It was the FBI that brought down Nixon, not the press. The press were merely pawns in the game.

Look up Deepthroat’s identity and background.

DC wasn’t all that easy to break.

This middle third is quickly disappearing, being confused by destruction of the norm itself, and choosing one side or the other. The history of all revolutions, violent or relatively civil, is marked exactly by disappearing of the middle. In Russia the process is well described for events hundred years ago, and the same I witnessed about 25 years ago.

Your perspective is interesting. You are writing about ideology, but the economic situation is similar. From my understanding of Russian history, the middle of a hundred years ago was a weak emerging middle class. It seems we have that in reverse, a weakening and quickly disappearing middle class, which partly explains Trump.

As to revolution and the increasing gap between left and right, I don’t see Trump and his diehard followers providing a legitimate catalyst. The left, however, is itching for a fight and will glom on to anything as an excuse.

It’s a stretch, but could Trump be our Kerensky? Elected as a populist (working class) advocate, a weak ineffectual leader, facing a left that smells blood and is talking impeachment, there are similarities. We know what happened that November 100 years ago. Naw, can’t happen here!

I’m not an Ann Coulter fan (used to be, but she got too over the top for me) but I don’t think she’s dumb. Which makes her current surprise at Trump being who he’s always been that much more inexplicable.

Of course, she wrote a book with one of the most naive and self-delusional titles ever: “In Trump We Trust”

But, it is very believable because of all that we have seen from trump thus far, isn’t it?

We can blame the media all we want for their biased reporting, but why behave in a way that gives them the “meat”?
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Kudos to commenter Ann for raising possibly the latest example of poor judgement.

The WH explanation Ann quoted reads something like the obama WH argument that collecting “meta data” is somehow innocuous.

“it would be easy to search and manipulate such a database, transforming seemingly disparate pieces of information into meaningful connections.”
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-security/is-metadata-collected-by-the-government-a-threat-to-your-privacy/

Also, it wouldn’t be the first time (actually, one of many) that the “official” WH explanation didn’t meet up with the facts discovered later.

At best, this all looks like trump just talking contemporaneously without much thought to the consequences.

It is what he does. It was clear early on.
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We can blame the “leaks” from within the WH and from officials downstream.

But, you know what? trump sets the tone. He designs the organization. He runs the discipline.

If, as seems evident, his style or organization is to pit his staff against each other, he is quick to lay blame or throw others under the bus (as his public explanations counter his own staff’s), and he seems to not have a clear direction (as it is subject to change on a whim), then…

… is it any wonder that his administration is an environment that motivates and enables leaks?

He seeks loyalty, but does much to undermine that loyalty.

The latest example is his handling of the Comey firing.

Can only wonder that the folks in the FBI don’t feel somewhat concerned with our POTUS, even if they agreed on the basis for the decision.
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BUT, we all cannot say any of this is a surprise, right?

Well, maybe the Ann Coulters of the world can. Somehow.

We’d be getting the same spin, but it wouldn’t be nearly as believable. That’s the point.

It’s in the rabid Trumpsters (like Coulter) who assumed he was the Messiah based on the single issue of immigration or NAFTA.

It’s in the Reps like McCain, who seem unable to fit our dealings with Russia into a larger context.

We have got to work on a bottom-up approach that will inform the general public and encourage them to use their common sense in advancing policies at the local and national level. We have to break people out of their tribes, which are becoming as bad as those in the ME. And we have to make some breakthroughs in our culture. How are we going to send a message about freedom and self government when we only show the world our consumerism and our concern with trans bathrooms.

When I see the BS that CNN sends around the world, I’d like to arrest these folks for treason.

They might succeed. Trump’s weaknesses might prove to be fatal. But I am not that pessimistic. Trump is, I think, a unique politician in this sense: ordinary politicians’ actions fail to live up to their words. They talk a good game, but don’t deliver. Trump’s words fail to live up to his actions. If you ignore what he says and simply look at what he does, you will probably conclude that he is a very good president.

This suggests that the president’s problems are fixable. In any event, he will be the president for the next three years and nine months, at a minimum. The Democrats will never stop howling—it is what they do—but it is far too early to give up on what can be achieved, if only Congressional Republicans will ignore the D.C. press and do their jobs.
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I don’t always agree with the PowerPundits, but they usually speak good sense.
And few of them like or supported Trump in the beginning.