Who Framed Donald Duck

Since President Richard Nixon바카라�s resignation in 1974, the English-speaking world has had the tendency of equ­ating every major political scandal to Watergate바카라�the foi­led bid to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Wat­ergate office complex and the rel­ated underhand activities planned by a Nixon administration aiming for re-election. Newsrooms have enthusiastically attached the suffix 바카라�gate바카라� to the core word of a scandal to convey its potential for damage to the ruling regime. In the context of the United States, perhaps, this has been a bit of an overkill.

바카라�For almost half a century, wannabe Woodwards and Bernsteins have compared every unflattering revelation to Watergate, without a shred of perspective, leaving entire generations of you­nger Americans confused as to what they were talking about,바카라� observes pol­itical commentator Matt Bai.

But recent, explosive political developments that suggest the slow brewing of an internal resistance and growing resentment to President Donald Trump바카라�s ideas, policies and style of functioning among close aides and key members of his team, have led commentators to wonder if this was the real McCoy: a countdown for Watergate II.

Quite fittingly, this was put in motion by Bob Woodward바카라�s damning account of the Trump administration in his new book, Fear: Trump in the White House, followed by a soberly excoriating, anonymous Op-Ed column in The New York Times by a 바카라�senior official바카라� in the adm­inistration. It spoke of an internal pushback within Trump바카라�s office.

Significantly, even former president Barack Obama, who until now had refrained from naming Trump, has now broken his sile­nce and weighed in to name the current incumbent of the Oval Office in his stinging public criticism.

바카라�The joke바카라�s on us, though,바카라� says Bai. 바카라�Because now that there바카라�s a growing crisis in the White House that really does eerily echo, in profound ways, the cataclysmic events of Nixon바카라�s re-elect­ion campaign and his aborted second term, we don바카라�t really have a way to do it justice.바카라� He quotes Nixon바카라�s biographer John A. Farrell, and claims that he told him recently, 바카라�By an exponential factor, this is the gate that really deserves to be a gate.바카라�

In his book, Woodward narrates how former chief economic advisor to the President steals key papers from the Oval Office desk to stop Trump from pulling out of a crucial free-trade deal with South Korea, a key US ally. It also quotes a number of advisors and staff members바카라�many of whom have since left바카라�calling him names ranging from 바카라�idiot바카라� and 바카라�moron바카라� to a 바카라�sixth-grader바카라� and a congenital 바카라�liar바카라�.

More alarmingly, Woodward claims that Trump had asked for the assassination of Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad, enraged at Damascus바카라�s alleged use of chemical weapons against its own people, overturning a policy ado­pted by seven of his predecessors. It was different before that: a senate committee report found that the US from the time of Dwight Eisenhower바카라�s presidency till well into the Cold War had tried to assassinate heads of 바카라�adv­ersarial바카라� regimes, including (famously) Cuba바카라�s Fidel Castro, Congo바카라�s Patrice Lumumba, South Vietnam바카라�s Ngo Dinh Diem, Chile바카라�s army commander Rene Schneider and Dom­inican Republic dictator Rafael Tru­­jillo. Many att­empts were not ord­ered directly by the White House, but the American hand was suspected in most. However, when Gerald Ford repl­aced Nixon as the occ­upant of the White House, he issued an executive order stipulating that no empl­oyee of the United States government shall 바카라�eng­­age in, or conspire to engage in, pol­itical assassination바카라�. Subsequently, US presidents either toughened that order or stuck by its guideline. According to Woodward, Trump bayed for the blood of Assad and senior members of his team.

Concurring with Woodward on the silent, sedulous resistance against Trump, the anonymous op-ed writer tried to assure Americans, saying: 바카라�We fully recognise what is happening. And we are trying to do what바카라�s right even when Donald Trump won바카라�t.바카라�

This, nevertheless, is a unique situation, as a New Yorker article quoting Brookings scholar Thomas Wright says, 바카라�It바카라�s the first time, maybe in history, that key advisors have gone into the administration to stop the president, not to enable him.바카라�

Referring to Woodward바카라�s book, some critics like Dwight Garner points out that 바카라�if this book has a single point to drive home, it is that the president of the United States is a congenital liar바카라�. Others point out that Trump-ian prevarications have been a thoroughly cov­ered territory ever since his arrival on the public stage, as much of it has happened, as it were, in open view. This, say some commentators, could be a crucial difference between Water­gate and the carryings-on in the Trump administration.

바카라�The Watergate tapes stand as one of the stunning, implausible twists of American history. Nixon confessed his crimes and recorded himself in the process,바카라� writes Ezra Klien in Vox. The system of taping presidential conversations (for accuracy) was started during Franklin D. Roosevelt바카라�s time; the exist

ence of the Nixon tapes emerged during the Senate Watergate Committee hearings. According to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein바카라�s book, The Final Days, the single thread that linked the problem was the presidential tapes. Nixon바카라�s lawyers had not seen the tapes and were unaware of their existence. 바카라�The Watergate scandal became about those tapes바카라�the battle to make them public and expose Nixon바카라�s private confessions. Without any tapes, a resignation would have been unlikely,바카라� points out Klien.

He adds, 바카라�The White House today has no internal taping system. But it has, perhaps, something serving the same purpose: Donald Trump.바카라� Unlike Nixon, who made his confessions on tape in private, Trump makes his outrageous policies public through tweets, interviews, or wildly populist addresses to his supporters.

Even months after Trump took office, many observers expected the elder, seasoned members of his team바카라�sharers of his hardline ideology they might be바카라�to act as a check on the president바카라�s impetuosity, and his extreme views and policies that were harmful to America바카라�s interests. Many have left since; some who are left are seemingly beavering away in a battle to check Trump바카라�s extremism.

바카라�It바카라�s just so similar to what so many of us hear from senior people around the White House three times a week,바카라� Republican senator from Nebraska, Ben Sasse, a known Trump critic, said in a recent interview. 바카라�So it바카라�s troubling, and yet, in a way, not surprising.바카라�

While speculations are still on about the real identity of the NYT opinion piece writer, several likely names were posted in the CNN website. It ranged from the names of a number of key aides who had already left, Vice- President Mike Pence to Trump바카라�s daughter Ivanka, her husband Jared Kushner and first lady Melania.

Many whose names figure have since denied either being the author of the op-ed piece or being Woodward바카라�s source for the condemnatory quotes. The Rep­ub­lican Party has also refrained from making any statements.

Perhaps the crucial mid-term Nov­ember elections could bring about a change in their stand on whether to rally behind Trump or support a possible impeachment motion. The extreme option is for Pence and other members in the Oval Office team to invoke the 25th amendment and declare the president 바카라�unfit to rule바카라�.

Despite the comparison with the corrosive drama involving Trump and Watergate, there seems no early respite for Americans and, perhaps, the rest of the world.