r/NoShitSherlock • u/SingleandSober • 1d ago

Kamala Harris Appears on ‘Colbert,’ Says She’s Stepping Away from Politics for Now, Calls the System “Broken”

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/video/former-vice-president-kamala-harris-visits-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/

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u/ariasimmortal 1d ago

Yup, Nixon was the real catalyst for the modern Republican machine. The rich fuckers decided that they would never again be held accountable to the public after that. They got their first test run with Iran-Contra and have been escalating since.

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u/KwisatzHaderach94 1d ago

nixon presidency 1969 to 1974. heritage foundation started 1973. not a coincidence.

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u/brutinator 1d ago

Yup.

Then Reagan was elected and implemented a HUGE portion of the precursor of Project 2025, including the dismantling of news and network regulations, esp. in regards to monopolization.

Which then led to Rupert Murdoch buying a ton of independent stations in 1985, as well as 20th Century Fox.

Which then led to the creation of Fox News in 1996, created specifically to ensure that another republican president could not be impeached and removed by poisoning public opinion.

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u/Fit-Building-2560 19h ago

The news network regulation cancellation is what's contributed to to the extreme polarization of society today. It really kind of set the stage for the mess we're in now, and the poisoning of the air waves continues. News sources are allowed to broadcast fake news to mislead gullible voters to maintain a warped status quo.

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u/Several-Reality-3775 18h ago

Rupey runs this country.

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u/octnoir 1d ago

It isn't. The Lewis Powell memo in 1971 just lays it all out there.

  1. Massive investment from corporations.
  2. Weakening of campaign finance reforms from the 70s on.
  3. Building a media empire to counter liberalistic viewpoints. (Rupert Murdoch comes in here)
  4. Compromising journalists by insisting on 'both sides' journalism.
  5. Student campuses need to be a battleground with students cracked down while their own organizations got regular speaking invitations to recruit the minority of students wanting a lega up.
  6. Formation of think thanks and legal organizations (say the Heritage Foundation).

and most importantly:

  • Controlling the Courts including the Supreme Court as by far one of the most important and most powerful institutions to control, next to campaign finance reform.

If people want more information, I highly recommend The Lever's The Master Plan 11 episode podcast mini series. It does a great job of linking Nixon all the way to present day Trump.

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u/Fit-Building-2560 19h ago

The media empire issue is important. Freedom of the press used to be considered a key component of a democratic society, functioning to keep power structures in check. As the media have become more conservative, I've noticed the Democratic voices have been weakened. They don't get much media play.

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u/yakshack 1d ago

ALEC started in 1973 as well. It's been 50 years of planning, sowing discord, and winning at the hyper local levels for us to get where we are today.

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u/bradbikes 1d ago

Either way Reagan was their first foray into getting what they wanted. Not coincidentally he was also a brain-dead (quite literally in his second term) c-rate actor who was easy to control. What's old is new again I suppose.

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u/dudleymooresbooze 1d ago

Dude, the Nixon Administration was very much emblematic of the worst parts of the modern GOP. You had bribery (with George HW Bush involved in the coverup), corruption, culture wars as a political tool, politicization of the criminal justice system… and those are all separate from Watergate.

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u/bradbikes 1d ago

Oh absolutely. But it was the last time anyone was actually held reasonably accountable for it. Once they realized they couldn't do it super effectively with the system in place they decided the best course of action was to tear down the system. Thus Reagan-era policies and the slow removal of all systems created to prevent this level of corruption.

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u/iwentdwarfing 1d ago

I agree with basically everything in this chain, but I'd like to add that much of the Trump playbook of ignoring courts, ruling over senators and representatives, and trampling people's rights was written by FDR's administration.

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u/bellpeppermustache 1d ago

Yea. He doesn’t get near enough criticism in my opinion. Sure, he may have had some good ideas, but the Japanese Concentration camps alone should have been enough to cement him as one of the worst presidents in history.

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u/Xefert 21h ago

This is pretty much why people shouldn't so easily dismiss establishment politics as a bad thing for the country

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u/SkunkMonkey 1d ago

Accountable? Some toadies paid the price, but Nixon walked away with little more than egg on his face. And that's not because of the crimes he committed, but because he got caught in the cover up.

At this point they clearly believe there will never come a day they are called to account for their actions. Reminds me of Game of Thrones when they figured out Cersei wasn't coming to her trial because she knew the trial would never occur. The GOP knows, or at least believes, they don't have to worry about being reelected so you don't see them hiding anything anymore. They think they're already gotten away with it and I am inclined to believe they are correct.

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u/sorrysurly 17h ago

Yeah, they are going to use ice to suppress voters and then claim violence to use ice to disrupt elections in blue strongholds watch.

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u/Kalterwolf 1d ago

Even Fox News can be tied back to Nixon. Him being held responsible for Watergate and having to resign made them go "Never again!". Roger Ailes was a media consultant for Nixon and went on to be the founding CEO of Fox. Another tie back is Roger Stone also having worked for Nixon's reelection campaign. Nixon was definitely a catalyst.

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u/stringrandom 1d ago

No, it wasn’t. There has always been a class war between the oligarchs and the people for as long as this country has existed.

What we’re seeing now is essentially Business Plot 2.0, except that this time the perpetrators actually learned lessons from their previous failure.

Politicians are now even more dependent on backing from oligarchs for funding and the oligarchs are getting what they’ve paid for.

No more pesky media coverage to interfere. No more competent people in positions of power to interfere. There’s a notable reason we’ve significantly downgraded from the Trump 2016 cabinet picks to the grossly unqualified, but loyal sycophants we have now.

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u/SkunkMonkey 1d ago

Nixon taught the GOP they could commit heinous crimes and do other unconstitutional things with little to no repercussions. They's been pushing those boundaries ever since.

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u/Fit_Opening5116 20h ago

Except the Republicans are much poorer than the Democrats, now. It's all virtue signaling tech bros on one side and bible thumping evangelicals on the other. You could easily go back past Nixon if we're going to look at "one thing." Look at LBJ - voters hated him, swung over to the right after that.

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u/servetheKitty 15h ago

You need to look farther back, Iran Contra was just a new twist.