The lesson that Nixon took from Ford’s pardon was his famous line to David Frost: "When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal."

Many of his successors took the same lesson.
As @julianzelizer and I noted here, Ford’s pardon — which he sincerely, I think, believed was necessary for the nation — set a horrid precedent for the presidency.

usatoday.com/story/opinion/…
It wasn’t an automatic shift. Indeed, as I detailed in my chapter in this volume, Jimmy Carter went to great lengths — even testifying before Congress in one inquiry — to show he was not above the law.

thenewpress.com/books/presiden…
But the presidents who followed — from Reagan to Obama — returned to course, ignoring the rules themselves and refusing to apply scrutiny to their predecessors too.

As I argued here in @VanityFair, Biden needs to buck this recent pattern.

vanityfair.com/news/2020/07/w…
Americans love to say “the president isn’t above the law” but then often — through their own misdeeds or their complicity in ignoring the crimes of others — they act as though the president is, in fact, above the law.
Given the extensive wrongdoing by Trump and his aides, there has to be accountability.

If you’re not willing to do that, just say you think Nixon was right and that, in America, the law is only for the little people.

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More from @KevinMKruse

1 Dec 20
Dick was my advisor at Cornell.

A brilliant scholar and a powerhouse of a lecturer, he taught me so, so much.

More than anything, he taught me to be kind to my students, to be generous with my colleagues, to take the work seriously but not himself so much.
He was quiet, but always full of surprises.

One time he let it slip that in the 1950s he'd worked as an intern at Mad Magazine.

After he retired, he taught himself guitar, became quite good at it, and wound up playing songs with Pete Seeger.
Read 5 tweets
13 Nov 20
Now, to be clear, a 306-232 margin in the Electoral College isn't a landslide -- it wasn't when Trump landed it in 2016, and it isn't now that Biden racked it up in 2020.

Both of them, in fact, are in the bottom fifth of EC margins all time. See here:

nytimes.com/interactive/20…
That said, Trumpworld has spent the past four years insisting that a 306-232 margin -- actually 304-227 after the EC voted for real -- definitely WAS a landslide, so it's pretty funny that they're on the other end of this.
Read 6 tweets
10 Nov 20
If we get another $1000 in donations to @fairfightaction -- receipts in any amount, but made from today -- I will post a never-before-seen picture of Sarge as a newborn puppy that is so cute it will break the entire internet.

Go.
Seriously, this photo is so cute that I'm worried @MollyJongFast will show up at my house to dognap him.

But I'll risk that for this cause. I'm very brave.
My God, you people are amazing. We hit $2000 in a matter of minutes, with big boosts from @reallyhillary and @nerdpyle.

All right, be sure to sit down. I'll post it after this.
Read 4 tweets
6 Nov 20
Also, I think it's worth reflecting on McConnell's reasons for immediately claiming that he'll be a brake on a Biden presidency.

Two stand out ...
First and foremost, he doesn't technically *have* the Senate majority yet, and we're about to have a runoff for two pivotal seats in Georgia.

Portraying those seats as the key to the GOP checking the power of a Democratic White House is an obvious strategy they'll use there.
So drawing a line in the sand on Cabinet appointments -- however real that might be -- is a smart political move for McConnell, as it will help rally Republicans to vote for Perdue and Loeffler.

(Democrats of course need to counter, making clear what a Dem Senate would mean.)
Read 7 tweets
26 Oct 20
Tomorrow evening at 6pm eastern, @ProfCAnderson @jimdowns1 and I will be returning (virtually) to @librarycompany for another discussion about voter suppression, past and present.

Register here: librarycompany.org/event/voter-su…
Our original discussion at @librarycompany took place back in April 2019, with @staceyabrams @HC_Richardson and @hthompsn as well.

Nice @jennyschuessler piece about it here:

nytimes.com/2019/04/08/art…
That discussion was turned into a terrific book, edited by @jimdowns1 for @UGAPress -- a transcript of our discussion and a number of important essays on voting rights and voter suppression.

ugapress.org/book/978082035…
Read 4 tweets
21 Oct 20
Oh, Ratcliffe is leading off. Well, that inspires confidence.
The guy who was originally turned down for DNI because he lied about his resume is here to warn about disinformation.
Ratcliffe says that Iran is trying to meddle to hurt Trump, but then mentions the emails threatening voters — ones saying they’ll release info on them if they don’t vote for Trump — but doesn’t mention Trump there. Well done.
Read 5 tweets

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