In 1972, President Nixon won reelection by a landslide. Only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia voted for Democrat George McGovern. By summer of 1974 Nixon had to resign or face impeachment due to the Watergate Scandal.
Trump's victory, in 2024, was not a landslide. The election was close. There's hope except that Congress and the Supreme Court are majority Republican as well. I hope, in the long run, common sense among the American people (if there is enough of that) can prevail.
Admittedly it is harder to put guardrails on the presidency, let alone ideas of impeachment, without a majority in Congress. The Republican majority is very thin in this Congress. No landslide. The Supreme Court is supposed to be nonpartisan, but I'm afraid its become politicized in recent years.
We do have the Midterm elections coming up in November. In the meantime, more congressional Republicans are breaking, somewhat, from the president. Dictatorship may not be inevitable.
I was in high school during the 1972 election which has often been cited as a warning against Democrats going too far to the left. George McGovern was more willing to wind down the Vietnam War quickly than Nixon. The 1972 experience can also provide hope that even after a landslide, balance can return.
I agree that too far to the left, or the right, can be a problem in a nationwide election. Farther to the left works in certain districts for Congressional races, however. Diversity of opinion is healthy.
I remember my mom being for McGovern. My dad also. I even think that McGovern had a slight majority of voters in my hometown of Pullman, WA; a college town. Not your stereotype of Eastern Washington. Remember, even Washington State was red in that presidential election. That was, of course, before red state, blue state.
Not long after Nixon's 1972 landslide, he resigned due to the Watergate Scandal in 1974.
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