Emptying the Archive — It Only Takes Three
Note: As part of an ongoing project, I am posting many old essays that, for a variety of reasons, I decided not to post publicly at the time they were written. To the best of my ability, I will note at the beginning of each piece the context in which it was written.
I wrote this in the first few months of Trump’s presidency to illustrate how easily Republican elected officials could curtail the Trump Administration’s human rights abuses, and to demonstrate why Republican officeholders should be held responsible for Trump’s behavior.
It Only Takes Three
Donald Trump has neither a moral compass nor a coherent political philosophy outside of consolidating his own power and hurting those he perceives to be acting against him. It seems that people of virtually all political persuasions recognize the danger the Trump presidency imposes onto disfavored groups, the United States, and the World. Yet, those with the power to stop the President have repeatedly chosen not to do so. The Trump Administration will eventually pass (hopefully), and it is important to recognize that the Republican Party and all of its national elected officials are complicit in its atrocities.
If Republican officials wanted to take a real stand against the Trump Administration’s white supremacy, or authoritarianism, they could. It is easy to issue inconsequential statements condemning President Trump for the outrage du jour, and seemingly every time President Trump demonstrates that he is unfit for his office, at least a few prominent Republicans join Democrats in their condemnation. But, because there are simple and concrete steps that Republican officeholders could take to curtail the Trump Administration’s abuses, until such steps are taken, the entire Republican Party, even those speaking out against the Trump Administration should be deemed complicit.
All it takes is three Republican Senators to put a stop to Trump. Until we see something functionally equivalent to what is outlined below, don’t be fooled. Republican condemnation of Trump’s outrage du jour is performative, not substantive.
Sample Letter from Concerned Republicans:
Dear Senator McConnell and Speaker Ryan:
We are concerned with the Trump Administration’s support of white supremacy, its apparent indifference to what appears to be meddling in our democracy by Russia, and its authoritarianism. Its actions are unacceptable, dangerous and, quite frankly, un-American.
Mere statements of condemnation have not been sufficient to rein in its deplorable instincts and there is no indication that such statements will remain anything but insufficient. Congress, as an institution has been feckless in its condemnation of the Trump Administration, relying on words of disapproval in lieu of concrete action. Unsurprisingly, statements from Senators and/or Representatives have not dissuaded the Trump Administration from its worst tendencies.
Congress has the ability to move beyond mere words in opposition. It has real levers of power that can be used to hold the Trump Administration accountable for its actions. In fact, Congress is the only institution capable of reining in the Trump Administration’s destructive instincts. Yet, it has repeatedly failed to do so.
The reason for Congress’s intransience is obvious. Those with the power to do something about the Trump Administration are more concerned with enacting legislative priorities and remaking the judicial branch than with the immeasurable damage being inflicted on the United States by the Trump Administration. Speaker Ryan and Senator McConnell, you are the people with the power and influence to pressure the Trump Administration into rationality, to investigate its abuses, to end the madness. Yet you choose to do nothing. Your silence demonstrates ambivalence, and your ambivalence enables him. Thus, it is time for a change.
With that in mind, we will put pressure on the Trump Administration and those refusing to hold it accountable for its travesties in the only way that we believe it and its enablers will hear us. We will refuse to participate in any Republican legislative priorities until this body has taken steps to hold Trump accountable.
Thus, it is with a heavy heart that we inform you that we will be voting with the Democratic leadership until (1) a special prosecutor is appointed to investigate alleged illegal activity during Mr. Trump’s campaign and potential obstruction of justice thereafter, and (2) all persons with ties to white nationalism have been expelled from the White House. If our demands are not met within one month, we the undersigned will caucus with the Democratic Party for the remainder of this Congress, giving Mr. Schumer control of the Senate through the 2018 mid-terms.
We are concerned about the future of our Republic and demand appointment of an independent special prosecutor to investigate suspected Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election. At this point, it appears that a hostile foreign power may have interfered with the most integral and fundamental of American values — our self-determination. From the time of the Revolution, Americans have valued our commitment to democracy and self-determination perhaps above all other things. We cannot think of a more insidious attack than one that cuts at American democracy itself. Russian interference in our election — and the Trump Campaign’s potential involvement in such interference — must be the subject of a vigorous and impartial investigation so that we can determine exactly what transpired and prevent it from happening again.
The firing of FBI Director James Comey as he was conducting an investigation into alleged misdeeds by President Trump and/or his advisors reeks of totalitarianism — it demonstrates that President Trump will not allow himself or his confidants to be held accountable for their actions. Moreover, Mr. Comey’s firing calls into question the vitality of any investigation into the Trump Administration conducted by the executive branch. Such investigation will either lack necessary zealousness and impartiality, or face (like Mr. Comey) the threat of premature termination once it becomes clear that it is robust. Congress cannot idly wait for Robert Mueller’s investigation to unfold when we so recently witnessed the Trump Administration terminate a similar inquiry on transparently false pretenses.
Therefore, we demand that Congress appoint an independent prosecutor with full subpoena powers to investigate Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election and the Trump Administration’s possible obstruction of such investigation. The person appointed to this position must be one who Democrats will acknowledge will conduct a robust investigation. Quite simply, if such investigation ultimately exonerates President Trump, his campaign team and his administration, the credibility of such a finding must be beyond reproach. An exoneration from a special prosecutor seen as pro-Trump, pro-Republican, or incompetent will not be viewed as legitimate. We recommend Preet Bharara, who has a reputation for conducting vigorous prosecutions of powerful individuals and is seen by many Democrats as having sufficient integrity and competence in this field.
In addition to the appointment of a special prosecutor, we demand that individuals who have expressed sympathy for tenets of white nationalism (persons such as Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, and Sebastian Gorka) be removed from positions of influence, whether such positions are formal or informal. Moreover, given that white supremacists such as Steve Bannon were involved in recommending the Trump Administration’s appointments, Congress must investigate meaningfully potential ties to and/or sympathy for white supremacy of all advisors and appointees from the Trump Administration who oversee policies or institutions involved in civil rights. This includes, but is not limited to, Jeff Sessions, Kris Kobach and any and all judicial appointments, along with persons with strategic, general and/or nonspecific roles. Those found to have white supremacist sympathies must be removed from positions of influence.
Until and unless these conditions — the appointment of a special prosecutor and the expulsion from the White House of white supremacists — are met, we will be voting with the Democratic leadership. If our demands are not met within a month, we will caucus with the Democrats, thereby transferring the power in the Senate to Chuck Schumer (which will undoubtedly lead to a robust investigation in the Senate into both the 2016 election and into the presence of white supremacists in the White House).
We understand that, until our demands are met, many of our shared priorities will not become a reality. We will not be able to repeal and replace Obamacare. We will not be able to reform the tax code. We will not be able to re-balance the judiciary with conservative judges. And so on and so forth. We fully understand the gravity and consequences of our actions and are choosing this path nonetheless. We hope that this imparts on you the seriousness with which we view these issues.
You must act swiftly and decisively on our demands. If you delay, we suspect it will cost us our best chance to pass meaningful portions of our agenda in decades. There is a not-insignificant chance that we lose the House in 2018 and/or the Senate in 2020. Realistically, we may only have a few months left before we lose our ability to enact further tax reform, repeal and replace Obamacare, and so on. Thus, the Republican legislative agenda will die so long as Congress fails to take substantive actions to rein in President Trump’s worst tendencies.
We strongly suspect that you, Speaker Ryan and Senator McConnell, along with the vast majority of congressional Republicans, would take steps to force Mr. Trump’s compliance with American norms if continued refusal to do so cost our fellow Republicans a chance at enacting Republican legislative priorities. We suggest that you demand that Mr. Trump resign. Inform Mr. Trump that faced with a loss of power, Republicans in the House and Senate will now be looking for a justification to impeach you, rather than excuses to avoid holding him accountable. Republicans in the House and Senate will join our Democratic colleagues and open serious investigations into the Trump family’s business dealings (which will require him to produce his tax returns) and his campaign’s alleged connections with Russia. In fact, we would not be surprised if motivated Republican leaders could build sufficient support to impeach Mr. Trump even without additional investigation. Thus, we suspect that Mr. Trump may prefer resigning to fighting his inevitable impeachment and removal from office. Resigning would protect his family and business dealings from the investigatory microscope that would surely destroy them, while remaining in office would not. If Mr. Trump refuses, then we strongly suspect that you and the vast majority of congressional Republicans would move quickly to open such investigations, lest Republicans lose control of the Senate.
It pains us greatly, as we believe we share many of the same priorities, but as far as we are concerned, American Democracy is more important to protect than our shared policy aims. Thus, we are willing to risk the failure of our policy agenda for the foreseeable future to ensure that the Trump Administration can inflict no further harm on the American people. Until and unless Mr. Trump is removed from office and those influencing the worst of his tendencies are jettisoned with him, or serious investigations into the 2016 election and white supremacists in the Trump Administration are initiated, we will vote with the Democratic leadership. Given that we suspect that intransigence will cost you your congressional power and Republicans our legislative agenda, we suggest that you act on our demands with the utmost urgency.
Regretfully yours,
At least three Republican Senators [Editor’s note — in the following months, the number of Republican Senators necessary to sign onto a letter like this dropped to two when Democrats gained the Senate seat formerly held by Jeff Sessions]
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There are several Republican Senators who I could envision signing such a letter. To date, President Trump has publicly feuded with and threatened Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, John McCain and Lisa Murkowski. None of Senators Corker, Flake and McCain face the voters again. If Senator McCain signed such a letter, Senator Graham may follow. Senator Murkowski doesn’t run for re-election until 2022 and when she does, she would win as an independent (if she fails to win the Republican nomination) if she was the architect of Trump’s downfall. She has won as a write-in independent before. Susan Collins faces the voters in 2020 but she too would win in a landslide if ran as an independent after signing on to such a letter. Should three or more Republican Senators sign such a letter, Senators Sasse and Paul seem like additional possibilities that would give the signatories a bit more cover.
The failure of any such letter to issue reflects Republican acceptance/complicity with even the most deplorable tendencies of the Trump Administration. If Republicans truly believed their rhetoric about President Trump’s lack of competence or the dangerousness of his administration, they could do something meaningful about it. To date, they have not. Until and unless Republicans (as few as three Senators!) take meaningful action to challenge the Trump Administration, we should view the Trump Administration as reflective of Republican Party thought and priority. Thus, ALL elected Republicans (at the federal level) should be treated as authoritarians and white supremacists because up to now, each and every Republican officeholder has refused to take meaningful and simple steps to challenge white supremacy and totalitarianism.
