Mandates

Nixon REALLY had one in '72

Here’s what a real Mandate looks like.

The guy who would become our most disgraced President and the only one to ever resign had the biggest electoral mandate ever. He ran the table except for one state. He had over 60% of the popular vote.

That was the first election I was old enough to vote in. I was in Jr. College playing in a rock band that did music with lyrics like “Tin Soldiers and Nixon coming” and “I’ve been tied to the Whipping Post” , “Southern Man…” on college campuses, army bases, red neck dives, teen nights at private, whites only pools and Proms…

I’m the guy in the shades with the dark hair standing in the middle. I did not vote for Nixon and was very happy to say “I told you so”, 2 years later.

This is what the campaign buttons looked like then.

Agnew had been our Governor here in Maryland. We did not know how corrupt he was, taking kick backs and bribes as standard operating practice. That came out after Nixon picked him to be VP. He would go down in disgrace before “Tricky Dick” and we got Gerry Ford as his replacement.

We all know the Watergate story…the tenacity of Woodward and Bernstein, the Washington Post staying on the story. This was their first report in 1972 :

The combination of a free press, an unfettered judicial system, an FBI and Senate Republicans doing their jobs built the case against Nixon and his people, doing his will.

Rather than face impeachment Nixon choose to resign.

This has to be one of the most famous photos from the 70’s

Even in the worst defeat a President had suffered Nixon went out looking victorious. A politician to the end. He fought back to become POTUS for 8 years after losing to JFK and in 6 years he mangled it mostly because of his paranoia and fear of losing. That’s what happened to the President with the largest mandate in history.

Now we have Trump claiming a mandate…the biggest, the best, etc. He did not receive 50% of the popular vote…and 3 states were within 1% to 2% and could have flipped the election to Harris.

Now , Trump did very well…but it’s nowhere close to Nixon’s Mandate in ‘72. Harris was only 45 electoral votes short of turning the table. She did MUCH better than George McGovern. So what’s my point here?

Trump in reality does not have the kind of popular support Nixon had in ‘72 and he is trying to move quickly to make his agenda the policy and law of the land. Some of his cabinet picks I find pretty outrageous…and Gaetz has already understood that he had no path to becoming AG even with Vance and Graham shilling for him.

Now the spotlight shifts to the Sec of Defense and Sec Education…two totally unqualified people.

Linda McMahon may actually be the better choice for Sec of Defense…she doesn’t have any trouble slapping her family around on live TV.

The spotlight is now on these 2 lightweights. Sex seems to be what drives the media most, so my guess is that Hegseth is the next one to withdraw. As to Gaetz, when I saw the braking news yesterday while eating lunch I turned to Fox and even they quickly admitted that he was a poor choice and he was doing the right thing.

Everyone was surprised that he folded his hand this quickly…but one commentator made the observation that it was the most self serving thing to do. It appears that the ethics report was going to go public…and he already resigned his seat in Congress to try and avoid that…he could have kept his seat and still be in the running for AG.

So we are just getting started with the not really a mandate President elect and his attempt to create a cabinet that he wants. We are only a few days into this and the entertainment value is pretty high. It is creating ratings…but I’m not sure what else.

So now, we have Pam Bondi the AG for Florida Gov. Ron Santos. Here’s how that looks out on You Tube

Oh and by the way over the years I got to meet Woodward and McGovern and thank them for their service to the country. At this point we don’t know who the hero(s) will be but don’t touch that dial folks…the ride is just beginning.

Peace