What's At Stake
America elected Trump as president knowing that he has expansive business interests. But we also elected him knowing that every president in US history has worked in good faith to remove any potential conflicts of interest before taking office. We elected him knowing that our Constitution provides ample checks and balances to prevent the president—our president—from becoming a dictator. Republicans in Congress are refusing to exercise the vigorous oversight of the president demanded by the Constitution, allowing Donald Trump's unbridled self-interest and egomania to destroy the institutions of American government.
This Is Not Normal
Donald Trump and the Republican Party failed to win a majority of Americans’ votes in support of their reactionary vision but they don’t care. Their minority faction has seized control of the presidency and congress, and they intend to keep that power by any means necessary. Republicans’ bogus voter registration restrictions and racist redistricting have already disenfranchised millions of Americans. And that was just the beginning. The President's Commission on Election Integrity is a farce, packed with staunch advocates of racist and partisan voter restrictions. And Trump’s Attorney General with his history of animosity for civil rights is putting the full power of the Justice Department behind their assault on democracy.
This is not the democracy millions of patriotic men and women have fought and died to protect. If we don’t stop this now, Republicans’ patronage and voter suppression could cement their stranglehold on American government for a generation. But what can we do? We can organize, demonstrate, write letters, make phone calls, and tweet, post, share, and like all we want, but the truth is they’re not listening to us because they don’t have to.
Corruption and Collusion
Meanwhile, the hollow shell of a once-respectable Republican Party is shirking its constitutional responsibilities and giving the Trump administration the green light to engage in an orgy of self-dealing and corruption. Hillary Clinton released 30 years of tax returns and was derided by the Republicans as too untrustworthy to be president. Trump has released none and made little effort to hide the fact that he is exploiting the office of president for personal profit, but congressional Republicans are silent.
Do Trump’s financial ties to Russian oligarchs explain his reckless defense of Russia’s cyber warfare against the US, his fulsome praise of Putin's dictatorial tactics, and his reversal of decades of bi-partisan foreign policy to contain Putin? Congressional Republicans don’t know and don’t care, as long as Trump’s supporters keep them in power. This is partisanship bordering on criminality and treason. With Republicans’ complicity, Trump and his cabinet full of billionaires are escaping even the most basic oversight, freeing them to use the powers of their offices to enrich themselves, reward their friends, and turn back our hard-won civil rights.