Joe Biden has won the election, and the Republicans have finally begun to admit the reality that Trump lost and that their dreams for another four years have been crushed.
https://www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2020-11-07/joe-biden-wins-the-presidential-election-defeating-donald-trump
It has been clear for a long time that Biden is a very different (and better) person than Donald Trump. And we can expect that his administration will be a radical change from Trump’s in almost every possible way. However, for the sake of creating a really clear line of demarcation between the two men I would love for Biden to make a special speech (after the inauguration) so that he can alert and reassure the American people that decency, intelligence and, most of all, respect for the presidency has returned to the White House.
Here are some promises that I would like Joe Biden to announce to all of America:
-I, Joe Biden, in order to demonstrate respect for the office of president, vow to always observe the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. constitution and never use my office for personal enrichment.
The Emoluments Clause is part of Article 1, section 9 of the constitution that, among other things, prohibits members of our federal government from receiving any kinds of offices, titles, gifts or emoluments (various form of salary, fee, or profit of any kind).
This idea is to completely prevent any member of our government (most importantly, our president) from being corrupted or influenced by another country by means of bribes or inducements.
Donald Trump never had any respect for this part of the constitution and never observed it at all. We know that he never divested himself of any of his properties or investments. We know that he never placed any of them in a blind trust (the action of giving responsibility of your assets to someone else such that you do not know what you actually have or exercise any control over it). He, supposedly, turned his properties over to his sons to maintain and control them. But who knows what they planned over golf or sunday dinner.
Trump obviously used his position as president and his properties to make money. We know that when foreigners came to America they made a point of staying in a Trump hotel (where they enriched the president by paying inflated prices for everything). In order to make a windfall profit for one of his struggling golf courses he even tried to arrange to have the 2020 Group of Seven international conference held at his Trump National Doral Golf Resort in Miami (the course was never designed to provide real security for foreigner leaders and was such a failure that it had lost money for the previous two years). And he was forever dragging foreign leaders to Mar-a-Lago, which is not his home but rather a private for-profit club that puts money into Trump’s hands).
This practice of Trump’s was not only shabby and unseemly, it was illegal and dangerous. There is no telling how much foreign influence was exerted on Trump by rich foreigners spreading their rubles or riyals at a Trump Plaza something or other. If Joe Biden has any similar assets I want him to either divest himself of those things or put them in a blind trust so that he can’t possibly profit from them through the office of president. He should do it, and tell everyone in American that he is doing it. No more opportunism through Trumpism.
-I, Joe Biden, in order to demonstrate respect for the office of president, vow to always observe the Hatch Act, and to never use any government office, property or identifying marks for purely partisan political gain.
The Hatch Act: What does it mean for good government? It means, among other things, that if you work for the federal government, if you are a civil servant working in the executive branch, then you can not use your office, your uniform, your office building or your government work time to engage in or promote partisan politics. The president and vice president are exempt from this law, but everyone else has to obey it.
Except Trump supporters who worked in executive branch of the government. Remember them and their shameless violations of this law? Members of Trump cabinet repeatedly violated the act (which is illegal!!), like Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue who did it in various ways fourteen times. Others just on the odd occasion when it suited their partisan purposes in getting Trump reelected. Recent examples of cabinet members and others include, but are not limited to, Ivanka Trump (senior advisor to the President) by campaigning for him in Florida); Jared Kushner (senior advisor to the President) for attacking Democrats and discussing campaign strategy while acting in his official governmental role (as senior advisor). Other violators include Kayleigh McEnany, Peter Navarro, Larry Kudlow, Marc Short and David Friedman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy6VWNwKHbg
https://deadline.com/2020/11/kayleigh-mcenany-white-house-donald-trump-1234615669/
The Office of Special Counsel is supposed to enforce the Hatch Act. But when you have a deeply immoral president surrounded by deeply immoral supporters in the federal executive branch routinely breaking the law nothing happens. The violation of this law was obviously something that Trump and his Toadies found to be useful for promoting Trump and bolstering his reelection prospects. So they ignored the law. Very simple, really - if you are immoral.
I hope that Joe Biden says out loud that he will not allow any of his federal executive employees to violate the Hatch Act. Let the people’s business be the people’s business and Biden’s reelection work be done separately and away from any government time or place. No more opportunism by Trumpism.
-I, Joe Biden, in order to demonstrate respect for the office of president, vow to always observe and obey the Impoundment Control Act.
The what act? The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, 1971 (please refer to Progressive Assault posting on 1/20/2019 for details).
This is what Donald Trump broke when he decided to withhold money that had been appropriated by the congress (Democrats and Republicans together) so that the Ukrainians could buy arms to stand up against Russian aggression. And it is the action that would have gotten him impeached if it weren’t for the cowardly, easily intimidated Republicans who wither under his rage tweets.
Trump lamely, and with deceit, tried to explain away the withholding of money that congress appropriated by saying that he was worried about corruption in the Ukraine. But the Impoundment Control Act doesn’t care - if congress appropriates the money for a specific purpose then the president is legally obligated to spend it. The president doesn’t have a say in any part of the appropriations process.
Even the most reactionary Republicans want (or claim to want) bipartisan legislation. It makes us all feel good and produces legislation that not only gets passed but, because both sides have a stake in it, is likely to produce some real benefit. Legislation that is supported by enough members of each party to be enacted is really the closest thing to an expression of national will. And the president has to respect that. He also has to respect that because he is the chief law enforcement officer of the nation and it is his job is to make sure the laws of America are faithfully enforced.
I am sure that Joe Biden understands that and will respect the Impoundment Control Act. But I would like Biden to say explicitly to the American people, “While Donald Trump felt free to ignore the wishes of the American people as expressed in legislation supported by both parties, I will not. I will respect a bipartisan expression of national will and spend money as the congress and senate intended.”
-I, Joe Biden, in order to demonstrate respect for the office of president, vow to observe and follow the established norms of good government.
Donald Trump, spoiled, selfish and always feeling entitled, made a conscious habit of breaking the “norms” of good government. That meant that if he wanted to do something, and that thing was not specifically prohibited in great and threatening detail, he just did it. Never mind that it was reprehensible, contrary to the interest of the nation, unnecessarily divisive, produced bad government or was just plain stupid (and, once tested, possibly very illegal).
Since it is almost impossible to spell out in detail every single bad act or bit of behavior for specific legal prohibition and punishment, all societies must rely on forms of behavior that everyone accepts as good practice. These are the “norms” of government. And they reflect both a desire to do good government as well as an awareness of the awesome nature of the office of president and the heavy responsibilities that it carries.
The “norms” of government are a kind of “best practices” guide to governmental actions. To forcefully distinguish himself from Trump, I would like Joe Biden to tell the American people that he is aware of the “norms” of good government in regard to his responsibilities as president. Further, I would like Biden to specifically name some of these norms that Trump gleefully violated and then promise to observe them. There are many of these “norms” I would include the following (for a more detailed list see this Washington Post article):
-Not taking advantage of his position to personally profit from official business. Refer to the first point, above. Biden should make clear that he will just live on his, and his wife’s salary and any investments that they already have (preferably in a blind trust).
-Refusing to release information that the people of the United States need to know. Trump is a man who lives in darkness and secrecy. He claims to be really smart but refuses to release any of his college records. He claims to be the picture of health, but refuses to release his medical records. He claims to be a super successful businessman and a billionaire, but has always refused to release any bank records and would rather soil himself in public before he would release his tax returns.
I want Biden to say that he will disclose any personal information that Americans really need to know.
-Interfering in DOJ investigations and prosecutions. This is a big one. Trump seemed to think that the Department of Justice was his personal hit squad to investigate, pressure and prosecute anyone he didn’t like. Examples? Pressuring Jeff Sessions into reversing his recusal from the Mueller Investigation, presumably so that he could stay there and control or corrupt it; asking James Comey to not pursue an investigation into Michael Flynn; asking White House counsel Dan McGahn to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
I want Joe Biden to remind people that Donald Trump did these things, and that as Democrat, as a progressive politician and decent human being who understands the “norms” of good government, he will not do these things. No more political opportunism through Trumpism.
We are not reactionary Republicans; we are not only smarter than they are but we are more honest.
Stand by, progressives, for Part II.