Will Republicans Check Trump's Presidential Power?
Richard Nixon’s dismissal of the Watergate special prosecutor was met with bipartisan outrage. It’s less clear whether the public, and its political leaders, will respond in kind to the firing of FBI director James Comey.
Richard Nixon’s firing of the Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the “Saturday Night Massacre” in October 1973 doesn’t just provide the clearest parallel and precedent for Donald Trump’s frightening decision to dismiss FBI director James Comey while his agency is investigating the president’s campaign for possible collusion with Russia. The Saturday Night Massacre also establishes the clear moral and political standard against which to measure the response of America’s leaders to the Comey firing now.
After Nixon fired him, Cox framed the stakes of his dismissal with searing clarity: “Whether we shall
