Martha should have been believed not belittled

Let’s talk about Martha Mitchell, the woman who warned the country about President Nixon’s criminality in Watergate and the issuing actions he orchestrated to cover it up.

Martha was painted as a crazy woman with delusions and serious emotional problems by Nixon and his creepy crew, headed by his Attorney General and Campaign Manager, John Mitchell. Oh yeah, he was also Martha’s husband.

After being held captive and drugged at her husbands direction, Martha spoke her mind on Watergate in the face of painful public humiliation and disparaging statements. Nixon’s White House smeared Martha with lies and rumors in an effort to make her look like the scandalous one. Sure, Martha had problems however, none of those problems included breaking into the Democratic National Committee offices, stealing, lying, and coordinating a cover up.

Slow Burn shed light on details of Watergate, then Gaslit transformed that light into a spotlight on Martha Mitchell, with Academy Award winner, Julia Roberts portraying Martha Mitchell. Julia Roberts delivered an incredible performance as the sharp tongued southern woman, opposite Sean Penn, who physically morphed with the help of prosthesis, to portray John Mitchell in the Starz series.

After resigning the Presidency in disgrace, Nixon later said, “I’m convinced if it hadn’t been for Martha, there’d have been no Watergate.” Indeed Martha Mitchell spoke out often, trying like hell to expose corruption within the Nixon Administration. Martha should have been believed not belittled.

The nation is plunged into an even deeper horror than Watergate with an ongoing effort to destroy America’s democracy by Trump and his abettors. We can only imagine what Martha would say.

I do declare, Ms. Martha did leave an imprint, Harvard psychologist Brendan Maher created the term the “Martha Mitchell Effect” to describe the process in which one’s beliefs are labeled delusional, but later turn out to be true. Martha was a conservative Republican cabinet official’s wife and even she wouldn’t take Nixon’s lies.

Is there a modern day Martha Mitchell in the Republican Party?

Republican women need to look at Martha Mitchell as a cautionary tale. Please know, a vow and oath to the Constitution means nothing to MAGA Republicans, they violate their oath to democracy daily. The current batch of MAGA Republicans will choose Donald over their spouses.

Get out of that toxic marriage to MAGA. Leave before it’s too late. Melania Knauss, take the lead and leave. Embrace the light and laughter of life…like our democracy, it’s fragile. Be an American superstar. Blow the whistle, instead of your spouse. There’s a world beyond MAGA and it’s magnificent.