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Opinion Ford’s pardon of Nixon was a historic mistake. Trump is the beneficiary.

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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By Max Boot

Columnist |


For the past week, Republican snowflakes have been having a meltdown over the FBI’s search of former president Donald Trump’s Florida residence for classified documents he took while leaving office. The MAGA legions darkly suggest that tyranny looms if FBI agents can treat a former president like a normal criminal suspect.
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For anyone familiar with how other democracies from France to South Korea have indicted, convicted and even imprisoned former leaders, this is more than a little strange. Where do Republicans get the idea that a former president should be above the law?
It all goes back, I suspect, to Richard M. Nixon, the first president caught red-handed breaking the law. Watergate special prosecutor Leon Jaworski concluded that “there is clear evidence that Richard M. Nixon participated in a conspiracy to obstruct justice by concealing the identity of those responsible for the Watergate break-in and other criminal offenses.”
Yet the special counsel was prevented from indicting Nixon while he was in office because Nixon’s own Justice Department held that “the indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President would impermissibly undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions.” That opinion was conveniently seconded in 2000 by Bill Clinton’s Justice Department when he was under threat of a potential indictment from the Whitewater independent counsel, Kenneth W. Starr. It was then cited by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III in 2019 as grounds for not prosecuting then-President Trump for likely obstruction of justice.


No court has ever ruled that a president cannot be indicted, and some eminent scholars dispute that finding, but the Justice Department has acted as though this conclusion were holy writ. That means that the only way to hold a sitting president accountable is via the impeachment process. But Trump was impeached twice and acquitted both times because senators of his own party ignored overwhelming evidence of his guilt.
If you want to know why Trump thought he could get away with inciting an assault on Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, I would submit that part of the reason was his previous success in beating the rap for trying to extort the president of Ukraine. Then, after having been acquitted of “high crimes and misdemeanors” in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, he felt free to leave Washington with classified documents. Just imagine what he will do in the event he returns to office. I doubt our democracy would survive another Trump term.
Surely, you might think, Trump would finally be held to account now that he is no longer in office, but another Nixon precedent has created an implicit assumption of immunity even for ex-presidents. On Sept. 8, 1974, a month after being sworn in, President Gerald Ford granted Nixon a “full, free and absolute pardon … for all offenses against the United States which he ... has committed.” This was his way of putting the Watergate scandal — “our long national nightmare” — behind us.
Ford was pilloried for his decision. His approval rating plunged 21 percentage points overnight and never recovered. Yet even many of those most critical at the time — including Ted Kennedy, Bob Woodward and former Watergate prosecutor Richard Ben-Veniste — later concluded that Ford was a “decent and honorable man” who had done the right thing after all. Ford even won the 2001 Profile in Courage Award from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum for letting Nixon off the hook.
Well, I humbly submit, it’s high time to rethink Ford’s decision to pardon Nixon along with the Justice Department’s decision to grant Nixon immunity from prosecution while in office. Both decisions should be recognized as historic mistakes whose toxic fallout still poisons our democracy.
Things might look very different today if Nixon had gone to the slammer instead of escaping the wreckage of his presidency to rehabilitate his reputation and win acclaim as an esteemed elder statesman. He was a crook and should have been treated as one. The kid-gloves treatment Nixon received created an expectation of criminal impunity for both sitting and former presidents that leads Republicans to think that it’s an outrage for Trump to be probed by prosecutors, no matter how many laws he might have broken.
Republican partisans are absolutely right that it’s unprecedented for the FBI to search a former president’s home — just as it would be unprecedented to indict a former president. But it shouldn’t be. Any current or former president who commits a crime should face the consequences. In this case, if a jury concludes that the orange man broke the law, he should wind up in an orange jumpsuit.
Attorney General Merrick Garland is receiving horrific abuse, but he is doing the right thing — the long overdue thing — by pricking the bubble of presidential impunity. Republicans who suggest that the FBI search turns us into a “banana republic” have it backward. Allowing Trump to escape accountability is the real threat to our democracy.

 
No one knew what to do or the consequences when Ford pardoned Nixon. We know now it was a mistake. It would have been a chapter in history books without political ramifications.

Several precedence established during the Watergate period when rules and protocol did not exist prior has provided a template for the crisis we are dealing with now, i.e., interpretation of internal post-Watergate Department of Justice memos, defining the Department's position re: President's eligibility to remain in office.

However, the Orange Turd's capricious and maleovant behavior has exacerbated the situation.

The respect for the office itself cannot be mistaken for the person occupying the office
 
By Max Boot

Columnist |


For the past week, Republican snowflakes have been having a meltdown over the FBI’s search of former president Donald Trump’s Florida residence for classified documents he took while leaving office. The MAGA legions darkly suggest that tyranny looms if FBI agents can treat a former president like a normal criminal suspect.
Sign up for a weekly roundup of thought-provoking ideas and debates
For anyone familiar with how other democracies from France to South Korea have indicted, convicted and even imprisoned former leaders, this is more than a little strange. Where do Republicans get the idea that a former president should be above the law?
It all goes back, I suspect, to Richard M. Nixon, the first president caught red-handed breaking the law. Watergate special prosecutor Leon Jaworski concluded that “there is clear evidence that Richard M. Nixon participated in a conspiracy to obstruct justice by concealing the identity of those responsible for the Watergate break-in and other criminal offenses.”
Yet the special counsel was prevented from indicting Nixon while he was in office because Nixon’s own Justice Department held that “the indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President would impermissibly undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions.” That opinion was conveniently seconded in 2000 by Bill Clinton’s Justice Department when he was under threat of a potential indictment from the Whitewater independent counsel, Kenneth W. Starr. It was then cited by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III in 2019 as grounds for not prosecuting then-President Trump for likely obstruction of justice.


No court has ever ruled that a president cannot be indicted, and some eminent scholars dispute that finding, but the Justice Department has acted as though this conclusion were holy writ. That means that the only way to hold a sitting president accountable is via the impeachment process. But Trump was impeached twice and acquitted both times because senators of his own party ignored overwhelming evidence of his guilt.
If you want to know why Trump thought he could get away with inciting an assault on Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, I would submit that part of the reason was his previous success in beating the rap for trying to extort the president of Ukraine. Then, after having been acquitted of “high crimes and misdemeanors” in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, he felt free to leave Washington with classified documents. Just imagine what he will do in the event he returns to office. I doubt our democracy would survive another Trump term.
Surely, you might think, Trump would finally be held to account now that he is no longer in office, but another Nixon precedent has created an implicit assumption of immunity even for ex-presidents. On Sept. 8, 1974, a month after being sworn in, President Gerald Ford granted Nixon a “full, free and absolute pardon … for all offenses against the United States which he ... has committed.” This was his way of putting the Watergate scandal — “our long national nightmare” — behind us.
Ford was pilloried for his decision. His approval rating plunged 21 percentage points overnight and never recovered. Yet even many of those most critical at the time — including Ted Kennedy, Bob Woodward and former Watergate prosecutor Richard Ben-Veniste — later concluded that Ford was a “decent and honorable man” who had done the right thing after all. Ford even won the 2001 Profile in Courage Award from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum for letting Nixon off the hook.
Well, I humbly submit, it’s high time to rethink Ford’s decision to pardon Nixon along with the Justice Department’s decision to grant Nixon immunity from prosecution while in office. Both decisions should be recognized as historic mistakes whose toxic fallout still poisons our democracy.
Things might look very different today if Nixon had gone to the slammer instead of escaping the wreckage of his presidency to rehabilitate his reputation and win acclaim as an esteemed elder statesman. He was a crook and should have been treated as one. The kid-gloves treatment Nixon received created an expectation of criminal impunity for both sitting and former presidents that leads Republicans to think that it’s an outrage for Trump to be probed by prosecutors, no matter how many laws he might have broken.
Republican partisans are absolutely right that it’s unprecedented for the FBI to search a former president’s home — just as it would be unprecedented to indict a former president. But it shouldn’t be. Any current or former president who commits a crime should face the consequences. In this case, if a jury concludes that the orange man broke the law, he should wind up in an orange jumpsuit.
Attorney General Merrick Garland is receiving horrific abuse, but he is doing the right thing — the long overdue thing — by pricking the bubble of presidential impunity. Republicans who suggest that the FBI search turns us into a “banana republic” have it backward. Allowing Trump to escape accountability is the real threat to our democracy.

I wonder what the originalist Alito thinks?
 
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I love it when liberal losers like max boot use the term snowflake. The irony is too great to ever expand upon. Trump has tremendous leadership shortcomings and should never run again. He still is better than just about every politician that has run as a democrat for the last decade. Sad times on the left.
 
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I love it when liberal losers like max boot use the term snowflake. The irony is too great to ever expand upon. Trump has tremendous leadership shortcomings and should never run again. He still is better than just about every politician that has run as a democrat for the last decade. Sad times on the left.

Brother. Pathetic assessment from a cult member.
 
I love it when liberal losers like max boot use the term snowflake. The irony is too great to ever expand upon. Trump has tremendous leadership shortcomings and should never run again. He still is better than just about every politician that has run as a democrat for the last decade. Sad times on the left.
Nobody believes that you understand irony.
 
I have always been of the opinion that Ford's pardon was the right action to take, but the author makes a strong argument that has me reassessing that position.

Whether right or wrong, there is little argument among historians that the decision was based solely on Ford's belief that he was acting in the best interests of the country, even though he knew he would likely suffer politically. Country over self and party - such a concept is so antiquated in today's Republican Party.
 
Listen to a podcast on Nixon and his downfall. Really interesting.

Nixon surrounded himself with some real nuts that ran amuck no doubt.

different circumstances and Nixon could have been looked at as one of the best presidents.
 
Poor comparison. It only benefits Trump if Biden actually does it, and there's no good reason for Biden to do that. I'm not sure who's propagating that idea.
 
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I have always been of the opinion that Ford's pardon was the right action to take, but the author makes a strong argument that has me reassessing that position.

Whether right or wrong, there is little argument among historians that the decision was based solely on Ford's belief that he was acting in the best interests of the country, even though he knew he would likely suffer politically. Country over self and party - such a concept is so antiquated in today's Republican Party.

I don't think it cost Ford. The public didn't penalize him for the pardon. The atmosphere was similar to now in the poison within the hierarchy of the Republican Party. The difference is there was no sinister character pulling strings like the Orange Turd.

There was a component of competency and integrity that convinced Nixon to take the civil and expeditious course and resign. Is there the same component now? Liz Cheney. Who would risk their bankrolls?

The break was clean. I could honestly feel sympathy for the Party if convinced the forces could not succeed in their targeted efforts to democratize our political system.
 
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Listen to a podcast on Nixon and his downfall. Really interesting.

Nixon surrounded himself with some real nuts that ran amuck no doubt.

different circumstances and Nixon could have been looked at as one of the best presidents.

Well, nostalgia harkens tens of thousands of dead young Americans thrown away for absolutely no reason and his abject disregard for laws and abuse of the Justice Department.

He was a President and presided. And Congress recognized its purpose. Times were different.

This was before Newt, the Freedom Caucus and the Orange Turd.
 
Well, nostalgia harkens tens of thousands of dead young Americans thrown away for absolutely no reason and his abject disregard for laws and abuse of the Justice Department.

He was a President and presided. And Congress recognized its purpose. Times were different.

This was before Newt, the Freedom Caucus and the Orange Turd.
Was he the president that got the United States into Vietnam or the president that got the United States out?
 
I love it when liberal losers like max boot use the term snowflake. The irony is too great to ever expand upon. Trump has tremendous leadership shortcomings and should never run again. He still is better than just about every politician that has run as a democrat for the last decade. Sad times on the left.
:rolleyes:
Trump was the greatest leader of man since James Jones.
 
I have always been of the opinion that Ford's pardon was the right action to take, but the author makes a strong argument that has me reassessing that position.

Whether right or wrong, there is little argument among historians that the decision was based solely on Ford's belief that he was acting in the best interests of the country, even though he knew he would likely suffer politically. Country over self and party - such a concept is so antiquated in today's Republican Party.
I wasn't alive yet when this had happened so I've only been able to view it from the lens of it being history. I never got on board with the "The country needed to move on" excuse for pardoning. I never understood the reasoning that Presidents aren't accountable for their actions and I've always thought the lack of real consequences for Nixon has had a significant impact in the lawlessness and disregard for norms we have seen out of the Republican Party ever since. The Reagan administration, Bush Jr administration, and obviously the Trump administration all had major ethical and legal issues with people in there. But, it was always people low on the totem pole that suffered any consequences. It has never been the people making the decisions. Why would these people ever consider not doing illegal things if there was never any consequence for doing illegal things?

I get that it is a lot more complicated and it isn't just one thing, but it has contributed. If Nixon had been properly prosecuted, later administration would have thought a bit harder about doing things that were breaking the law.
 
Listen to a podcast on Nixon and his downfall. Really interesting.

Nixon surrounded himself with some real nuts that ran amuck no doubt.

different circumstances and Nixon could have been looked at as one of the best presidents.
Nixon was a crook. That's why he surrounded himself with some real nuts that ran amuck. Prior to Trump he was the most obvious President that thought he was above the law. In fact he straight out said that.

"Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal".
 
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I have always been of the opinion that Ford's pardon was the right action to take, but the author makes a strong argument that has me reassessing that position.

Whether right or wrong, there is little argument among historians that the decision was based solely on Ford's belief that he was acting in the best interests of the country, even though he knew he would likely suffer politically. Country over self and party - such a concept is so antiquated in today's Republican Party.
And so deeply emblematic of the current Dim Party? 😂
 
Well, nostalgia harkens tens of thousands of dead young Americans thrown away for absolutely no reason and his abject disregard for laws and abuse of the Justice Department.

He was a President and presided. And Congress recognized its purpose. Times were different.

This was before Newt, the Freedom Caucus and the Orange Turd.

Hmm.
Always interesting to read the opining of woke intellectuals not yet born who spew the “history” instilled by “professors” who are of course politically neutral, and who were NEVER stoned out longhairs who sat in the Student Union In huddled groups until they looked around one day in 1978 and realized they needed a job. They never left campus but damn they got great gigs filling “young skulls full of mush”.
Get your f’n facts straight.
BTW I didn’t vote for Nixon. But he was not the dude who got us into Vietnam where several of my high school friends were sent.
 
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:rolleyes:
Trump was the greatest leader of man since James Jones.
I have come to understand that @gonegolfing is what I call a drive by poster. He comes in with an outrageously stupid take that is basically indefensible. Then he simply drives by, never answering people who call out the stupidity. It’s high level trolling or high level idiocy. You choose.
 
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I seriously doubt Trump will ever spend one day in jail. So, about the best we can hope for is an indictment, a trial and a guilty verdict.

Why on earth would Biden pardon him after that?
 
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Hmm.
Always interesting to read the opining of woke intellectuals not yet born who spew the “history” instilled by “professors” who are of course politically neutral, and who were NEVER stoned out longhairs who sat in the Student Union In huddled groups until they looked around one day in 1978 and realized they needed a job. They never left campus but damn they got great gigs filling “young skulls full of mush”.
Get your f’n facts straight.
BTW I didn’t vote for Nixon. But he was not the dude who got us into Vietnam where several of my high school friends were sent.


My county didn't call me. I was in college and later became a young father.

No, he didn't start it. But he sat on and rode it for 6 years.

It was a horrendous and absurd conflict with no result worth the effort and cost. I lost friends as most people did. It was a meat grinder.

I don't hold anyone, and this pains me to say it, including the Orange Turd for not serving during in that war. Unfortunately, it has become a test of patriotism, which it was at that time.
 
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Hmm.
Always interesting to read the opining of woke intellectuals not yet born who spew the “history” instilled by “professors” who are of course politically neutral, and who were NEVER stoned out longhairs who sat in the Student Union In huddled groups until they looked around one day in 1978 and realized they needed a job. They never left campus but damn they got great gigs filling “young skulls full of mush”.
Get your f’n facts straight.
BTW I didn’t vote for Nixon. But he was not the dude who got us into Vietnam where several of my high school friends were sent.
Says the person who voted for Trump...twice.
 
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I have come to understand that @gonegolfing is what I call a drive by poster. He comes in with an outrageously stupid take that is basically indefensible. Then he simply drives by, never answering people who call out the stupidity. It’s high level trolling or high level idiocy. You choose.
Obviously it’s like fishing with dynamite. 🙄
 
My county didn't call me. I was in college and later became a young father.

No, he didn't start it. But he sat on and rode it for 6 years.

It was a horrendous and absurd conflict with no result worth the effort and cost. I lost friends as most people did. It was a meat grinder.

I don't hold anyone, and this pains me to say it, including the Orange Turd for not serving during in that war. Unfortunately, it has become a test of patriotism, which it was at that time.

It was a bunch of old men with a lot of tin on their chests who wanted something to do, so they sent in other people’s sons to die for effing NOTHING.

Old man, look at my life...I’m a lot like you were...🤬
 
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