There is reason to be very concerned about the announcement that Chad Wolf, Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, is stepping down nine days before the inauguration. As DHS prepares to handle the security operation for the Biden Inauguration, Wolf is walking away. While suggesting that his exit is related to immigration issues as well as recent court decisions, his departure continues the dissolution of the Trump Administration. Some have already expressed fears that chaos and anarchy are ruling the Nation’s Capital in the waning days of the Trump era. Wolf wants no part of this scene. (It is like the captain of the Titanic saying to the White Star management that he has opted to skip his ship’s maiden voyage.)
If a sycophant like Wolf resigns—for whatever reason—it is a sign positions in the Trump Administration, no longer have any meaning. Secretary of State Pompeo is hiding under a rock and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is AWOL. The House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy continues to preach utter dribble, as the nation sinks deeper and deeper into the mud. The Republican congressional leaders are complicit for continuing to demonstrate support for a President who in his final days continues to attempt to ferment a coup. Republicans are hiding or running for the hills hoping to emerge with a clean slate to fight another day after 12 noon on January 20.
It is becoming obvious that the Democrats in Congress can posture and play out their impeachment effort—as they should—but it will not produce a conviction and removal of President Trump from office. All of the Congress ought to be concerned about the extent to which they have failed the American people and America’s eroding faith in democracy.
Not only might there be an enormous Trump rally in D.C. before or simultaneous with the inauguration, but there is reason to suspect that similar protests will be occurring in states and cities throughout the country. When state national guards and U.S. regular army units are mobilized this weekend to ensure a peaceful transition of power while people are rioting in the streets, America will indeed no longer be “a city light upon a hill.”
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Maybe There is Still a Silver Lining
An array of the leading corporations in America just announced that they will cease to make political donations to candidates or political action committees. While each of the companies have signified differing periods of time and terms for which they intend to suspend their giving—and at the end of the day this entire hiatus may just be so much politics—it should tell some politicians and Trump loyalists that the corporate spigots can be shut off as quickly as they were turned on. In light of the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in the Citizens United vs. FEC case, which permitted virtually unlimited amount of campaign contributions to candidates, this general announcement today made clear that corporate America may be ready to tighten their extraordinary political money flow.
In light of the tragedy and horrific events on January 6 and the incorrigible, gutless behavior of so many Republican Members of Congress especially Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, the entire corrupted campaign finance system might end up self-correcting. The combined corporate consciences of many of the leading business leaders in the country may eventually be driven to using their financial might for the sake of ensuring that America’s democracy returns to some semblance of normalcy. Even if after a brief break corporate America resumes its high-powered political giving, this action ought to give ambitious politicians pause as to what the American people will tolerate. Political leaders will be forced to consider how much Americans will permit unconstitutional, lawless behavior as was witnessed on Wednesday to occur on the streets of the Capital and the nation.
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