In trying to deport a Palestinian anti-war activist, Mahmoud Khalil, Donald Trump follows in the footsteps of another former Republican president. Richard Nixon tried to deport Beatles member John Lennon in 1972.
Trump’s use of government agencies to suppress anti-war protesters echoes that of Nixon, whose administration used the FBI and CIA to surveil, infiltrate and harass anti-Vietnam war peace groups. The Nixon administration also called on the Internal Revenue Service to audit the president’s critics.