Billions in ‘dark money’ is influencing US politics. We need disclosure laws
David Sirota and Joel Warner
A donor secretly transferred $1.6bn to a Republican political group. Because of America’s lax laws, the donation was never disclosed in any public record or database
They have forgiven far, far more debt for business owners in the form of PPP who didn’t need to meet ANY sort of income requirements or means testing for almost $1 TRILLION in forgiveness. (Mind you, forgiving ALL student debt in the US is about $1.7 trillion — you could undo the 2017 tax cuts for the 1% and forgive all student loans plus have money left over to contribute to universal childcare, tuition free college, homelessness, etc.)
Republicans recognize that the fundamental issue of the 2022 midterm elections is whether the United States will continue as a constitutional republic or warp into an authoritarian state where the rule of law and the will of the people are casually disregarded. The question is whether Democrats understand that this is what the election is about, and whether they will fight as hard to defend democratic norms as Republicans are fighting to dismantle them.
The GOP is answering the existential question of the era by signaling that it is prepared to abandon the basic premises of the American experiment in order to move toward an authoritarian governance founded on the cult of defeated former president Donald Trump. To that end, Republicans have refashioned their party as the blunt instrument of Trumpism: rejecting even the most conservative members of Congress who voted to impeach a sitting president for inciting insurrection, blocking a bipartisan inquiry into Trump’s plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, andpromising to punish Democrats and Republicans who have pursued investigations of last year’s January 6 Capitol attack. The party has prioritized attacking voting rights and election oversight in the statehouses it controls. It has turned to European white nationalist strongmen, such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, for inspiration.
The GOP’s singular focus on dismantling democracy and rejecting the rule of law came into stark relief on the morning of August 8, when FBI agents executed a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound in Florida. An apoplectic Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) tweeted“DEFUND THE FBI!” and vowed, “In January, we take on the enemy within.” Instead of a rebuke, Greene’s extremism earned an echo from House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.): “The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization,” he declared. “When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned.” Leaving no doubt about his desire to intimidate the Department of Justice, McCarthy told Attorney General Merrick Garland to “preserve your documents and clear your calendar.” The Republican who could be the next speaker of the House was proposing nothing less than obstruction of justice in order to defend Trump.
There is no longer any question about where the GOP stands. But where exactly do the Democrats stand?
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/08/09/lock-and-load-trump-loving-extremists-react-fbi-search-mar-lago?
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/christian-right-fbi-raid-trump
