Good news: the push for accountability is well underway and it's making a difference.
The courts, media and voters are actively holding Trump, insurrectionists, election deniers & others accountable for trying to destroy our democracy.
What is accountability?
Webster conveniently defines it as, an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions. I think that definition misses an important point. One that is becoming clearer with each passing week.
Not that any of our friends, the election deniers, are going to hold themselves accountable for anything. We know, for example, that the loser in Arizona, a former TV anchor, now suing Maricopa County to keep herself in the public eye, is not willing to own up to her loss. And the chaos she causes by pretending some outrage and rushing to court keeps her grift alive for a bit longer. But maybe when she’s alone, at a bar, stirring her drink, sensing the whispers and seeing people turn away, maybe she feels the sting.
Which is more than I can say for the ex-President. Recently, his lawyers found yet another trove of stolen documents marked classified. But those same lawyers would not assert that they have found all the documents, because they do not trust their client to stop hiding them.
And yet, I think accountability is coming. Accepting responsibility requires first accepting reality. And reality has a nasty habit of showing up to party uninvited.
After the midterms, some republicans changed their tune on mail-in voting and drop boxes but this video montage by “The Daily Show” is a reminder of what they’ve been saying up until now.
All of those republicans told voters that early voting was a sham. They told voters not to mail in ballots. They said only Democrats do that, and it’s bad. Now they are wondering why Republicans didn’t vote early. They are not yet taking accountability for their own fabulously flawed actions, but they are acknowledging the consequences-- the reality they did so much to deny. I count that as a step in the right direction.
I mean, if you are going to acknowledge reality, then there are all sorts of things we can talk about. Like about the way they would rather use Brittney Griner’s repatriation to divide us than to celebrate the rescue that it actually is. But I won’t hold my breath. Just because reality has made an appearance doesn’t mean they will stop trying to avoid it. Much good that will do them!
Recently, Congress gave the medal of honor to members of the capitol police for their valor during the insurrection. The family of officer Brian Sicknick received on his behalf a posthumous award. At the ceremony they declined to shake hands with Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell who were on hand for the photo op. Neither has consistently acknowledged what happened that day, though in the moment, it was clear they both knew. Do you think this snub is a kind of accountability?
I do. Just like I see the timid dawn of a GOP beginning to consider looking beyond Donald Trump as a kind of accountability. Because, here’s the great thing: we can hold others accountable even when they fail to do so themselves. In fact, I think that is what all societies do when they enforce standards of behavior.
Guys like Donald Trump will never accept responsibility for anything. But that does not mean there will not be accountability.
This past week, special counsel Jack Smith, subpoenaed election officials in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania, asking for communications with or involving former President Trump, his 2020 campaign aides. Those election officials are an interesting group. Some are heroes who stood up against all kinds of pressure and intimidation to do the right thing in 2020. A few are fools who bought the lie and whose actions undermined the democracy. But all are likely now to comply. Is this accountability? I think so.
Courtesy of the hard work of New York Attorney General Letitia James, a jury has found the Trump Organization guilty on all counts of civil fraud. That’s accountability, and it brings courage to those who have timidly waiting in the wings. Case in point: Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg, who earlier slow walked a criminal case on the same facts, is said to be rethinking his reluctance.
When it comes to accountability, the courts are doing their job. The Justice Department is doing its job. Attorneys general are doing their jobs. The much-maligned media is, if you subtract FOX from the discussion, largely doing its job. And when given the chance a few weeks ago all across America, voters are doing their job.
I don’t know and I don’t care what Donald Trump, or Kari Lake, or Mark Meadows or Rudy Guiliani, say to themselves when they stare into the abyss of their empty souls. I do care that the rest of protect each other and our democracy- that we do our jobs.
Hundreds of insurrectionists have been prosecuted and many are in jail. It takes longer to get the leaders of conspiracy, but I am confident that’s coming. When Mr. Trump has his turn, when he is convicted, does it really matter whether he calls himself a victim, and denies any wrongdoing? To me, whether he owns up and shows remorse is just a sentencing question.
We will have imposed accountability.
And then, I beg those of us who never bought the lie to forgive. If we are humble and welcoming, I expect Americans from all parts of the country, Americans who bought the lie, who were confused about the difference between up and down, darkness and light, democracy and tyranny, those Americans will turn away from the folks who misled them and the insurrection will, finally, be over.
We can contemplate this end only because we held when it mattered most. Once a handful of brave union soldiers on Little Round Top saved our union and forever changed our democracy. This time millions of Americans over the course of several years and multiple election cycles gave proof that government of the people, by the people and for the people, will not perish.