Tell us all how the Republicans in the 1970’s in the context of race has anything to do with the Impeachment of Donald Trump.
The primary connection between President Richard Nixon's actions against the Black Panther Party and the potential impeachment of President Donald Trump lies in the central constitutional principle of abuse of power and the alleged misuse of the authority of the Presidency and federal agencies for improper political purposes.
Nixon and the FBI/COINTELPRO: Nixon's administration, along with the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover, used the COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program) to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” domestic political groups, including the Black Panther Party, on the basis of both political position and race.
This involved a systematic campaign of misusing a federal law enforcement agency (the FBI) for political ends, employing tactics like infiltration, psychological warfare (planting false stories, forging letters), harassment, and even contributing to violence and assassinations. The goal was to dismantle a domestic political opposition movement and disrupt race-based coalitions.
In the impeachment proceedings against Nixon related to the broader Watergate scandal, one of the proposed articles of impeachment was for Abuse of Power, specifically for using federal agencies (including the FBI and IRS) to harass his political enemies and authorize burglaries.
Both of President Trump's impeachments involved articles charging him with Abuse of Power.
The first impeachment charged him with abusing the powers of his office by allegedly soliciting foreign interference (Ukraine) to benefit his personal political campaign, and conditioning official acts (military aid and a White House visit) on the foreign government agreeing to announce investigations into his political rival.
The second impeachment charged him with Incitement of Insurrection, which is viewed as an abuse of the office by failing to faithfully execute the laws and inciting violence against the government.
The underlying principle connecting these two distinct historical events is the accusation that a President misused the immense power and resources of the Executive Branch and federal agencies to target domestic political opponents and specific races to gain a personal political advantage.
Nixon wrote the book, Trump is following the script, and has released the sequel. If you want additional information about race-based abuses of power, consult Project 2025 and the actions of ICE against American citizens based on race discrimination.
In both cases, it is the abuse of power, predicated on racial disruption in the first case, and being a modus operandi of the second.
Cheers,
Ian