As with Nixon: will the security services bring Trump down?
The American security services brought down American President Nixon, not the media as people generally believe. Andrew Gawthorpe, researcher on diplomacy and American foreign policy, hopes that the security services under Trump also make the right decision.
In a opinion piece in The Guardian, Andrew Gawthorpe explains why the security services in the United States are essential in protecting the country against a president who has a very lax attitude to the rules of democracy. He draws a parallel between Russian interference in Trump's election - whether or not at Trump's own request - and President Nixon, who asked the South Vietnamese government in 1968 not to accept a peace proposal so that he would be elected as president.
'But Nixon's ultimate fate gives us some hope. The popular story about the Watergate affair is that it was the media that forced Nixon to resign, but in fact the media published work that had been done by the FBI, prosecutors and congress. Without these institutions, there would have been no Watergate. This explains why Trump is continually attacks the media, the security services and other similar institutions - the 'deep state'. Even for liberals it is a worrying idea that the security services can force a president to resign. But, as we saw with Watergate, these institutions exercise significant control over illegal conduct and even 'treason'. That's why Trump is constantly attacking them, and why we have to protect them.'