Thread by @SeanCasten

To all those saying "shouldn't we root out government inefficiency? What's wrong with DOGE?" a quick background on Constitutional law and why the WAY it is being violated exposes the true motives of the criminals:

1. First, let us state the obvious. EVERY American has an interest in an efficient government with no waste fraud and abuse with the exception of those who benefit from said WF&A and lack the moral compass to put the public interest over their own.

2. Second, public servants are, in my experience vastly underpaid and underappreciated. Our air traffic controllers, postal workers, veterans affairs employees, intelligence officers - and yes, elected officials - is not a roster of billionaires. Moreover...

3. Virtually all could earn more money in the private sector, and when they leave often do. They do it because they are committed to making America work. No one is perfect and they are no exception. But it's a lot easier to grift on government from the outside than the inside.

4. And that is in no small part because of our vigilance. A free press keeps watch. Congress has oversight authority and always faces political pressure if a scandal comes to light on our watch. And within the agencies, we have Inspectors General and whistleblower protection.

5. Those tools don't catch everything, and what they do catch is sometimes caught too late. But there is vastly less vigilance in the private sector for the simple reason that there is less sunlight on private businesses who are not vested with the public interest.

6. So now, let us suppose that a new President comes into power of high moral character who is committed to rooting out government corruption. That has happened many times in our history, often in the wake of public scandals.

7. Within the boundaries of the Constitution and existing law, that President can make budget requests of Congress to reconsider funding priorities, can ask the Att'y General to build cases to be submitted to grand juries and seek the consent of the judicial branch to convict...

8. They can use their bully pulpit to raise these concerns with the American people and media, shining a light on the concern and creating a safer space for whistleblowers to act. They can request that Congress pass laws to close loop holes or tighten enforcement.

9. But in all those cases, a President who abides by the Constitution is bound by existing laws and spending which cannot be changed without an act of Congress. Their DOJ must enforce all laws equally without favor...

10. Convictions and penalties are set by the judicial branch and all are innocent until proven guilty. And the executive branch is also subject to these same checks; if they break those constitutional boundaries they can be prosecuted by the courts or impeached by the Congress.

11. Now look what the Trump WH is doing. They are firing Inspectors General and other federal law enforcement agents who might hold them to account. They are refusing to distribute funds appropriated by Congress. They are directing their DOJ to selectively enforce the law.

12. They claim they are doing this in the course of rooting out waste fraud and abuse, but the only resources they are shutting down are those that they politically disagree with or would hold them to account... all while violating the clear text of the Constitution.

13. As I said in my town hall this week to a gentleman who said he supported what Trump was doing: you may politically agree with his cuts, but it behooves us all to ensure that he must abide by the Constitution.

14. Because if this President can unilaterally ignore the 14th Amendment then a future President can ignore the 2nd. If this one can block Congressionally-directed funding for EVs then another can ignore Congressional mandates not to spend taxpayer dollars on abortion.

15. No American - elected or otherwise - likes and supports every law ever passed by the United States. All of us can take issue with some element of our Constitution that prevented the country from what we think would have been a better idea.

16. Our diversity of experiences and opinions ensures that's true. Our democracy and constitution ensure that we have the ability to change those laws. Our strength (and debate) derive from our diversity. But it is preserved only so long as we all defend our democracy.

17. It SHOULD be partisan to haggle over the law and spending. But we cannot allow it to become partisan to defend our democracy. The great fear and risk of this moment is that large tranches of the GOP have decided that our Constitutional Republic isn't worth preserving.

18. Russ Vought (the newly appointed head of OMB and lead author of Project 2025) has said that we are in a "post constitutional era". The GOPs CPAC retreat has been in Hungary in recent years specifically so they can learn how Victor Orban destroyed their democracy from within.

19. January 6 was an attempt to get rid of our Constitutional republic by violence. They are now trying to achieve the same thing administratively. In both cases, they were enabled by the silent complicity of @GOP House & Senate members. Democracy is now partisan.

@GOP 20. There is cause for optimism though. If their ideas were popular, they wouldn't oppose the democratic system. If they thought they could constitutionally change the laws through Congress (noting that Rs control both chambers) they would.

@GOP 21. The criticism here is real, but it is a criticism of *elected* officials in the GOP, not the American people, regardless of how they voted. Overwhelming majorities agree Nazis are bad, the good guys won the Civil war and the Constitution is worth defending.

@GOP 22. A few years ago Deval Patrick said that we live in a country that yells our hatred and whispers our love. Do not confuse the noise for the numbers.

@GOP 23. All we need to make sure our democracy endures is to make that love - of democracy, of our Constitution and of each other - louder. We're all in this together, and we all have amplifiers. Turn 'em up. /fin