To me the fact that a Vice President can go to Capitol Hill and lobby for torture is just unbelievable. Just unbelievable! The fact that a small clique of attorneys in the Department of Justice can write how can we get around the Geneva Conventions so that we can torture during interrogations - I can't even get their mentally. And when you read their briefs, they didn't get there mentally.

John Dean

Categorized in : Writing Justice President

I began by telling the President that there was a cancer growing on the presidency, and if the cancer was not removed, the president himself would be killed by it.

cancer president would-be

History never exactly repeats itself, but it does some rather goo... by John Dean

History never exactly repeats itself, but it does some rather good impressions.

repeats impression doe

Had the Senate or House, or both, censured or somehow warned Richard Nixon, the tragedy of Watergate might have been prevented. Hopefully the Senate will not sit by while even more serious abuses unfold before it.

abuse tragedy house

There's a cancer on the presidency. by John Dean

There's a cancer on the presidency.

presidency cancer

I fear for the democratic system. And I fear for our liberties. Only a small group of people fights for our liberties. Once we start on the slippery slope and those people are put in jeopardy, then we're really in trouble.

Americans like to give their President the benefit of the doubt. If you look at the poll numbers, people knew Nixon was deeply involved in Watergate and stayed with him for a long time. It's a natural tendency.

numbers long people

An answer is always a form of death. by John Dean

An answer is always a form of death.

Who voted for Trump? Who are these people who, as he famously said, would let him shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and still support him? It's people who want too strong a leader, who would do what that leader tells them. Similar to the Europeans following Mussolini and Hitler. There's a streak in humanity that likes that kind of leader. That's Trump's core. Authoritarianism.

support strong people

There's no good that can come out of secrecy. by John Dean

There's no good that can come out of secrecy.

Bush had expertise in one thing: How to run a Presidential campaign. He understands campaigns and Presidential politics. He has no interest or disposition or I think probably - he's not stupid, but he's not bright, he's not a rocket scientist - he isn't interested in policy.

stupid running thinking

9/11 changed everything. We lose more Americans every year drowning in the bathtub than through terrorism. But terrorism has been used as a lever to frighten people, pass legislation, sound tough and coerce us into giving away our rights in pursuit of phantom problems.

tough giving people

There's a political reality about impeachment. It's purely a political process. The interpretation of "high crimes and misdemeanors" can reach a long way, all the way to sex in the Oval Office, which was an absurd use of the impeachment clause.

office long reality

Doing time is like climbing a mountain wearing roller skates. by John Dean

Doing time is like climbing a mountain wearing roller skates.

climbing mountain time

I don't think Trump is a deeply self-aware person. But he's absolutely off the charts as a narcissist. He is the consummate narcissistic salesman. He is in fact a sick man. And that's potentially very dangerous. The only positive thing about Trump is that he has no ideology, he is an empty vessel, surrounded by people who give him ideas, and it only matters which ideas will shine the light on Trump.

men people thinking

Bill Rehnquist makes Barry Goldwater look like a liberal. by John Dean

Bill Rehnquist makes Barry Goldwater look like a liberal.

I've been surfing so many years and it's a pretty strong part of my life so I'm not gonna give that up.

strong giving years

Trump hasn't really done anything yet to abuse his powers. I don't even know if he knows what all his powers are as president. And that worries me. He will learn. After he learns how the presidency works, he could become much more dangerous, because his personality doesn't change. Once presidents find their powers, they don't give them up. They use them.

personality worry giving

Americans like to give their President the benefit of the doubt. by John Dean

Americans like to give their President the benefit of the doubt.

president doubt giving

Donald Trump hasn't blown us up yet. But he terrifies me. For one thing, the incompetence. He doesn't have any real understanding of how the presidency works or even how Washington works. The only comfort I have is that he is so imcompetent that he can't do anything to cause a real problem.

understanding real comfort

There is only one thing Donald Trump is interested in, and that's... by John Dean

There is only one thing Donald Trump is interested in, and that's Donald Trump.