"Sudden Respect" is one of our Media Bias topics at NewsBusters. The notion is that a person formerly despised by the liberal media suddenly earns its respect by doing something to liberal liking.
If there is one person historically despised by liberals, and whose downfall gave birth to a new genre of attack journalism, it is Richard Nixon. Yet Sudden Respect was posthumously bestowed on Nixon today on Joy Reid's MSNBC show. Why? Because Nixon chose to walk the plank and resign before being impeached, something liberals fear President Trump will never do.
Reid began a segment by playing the clip of Nixon announcing his resignation. A bit later, former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks, after claiming the facts surrounding President Trump and Ukraine are "much worse" than Watergate, praised Nixon and condemned Trump:
[Nixon] actually understood what government is and he actually acted in the benefit of the country by resigning. I don’t think that Donald Trump has even the slightest shred of humility or understanding. I don’t think there's any chance that he would ever admit and resign in the interests of the American people."
It's a mark of just how much liberals hate President Trump that they are now willing to make a virtual hero out of their favorite former bogeyman, Richard Nixon.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
AM Joy
9/28/19
11:38 am EDT
RICHARD NIXON: I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as President, I must put the interests of America first. Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.JOY REID: The resignation of President Richard Nixon was, before now, the most jarring moment in an American presidency in recent years. Nixon resigned over a metastasizing scandal surrounding a break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee for the purposes of helping to secure Nixon's re-election . . . The huge difference, Jill Wine-Banks, is that in the case of this version of the Watergate break-in, this is attempting to use a foreign government. I have not heard of any government, of the 45 we've had in this country, that's accused of essentially trying to, I can't really call it conspire. In this case, bully, extort, whatever word you want to use, a foreign country, a foreign country, to try and get help to get re-elected. I think that's a key and pretty shocking difference.
JILL WINE-BANKS: It is, definitely, a difference, and it makes it much worse than Watergate. But I think one of the other big differences was shown in the clip that you started this with, of Richard Nixon resigning. He actually understood what government is and he actually acted in the benefit of the country by resigning. I don’t think that Donald Trump has even the slightest shred of humility or understanding. I don’t think there's any chance that he would ever admit and resign in the interests of the American people.
