Yeah, but it took a Democratic majority.
And I know I’ve already mentioned this a couple of times, but when it came down to impeachment time for Nixon, a majority of the Republican members of the committee voted against all charges for impeachment. After there was already a recording available of Nixon committing the crime he was being charged with. Meaning, if Republicans had a majority, and the chairship, Nixon’s impeachment would likely have never even come up for a vote, and Nixon would have served out his full second term.
“What did the president know and when did he know it?” was uttered by a Republican senator, partisanship was not what it is now. And it was the public/media who rose to the occassion to hold their government officials accountable, not the opposing political party. Barry Goldwater himself urged the president to resign, which essentially cemented the decision in his mind. We all know Trump wouldn’t make that call.
I agree things are more polarized now, but the votes from the time reveal most Republicans lined up behind Nixon even after the facts were out and incontrovertible. So that really just means that Republicans would not have considered impeachment if they ran the show back then, and they’re even less likely to vote to impeach today. I disagree about the cause for resignation though. Nixon resigned after many things happened–enough Republicans broke with their party to give the Democrats a comfortable margin on impeachment (my point was not that none broke with Nixon, but that most didn’t), the Supreme Court ordered the release of damning evidence, but Goldwater? He was a Nixon competitor–a leader of the nascent conservative movement getting a chance to get a dig at America’s last arguably liberal President. Of course he called on Nixon to resign.
But I also agree Trump wouldn’t make that call under any imaginable circumstances either.