*By Max Godnick*
It's become cliché to compare any presidential scandal to Watergate, and it remains to be seen if any of the investigatory threads hanging off the Trump administration will unravel to reveal high crimes and misdemeanors.
Until the special counsel's investigation reaches its conclusion, we have Richard Nixon's Twitter alter-ego to provide historical context in real time, and the faux former president may not take kindly to an association with Trump.
Justin Sherin is the playwright behind the popular Twitter account, [@Dick_Nixon] (https://twitter.com/dick_nixon). He created the handle in 2008 and has been tweeted more than 65,0000 emulations of the 37th president's musings on political and popular culture. The profile has amassed a cult following of more than 45,000 fans, and has found new fodder with each development during Trump's scandal-rich presidency
However, Sherin is quick to point out the differences between the political and legal context surrounding Trump and Nixon.
"President Nixon brought himself down, certainly, but it didn't help him that he had a heavily Democratic Congress," said Sherin in an interview Monday with Cheddar.
Trump, on the other hand, has a Republican majority in the House and Senate, and a vocal, unwavering base of support.
So what would Tricky Dick, if he were alive today, say about Trump?
"I've characterized him calling Trump the culmination of the far-right, in his terms, 'kooks and crazies,' that he spent all of his life battling," said Sherin.
"He always said that the far-right of his party was extremely dangerous, but you needed them to win elections."
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-similar-are-richard-nixon-and-donald-trump).
Lawmakers probing the cause of last month’s deadly Maui wildfire did not get many answers during Thursday's congressional hearing on the role the electrical grid played in the disaster.
President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that federal disaster assistance is available for Louisiana, which is working to slow a mass inflow of salt water creeping up the Mississippi River and threatening drinking water supplies in the southern part of the state.
A new law in California will raise the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 per hour next year, an acknowledgment from the state's Democratic leaders that most of the often overlooked workforce are the primary earners for their low-income households.
From Sunday, workers at the main United States base in Antarctica will no longer be able to walk into a bar and order a beer, after the U.S. federal agency that oversees the research program decided to stop serving alcohol.
House Republicans launched a formal impeachment hearing Thursday against President Joe Biden, promising to “provide accountability” as they probe the family finances and business dealings of his son Hunter and make their case to the public, colleagues and a skeptical Senate.
The FBI and other government agencies should be required to get court approval before reviewing the communications of U.S. citizens collected through a secretive foreign surveillance program, a sharply divided privacy oversight board recommended on Thursday.
The federal government is just days away from a shutdown that will disrupt many services, squeeze workers and roil politics as Republicans in the House, fueled by hard-right demands, force a confrontation over federal spending.
The Biden administration is finalizing a new rule that would cut federal funding for colleges that leave graduates with low pay and high debt after graduating.
The Biden administration is finalizing a new rule that would cut federal funding for colleges that leave graduates with low pay and high debt after graduating.
