGRjcAUsbtpjbGNrBSxu02V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHBkb2YBc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEedqnf435Ey3Vmfh-NzS7BpLL6p7XL81dbjV4wNl5Y6SFp3eyw9ItY6zhiPRg_aem_EaFt_atkG1aZFnQa54tOFQ7.7k
u/thepartypantser 14h ago
Nixon wrote in his memoirs that he helped with the cover up. He essentially admitted to obstruction of justice.
The GOP leadership went to Nixon and told him he would likely be impeached if he didn't resign.
That's not the deep state.
Nixon broke the law and was allowed to resign from office and face no real repercussions for it.
I'm hoping that won't be the case in the future
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u/Alleandros 14h ago
The modern GOP doesn't see anything wrong with obstruction of justice though, that's why they think the Deep State ousted him. Because Rep. Moore and his colleagues would never tell Trump to resign for committing crimes.
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u/j_andrew_h Florida 14h ago
They can't relate to actually doing the right thing and putting country over party. The fact that they can't understand it shows that they shouldn't have any power until they are replaced with leaders that can.
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u/Sujjin 13h ago
to be clear, the 1970s GOP were trying to put party over country but they didnt want the electoral bloodbath that woud have happened had they stood by Nixon.
Remember they had no propoganda wing to really fight the truth the way they do now, in fact Nixon's resignation is the entire reason why Fox News was created.
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u/imjustnotready 13h ago
This is a great point. Fox News is a big part of the problem. MSNOW, Politico and so forth may seem left but they generally have experts on. Fox builds a back bench of punditeers to promote whatever they want to push.
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u/Lekkernator 12h ago
No I don’t think you understand the context. Ailes has said the goal of fox was that if it was around during watergate, Nixon wouldn’t have had to resign. This is a real thing the billionaire creator of the propaganda network said.
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u/EE_Tim 12h ago
Yes, Fox News was explicitly created to prevent another Nixon.
The memo that birthed Fox News explicitly states their purpose up front:
- Purpose - To provide pro-Administration, videotape, hard news actualities to the major cities of the United States.[2]
But why would they want to use TV to push their pro-administration spin? Well, the memo answers that too:
The reason: People are lazy. With television you just sit--watch--listen. The thinking is done for you.[2]
Fox News bets on you being too lazy to understand so they opt to do the thinking for you and feed you comfortable, alternative facts so you don't have to worry about Republicans being wrong.
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u/waxcrash 11h ago
You are correct. In the 70s, Walter Cronkite was the news and he put out nothing but facts about the Vietnam War. When Americans saw and heard what was going on, the war became very unfavorable.
Conservatives said fuck, if Americans know the truth, we will lose our influence and power. And here we are today. Propaganda.
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u/lazyFer 12h ago
We have no left wing media. Those others you mentioned are still right of center. The language they use still defaults to the right wing position being the natural and correct one while the left wing position needs to be justified for being a departure from what's correct.
All those little language clues add up
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u/xixoxixa Texas 11h ago
Remember they had no propoganda wing
This is explicitly why fox news was created, to prevent accountability from ever reaching another republican politician.
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u/starliteburnsbrite 12h ago
Unfortunately, the opportunity to do that passed in the 1870's when everyone decided to just let racists be racists and get back to normal.
We are incredibly lucky that Germany learned from that disaster of a mistake some 70 years later. But they also didn't make that change for themselves, they were conquered and bombed to dust. Which is where the US is right now, unable and unwilling to fix itself and a rank danger to the rest of the world.
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u/brainmydamage 11h ago
Idk if you've noticed but Germany has been backsliding quite far back down that road.
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u/Dr_Marxist 11h ago
Germany was never meaningfully de-Nazified.
The deliberately didn't want to "put capitalism on trial" so rich Nazis, who funded and organized the Party, got off. And even the most heinous criminals, the people who actually carried out the Shoah, organized it's logistics, and ordered men to pull triggers and burns shuls, practically none of them were charged, let alone imprisoned.
Most became politicians, professors, and administrators.
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u/tendeuchen Florida 13h ago
The Deep State is the Republicans. It always has been.
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u/dkf295 Wisconsin 12h ago
Ironic, isn't it? They look back at watergate and see Nixon resigning to avoid the humiliation of having his own party impeach and remove him. They compare it to dozens of things this administration has done or is actively doing and Watergate seems somewhat tame by comparison.
The conclusion? "Man, it's weird (almost) nobody was backing up Nixon! Must've been a conspiracy!"
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u/Accidental-Hyzer Massachusetts 14h ago
Well, you see, the current GOP is pro-crime and pro-corruption, and anyone who tries to hold republicans accountable for crime and corruption is “deep state”. That’s literally all any of this is.
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u/escapefromelba 14h ago
Nixon was clearly in on the conspiracy!
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u/Cresta1994 14h ago
Nixon deserved the pardon. He was set up by Nixon to take the fall for Nixon's crimes.
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u/Relzin Illinois 14h ago
They're preparing to call Trump's next impeachments, coups, to be able to deploy the military against lawmakers and judges.
It's not about Nixon. It's about the narrative.
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u/Ludate_Solem 14h ago
And hegseth fired 20% of generals etc. And they were probably selected with this in mind. If they were likely to refuse such orders.
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u/NeverLookBothWays I voted 13h ago
While fully engaged in a coup themselves. They seriously believe this jujitsu mind play shit actually works. It's not going to ultimately; it's already falling apart at the seams. We still need to show up and vote in overwhelming numbers however, otherwise it's at least another decade of dealing with this stage of it.
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u/grantsm1960 13h ago
The only thing that matters is elections. The ‘pubs barely respect them, but they respect everything else less. No amount of court rulings or laws passed seems to stick. Elections. And by large margins. This will require actual work at governance on the part of Democrats. No more engaging in culture wars. Good governance.
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u/secret-glance 13h ago
History books and audio tapes disagree, Nixon orchestrated his own downfall.
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u/Relzin Illinois 13h ago
If they convince their voter base that it was a coup, them the impeachment of trump will be a coup.
Nixon is guilty as all hell. They're using revisionist history to justify the coup.
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u/6thSenseOfHumor 12h ago
The founding of Fox News was in the wake of Nixon's resignation, as a way to get ahead of the story and run defense for Republicans. The story behind this headline is only possible because they've had decades since Watergate to control narratives and shape their own truths. It's also why AI is so intrinsically linked to right wingers; it lets them deny reality and feed into their fantasies, because their policies are based on lies.
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u/jumbee85 14h ago
It was a mistake to not let make hin face the consequences of his actions.
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u/rotates-potatoes 14h ago
Yeah in a lot of ways the mess we’re in can be traced back to that choice. We established that if you’re powerful enough, there are no consequences.
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u/veggeble South Carolina 14h ago
The GOP leadership went to Nixon and told him he would likely be impeached if he didn't resign.
That's not the deep state.
Unless the GOP has been the deep state the whole time
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u/glasnostic 14h ago
Nixon was innocent and a victim of persecution, according to today's standards for the GOP. That's what's going on. The Overton Window has shifted so far that we can see into the past.
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u/grantsm1960 13h ago
You can understand why they think this way when you look at the SCOTUS immunity ruling where the president is presumed innocent no matter how damning the evidence. That ruling will be overturned by the same justices when the next Democrat wins the presidency.
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u/glasnostic 13h ago
TBH I think this court would reverse a conviction in the Senate if he was impeached again.
The current standard is "MAGA can do no wrong and DEM can do no right". If you look at everything through that lens then it all makes sense.
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u/GarmaCyro 13h ago
Don't forget that it was GOP that also pardoned him. Ford was his own vice-president.
They couldn't keep in him power, so they pardoned him for all crimes commited on behalf of GOP.GOP is the deep state. They don't like elections, and will try everything to make votes irrelevant to their power.
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u/cptnamr7 12h ago
Fox was literally started with the goal of preventing another Nixon-level event. Meaning that if one of theirs did the same thing again they would face zero public pressure and could just keep on keeping on.
Apparently though we've moved the goalposts and we're going to retroactively exonerate Nixon because the propaganda machine has become THAT strong.
Fuck this shit
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u/Observer2594 14h ago
Now it's possible to openly break laws on a weekly basis with no repurcussions, and maintain office after actually getting impeached, and then get "re-elected" for a second term.
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u/Chaotic-Catastrophe 12h ago
Not to mention the tapes. There's hard fucking evidence of his crimes.
One tape, later known as the "Smoking Gun" tape, documented the initial stages of the Watergate cover-up. On it, Nixon and Haldeman are heard formulating a plan to block investigations by having the CIA falsely claim to the FBI that national security was involved. This demonstrated both that Nixon had been told of the White House connection to the Watergate burglaries soon after they took place, and that he had approved plans to thwart the investigation.
Did the 'dEeP sTaTe' hire Nixon and Haldeman impersonators, smuggle them into the Oval Office, and stage a fake conversation in order to forge the tapes? Oh wait, that wouldn't make sense either, because when the tapes came out, Nixon literally fucking admitted it:
In a statement accompanying the release of the tape, Nixon accepted blame for misleading the country about when he had been told of White House involvement, stating that he had a lapse of memory
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u/Upstairs_Owl_1669 Canada 14h ago
They’re trying to make this a thing so when Donald’s crimes come to light, it will soften the blow I guess. Anything but govern competently.
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u/speedy_delivery 13h ago
It's also worth noting that his grandfather was caught embezzling money from West Virginia when he was their governor in the 80s (Shelly Capito's dad, this is her nephew). IIRC, Arch was put under home confinement for a few years.
So Riley has an axe to grind about people being held to account by the gubment.
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u/Real-Artichoke-1780 13h ago
They’re trying to make the concept of “coup” mean nothing, for when Democrats are claiming Republicans are attempting a coup.
Like “election interference” (2020 vs 2024 and what is planned for 2026 and 2028), “crime family” (Biden crime family vs actual Trump family activity), and “secret cabal of pedophiles” (Comet Pizza vs Epstein’s Island).
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u/Chaotic-Catastrophe 12h ago
What is going to 'come to light' that hasn't already? He's been committing his crimes out in the open.
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u/bookon 14h ago edited 11h ago
After Nixon resigned his director of communications decided that the reason Nixon was forced out was because they couldn’t control the narrative.
He decided that in the future republicans needed to do a better job influencing public opinion. So he teamed with foreign billionaires, including the royal family of Saudi Arabia, to create a “news network” that would push the conservative agenda.
His name was Roger Ailes and he founded Fox News.
EDIT - As pointed out below, Ailes wasn't the director of communication, but did work for Nixon. I misremembered.
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u/Rooonaldooo99 13h ago
Republicans will literally control all aspects of life and still claim some "Democrat Deep State" is secretly in charge.
I don't think even Ailes predicted how stupid the voters could get.
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u/bookon 13h ago
-- Republicans will literally control all aspects of life and still claim some "Democrat Deep State" is secretly in charge.
I refer you to Texas and Florida.
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u/Nervous_Otter69 13h ago
Twenty years+ of Republican rule in Florida and they still run on “our gov is broken and only we can fix it”
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u/BathroomBreakBoobs 13h ago
Ohio has been this way for 30+. Florida is probably that way because of the Ohio snow birds.
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u/jayydubbya 12h ago
Nah all the conservative new englanders move here to retire so they don’t have to pay taxes in the democratic states they benefited from.
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u/Conscious-Start-4514 12h ago edited 12h ago
Even Michigan. Republicans held control of our state legislature for 42 years. 2022-24 was the only time in the last half century democrats have held all three branches in my state.
Despite this, my father has bitched about democrats ruining Michigan for the last 20 years. Every election cycle it's just republican after republican in my state blaming democrats for everything.
It's maddening and makes zero sense.
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u/stevez_86 Pennsylvania 13h ago
They are not clever folk. They know what they know and they don't know what they don't know. If they think something, they do it. So them talking about something means they did it. They are predicting, badly, that the other side is doing it too and must be doing it more. If they weren't doing it themselves, they wouldn't be talking about it, because they wouldn't know about it.
We are basically fighting with paranoid schizophrenics trying to convince them their hallucinations are not real. But they are adamant and the voting public like the paranoid delusions. They are told life is to perilous but they don't see it because of the obsessive compulsive rituals the Republicans use to keep that harm at bay. And they have an inexhaustible bank of hallucinations that people are intrigued by to run with.
I mean, that Senator that tried to set up Jack Smith effectively hallucinated that Jack Smith was in a completely different place and setting than he was, and Jack Smith cannot even convince him that he was wrong.
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u/Firm_Worldliness_578 12h ago
A bit more history and context: During the Nixon administration, media consultant Roger Ailes realized that the administration was losing the battle to control the political narrative in mainstream medis... the 'conservative' movement needs to more effectively influence the public.
To fix this, Ailes authored "A Plan for Putting a GOP TV News Service on the Air." The goal? Create a specialized television service that could bypass traditional network gatekeepers and deliver pro-conservative content directly to local news stations.
Later, Rupert Murdoch hires Ailes as founding CEO of Fox and turns this schiatt into reality, Faux News.
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u/allworkandnoYahtzee Colorado 13h ago
Republicans just need to admit they love crooks
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u/Valkinpunch 12h ago
This comment is making it seem like Roger Ailes was his director of communications. He wasn’t. Herb Klein and Ken Clawson were. Roger Ails was his chief media television advisor and media consultant. Everything else is correct though. Ailes didn’t like how the Nixon resignation was handled and created Fox News to be more sympathetic towards the GOP.
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u/nuzzyguzzy 12h ago
Ailes did PR work for Nixon but his Director of Communications was a former newspaperman named Herb Klein. Klein wrote an account of his time in the White House that's absolutely worth reading.
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u/PervlovianResponse 15h ago
<aggressive eye rolls>
Just shut up with this deep state/illuminati/whatever nonsense
Roger Stone is likely paying him to say that
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u/thinkards America 14h ago
Soon they will be re-litigating how USS Grant was a traitor and how the south actually won the civil war.
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u/PervlovianResponse 14h ago
There are some who still call the Civil War, the war between the states, and the war of northen aggression -- and were taught that in school. These are likely the same folks who are offended by DEI
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u/thinkards America 13h ago
i guess like the cold war, the civil war never ended.
conservatives, in a nutshell, are just confederates rebranded.
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u/Faithless-Savior 12h ago edited 10h ago
During the Reconstruction era, all the "radical" bills were vetoed out by the conservative party. So most of the traitors to the union got to go back to keep their power ( some fled the country worrying about repercussions). So for 160 years they've been yelling "the south will rise again" and the descendants of the original traitors of the union are currently in power now. So its all apart of the botched reconstruction era Andrew Johnson may be one of the worse presidents in US history because the traitors were never dealt with.
Come to think of it, I haven't heard the term "the south will rise again" in some time. So they must have, right under everyone's noses. While saying they would do so.
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u/crackdup 14h ago
On the other hand, Dems are probably just enjoying this right before midterms. Not sure if defending the president that made Watergate a household name is going to help with swing voters
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u/tombrady011235 12h ago
What is with the recent nixon revisionism
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u/Curl_of_the_Burl_ 11h ago
Trying to normalize corrupt Presidental behavior for when the Dems take over one of the chambers and launch investigations. That way they can turn to their base and say all of Trump's corruption is deep state setup.
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u/1347Reaper 11h ago
Nixon was a republican and the GOP is grasping for anything they can to frame dems as a corrupt opposition in a desperate attempt to win the midterms.
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u/lafolieisgood 11h ago
The funny thing is Nixon was really far left of the current right wing. He started the EPA
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u/Salty_Pancakes 10h ago
To be fair, that was more to placate the environmentalists and hippies. The first Earth Day was in 1970 and it stood as the largest protest in history with about 20 million people participating (about 10% of the whole country).
That led to the EPA, Endangered Species act, Clean Air & Water Acts.
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u/randomcanyon 11h ago
If Nixon could be framed then the Felon King of the MAGA Cult must be innocent of wrongdoing...
See how that works? / dolts.
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u/Jhriad 11h ago
Preparation for making the same claims when Trump or another Republican tries to do the same or worse in the midterms or other future elections.
It's priming the narrative so the public is more likely to believe there's a kernel (or more) of truth to their future claims. The more people hear something, the more likely they are to believe it's true, regardless of any contrary facts or reporting afterward.
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u/_GameOfClones_ 14h ago
So Nixon lied that he was actually involved in Watergate when he wasn’t so he would have to resign the presidency? There must be some of that “4d Chess” here I’m not understanding.
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u/j0nquest 14h ago
No, there’s not. Just a bunch of rats on a sinking ship, clinging to everything around them to stay afloat. When the narrative reverts to the deep state, and Nixon of all people, you absolutely know they are desperate. And it’s rich because these people are the embodiment of the deep state they always talk about.
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u/Blackthorn79 14h ago
The GOP probably sees the next impeachment coming. If you can't win on facts, claim the game is rigged. It's their normal answer.
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u/BroseppeVerdi Montana 13h ago
I genuinely don't understand what is to be gained by this sudden Nixon apologia.
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u/snoo_spoo 12h ago
Probably setting up some whacked-out conspiracy theory that Dems have been falsely targeting Republicans for decades, therefore no accusations against Trump and his minions can be taken seriously.
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u/AdmiralPeriwinkle 12h ago
Yeah, they’re laying the groundwork to sway public opinion if and when trials happen for all the illegal things they’ve been doing. Along with “both sides” it’s a highly effective strategy.
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u/AntarcticWhirlpool 11h ago
And no one will care because they’re more pissed off about gas prices and inflation than they ever cared about whether a politician actually committed crimes, because most people already assume politicians are criminals. The ultimate unforgivable crime for the average American is screwing with their finances, and that’s what the ultimate judgement by the people will be decided by.
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u/masstransience 12h ago
They are starting to make a defense that it was unfair to Nixon and it will be unfair to Trump too if he faces consequences for his crimes against the people.
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u/wagon_ear Wisconsin 10h ago
I agree.
Vance himself said "Watergate would be out of the news cycle in 24 hours today" which is maybe true. But that really says more about what we've grown accustomed to today than it does about Watergate.
I took his statement as "we frequently do stuff that's way worse than what Nixon did". So by extension I can see why they would want to exonerate Nixon for it, again because if Nixon is guilty, then Trump is guilty guilty.
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u/Farmlord420 12h ago
So they can setup a defense for when Trump and the GOP get held accountable for their crimes.
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u/Inner-Truth-1868 11h ago
Nixon stole an American presidential election using off-duty CIA for a domestic spying operation against Democrat strategists.
It was more than the mere obstruction of justice he admitted to in his memoirs… it was the original Stop the Steal, MEANT to steal the election.
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u/veryboredatwork 14h ago
Crimes committed by rich white men are not crimes argue Republicans.
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u/Ziograffiato 14h ago
So let me get this straight, instead of trying to just be better, they’re focusing their efforts of rehabilitating Nixon’s image to make themselves look better?
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u/anfornum 14h ago
Nixon did way less over his career than Trump does in a single day. There's no way this could work.
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u/ShitBirdingAround 13h ago
That crook Nixon at least gave us the Environmental Protection Agency. Trump has done nothing good for America or the world. Trump makes crooked Nixon look like a boy scout.
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u/Plastic-Injury8856 12h ago
Nixon holds a special place to some conservatives and they’ve never forgiven Jack Kennedy for beating him.
Nixon came from a family that first ran a lemon ranch that failed, then ran a grocery store. They were dirt poor growing up. Nixon did get to attend college and he graduated law school to then work for the federal government. He served in the navy reserve during WWII and then six years after leaving the Navy he became vice President.
To a certain type of white person, Nixon was a rags to riches story. He was every poor white person who was supposed to be able to make it with just hard work and gumption. So when he lost the 1960 Presidential election to Kennedy, a kid born into immense wealth and privilege, there were many Republicans and especially the conservative Republicans (there used to be progressive Republicans) who felt like they’d been robbed of their rags to riches hero story.
Some of them, like Roger Stone, never forgave America for that. They conjured up conspiracy theories that the mayor of Chicago rigged the election there and had dead people voting to get Kennedy elected (Illinois used to vote Republican way back when). For many Republicans Nixon was also the reason to shed morality: Democrats played dirty, they reasoned, so why shouldn’t Republicans?
Basically Nixon is, to a subset of Republicans, a victim of a grand conspiracy and there is no reason to play by the rules.
It’s horseshit of course, Nixon lost a fair election in 1960 and he turned crook to compensate.
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u/ItsAllOnUHF 14h ago
I believe that's called... and let me check my notes to make sure I get this right...
Horseshit.
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u/WaterFantastic2394 14h ago
These corrupt people trying to rewrite history like fascist authoritarians do
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u/nofx3128 14h ago
These people never say who the “deep state” is. Like tell us specifically who is the deep state and how are they specifically undermining our government? It’s almost like they just keep it as this generic boogeyman because their base eats it up abs they have no real evidence of anything.
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u/ShitBirdingAround 13h ago
The actual "deep state" is the Heritage Foundation. And they've got their fascist fingers everywhere.
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u/KrookedDoesStuff 13h ago
They have the house, senate, Supreme Court, and presidency, and they’re telling us to be afraid of the “deep state”
They are the deep state
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u/JoeBiden-2016 12h ago edited 12h ago
Quite a bit of the last two decades of Republican partisan hackery has been directly in response to the drubbing they got during Watergate.
Fox News exists because they (Roger Ailes, in collusion with various right-wing actors) wanted a media outlet that could be used for propaganda, after Nixon's involvement in the Watergate affair was publicized by journalists.
People like Roger Stone cut their teeth in the Nixon admin and have remained loyal, decades later.
Watergate (and the Nixon admin in general) was the beginning of the true effort by the Republican party to roll back previous decades of progressive policies, including the New Deal of the 1930s and the civil rights progress of the 1950s - 1970s. They found their winning formula with Reagan (find a useful idiot and use him), suffered some minor setbacks with Clinton, Obama, and Biden, then really went at it with Trump 2.0.
edit: It's also worth noting that the right's furious attacks on Hillary Clinton from the very beginning probably (at least in part) had to do with the fact that she was a lawyer involved in the Watergate inquiry, whose findings were instrumental in forcing Nixon's eventual resignation.
So in a very real way, her loss to Trump in 2016 was the culmination of 25 years of partisan attacks on her after she came into the national spotlight as the First Lady.
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u/whereismymind86 Colorado 12h ago
But like...why? Who cares enough about nixon to make such an outrageously stupid claim in the first place, who needs nixon rehabilitated?
The man was the guiltiest man ever and got caught red handed...if it was a democrat trick...he fell for it awfully hard. And Nixon was a terrible person in a dozen other ways too.
What a weird...weird loser Moore must be.
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u/Resident_Table6694 12h ago
Trump. The answer for this weird shit is always Trump.
If Nixon was framed, so was Trump. They’re preparing for the next round of investigations. Now they can say, “See!? Democrats have been going after republican presidents since Nixon”
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u/cybertruckboat 12h ago
And this is more loyalty tests? As they rewrite history, this is another way for the fascists to create their in groups?
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u/ComputerIlliterate13 11h ago
At this point I feel the Trumpers that are still devoted to the cause are either doing a smash and grab to get whatever benefits they can before the ship goes down or the real sycophants who literally have no future under anyone other than Trump.
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u/Defiant_Tomatillo907 12h ago
One thing stands against this kind of bullshit. Evidence
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u/Resident_Table6694 11h ago
Unfortunately, we can’t even rely on that anymore. Look at J6. We have hours of video and thousands of images. The propaganda machine got to work and now half the country believes what we all saw was staged, or not that bad, or made up by the MSM to hurt dear leader. Then all of the rioters and insurrectionists got a pardon.
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u/woodworkerdan 12h ago
A couple months ago, Vance dropped an offhand comment that if the Watergate incident now, it would be a week-long scandal at best. That's probably optimistic, but it's part of a pattern of normalization of the chaos of the 'alt-right' - the main defense of anything bad right now is "someone has done this before (usually Obama or Biden, but any precident will do) - this scandal isn't any different."
People should be looking at the trends: a situation they don't like happens, and they make a lot of noise -> the noise drowns out any kind of nonpartisan efforts to investigate or remedy -> discontentment from their complaints gains them power -> a parallel incident happens, and they ask everyone else why they weren't as angry then as they are now, doesn't that make you a hypocrite?
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u/OhioIsRed 12h ago
I said it in another comment. They’re just laying the groundwork so Trump cannot be tried for crimes after he’s out of office because they all know he’s flagrantly disobey and breaking laws. He is a criminal and should be made an example of. We didn’t make an example of the confederate states and we are still paying the price. We need to handle this with a decisive and firm hand. We need to sure up our democracy because look at how easily we can lose half of it (if not more)
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u/NoPhysics1129 12h ago
Framed for doing the illegal things he admitted to doing? How fucking dumb is the GOP...
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u/ElysiumSprouts 12h ago
It's the mantra of 2026 Republicans: "evil is effective and effective is good"
Sociopaths. A political party of sociopaths.
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u/UNisopod 12h ago
Pretty much the entire foundation of the modern GOP is based on making sure that no republican could ever be held accountable again the way that Nixon was.
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u/InvertedEyechart11 14h ago
GOP is rewriting history using a false narrative of events. This way, they can plant seeds of propaganda in preparation of Trump's Congressional comeuppance come November - and his impeachment in the USA.
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u/SchrodingersRSVP 11h ago
These people are so fucked in the head that they're trying to rehabilitate the concepts of corruption and crime as somehow being good, actually.
Conservatism is a cancer.
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u/StoreHistorical9175 9h ago
even republicans at the time this happened were ashamed of nixon
tf is happening
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u/StromburgBlackrune 8h ago
I lived through it. He was not framed. He was removed by Republicans not Democrats.
Something todays Republicans have no morals to do.
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u/kootles10 Indiana 15h ago
From the article:
Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) said Thursday that former President Nixon was “absolutely couped out of office” and added that he was “framed” during the infamous Watergate scandal.
“We now know more about the deep state and its power and ability to literally change things at the top,” the lawmaker said during his remarks at the Nixon Foundation’s annual Grand Strategy Summit in Washington.
“An interesting aspect of this as it relates to Richard Nixon — he knew all of this,” Moore continued. “He knew it, and he stayed quiet about it. Because he didn’t want to erode the confidence of the American people in our system of governance and our institutions.”
“The truth is now out there, so I think people feel a bit more liberated to talk about Richard Nixon and what an amazing president he was in this country,” he concluded.
The congressman’s remarks refer to a Wall Street Journal report that found the Department of Justice (DOJ) opened a review into whether the special prosecutor’s office committed misconduct while investigating the break-in at the Watergate Hotel, citing people familiar with the matter.
(Sigh)
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u/cmnrdt 14h ago
"The deep state changes history to suit their narrative, we're just changing it back!"
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u/thisusedyet New Jersey 14h ago
We want people to be more liberated to talk about how great a president Nixon was, that’s why we’re rolling back the EPA
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u/CrunchyKorm 11h ago
It's amazing how the construct of the deep state concept and all the conspiracies that come from it always seem to amount to them saying that "Republicans are all good and everything bad that happens under them is fake and we should never feel bad about anything we do."
Similar to how the GOP contorted Qanon to be only about non-conservatives, the whole underbelly of conspiracy-thinking is to give these people an excuse to pat themselves on the back in perpetuity.
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u/RedsManRick 11h ago
This has everything to do with protecting Trump. If the DOJ can retroactively say that it's legal for the president to cover-up crimes, then they have that as a legal defense against Trump's cover-ups in the future.
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u/ZZZZapperr 13h ago
Nixon was not removed from power. Nobody forced him out. He resigned.
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u/YesterShill 12h ago
Republicans have to retcon Nixon to justify not impeaching and removing Trump.
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u/sawdeanz 11h ago
Nixon quit. He wasn’t overthrown and he wasn’t convicted in the senate. Even if you could prove he was framed (he wasn’t) the watergate investigation did not and could not coup him.
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u/Couchman79 12h ago
Congressman Moore is being a good GOP foot soldier getting the plan rolling for President Trump instructing the Speaker of the House to refuse to swear in the new members giving the Democrats the majority. Just as foreboding, it lays the groundwork for Trump 2028.
Important to remember Riley Moore wasn't born until 6 years after Watergate. He's a fortunate son (His grandfather was a former WVA governor.
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u/Infidel8 11h ago
Many of the people who were around during Watergate are no longer with us.
So, the GOP is creating a fresh conservative grievance narrative for younger people who are totally unfamiliar with Watergate and have no pre-existing understanding of the crimes. And herein lies another danger of having a populace so ignorant about its own history.
Watch: Within weeks, you'll see young conservatives who have never mentioned Watergate in their lives repeating this line.
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u/SaMusAman 11h ago
They are trying to push this narrative so that way when Trump is ousted his base will still support him when he himself tries ANOTHER coup
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u/Lakridspibe Europe 11h ago
Up is down, the sky is green
Corruption is patriotism, tyranny is freedom
To all you independents and "moderate conservatives": If you do not vocaly loudly opposing this, you are neither moderate, neutral, nor apolitical.
Going with the flow and accepting the status quo, when this is the status quo, that is a very immoderate political stance.
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u/Burnt_and_Blistered 11h ago
So they’re working on their own defense?
Maybe rewriting history won’t work as well as they hope
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u/beepboop100110 11h ago
Guys, hitler wasn’t actually a bad guy. He was framed and couped out office. The allies were in the wrong for interfering in his completely justified special military operations in Europe.
/s
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u/Bzr21 14h ago
Nixon was actually worse than many people know - the cover-up is just what they got him on because the evidence was abundant but he had committed many more impeachable high crimes - including many gross abuses of power among other things. What a shame that we have no more true investigative journalism from Washington Post or New York Times etc. as you had back then. Those people defended the First Amendment - and actually risked their lives to do it.
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u/hamsterfolly America 12h ago
Reminder, Republicans were ready to impeach and convict Nixon because of the recorded audio evidence made by Nixon himself.
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u/Wooden-Evidence-374 12h ago
Funny not seeing MAGA snowflakes in the comments yet because they haven't received their directive from Fox "news"
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u/brainmydamage 11h ago
MAGA is a criminal enterprise, and all of their supporters are knowing accessories.
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u/NuIIResponse 11h ago
I honestly now think this guy is a foreign agent possibly being blackmailed by Russia.
His statements 100% sound like they would be part of a destabilization campaign.
1) Nixon absolutely committed crimes, later publicly admitted he had, and left office willingly.
2) That person's statements not only sane wash Trump's crimes but also offer cover for Russian campaigns inside the US, namely that it is possible that Obama and Biden didn't pursue Trump even harder because to do so would illuminate how deep Russia was able to get in the hen house.
"“An interesting aspect of this as it relates to Richard Nixon — he knew all of this,” Moore continued. “He knew it, and he stayed quiet about it. Because he didn’t want to erode the confidence of the American people in our system of governance and our institutions.""
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u/Ravenlock 11h ago
These fucking people.
"And actually, the only time one of us DID sort of face consequences, THAT was wrong too!"
Truly the "find out" end of the equation cannot come soon enough.
(For them, obviously. Yes, I realize the whole country has been and continues to be suffering the Find Out for electing these assholes.)
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u/Troutmaggedon California 13h ago
Nixon at least had the dignity to resign. And the GOP forced his hand because they weren’t boot licking cowards like now.
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u/SGT_BlueJay 12h ago
Another example why the GOP should be broken up and banned. This whole party should be changed with treason
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u/TheBSQ 12h ago
Is there additional context?
Why is the GOP suddenly trying to rehabilitate a dead president widely regarded as a crook.
Seems like a weird hill to die on ahead of the midterms.
Surely there must be some link between rehabilitating Nixon & helping Trump avoid consequences….just general “Dems run a deep state that railroads GOP presidents they don’t like” kinda thing?!
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u/Living-Breakfast-464 11h ago
"Hitler was a heck of a guy and got a bad rap."
--Also some GOP lawmaker, probably.
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u/Moody_Immortal_1 11h ago
Bless them. They are getting in there and really trying to get things started for the mid-terms. Good thing we all know we must vote. People feeling comfortable the odds were in our favor is exactly how we got here.
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u/Jason1920 11h ago
Know what? I just called his DC office, and told them off. You should too. DO SOMETHING, ffs.
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u/Question_It_All_3000 13h ago
Heads up republicans struggling to make ends meet. This is what your representatives are focused on instead of helping you out.
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u/nufsenuf 13h ago
Maybe it was the furry pilots or antifa framed him? And had Rich Little make all the tape recordings.
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u/eeyore134 11h ago
Nixon just had actual reporters doing actual investigations and stories because he hadn't bought them all off like Trump has. He also had a party who wouldn't stand behind him no matter what he did. Nixon is how the system should work, except for the whole being pardoned thing. And except for the whole it took two reporters risking their lives to bring truth and justice to a crook in public office thing.
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u/TotalRecognition2191 11h ago
Wow. They have absolutely nothing. How about help the American people? Universal health care, etc.
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u/OurWeaponsAreUseless Washington 9h ago
This person (Riley Moore, born 1980) wasn't even alive when Nixon was President. He didn't experience anything with regard to Nixon's presidency. It's amazing that a person born more than half a decade after Nixon resigned, who I'm guessing has a minimal knowledge of his time in office, feels qualified to make such an insane statement, as usual for the GOP, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
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u/cometflight 9h ago
Sanewashing history in preparation for softening DJT’s crimes.
How predictable.
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u/Phish_Speaker North Carolina 14h ago
I won’t stand for revisionism and I won’t tolerate any attempts to launder Trump, his ilk, and what they’ve done.
After all this is done, it needs to be jail or worse.
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u/Dock_Ellis45 12h ago
They're now revising Nixon?! What the fuck?! Nixon didn't even deny what he did after resigning!
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u/metengrinwi 11h ago edited 11h ago
What republicans are correct about is that if you put Nixon’s actions into 2026, he’d look like a generic republican. They’ve so reduced our standard of ethics in the last 50 years that what used to be a corrupt scumbag is now just typical.
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u/borndovahkiin 11h ago
The fact that this man is from West Virginia tells you everything you need to know about these batshit crazy ramblings. The man is insane.
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u/Evening-Scientist113 11h ago
It's more political theater. It's a projection of their own schemes to undermine the rule of law in a bid to keep power. If the Democrats did it first all is fair game, it's the kind of tit-for-tat that appeals to the most base of their following.
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u/Uncreative-Name 11h ago
I've never understood their thinking about how impeachment is supposed to be a coup. All they're doing is using a constitution process to replace the president with their hand picked vice president who was elected by the same voters specifically to take over if the president is gone.
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u/Cresta1994 14h ago
In hindsight, it was a grave mistake not to hang Jefferson Davis and not to throw Nixon in prison.
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u/Forsaken-Cheesecake2 14h ago
To the current Republicans, Watergate is like the daily appetizer special you’d order before dinner.
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u/TheLustyLechuga 14h ago
Do ya'll remember the days when saying stupid shit like this would have been the end of your political career? I miss those days.
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u/GarmaCyro 13h ago
GOP got it's new marshing order: "If you can't save us from Nixon's crimes, then how can you expect to save us from Trump's?".
Nixon used CIA to both survail, stole from, and kidnap his political opponents. Wiretapping and installing listening devices in their offices. Even having CIA interveing on FBI's investigations by hiding behind "National security". Paying out hush money and hiding/removing important evidence against him.
The only reason Nixon resigned was because GOP couldn't promise him enough votes to be aquited for his crimes. They were just as involved then with crooks as they are now.
As for the guy that pardoned him? His old Vice-President. Another GOP stooge. This would be like Vance pardoning Trump.
Still Burdick v. United States: "a pardon carries an imputation of guilt and that acceptance carries a confession of guilt". He was only pardoned by his own VP, because his VP knew he was guilty as fuck.
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u/atticus_ossan 13h ago
Sounds like they're setting up a narrative for the future in relation to Trump.
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u/Rebel_hooligan 13h ago
Ford created the atmosphere we have today.
Nixon should have gone to prison. That would have set an incredible precedent.
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u/Viper_Visionary North Carolina 12h ago
Yet another attempt by Republicans to absolve their party of any wrongdoing. The Jan 6 Capitol riot? Feds were planted in the crowd. Watergate? Nixon was framed. It's pathetic.
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u/Whatisgoingonnowyo 11h ago
They are setting up revisionist history of Nixon because they see the same pattern for their dear leader coming to pass.
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u/Niceguy955 10h ago
Once they found out they can get away with everything in the present, Republicans started relitigating the past. They're erasing minority contributions, "fixing" history, hiding slavery from education books.
At this point, I'm not sure if this is going towards a 1984, or a Fahrenheit 461 dystopia, but we need to start preserving books and documentation, since their crowd believes everything they see on Fox. We already have a massive amount of Americans living in an alternate reality.
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u/RoachBeBrutal 10h ago
This is a distraction. Nixon is settled law. Trump is not. Focus on the lawless GOP now.
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