{"id":4094,"date":"2026-06-26T17:05:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=4094"},"modified":"2026-06-26T17:05:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:05:51","slug":"why-jd-vance-is-downplaying-richard-nixons-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=4094","title":{"rendered":"Why JD Vance is downplaying Richard Nixon\u2019s corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n It\u2019s not every day that you see the would-be frontrunner for a major party\u2019s presidential nomination extolling the virtues of Richard Nixon and downplaying his corruption.\n <\/p>

Read more Trump says Iran strike in Strait of Hormuz is a \u2018foolish violation\u2019 of agreement<\/a><\/p>\n

\n But there was Vice President JD Vance on Thursday doing precisely that.\n <\/p>\n

\n During an appearance at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in California, Vance likened Nixon\u2019s ouster to efforts to hold President Donald Trump accountable in his first term, blaming the \u201cdeep state.\u201d Vance also claimed Watergate wouldn\u2019t be much of a story today.\n <\/p>\n

\n There are some grains of truth in what he said, as well as some potential strategic benefit.\n <\/p>\n

\n But there is also some danger. The vice president\u2019s comments point to how perceptions of corruption are a sleeping giant for the Trump administration \u2014 and, by extension, for Vance in 2028.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think that his historical legacy is enjoying a bit of a renaissance \u2014 but I think deservedly so,\u201d Vance said of Nixon. \u201cAs I joked \u2026 backstage, if Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story. Like, the idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Vance added: \u201cAnd by the way, if you look at the story of how the deep state took down Richard\u202fNixon, it\u2019s not all that different from what the same groups of people \u2014 the same institutions \u2014 tried to do to Donald Trump in the first Trump administration. There is a parallel.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Vance even compared his profile to Nixon\u2019s \u2014 having been vice president and \u201chated by the media\u201d \u2014 adding with a smile in perhaps a light-hearted way: \u201cI\u2019ve always liked Richard Nixon.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n For starters, Vance\u2019s contention that Nixon\u2019s legacy is enjoying a \u201cbit of a renaissance\u201d is unproven. If anything, that comment might point to a longstanding criticism of Vance, which is that he\u2019s a bit too online.\n <\/p>\n

\n There has<\/em> been an effort<\/em> by some prominent conservatives to rehabilitate Nixon\u2019s image in recent years. Witness this Politico story from 2023, as well as these Time magazine and NBC News stories from last year.\n <\/p>\n

\n Then-GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy used his own appearance at the Nixon Library in August 2023 to call Nixon \u201cthe most underappreciated president of our modern history in this country, probably in all of American history.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But there is scant evidence that these efforts have truly penetrated with the broader public. The most recent quality poll \u2014 from Gallup in December 2024 \u2014 showed 54% of Americans rated Nixon \u201cbelow average\u201d or \u201cpoor,\u201d to just 12% who rated him \u201cabove average\u201d or \u201coutstanding.\u201d Those were the worst numbers among 10 presidents tested.\n <\/p>\n

\n Even among Republicans, about twice as many rated Nixon negatively (39%) as positively (19%).\n <\/p>\n

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\"People<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n
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\nPeople read the newspaper outside the White House in August 1974.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Bettmann Archive\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Is it possible that has changed in the last year and a half? Perhaps modestly. But it\u2019s likely Vance was praising a man who is still quite unpopular.\n <\/p>\n

\n Of course, the real point of Vance\u2019s comments probably wasn\u2019t to make Nixon seem good; it was to make Trump seem not so bad.\n <\/p>\n

\n As some of those Nixon stories linked above noted, much of this effort to rehab Nixon\u2019s image appears to be about downplaying Trump\u2019s problems.\n <\/p>\n

\n Watergate is the archetype of the modern political scandal, and if people suddenly regard it as no big deal or even a \u201cdeep state\u201d operation, maybe they\u2019ll view Trump\u2019s corruption allegations accordingly.\n <\/p>

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\n And to be clear, suggestions of corruption could ultimately matter a lot more than it might seem right now.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump has flooded the zone with controversy and made it so that any corruption-related stories don\u2019t last very long. He\u2019s also commandeered the Justice Department, and his party controls Congress. So there\u2019s not really an investigative entity at the ready to hold him accountable.\n <\/p>\n

\n But there is a real chance that after the November midterm elections, Democrats will control one or both legislative chambers next Congress. That would give them subpoena power and the ability to launch investigations.\n <\/p>\n

\n And at this point, there are so many potentially fruitful probes that the dilemma is really about which one \u2014 or ones \u2014 to focus on.\n <\/p>\n

\n Tangle\u2019s Isaac Saul last month assembled a great compendium of the biggest potential corruption issues in the Trump administration.\n <\/p>\n

\n Some of the big ones:\n <\/p>\n

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