Stay up to date with our Politics newsletter, sent weekly.A half-century ago, President Richard Nixon's resignation in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal shifted how Americans viewed corruption in Washington.Today, as President Trump has shattered norms around public service ethics in ways that have enriched himself and his family, politicians in both parties agree that Nixon-era scandals seem quaint."If Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story.
The idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy," Vice President Vance said in June at an event at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library."Watergate was like a Cub Scout prank compared to what we're living through," Rep.Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told NPR in May.Good governance watchdog groups have cataloged a litany of apparent corruption and conflict of interest incidents in Trump's second term.
That includes a settlement between Trump and his own government that prevents the IRS from auditing the Trump family, high-dollar stock trades of companies directly involved in administration policy and outside cryptocurrency ventures that have dramatically increased his net worth.Asked why he has made no effort to limit his family business ventures this term, Trump told The New York Times in January that "I found out that nobody cared.""I prohibited [my children] from doing business in my first term, and I got absolutely no credit for it," he said.Now, Democrats like Raskin are making the case to voters across the country that now is the time to tackle anti-corruption reforms — not only to serve as a check on Trump, but to overhaul an entire political system that polls show voters believe has been co-opted against their interests.Nearly all voters say corruption is a big problem in American politics.That's true of 90% of Republicans and 93% of both Democrats and independents, according to recent polling by the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan policy organization that advocates for...