Althouse: "Dear Donald, I did not see the program but Mrs. Nixon told me that you were great on ‘The Donahue Show,’ As you can imagine, she is an expert on politics and she predicts that whenever you decide to run for office you will be a winner!"

December 23, 2017

"Dear Donald, I did not see the program but Mrs. Nixon told me that you were great on ‘The Donahue Show,’ As you can imagine, she is an expert on politics and she predicts that whenever you decide to run for office you will be a winner!"

The 1987 letter from Nixon to Donald Trump (via The Washington Examiner).

62 comments:

Inga...Allie Oop said...: Their paths are crossing.; 12/23/17, 6:26 PM
Michael K said...: It's too bad Nixon is not here to see Trump defenestrate the people who overthrew Nixon after his big 1972 victory.; 12/23/17, 6:37 PM
mockturtle said...: It's too bad Nixon is not here to see Trump defenestrate the people who overthrew Nixon after his big 1972 victory.

It's too bad he won't be able to see the scandals stemming from the Obama/Clinton corruption investigation. They will make Watergate look like child's play.; 12/23/17, 6:47 PM
Ambrose said...: If only Nixon could have observed and learned from Clinton and Trump - and then gone back in time to 1973. I may be out on a limb here , but 1969-1973 may have been the most productive Presidential term since Lincoln.; 12/23/17, 6:56 PM
Bill Peschel said...: Of course, the Washington Examiner would credit Nixon, when the letter clearly states that it was Pat who made the prediction.

This is what happens when you fire the copy editors.; 12/23/17, 7:05 PM
Narayanan said...: If only Nixon had challenged Kennedy result.....; 12/23/17, 7:06 PM
Fabi said...: Keep hope alive, Inga!; 12/23/17, 7:11 PM
traditionalguy said...: Tricky Donald is also a loyal friend of Israel. And that attracks attacks from unexpected
Sources. The Lord be with you, President T.; 12/23/17, 7:14 PM
Drago said...: Inga: "Their paths are crossing."

Already crossed.

Nixon lived in New York for awhile.

Gee, I hope Andrew McCabe enjoys his early retirement. He might have some time to play golf with the other FBI guys who have been demoted and downgraded.

All very innocent of course.

Let's just say a plan to play alot of golf is a "good insurance policy" against boredom....; 12/23/17, 7:14 PM
Drago said...: Inga is still reeling from the fact that someone decided Teddy had been dead long enough to make a more truthful movie about his manslaughtering a gal.; 12/23/17, 7:15 PM
Drago said...: Trump isn't going to sit around and let the idiot UN go after Israel without paying a price...and boy does that piss off the left.; 12/23/17, 7:16 PM
Birkel said...: Ambrose cheers the expansion of the administrative state.

Leviathan must be undone.; 12/23/17, 7:18 PM
Drago said...: Narayanan Subramanian: "If only Nixon had challenged Kennedy result....."

That would make for an interesting alternative history novel. Just thinking of the geo-political and cultural happenings from '61 to '68.

We might never have had the Reagan Revolution later on.; 12/23/17, 7:30 PM
Ambrose said...: Birkel notices my humble words - thank you and happy holidays.; 12/23/17, 7:31 PM
Bill said...: That should give the Nixon haters more than common cause with the Trump haters.; 12/23/17, 7:35 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Mrs. Nixon's prescience is heartwarming, but it would have been far more useful if she offered a tip or two on how to avoid being impeached.; 12/23/17, 7:39 PM
John henry said...: According to a bio of GHW Bush, Donald Trump was under consideration for VP in 1988.

Glad he didn't do it. He is an effective President and VP is, essentially, a bar to serving effectively as president. Or even getting elected in the first place.

John Henry; 12/23/17, 7:41 PM
rhhardin said...: Nixon wrote good letters.; 12/23/17, 7:56 PM
Drago said...: Earnest Prole: "Mrs. Nixon's prescience is heartwarming, but it would have been far more useful if she offered a tip or two on how to avoid being impeached"

Easy.

Wipe the tape....like, with a cloth. Or better yet, just go full Hillary and burn the tape.

Or, better better yet, simply stock the FBI/DOJ with only those who are completely in the tank for you and unethical enough to act on it, like obama/Clinton did.; 12/23/17, 7:57 PM
Drago said...: rhhardin: "Nixon wrote good letters"

Old School.

They did have charm, didn't they?; 12/23/17, 7:57 PM
cubanbob said...: If Nixon had been more like Trump he would have been president for two terms. If he had been a little bit like the Clinton's there never would have been any tapes.; 12/23/17, 7:59 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Jerks Earnestly awanting Sympathy.

Good for them. Until it ain't, again, for only God knows why.

But most, always, important is sympathy.

Sympathy, again in case you missed it.

Paths is all, know now and thenly, what matters. What is important. What supersedes any bourgeois qualms or notions.; 12/23/17, 8:00 PM
narciso said...: Late in the cycle pottinger, realized that felt wee the leaker, what exactly was Nixon's great offense again?; 12/23/17, 8:17 PM
Darrell said...: When Obama is convicted of treason and 4,538 counts of obstruction of justice, I recommend that he go to the electric chair. Hanging might not sit well with the general public.; 12/23/17, 8:26 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: An endorsement from beyond the grave. And what an endorsement!; 12/23/17, 8:58 PM
1775OGG said...: Darrell:

Wrong, Old Sparky would be totally inappropriate, yet the Rosenberg Memorable Chair might be suitable. Otherwise, the Tim McVeigh Gurney, in Indiana, would be available; appropriate too. Still, there has to be a conviction first, sentence later, most times.

OTOH: a trial would never happen. Iran would never extradite him back to the US!; 12/23/17, 9:09 PM
Wince said...: Similar to Althouse's Obama is like Nixon tag, does this mean she needs a Trump is like Pat Nixon tag?; 12/23/17, 10:19 PM
traditionalguy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/23/17, 10:23 PM
traditionalguy said...: Dick and Donald crossed paths in their personal friendships with the lawyer, Roy Cohn.; 12/23/17, 10:24 PM
gadfly said...: Blogger Michael K said...
It's too bad Nixon is not here to see Trump defenestrate the people who overthrew Nixon after his big 1972 victory.

It s true that Hillary worked on the House impeachment case against Nixon in 1974 - but I must have missed where Trump threw her out of a window - and I don't think that the Trump Tower windows can be opened.; 12/23/17, 10:25 PM
n.n said...: Obama is convicted of treason... I recommend that he go to the electric chair

Or Planned Parenthood, which is not only approved by leading human rights organizations, progressive religious and secular/Pro-Choice organizations, but would sit very well with half the population.; 12/23/17, 10:27 PM
n.n said...: If he had been a little bit like the Clinton's there never would have been any tapes

There would have been tapes, but there would also be an Obama/Clinton/press(WaPo)/Kiev axis to setup distractions/projections (e.g. "The Reckoning"), spy on Americans (e.g. Wisconsin proving ground for the progressive national coup), and to influence our election (e.g. allegations, civil rights violations, trial by press).; 12/23/17, 10:31 PM
Mark Daniels said...: Douglas MacArthur inveterately told people that they would make great presidents or candidates for president, probably because he desperately wanted to be president himself and thought that holding the office validated a person's worth. I suspect Nixon was equally loose in passing around this compliment and for the same reason as MacArthur. Of course, Nixon's judgments on such matters are suspect since he so completely disgraced himself as president.; 12/23/17, 10:32 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/23/17, 10:38 PM
Unknown said...: At the bar there was a regular who fought in Vietnam. Long black hair, even at his age, worn in a ponytail; his girlfriend would occasionally braid it, before she went batshit crazy and disappeared. Rumors: there were rumors. He worked as a chef at a nearby mission, and was fighting a long battle with leukemia, which he lost two years ago, after having moved to Florida to be near family.

He blamed Agent Orange for his disease. I have no idea if that was true or not, but it was his story, and he was entitled to tell it his way. He had a dry sense of humor, and would often shake his head at the foibles of the other regulars. Of course he had his own seat at the bar, at the corner.

There are several older regulars at the bar who have strong opinions on Vietnam, and Richard Nixon. They didn't fight in the war -- they were children at the time. But the legacy of that period was ingrained in them: they knew they would have protested Nixon and the War if only they were old enough: they just didn't have the good fortune to be able to be born early enough to burn a draft card. Their young adult years were after the Sixties Damage: they are really the children of the Forgotten Seventies. Which was, to a large extent, Sixties nostalgia that was already beginning before the Sixties were even over.

So they hate the War, and Richard Nixon; some even hate LBJ. JFK gets a pass, of course: the Kennedys were Special, and the Special get passes, even Teddy. Insert bridge joke here. Something about heroism and swimming, probably.

Some people state that the Sixties died at Altamont: Hell's Angel's, bad vibes, death. But you could make the argument that the Sixties died -- and the Sixties Damage began -- on July 18, 1969, when a sainted Kennedy left Mary Jo Kopechne to die in the Chappaquiddick water.

I first wrote that sentence as 'the shallow Chappaquiddick water', because that is always how I pictured it: small bridge, small water. But fifteen minutes on Google and I cannot find reference to the depth that the car submerged. Distance from bridge, probable speed of car, yes: but not depth. Which I find interesting in its lack of obvious access: maybe the water was shallow, which makes Teddy look worse, maybe it was fairly deep, which really still doesn't make Teddy look much better.

Teddy was forgiven, if it was not truly forgotten. I consider this one of the beginnings of Sixties Damage, where the Dream is allowed to live, even if the Truth must drown. In shallow water, maybe: I don't know. You can't really measure a metaphor.

- james james; 12/23/17, 11:28 PM
Unknown said...: Sometimes a line comes to me, and I don't even know if I actually agree with it or not. But the thought came.

So.

Some people view the Sixties like some communists view Communism: the Real Sixties haven't even been tried yet.

- james james; 12/23/17, 11:36 PM
edwhy said...: Bill: they’re the same people.; 12/23/17, 11:53 PM
Unknown said...: "But fifteen minutes on Google and I cannot find reference to the depth that the car submerged."

I am assuming someone will find this quickly, to which I say: I suck at Google.

But Google does give helpful corrections if I happen to spell Kardashian wrong.

- james james; 12/23/17, 11:53 PM
Charlie Eklund said...: Trump-haters and Nixon-haters of the world unite. You have nothing to lose but your minds.; 12/23/17, 11:54 PM
walter said...: JJ,
When it comes to drowning, enough is enough. (especially when trapped); 12/24/17, 12:27 AM
David Begley said...: The FBI dupes a federal judge and gets an order to spy on a candiate for president using a fake dossier paid for by the other party. The FBI also sandbags and point shaves an investigation involving the former Secretary of State.

This is way bigger than Watergate, Too bad the Press is uninterested.; 12/24/17, 12:41 AM
Just asking questions (Jaq) said...: Now Hillary is REALLY jealous!; 12/24/17, 6:46 AM
Just asking questions (Jaq) said...: From the inquest, one of the first responders, a diver, said that she lived for hours in a trapped air bubble, and that "Teddy” could have saved her with a leisurely ten cent phone call made within a couple hours of the accident. He spent that time talking to lawyers and fixers, while she suffocated, so the depth of the water is kind of irrelevant. He could have avoided a lot of the mess if one of those “fixers” had suggested getting help to the scene, but that’s not what “fixers” do.; 12/24/17, 6:51 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: " The FBI also sandbags and point shaves an investigation involving the former Secretary of State. "

Actually two separate investigations. The other was of the Clinton Foundation pay-to-play scam, apparently closely overseen by retiring FBI honcho Andy McCade (in exchange for $750k in campaign contributions for McCade's wife).; 12/24/17, 6:57 AM
Just asking questions (Jaq) said...: Yeah, McCabe's wife taking a $750K political contribution for a run for STATE SENATOR, not US Senate, VA State Senate, would seem to put McCabe on the wrong side of the “emoluments clause,” but it was from a former Clinton bundler, who got filthy rich based on his association with the Clintons, and the access it gave him, that would be Terry McAullif, so, no harm, no foul!

To be honest, I don’t understand any of that “emoluments clause” crapola, because if it meant what it says in plain English, Hillary would have been hanging from the yardarm based on her conduct as SoS.

I bet liberals wish they had this kind of fact set in their jihad against Trump. They would have managed to impeach him by now, with Republican help!; 12/24/17, 7:10 AM
David Begley said...: Bruce

Maybe McCabe’s wife only got $500k.

These Clinton investigations are all tied together. Hillary set up her private email server in order to run her bribery scheme. The truth is in those 33,000 deleted emails. How did the FBI let her get away with that? Point shaving.

Lawyer David Kendall has a copy of the deleted emails. He kept a copy to make sure he got paid and as the ultimate insurance. If I was Hillary’s lawyer, I would have done it.

Follow the bitcoin.; 12/24/17, 7:11 AM
Just asking questions (Jaq) said...: I don’t think that accepting $750K “donation” from a Clinton bundler while investigating Hillary’s emails creates any appearance of a conflict of interest for McCabe. AmIright, liberals here?; 12/24/17, 7:11 AM
Just asking questions (Jaq) said...: Follow the bitcoin.

Bitcoin!?!, Follow the good old legal tender of the US of A!; 12/24/17, 7:13 AM
Unknown said...: "He spent that time talking to lawyers and fixers, while she suffocated, so the depth of the water is kind of irrelevant."

I realize that. I am identifying his unconscionable action as the death of the Sixties, after all. Perhaps it was too dry, saying: "when a sainted Kennedy left Mary Jo Kopechne to die in the Chappaquiddick water."

I just thought it interesting that I hadn't found what I thought would be a well-publicized fact after so many years.

Maybe it's just me, but her drowning in, say, ten feet of water would put an image in people's minds, like she was not much deeper than a swimming pool.

- james james; 12/24/17, 7:54 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Begley, what do you mean, point shaving? Null program.

JJ,

We all love you, and understand that you have some shit going on with you, your health and perhaps aught else; and nobody with sense tells you what to write. But may I offer my opinion, that the bar stories are all terribly grim and rather all alike, and that why the hell would anyone ever go to a bar?!

I'm sorry if you are in a bad place. I wish I could help. Literally, is there anything I can do? Do you need money, or a second opinion, or nursing care? Even, a fresh bottle?

Of course that's all ridiculous. In fact, my heart goes out to you because there's nothing I can give you. But please know that you are valued, you are thought of, and you are not alone, even if none of us are with you in the flesh. If it's not too early, allow me to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.; 12/24/17, 8:48 AM
Michael K said...: I must have missed where Trump threw her out of a window - and I don't think that the Trump Tower windows can be opened.

I guess you slept though the election last year.; 12/24/17, 9:02 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Dick and Donald crossed paths in their personal friendships with the lawyer, Roy Cohn."

A perfect triad of scumbags.; 12/24/17, 9:05 AM
MacMacConnell said...: james james

The sixties didn't die with Chappaquiddick, It died when the Peace-Love & Anti War movement started blowing shit up.; 12/24/17, 9:22 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: “These Clinton investigations are all tied together. Hillary set up her private email server in order to run her bribery scheme. The truth is in those 33,000 deleted emails. How did the FBI let her get away with that? Point shaving.”

You are correct that the two scandals are interconnected in just that way - the illegal private server was set up so that she could run her Clinton Foundation pay-to-play scheme without fear of detection through FOIA requests by troublesome the VRC (Vast Rightwing Conspiracy) or even the Departmental IG.

Now that things are blowing up with the top tiers of the FBI and DoJ, it is interesting to revisit some of the past here. You would think that it would have been smart and convenient to keep the two investigations in the same office. Which, is, of course, why they weren’t. As I understand it, the email investigation was conducted by the DC office, and the Foundation investigation by the SDNY office. Why the SDNY? Turns out that Lynch was the USA there (twice), until appointed AG. Originally appointed USA of the SDNY by none other than the same Bill Clinton whom she met with here in PHX at Sky Harbor airport. A meeting that was supposed to have been secret. So, she was the one who hired a lot of the AUSAs there. One being, of course, the odious Preet Bharara, who succeeded her there as USA, only to be the only USA to refuse resigning, necessitating his firing by Trump. The same Bill Clinton, of course, whose name was first on the Foundation being investigated by the FBI in her old SDNY district. Piece that I had forgotten was that the FBI agents involved were apparently frustrated by the Resistance they were getting from the prosecutors in that office, and it was apparently our friend, Andy McCade, who told them flatly that they couldn’t prosecutor shop, trying to find a District with more amenable (I.e. less corrupt) prosecutors. Another piece here is that they desperately wanted those emails. Esp the 33k illegally deleted emails (presumably deleted because they would have exposed the pay-to-play scheme). And were repeatedly denied such. And coincidentally, the plea deal with Crooked Hillary’s two minions kept the electronic devices that might have contained them out of their hands. Instead, their plea deals required that the devices be destroyed. Convenient. So, imagine their joy when a number of Crooked Hillary’s emails inadvertently ended up on the laptop belonging to Weiner and Abedin. Right there in NYC. Short lived though, because they apparently never were able to hold onto them long enough to see if they led anywhere. Again, apparently, McCade running interference for the Clintons.

Interestingly of note though is that it was made public a week or two ago that the Clinton Foundation investigation has now been apparently turned back on. Should be interesting. Now, if the Sessions DoJ can just get the Russians to provide to the FBI the missing 33k emails...; 12/24/17, 9:30 AM
Michael K said...: I guess Cookie doesn't like Nixon as all good commies don't.; 12/24/17, 9:42 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: A little clarification. The Clinton email investigation was critically tainted on the FBI side, having been assigned to Peter Strzok. The DoJ side was also corrupted, as evidenced by the plea deals that they gave Crooked Hillary’s close minions. The Clinton Foundation investigation seems to have been run more legitimately, and less corruptly, by the FBI agents in their SDNY office. The problem was that they apparently couldn’t search warrants and the like, because of refusals by the prosecutors in the SDNY office, had picked by Lynch and working for Preet Bahara.; 12/24/17, 9:49 AM
MacMacConnell said...: Nixon's problem is that he was a Republican communist hunter. They never forgave him or Roy Cohen for getting Hiss. Of course they forgave Bobby Kennedy because he was a Democrat. Not only was Bobby a commie hunter, Joe McCarthy was godfather to one of his children.

Nixon burning the tapes would have been obstruction of justice because he was a Republican. Hillary destroying evidence was business as usual because she is a Dem.

The Nixon WH broke in to Jesus complex and traitor Elsberg's psychiatrist' office to discredit him for releasing the classified Pentagon Papers. Note that Elsberg also stole America's classified nuclear defense documents, but decided to release the Pentagon papers first. The nuclear docs never got released, not because Elsberg didn't want to, but because his brother-in-law buried them for safe keeping for a later date and like all brothers-in-law they fuck up, when the time came to release them they had become compost. There is a God.

Compare that to he Obama WH using the full force of a corrupt American surveillance community and federal law enforcement to spy on an opposition presidential candidate to influence an election. Not to mention ignoring the in your face criminal acts by Hillary, because she is a Dem.; 12/24/17, 10:02 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: It's too bad Nixon is not here to see Trump defenestrate the people who overthrew Nixon after his big 1972 victory.

i.e. all those Americans who were not cool with breaking & entering in order help your political cause. Long live Michael Kennedy and his love of criminal lawbreaking for presidents!; 12/24/17, 10:08 AM
gadfly said...: Blogger Michael K said...
I guess you slept though the election last year.

More likely, you didn't lookup the humorous definition of defenestrate.; 12/24/17, 12:14 PM
gadfly said...: Blogger Bruce Hayden said...
A little clarification. The Clinton email investigation was critically tainted on the FBI side, having been assigned to Peter Strzok.

If the otherwise no-name-nothing, Peter Strzok, tainted the FBI investigation because he had the audacity to dislike Trump and call him a "moron" - then I am compelled to remind you that SecState Rex Tillerson called Trump a "fucking moron."; 12/24/17, 12:30 PM
Just asking questions (Jaq) said...: Gadfly, never in doubt, never wrong, I guess.

You know the people who are most likely to be wrong? The people who are never in doubt.; 12/24/17, 3:13 PM
narciso said...: I pointed out that backgrounder re ellsberg he was a remarkably reckless individual while detached from general lansdale staff he slept with the moll of a very angry Corsican caid (mob boss) loyalty enabled conein to get him out of the reach of his cuckolded pursuer, which makes one wonder what if?; 12/24/17, 9:17 PM