The Day They Came for the Governor

T'was a different time. Remembering that not only was Nixon elected, he beat Humphrey by popular vote and electoral, and he won re-election. He did some popular things (EPA, for example), so we weren't ready to hate him just yet. Though I was young, politics didn't strike me as much of a team sport as it is today. Watergate, though, showed us what politicians are capable of. Though many might have suspected, the 70s were the first time it showed up in your living room on TV as live-and-in-color proof.

Today, thanks in part to Watergate, we have a much more cynical populous and so, say, Trump probably won't have as far to fall.

The FBI isn't what is bringing Trump down, the FBI has always seemed to be mostly conservative to moderate Republican leaning law and order types.

It's the rule of law and the ability to have an independent investigation of the president. I never thought that the political parties on both sides would be so swayed by the president that they wouldn't be able to adequately control or counter illegal or crazy actions. I've at least lost that naivety. Maybe Trump is our Nero, but it was such a thin slice of crazy that got him elected.

Some people voted for him because they liked the traditional ideas of the republican party, of his rhetoric about 'others' keeping us down, racism, people cheating the us. But I think there was also a sizable group of people that saw their future in trouble, the local town's factory shrinking or closing, young people moving away from their farm country, their local town with shuttered shops - those people wanted someone to give them hope. HRC wasn't doing a good job of engaging with them, even though I think she did have programs and intentions to help people. Bernie Sanders did have more outreach. I don't think most people wanted us to burn like Nero, they just wanted a change that might help them.