![Kennedy and Nixon [image courtesy of AP wikimedia commons public domain]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/12/14/660x290/b_502x220x82/kennedy-and-nixon-image-courtesy-of-ap-wikimedia-commons-public-domain_1735627.jpg "Kennedy and Nixon [image courtesy of AP wikimedia commons public domain]")
American presidents, at some point, always find themselves being compared to previous chief executives, bad ones by people who hate them and great ones by those who love them. President Donald trump is no exception in this regard. However, the question is, which previous president does he most resemble. A group of Hollywood types is pretty sure that Trump is Richard Nixon. Yet, a case can be made that he really is the second coming of John F. Kennedy.
At a showing of ‘The Post’ Trump is compared to Nixon
According to the Washington Post, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks had a viewing of their new movie, “The Post,” at the Newseum for a group of modern media people.
“The Post” is the story of how the Washington Post defied the Nixon administration and published the Pentagon Papers that demonstrated how multiple administrations (mostly Democrats by the way) lied about the Vietnam War. Spielberg and Hanks had apparently made a movie that celebrates the media by setting it in an era when it was still respected.
How is Trump like Nixon? Both presidents went after the media, which is apparently a bad thing. The problem with this assessment is that the press mainly hated Nixon as they hate Trump. No politician worth his office is going to take a constant pounding without giving some back, especially when it is manifestly unfair and, in the case of Trump, false.
However, if one respects the first amendment, a president is supposed to suffer in silence, sort of like George W. Bush, who did not deign to get in the arena with the press and thus departed office very unpopular.
Moore: Trump is the second coming of John Kennedy.
Stephen Moore, in a piece on the CNN website, makes the case that on tax cuts Trump is a modern John F.
Kennedy. The current liberal fanboys of JFK do not remember that Kennedy championed across the board tax cuts (even for the rich) as a means of stimulating economic growth. Trump’s tax reform bill is aimed at the same thing.
Dare we also point out that Kennedy and Trump also proposed sending American astronauts to the moon?
JFK wanted to show up the Soviets in a space race. Trump wants to make America great again, which includes using the moon for commercial development as well as scientific exploration and a vehicle for soft power.
Even in the seamier side of their character, Kennedy and Trump have similarities. Trump infamously boasted about his ability to get women into bed in the Access Hollywood tape. JFK viewed every attractive woman who crossed his line of vision as a benefit of being president, along with the big house, the helicopter, and the airplane. The difference is that Trump boasted of it and is being sued by some of the women he allegedly went after. The media covered up for Kennedy and any woman who serviced him knew to shut up, at least until he was safely dead.
JFK was a more polite version of Harvey Weinstein.
Of course, the two men were completely different in their personal styles. Kennedy was smooth, cultured, and erudite. Trump is loud, brash, and more than a little vulgar. But those differences are, measured against the similarities, very superficial.
