I was in college during Watergate. The pattern became that every new disclosure was cause for outrage, and no fact could be repeated too many times. They’d produce another ‘expert’ who would analyze the event then feign outrage; over and over and over. Ask most people today ‘what were Nixon’s crimes, other than the break in at the Watergate?’ They can’t answer because it was all about feelings, impressions and manufactured hysteria. There was no substance. And it’s happening again.
Yes I was in college then too and still have vivid memories of sitting in a darkened student lounge, watching the Watergate hearings on TV. It wasn't a huge draw –more students back then were concerned with their studies, rather than political activism. But a few others were in the lounge, sitting intensely at the edge of their overstuffed chairs.
What struck me was the almost orgasmic delight the Leftist students took in hating Nixon. I still considered myself a liberal back then, but the experience opened my eyes. It was the first time I'd seen such seething, pathological hatred.
Now I've seen that hatred expressed many times, toward many people.