Nixon’s exoneration
Just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of his infamous resignation next month, Richard M Nixon has been officially exonerated. To be sure, he’d already been pardoned. Gerald Ford had seen to that. But until now, the reputation and legacy of the second most corrupt president in American history remained contaminated by suggestions of high crimes and misdemeanours. No more.
For those of you who are too young to recall, or your memory of the event is too distant to summon, a group of Nixon’s thugs (called “The Plumbers”) broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC. That was in June of 1972. Their goal was to bug the Committee’s telephones and photograph its documents. They needed dirt on the Committee to help Nixon win the coming election, an election he already had in the bag. They were caught and arrested.
An investigation was carried out by two young reporters from a once-great newspaper, The Washington Post. Their persistent reporting uncovered scandal after scandal, coverup after coverup. It appeared to go all the way to the top. Their persistence was rewarded by a Senate subcommittee investigation and articles of impeachment drafted in the House. Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974, in order to avert the second impeachment in American history, one in which he almost certainly would have been convicted.
Now, as I said, thanks to the most corrupt Supreme Court in American history, the second most corrupt president in American history has been completely exonerated. You see, everything Nixon did in planning and covering up the Watergate burglary was an official act. He was working officially to preserve his term of office. He was blocking the FBI’s investigation in an official capacity. Today’s SCOTUS has decreed that no president is guilty of a crime if he or she commits that crime as an official act. Thus has Richard Nixon been retroactively exonerated.
In this context, Nixon’s nascent impeachment was dead before it had begun. You see, impeachment depends on the commission of high crimes and misdemeanours, and because Nixon was acting officially, no crimes were committed. According to the Supreme Court, that is. Nixon’s resignation was also entirely unnecessary.
Such is the legacy of the current supremely stupid, supremely corrupt, Supreme Court. History has been altered, re-edited, by them. They have rendered evil good again, by sanctifying one of the most despicable acts of any president in American history. Think of it as a dry run, a test case. They aren’t finished whitewashing evil. Their goal is to also exonerate Donald Trump as well. Cleanse him of all unrighteousness.
And that is yet another reason why the current Court’s power must be completely thwarted. The only way to do that is to add four new and very young justices to the Court. That would frustrate the six MAGA justices who are comfortably residing in Donald Trump’s pocket. Maybe they will resign. Maybe they will just die. But whatever they do, they will never again be able to destroy America with their evil decisions.
And Nixon’s reputation can go back to what it was, the second most corrupt president in American history. The most corrupt president in American history is Donald Trump, of course. Let’s make sure that Trump’s reputation and legacy remains where it is. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe. Donate to Palmer Report, click here!
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.