I've never seen anything like it. I was a child during the Nixon era, 10 years old in 1972, but I vividly remember people pouring over news reports, glued to televisions, energetically debating the significance of factual information delivered by journalists they generally trusted.

Nixon resigned because he lost the trust of the people, because the people had access to accurate information that they (by and large) believed was accurate.

In today's cult-like atmosphere on the right, nothing like that could happen.

People would hear the names Woodward and Bernstein, dismiss them with a muttered "fake news," and carry on as if nothing mattered.