Ever felt like you have been in a situation before, but you just can’t put your finger on why. Then almost as if out of the blue it hits you? Is anybody beside me seeing any similarity of the fall of Dick Nixon due to Watergate and the current continual firehose of news on Trump and his relations to Epstein and the whole pedophile story.

Nor do we feel what seemed like forever between revelations as reporter assembled the story in tiny pieces through some very intrepid reporting, or in the occasional gusher as someone fessed up to save their own skin or through some sense of duty: 5 minutes

As I was watching some of the deposition of AG Bondi Wednesday, her demeanor and the arrogance of the Republican Party brought back distant memories of the Watergate hearings. I was so much younger then, was not fully up to snuff on all the issues and could only catch snippets between school and work. But after all these years, the Republican arrogance in the face of some very serious charges echoed back to 1973 & 1974.

Among the memories were those of a president trapped in a cover up of his own doing in an effort to avoid paying for the consequences of his crimes. Rather than admit to wrong doing, Nixon chose the path of cover up. As the investigation waged on, we slowly saw the lies unravel and the co-conspirators slowly break down.

Then it hit me as Bondi took her offensive tone – just like in Watergate, she knows – hell the whole damn administration knows, and all of Trump’s buddies know – that there were crimes. Now we have gone so far down the path that there is no going back Trump and his entourage long ago chose the path of covering up the crimes.

Now it is way too late to turn back. Mr. Trump has chosen a path, his party long ago chose to join him, so now we must put the country through the long process of investigation and counter moves to try to gum up the wheels of justice. As we embark on this journey, we can take a little view of where we are.

As we compare the landscape from then to now, the biggest noticeable difference is the makeup of the media. Back in the Watergate era, the press was much more independent and competitive. While some were in Nixon’s pocket, the majority were much more in pursuit of the story and in most cases the truth. This is why the press is often cited as the fourth estate – their search for truth would act as an outside force to reign politicians in. During Watergate, some news organizations did this well.

Now much of the media is captured by political factions – mostly on the right. Their mission is no longer truth, but profit and making sure one side – mostly the right – wins. But thanks to the internet and social media there is still a strong tradition of truth seekers. Expect the administration to try to shut such media out of any investigative journalism. Also expect the administration to use their power to stop any reporting. This will be a real test of our constitution. As it is right now the constitution is teetering.

Something else that has changed is the courage of our politicians. It should be no surprise that Trump holds the political life of every Republican in his hands and threatens them constantly with being primaried if they step out of line. Back in the Watergate days, while Nixon had influence, he was far from having career life and death power over congress critters. Trump’s power is made even greater as so many states are so gerrymandered that the Republican primary is more important than the general election.

Today’s Republican congress members are being squeezed from the opposite direction because the Epstein pedophile scandal is so disgusting that any hint that congress will not go full bore after the pedophiles that if they give a hint that they (Republican congress members) will not pursue the issue, then the congress members will lose a lot of support. This is an issue that really hits home with most Americans – raping children.

One last sort of a wild card not around 50 years ago is the involvement of foreign governments. Many western European governments are finding that they have or have had high ranking members of their governments involved with Epstein. Citizens in countries such as the UK, Poland, France and others are planning to investigate. It will be hard for Trump, Bondi, Lutnik and members of congress to entirely gum up investigations in other countries. Keep your hats on. Remember that the Republican Party is the only party in the worldwide democracies that is trying to stop investigations into Epstein.

So how long can the insiders block the investigations? How long before members of congress see their future going down the toilet and turn sides? How long before other governments reveal details that point specifically to Trump?  Can the Trump Administration either stop the next election or rig the election so Republicans regain control? Will Trump and his party act to end our democracy to keep him out of jail? Republicans can’t win a fair fight these days.

Let me throw in a scenario that keeps running through my mind. Nixon quit when he lost support from his party. Let me suggest that after a debacle of an election, Republicans work to have Trump resign citing dementia effective Jan. 21, 2027. This would remove Trump and put Vance in the presidency in a situation where, if he ran and won, (think rigged election) he could remain in power for 10 years. That should end democracy as we know it.

Fasten your seatbelts, the ride will be bumpy. Let us hope that most Americans are more in favor of democracy than autocracy.