Trump's Troubles.

• Author: Merry, Robert W.
• Position: The Realist - Presidents Richard Nixon and Donald Trump

Richard M. Nixon brought on his own downfall, as well as the collapse of his foreign policy, when he abused his power in seeking to cover up Watergate misdeeds that were perpetrated by the White House plumbers. But that abuse doesn't diminish a central reality of American politics: when the president is weakened at home, America is weakened abroad. It's worth recalling what occurred during the Nixon administration and its potential implications for President Donald Trump.

When Nixon became president in January 1969, he had two thoughts firmly in mind regarding the Vietnam debacle he had inherited: victory was impossible and defeat unthinkable. The imperative of avoiding the latter in a highly unstable foreign entanglement, with no prospect of victory, was particularly salient because of his broader strategic goals for U.S. policy in Asia. Nixon wanted to pull together the rising noncommunist states of that region into a powerful bulwark of regional stability while luring Communist China out of its "angry isolation" and into a new role as a responsible Asian player. None of this would be possible, he reasoned, if America suffered a devastating humiliation in Vietnam.

Nixon thus initiated a Vietnam retreat--a slow, deliberate and highly risky military withdrawal. He placed himself in a predicament of epic proportions. His military challenge was to calibrate a difficult and dangerous maneuver in Vietnam, which could lead to disaster in the field and harm his political standing at home. At the same time, his political challenge, with antiwar sentiment at a fever pitch, was to manage an inherently unstable domestic scene, which could engulf him at home and upset his military calculations in Vietnam.

Throughout his first term, Nixon managed to wend his way through this treacherous political and geopolitical thicket with considerable skill. Then came Watergate. Nixon's delicate balancing act came to an abrupt close, along with his presidency and any hope of a noncommunist South Vietnam. Powerful developments in domestic politics deflected the course of foreign affairs, leading to a series of congressional actions aimed at crimping the power of the White House.

Those actions are worth pondering as the country moves into a new phase in the ongoing effort to bring to account Donald Trump for presumed misdeeds and transgressions, whatever they may be. The newly installed Democratic House of Representatives seems intent on executing a Watergate...