No, The Guardrails Are Not Holding
When It Comes To Stopping Corruption The Most Important Guardrail Is Not Even Functioning
Hi All,
I’ve been accumulating information for this piece for a while, and then this article appeared in the Financial Times, last week. It argued that the guardrails which protect the US democratic system were holding up tolerably well under the continual assault of Donald Trump and his administration. It was an interesting read, not least for the fact that I disagreed almost entirely with the conclusions within it. The article missed out almost completely the massive, historic and deeply destabilizing corruption of the Trump administration which is a dagger at the heart of American democracy. It represents a mortal threat to the American Republic and has shown that one clear constitutional provision and subsequent legislation and bureaucratic checks can be disregarded with impunity.
Lets start with the US Constitution. The founders understood that if the American Republic was going to survive, it needed to prevent the possibility of foreign states corrupting its leadership. They were so worried about this happening that they added in the very first article of the Constitution what has come to be known as the emoluments clause.
It was not subtle.
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
No US office holder should be allowed to accept presents or awards etc from any foreign state. To reinforce their worries about corruption, the founders made it, or “Bribery”, an explicit part of the impeachment process which was in Article 2.
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
And these restrictions while not perfect, were accepted by all parties. Now we have an administration that is openly selling itself, and America’s most important secrets, to foreign states and the guardrails are not only failing, they hardly seem to exist. In fact, the guardrails are collapsing in a haze of gold-plated, crypto shininess.
Lets start with some stories about present payoffs going to the administration. What we see are what seems to be straightforward payments, bribes, emoluments, call them what you will, that result in policy changes.
