On Tuesday, after concluding a full report for NBC’s Today show marking 50 years since the election of Richard Nixon, Senior Correspondent Tom Brokaw expressed his hope that the country, and particularly President Trump, would be “learning” a lesson from the White House scandal.
“As 2018 winds down, we finish marking 50 years since one of the most tumultuous times in American history,” co-host Craig Melvin announced as he introduced the segment. Fellow co-host Hoda Kotb chimed in: “So much happened back in 1968 that shaped our nation, not the least of which was the election of President Nixon.”
After Kotb noted that Brokaw has “been doing a lot of thinking about that,” the former NBC Nightly News anchor declared: “I have been thinking about it a lot....given what we’re going through right now, I thought it was worthwhile to go look back and take a look at the Richard Nixon experience, and especially how it’s remembered...”
The report featured Brokaw touring the newly revamped Nixon Presidential Library in southern California and noting the “more honest” exhibit on the Watergate scandal.
Following the taped portion of the segment, Brokaw revealed the reason for the report: “We did all this because, in the context of what we’re going through right now, what are the lessons that we ought to be learning as a country and what should be President be learning about all this?”
Back in January, Brokaw claimed to smell a “whiff” of Watergate in the Trump White House.
However, in October, Brokaw actually warned his colleagues not to make direct comparisons between the current Russia investigation and the scandal that took down Nixon.
The eagerness of the media to draw parallels to Watergate since Trump took office has become a central theme of the slanted coverage of this administration.
Here are excerpts of Brokaw’s December 18 report:
8:10 AM ET
CRAIG MELVIN: Welcome back. As 2018 winds down, we finish marking 50 years since one of the most tumultuous times in American history.
HODA KOTB: So much happened back in 1968 that shaped our nation, not the least of which was the election of President Nixon. NBC’s Senior Correspondent Tom Brokaw’s been doing a lot of thinking about that. Hey, Tom, good morning.
TOM BROKAW: Good morning, well, I have been thinking about it a lot because four years later he was re-elected in record terms. George McGovern only won one state. Richard Nixon blew out the lights on that electoral map. But they were already in the midst of Watergate. So given what we’re going through right now, I thought it was worthwhile to go look back and take a look at the Richard Nixon experience, and especially how it’s remembered at his library, which is in California.
(...)
8:14 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: But how you get from a landslide re-election to Watergate. And as the expert says, you know, at the heart of it is insecurity.
BROKAW: Well, and the essential question is, why was the Watergate break-in necessary? They knew they were going to blow out George McGovern.
GUTHRIE: That’s the point.
BROKAW: And they sent these bumbling burglars in there who couldn’t even lock the door appropriately and got caught. And then it just got worse and worse and worse.
We did all this because, in the context of what we’re going through right now, what are the lessons that we ought to be learning as a country and what should be President be learning about all this?
(...)
