Fifty years ago Friday, burglars broke into the Watergate Hotel in Washington, the first chapter of a story that would transform American politics. The anniversary comes as Congress investigates the greatest constitutional crisis since then. Just as Watergate-era leaders instituted important reforms to address the weaknesses of the system that the scandal exposed, so today’s leaders must ensure that a repeat of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol — on democracy itself — cannot happen.
In the half-century since operatives connected to Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign broke into the Democratic National Committee office at the Watergate to bug phones and steal documents, what followed — finally culminating in Nixon’s resignation, more than two years later — has become the very definition of things gone wrong, with “gate” now the operative suffix attached to every new scandal, even abroad.
But that defining story of betrayal of the American people by their top leader pales next to what former President Donald Trump did before, during and after Jan. 6.
