As our founders began the great American experiment, one fear loomed larger than perhaps any other in their minds: after a brutal war against the tyranny of the British Crown, would our fledgling nation be able to prevent the rise of a home-grown American tyrant?
The founders were obsessed with this question. Alexander Hamilton and James Madison wrote extensively about the need for executive accountability and, while George Washington’s presidency was met with universal acclaim, Benjamin Franklin echoed their fear for the future: “The first man put at the helm will be a good one. Nobody knows what sort may come afterwards.”
Last week marked the culmination of these fears — a time in which an American president can operate with near-total impunity, unrestrained by constitutional ramifications or serious congressional repudiation. Last week we observed the death of presidential accountability as we’ve known it for more than two centuries.
The founders would be quaking in their boots.
Although the system of accountability they designed is far from perfect, it has operated reasonably well thus far. The American presidency has been remarkably free from the outright corruption that has plagued other countries, and when corruption has emerged it has generally been acknowledged and punished.
Following his impeachment, President Bill Clinton officially admitted to his wrongdoing, had his law license temporarily revoked and agreed to pay a $25,000 fine. President Richard Nixon, of course, unceremoniously resigned from office and left Washington to be remembered for little more than his corruption.
While many would surely have liked to see Clinton, Nixon and others more severely punished for their misdeeds, our national commitment to holding leaders accountable has been admirable.
As with other norms, this commitment was thrown haphazardly aside by congressional republicans during the Trump administration.
In four short years, Donald Trump was involved in at least four cases of criminal obstruction; he illegally withheld foreign aid for his own political gain; he used his executive power for personal, financial gain and to benefit his family’s various businesses; he regularly attacked the independence of our armed forces and judiciary; he abused the pardon power in an unprecedented way; he interfered with Justice Department investigations to shield himself and his allies; he abused the appointment power; he disregarded congressional mandates; he intentionally undermined our faith in free and fair elections; he dispensed with the sacred tradition of a peaceful transfer of power; he demanded that local officials falsify election results; he ultimately incited a deadly insurrection against Congress in order to illegally cling to power.
Trump is not the first president to abuse his office. He is, however, the first to do it in such a blatant, unconstitutional and anti-democratic manner. Perhaps more alarming, he is the first to do it with virtually no consequences.
The founders’ solutions to misconduct, including impeachment, were predicated on the perhaps naive assumption that our elected representatives value fidelity to the Constitution and commitment to American democracy more than they value their own office and blind partisan loyalty. Today’s Republican Party, a party ostensibly committed to “accountability and transparency,” has proved just how far that assumption is from reality.
The GOP’s unwavering loyalty to an individual, rather than a set of principles, has caused them to embrace “high crimes and misdemeanors” previously unheard of in the history of American government. With a handful of notable exceptions, the modern GOP has not only stood by while this corruption has occurred, but has actively participated in it and protected participants from legal or political consequences.
This is not to say that all is lost; Donald Trump was ultimately removed from office by the sheer force of the American people, and for now that final failsafe of democracy appears intact. But turning a blind eye simply because our nation didn’t dissolve into chaos is like letting a criminal walk free because they were caught in the act. A thwarted attack on the United States in an attack nonetheless.
Trump’s loyalists have abandoned their constitutional duty to protect this country and its democratic ideals, declaring far and wide that any presidential misconduct is permissible — so far as that president is from your own party. This new standard of misconduct will haunt us for far longer than any of these feckless representatives remain in office.
Never before has our country veered so close to the precipice of authoritarianism. And not since the Civil War has a major political party enabled such blatantly anti-American and undemocratic actions.
While the eventual fate of Donald Trump remains to be seen, the American people should be very afraid. Unless our elected officials prove that they are truly committed to accountability — and unless we vote out the collaborators to these heinous breaches of American ideals — our nation will continue its slow slide into the tyranny our founders feared most.
Jack Davis
Jack Davis is a Utah resident and graduate of Brigham Young University working in economic development and public policy.