Young Conservatives Seek to Rehabilitate Nixon's Image as Populist Leader
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A small but influential group of young conservative activists and intellectuals are rehabilitating Nixon's image, seeing him as an underappreciated populist leader rather than a disgraced crook.
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Defending Nixon is seen as a way to defend Trump, establishing precedents and strategies to prevent Trump from facing a similar ignominious downfall over controversies.
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Different conservatives admire different aspects of Nixon's legacy, from his foreign policy realism to his efforts targeting leftist groups and curtailing federal bureaucracy.
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The Nixon revivalists are often too young to have lived through Watergate, and view it as a "bureaucratic coup" by anti-Nixon establishment forces rather than clear-cut corruption.
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While the rehabilitation effort has sincere supporters, it also serves as an elaborate troll of liberals designed to demonstrate the right's ability to reshape historical perceptions of controversial figures.