Vance: Watergate would be '12-hour news story' today

US Vice President JD Vance declared on Thursday that the Watergate scandal would have been merely "a 12-hour news story" in the current media environment, asserting that the constitutional crisis which forced Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974 would no longer suffice to end a modern presidency.

Remarks at Nixon Library

Speaking at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California, Vance suggested that Nixon's historical legacy is currently enjoying renewed appreciation among conservative circles, according to NBC News. He contended that the accelerated pace of contemporary political coverage and shifting media business models have altered how executive branch controversies unfold and resolve. "If Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story," Vance said, arguing that the prolonged crisis which engulfed the 37th president would dissipate within hours in today's fragmented information ecosystem.

Comparisons to Trump

The vice president drew explicit connections between the circumstances of Nixon's ouster and the institutional resistance President Donald Trump encountered during his first term in office. "If you look at the story of how the deep state took down Richard Nixon, it's not all that different from what the same groups of people, the same institutions tried to do to Donald Trump in the first Trump administration," he stated. Vance framed both episodes as targeted campaigns by entrenched bureaucratic interests against populist Republican leaders who challenged established Washington protocols.

Book promotion

Vance also highlighted biographical similarities between himself and Nixon, noting their parallel trajectories from young senators to the vice presidency alongside literary accomplishments and consistently antagonistic relationships with mainstream press outlets. "Young senator, vice president, writes some bestselling books, is hated by the media," he observed, adding: "It kind of sounds like JD Vance. I've always liked Richard Nixon." The remarks formed part of a promotional appearance for his new memoir Communion in Yorba Linda, where Nixon — who resigned in August 1974 following the Watergate break-in cover-up — remains the only US president to have left the White House voluntarily before completing his term.