Despite promising to deliver "the most open and transparent administration in history," President Obama has left Americans with more questions than answers. As one of the least transparent Administrations in U.S. history, Obama has failed to be upfront about Benghazi, the IRS scandal, NSA and Fast and Furious. Republicans believe that transparency is necessary for good governance. Elected officials should be held accountable for their actions in Washington, D.C.
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., weighs in on Trump's refusal to release his tax returns and his administration's decision to not make visitor logs public.
Klamath Falls, OR—Donald J. Trump’s approach to the office has been characterized by self-interest, defiance of basic democratic norms, and often incoherent or self-contradictory communications and priorities.
In the face of historic lows in public trust in government and an increasingly polarized electorate, we’ve seen a regression to secrecy in both Congress and the White House. The change has not gone unnoticed around the globe, as our nation’s standing to defend democracy and our government’s ability to advocate for anti-corruption efforts has been precipitously eroded.
Whatever transparency the President of the United States is demonstrating by speaking directly to the public on Twitter is outweighed by his refusal to disclose and divest, undermined by the opacity of their authorship, and weighted down by false claims and misleading assertions.
The Trump administration’s record on open government is inescapable: this is a secretive administration, allergic to transparency, ethically compromised, and hostile to the essential role that journalism plays in a democracy.
Trump’s failure to assume responsibility for running an ethical White House placed his personal and business interests in clear conflict with the office he holds, laying the grounds for unprecedented mistrust, legal risk, and abuse of public power.
Trump’s approach to ethics emphasizes personal impunity and self-promotion at the expense of democratic stability and public trust. This sense of ethics is about personal loyalty — including loyalty oaths, which are anathema to public servants who swear to protect and defend the Constitution, not a head of state.
Following is a breakdown of specific ethical failings in this administration.
-Trump never disclosed his tax returns.
-Trump never fully divested from his businesses.
-Trump has embraced nepotism at the highest reaches of the White House.
-The Trump White House has frequently at odds with the nonpartisan Office of Government Ethics
RUSSIA CONNECTIONS
Despite a broad consensus among U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 election, the Trump administration continues to dissemble, mislead, and contradict itself on questions involving both the Russian influence effort and Trump campaign officials’ connections.
— Trump switches between transparently evasive non-answers. He has called the story a “hoax” and a “scam,” claimed no one can know the answers, suggested the interference could have been anyone, and then bizarrely presented Putin’s assurance that it wasn’t Russia. Combined, this inconsistency and lack of evidence falls far short of what the situation demands.
The President of the United States has a responsibility to protect the country, and to create trust in national leadership. Instead, on questions of foreign involvement in U.S. elections, the president has chosen disinformation, self-interest, and dissembling. This pattern has reached through his campaign, transition and presently in White House. It is and will be one of the defining scandals of his presidency.
Americans deserve no less, even if that information needs to become public through subpoenas and investigation rather than voluntary disclosure. Trump has consistently chosen self-preservation and secrecy at the expense of public trust, even when his decisions were so blatantly self-interested has lead to the appointment of a special prosecutor.
JOURNALISM AS THE ENEMY?
Attacking news organizations, Trump sees an ‘enemy’ of the people.
Donald Trump published a tweet, which he deleted soon after. “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @CNN, @NBCNews and many more) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American people. SICK!”
Then Trump re-published the nearly identical message with slight edits:
“The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!”
How nice. He removed the all-caps “sick” reference the second time around, though he was more inclusive when attacking networks.
-Instead of protecting and defending the role of journalists in a democracy, this White House and the president has made delegitimizing journalism as “fake news” a near-daily practice.
-This White House attempts to create personalized praise for the President and to dismiss any significant bad news. This creates the impression of an insecure President hungry for praise, whose White House is constantly preparing for destabilizing revelations that they need to dismiss. This posture gets reflected in White House coverage, leading to a vicious cycle.
-The President’s hostility towards the press involved sacrificing White House credibility. Presidential credibility matters enormously in crisis situations, and the Trump White House’s habits toward the press — embracing self-contradiction, rarely issuing corrections, attacking anonymous sources (while issuing anonymous statements) all disempower the press and the public. As a result, the nation is at greater risk in the event of a natural disaster or attack, as statements from the White House can no longer be taken at face value.
THE PRESIDENT
-A record of antagonism to government statistics, science and evidence.
-Trump often has incoherent or self-contradictory positions.
-Lies.
-Trump has no regard for the separation of powers.
-Trump praises authoritarian leaders.
CONCLUSION
The Watergate scandal led to Congress enacting a raft of new laws, from the Ethics in Government Act and Federal Election Campaign Act to a stronger Freedom of Information Act. While we cannot know today how the remainder of Trump’s administration will play out, it is clear that our ethics and accountability laws — guardrails for democratic stability — are being tested by the Trump administration.
While the country’s problems with polarization, social cohesion, and democratic function are bigger than governance reforms alone, the Trump administration and our broader circumstances should lead to a new series of reforms. We should reaffirm the institutions and processes that represent what our democracy should be, and prevent the worst of what it shouldn’t. We will continue to take stock of the state of our union and what is needed to strengthen the foundations of American democracy and come together as one nation, not a divided one that we presently have today.
"Check the Facts" new website GOP created as "Lyin' Comey" to try and discredit Comey. Makes you wonder what universe the GOP lives in, doesn't it?
By James Garland of Tulelake News
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This article gives me hope. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome, and thanks for your comment.
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