On Its 45th Anniversary, ‘All The President’s Men’ Still Stand To Attention

It’s easy to romanticize a time when people bought newspapers and presidents could be shamed. We think of simpler as better. This is perhaps why, on its 45th anniversary, All the President’s Men, is ostensibly heralded as something of a shiny artifact from an even shinier era. Because back then, presidents couldn’t only be shamed by the free-ish and fair-ish press, but dethroned entirely – a rare event that serves as the true-life narrative backbone of All the President’s Men as it retells the Watergate scandal and The Washington Post reporters behind its excavation. But despite Donald Trump’s ejection from the White House, four years of innumerable scandals has led to a new inflection point. Maybe we’ve gone beyond the pale. Really bad stuff doesn’t lead to resignations anymore, nor does it lead to crowd-sourced discipline from one’s colleagues. Joe Biden, though preferable in many ways to his predecessor, has emerged relatively unscathed from his own lion’s share of scandal as accusations of sexual misconduct were swiftly swept under the rug, another headline waiting and ready to take its place on CNN‘s news ticker. Read more at Esquire.