Trending
Richard Nixon was in a fighting mood on Feb. 16, 1973, during a meeting with acting FBI Director Patrick Gray and John Ehrlichman. With Watergate heating up, the President was full of bile and vindictiveness against "leakers." "This country, this bureaucracy," Nixon continued, "It's crawling with, Pat, at best unloyal people, at worst treasonable people."
This could sum up President Donald Trump's first 100 days in tone and style. When he was not banning journalists, his Attorney General was arresting judges. Moreover, the lack of discipline and the rush of emotion damaged Trump on his best issue, securing the border. If he had been quieter, more deliberate, and had carefully applied the law, he might have been in the clear. Instead, he sends campaign members and Congress members down to engage in selfies in front of El Salvadoran prisoners.
Part of the problem is that Trump succumbed to the ideas of "shock and awe," which would allegedly unglue the "deep state" and force a quick surrender. At first, it seemed successful with Elon's army in the vanguard. But then came Signal Chat and the whisking away of American citizens to El Salvador without hearings. Trump was led down the garden path, and over time, their quick victory tactics unraveled.
Now this is not to suggest that Trump's suspicions of the "deep state" were strictly in his imaginings. As with Nixon, Trump acted quickly and with similar results. As Nixon told David Frost, "I gave 'em a sword and they stuck it in and they twisted it with relish." Trump, although he got support from the Supreme Court, believes what Nixon said in 1977 concerning executive powers. "Well, when the President," Nixon asserted, decides what is the National interest, "that means that it is not illegal."
Admittedly, Trump has a more favorable Supreme Court, but his constantly invoking laws like the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 may try the patience of even his staunchest supporters. Indeed, the look is not favorable, at least in the short run. Nixon certainly could tutor Trump in the fickleness of the American people. Election victories are like automobiles, whose value decreases as you drive them off the lot. Nixon in 1972 won a real landslide, losing only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, but it did not help him in 1973.
Meanwhile, Trump awaits Congress to come back and pass his agenda. This was particularly a mistake of the House of Representatives Speaker, Mike Johnson, who unwisely went along with a budget reconciliation at the end of the Biden administration. This basically left the President without a traditional start of an administration, which actually shepherds and passes legislation. With Congress on leave, no doubt they are getting an earful on DOGE cuts. Take the example of WV Senator Shelly Moore Capito, who urged the Trump administration to restore cuts at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Morgantown. Some 200 jobs were eliminated, which affected coal miners with black lung screenings among other services. Trump's "deep state" obsession allowed Congress to react and regroup. So much for "shock and awe."