Bill Murray tells Joe Rogan that “they framed Nixon” after reading Bob Woodward’s book about his friend John Belushi. Vice President JD Vance claims that “the ‘deep state’ took down Richard Nixon” before an applauding audience. The Richard Nixon Foundation produces dozens of viral videos that set archival footage of the 37th president to modern pop music. Their hats, stamped with “Nixonmaxxing,” sell out in a few hours.Tanned, rested, and ready — at least virtually — Nixon is back. The origins of his revival lie in the breakdown of what we can call the “post-Watergate consensus,” held by the baby boomer generation that watched the scandal unfold on television. This breakdown has created the opening for a younger, rebellious American Right to embrace Nixon. Even though the 37th president’s administration was never very conservative, Nixon has become a symbol for a conservative counterculture as well as a heuristic for understanding the true character of the American regime.When President Nixon resigned on Aug. 9, 1974, he bore the brunt of America’s collective rage. Only 35% of Americans thought Gerald Ford was right to pardon him. For all appearances, Nixon had approved a “Plumbers” burglary team that got caught breaking into the offices of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex. Righteous lawyers and judges worked strenuously to connect the burglars to Nixon. They were supported by similarly righteous journalists and news anchors, who painted the picture of a presidential administration that posed an existential threat to the future of the American republic. Nixon’s approval ratings and congressional support collapsed. The Watergate scandal became cemented in the public imagination as an unprecedented abuse of power by a paranoid president.