John Dean Quotes

• History never exactly repeats itself, but it does some rather good impressions.

  John Dean

  Doe, Impression, Repeats

  Comparing the presidential styles of Richard Nixon and George W Bush. Quoted in Worse than Watergate (2004).

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• I began by telling the President that there was a cancer growing on the presidency, and if the cancer was not removed, the president himself would be killed by it.

  John Dean

  Cancer, President, Would Be

  "The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis" with Bill Moyers, billmoyers.com. November 4, 1987.

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• Who voted for Trump? Who are these people who, as he famously said, would let him shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and still support him? It's people who want too strong a leader, who would do what that leader tells them. Similar to the Europeans following Mussolini and Hitler. There's a streak in humanity that likes that kind of leader. That's Trump's core. Authoritarianism.

  John Dean

  Strong, People, Support

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• Had the Senate or House, or both, censured or somehow warned Richard Nixon, the tragedy of Watergate might have been prevented. Hopefully the Senate will not sit by while even more serious abuses unfold before it.

  John Dean

  House, Abuse, Tragedy

  66 Copy quote

• There's no good that can come out of secrecy.

  John Dean

  Secrecy

  Source: progressive.org

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• There's a cancer on the presidency.

  John Dean

  Cancer, Presidency

  "The Hearings End Much as They Began" by David Maraniss, www.washingtonpost.com. June 19, 1996.

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• I fear for the democratic system. And I fear for our liberties. Only a small group of people fights for our liberties. Once we start on the slippery slope and those people are put in jeopardy, then we're really in trouble.

  John Dean

  Source: progressive.org

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• Americans like to give their President the benefit of the doubt. If you look at the poll numbers, people knew Nixon was deeply involved in Watergate and stayed with him for a long time. It's a natural tendency.

  John Dean

  Numbers, Long, People

  Source: progressive.org

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• An answer is always a form of death.

  John Dean

  Answers, Form

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• 9/11 changed everything. We lose more Americans every year drowning in the bathtub than through terrorism. But terrorism has been used as a lever to frighten people, pass legislation, sound tough and coerce us into giving away our rights in pursuit of phantom problems.

  John Dean

  People, Giving, Tough

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• Doing time is like climbing a mountain wearing roller skates.

  John Dean

  Time, Climbing, Mountain

  1977 On conviction after the Watergate scandal. In Newsweek, 4 Jul.

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• There is only one thing Donald Trump is interested in, and that's Donald Trump.

  John Dean

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• Bush had expertise in one thing: How to run a Presidential campaign. He understands campaigns and Presidential politics. He has no interest or disposition or I think probably - he's not stupid, but he's not bright, he's not a rocket scientist - he isn't interested in policy.

  John Dean

  Running, Stupid, Thinking

  Source: progressive.org

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• Trump hasn't really done anything yet to abuse his powers. I don't even know if he knows what all his powers are as president. And that worries me. He will learn. After he learns how the presidency works, he could become much more dangerous, because his personality doesn't change. Once presidents find their powers, they don't give them up. They use them.

  John Dean

  Giving, Worry, Personality

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• I don't think Trump is a deeply self-aware person. But he's absolutely off the charts as a narcissist. He is the consummate narcissistic salesman. He is in fact a sick man. And that's potentially very dangerous. The only positive thing about Trump is that he has no ideology, he is an empty vessel, surrounded by people who give him ideas, and it only matters which ideas will shine the light on Trump.

  John Dean

  Men, Thinking, People

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• I'd give Donald Trump an "F." This has been the worst 100-day transition in my lifetime. And I was born during Franklin D. Roosevelt's term. This White House is by far the worst-run I have ever seen, certainly in modern times.

  John Dean

  Giving, House, Lifetime

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• There's a political reality about impeachment. It's purely a political process. The interpretation of "high crimes and misdemeanors" can reach a long way, all the way to sex in the Oval Office, which was an absurd use of the impeachment clause.

  John Dean

  Reality, Long, Office

  Source: progressive.org

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• There are similiarities between Nixon and Trump, no question. But there are also big differences. Nixon was shy, private, he attacked the media behind closed doors and insulted people behind their backs, and we only know about it because of the taping system in the Oval Office. The dark side, the vengeance we only know because of these tapes. Trump is right out and front with it. He actually campaigned on how nasty he can be, which found resonance with enough voters to get him into the White House.

  John Dean

  Dark, People, Office

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• I've been surfing so many years and it's a pretty strong part of my life so I'm not gonna give that up.

  John Dean

  Strong, Years, Giving

  " Year of shark 'hype,' says expert", www.cnn.com. September 4, 2001.

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• Warrantless wiretapping is an impeachable offense. It couldn't be any clearer.

  John Dean

  Offense

  Source: progressive.org

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• Americans like to give their President the benefit of the doubt.

  John Dean

  Giving, Doubt, President

  Source: progressive.org

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• Donald Trump hasn't blown us up yet. But he terrifies me. For one thing, the incompetence. He doesn't have any real understanding of how the presidency works or even how Washington works. The only comfort I have is that he is so imcompetent that he can't do anything to cause a real problem.

  John Dean

  Real, Understanding, Comfort

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• Bill Rehnquist makes Barry Goldwater look like a liberal.

  John Dean

  Looks, Bills

  John W. Dean (2002). “The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment That Redefined the Supreme Court”, p.129, Simon and Schuster

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• To me the fact that a Vice President can go to Capitol Hill and lobby for torture is just unbelievable. Just unbelievable! The fact that a small clique of attorneys in the Department of Justice can write how can we get around the Geneva Conventions so that we can torture during interrogations - I can't even get their mentally. And when you read their briefs, they didn't get there mentally.

  John Dean

  Writing, Justice, President

  Source: progressive.org

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• One of the reasons I thought a censure resolution was appropriate was because if somebody had censured Nixon or even if a resolution of either house had passed, saying what you're doing is unacceptable to Congress, that shot across the bow might have straightened him up.

  John Dean

  House, Reason, Resolution

  Source: progressive.org

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