Nixon vs. Obama, Comparing Watergate and the 2016 Election

Does anybody still believe in Russian Collusion? That our president somehow conspired with Vladimir Putin to steal the election from Hillary Clinton? Long ago, when this all began, I remember hearing people comparing this so-called scandal to Watergate. I guess the thought of impeaching a president they hate so much got the Liberals excited and they couldn’t resist, but honestly, it’s brought about a comparison they never saw coming.

When I was younger, I was fascinated with Watergate. I read every book I could find on the subject. The question of the day was “What did the President know, and when did he know it?” Sadly, I fear that a majority of Americans have either forgotten or never learned the facts about this chapter in our history. If they had they might be asking the same questions about former President Barack Obama.

Watergate was once called a third-rate burglary attempt, and that’s probably apt, but yet, the scandal toppled a president. Let’s look at the facts, especially those relating to President Nixon. In June of 1972, five guys (who eventually were linked to the president’s re-election campaign) broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Complex. Their intent was to plant listening devices. So, months before the presidential election, the Republicans were trying to spy on the Democrats. But did the President know? The revelation that conversations from the oval office had been recorded was a bombshell.

Nixon easily won the election (the battle), but lost the presidency (the war), resigning less than 2 years later to avoid impeachment. All total, 69 government officials were charged and 48 found guilty. But what did Nixon do? There is no evidence that he ordered, approved, or even knew about the break-in before it happened. There is evidence that he participated in the cover-up. He discussed ways to obstruct the investigation and at one point, instructed his Attorney General to fire the special prosecutor who was demanding access to the recordings. The tapes also caught the President talking about using the FBI and the IRS to target political enemies. He had actually done it before, only targeting the media. In 1969, the White House had directed the FBI to tap the phones of five reporters and in 1971,they had the IRS conduct an audit of the editor of Newsday magazine. There is however no evidence that he used these federal agencies again.

More information about the Watergate Scandal can be found at the following website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal

Despite more than a year and countless millions of dollars, Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor has yet to find any evidence of Russian Collusion. Liberals are still praying for some way to impeach the president they hate with a passion. In the meantime, how does any of this compare to Watergate? Actually, there are some apt comparisons, but they have nothing to do with our current President or Russia.

Recent events have called into question, the actions of the former President, Barack Obama and his White House. Did the Democrats spy on the Republicans this time? Did they break the law to protect their own candidate? And did the President use federal agencies to punish political enemies? How do the actions of the Obama administration compare to the crimes of Richard Nixon?

A complete investigation into the election of 2016 may take many more years, but we have learned there were some questionable activities being conducted and they began well before Trump was elected. This much we know already. The FBI conducted surveillance on members of the Trump Campaign. The FBI and the DOJ used a fabricated dossier to get a FISA warrant to wiretap members of the team. The FBI inserted at least one informant (spy) into the campaign. Evidence of a cover-up implicates Former CIA Director, John Brennan, and Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, both of whom may be guilty of misleading Congress and the public about the investigation into the Trump campaign and when it actually started. The FBI even had a name for their secret Trump investigation, Crossfire Hurricane.

Even more damning were the actions taken to protect their own candidate. The FBI basically exonerated Hillary Clinton without even bothering to complete their investigation of her email scandal. This despite clear evidence that she had committed crimes involving the mishandling of classified material. The Attorney General met secretly with Bill Clinton during this time, but we’re supposed to believe that they talked about their grandchildren and the subject of Hillary’s investigation never came up. Right. Other allegations about the Clinton Foundation and possible violations have never been investigated. In addition, there is evidence that the Obama administration actively used the IRS against Conservative organizations (something Nixon only talked about doing.)

All of this was going on while Obama was the President, so, the question is “What did he know and when did he know it?” Honestly, there are only two possible answers and neither look good for the former president.

Possibility one is that he knew what all these federal agencies were doing and if he knew, then when doesn’t really matter. Either he ordered, or approved, or just sat back and let it happen, but any of these options make him responsible. He was the president and all these people answered to him. These things happened under his watch, which means, he should be held accountable.

Possibility two is that he didn’t know what these federal agencies were doing. If this is true (and I highly doubt it), then our only choice is to believe that Barack Obama is the most incompetent person to ever hold the office. We would have to believe that James Comey and Loretta Lynch and all of the others working for the president were running around doing their own thing and he was completely clueless. Or in other words, he had no control over his own administration.

Read more about Spygate here: https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/obama-behind-trump-investigation/

Information about Hillary’s email scandal can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton_email_controversy

To learn more about the IRS targeting conservative groups go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy

So, who was more guilty, Nixon or Obama? The Nixon conspiracy involved a poor attempt at bugging a couple of phones. The burglars were actually caught on their second break-in when they went back to fix one of the devices that didn’t work. In Obama’s case, there is little or no evidence that they ever discovered anything useful, but they definitely kept trying, renewing the FISA warrant several times, and unmasking the names of many American citizens for no apparent reasons, other than political ones.

Nixon tried to cover up the Watergate scandal. Obama and his officials have always denied any accusations of spying on the Trump campaign. The FBI and DOJ under Obama either covered up or failed to fully investigate the activities of the Clintons. Nixon talked about using federal agencies to go after political enemies. The Obama administration actually did it. And the whole Russian Collusion thing? Many are starting to believe the whole purpose of the Mueller investigation is draw attention away from the outrageous acts committed by the former President’s administration.

By any standards, the Watergate scandal seems pretty tame compared to things that have happened since.