by Pedro I Rengel » Sat Oct 17, 2020 4:41 pm
OK, I'll play white.
Most people don't understand the true meaning and deeper currents of the Nixon witch hunt. They think some guy spied on the democrat convention (oh yes, the unfathomably rich source of content that is!), got caught out by the media because of some high level cock sucker (not an accusation, the man called himself deepthroat, if the term cock sucker bothers you maybe you are a homophobe), and got pressured into resigning, short of impeachment only out of respect for the office. Never mind that both parties, including with evidence the Clinton campaign last time around, rutinely do this and with much more sophisticated apparatuses than Nixon's soft paranoia half baked right hand men. Good men, mind you, and their lack of sophistication proves it. Spying on democrats was actually low on their list of priorities.
No, no. The reason they went after big N was the he was an actual president, a human being in command. He understood himself as a world leader, leader of the Free World even, and did everything he did with consciousness of historical consequence and the full weight of his office. It's as if many republicans believe that the communists back then were different from the ones now. They were after him from the word go! But the thing with Nixon is primarily that, that his preoccupation was the power of his office, rather than... well, we'll get to that later. Not only were his ideas and agendas keen, and his ability great, but perhaps his greatest ability was that he sorrounded himself with exceedingly capable men. His entire cabinet was made up of ultra nerds. And he understood the one overriding task of the president of the U.S.A., to deal with the balance of the super powers of the planet. Naturally he was highly paranoid of the media, because they were up to the same antics as they are today. Heck, he was so studious and serious about his work, that he had tape recorders installed so he could go over things and double check everything. He was the boss, the buck stopped with him.
He was such an intellectual and his worries so American, that honestly even the republican establishment disliked him. He was to global thinking, most republicans were split between the appeasers (democrats in red) and the ones who wanted to isolate the US and the world be damned. Nixon understood that this was a false dichotomy, that communists are expantionist by nature and withdrawing from world affairs was as good as surrendering Washington DC. Well, there were also the batshit crazy republicans who just wanted to ratchet up the tensions with the communists to the brim constantly, that actually wanted to and believed you could destroy a super power. And your regular dilletantes who had academic ideas that made no sense, like getting rid of small arms and counting exclusively on nuclear deterrent. Effectively making nuclear war the only recourse for conflict resolution. So you see, it wasn't only commies that wantid big N's head. Big N, first of all created China. some will say Mao did that, but Mao just had a backwater expanse of overpopulated land that wouldn't even qualify for third world. It was because Nixon understood that the USSR needed counter balancing that he hired Kissinger to empower the Chinese, and basically For A Fistfull Of Dollarsed their asses. Short, of course, of Clint's goal of having them destroy eachother as, again, Nixon had an unfavourable view of nuclear holocaust.
His other main task was attempting to resolve a disaster of a war that he inherited and very much hated. For all his admiration of JFK, and he did have it, he hated the actual idea of war. Not because of a weak belly, you understand, but he viewed it as a lack of diplomatic ability, a weakness in applying pressure and using the US's vast military power as a threat rather than a hammer, as just that: a weakness. JFK, and I am pretty sure this is also how Nixon saw him (economic matters aside), was a hot head. Who can forget the incredible fuck up and dishonor of failing to defeat a few half starved Cuban college kids. A hot head. In Nixon's head, if you went to war, you had already fucked up. He would have much rather let the Vietnamese go at it, and use the conflict some how or another to apply pressure and gain ground in the global tug of war with the commies. But there you went, he had it. And having it, and being an american with his dick on, and his conscience on, his goals were two (which he tasked Kissinger with): to allow the US an honorable exit from the situation, preventing disgrace, and to prevent genocide in south-east Asia. Of course, once the witch hunt was succesfull, the US lost honor and exited in great disgrace, and the genocides (plural) happened.
Now, you may disagree with this, but Reagan was a son of the communists. Let me explain. When the commies in the press and everywhere were succesfull, not only Nixon but the whole intellectual apparatus he had set up in the state, of competent geniuses aware of their responsibility, were forced out. Rumsfeld and Cheney were relatively low on the power ladder, but the decapitation of the Great Republican Beast ended just above their level, making them effectively the highest ranking surviving republicans. They ushered in a new era, which led directly to Reagan: an era of beauty queens. A real Man, aware of his power and responsibilities, was vulnerable. You needed to be someone that could survive a well funded and organized campaign of discredit: a beauty queen. Reagan, then Bush sr who was still a beauty queen but gave republicans the feeling of going back to "seriousness," but now seriousness as a fashion trend instead of a fact, and even this cost him a second term. Even that piece of shit Carter, communist scum, may he burn somehow horribly, lost his second term for lack of beauty queen. As we all know, a beauty queen's task is two-fold: to be appealing, but also to appease all of her handlers, direct or indirect. The buck never stops with a beauty queen.
Now, this is an exageration in the sense that Reagan did many great things. Even though he did it clumsily in ways that would have made Nixon retch. Like keeping communism out of central America and keeping it somewhat at bay in west Africa. And he was also a great salesman for capitalism. But he was not a Man. Also, it bears mentionig that Rumsfeld and his disciple Cheney understood this new game well and kept themselves in command of the republican intelligencia even up to Bush jr. They were'nt bad guys. Just, well, let's just remember that Nixon didn't really consider them bright enough for any responsibility of consequence (the reason they survived the witch hunt).
Then after Bush sr, the beauty queen game only ratcheted up: Clinton, Obama. Neither capable of an individual thought or decision. But, you know, Clinton played the sax and Obama smoked weed.