Dr. Hunter S. Thompson could see the Nazi in the GOP a long time ago.

[barbaraann]

His eulogy for Richard M. Nixon is a must-read for people who want to understand what Republicans have been doing to our country.
He Was a Crook
A scathing obituary of Richard Nixon, originally published in Rolling Stone on June 16, 1994
By Hunter S. Thompson
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/

Richard Nixon is gone now, and I am poorer for it. He was the real thing -- a political monster straight out of Grendel and a very dangerous enemy. He could shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time. He lied to his friends and betrayed the trust of his family. Not even Gerald Ford, the unhappy ex-president who pardoned Nixon and kept him out of prison, was immune to the evil fallout. Ford, who believes strongly in Heaven and Hell, has told more than one of his celebrity golf partners that "I know I will go to hell, because I pardoned Richard Nixon."
...
When he arrived in the White House as VP at the age of 40, he was a smart young man on the rise -- a hubris-crazed monster from the bowels of the American dream with a heart full of hate and an overweening lust to be President. He had won every office he'd run for and stomped like a Nazi on all of his enemies and even some of his friends.
...
Nixon's spirit will be with us for the rest of our lives -- whether you're me or Bill Clinton or you or Kurt Cobain or Bishop Tutu or Keith Richards or Amy Fisher or Boris Yeltsin's daughter or your fiancee's 16-year-old beer-drunk brother with his braided goatee and his whole life like a thundercloud out in front of him. This is not a generational thing. You don't even have to know who Richard Nixon was to be a victim of his ugly, Nazi spirit.

He has poisoned our water forever. Nixon will be remembered as a classic case of a smart man shitting in his own nest. But he also shit in our nests, and that was the crime that history will burn on his memory like a brand. By disgracing and degrading the Presidency of the United States, by fleeing the White House like a diseased cur, Richard Nixon broke the heart of the American Dream.

For some Republican perspective, here are Bob Dole's comments from Nixon's funeral:
https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/gen/resources/watergate/dole.speech.html

I lived through the Nixon years and will never get over them.

[onethatcares]

1. I'm slowly wading through "The Great Shark Hunt"

the parallels between 1972 and now are chilling.

[Johnny2X2X]

2. Can't stand that his legacy has been scrubbed over time

Nixon was in fact a fascist, he didn't believe in the rule of law or in our Democracy. He believed a US president should be a dictator with no restraints on his power.

People only remember Watergate, but he spent years doing things worse than Watergate. Trump being worse probably helps Nixon's memory.

[dlk]

8. When dirt is swept under the rug, it remains

America had a long legacy of sweeping dirt under the rug, where the it festers. When those who commit crimes are given a pass, it gives a green light to others to the same, or worse. When we are dishonest about our history, it gets repeated. Too often, America is like an overindulgent parent.

[ChazInAz]

11. I will neither forgive nor forget

His rat f###ing the Paris Peace Talks.
How many young American and Vietnamese guys had to die so he could be president?

[wnylib]

18. His "secret plan" for an "honorable" end in Vietnam

that he promoted in the 1972 election sold a lot of people on him. But his only plan was increased bombing and conscription.

I remember the night that he resigned. His announcement time on network TV had been publicized. I was stuck working late, but as soon as I got out, I raced to my boyfriend's apartment that he shared with other grad students. I got there just in time. One of the guys handed me a beer and I sat on a floor cushion. When Nixon finished, we toasted each other and cheered.

[burrowowl]

37. and don't forget Kissinger!

who has admirers still today!

[ChazInAz]

42. Rest assured: I haven't forgotten.

As it's sung in The Mikado: "I have a little list! They'll none of them be missed."

[empedocles]

56. John Dean remarked, that kissinger 'skated' [got away w/o a scratch].

Dean had not figured out how kissinger got off.

[LaMouffette]

3. Thank you for posting this. If only Nixon had gone to prison instead of being pardoned.

If there had been real consequences for what Nixon did, his henchmen, like the vile Roger Stone with Nixon's ugly mug tattooed on his back, and Nixon's Repube Nazi spawn that we're dealing with today would not be so brazenly confident that they are above the law.

[barbaraann]

5. You're welcome and, yes, it has had enormous consequences.

The founders of this nation should have put some restrictions on the pardon power.

[Tommymac]

12. We could have done this anytime since The Constitution was written.

Laws. Amendments. Or even a Constitutional Convention.

Using the Forefathers as an excuse for what We as a Country should and CAN do is not beneficial. They gave us the tools to fix things anytime We decide to.

WE CAN and SHOULD do this ourselves - we have the tools, just not the will - yet.

[barbaraann]

29. You got me there.

How about EITHER the founding fathers or later generations should have fixed it?

[Tommymac]

36. Got it!

[Caliman73]

25. So many pieces of shit came out of Nixon's administration.

The aforementioned Stone, Roger Ailes, Pat Buchanan, Rumsfeld, and Cheney among the worst. Nixon and his various crimes taught the GOP that they could basically get away with anything, which is what lead to Reagan and Iran-Contra, then Bush Jr. and Iraq, then Trump.

[BlueMTexpat]

55. Exactly! eom

[NoMoreRepugs]

4. The Republican perspective portrayed by Dole's eulogy was

devoid of any connection with reality, some things never change.

[Eyeball_Kid]

6. Suicide is a mistake that cannot be corrected.

Nonetheless, Thompson was one of the great American writers of the past half century. His prose and his POV will always be with me.

He was right about Nixon, about the GOP, and all of the massive money that went in to the GOP's persistent push for corporatism and oligopoly.

[Voltaire2]

7. Suicide is a choice not a mistake.

[harumph]

9. And yet, Trump outdid him bigly!

[Caliman73]

26. Without Nixon, there would have never been a Trump.

Trump is unique in his naked disregard for any sense of decency, but the real groundwork for even Trump's ability to get into office was laid by Nixon.

At the time of Nixon, Trump was a Democrat (maybe in name only) but you have to think about why Trump could only ever have any success in the Republican Party. The Democratic Party would have rejected him, just like we rejected Bloomberg, not because they are rich. FDR was rich. We rejected both because they were anti-democracy authoritarians. The GOP, with Nixon's "unitary executive" ideas, was the ONLY place Trump could ever go but throughout the 60's through the 2000's the party wasn't quite crazy enough. It took Nixon, Reagan, and Bush Jr. with their criminality. It took the gamble on Sarah Palin with her idiotic disdain for intelligence, to prepare the road for Trump. Trump is a common crook. He is stupid and unimaginative. He ALWAYS rides on the shoulders of others, even as he proclaims himself above all others. Nixon was a criminal mastermind compared to Trump and America is worse for that.

[niyad]

10. KNR and bookmarking.

I am reminded of a very dear friend whose family was very active in Democratic politics in Southern California in the 50's and 60's. She told me that for the first 12 years of her life, she thought nixon's first name was "thatgoddamned".

[PlanetBev]

13. I was 23 when Nixon resigned

As bad as he was, there is nothing, nothing, nothing as horrible as Donald Trump. An absolute, never-ending nightmare with repercussions that will last well into the 21st century.

[dwayneb]

46. Completely agree

Nixon was a sewer dweller for sure, but at the end of the day, it is hard for me to imagine Nixon getting in bed with a Soviet leader. Trump on the other hand will mate with anything, no matter how evil or vile, in order to secure Power.

[barbaraann]

49. Yes, Trump is worse, but he stands on the shoulders of monsters like Nixon.

I think Post #26 on this thread explains how Republicans enabled his supreme evil.

Just like Nixon and others contributed to the rise of Trump, Trump and others might contribute to the rise of someone worse--maybe DeSantis or Hawley or Cruz? Someone (I can't remember who it was) said that the next time they try an insurrection it won't fail because they will have learned from their mistakes.

[Butterflylady]

14. I have always said nixon was the beginning of everything republican.

He was the bad apple that turned the whole barrel bad.

[Caliman73]

28. The barrel was bad...

I know that a lot of people don't like this idea, but I think that Conservatism as an ideology is morally bankrupt. I am not talking about their talking points like: Small government, fiscal responsibility, family values, and tradition... That to me is a bunch of crap used to convince people to vote for them.

Conservatism is about supporting a hierarchical structure to society with groups of "betters" having power over groups of "lessers". The betters are "naturally" wealthy, White, Christian (preferably Protestant), MEN. I say "naturally" because a core of Conservative thought is that White Men are naturally superior to all other groups, especially rich White men who are the apex.

Obviously if you have this kind of ideology, you are not going to attract too many supporters, so you have to dress it up in religious tones, with the idea of "traditional family values" and themes like personal responsibility, tough on crime, and other such crap. Some "regular" members of the Conservative movement likely don't even know about or understand the core of Conservative ideology, but they are submerged in it and it influences how they see the world. The leadership however, does know, and are actively working to entrench and maintain this hierarchy. They use liberal ideas to defend against attacks. Thinks like "tolerance", and "freedom of ideas" are regularly hurled against Liberals/Progressives and leftists to denounce how "intolerant" we are of their ideas. Well, as I said, that is because their ideas are vile and not worth tolerance.

You are right, Nixon was a bad apple, a very bad apple. But as Hillary Clinton said about MAGA Nixon was a bad apple from a basket of "deplorables". If you think about the Republican leaders since the 1960's (after Eisenhower) you have Nixon, who scuttled the peace talks that could have ended the Vietnam War earlier and save American lives, to get elected. You have Ford, who was basically a placeholder, but who pardoned Nixon for his crimes. You have Reagan, who scuttled negotiations between the Carter Administration and Iran for the hostages, to get elected. Who proceeded to illegally sell weapons to Iran, and then who proceeded to give weapons and training, illegally to right wing death squads in Nicaragua. You have Bush Sr. who pardoned the Iran-Contra conspirators effectively shielding Reagan and others from that responsibility. You have Bush Jr. who was elected under dubious circumstances whose administration ignored warning signs about 9/11, then proceded to lie us into war with Iraq and used the trauma of the terrorist attack on New York to manipulate the populace. Then we have Trump of whom we have fresh memories and ongoing news about his crimes.

It isn't a "bad apple" it is a bad barrel. The ideology facilitates the corruption.

[barbaraann]

31. Very good points.

I do not think that Hillary Clinton's phrase "vast right-wing conspiracy" goes far enough. The wealthy and powerful have always worked together and felt bound together by bonds beyond mere conspiracy.

Perhaps what made Nixon worse for those of us who lived through his time was that the totality of his evil was seared into our being by the pardon. Whenever I think about Nixon, my mind goes to the pardon and that brings back all of his evil deeds in a way that the name of no other "conservative" can. My memory of Nixon is spectacularly crushing because his evil was forever distilled into one horrific action by Gerald Ford. That picture of the Fords and Nixons arm-in-arm on the way to the helicopter almost takes away my will to face the day.

[raccoon]

45. Great post. Nt

[AllaN01Bear]

15. this . i remember seeing reference to this on star trek enterprise.

https://laist.com/news/entertainment/this-oscar-nominated-documentary-shows-a-nazi-rally-at-madison-square-garden

[love_katz]

38. That is terrifying.

I know that this kind of horrifying blind hatefulness and bigotry have been a nasty undercurrent always present in our country's history and culture. But this film is chilling. It really is the template that Agolf Twitler and his donors and allies have used and are continuing to use.

[AllaN01Bear]

47. considering tfgs dad was one.

[barbaraann]

39. Yikes!

It's good that the reaction to this rally damaged the Bund's popularity, but it seems that Nazi lovers have adopted stealthier techniques to advance their cause.

[90-percent]

16. Hunter was the greatest political writer of his generation, and a few generatios after

“The Republican establishment is haunted by painful memories of what happened to Old Man Bush in 1992. He peaked too early and he had no response to “It’s the economy, stupid.” Which has always been the case. Every GOP administration since 1952 has let the military-industrial complex loot the Treasury and plunge the nation into debt on the excuse of a wartime economic emergency. Richard Nixon comes quickly to mind, along with Ronald Reagan and his ridiculous “trickle-down” theory of U.S. economic policy. If the Rich get Richer, the theory goes, before long their pots will overflow and somehow “trickle down” to the poor, who would rather eat scraps off the Bush family plates than eat nothing at all. Republicans have never approved of democracy, and they never will. It goes back to preindustrial America, when only white male property owners could vote.”

― Hunter S. Thompson


He nailed down the core values of the republicans in a few sentences. his political insight was supernatural.

90% Jimmy

[halfulglas]

17. Living through that era as a young adult I was shocked at how soon

Nixon's rehabilitation started. The TV interviews. The public sympathy when he had his health problems. How quickly people ignored his vindictiveness, his duplicity. But that's grotesquely amplified with TFG, who is openly going after anyone he deems not worshipful enough.

[YorkRd]

19. E Jean Carroll wrote Hunter Thompson's biography

On the 50th anniversary of the invention of LSD, E Jean Carroll talks about the wild ride she had while writing the biography of Hunter S Thompson.

The interview itself was also a wild ride as E Jean Carroll starts to interview Phillip at various points.

Recently E Jean Carroll has published her own biography "What do we need men for?" in which she claims she was sexually assaulted by President Trump.


https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/e-jean-carroll-on-hunter-s-thompson/11250442|

[thucythucy]

20. Richard Nixon: whose "secret plan to end the Vietnam War"

was to keep it going for another four years, winding it down until just before election day 1972, leading to the additional deaths of hundreds of thousands.

The man who carpet-bombed, then invaded Cambodia, destroying that country's moderate opposition and leading to the triumph of the Khmer Rouge.

The man who ended Chilean democracy in a bloody coup.

The man who supported ending democracy in Iran to reinstate the bloody Shah.

The man who masterminded the death of democracy in Guatemala, resulting in decades of death squads, torture and civil war.

The man who said, on TV, "If a president does it, it isn't illegal."

[CaptainTruth]

21. I love Hunter, as far as I can determine I have copies of everything he wrote.

I can only imagine what he would have said about Trump & today's GOP.

[themaguffin]

22. Thompson's own writings show that Goldwater tapped into the raw hate undercurrent in 64.

[dflprincess]

23. Pardoning Nixon isn't the only thing

Gerry Ford should go to hell for.

[Darkstar53142]

24. If there is any justice,...

...both Nixon and Trump would now be heading toward the Galapagos Islands in the belly of a hammerhead shark.

Thanks, HST

[rolypolychloe]

27. It goes way further back than Nixon

I would recommend the book "The Nazi Hydra in America". The Germans, Japanese and Italians may have been defeated, but the Nazi's just took their ball and went back home to America. The original Henry Ford recognized Hitler as a kindred spirit and funded Hitlers rise to power. Among other things, the book documents a prior coup (The Business Plot) to take over America, in which Prescott Bush was to be the liaison. Gen. Smedley Butler, who was supposed to execute the plot, ratted out the perpetrators instead. Interesting read. Explains a lot of stuff.

[barbaraann]

33. I don't think Thompson had as many facts available about the Nazi-GOP connection as we do now, but

he could see it.

[empedocles]

57. . . . articulated the information so well. TY for your article.

[Kid Berwyn]

30. The Nixon-Bush NAZI Connection

A great read from a former US Attorney:

PDF: http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/54/54_35.pdf

[barbaraann]

34. There are some things the mainstream media will NEVER touch. n/t

[Kid Berwyn]

41. When the mass media are corrupt, it's up to us to spread the truth.

The Mafia’s President: Nixon and the Mob

Posted on November 14, 2017
by Don Fulsom

Unbeknownst to most people even now, the election of 1968 placed the patron saint of the Mafia in the White House. In other words, Richard Nixon would go on to not only lead a criminal presidency; he would be totally indebted to our nation’s top mobsters.

By 1969, thanks in large part to his long-time campaign manager and political advisor Murray Chotiner, a lawyer who specialized in representing mobsters, Nixon had participated in secret criminal dealings for more than 20 years with sketchy figures such as Mickey Cohen, Mob financial guru Meyer Lansky, Teamsters union chief Jimmy Hoffa, and New Orleans Mafia boss Carlos Marcello. And with Chotiner as one of his key behind-the-scenes advisors in the White House, Nixon’s ties to the Mafia didn’t end there. The Mafia’s President reveals a mind-blowing litany of favors Nixon exchanged with these sinister characters over decades, ranging from springing Jimmy Hoffa from prison to banning the federal government from using the terms “Mafia” and “La Cosa Nostra.” Drawing on newly released government tapes, documents, and other fresh information, The Mafia’s President by Don Fulsom offers a carefully reported, deeply researched account of Richard Nixon’s secret connections to America’s top crime lords. Read an excerpt of The Mafia’s President below.

Mobsters in Cuba

Santos Trafficante Jr., based in Tampa, was one of the most powerful Mafia godfathers in the country—and he was brutally vicious to his enemies. Known as the “Silent Don” because he was a keen adherent of the Mob’s vow of silence, he wore thick glasses and dressed more like a bank president than a hood.

Yet Santos never hesitated to order hits on fellow mobsters who tried to encroach on his territory—or who had committed, in his deep green eyes, any other unpardonable sin. Among those Mafiosi reportedly bumped off on Trafficante’s orders were Brooklyn boss Albert “the Mad Hatter” Anastasia; Chicago godfather Sam “Momo” Giancana; and Giancana lieutenant John “Handsome Johnny” Roselli. Trafficante also played a leading role in secret U.S. murder plots against Cuban leader Fidel Castro, instigated in 1959 by Vice President Richard Nixon.

Snip…

Later, as vice president, Nixon summoned the loyal gangster who had shielded him from a potential Havana gambling scandal into service for a hush-hush government assignment. Always scheming, Nixon wanted to take advantage of Norman Rothman’s old Batista-era contacts in Cuba.

So in 1960, at Nixon’s direction, Trafficante and several other Mafia heavyweights signed up as co-conspirators in secret Nixon-led Mafia-CIA plots to assassinate Fidel Castro. And among the key players in implementing the plots were Norman Rothman, former Nixon dirty trickster (and Hughes and Mafia associate) Robert Maheu, and CIA agents (and future Nixon dirty tricksters) Frank Sturgis and E. Howard Hunt. All of the Castro murder plots, of course, were miserable failures: the longtime ruler of Cuba died a natural death in his homeland in 2016.

Continues…

https://www.thehistoryreader.com/us-history/mafias-president-nixon-mobsters-in-cuba/

None of the above was reported to the Warren Commission.

Big Liars. Thieves. Mass Murderers. Kleptocrats. Conservatives. Racists. Republicans. Traitors.

And We the People are told: “It’s a mystery!” Unless you and Hunter and all the good people who care say otherwise.

[barbaraann]

43. I see that Trafficante had a headquarters in Miami where Nixon happened to have a home.

The media gets a lot of credit for uncovering Watergate, when the mobster connection IMHO was much worse.

Guess who else had/has mob connections?
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a33350476/fear-city-new-york-mafia-donald-trump-tower-mob-ties-explained/
...
Netflix's new documentary miniseries, Fear City: New York vs. the Mafia, isn't about political figures with mob-like tendencies—it's about the real-life mafia, which exercised huge power over New York in the 1970s and '80s, and the efforts by the FBI and the US attorney's office (then helmed by future Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani) to take it down. The series makes extensive use of the FBI's secret recordings from bugs planted in mob homes, cars, and hangouts, and on one tape, Trump's name comes up in relation to a construction deal.

As Fear City points out, doing business in broad swaths of New York's economy when Trump was a young man meant doing business with the mob. But Trump's main industries—development, casinos, and luxury real estate—were particularly infested with organized crime. And what makes him notable is that he sometimes appeared to do more business with the mafia than was strictly necessary. According to biographer Wayne Barrett, "he went out of his way not to avoid" contacts with the mafia, "but to increase them."

[BSdetect]

32. He was voted in as potus twice. That says it all.

[barbaraann]

35. The first time, he had the wind at his back---

Johnson's disastrous handling of the Vietnam War, Nixon's "secret plan to end the war," RFK's assassination, the terrible 1968 Dem convention, etc.

Circumstances also favored Nixon in his reelection. Chappaquiddick, Muskie's tears being focused on by the MSM, Eagleton's removal from the Dem ticket, McGovern's platform being easily distorted by the MSM, etc. The wicked "Southern Strategy" was an important factor as well.

Shockingly, there were also people who actually LIKED Nixon. I stopped at a little cafe in Kansas in the Seventies and discovered a shrine to Nixon! Its walls were covered in Nixon memorabilia and there was a sign stating that no one with a negative opinion of Nixon was welcome there. I guess I was so hungry I ate and kept my mouth shut.

[love_katz]

40. Huge kick and recommend!

This!!! All of it, including the comments in the thread.

[barbaraann]

44. Thanks! There's something special about Hunter Thompson's writing.

Last edited Mon May 16, 2022, 11:06 PM - Edit history (1)

I never get tired of reading and rereading it.

Great comments!

[peppertree]

48. He had choice words for Dubya as well:

"Bush is really the evil one here and it is more than just him. We are the Nazis in this game and I don't like it. I am embarrassed and I am pissed off. I mean to say something. I think a lot of people in this country agree with me..."

To which he added:

"We'll see what happens to me - it is always unknown or bushy-haired strangers who commit suicide right afterwards with no witnesses."

And two years later...

[SpankMe]

50. Slightly off-tropic, but...

Henry Kissinger is 98 and is still commenting on world affairs and giving interviews: https://www.newsweek.com/henry-kissinger-predicts-vladimir-putin-end-russia-ukraine-war-1705194. I'm pretty sure he's the last surviving principal figure of the Nixon era.

[Upthevibe]

51. Kick. N/T

[Upthevibe]

52. Kick. N/T

[NBachers]

53. And through it all, Richard Nixon jerked and twitched his way across our bruised psyches like some

grotesque marionette.

[BlueMTexpat]

54. Like you, I have never

forgiven Nixon.

Because of my husband's standing as an in-country program manager for a then-major US corporation operating in a foreign country, I once had the opportunity to meet and greet the man in 1981. I refused to attend.

To his credit, my husband also did not attend. That is one reason why we are still together after 41+ years.