Nixon’s sabotage of Vietnam peace talks

Reading this full article was a treat. Many would compare Trump to Nixon for character traits and alleged collusion with a foreign power to sway an election but I don’t this illustrates a similar situation here.

If anything it shows how political foreign affairs are both externally and internally. Indeed by provoking peace talks and indicating favorable negotiating posture with LBJ, the Russians then just as now we’re trying to influence an election to their benefit.

It shows that foreign powers both friend and foe will influence in ways they think will be beneficial to them. Russia likely went beyond legal means, Israel in some ways showed a support for Trump and in turn Trump showed support for Le Pen in France’s elections.

As much as we wish it wasn’t so, elections are all about influence and foreign powers some times have as much to gain as a country’s own population - none of this happens in a vacuum.