The fate of Nixon should temper Trump's arrogant confidence, but what about Napoleon?

 

By Hal Brown

I was enjoying the side-by-side photos of Trump and Nixon with their thumbs up (left) supposedly projecting supreme confidence which Raw Story used to illustrate the article Trump allies plan to rip apart major post-Nixon reforms that limit presidential power: report. 

The reason Nixon's photo was used is because of the following:

As the paper (NY Times) writes, Trump and his allies want to rip apart many of the guardrails that were put in place after the presidency of Richard Nixon that prevented presidents from abusing their power to go after political opponents.

Putting them side-by-side conveys a second message. It is, of course, the ultimate fate of Richard Nixon.

Putting photos of the two of them side-by-side isn't new, for example:

Nixon's fate should represent a cautionary tale for Trump. 

There are certainly other historic leaders he should be thinking of to disabuse himself of his confidence thinking he is going to heroically make it through all of the attempts to bring him down. From Hitler to Hussein, history is fraught with stories of leaders who thought they could rule their domains as they wished with impunity only to go down in humiliating defeat.

Let's consider one leader that may not immediately come to mind: Napoleon, and where he ended up if only because like him Trump could be incredibly lucky and not spend his final years in an actual prison. 

Both could end up in serving a sentence living in a house near the sea.

If Trump was sentenced to home confinement he would live in the luxury of Mar-a-Lago, quite possibly minus the fun of being able to hold parties with adoring fans. 

The watercolor of Napolean shown on St. Helena, where he was forced to live in exile by the British, may look idyllic but his accommodations were anything but luxurious.

Consider this from Wikipedia:

Napoleon stayed for two months at Briars pavilion before he was moved to Longwood House, a large wooden bungalow on Saint Helena, in December 1815. By this point, the house had fallen into disrepair. The location and interior of the house was damp, windswept and unhealthy. The Times published articles insinuating the British government was trying to hasten his death. Napoleon often complained of the living conditions of Longwood House in letters to the island's governor and his custodian, Hudson Lowe, while his attendants complained of "colds, catarrhs, damp floors and poor provisions."  

Modern scientists have speculated that his later illness may have arisen from arsenic poisoning caused by copper arsenite in the wallpaper at Longwood House.

With a small cadre of followers, Napoleon dictated his memoirs and grumbled about the living conditions. Lowe cut Napoleon's expenditure, ruled that no gifts were allowed if they mentioned his imperial status, and made his supporters sign a guarantee they would stay with the prisoner indefinitely. When he held a dinner party, men were expected to wear military dress and "women [appeared] in evening gowns and gems. It was an explicit denial of the circumstances of his captivity".

While the Longword House wasn't Mar-a-Lago, it is interesting to note that he was allowed to hold parties. It would remain to be seen if Trump's "gaolers" would allow him to throw parties.

Nixon was brought down by tapes. It could happen to Trump

 By Hal Brown

The original Nixon White House tape recorder is shown in an undated handout photo. (National Archives via AP)

One word stood out in this Salon article:

Judge orders Trump lawyer to reveal evidence in “criminal scheme” — and there may be tapes: report

Judge rules Trump duped his own lawyers in Mar-a-Lago case, orders attorney to testify and turn over transcriptions

Howell also ordered Corcoran to turn over records related to what she described as Trump's alleged "criminal scheme," according to the report. The report also revealed that Corcoran may have recorded his discussions with Trump, noting that the records include "handwritten notes, invoices and transcriptions of personal audio recordings."

Corcoran is the Trump lawyer that has been order to testify and turn over documents.

Here's more from Salon:

Former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman said the evidence "could be absolutely dynamite."

"It appears that Corcoran took notes & maybe RECORDED Trump, his client (sense a pattern of mistrust by Trump lawyers?)," Litman tweeted. "If doc or taped evid shows Trump knows the subpoena is false, that is killer."

Note that the word "recorded" is in all caps.

Here's another article:

Prosecutors have said they have reason to believe efforts were made to "obstruct" their investigation. 

They want to ask Corcoran about an alleged call he had with Trump on June 24, 2022, around the time investigators were seeking to secure documents at Trump's home and video surveillance tapes of Mar-a-Lago, CBS News reported.

"Those could be very incriminating phone calls by themselves," Cunningham said. "If that material is handed over, that could be by itself enough to indict [Trump], quite possibly enough to send him to prison."

The word recorded and references to recordings immediately brought to mind the Nixon Oval Office tapes.

Hopefully everyone reading this is old enough to remember what they were or familiar with the history of Watergate. 

The release of the tape, 18 minute gap notwithstanding, led to this:

and eventually to this:

There was one recording of Trump that we know of that could have prevented him from becoming president in the first place. I don't need to reference it because I am not sure how many asterisks I should use in the word that showed how he objectified women. 

Of course nobody uses tapes these digital days, but you get the idea. It is possible that the recording from attorney Corcoran added to the recording Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (which you can lister to here) is a different case end up leading to the beginning of the end for Donald Trump.

One thing is for certain, if he goes down and ends up being given jail time, he won't be leaving Mar-a-Lago on a Marine helicopter (designated as Marine One if the president is onboard).