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BumRushDaShow

(164,008 posts)
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 08:53 AM Yesterday

The campaign to make Richard Nixon great again

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by GP6971 (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: NBC News

Nov. 29, 2025, 7:00 AM EST


During a segment on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” in August, activist Christopher Rufo astonished the studio audience when he said the Watergate scandal that toppled President Richard Nixon “was a setup from start to finish.” The crowd hooted. Maher retorted that there were plenty of “smoking guns” showing the late president’s guilt. But Rufo insisted that there were federal agencies that had had illegal backdoor meetings and that there was a judge who was “out to get Nixon.” Maher muttered, “Oh, geez,” to which Rufo replied with a grin and a prediction: “Nixon vindication by 2035.”

The Watergate scandal has long been viewed as a defining moment in presidential corruption and accountability, prompting a series of government transparency reforms and influencing generations of journalists. It became a shorthand comparison for political scandal and lent the omnipresent “-gate” suffix to many that followed.

But those lessons are now being flipped by some of the most influential right-wing figures, including people known to have President Donald Trump’s ear, who insist that Watergate was actually an underhanded scheme by the “deep state” and the press to take down a popular Republican president.

Watergate has often been invoked in comparison to Trump’s scandals, in both his first and current term. Many people — from historians to former Nixon officials — argue that were Watergate to happen in today’s media landscape, with the influence of conservative outlets and in particular Fox News, Nixon most likely would have survived it.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/campaign-make-richard-nixon-great-rcna240000



Must be a Roger Stone thing.
43 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
The campaign to make Richard Nixon great again (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Yesterday OP
Echoing up from the depths of hell: "I am not a crook" NBachers Yesterday #1
Yeah, Tricky. You are a crook. paleotn 22 hrs ago #15
He's NOT a crook! lastlib 21 hrs ago #24
from the "some people will believe anything" department rurallib Yesterday #2
Maybe Bob Dylan can do some more music for this rePUKE too wolfie001 23 hrs ago #3
Anybody who loves and respects Trump... Escape 23 hrs ago #4
trump makes Nixon look like Winston Churchill, by comparison. Paladin 23 hrs ago #5
I forgot too. Fuck Bill Maher...although I don't think I have watched his show for travelingthrulife 23 hrs ago #7
Yeah, that's about when I stopped watching him. Paladin 23 hrs ago #9
It is more than obvious popsdenver 21 hrs ago #25
AND popsdenver 21 hrs ago #27
As soon as they find out how 'liberal' some of his policies were it should confuse travelingthrulife 23 hrs ago #6
Trump's corruption and crimes are worse than Watergate. J_William_Ryan 23 hrs ago #8
We shouldn't say "TRUMP" all the time popsdenver 21 hrs ago #26
Nixon was a downright honest man when compared to Trump. cstanleytech 22 hrs ago #10
He was an entrenched governmental entity BumRushDaShow 22 hrs ago #12
Is that bar lying on the ground? paleotn 22 hrs ago #14
No, I think it's dug in quite a bit deeper than that. WestMichRad 21 hrs ago #21
It's at the bottom of The Mariana trench and not even James Cameron could raise it. cstanleytech 17 hrs ago #41
That's why Nixon's media consultant Roger Ailes started FOX News, to be a Republican messaging tool. ChicagoTeamster 22 hrs ago #11
And it has not been good for what Ailes us. BattleRow 22 hrs ago #18
America. Not land of the free. Land of the fucking nutters. paleotn 22 hrs ago #13
Innocent men Mblaze 22 hrs ago #16
I lived through the Nixon era. This wasn't a setup. patphil 22 hrs ago #17
And changing textbooks to reflect the New, Revised, Improved History. erronis 21 hrs ago #19
Same bunch that call Nazis "socialists" and Reagan a Saint. thought crime 19 hrs ago #32
Still Trump makes Nixon look like a minor league player. cstanleytech 17 hrs ago #42
Rufo was born in 1984 Zorro 21 hrs ago #20
Exactly BumRushDaShow 21 hrs ago #28
Yeah, Nixon was a first class scumbag. patphil 20 hrs ago #31
Christopher Rufo's name...... lastlib 21 hrs ago #22
Gee, are they gonna try to whitewash Spiro T., too? WestMichRad 21 hrs ago #23
Agnew would be welcome in this current administration BumRushDaShow 20 hrs ago #30
He'd need to update his methods. WestMichRad 19 hrs ago #34
Well folks like BumRushDaShow 19 hrs ago #36
Just compare him to trump Turbineguy 21 hrs ago #29
Watergate "was a setup". LudwigPastorius 19 hrs ago #33
So THAT's what happened to those missing 18 minutes of tape! WestMichRad 19 hrs ago #35
It was actually BumRushDaShow 18 hrs ago #37
Does this rehab movement have bipartisan support? DJ Synikus Makisimus 18 hrs ago #38
I've never met a "Nixon liberal." Sounds like an oxymoron to me. Martin68 17 hrs ago #40
If it was a setup then Nixon framed himself when he recorded hours of planning and grousing sessions. Martin68 17 hrs ago #39
Locking per Host Consensus. Feature Piece, Analysis GP6971 16 hrs ago #43

NBachers

(19,087 posts)
1. Echoing up from the depths of hell: "I am not a crook"
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 09:22 AM
Yesterday

paleotn

(21,272 posts)
15. Yeah, Tricky. You are a crook.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 11:07 AM
22 hrs ago

And since you're down there. Go tell Jerry Falwell to go F himself.

lastlib

(27,268 posts)
24. He's NOT a crook!
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 12:07 PM
21 hrs ago

He went way BEYOND a mere crook! He's half-horse (the BACK half!), half-devil.

Well, okay, we can say he's a crook, too!

And since you're down there, DICKy, you can tell Falwell to self-fornicate for me, too. Robertson, too.

rurallib

(64,456 posts)
2. from the "some people will believe anything" department
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 09:39 AM
Yesterday

wolfie001

(6,633 posts)
3. Maybe Bob Dylan can do some more music for this rePUKE too
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 09:51 AM
23 hrs ago

When they do a tribute movie about all his "accomplishments". I mean, he helped with the ronnie rayguns movie. You know, the 'Destroyer of the Middle Class.'
[img][/img]

Escape

(341 posts)
4. Anybody who loves and respects Trump...
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 09:58 AM
23 hrs ago

would definitely love and respect Nixon.

He was a liar, a crook and an evil sonofabitch. He was a Maga precursor.

Paladin

(32,112 posts)
5. trump makes Nixon look like Winston Churchill, by comparison.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 10:02 AM
23 hrs ago

Oh yeah, before I forget: fuck Bill Maher.

travelingthrulife

(3,994 posts)
7. I forgot too. Fuck Bill Maher...although I don't think I have watched his show for
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 10:09 AM
23 hrs ago

over a decade.

Paladin

(32,112 posts)
9. Yeah, that's about when I stopped watching him.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 10:13 AM
23 hrs ago

Feels good, doesn't it?

popsdenver

(1,190 posts)
25. It is more than obvious
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 12:13 PM
21 hrs ago

that he has now joined in to all the Republican's REVISIONIST HISTORY also.........
I can hardly wait to see the RED states rewriting the history textbooks and science books in their public schools.....

popsdenver

(1,190 posts)
27. AND
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 12:31 PM
21 hrs ago

Nixon's clan were saints compared to HWBush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz etc.

When the surgeons removed Cheney's old heart for the new transplanted one, they had to have an exact match, and it took them forever to find one that was a Black one, made of pure titanium......

travelingthrulife

(3,994 posts)
6. As soon as they find out how 'liberal' some of his policies were it should confuse
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 10:08 AM
23 hrs ago

them even more.

J_William_Ryan

(3,197 posts)
8. Trump's corruption and crimes are worse than Watergate.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 10:10 AM
23 hrs ago

But in today’s media landscape, with the influence of conservative outlets and in particular Fox News, Trump will in fact survived it.

Watergate was the triumph of democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law over a criminal and corrupt Republican president.

Today a criminal and corrupt Republican president has triumphed over democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law.

popsdenver

(1,190 posts)
26. We shouldn't say "TRUMP" all the time
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 12:27 PM
21 hrs ago

We all should be saying....THE REPUBLICANS........because there is no way Trump would exist through out his first term and especially this term without the Republicans Support. If this had happened back when the Old Republican Party was in place, Trump wouldn't have lasted more than a few days into his first term......

It actually is the fault of the NEW Republican CABAL........and couldn't have been done with out the U.S. Republican House, the U.S Republican Senate, and of course the Republican Supreme Court Justices......

We need to start saying Republicans this Republicans that, and not Trump, Trump Trump. Otherwise, when Trump crumps, literally or figuratively, the people will think that is the end of the nightmare, when in all reality the entire Republican CABAL will still be proceeding ahead, full force, because we haven't been alerting the voters, all this time, that it was the REPUBLICAN Party that truly was behind this chaos this entire last decade......

cstanleytech

(28,082 posts)
10. Nixon was a downright honest man when compared to Trump.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 10:50 AM
22 hrs ago

BumRushDaShow

(164,008 posts)
12. He was an entrenched governmental entity
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 11:00 AM
22 hrs ago

He was a lawyer who eventually joined the Navy (despite being a Quaker), was elected to the U.S. House, then elected to the U.S. Senate, then served as VP under Eisenhower for 8 years, and finally became President for almost 2 terms.

No one could say that he didn't have "Executive Experience", which eventually became the idiotic nasty talking point hurled at Obama.

Contrast with 45 who had ZERO government experience, neither civilian nor military - in ANY level or type of government... and didn't care, and the media shrugged.

paleotn

(21,272 posts)
14. Is that bar lying on the ground?
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 11:05 AM
22 hrs ago

WestMichRad

(2,834 posts)
21. No, I think it's dug in quite a bit deeper than that.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 11:54 AM
21 hrs ago

cstanleytech

(28,082 posts)
41. It's at the bottom of The Mariana trench and not even James Cameron could raise it.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 04:20 PM
17 hrs ago

ChicagoTeamster

(264 posts)
11. That's why Nixon's media consultant Roger Ailes started FOX News, to be a Republican messaging tool.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 10:50 AM
22 hrs ago

BattleRow

(2,062 posts)
18. And it has not been good for what Ailes us.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 11:40 AM
22 hrs ago

paleotn

(21,272 posts)
13. America. Not land of the free. Land of the fucking nutters.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 11:05 AM
22 hrs ago

Mblaze

(898 posts)
16. Innocent men
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 11:19 AM
22 hrs ago

Usually don't quit and run away from the verdict.

patphil

(8,548 posts)
17. I lived through the Nixon era. This wasn't a setup.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 11:36 AM
22 hrs ago

It was vintage Tricky Dick; totally consistent with his everyday actions.
Rufo is full of shit.
All part of the white washing of history.

erronis

(22,130 posts)
19. And changing textbooks to reflect the New, Revised, Improved History.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 11:46 AM
21 hrs ago

thought crime

(1,049 posts)
32. Same bunch that call Nazis "socialists" and Reagan a Saint.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 01:43 PM
19 hrs ago

cstanleytech

(28,082 posts)
42. Still Trump makes Nixon look like a minor league player.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 04:22 PM
17 hrs ago

Zorro

(18,239 posts)
20. Rufo was born in 1984
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 11:51 AM
21 hrs ago

He doesn't know what he is talking about, but what he has is an agenda to convince those who weren't around then that Nixon was railroaded.

Those of us who were around remember what a rotten bastard Nixon was; he is the progenitor of what the Republican Party has devolved into these days.

And Rufo is also someone who DeSantis appointed to New College's Board of Directors.

BumRushDaShow

(164,008 posts)
28. Exactly
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 12:38 PM
21 hrs ago

Most of these idiotic RWer "influencers" weren't even born until well after that whole episode of history went down. He was called "Tricky Dick", only because "polite society" couldn't say "out loud" what they really wanted to call him.

And then 45 took Nixon's "Saturday Night Massacre", pumped it up with steroids, and then in a psychotic rage, is literally still massacring people in the federal government going on 11 months straight now.

patphil

(8,548 posts)
31. Yeah, Nixon was a first class scumbag.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 01:42 PM
20 hrs ago

He's the one who brought us Spiro Agnew; the "effete snob" who projected that onto his enemies.
After Agnew's downfall, Gerald Ford was appointed by Nixon to be VP, and when Nixon resigned, Ford became the first and only president who was never elected to either the Presidency or Vice-Presidency.

Isn't it amazing how the shadow government fixed things to insure Agnew wouldn't replace Nixon?

lastlib

(27,268 posts)
22. Christopher Rufo's name......
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 11:56 AM
21 hrs ago

should be "Christopher MOfo"!

Eff this shit. Nixon was a F*CKing CRIMINAL, period, END of discussion.

WestMichRad

(2,834 posts)
23. Gee, are they gonna try to whitewash Spiro T., too?
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 11:56 AM
21 hrs ago

Disgusting revisionists!

BumRushDaShow

(164,008 posts)
30. Agnew would be welcome in this current administration
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 12:46 PM
20 hrs ago

because he knew how to wheel and deal and handle bribes.

WestMichRad

(2,834 posts)
34. He'd need to update his methods.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 02:17 PM
19 hrs ago

I’m not sure office delivery of bags stuffed with cash is up to today’s level of crypto grifting!

BumRushDaShow

(164,008 posts)
36. Well folks like
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 02:40 PM
19 hrs ago

former NJ Senator Bob Menendez, made "tangible loot", popular again!

Turbineguy

(39,689 posts)
29. Just compare him to trump
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 12:40 PM
21 hrs ago

he'll be the best there ever was.

LudwigPastorius

(13,889 posts)
33. Watergate "was a setup".
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 01:50 PM
19 hrs ago

True.

It is little known that, using a George Soros-funded time machine, Peter Strozk went back to 1974 and replaced the perfectly innocent Oval Office tapes with ones that used an AI generated Nixon voice making incriminating statements.

WestMichRad

(2,834 posts)
35. So THAT's what happened to those missing 18 minutes of tape!
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 02:19 PM
19 hrs ago

BumRushDaShow

(164,008 posts)
37. It was actually
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 02:54 PM
18 hrs ago

the 4-year old Peter Strzok who snuck in and ripped the shiny tape out of the cartridge!!!11!!!11!

DJ Synikus Makisimus

(1,163 posts)
38. Does this rehab movement have bipartisan support?
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 03:22 PM
18 hrs ago

"Nixon liberals," mostly from the northeast and west coast, were a thing amongst Republicans until the Powell Memorandum* begat the Federalist Society, who primaried the Nixonians out of the GOP. That led directly to Trump. The last prominent Nixon liberal I can think of was Arlen Specter, who ultimately defected to the Democrats in 2009. He wasn't the only one to do so. Nixon liberals found a home in the Democratic Party, where they're known as "moderates," beginning with Jimmy Carter's move to the right. Their position was cemented by Bill Clinton and his people (James Carville, in particular, continues this ideology), and they now pretty much comprise the entirety of the party's establishment.

Nixon liberals tended not to be down with Nixon's authoritarian tendencies, but were very much in line with his promotion and protection of the wealthy, privileged and powerful and their corporations (particularly multi-nationals). They tended to do very well by their capitalist backers (donors), too, amassing comfortable wealth while being largely exempted from insider trading rules or scrutiny. The "revolving door" between government and corporations was solidified into practice by these folks.

So you might wanna be careful about criticizing Nixon, or people might start thinking you're a progressive or, shudder, a DSAer.

=====================================
*https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/assets/usa-courts-secrecy-lobbyist/powell-memo.pdf; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell_Jr.

Martin68

(26,739 posts)
40. I've never met a "Nixon liberal." Sounds like an oxymoron to me.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 04:11 PM
17 hrs ago

Martin68

(26,739 posts)
39. If it was a setup then Nixon framed himself when he recorded hours of planning and grousing sessions.
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 04:09 PM
17 hrs ago

GP6971

(37,370 posts)
43. Locking per Host Consensus. Feature Piece, Analysis
Sat Nov 29, 2025, 04:47 PM
16 hrs ago

Please feel free to repost in GD or E&OA.

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