I happened to watch
Nixon by Nixon last night, a HBO doc on the Nixon tapes. For those that don't know (and I was one of them), for some reason, Nixon secretly recorded every conversation he had in the White House (in person or over the phone) between 1971-73. It's what led to his resignation as his conversations proved he knew about the Watergate scandal.
In between the talk of "kikes" and "wetbacks" and "Negro bastards", Nixon rails against the media. The film opens with him repeating the mantra "The media is the enemy. The media is the enemy." At one point, Nixon chooses
Romana Banuelos as Treasury Secretary. She is the owner of a large food company in California. US immigration raids her company looking for illegals. Nixon orders the immigration officer in charge to be fired and that the LA Times be raided for illegals because they reported on it. At another point, he orders reporters to be "harassed" by having the govt investigate them and look into their taxes because he doesn't like the way they report on him. He intentionally keeps the NYT and Washington Post away from his tour of China. When the Watergate scandal breaks, he bans the Washington Post from the White House completely. (EDIT: I should say I don't know if he followed through on any of these threats, or whether they were just heat of the moment threats)
It was interesting, and somewhat shocking, to see how antagonistic he was towards the press in much the same way Trump is now. Trump is way, way more upfront and brash about it, but some of the stuff Trump is doing publicly, Nixon was doing privately. It makes me wonder if political leaders of all stripes are as arrogant and calculating. Unfortunately, I suppose they are.