By
Robert Reich
Amid
the impeachment furor, don’t lose sight of the renewed importance of protecting
the integrity of the 2020 election.
The
difference between Richard Nixon’s abuse of power (trying to get dirt on
political opponents to help with his 1972 reelection, and then covering it up)
and Donald Trump’s abuse (trying to get Ukraine’s president to get dirt on a
political opponent to help with his 2020 reelection, and then covering it up)
isn’t just that Nixon’s involved a botched robbery at the Watergate while Trump’s
involves a foreign nation.
It’s
that Nixon’s abuse of power was discovered during his second term, after he was
reelected. He was still a dangerous crook, but by that time he had no reason to
inflict still more damage on American democracy.
Trump’s
abuse has been uncovered fourteen months before the 2020 election, at a time
when he still has every incentive to do whatever he can to win.
If Special Counsel Robert Mueller had found concrete evidence that Trump asked Vladimir Putin for help in digging up dirt on Hillary Clinton in 2016, it would have been the “smoking gun” that could have ended the Trump presidency.
Now
that Trump is revealed to have asked Volodymyr Zelensky for dirt on Biden in
the 2020 election, who’s to say he isn’t also asking others, including Putin?
The
Washington Post reported
that Trump told Russian officials, in a 2017 meeting in the Oval Office, that
he was unconcerned about Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election (White
House officials limited access to these remarks, as they did to his outreach to
Zelensky).
American
intelligence warns that Russia will continue to try to interfere in our
elections. Mitch McConnell has agreed to add just $250 million to protect
election machinery from cyberattacks, while experts say billions are needed.
Trump
is in a better position to make such deals than he was in 2016 because as
president he’s got the power and money to make any foreign rulers’ life
exceedingly comfortable, or uncomfortable.
As
we’ve learned, Trump uses whatever bargaining leverage he can get, for personal
gain. That’s the art of the deal.
Who
can we count on to protect our election process in 2020?
Certainly
not Attorney General William Barr. Trump urged Zelensky to work with Barr to
investigate Joe Biden, even telling Zelensky that Barr would follow up with his
own phone call.
Barr’s
Justice Department decided Trump had not acted illegally, and told the acting
director of national intelligence to keep the whistle-blower complaint from
Congress.
This
is the same Attorney General who said Mueller’s report cleared the Trump
campaign of conspiring with Russia when in fact Mueller had found that the
campaign welcomed Russia’s help, and that Mueller absolved Trump of obstructing
justice when Mueller specifically declined to decide the matter.
Barr
is not working for the American people. He’s working for Trump, just like Rudy
Giuliani is working for Trump, as are all the other lapdogs, toadies, and
sycophants.
Fortunately,
some government appointees still understand their responsibilities to America.
We’re indebted to the anonymous intelligence officer who complained about Trump’s phone call to Zelensky, and to Michael Atkinson, Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, who deemed the complaint of “urgent concern.”
We’re indebted to the anonymous intelligence officer who complained about Trump’s phone call to Zelensky, and to Michael Atkinson, Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, who deemed the complaint of “urgent concern.”
But
if the 2020 election is going to be – and be seen as – legitimate, the nation
will need many more whistle-blowers and officials with integrity.
States
must upgrade all election machinery and equip them with paper ballots that can
be audited.
Facebook and YouTube must devote more resources to protecting against malicious foreign trolls and bots.
Facebook and YouTube must devote more resources to protecting against malicious foreign trolls and bots.
All
of us will need to be vigilant.
Over
the last two and a half years, Trump has shown himself willing to trample any
aspect of our democracy that gets in his way –— attacking the media, using the
presidency for personal profit, packing the federal courts, verbally attacking
judges, blasting the head of the Federal Reserve, spending money in ways
Congress did not authorize, and subverting the separation of powers.
Trump
believes he’s invincible. He’s now daring our entire Constitutional and
political system to stop him.
The
real value of the formal impeachment now underway is to put Trump on notice
that he can’t necessarily get away with abusing his presidential power to win
reelection. He will still try, of course. But at least a line has been drawn.
And now everyone is watching.
Regardless
of how the impeachment turns out, Trump’s predation can be constrained as long
as his presidency can be ended with the 2020 election. If that election is
distorted, and if this man is reelected, all bets are off.
Robert
B. Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of
California at Berkeley and 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 ten most effective cabinet secretaries
of the twentieth century. He has written fifteen books, including the best
sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of Nations," and "Beyond
Outrage," and, his most recent, "The Common Good," which is
available in bookstores now. He is also a founding editor of the American
Prospect magazine, 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." He's co-creator of the Netflix original
documentary "Saving Capitalism," which is streaming now.