We've talked before about any number of TL scandals where the Watergate scandal doesn't happen, but I don't think we talk about the more general long term affects on public trust in government this would have, and how that, in turn, affects not only the ideological lines of public debate (eg rise of Conservatism) but also underlying mechanics and dynamics of politics (eg hyper-partisanship, the national media, etc).
Thoughts on this? Would there be "downsides" to averting these developments, or did the tragedy of the Nixon administration have a wholly negative impact?