Since President Richard Nixon바카라s resignation in 1974, the English-speaking world has had the tendency of equÂating every major political scandal to Watergate바카라the foiÂled bid to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the WatÂergate office complex and the relÂated underhand activities planned by a Nixon administration aiming for re-election. Newsrooms have enthusiastically attached the suffix 바카라gate바카라 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.
바카라For almost half a century, wannabe Woodwards and Bernsteins have compared every unflattering revelation to Watergate, without a shred of perspective, leaving entire generations of youÂnger Americans confused as to what they were talking about,바카라 observes polÂitical commentator Matt Bai.
But recent, explosive political developments that suggest the slow brewing of an internal resistance and growing resentment to President Donald Trump바카라s 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 Woodward바카라s 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 바카라senior official바카라 in the admÂinistration. It spoke of an internal pushback within Trump바카라s office.
Significantly, even former president Barack Obama, who until now had refrained from naming Trump, has now broken his sileÂnce and weighed in to name the current incumbent of the Oval Office in his stinging public criticism.
바카라The joke바카라s on us, though,바카라 says Bai. 바카라Because now that there바카라s a growing crisis in the White House that really does eerily echo, in profound ways, the cataclysmic events of Nixon바카라s re-electÂion campaign and his aborted second term, we don바카라t really have a way to do it justice.바카라 He quotes Nixon바카라s biographer John A. Farrell, and claims that he told him recently, 바카라By 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 members바카라many of whom have since left바카라calling him names ranging from 바카라idiot바카라 and 바카라moron바카라 to a 바카라sixth-grader바카라 and a congenital 바카라liar바카라.
More alarmingly, Woodward claims that Trump had asked for the assassination of Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad, enraged at Damascus바카라s alleged use of chemical weapons against its own people, overturning a policy adoÂpted by seven of his predecessors. It was different before that: a senate committee report found that the US from the time of Dwight Eisenhower바카라s presidency till well into the Cold War had tried to assassinate heads of 바카라advÂersarial바카라 regimes, including (famously) Cuba바카라s Fidel Castro, Congo바카라s Patrice Lumumba, South Vietnam바카라s Ngo Dinh Diem, Chile바카라s army commander Rene Schneider and DomÂinican Republic dictator Rafael TruÂÂjillo. Many attÂempts were not ordÂered directly by the White House, but the American hand was suspected in most. However, when Gerald Ford replÂaced Nixon as the occÂupant of the White House, he issued an executive order stipulating that no emplÂoyee of the United States government shall 바카라engÂÂage in, or conspire to engage in, polÂitical 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: 바카라We fully recognise what is happening. And we are trying to do what바카라s right even when Donald Trump won바카라t.바카라
This, nevertheless, is a unique situation, as a New Yorker article quoting Brookings scholar Thomas Wright says, 바카라It바카라s 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 Woodward바카라s book, some critics like Dwight Garner points out that 바카라if 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 covÂered 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 WaterÂgate and the carryings-on in the Trump administration.
바카라The 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. Roosevelt바카라s time; the exist
ence of the Nixon tapes emerged during the Senate Watergate Committee hearings. According to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein바카라s book, The Final Days, the single thread that linked the problem was the presidential tapes. Nixon바카라s lawyers had not seen the tapes and were unaware of their existence. 바카라The Watergate scandal became about those tapes바카라the battle to make them public and expose Nixon바카라s private confessions. Without any tapes, a resignation would have been unlikely,바카라 points out Klien.
He adds, 바카라The 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 team바카라sharers of his hardline ideology they might be바카라to act as a check on the president바카라s impetuosity, and his extreme views and policies that were harmful to America바카라s interests. Many have left since; some who are left are seemingly beavering away in a battle to check Trump바카라s extremism.
바카라It바카라s 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. 바카라So it바카라s 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 Trump바카라s 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 Woodward바카라s source for the condemnatory quotes. The RepÂubÂlican Party has also refrained from making any statements.
Perhaps the crucial mid-term NovÂember 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 바카라unfit 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.
