Welcome to our weekly “Trumptastrophe” series that serves to remind us of the destructive policies, decisions, and actions we encountered during the Trump presidency and the threats that he and others in the MAGA movement still pose – and to keep those moments clear in our memory as we fight to defeat Republican extremists during the upcoming elections.
This week’s Trumptastrophe focuses on how some of those who worked most closely with President Trump during his first term are now sounding the alarm about the dangers of a potential second term if he is reelected this November.
In late October 2019, Trump and his supporters began a smear campaign against Alexander Vindman, who testified before House impeachment investigators about Trump’s demand that the Ukrainian government investigate his political rival, Joe Biden, as a condition of future U.S. support.
Vindman, whose family fled the Soviet Union when he was a young child, had served as a U.S. Army officer for more than two decades. At the time of the investigation, he was director of European affairs at the National Security Council. He testified that he believed it was improper for the president to pressure a foreign government to investigate a U.S. citizen, and he reported his concerns to his superiors. The Trump administration responded by retaliating against Vindman and his brother, a lieutenant colonel who was also working on the National Security Council.
Trump’s attempt to pressure a vulnerable U.S. ally into interfering in the 2020 election, and his attacks on people who challenged him, remind us why Trump is too dangerous to wield the power of the presidency. He is willing to subvert U.S. national interests for his own personal benefit. And he will abuse his power to try to destroy truth-tellers and honest critics.
That is why so many of the people who worked most closely with Trump are refusing to support his return to power—and why so many of them are sounding the alarm about the threat he poses to our freedom and democracy.
“As Donald Trump seeks the presidency for a third time, he is being vigorously opposed by a vocal contingent of former officials who are stridently warning against his return to power and offering dire predictions for the country and the rule of law if his campaign succeeds,” reported AP’s Michelle Price earlier this year.
Here’s just a sampling of the dozens of people who worked with and for Trump—and are now warning Americans not to let him back in power:
- Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, the longest-serving chief of staff in the Trump White House, told the New York Times this month that Trump is a fascist with no understanding of the Constitution or concept of the rule of law, and warned that Trump admires dictators and would govern like one if allowed to. Trump’s threats to use the military against Americans he considers the “enemy within” were so dangerous, Kelly told the Times, that he had to speak out.
- Elizabeth Neumann, former deputy chief of staff of the Department of Homeland Security and assistant secretary for threat prevention and security policy, agrees with Kelly, citing Trump’s “authoritarian tendencies” and “ultra-nationalism.”
- Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper calls Trump “a threat to democracy” and “unfit for office,” saying, “He puts himself before country.”
- Former National Security Adviser John Bolton calls him “unfit to be president.”
- Former Vice President Mike Pence: “Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”
- Former Attorney General Bill Barr says Trump “shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval Office.”
- Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Trump’s final chief of staff: “I think that Donald Trump is the most grave threat we will face to our democracy in our lifetime, and potentially in American history.”
“The American people should listen to what these folks are saying because it should be alarming that the people that Trump hired to work for him a first term are saying that he’s unfit to serve for a second term,” said former White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews.
These are people who saw Trump in action in his first term.
Just imagine how much more dangerous Trump would be in a second term now that the MAGA justices on the Supreme Court have trashed the constitutional principle of checks and balances by making up a broad new theory of presidential immunity. They’ve told Trump that he won’t have to worry about the courts holding him accountable for lawbreaking he engages in as president.
That’s terrifying. Let it also be motivating. We have just days to take whatever action we can to prevent the disaster of tyrant Trump.
These are just some of the reasons we need YOU in this fight. So, find your favorite way to unwind after reading through this week’s recap, and then make a plan for how you will fight back this week, this month, this election cycle.
