Sunday, August 9, 2026

That Long National Nightmare


By Hubie and Bertie

We cats have been around for a while, which means that we vividly remember August 9, 1974, when Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency, gave that weird malignant-narcissist speech, and left the White House — after which Gerald Ford was sworn in as President. What a day.

Sadly, it must be pointed out that the thing that did Nixon in was his comment on the White House tapes about telling the CIA to keep the FBI from investigating Watergate. "Don't go any further into this case, period!" That smoking gun alone was able to torch Nixon's presidency — as it should have. It was clear obstruction of justice.

Now, 52 years later, we have a Watergate-and-beyond Trump scandal every single day. And nothing happens. The Trumpsters are very good at "flooding the zone" with a firehose of outrages. But if the Democrats take control of the House and/or the Senate — which is growing increasingly likely — there will be some hell to pay.

There has to be, actually. Back in 1974, Republicans had enough respect for the Constitution to march down to the White House and tell Nixon his goose was cooked. Today's Republicans wouldn't even bother. Which means that Barry Goldwater, John Rhodes, and Hugh Scott are all spinning in their graves. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

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