Today I was watching Frost/Nixon melodrama about the famous, or infamous, Nixon interviews from 1977.
The movie is a condensed portrayal of both, the circumstances that brought the two people together, and the actual interview. Watching the movie got me thinking about the similarities, and differences, between President Nixon and President Trump. At the expense of stating the obvious, both have been embroiled in polarizing impeachment proceedings and are either loved or hated.
Both Nixon and Trump are people that seek the approval of other people. In fact, most politicians are like this. As are movie stars, actors, and anyone that enjoys the company and approval of others. These people enjoy it so much as to need it, require it, to survive. Both Nixon and Trump enjoy power. Power is tricky. Power is something we seldom have, and when we do have it, we don’t know how to use it. Nixon and Trump know how to use it and have no qualms using it. Nixon and Trump are always right, and everyone else is wrong. This megalomania is often the result of their power, and of the constant praise of people around them.
Nixon and Trump got to the presidency of the US through two very different paths, and their exit will be just a different. Due to the circumstances that are life, Nixon was always a politician. Nixon came from the west coast of the United States and joined the military during WW2. Having earned a law degree, Nixon was elected to the US congress and even became a US Senator. His sights of becoming President were further reinforced when he became vice-President to Eisenhower.
Trump on the other hand, never wanted to be President. He ran his campaign as publicity stunt. Trump began in real estate working for his father’s company in the east coast of the US. Very early in his career, he found and harnessed the power of the media. In the late 80s and early 90s, he’d make calls to news outlets posing as a Trump representative or promoter. While most of us would have ethical concerns about doing any such thing outside of the boundaries of a simple gag or joke, Trump had none. Trump, instead, used his cunning and conning, to sell his father’s assets as if they were his own in order to get one of his first loans in Manhattan real estate. From there, his legend grew as both, a real estate developer, and pseudo celebrity in NY. In the 2000s he became a reality-TV celebrity through his TV show the Apprentice; the reason he ran for office in the first place. While Trump had mentioned running for office in previous occasions, he, and everyone around him, knew being President was real work. However, running for President was not. Fast-forward to the 2016 election and the perfect storm realized and Trump was elected President.
We have two well-known benders of the truth. Two people that are adored by their followers and hated by the opposition. Two polarizing figures. Two Presidents that have been impeached. One that resigned before his trial and another taunting his prosecutors and eager for the event to begin.
As I watched the actual interview of Nixon by Frost, I found myself feeling as if I was living in 1977. The words Nixon used to obfuscate the truth and pass blame to others were the same Trump’s defenders often use. The frustration Frost expressed while chasing Nixon through the labyrinth of lies, was the same expressed by those in the two congress committees that were investigating Trump’s actions with Ukraine.
Watching the interview reaffirmed my long-held fear, that unlike Nixon, Trump will never resign or even leave office if he were voted out (unless through some type of irrefutable majority). And as far as term-limits, he will invoke pre-22nd amendment circumstances to remain. Trump has no scruples. Trump has no shame, or guilt. Trump will never sit for an interview and speak truthfully and admit fault. No, instead he’ll either weasel himself out of the question, refuse to answer it altogether, or do what he does best, change the subject and blame his opposition.
The only way you can get Trump to behave is by treating him like a child. This is the secret to Trump’s behavior, nobody ever told him it was wrong, and he does not know how to handle an authoritative mother-figure. I noticed this during one of the 2016 debates. During the debate an authoritative woman, Martha Raddatz, was the only person able to get some level of order during Trump’s rambles.
I suppose both men are similar to some extent; both are Presidents, impeached, and known liars. Except, one of them is able to behave like a grown, adult, man, while the other behaves like a bully child.
