The article outlines President Trump's attempts to leverage the IRS for political gain, particularly concerning his threats against Harvard University's tax-exempt status. This strategy mirrors tactics used by former President Nixon, who once sought to manipulate the IRS to punish adversaries. Nixon's political vendettas included targeting universities for not suppressing anti-war protests during the Vietnam War. Despite safeguards implemented post-Watergate to prevent such abuses, Trump's actions reveal continuity in using federal agencies for political ends, raising concerns about integrity and oversight.
One of the things that Nixon did consider was threatening the tax-exemptions of universities, and that sounds very familiar if you're reading the paper these days.
We are going to be taking away Harvard's Tax Exempt Status, Trump wrote in a social media post. It's what they deserve!
I want to be sure he's a ruthless son of a bitch, Nixon told aides about a potential IRS nominee. That he'll go after our enemies and not go after our friends.
Nixon tried very hard to misuse the IRS, Congress certainly saw that as a
threat and put safeguards in place to limit presidential influence over the agency.
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