The Party of Treason: Nixon, Reagan, and Trump

On Twitter, someone asked if Nixon was quite that bad. It prompted these reflections.

Richard Nixon was a traitor, responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of US soldiers. His Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, still alive, still lauded, was perhaps equally culpable. Yes, he was that bad.

The Reagan administration also probably committed treason. At least, Reagan broke his oath of office and acted in a disloyal manner. Matters are a little more complex there, since Reagan was apparently demented at the time, so a number of officials (pardoned by his Republican successor, George H W Bush) and Reagan's wife, who was governing in his stead, were responsible. None of them were punished.

I am left thinking that the Republican Party has been disloyal for over 50 years. The foreign policies it advocates fail so desperately and shamefully, and are so unpopular, that they are left undertaking crimes to enable them and to conceal them.

And now we have Trump slamming US intelligence agencies in favor of the dictator of a third-rate power.