"Nixon accomplished much both in domestic and foreign policy, in spite of facing Democratic majorities in Congress. Nixon initiated relations with China (a relationship botched by future presidents), negotiated the first nuclear arms limitation treaty and extricated (imperfectly) the nation from its multi-decade misadventure in Vietnam. Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), increased aid to people with disabilities and worked to devolve power to the states. Trump’s foreign policy is, at best, a draw. While the Abraham Accords and a few trade deals were completed, he failed to get out of Afghanistan and got ripped off by China. That he cut through the policy inertia to move toward leaving Afghanistan is to his great credit. But he could not close the deal — something Nixon would never have let fall through the cracks. His domestic policy accomplishments included a tax cut and a raft of executive orders that his successor wiped out within weeks of his inauguration. And Trump faced far less adversity that Nixon. Nixon had to deal with inflation sparked by Lyndon Johnson’s spending and Vietnam escalation, the subsequent collapse of the Bretton Woods monetary system, war in the Middle East and an energy crisis caused by decades of increasing dependence on imported oil. Trump entered office with low inflation and low unemployment. He faced one major crisis in the COVID epidemic and, unsurprisingly, fumbled it badly. Trump’s hesitating, vacillating response ended up dooming his reelection. In times of crisis, the American people tend to rally around their president, but that only lasts as long as the president demonstrates leadership and determination. Trump only demonstrated confusion, indecision and doubt."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Presidents of the United StatesPoliticians from CaliforniaQuakersUnited States presidential candidates, 1972United States presidential candidates, 1968
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Keith Naughton in Donald Trump is just a smaller, weaker Richard Nixon (10 July 2023)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (9 January 1913 – 22 April 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974, when he became the only president to resign the office. Nixon had previously served as a Republican U.S. representative and senator from California from 1947 to 1952 and as the 36th vice president of the United States from 1953 to 1961.
318 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Richard Nixon →
Related Quotes
"This administration has proved that it is utterly incapable of cleaning out the corruption which has completely erode…"
"Isn't it better to talk about the relative merits of washing machines than the relative strength of rockets? Isn't th…"
"Now, some may ask why we don't get rid of the bases, since the Soviet Government declares today that it has only peac…"
"What kind of nation we will be, what kind of world we will live in, whether we shape the future in the image of our h…"
"What are our schools for if not for indoctrination against communism?"
"That's what we have and that's what we owe. It isn't very much but Pat and I have the satisfaction that every dime th…"
"Well, then, some of you will say, and rightly, "Well, what did you use the fund for, Senator? Why did you have to hav…"
"If you think the United States has stood still, who built the largest shopping center in the world, the Lloyd Shoppin…"
"I leave you gentleman now. You will now write it; you will interpret it; that's your right. But as I leave you I want…"
"I think most Americans understood that the My Lai massacre was not representative of our people, of the war we were f…"