Trump, Tapes, and Tales of Watergate
or what kind of idiot are you
“Oh Boy…Tapes!”
That was the immediate reaction of realists and idealists upon learning that a documentary filmaker from Great Britain named Alex Holder had raw film footage from September 2020 through the aftermath of the January 6th Attack on the Capitol.
Pragmatists, left and right, just want to sweep Trumpism under the rug sooner rather than later in a swooning desire for political normalcy. That ship sailed a while ago.
When it was revealed that Nixon had audio-taped the Oval Office; it was a political bombshell, but not as surprising as many thought1. In “Man of the House”2, Tip O’Neill, who was Majority Whip and then Majority Leader during much of the Nixon presidency, reflected he and other politicians had observed that Nixon often appeared to be speaking to the ceiling when talking. Hindsight is rarely wrong.
The White House tapes were the lynchpin evidence that made impeachment a reality.
Nixon wanted to be a beloved President. Unfortunately, he was barely likable. In the end, Nixon’s ego got the best of him.
With Donald Trump, revelations that a documentary crew3 covered the Fall campaign, Election night, the aftermath, and likely the genesis of the January 6th Insurrection is explainable as pure narcissism.
Why else would his Trump’s own legal team allow them to film everything?4
The January 6th Committee may now have the lynchpin to to prove what a nefarious plot Trump was undertaking.
And with that, the rift between Trump and Old Guard Republicans 5 will continue to widen. And that is very bad news for Donald Trump legally and politically.
https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes
https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780394552019
https://www.rawstory.com/alex-holder-trump/
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-campaign-documentary/
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-rusty-bowers/?cx_testId=6&cx_testVariant=cx_undefined&cx_artPos=3&cx_experienceId=EXC93HV4HK4I#cxrecs_s