And What We Must Do
Robert Reich
He’s no longer even trying to hide it. He makes a deal
with himself for a $1.8 billion slush fund to reward loyalists
willing to defy the law and commit violence on his behalf, and for a pardon of
himself and his family for any illegal self-dealing and financial wrongs
“FOREVER” (it’s in all caps in the document).
Then, when the deal is widely criticized, he posts:
“I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced
Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward. I could have settled my case, including
the illegal release of my Tax Returns and the equally illegal BREAK IN of
Mar-a-Lago, for an absolute fortune. Instead, I am helping others who were so
badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive,
at long last, JUSTICE! President DJT.”
Does he really believe he could have
settled his case for an absolute fortune — the case that he brought
against himself — the case a federal judge doubted was even a
“case” because he was on both sides of it?
Last week, a disclosure form showed that Trump’s investment
portfolio executed more than 3,600
trades in the first three months of this year alone, many involving
companies that he has favored with access or policies.
America is slouching toward the 250th anniversary of our
revolution against arbitrary power with a president who shamelessly exercises
it. Never before have we witnessed this degree of self-dealing, bribe taking,
usurpation of congressional authority, and open defiance of federal courts.
It’s an unconstitutional slippery slope. If Trump can get
away with creating for himself a $1.8 billion slush fund that Congress never
approved and courts cannot oversee, and wantonly trade the shares of companies
his policies are favoring, what’s to stop him from creating a $10 billion or
$10 trillion self-dealing slush fund?
If he can get away with preemptive pardoning himself and his
family for any and all future financial wrongdoing, what’s to stop him from
pardoning himself and family for any future criminal acts?
These are only a part of the slippery slope we’re on. If he
can abduct a foreign president without Congress’s permission, what’s to stop
him from abducting anyone? If he can order the U.S. military to
kill a foreign head of state without even Congress declaring a war, what’s to
stop him from ordering the military to kill anyone?
If he can target political enemies for criminal prosecution,
what’s to stop him from jailing or murdering his opponents?
If he can unilaterally decide that someone on a boat in the
high seas is an “enemy combatant” and summarily kill them, what’s to stop him
from calling anyone he dislikes an enemy combatant and having them killed?
If he can put his name on buildings all over Washington and
take a wrecking ball to the East Wing of the White House, what’s to stop him
from taking a wrecking ball to the entire edifice and putting up a Trump tower?
He feels unstoppable because there’s no one around him to
tell him no. Instead, he’s surrounded by sycophants who tell
him yes. He gets blind loyalty from his lapdogs — his vice
president, his Cabinet, and most Republicans in Congress — who work for him
rather than for the American people.
He feels indomitable because his billionaire backers — Jeff
Bezos, Elon Musk, Larry and David Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, and Rupert Murdoch,
among others — have stuffed his PAC with their money and silenced criticism of
him on their media platforms, in order to garner his favors. Meanwhile, his
followers feast on his white Christian nationalism, and regard him as godlike.
He feels invincible because he was reelected president even
though he was impeached twice and has been found guilty of 34 felony counts,
and the Supreme Court has shielded him from further criminal prosecution for
“official” acts (which he takes to mean any actions while he’s president).
Congress is barely an obstacle because, as he demonstrated as recently as last
week, he has a chokehold over the Republican Party. He even says he “doesn’t
need Congress.”
He feels invulnerable because he’ll never directly face
voters again, and therefore will never lose — nor, he assumes, ever be held
accountable for anything.
My friends, this is full-frontal neofascism. I suggest we
respond in these ways:
On July 4, the 250th anniversary of the
nation’s independence, we wear black armbands to acknowledge the near death of
our democracy and the rule of law under Trump.
In the weeks and months leading up to the midterm
election on November 3, 2026, we commit to getting the largest
voter turnout in American history, to take back Congress and stop the
neofascist in the White House. Not just a blue wave but a blue tsunami.
On Election Day 2028, we elect a
president whose character and temperament are consistent with the founding
ideals of the United States — someone both humble and honorable, who’s
committed to strengthening democracy and the rule of law, who will revive the
self-governing institutions that Trump has shat on and refocus the nation on
our vast unfinished agenda of inclusion, rather than exclusion.
Beyond these, we will do whatever we can
to learn from this catastrophe and help America learn. We will teach our
children and grandchildren the truth of what has happened, and how close we’ve
come to losing our democracy. And we will educate future generations on what we
owe one another as citizens of this great land.
To accomplish all this, we mutually pledge to each other our
lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
Robert Reich is the Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a senior fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time magazine named him one of the 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. His book include: "Aftershock" (2011), "The Work of Nations" (1992), "Beyond Outrage" (2012) and, "Saving Capitalism" (2016). He is also a founding editor of The American Prospect magazine, former chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary, "Inequality For All." Reich's newest book is "The Common Good" (2019). He's co-creator of the Netflix original documentary "Saving Capitalism," which is streaming now.
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