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CitizenVeto's Declaration
The Trump Administration is dismantling America’s founding commitment to freedom, equality, and democracy.
 
Our current President undermines the rule of law and the integrity of our elections, shamelessly profits from his office, and makes his cabinet subordinate to members of his own family. He makes excuses for acts of violence and terrorism by white supremacists while hastily and aggressively decrying similar acts by Muslims, immigrants, or people of color—abolishing any expectation that he will administer the laws without prejudice. As Trump assaults our democratic institutions and values, the Republican leadership protects him against rigorous congressional oversight at almost every turn. No political or intellectual argument can erase these self-evident facts. It is time for the Republicans in Congress to live up to their oaths of office and defend the Constitution.
 
The Trump Administration has laid bare the Republican Party’s abandonment of basic democratic principles. Republicans have every right to support conservative public policies, just as Americans who disagree have the right to oppose them. But every party and every elected official has a higher obligation to defend the democracy that we have inherited from generations of patriots, many of whom sacrificed their lives for the freedoms we now enjoy.
 
By their silence and inaction, the Republicans in congress are complicit in Trump’s attacks on our Constitution and our values.
 
To prove this, we candidly submit the following facts:
 
He has refused to follow decades of precedent and release his tax returns to the public so that his financial interests can be properly vetted.
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He has rejected the demands of the Office of Government Ethics to divest fully from his businesses, leaving him unprecedented opportunities for self-dealing in the execution of his official duties.
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He continues to own and profit from a global web of undisclosed businesses and assets, leaving himself open to secret foreign influence and in potential violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause.
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He makes frequent and extended trips to his own hotels and properties, thus profiting at the public’s expense from the many government officials that must accompany him.
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He has appointed his family members to senior roles within his administration, giving them access to America’s most closely guarded secrets and allowing them to represent the US in meetings with foreign leaders, despite their utter lack of relevant experience, knowledge, or qualifications.
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He has accused his predecessor of colluding with one of America’s closest allies to “wiretap” his campaign headquarters, and publicly called on the Attorney General to investigate unspecified crimes by his opponent in the last election, contradicting his own intelligence and law-enforcement officials without providing evidence of any kind for his accusations.
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He has made unsubstantiated and unwarranted allegations of vast voter fraud in the previous election, and used his own outrageous claims as a pretext for a Commission on Election Integrity that he has filled with staunch advocates of racist and partisan voter restrictions.
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He has lied repeatedly, both directly and through his subordinates, about his and his campaign’s many contacts and connections with Russian interests.
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He has rejected the consensus of America’s intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the presidential election to benefit his campaign, and has taken no steps to protect future elections from this urgent and ongoing threat.
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He has repeatedly sought to discredit and obstruct the congressional and FBI investigations into his possible collusion with Russia, openly admitting that the investigation was a motivating factor in his decision to fire the Director of the FBI.
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He has waged a public war against the free press, science, and fact-based inquiry of all kinds, attacking every criticism as “fake news,” while spreading vile conspiracy theories and lies so frequently that he has permanently damaged the credibility of the office he holds.
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He has appointed senior advisors closely aligned with groups that espouse overt or thinly veiled racism, casting serious doubt on his commitment to the impartial administration of justice and the equal application of the laws.
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He has excused the violent acts of white supremacists by condemning in equal measure those who opposed, however imperfectly, their public display of hatred and violence.
America’s present course is not sustainable. American democracy cannot survive under a morally bankrupt president who advances his own interests with reckless disregard for the values and institutions that safeguard that democracy. Our political system cannot function when a leading party dismisses its Constitutional checks and balances with partisan contempt.
 
The Republican Party is no longer a constructive participant in our democracy—it is a threat to it.
 
We the majority of Americans who believe in freedom and democracy declare the Republican Party in its current form a direct threat to our way of life. Trump may soon be chased from office by scandals of his own making but the rot at the core of the Republican Party made his presidency possible. It must be cut out before our political system can flourish again.
 
Any company that supports the Republican Party or its candidates is complicit in the Party’s assault on our cherished institutions of government.
 
The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision protects corporations’ right to bankroll extremists who advance their economic interests, but it does not take away our right to fight back.
 
Until the Republican Party demonstrates its commitment to our democratic values, we hereby commit to fight it and its corporate sponsors with every dollar we spend.
 
We are putting corporate America on notice. We will disrupt and undermine the financial interests of all of the Republican Party’s donors. If you have contributed in the past, we ask you to join us now by using the access and influence you have purchased to tell the Republican Party it must recommit itself to basic democratic principles.
 
We call on every company to make a public commitment to provide no more support until the Party meets our demands and rejects the nepotism, corruption, and racism that it now espouses and defends.
 
Corporations can be leaders of positive social change—just as many have been on desegregation, environmentalism, and gay rights—and we urge you to stand on the right side of history now.
 
But if you continue to support those who attack our core values, we will call you out and hold you accountable. We will boycott your products. We will force your suppliers, advertisers, and business customers to reject you. We will blacklist your investors and partners. We will tie your brand to the un-American values your money supports. We will use all of our economic power to make the cost of your complicity unbearable.
 
The judgment of America’s voters will be delivered in future elections, but America’s patriotic consumers will deliver our judgment today.
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