Constitutional Podcast (Washington Post) - Episode 1 - Framed!

This Constitutional Podcast, follows upon the 2016 podcast “Presidential” - which, each week discusses each US president and examines the leadership style exemplified by each President. Well worth listening to but not necessary to listen to this podcast. Strongly suggest you listen sometime! 

What we learned was that the presidents that we think of as great are those that achieved what WE as a nation wanted to achieve. Those presidents that embraced the mission, set forth in the Constitution, to lead us toward a more perfect union. It is “We the People” that have shaped the values of America.

Background

We go back to the hot Philadelphia summer of 1787 in this first episode. Independence Hall. The Declaration of Independence was signed here about 10 years before. It's May 25th (HOT and windows are closed so no one would her the deliberations. 

Freedom to work. NO Leaks.

The country was under the articles of confederation. Shay’s rebellion showed how unstable the situation was. A need for a united country with a strong federal gov’t. (Madison/Hamilton)

Some of the key participants:

• James Madison - Researched what previous Republics were. (Rome, Greece.)
• George Washington is the chair of the convention. His presence and stature ensures the conventions success. He rarely speaks.
• James Wilson: The key voice (and vision) from Pennsylvania. A constitutional philosopher ("We the people of the US". NOT "we the people of the individual states”)

Goal - To develop A practical framework of government which required compromise and patience.

Some of the key takeaways of interest from this first podcast.

The legislature - Finding a balance of representation between small and large states by population. Connecticut compromise.

The executive -  What type and how much power? 

Madison wanted a President elected by the legislature.  Views of the populace filtered by the elected legislature. Hamilton wanted a elected “monarch”. Very powerful. Wilson wanted the executive elected by the people.

The “Frankenstein compromise” of the Electoral College. See my blog post about the electoral college.

At the time the constitutional convention was the most radical body ever assembled. A time when the world was ruled by Kings and Monarchs.

The framers were concerned about populism vs constitutionalism.  (Basic values of rule of law, limited government , individual rights. Can a true republic survive?)

This is exactly what we are concerned about today. Populism out of control being led by a demagogue who uses fear and lies to reach his objectives. Madison studied the failure of ancient democracies of Greece and Rome Unchecked democracies that led to demagogues and the mob that would threaten liberty.

Many debates about slavery - its future in the new nation. 25 of 55 delegates were slave holders. ALL the delegates were WHITE MEN who owned property. Nowhere in the constitution does the word “Slave” appears. But their bodies are counted (the infamous 3/5 compromise). That gave white slave holders in the South more power. A massive inequity.

The priority was NOT to end human bondage. It was to create a legal structure. Anything else took a back seat.  Moral values were put on the back burner for expediency (The fugitive slave law; The trans-atlantic slave trade)

The delegates write in a protection for the slave trade - that the trade could not be ended by Congress for 20 years (until 1807).  Hope for movement for change in the future.

A grave moral injustice.  A compromise that kicked the issue to the future. Enslaved people were 20% of the population, 700,000 men women and children. Treated with total lack of regard for them as human beings. Perpetuates human bondage.

Whether there should be a Bill of Right in the constitution. Last major debate. Anti-Federalists wanted to protect individual liberty. 39 of the 55 original delegates sign. Was added because the States (as it came time to ratified) demanded the Bill of Rights. 17 amendments were adopted since the first 10.  (11,000 attempts to amend the constitution since ratification)

Andrea Nicole Baker

What I listen to (podcasts) and read (magazines, books, etc)

We live in any amazing time where information is so readily available to us at our fingertips. On our smart devices,  at the neighborhood library, bookstore or basically anywhere.  Makes me think of how jealous Thomas Jefferson would be of us, sitting there in Monticello with his huge library of books. Here we are being able to access the internet without going out. Of course, he would probably be incredulous at how much time we waste on drivel with all this information is so readily available.

I love podcasts. They allow me to listen when I am working out, cooking, cleaning, traveling, doing my makeup. Basically all the time when I can multi-task.

PODCASTS
(Listing my favorites. History and current events mostly. I'm always looking for new ones. I try a few episodes and keep downloading new episodes if I like)

ON THE MEDIA - If you only listen to one Podcast this should be the one.
WNYC’s weekly investigation into how the media shapes our world view. Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield give you the tools to survive the media maelstrom.

Washington Post CONSTITUTIONAL Podcast.
This series exploring the Constitution and the people who framed and reframed it — revolutionaries, abolitionists, suffragists, teetotalers, protesters, justices, presidents – in the ongoing struggle to form a more perfect union across a vast and diverse land.

Washington Post PRESIDENTIAL podcast
In 44 episodes leading up to Election Day 2016, this podcast explores the character and legacy of each of the American presidents.

POD SAVE AMERICA -
Four former aides to President Obama — Jon Favreau, Dan Pfeiffer, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor — are joined by journalists, politicians, comedians, and activists for a freewheeling conversation about politics, the press and the challenges posed by the Trump presidency.

POD SAVE THE WORLD
“Pod Save America” cohost Tommy Vietor thought foreign policy was boring and complicated until he got the education of a lifetime working for President Obama’s National Security Council. 

THE LAWFARE PODCAST
This is the podcast series from Lawfare, the web's leading multimedia web site devoted to national security law and policy.

THE AXE FILES with DAVID AXELROD
David Axelrod, the founder and director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, brings you "The Axe Files," a series of revealing interviews with key figures in the political world.

Common Sense with Dan Carlin
Common Sense with Dan Carlin is an independent look at politics and current events from popular New Media personality Dan Carlin.

HARDCORE HISTORY with Dan Carlin - LOVE This podcast. Going to blog more about this in the future. I've listened to ALL the episodes more than once.
In "Hardcore History" journalist and broadcaster Dan Carlin takes his "Martian", unorthodox way of thinking and applies it to the past.

HISTORY EXTRA PODCAST
The latest news from the team behind BBC History Magazine.
I also subscribe to the print magazine. There are so many interesting articles about both UK and world history. 








YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS
This is a storytelling podcast exploring the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century. It’s the brainchild and passion project of Karina Longworth (founder of Cinematical.com, former film critic for LA Weekly), who writes, narrates, records and edits each episode. It is a heavily-researched work of creative nonfiction: navigating through conflicting reports, mythology, and institutionalized spin, Karina tries to sort out what really happened behind the films, stars and scandals of the 20th century.
(There are many episodes about the communist blacklist. Those are so interesting and extremely well done)

MY HISTORY CAN BEAT UP YOUR POLITICS This one keeps getting better and better! Bruce Carlson is terrific.
Since 2006, bringing historical context to the politics of today. TV pundits discuss politics in a vacuum. Cable news tells you everything is 'breaking news' but in most cases, events have long roots in history. In this podcast, we smash and bash the politics of today with a healthy dose of history. 

THE WEST WING WEEKLY - One of the BEST TV dramas ever.
An episode-by-episode discussion of The West Wing, one of television’s most beloved shows, co-hosted by one of its stars, Joshua Malina, along with Hrishikesh Hirway of Song Exploder.

THE FALL OF ROME PODCAST
Barbarians, political breakdown, economic collapse, mass migration, pillaging and plunder. The fall of the Roman Empire has been studied for years, but genetics, climate science, forensic science, network models, and globalization studies have reshaped our understanding of one of the most important events in human history. PhD historian and specialist Patrick Wyman brings the cutting edge of history to listeners in plain, relatable English.

THE HISTORY OF WWII PODCAST
A biweekly podcast covering the last great war. Join Ray Harris Jr as he explores World War Two in intimate detail.

(There are many others I have "testing" for interest).

National Geographic History magazine

What I love about this magazine are the interesting articles with fabulous pictures and diagrams. For the things I find interesting I can then explore further.







Obviously I have a stack of books that I am always trying to make my way through. I'll be blogging about them. Also I collect DVD lessons, on various History topics from the Great Courses.

I also have been taking courses from coursera when I have time. 

Andrea Nicole Baker

The Trump Death March

I don't remember where I saw the expression "The Trump Death March", but it is exactly where we stand today.  Former FBI Director Comey's testimony in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee was an indictment that Trump did engage in obstruction of Justice by asking Comey to drop the criminal investigation in Michael Flynn.  That he asked the Attorney general and the  Vice-President to leave the room makes it quite clear that he did not want any witnesses to this.

Did you notice that the one thing that was missing in all of Trump's conversations with Comey is that he never asked once about the seriousness of the Russian attack on American Institutions. That is what this investigation is all about no matter how much Trump denies it. It is also clear that the investigation is going to lead into areas of financial dealing with Trump business and Russia. Hint. Why is he so insistent about refusing to release his taxes?

White House: Trump is NOT a liar.  White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday that President Trump is “not a liar” hours after ousted FBI Director James Comey said the president had lied about the FBI.

Good luck with that. It should be clear to everyone by now that Trump is a liar, a bully and a criminal. He knows nothing of how government is supposed to function. He cares nothing for policy or for anyone other than himself. This is the most comprehensive and compelling case thus far that Trump did indeed engage in obstruction of justice.

Comey testified under oath. Trump's credibility has taken a nose dive (Pinocchio analogy anyone?) with all the lies he has made since taking office. I'm not counting all the lies during the campaign. Those are on the voters who believed his promises. 

The investigation is going to continue with the drip, drip, drip of details being reported as we learn the full extent of what happened. Collusion with Russia's attempt to interfere with our elections, The cover-up, financial irregularities with the Trump business and more that we don't know yet.

The Republican Congress will NOT move forward with impeachment hearings. That will be left to the Democratic Congress that will, hopefully, be elected in 2018. Because, for the next year and a half NOTHNG will get accomplished concerning all the campaign promises and major issues faced by the country.  

The only way to break that logjam will be to remove Trump from office. But that could take a year or more from Jan 2019 of impeachment proceedings and a trial in the Senate.  ALL that time Trump will be sitting in the White House angry and petulant. The most powerful person in the world, powerless to affect any legislative change. We will need the defense secretary (among others) to make sure he does not do anything dangerous. 

Can a President be indicted for a crime? The prevailing view among most legal experts is no. They say the president is immune from prosecution so long as he is in office. Richard Nixon was a non-indicted co-conspirator during the Watergate affair. 

Article Two of the United States Constitution: "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."  The US House of Representative will decide what that means in this case (Abuse of Power, for example) if impeachment articles ever get out of the judiciary committee. 

What we learned: (As per NBC NEWS)

1. Special Counsel Bob Mueller could very well be looking at whether Trump engaged in obstruction of justice in the Michael Flynn case. Comey said he couldn’t answer the question if there was obstruction of justice, but added: “I took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning but that’s a conclusion I’m sure the special counsel will work towards to try to understand what the intention was there and whether that’s an offense.”
2. Comey interpreted Trump’s Let-Flynn-Go comment as a direction. RISCH: Did Trump *direct* you to let to let go of the Flynn matter? COMEY: “Not in his words, no… I took it as a direction.”
3. Team Trump didn’t tell the truth about Comey’s firing. “The explanations, the shifting explanations confused me and concerned me.” More: “Those were lies, plain and simple.”
4. Comey couldn’t discuss in an open setting facts regarding Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Russians. "We were also aware of facts that I can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a Russia-related investigation problematic."
5. Comey leaked the Let-Flynn-Go conversation to the New York Times, knowing it would probably trigger a special counsel.
6. Comey dinged Loretta Lynch and said her instructions in the Hillary email probe forced him to intervene in his July 5 announcement
7. “Release the tapes!” “Lordy, I hope there are tapes.”

James Clapper, former US intelligence chief, states that what we are confronting makes Watergate pale in significance.

“Watergate pales really, in my view, compared to what we’re confronting now,” said Clapper, a former lieutenant general with a long career in intelligence under Republican and Democratic presidents alike. He added: “I am very concerned about the assault on our institutions coming from both an external source — read Russia — and an internal source — the president himself.”

As Clapper suggested, Trump has been undermining the institutions and mores that undergird our political process; whether or not his conduct was felonious, it has been profoundly subversive.

Apart from Comey and the Russia investigation, Trump has systematically attacked the institutions of American life that he sees as impediments. He denounced judges and the courts. He has attacked journalists as “the enemy of the people,” and urged that some be jailed for publishing classified information. He has publicly savaged Democrats and Republicans who stand up to him.

More broadly, Trump has ignored longstanding democratic norms, such as that a presidential candidate release tax returns and obey certain ethics rules. He flouts conventions against nepotism. And perhaps most fundamentally, he simply lies at every turn: Politicians often spin and exaggerate, they even lie in extremis to escape scandal. But Trump is different. He lies on autopilot, on something as banal as the size of inauguration crowds.

Incompetence, Immorality and BS - The village idiot

Since January 20th I have been closing following all the events of the Federal Government. The Trump White House, Congress, the media, etc. Things have been unfolding so quickly that it has been hard to find the right moment to try to pull all this together.

First of all, nothing that has happened should be a surprise. Donald Trump does not have the temperament to be President. Quinnipiac University’s most recent polls show how the American people describe Trump in a word. The most common words are idiot and incompetent. 

Trump has no ideology beyond his narcissism. He cares nothing about policy or the actual work of the Presidency.  He does not read his intelligence briefings. He has to have people explain to the world him in cartoons that have to fit on one page because of his inability to focus attention. He has no idea what is in the constitution of how the government works. He is a laughing-stock in the face of the world. Incompetence is not even close to how much of a disaster Trump is. 

Trump is now even losing support among his base. But I think it will take unit at least the 2018 mid-terms before his strongest supports realize that all his promises (jobs, health care, the Muslim-Ban, the Mexico Wall) will NEVER be fulfilled. 

What we know today:

The Russian Connection

It is a fact that Russia interfered with our election. There are ties to Russia among some of Trump's present and former advisers (Flynn, Manafort and now Kushner). This diagram is an excellent source to help explain it all. At this point it is not clear how much of this has potential legal ramifications. The investigation is on-going. But the political impact is becoming clearer. My expectation is that there are significant ties to Trump's business interests with Russia.

Obstruction of Justice

Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey and his admission that he fired Comey to stop the investigation into the Russian-Trump ties mind-boggling.   The day Comey testifies before Congress will be quite an important and potentially earth-shaking day. Lots more to be investigated here.
Trump's appointment of a new FBI Director will test the Republicans to ensure that the person is NOT a political appointee.

"But whether the President's conduct is or is not within the letter of the law is irrelevant; there's a really good reason why, for generations, presidents from across the ideological spectrum have respected the principle of not interfering in federal criminal investigations. That President Trump seems wholly indifferent to this principle, or the potentially devastating consequences of its demise, is the real scandal here." - Steve Vladeck, CNN legal analyst and professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law.

Lies vs. BS

At a certain point all of Trump's lies will come back to haunt him because his credibility will be close to zero. This opinion post helps to separate Trump's use of BS which gets to the essence of how all of this erodes any trust the public, government and the world may have in him. His BS basically tries to cover up the truth.

What is the future?

Trump resigns - It's hard to believe that he would ever give up and resign. The White House is now in permanent crisis mode. This means that nothing is going to get done on Trump's legislative agenda while the investigation is on-going. That's a good thing considering his specific legislative agenda. 

However, we need to be fearful what happens in the foreign policy area. 

Trump dies in office -  He does not exercise or diet. He lives on junk food. Stress level is high. Who knows?

Removal under 25th amendment - Not going to happen under a Republican Congress unless there is some major world event that the entire country believes Trump cannot manage.

Impeachment -  Won't happen unless there is a Democratic congress elected in 2018. Republicans will start to jump ship if the mid-terms are a disaster for them.

Trump Finishes one-term and is defeated for re-election 

Why is James Buchanan (our 15th President) smiling?

I decided to wait for my next blog post until the one month anniversary of Trump's inauguration.
To me it feels like we are 3 years into a "normal" Presidency. But norms are for history.
Donald Trump's race to be the worst administration in American history is without precedent.

To commemorate this year's President's Day, I read the annual analysis by well known historians to rate the former President's of the Unites States. The consensus, of the past 50 years or so is that the top four Presidents are Washington, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt.  (from that point there is more general consensus on groupings of the next in line. (Good, Fair, Poor, etc).
There is also consensus on the worst President, James Buchanan. The 15th President did nothing to try to stop the country from civil war.  (Not that he truly could have stopped the inevitable).

For many of us this is not a surprise. We saw it all during the campaign.  Being a business man is not like understanding how to manage policy decisions through building consensus and Congress.

Just as a reminder the major issues over the past month have been:

• A complete failure of an executive order to manage immigration control
• The firing of a national security advisor (and the Russian thing exploding out of control)
• The rejection of a Labor Secretary nominee.
• The failed military raid in Yemen.

What is happening, behind the scenes are all the policy changes that are being done to roll-back decisions of the Obama administration. These include changes concerning carbon emissions,  water pollution, gun control, business regulations, health care and so many more. It's the pro-business agenda of greed. (What's good for General Motors (i.e. business) is good for the US). Plus the  economy, environment, and taking care of the less-fortunate be damned.  Scary! 

Instead of "draining the swamp", he has nominated cabinet members who are there to destroy their departments.  (Lots of former Goldman-Sachs alumni). 

The utter incompetency, the blatant lies (alternative facts) and the racism are beyond description.

His press conference of three days ago was beyond belief. He even lies about obvious facts. 

His press conference with the Prime Minister of Israel was surreal. The analysts were trying to figure out what he meant as if he was being cryptic.  News Flash. He has no clue abut what one-state, two-states or the history and complexities of the Middle East. He could care less.

This morning we woke up to this tweet. Trump needs an enemy.  Every president has had a contentious relationship with the press. That is the nature of a democracy. But  with this tweet, he has declared war on the first amendment.  SICK!  

Seems like all he does is watch the news programs and gauge their reactions to him. 

So now anything that is not to his liking is "Fake News".  More like he is the "Fake President" (I wish).

Two of my favorite podcasts are from Dan Carlin.  Hard Core History (for history junkies like myself)  and Common Sense.  While I certainly don't agree with Dan on everything he is very thought provoking and engaging. I know that he has an excellent background in historical context.

You can't understand the present without knowledge of history.

I strongly suggest you download "Common Sense 313 - Get me a Glassful of Water."

He is struggling, like all of us, to figure out where we are going from here.  Post your feedback and thoughts on this blog post. 

The United States of Racism

One of my heroes is Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Stricken by polio at an early age he did not let this devastating disease to keep him from his professional and personal goals. He was elected to the Presidency four times. He gave the country hope to survive the great depression and the very darkest years before and during WW II.  Historians agree that those years, when he was struggling with polio, allowed him to gain deep insights and develop much personal empathy for the American people and their very real personal and economic problems in the depths of the great depression. More on that in a future blog post.

In FDR's First Inaugural address (March 1933) he stated:
"I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impel. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days."

Eight years later, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan there was something other to fear other than fear itself.  The irrational and racist fear of Japanese citizens of the US. This lead to the Japanese Internment, ordered by FDR shortly after  the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was the forced relocation and incarceration in camps of about 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry who lived on the Pacific coast. More than 60% of whom were US Citizens. A truly shameful action all caused by irrational fear.

I do not think the United States is a racist country. Nor am I calling anyone a racist, though I could make a very long list. But there are so many examples in US History that irrational  fear directly results in shameful acts that endanger our freedom and the values that are the foundation of this country. 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." - US Declaration of Independence.

President John Adams, in the late 18th century signed the Alien and Sedition laws. They made it harder for an immigrant to become a citizen and allowed the President to imprison and deport non-citizens who were deemed dangerous. Even worse it criminalized making statements critical of the federal government.  At the time the US was a small and weak nation in a world of European super powers (England, France, Spain). But throwing out due process of law, not to mention the First Amendment was another shameful act.

The institution of slavery, the 100 years of Jim Crow after the Civil War, and the continuing fight for Civil Rights is a topic in it's own right. Institutionalized racism continues to exist. Shameful.

In 1882 the Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers. After the Chinese came here the build the railroads they were told they were not wanted. Thanks for building the railroads. Now leave.  It was the first law implemented to prevent a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the United States. It was repealed in 1943.

The US has a long history of restricting immigration. The immigration act of 1924 imposed the first permanent numerical limits and began a national-origin quota system.  The law was primarily aimed at further restricting immigration of Southern and Eastern Europeans especially Italians and Eastern European Jews. Jews trying to escape the Holocaust of Nazi Germany found the doors to the US slammed shut. See "While Six Million Died - A chronicle of American Apathy".
In addition, it severely restricted the immigration of Africans and outright banned the immigration of Arabs and Asians. 

In the 1950s, the fear of communism was the root cause of Senator Joseph McCarthy's shameful witch hunts against alleged communists in politics and the arts. Very few people stood up to him. See the Army-McCarthy hearings.

Now we come to Trump's travel ban on seven Muslim-majority nations.  A major statement of America's new posture towards Islam. This is NOT going to make us safer. It is going to do the exact opposite. It is going to only foster more radical Islamic fundamentalism.

Not to mention the the ban on ALL Syrian refugees means that the US is showing no compassion for the victims of this awful humanitarian crisis.

Just to be clear. It is a Muslim Ban. It is about Religion.  It is NOT about Terror.

Lastly, the incompetent way this was rolled out by the administration (total chaos) only portends more of the same. It's not like we did not know all about Trump's lack of policy experience and his total incompetence.

When will we ever learn?

Andrea Nicole Baker

"america first" and isolationism

Hearing the words "America First", in Trump's Inauguration speech, brought to mind many events in American History where uneducated people who think, because we live between two oceans we can retreat from the rest of the world. Not to mention those in the Midwest who feel themselves even more "insulated" from the rest of world.

I'll never forget, maybe 20 years ago, reading a letter to the editor in the local newspaper which suggested that we should be "Fortress America".  That we are so lucky we have two oceans between us and that we should build a giant wall all around the country. Obviously my first thoughts were that this person has no clue about how the US is so inter-connected with the rest of the world for trade, resources, security, our standard of living and so much more.  Can someone be truly so close-minded and ignorant of reality?

American isolationism in the 1930s and the "America First" committee is the most recent and stark example. The fact is that the Great Depression and the losses in WWI (especially that the Versailles Treaty to end WWI only guaranteed another World War) tilted US public opinion and policy towards isolationism. That meant non-involvement in Asian and European conflicts and also in International Politics.

In 1937 as the situation in Europe continued to grow worse and the Second Sino-Japanese War began in Asia,  President Roosevelt likened international aggression to a disease that other nations must work to “quarantine.”  

Enter the America First Committee (AFC) in 1940 which strongly opposed America's involvement in WW II. By that time  Hitler had invaded Poland (Sept 1939), and was marching through Europe.  The allies (Britain and France) were unable to resist the Nazi military. France had already capitulated. Russia had a non-aggression pact with Germany which allowed it to pursue its own expansionist interests. The majority of American opposed American entry in the war to help Britain.  The AFC opposed FDR and his lend-lease program which was to to help Britain with equipment but could not do much else with the current political climate.

There were several hundred chapters of the AFC in the US of which the great majority (2/3) would be in the Midwest. Charles Lindbergh served as the committee's principal spokesman.

A sacred trust - Richard Nixon's Betrayal and Treason

"People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. "

- On November 17, 1973, President Richard Nixon infamously denied any involvement in the Watergate scandal with his now timeless defense.  Of course, as we learned at the Watergate and impeachment hearings  in 1973-74 Nixon was the principal in the Watergate cover up.  In legal terms "Obstruction of Justice."

I have always held that Richard Nixon was the most morally corrupt person in the history of the Presidency. His fatal character flaws were his paranoia, his bigotry (his racial slurs and his southern strategy) and, for a public person, his inability to connect with people at a personal and humane level. 

Nixon's betrayal of the public trust fueled a general cynicism and antagonism that people have felt toward presidents and the federal government ever since.— Presidential historian Robert Dallek

The incredible thing is that his Presidency was not a failure. Both in foreign affairs and domestic policy he had some significant accomplishments. The openings to the USSR and China and the creation of the EPA are examples. Also, Nixon served his country in WW II.

Now we learn the truth of what we have always suspected which, in my opinion, is far worse that the Watergate cover up.   That Nixon sabotaged the 1968 Vietnam peace talks. This is the recent article in the NY Times.

“My God. I would never do anything to encourage South Vietnam “not to come to the table,” Nixon told Johnson, in a conversation captured on the White House taping system.

Nixon feared that the peace talks could give his opponent, Hubert Humphrey, an edge in the 1968 election.  New documents show that Nixon  intentionally scuttled negotiations to end the Vietnam War for political gain. On Oct. 22, 1968, he ordered Haldeman to “monkey wrench” the initiative. 
His actions violated federal law, which prohibits private citizens from trying to "defeat the measures "of the United States. In another word "Treason".  How many Americans and Vietnamese died needlessly for Nixon's  own political gains? 

At the Nixon-Frost set of interviews the most damning statement from Nixon was:
 "When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.  

According to Nixon the President is above the law.

"“A government of laws, and not of men.”   John Adams .
In his 7th “Novanglus” letter, published in the Boston Gazette in 1774 

This has been a primary element that has separated the United States from most every nation in History.

“My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works. Our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule.”  Gerald Ford Aug 9, 1974.
Of course, Ford gave Nixon a pardon not much later.  But that's a topic for another post.

We are now facing  the next four years of a President who not only is a minority president but has significant legitimacy issues.  Whose basic values are power and greed.  A true demagogue.
Will this be a country of laws or a county of powerful and rich people like the Roman (so-called) Republic?