Sharon Kennedy: Trump needs another Martha Mitchell
A clone of Martha Mitchell would have landed Donald Trump in prison a year ago. The wife of jailbird John Mitchell — Nixon’s former attorney general — Martha just couldn’t keep her mouth shut. She was an anomaly in our nation’s Capitol. She loved talking to the press and telling reporters everything. Those of us who have been around a long time will remember her as the gal credited with exposing the Watergate break-in that ultimately resulted in banishing Richard Nixon from the White House.
When Martha arrived in Washington in 1969, she brought her wagging tongue with her. Nobody could shut her up. The press loved her. Talk show hosts loved her. We, the people, loved her. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for her husband and his boss. They tolerated her. In the beginning, they might have found her gregarious nature amusing. However, when her non-stop chatter cut too close to the truth, she had to be muzzled. Martha claimed this was achieved by kidnapping her in 1972 and forcing her to remain isolated in a California hotel room when the Watergate scandal hit the airwaves. The rumor mill said she had lost her marbles, but history proved otherwise.
If the spit and fire of a Martha Mitchell emerged on the scene today, how different politics might be. Unfortunately, it’s pretty obvious that a wife willing to tell all wouldn’t last long in Washington. Fifty years ago, the solution to silencing such a tattle-tale was confinement in a hotel room with a guard stationed outside the door. Today, the silencing would be a bit more brutal and very likely fatal. The wives of all the crooks in D.C. are not willing to spill the beans and endure the punishment sure to accompany such a spill.
Mrs. Mitchell was a noisy duck in an otherwise sedate pond. She didn’t conform in speech or style to any other Cabinet member’s wife. She chatted with TV hosts as if they were old friends. She shared drinks with reporters and gabbed the night away. Her quick wit and endless smile put everyone at ease except Washington’s powerful men. She was an irritation to them. A boil that would not burst. A festering hemorrhoid no doctor could cure. Her loose tongue was a relentless nightmare to Republicans desperate to upright a sinking ship.
Because she was a straight-shooter, Martha was as out of place as a fly on the West Wing wall. Some folks might compare Trump to her claiming he, too, called things as he saw them, but let’s not overlook glaring differences. Martha knew what she was talking about. She didn’t have to make up stuff and pretend it was true. She rifled through her husband’s papers and eavesdropped on top level conversations. She knew what was going on. She was an outsider who became an insider privy to an obvious crime. Her Southern upbringing demanded the burglary be exposed.
If Twitter or cable news had been around, Martha would have ceaselessly tweeted and blabbed and Watergate wouldn’t have dragged on for two years. As Nixon said in a 1977 interview with David Frost, “Martha was a distraction to John Mitchell. No one was minding the store. If it hadn’t been for Martha Mitchell, there’d have been no Watergate.”
We need another loudmouth wife willing to step forward, tell the truth, wake up the Judicial Branch and get some convictions. Nixon got the boot. Trump should get Sing Sing.
— To contact Sharon Kennedy, send her an email at authorsharonkennedy.com. Kennedy's latest book, “The SideRoad Kids: Tales from Chippewa County,” is available from her, Amazon, or Audible.