Act on the Mueller Report

Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate need to know that enough Americans actually care about the rule of law and holding a sitting president accountable for corrupt conduct. The news narrative has been that Americans don’t care about the Mueller Report or the President’s lying and dirty dealings. I do and so should every American.

Most of the reporters seemed to interview white folks in middle America as if they are the only ones who matter. One man said that he thought that the president was a “despicable human being” but that things were okay because the president was doing so much good for the country. A woman said she was more likely to vote for him in 2020 than she was in 2016 because he is a good businessman and all his wrongdoing was just what businessmen do. These are the people that Congress is listening to? These are the voices of Americans that the media gives a megaphone to? I have an entirely different take and I want my voice to be heard too. I care about good policies (which he doesn’t have) but I also care about ethical lawful conduct coming out of our White House. We deserve and can have both.

Despite Attorney General William Barr’s summaries and press conferences to try to shield the president ahead of the release of the Mueller Report , the Report itself makes clear that Donald Trump and his administration did some pretty suspicious things during the election and beyond and then tried to cover up their wrong doings. Apparently, Mueller was never going to indict the president, he was going to leave accountability actions to Congress. And so now, Congress must act on our behalf, as is their Constitutional duty. They can censure or they can impeach. But it’s become obvious that they need to be encouraged to act. It comes down to what we want.

I don’t want a president who fools around with foreign governments to get elected. I don’t want a president who actively tries to obstruct justice. I don’t want a president who lies to the American people on a daily basis. I don’t want a president who appoints corrupt, incompetent and self-dealing people to cabinet positions. I don’t want a bully in the White House. I don’t want a president who vilifies immigrants and cruelly separates children from their parents. I don’t a president who is ignorant of science and doesn’t care about the environment. I don’t want a president who won’t show his tax returns. We have a person in the White House who would rather hide his dealings and endure the speculation of wrong doing that to actually let the American people see the truth.

To me, all this hiding only means that the reality that would be revealed in his tax returns is far worse than the speculation about what is in them. The same was likely true about all those meetings with the Russians. Everyone lying about the meetings during the election and then no note takers in his Russian meetings afterward. But too many people are willing to ignore all this corruption. I’m not.

I spent time on Friday writing to my congresswoman and senators as well as the speaker of the house (Nancy Pelosi) and the senate majority leader(Mitch McConnell) to let them know that I want them to fully exercise their Constitutional duty of oversight with regard to this president and the Mueller Report, his taxes, and the other areas of wrongdoing. They must investigate on behalf of our nation, even if many in our nation are only focused on “kitchen table” topics. Congress has to walk and chew gum at the same time. They must hold Trump accountable since middle America won’t. It is therefore up to the rest of us to push Congress and especially the Senate to do the right thing and hold this president accountable. Our very democracy and the rule of law are at stake.