Is The GOP Too Far Gone To Be Rescued From The Swamp Of Corruption?

A PPP survey released yesterday found that 61% of Arizona voters-- all parties-- want Governor Ducey to appoint someone more like John McCain rather than like Señor Trumpanzee, although 37% of crazy treanous voters do want someone more like Trump. Jesus! All they all on drugs? Or just stupid? Trump has aa 53% disapproval rating in the state; 44% approve.

Poor Ducey-- 42% of respondents said they be more likely to vote for his reelection if he picks someone more like McCain and 35% said they'd be less likely if he picks someone like McCain (a mainstream conservative). 35% want a neo-fascist bag of hot air like Trump. Half the voters polled said they’d be less likely to vote for Ducey in November if he picks a Trumpist.

With Trump almost certain to shut down the government right before the midterms, his corruption-- and the GOP's corruption in general-- will come into sharper focus over the next 2 months, as many Democrats campaign on it. Yesterday a conservative Democrat from the party establishment, Neera Tanden, published an OpEd in USAToday, about the GOP's cascading corruption problem. Tanden frames the problem well: "A basic and fundamental building block of our democracy-- the principle that our government should represent the people-- is currently under withering attack." Trump is certainly not living top to his promise to drain the swamp, though I'm certain that if you asked his brain-dead supporters if he drained it or not, they would all say he did. And that's despite the fact that his inner circle is stocked with criminals. Since he "assumed office," wrote Tanden, "a significant and growing number of Americans have increasingly recognized that the president, the members of his administration and Republicans at large have betrayed their trust. They say overwhelmingly that Trump has failed to set a high moral standard for his presidency and they have saddled top Trump administration officials with record low marks on ethics. They now see the Republican Party in its true light: as the Party of Corruption." Now, keep in mind that "they" refers to normal people, not Trump supporters. Tanden was a die-hard Clintonista and didn't understand that there were Trump supporters than and apparently still doesn't understand it. These people are impervious to the real word. Raised on reality TV, when we chuckle at the idea of "alternative facts," they eat it up as a way to explain their own miserable existences.

Our new research shows that more than 70 percent of the public want our government to take a more active role in solving the greatest issues confronting our nation. At the same time, more than 85 percent also say the federal government primarily serves the interests of large corporations, the wealthy, and campaign contributors.

It should come as no surprise that this crisis of confidence has worsened under the Trump administration. Just consider a small sample of their many suspicious and unscrupulous actions that have been performed by Trump’s allies since he entered the White House: Rep. Chris Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse Trump for president, was recently arrested for allegedly perpetrating an insider trading scheme while on the board of a foreign pharmaceutical company. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, the second congressman to endorse Trump, was indicted last week for illegally using campaign funds for personal enrichment.

Tom Price resigned as Health and Human Services secretary after spending $400,000 in federal money on private jet travel. Scott Pruitt stepped down as Environmental Protection Agency administrator amid a dizzying list of abuses. And Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, has confessed that while serving in Congress, he only met with lobbyists after they ponied up a donation.

Yet it is not only the abuse of taxpayer dollars (or the rampant appearance of public corruption under Trump) that is eroding faith in our political institutions. Americans understand that Washington’s pernicious system of back-scratching produces policies that hurt working- and middle-class families. They know our elected officials are beholden to the corrupting power of their donors-- that they prioritize the interests of the top 1 percent by writing laws which mainly benefit these same donors.

The recent Republican Party tax cuts perfectly illustrate why such fears are completely justified. Even as Republicansstruggle to selltheir signature legislative achievement, they are reaping huge benefits from the law by collecting millions in donations from the rich donors and corporate interests who received its enormous handouts.

What’s clear is that the public is fed up with the status quo in Washington, and that this anger is transforming our politics. In many campaigns, we’re seeing that incumbency in Congress is a hindrance, not a help. Democratic candidates have successfully rallied support while rejecting donations from corporate political action committees-- from Conor Lamb’s shocking win in Pennsylvania to Beto O’Rourke’s surging momentum in his race to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas.

That is why, moving forward, bold political reforms must be central to the Democratic Party’s platform. Fortunately, there are three concrete steps our government can take to dramatically curb the insidious influence of donors and special interests.

First, lobbyists should be barred from fundraising on behalf of members of Congress.  This would end the kind of pay-to-play behavior embraced by the likes of Mulvaney, and prevent well-connected special interests and donors from playing the role of puppeteer in shaping the policy agendas of elected officials. Democrats in both chambers have already included such a ban as part of a sweeping proposal designed to strengthen our country’s ethics laws, reform our system of campaign finance, and empower American voters.

Second, members of congressional committees should not be allowed to accept campaign contributions from the same industries they are entrusted with overseeing. Until two weeks ago, Collins sat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and was responsible for regulating health care companies-- even as he allegedly orchestrated an insider trading scheme involving a pharmaceutical manufacturer. Our current system gives too many businesses the chance to exploit potential conflicts of interests by donating to politicians willing to put personal gain over the common good.

Third, members of Congress should be prohibited from sitting on the boards of for-profit companies-- whether in a paid or unpaid capacity-- or from owning individual stocks in such entities. Sen. Elizabeth Warren included this type of prohibition in the expansive anti-corruption package she introduced last week. Her rules would finally stop many lawmakers from abusing their official positions for financial gain.

These three proposals can be part of a new movement to exterminate the culture of corruption festering in Washington under Trump, and take the first critical steps toward restoring the strength of our democracy. Voters are demanding that Congress dismantle the stranglehold special interests hold over too many elected officials, and put power back into the hands of the people. It is time for America's leaders to answer their call.

Another aspect of political corruption is what Greg Sargent dealt with this morning, noting that Trump is literally trying to stoke up violence, just the way fascist tyrants in Europe, trying to gain and consolidate power, did in the 1930s. "Periodically in this country," he wrote in the Washington Post, "whenever there is violence with a political cast, or whenever political rhetoric strays into something more menacing than usual, we hold debates about the tone of our politics and their capacity for incitement. Whether rhetorical excess can be blamed for violence or the threat of it is a complicated topic with no easy answers. But even so, in most or all of these cases, whichever side is culpable, most of our elected leaders on both sides have used their prominence to calm passions in hopes of averting future horrors. This time, something different is happening. At this point, there is no longer any denying that Trump continues to direct incendiary attacks against working members of the free press even though his own language is being cited by clearly unhinged people making horrifying death threats against them."

UPDATE: From the comments section

Mark Karlin's good-bye post for BuzzFlash is unsettling. I wish I could say he's wrong; I can't.