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Having been the director of the United States Office of Government Ethics gives Walter Shaub a moral authority lacking in mere partisan participants discussing the charges against Donald Trump being mulled by the committees involved in the House of Representatives’ impeachment investigation.
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He utilized that keen ethical compass today in a lengthy Twitter thread that warned Senate Republicans of the dangers that they — and the nation — face if they fail to hold the president accountable for the many transgressions against the standards of normal presidential behavior — and the rule of law — once impeachment reaches the likely trial before their chamber of Congress.
Shaub posed the obvious question to GOP leadership of how they would respond if a Democratic president had committed the long list of Trump’s offenses that he enumerated in such detail that he ran out of letters of the alphabet to precede each item included, forcing him to continue the list using double letters to reach its conclusion.
The implications of the former ethics chief’s exhaustive reminder of the scope of the grievances against the president hopefully won’t be lost on a mass of Senate Republicans who appear to value their increasingly tenuous hold on power and self-interest more than constitutional principals or the health of the country’s democracy.
Here is Shaub’s thread in its entirety:
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a. Soliciting foreign attacks on our elections;
b. Using federal appropriations or other resources to pressure foreign governments to help them win reelection;
c. Implementing an across-the-board refusal to comply with any congressional oversight at all;
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 24, 2019
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g. Attempting to retaliate against American companies perceived as insufficiently supportive of the president;
h. Attempting to award the president's own company federal contracts;
i. Using personal devices, servers or applications for official communications;
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 24, 2019
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l. Destroying or concealing records containing politically damaging information;
m. Employing white nationalists and expressing empathy for white nationalists after an armed rally in which one of them murdered a counter protester and another shot a gun into a crowd;
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 24, 2019
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q. Operating a supposed charity that was forced to shut down over its unlawful activities;
r. Lying incessantly to the American people;
s. Relentlessly attacking the free press;
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 24, 2019
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x. Drawing down on government efforts to combat domestic terrorism in order to appease a segment of his base;
y. Refusing to aggressively investigate and build defenses against interference in our election by Russia, after the country helped him win an election;
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 24, 2019
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bb. Coordinating with his attorney in connection with activities that got the attorney convicted of criminal campaign finance violations;
cc. Interfering in career personnel actions, which are required by law to be conducted free of political influence;
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 24, 2019
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ff. Attacking states and private citizens frequently and in terms that demean the presidency (see Johnson impeachment);
gg. Using the presidency to tout his private businesses and effectively encouraging a party, candidates, businesses and others to patronize his business;
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 24, 2019
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jj. Calling on the Justice Department to investigate political rivals;
kk. Using the presidency to endorse private businesses and the books of various authors as a reward for supporting the president;
ll. Engaging in nepotism based on a flawed OLC opinion;
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 24, 2019
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None of the Republican Senators defending Trump could say with a straight face that they would tolerate a Democratic president doing the same thing. But, given this dangerous precedent, they may have no choice if they ever lose control of the Senate. Is that what they want?
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 24, 2019
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At this point, I would remind these unpatriotic Senators of the line "you have a republic if you can keep it," but a variation on this line may soon be more apt when Trump redoubles his attack on our election: You have a republic, if you can call this a republic.
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 24, 2019
Hopefully, Shaub’s comments will jog the memories of Senate Republicans who may forget that they won’t be in the majority forever and instill in them an impetus to support a set of non-partisan ethical standards that would apply to any officeholder no matter which side of the aisle they are affiliated with.
Given the general state of denial in which the GOP currently seems to have taken up permanent residence, it’s likely that they simply can’t envision the day when they will be voted out of office or else have plans to continue the sorts of political subterfuge that the Trump administration has employed to ensure that the levers of power are only yielded to the opposition from their cold dead hands.
Let’s hope that the Republicans come to their senses before it gets to that.
Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.
