Former first lady Michelle Obama once said, “Being president reveals who you are.”
On Aug. 8, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon announced his intent to resign the following day, doing so in a letter that stated, “I hereby resign the Office of President of the United States.”
Using only 11 words, Nixon resigned from the most powerful elective office in the world due to criminal activities, related to the 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel.
Exactly one month later, his successor, President Gerald R. Ford began an address to the nation with these words: “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.” He then signed Proclamation 4311, “granting a full and unconditional pardon to Richard Nixon, for any crimes that he might have committed against the United States as president.”
Forty-nine years later, America is again addressing the criminality of another former president, Donald J. Trump.
President Ford was wrong that the “national nightmare,” has concluded.
By pardoning his predecessor for criminality, he planted the seeds, and possible unaccountability, for the future criminal behavior of a then 28-year-old Trump. Under the tutelage of his father, Fred, Trump was already learning the art of racism and criminality. Indeed, his father was named in a 1973 federal lawsuit for racial discrimination in Trump housing developments in New York.
Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nominee for president in 2024, despite currently being out on bail in three — potentially four — criminal cases.
If Trump is found guilty at any of these four trials, he should be jailed. Nixon was not above the law, and neither is Trump.
America has survived a civil war, two world wars, the assassination of four presidents, and the Trump-led insurrection on the U.S. Capitol of January 6, 2021.
America will be fine if the criminal defendant, Donald J. Trump, former president or not, goes to prison.