Nixon is the only American president that I don't mind as a person. (There are no presidents that I like as presidents; Buchanan was probably the best president that America never had.)

It is very clear from the secret or semi-secret recordings and some of his writings that he was much more Right-wing as a person than as a president. Might even have been more Right-wing personally than the very same George Wallace that he was politically attacking from the Left.

Yet, instead of governing in congruence with his own beliefs, he set in motion the 'Nixon strategy' followed by later Republicans. That is, campaign Rightward of your opponents to win the Republican primaries, then govern as far to the Left as the Republican voters will allow to attempt picking up everyone else's vote without losing those more Right-wing voters who will see you as a traitor if you go too far with it.

Trump, whether he knew it or not, successfully followed the Nixon strategy to a tee in 2016. Yet, since he had no contenders from the Right in 2020, Trump had no need for first part of the Nixon strategy, went too far Leftward for the second part of it (e.g. the 'Platinum Plan'), and consequently lost more votes from his Right than he was able to pick up from his Left. Hence the end result, losing 'bigly' among White males, in particular, to his Right, whilst picking up a lesser (but much-vaunted) number of Hispanic and other votes to his Left. He also deservedly and predictably did not pick up the black votes that the Platinum Plan was clearly intended to attract. Trump 2020 thus joined Dole 1996 in the list of presidential campaigns that tried and failed to win an election using the Nixon strategy.

Yet even Nixon overestimated the goodness of the Jews: unless Kissinger really had him fooled right till the end, he surely must have reached a point where he realized that Kissinger was as much a snake as the rest of them. I doubt that Nixon would have gotten along well with Kissinger regarding Rhodesia and South Africa, both deeply problematized by the State Department at the time that Kissinger was running it, with Kissinger being a pivotal figure in the creation of both Zimbabwe and the 'Rainbow Nation'. It might even be fair to contend that if Kissinger did not speak to and also dupe both the Rhodesian and South African leaders, Prime Minister Smith and President Vorster, respectively, the creation of Zimbabwe and the 'Rainbow Nation' might have been held off for years to decades.

Nixon is the only American president that I don't mind as a person. (There are no presidents that I like as presidents; Buchanan was probably the best president that America never had.)

It is very clear from the secret or semi-secret recordings and some of his writings that he was much more Right-wing as a person than as a president. Might even have been more Right-wing personally than the very same George Wallace that he was politically attacking from the Left.

Yet, instead of governing in congruence with his own beliefs, he set in motion the 'Nixon strategy' followed by later Republicans. That is, campaign Rightward of your opponents to win the Republican primaries, then govern as far to the Left as the Republican voters will allow to attempt picking up everyone else's vote without losing those more Right-wing voters who will see you as a traitor if you go too far with it.

Trump, whether he knew it or not, successfully followed the Nixon strategy to a tee in 2016. Yet, since he had no contenders from the Right in 2020, Trump had no need for first part of the Nixon strategy, went too far Leftward for the second part of it (e.g. the 'Platinum Plan'), and consequently lost more votes from his Right than he was able to pick up from his Left. Hence the end result, losing 'bigly' among White males, in particular, to his Right, whilst picking up a lesser (but much-vaunted) number of Hispanic and other votes to his Left. He also deservedly and predictably did not pick up the black votes that the Platinum Plan was clearly intended to attract. Trump 2020 thus joined Dole 1996 in the list of presidential campaigns that tried and failed to win an election using the Nixon strategy.

Yet even Nixon overestimated the goodness of the Jews: unless Kissinger really had him fooled right till the end, he surely must have reached a point where he realized that Kissinger was as much a snake as the rest of them. I doubt that Nixon would have gotten along well with Kissinger regarding Rhodesia and South Africa, deeply problematized by the State Department at the time that Kissinger was running it, with Kissinger being a pivotal figure in the creation of both Zimbabwe and the 'Rainbow Nation'. It might even be fair to contend that if Kissinger did not speak to and also dupe both the Rhodesian and South African leaders, Prime Minister Smith and President Vorster, respectively, the creation of Zimbabwe and the 'Rainbow Nation' might have been held off for years to decades.

Nixon is the only American president that I don't mind as a person. (There are no presidents that I like as presidents; Buchanan was probably the best president that America never had.)

It is very clear from the secret or semi-secret recordings and some of his writings that he was much more Right-wing as a person than as a president. Might even have been more Right-wing personally than the very same George Wallace that he was politically attacking from the Left.

Yet, instead of governing in congruence with his own beliefs, he set in motion the 'Nixon strategy' followed by later Republicans. That is, campaign Rightward of your opponents to win the Republican primaries, then govern as far to the Left as the Republican voters will allow to attempt picking up everyone else's vote without losing those more Right-wing voters who will see you as a traitor if you go too far with it.

In Dole's case, it obviously failed, but Trump, whether he knew it or not, successfully followed the Nixon strategy to a tee in 2016. Yet, since he had no contenders from the Right in 2020, Trump had no need for first part of the Nixon strategy, went too far Leftward for the second part of it (e.g. the 'Platinum Plan'), and consequently lost more votes from his Right than he was able to pick up from his Left. Hence the end result, losing 'bigly' among White males, in particular, to his Right, whilst picking up a lesser (but much-vaunted) number of Hispanic and other votes to his Left. He also deservedly and predictably did not pick up the black votes that the Platinum Plan was clearly intended to attract.

Yet even Nixon overestimated the goodness of the Jews: unless Kissinger really had him fooled right till the end, he surely must have reached a point where he realized that Kissinger was as much a snake as the rest of them. I doubt that Nixon would have gotten along well with Kissinger regarding Rhodesia and South Africa, deeply problematized by the State Department at the time that Kissinger was running it, with Kissinger being a pivotal figure in the creation of both Zimbabwe and the 'Rainbow Nation'. It might even be fair to contend that if Kissinger did not speak to and also dupe both the Rhodesian and South African leaders, Prime Minister Smith and President Vorster, respectively, the creation of Zimbabwe and the 'Rainbow Nation' might have been held off for years to decades.