What Happens When the President Fights the Intelligence Apparatus
1 min readJan 2, 2017
I recently watched All The President’s Men which tells the story of the Washington Post and the Watergate scandal that eventually led to President Nixon’s resignation in 1974.
Since being elected Donald Trump has quickly put himself at odds with the current intelligence apparatus. He hasn’t been meeting with them for the daily briefing and he recently claimed they’re wrong about Russia hacking the DNC.
It’s hard not to draw some parallels here. Nixon was also a fear-mongering demagogue — arguably to a lesser extent than Trump — who’s paranoia led him to spy on his political rivals. The scary difference is that for the past 8 years, the power the US government has to spy on its own citizens has increased dramatically.
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