John,
Now that I’ve had a few days to take in the reality that Donald Trump’s presidency is over, I have a few thoughts on his legacy. It boils down to one word: corruption.
To call Trump’s abuses “staggering” is not an exaggeration. He pardoned countless cronies. He put lives at risk during the pandemic. He used the full power of the government to try to keep himself in office. And of course, he incited a violent insurrection.
These abuses of power were in many ways a natural extension of his corruption, which began on day one of his presidency. Trump’s allies in Congress indulged his profiteering, his violations of the Constitution and even his crimes. Trump learned they wouldn’t hold him accountable for anything, and with that knowledge, he pushed our democracy to the brink.
That’s why accountability matters. If you don’t draw the line at one conflict of interest, you end up with a president who accumulates thousands—literally. Donald Trump racked up 3,700 conflicts of interest by the time he left office last Wednesday. Read more in CREW’s final, decisive report on Trump’s corruption over the past four years, and then share on Facebook, Twitter, or by forwarding this email.
Holding the line against one abuse of power means holding back a torrent of potential consequences down the line. That’s why we filed so many lawsuits, legal complaints and Freedom of Information Act requests over the past four years. We needed to show that someone was watching, that the Trump administration’s actions were not normal or acceptable, and that they would be held accountable.
If the first days of the Biden administration are any indication, it looks like there will be a very different attitude toward government ethics. They will be releasing White House visitor logs, cabinet nominees are recusing from potential conflicts of interest, and so far no members of Biden’s immediate family have been hired to work in the White House.
But if we learned one thing from Donald Trump, it's that we can't trust politicians to "learn their lesson" from ethics scandals. We need to make laws to prevent them and to hold our leaders to higher standards.
The way forward is simple: accountability for Trump’s corruption, reforms that will ensure these abuses never happen again, and continued demands for a better government. We will be pushing for all of the above in the coming weeks and months.
Thank you for standing with us,
Noah Bookbinder
President, CREW
