While it may be true that Nixon had a coherent and potentially effective strategy for combatting illiberal political evolution in the US worth considering in our current times, putting him and his ideas forward as a model for how our country should deal with its current ideological evolution is a losing call-to-arms.
No one is going to rally around Richard M. Nixon as the inspirational martyr for action. Your video attempts to white wash Nixon’s unacceptable Watergate actions by suggesting the “deep state” did it to him. No one will believe that, mostly because it’s not true. The “deep state” certainly was trying to undermine him, and they may have laid a trap, but he himself took the bait.
Further, it’s not at all clear Nixon’s strategy would have been a winner had he continued in office: the FBI’s tactics would have eventually been discredited yet would show future bureaucrats how to use it for political purposes, sending Federal money to the States only both strengthened the Federal government’s bureaucratic control of local politics and provided funds to those looking to reshape society “in their image,” and strengthening “law and order” only gave license to police departments to brutalize the very communities that needed resurrection through the ill-considered “War On Drugs.”
While I have great respect for your thinking about DEI/ woke ideology, I think your use of Nixon as a beacon we should use to reclaim American values misguided.
We should not ban certain ideologies at educational institutions save for one rationale: those that are illiberal in the classical sense. Those that deny the search for objective fact. We should ban Ideology that denies the enlightenment and its keystone of exploration. That is the greatest risks of critical theory and postmodernism. They seek not the exploration but indoctrination with dogma.
You are so dead on here: "its power is, to a significant degree, a creature of the state, subsidized by patronage, loan schemes, bureaucratic employment, and civil rights regulations. These structures often appear permanent, but they can be reformed, redirected, or abolished through the democratic process." Absolutely dead on. This is the place to strike.
And there's clearly more to Nixon than his public perception. Pat Buchanan vouches for him. But Nixon's public perception is so tarnished that invoking Nixon could be a millstone. And to be fair, Nixon did close the gold window, opening the inflation floodgates. And he gave us EPA.
If a figurehead is needed, Reagan had the right rhetoric, he just wasn't able to rein in spending. Fulfilling the Reagan Revolution might have more traction.
Or is simple opposition to the "deep state" enough? I think that's one of the great attractions of Trump; "I'm not them." It's also one of the lingering concerns about DeSantis (Is he one of them?). The deep state or The Cathedral, or The Elites or whatever you want to call them have so discredited themselves that focusing on them as an enemy may be sufficient. And maybe the countervailing figurehead is simply "America" or "Liberty". Why give them a personage to attack instead of forcing them to defend their own record?
Aug 14, 2023·edited Aug 14, 2023Liked by Christopher F. Rufo
I have checked out "Unmasking the Administrative State by John Marini, which apparently reveals evidence that Watergate was a leftist bureaucratic coup. Similarly, "McCarthyism" was a federal bureaucratic hoax. Seventy years after it was created, the false narrative of "McCarthyism" is still working to censor legitimate concerns about ongoing neo-Marxist threats to democracy. I have written a well-documented article titled "McCarthyism Facts & Fiction" on my Substack at https://2026.substack.com/p/mccarthyism-facts-and-fiction
its power is, to a significant degree, a creature of the state...
Spot on, and I also believe that like any good Ponzi, they require a GROWING state to keep the game going. That's why they so vehemently oppose even a freeze in spending (no reduction). We don't have to take away ALL their funds for their power to start failing. As soon as we start that ball rolling we'll get a virtuous spiral and the headwinds we face now will shift around to be at our backs. Only a breeze at first, but stiffening quickly.
To borrow from Nixon the tools to counter the leftist tide might be all right, but do not forget that unfortunately it was Nixon who entrenched affirmative action programs pioneered by the LBJ gang.
"As the youngest lawyer on Richard Nixon’s staff, Geoff Shepard personally transcribed the Oval Office tape in which Nixon appeared to authorize getting the CIA to interfere with the ongoing FBI investigation, and even coined the phrase “the smoking gun.” Like many others, the idealistic Shepard was deeply disappointed in the president. But as time went on, the meticulous lawyer was nagged by the persistent sense that something wasn’t right with the case against Nixon." - blurb for Shepard's 2021 book The Nixon Conspiracy: Watergate and the Plot to Remove the President
"With the 50th anniversary of the Watergate scandal fast approaching, the truth about one of the biggest political scandals in American history is finally emerging. A deeply researched new tell-all [2021] book reveals startling new evidence showing that President Richard Nixon could not have been personally involved in the Watergate scandal as prosecutors secretly alleged, and that the conventional 1974 narrative, set into motion by figures like Bob Woodward and John Dean, does not match the true historical record. Shepard’s meticulous research has uncovered internal documents by Watergate prosecutors, improperly kept hidden for decades, which form the basis for his October 2 [2021] Complaint with DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility."
"Geoff came to Washington, DC in 1969 as a White House Fellow, after graduating from Whittier College and Harvard Law School. The youngest lawyer on President Nixon’s White House staff, he served on the Domestic Council for five years, rising to associate director. He also worked as deputy counsel on Nixon’s Watergate defense team.
"He has spent much of his career researching Watergate issues and is today the foremost authority on behind-the-scenes developments, both at the White House and the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, as the scandal unfolded."
Aug 14, 2023·edited Aug 14, 2023Liked by Christopher F. Rufo
Richard Nixon as the face on the poster might be a terrible idea but a reasonable person will still ask “Does this make his ideas or viewpoints essentially bad or flawed?”. History is continually re-examined and ideas from the past examined and reexamined today to see if those past ideas have any bearing upon the situations of today. Some will submit that those ideas of the past are foundational to where we are today.
Very interesting perspective. The past is prologue. It is clear that we are at the same point in history once again. Marxists are relentless and adept at repackaging their failed ideology. That is because the do not care about good governance. The crave power and domination. Any means to that end suffices. This is why we will never be completely rid of them.
Christopher: I lived during the Nixon/Hoover era and in no way do I want to go back to those years and use them as a model. I got the idea from reading this that you are getting desperate to show there is a better way to succeed as a nation than what we currently have but please, do NOT give us Nixon. Once was enough for me.
The only acceptable option is the Constitutional one, to eliminate those departments and bureaucracies that go beyond those specified in the Constitution. Yes, that includes some federal “law enforcement” (sic) departments like the DOJ and the FBI. Federal marshals should be enough, and state prosecutors can bring cases themselves. The central government has gotten too full of itself and must be cut down to size.
The Nixon strategy of rallying the silent majority has merit but Nixon’s foreign policy re Russia China did not curtail the power of China or Russia Nixon did provide great help to Israel in 1973 but Kissinger refused to allow Israel to win a decisive victory
While it may be true that Nixon had a coherent and potentially effective strategy for combatting illiberal political evolution in the US worth considering in our current times, putting him and his ideas forward as a model for how our country should deal with its current ideological evolution is a losing call-to-arms.
No one is going to rally around Richard M. Nixon as the inspirational martyr for action. Your video attempts to white wash Nixon’s unacceptable Watergate actions by suggesting the “deep state” did it to him. No one will believe that, mostly because it’s not true. The “deep state” certainly was trying to undermine him, and they may have laid a trap, but he himself took the bait.
Further, it’s not at all clear Nixon’s strategy would have been a winner had he continued in office: the FBI’s tactics would have eventually been discredited yet would show future bureaucrats how to use it for political purposes, sending Federal money to the States only both strengthened the Federal government’s bureaucratic control of local politics and provided funds to those looking to reshape society “in their image,” and strengthening “law and order” only gave license to police departments to brutalize the very communities that needed resurrection through the ill-considered “War On Drugs.”
While I have great respect for your thinking about DEI/ woke ideology, I think your use of Nixon as a beacon we should use to reclaim American values misguided.
We should not ban certain ideologies at educational institutions save for one rationale: those that are illiberal in the classical sense. Those that deny the search for objective fact. We should ban Ideology that denies the enlightenment and its keystone of exploration. That is the greatest risks of critical theory and postmodernism. They seek not the exploration but indoctrination with dogma.
You are so dead on here: "its power is, to a significant degree, a creature of the state, subsidized by patronage, loan schemes, bureaucratic employment, and civil rights regulations. These structures often appear permanent, but they can be reformed, redirected, or abolished through the democratic process." Absolutely dead on. This is the place to strike.
And there's clearly more to Nixon than his public perception. Pat Buchanan vouches for him. But Nixon's public perception is so tarnished that invoking Nixon could be a millstone. And to be fair, Nixon did close the gold window, opening the inflation floodgates. And he gave us EPA.
If a figurehead is needed, Reagan had the right rhetoric, he just wasn't able to rein in spending. Fulfilling the Reagan Revolution might have more traction.
Or is simple opposition to the "deep state" enough? I think that's one of the great attractions of Trump; "I'm not them." It's also one of the lingering concerns about DeSantis (Is he one of them?). The deep state or The Cathedral, or The Elites or whatever you want to call them have so discredited themselves that focusing on them as an enemy may be sufficient. And maybe the countervailing figurehead is simply "America" or "Liberty". Why give them a personage to attack instead of forcing them to defend their own record?
Just my two cents...
I have checked out "Unmasking the Administrative State by John Marini, which apparently reveals evidence that Watergate was a leftist bureaucratic coup. Similarly, "McCarthyism" was a federal bureaucratic hoax. Seventy years after it was created, the false narrative of "McCarthyism" is still working to censor legitimate concerns about ongoing neo-Marxist threats to democracy. I have written a well-documented article titled "McCarthyism Facts & Fiction" on my Substack at https://2026.substack.com/p/mccarthyism-facts-and-fiction
its power is, to a significant degree, a creature of the state...
Spot on, and I also believe that like any good Ponzi, they require a GROWING state to keep the game going. That's why they so vehemently oppose even a freeze in spending (no reduction). We don't have to take away ALL their funds for their power to start failing. As soon as we start that ball rolling we'll get a virtuous spiral and the headwinds we face now will shift around to be at our backs. Only a breeze at first, but stiffening quickly.
To borrow from Nixon the tools to counter the leftist tide might be all right, but do not forget that unfortunately it was Nixon who entrenched affirmative action programs pioneered by the LBJ gang.
For the Never-Nixons to consider:
"As the youngest lawyer on Richard Nixon’s staff, Geoff Shepard personally transcribed the Oval Office tape in which Nixon appeared to authorize getting the CIA to interfere with the ongoing FBI investigation, and even coined the phrase “the smoking gun.” Like many others, the idealistic Shepard was deeply disappointed in the president. But as time went on, the meticulous lawyer was nagged by the persistent sense that something wasn’t right with the case against Nixon." - blurb for Shepard's 2021 book The Nixon Conspiracy: Watergate and the Plot to Remove the President
From:
https://shepardonwatergate.com/
"With the 50th anniversary of the Watergate scandal fast approaching, the truth about one of the biggest political scandals in American history is finally emerging. A deeply researched new tell-all [2021] book reveals startling new evidence showing that President Richard Nixon could not have been personally involved in the Watergate scandal as prosecutors secretly alleged, and that the conventional 1974 narrative, set into motion by figures like Bob Woodward and John Dean, does not match the true historical record. Shepard’s meticulous research has uncovered internal documents by Watergate prosecutors, improperly kept hidden for decades, which form the basis for his October 2 [2021] Complaint with DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility."
From:
https://shepardonwatergate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Geoff-Shepard_book-press-release-with-complaint.pdf
"Geoff came to Washington, DC in 1969 as a White House Fellow, after graduating from Whittier College and Harvard Law School. The youngest lawyer on President Nixon’s White House staff, he served on the Domestic Council for five years, rising to associate director. He also worked as deputy counsel on Nixon’s Watergate defense team.
"He has spent much of his career researching Watergate issues and is today the foremost authority on behind-the-scenes developments, both at the White House and the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, as the scandal unfolded."
From:
https://shepardonwatergate.com/
Richard Nixon as the face on the poster might be a terrible idea but a reasonable person will still ask “Does this make his ideas or viewpoints essentially bad or flawed?”. History is continually re-examined and ideas from the past examined and reexamined today to see if those past ideas have any bearing upon the situations of today. Some will submit that those ideas of the past are foundational to where we are today.
Very interesting perspective. The past is prologue. It is clear that we are at the same point in history once again. Marxists are relentless and adept at repackaging their failed ideology. That is because the do not care about good governance. The crave power and domination. Any means to that end suffices. This is why we will never be completely rid of them.
One of my sorority sisters was a Nixonette and later was curator at the Nixon library
… he was forced to resign from office compare and contrast with recent democrat presidents, and other Democrat leaders transgressions!
The neo-Marxists have been playing the long game
Years ago a Swedish media group attended the meeting event at my best friends moms home she was a real icon of Orange County Republican women politics
The Swedish media were interviewing various people at this event
They asked me what I thought about the iron curtain coming down and I said it did not really come down. It was just moved further west.
This was back in the 1990s
I was considered a radical right winger then
I see here principles & goals, but not an actual blueprint, not a roadmap.
We need a clear, much more detailed blueprint, a plan of action - I don’t see it here.
Appreciate the work you are doing, keep it up. Great video. . . . Also, check out the link in Ken’s comment.
Christopher: I lived during the Nixon/Hoover era and in no way do I want to go back to those years and use them as a model. I got the idea from reading this that you are getting desperate to show there is a better way to succeed as a nation than what we currently have but please, do NOT give us Nixon. Once was enough for me.
The only acceptable option is the Constitutional one, to eliminate those departments and bureaucracies that go beyond those specified in the Constitution. Yes, that includes some federal “law enforcement” (sic) departments like the DOJ and the FBI. Federal marshals should be enough, and state prosecutors can bring cases themselves. The central government has gotten too full of itself and must be cut down to size.
Or could be Margaret Thatcher's blueprint? "More than thirty years since she fell from power, her record as an interrupter and repulser of that progressive leviathan is unequalled in any major Western nation - a counter-revolutionary template." https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/mrs-thatcher-and-the-good-life......https://thecritic.co.uk/reflections-on-the-counter-revolution-in-finchley/
I feel very sure you will appreciate this.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2022/06/20/watergate_at_50_revelations_from_newly_declassified_evidence_147766.html?utm_source=spotim&utm_medium=spotim_recirculation&spot_im_redirect_source=pitc&spot_im_comment_id=sp_v0xu5oCZ_200147766_c_2Aqn6thKLPwyVj4Pd99GI0z729h&spot_im_highlight_immediate=true
The Nixon strategy of rallying the silent majority has merit but Nixon’s foreign policy re Russia China did not curtail the power of China or Russia Nixon did provide great help to Israel in 1973 but Kissinger refused to allow Israel to win a decisive victory