Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman said that the Trump/Russia scandal is a high tech Watergate, and an example of the technology catching up with the crimes.
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Akerman said on MSNBC’s AM Joy, “Instead of bringing a bunch of guys up from Miami to break into the Watergate headquarters, the Democratic headquarters, they did it with the Russians who did it electronically this time making it a lot more difficult to uncover. It’s not like they could put tape on the door and a police officer would walk in and find a bunch of burglars. This made it very hard to detect in the first instance. But it also made it much more insidious in the sense that they were able to take a lot more, and you could see what they did with it. And it was all done for the purpose of getting Donald Trump So absolutely, this is like just go ahead 45 years, and it’s just now met up with the technology of what we’re looking at here.”
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Later, he elaborated, “Even with respect to the other pieces of it, using Facebook and this microtargeting of voters in specific districts. Before they were trying to figure out how to go around to voters or keep the vote suppressed. They did that in New Hampshire when Nixon was running and he had opposition with McCloskey. They had Roger Stone and donate money in the name of the young socialists to make Republicans turn against McCloskey. Now they can do it with electronics with 60 million Facebook users to target Hillary Clinton voters to keep them from voting.”
The difference between Trump and Nixon is that Nixon didn’t have a 24-hour cable news network working for him as his propaganda machine, and a conservative media infrastructure to protect him. The reason why Republicans won’t act against Trump, and some in the House are actively covering up for him is because they are afraid of his supporters. Republicans in Congress are so scared of the base of support that Fox News and conservative media have created for Trump. They don’t want to lose their seats, so even Republicans who can’t stand the president stay silent.
The Russia scandal is a modern Watergate, and the Republican Party is making the same mistakes all over again.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
