Democrats tried not pursuing investigations into illegal actions by Presidents (and cabinet members) in the past, and in at least some cases, lived to regret the decisions.
I believe that issuing illegal orders, and knowingly following illegal orders, should be investigated and prosecuted.
That said, this should not be done at the expense of fixing the weak points in our system of checks and balances, and other vital governmental reforms to prevent recurrences of would-be autocrats from seizing control of the entire federal government.
Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, reform SCOTUS, rein in all expansions of executive authority, which have been pushed by the advocates of unitary executive authority.
The US Demands Ukrainian Capitulation As Europe Sold Out The Sudetenland, When Europe Forced The 1938 Munich Agreement on Czechoslovakia Without Its Consent*
The 28-point peace plan that the United States and Russia want to impose on Ukraine and Europe is misnamed. It is not a peace plan. It is a proposal that weakens Ukraine and divides America from Europe, preparing the way for a larger war in the future. In the meantime, it benefits unnamed Russian and American investors, at the expense of everyone else. Why is the Trump White House pushing Ukraine to accept a Russian plan that paves the way for another war? The document offers some hints, declaring that the U.S. would also somehow take charge of the $100 billion in frozen Russian assets, for example, supposedly to invest this money in Ukraine and receive “50% of the profits from this venture.” [The] United States and Russia would “enter into a long-term economic cooperation agreement for mutual development in the areas of energy, natural resources, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, data centers, rare earth metal extraction projects in the Arctic, and other mutually beneficial corporate opportunities,” according to the plan.
The analogy with Munich is appropriate, but I would note that Chamberlain didn’t officially join Hitler in profiting from the capitulation. Trump is a part to the proposed rape.
Maybe my wording was not as clear as I expected. Neville Chamberlain (Britain), Édouard Daladier (France), and Benito Mussolini (Italy) entered into the accord purportedly for appeasement purposes (at a deeper level, likely as perceived personal, political and national insurance). It was the forced sacrifice of Czechoslovakia without its participation or consent. Here, the US (meaning 1 + friends) are selling out the Ukraine for self-interested reasons, essentially greed and the expansions of personal wealth and power. The situations are alike in that a territory is sacrificed by others for their reasons without regard or concern for the victim.
We must have Tribunals to hold every member of the Trump Regime accountable for their crimes
We cannot move forward & heal our nation unless we address how they violated Due Process & the Rule of Law among many other violations of the US Constitution
Nov. 20 marked the 80th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials
No matter how long it takes, we demand justice & reparations
My folks were Holocaust survivors who were in a Slave Labor Camp for 5 years
Yes, it took far too long but in 1961 & 1962 my dad went to Germany to testify against
SS Officers -they were convicted
My folks also received reparations from Germany the last 25 years of their lives
We must do the same for all the victims of the Trump Administration
In order to get to the bottom of this hot mess, we have to start at the top;
1. remove and prosecute the the six conservative members of Roberts court including Roberts for treason. This can be done by forming and empoweringa coalition of federal judges to do this work.
2. Strike down the illegal presidential immunity ‘law‘.
3. Remove, indict and prosecute every member of Trump‘s cabinet; put them in prison where they belong, all for treason.
If treason isn’t a strong enough term, how about calling the whole thing depraved indifference and grand theft?
This is PREMATURE! We will never get the chance to do these things if we encourage Trump supporters to vote next year. They don't come out when Trump is not on the ballot, but this will essentially "put him on the ballot." Emphasize affordability and the other things he is doing that are awful for our citizens overall. Forget about retribution. Accountability can only occur if we are in the position to enact it, and we won't be if that is the argument next year. In fact, if we do not take the House next year, we will likely never be in that position. The people who do not engage on Substack are not motivated to vote because of retribution, they vote because of pocketbook issues and because they love this country and our democracy. A focus on accountability/retribution will ensure we never get it.
Agree we must not give in. We must hope. We must write, protest, donate, support trustworthy journalists here on Substack.
It’s all interwoven: Trustworthy journalists that provide us insights, using those insights to ensure accountability and thereby save and nurture our Democracy!
"Accountability is accepting responsibility for one's actions, decisions, and commitments and being answerable for the results." Years ago, a colleague asked me why I am so brutally honest. I smiled and said, "Did you ever meet my father?" My ancestry is Scot/Scots Irish and Welsh. Trust, honesty and truth are major uncompromisable components of that culture. At least, in my family they are. Integrity is sacred.
Trump fails on all counts. That he is trying to broker a deal to end the Ukraine/Russia war is all but laughable. Trump is under Putin's thumb. Say "Hello" to the Trump/Putin Brokerage Firm. The best "deal" for Ukraine is to step away from anything Trump. Trump is a dishonest broker who has full disregard for the rights and privileges of a sovereign nation.
It seems as though he’s desperate to qualify for the next Nobel prize running around trying to engineer peace in Gaza and Ukraine at any cost to Ukraine while inciting violence and threatening military conflicts elsewhere??
It's everything. Without it, rule of law gone. There's no justice, and democracy's forsaken.
2) Yes, I want Democrats to clearly state their commitment to holding Trump and his regime accountable. As far as expecting Democrats to state so clearly - my doubts are earned.
3) Worried that doing so could distract from a central affordability message?
Both accountability and affordability are two essential issues which must be addressed simultaneously. Neither sacrificed or denuded one for the other.
4) Calling for investigations and impeachment could galvanize Republicans and increase their turnout?
To NOT call for investigation and/or impeachment is a betrayal of democracy. Democrats and true patriots should proceed clearly and purposefully. It will increase patriotic turnout.
5) Does political calculus matter? Cowering before "political calculus" is utter bullshit. It is an entrapment we can and must rise above.
Accountability is why Justice Robert Jackson fought so hard for the US to hold the Nuremberg trials in 1946. Accountability is what gave most of NATO countries relative peace for 70 years.
Accountability means valuing the Rule of Law more than a demented piggy's whims.
Accountability DEMANDS we impeach the corrupt justices on SCOTUS who have accepted bribes, gifts, trips, and patronage from billionaires, as well as the three who LIED to Congress during their confirmation hearings.
Accountability means writing to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to demand charges of crimes against humanity be brought against this regime for the starvation of hundreds of thousands of Africans by cutting USAID, and bombing Venezuelan fishing boats without evidence.
Go see Russel Crowe's "Nuremberg." You'll see the parallels to what we are experiencing and it will reinforce the notion of accountability for actions taken.
Thanks for invoking Justice Robert Jackson. I recently listened to the entire 3 hours of his opening remarks at Nuremberg. Truly inspiring. Not an ounce of vengeance. Only justice according to the rule of law.
Jackson's famous Youngstown concurrence sets the standard for a clear statement of the limits of presidential power. And his dissent in Kuromatsu is a repudiation of the ethnically motivated Japanese internment camps during WWII.
Accountability is very important. The lack of accountability is a good bit of what is poisoning Americans' trust in anything; it is the idea that the wealthy and powerful are never held to account. That's the seething rage about the Epstein/Maxwell sex trafficking. If we believe that laws are for little guys, what are we supposed to do with aphorisms like "we are a nation of laws, not men"? We wind up believing that the central beliefs about the U.S. are just nice-sounding lies, and that justice is a lie, and soon there's nothing to hold us together.
Professional accountability is important to me because without it anything goes. The strong do what they will and the weak do what they must. But you hit the major difficulty at the beginning of your letter today. The Supreme Court has given the office of President a blank check to do what he will. And his unfettered power of pardon means that his associates will be similarly free of Federal charges based on their carrying out the President's wishes. So the single most important issue before us is the pressing need for Supreme Court reform. Accountability, desirable though it be, cannot be sought under the present Supreme Court.
Accountability for not only their actions but the results (higher inflation, growing income inequality, loss of health insurance and other services) can then be woven into the “affordability” argument. Are you better off than last year (2 years ago in the midterms) needs to be the question. Folks will answer that question at the polls.
Americans theoretically care about integrity and accountability in government. But they actually feel the affordability issues. We can never lose that focus.
I believe in accountability, and hope that anything criminal will be acknowledged and pursued in the courts. However, I fear that retribution and revenge, Trump’s style, will ultimately hurt this nation from moving forward. If each Party in the majority continues to prosecute the other, this could go on and on. I hope Democrats, when in power, will focus on restoring and upholding the Constitution. Let’s focus on undoing the great harms of the Trump administration. Retaliation has a huge cost—in money, time, energy, focus.
I’m a strong believer in justice. Justice, not revenge.
I think too many Americans will tune out if impeachment is revisited. The majority attention span is lacking and such efforts, currently, are a waste of time. If the 2026 elections create necessary majorities where an impeachment is viable, then go for it. I'm no legal scholar, but would assume the murders of boaters in the Caribbean would meet the criteria for impeachment, not to mention unleashing the military in our cities. And then there's the arrest of immigrants without due process.....and there's...shit- the list is endless.
The Justice department needs to take care of enforcing the law and the House and Senate need to govern and not form "special committee" investigations.
There is not one amongst us who is free to ignore all of this corruption. We are responsible to talk about it, educate our neighbors and respond to those being attacked. Take action even if it is just a conversation to start an end to these awful activities. Thank you for all of the information you provide us to start the conversation. Our words can become actions and we can save our society. Being afraid or concerned is not enough, Actions speak louder than words. Let’s find our voices.
"Do you want and expect Democrats running for office to clearly state their commitment to holding Trump and his regime accountable? Do you worry that doing so could distract from a central affordability message?"
"Accountability and Affordability": a winning slogan. We have a year to show that they are part of the same project. It's not just Trump that has made a reasonably comfortable life unaffordable for so many. It's a long, forty-year capitulation to unfettered greed and constant exploitation of power. Democrats have to do more than run for office. They have to draw up blueprints for the greatest renovation project since the New Deal.
Democrats tried not pursuing investigations into illegal actions by Presidents (and cabinet members) in the past, and in at least some cases, lived to regret the decisions.
I believe that issuing illegal orders, and knowingly following illegal orders, should be investigated and prosecuted.
That said, this should not be done at the expense of fixing the weak points in our system of checks and balances, and other vital governmental reforms to prevent recurrences of would-be autocrats from seizing control of the entire federal government.
Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, reform SCOTUS, rein in all expansions of executive authority, which have been pushed by the advocates of unitary executive authority.
The walls are closing in! Trump is in the Epstein files and his signature will release them. Now let's continue to protest in the streets. Here is a No Kings Anthem we can sing together: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/no-kings-anthem-no-crown-no-throne
The US Demands Ukrainian Capitulation As Europe Sold Out The Sudetenland, When Europe Forced The 1938 Munich Agreement on Czechoslovakia Without Its Consent*
The 28-point peace plan that the United States and Russia want to impose on Ukraine and Europe is misnamed. It is not a peace plan. It is a proposal that weakens Ukraine and divides America from Europe, preparing the way for a larger war in the future. In the meantime, it benefits unnamed Russian and American investors, at the expense of everyone else. Why is the Trump White House pushing Ukraine to accept a Russian plan that paves the way for another war? The document offers some hints, declaring that the U.S. would also somehow take charge of the $100 billion in frozen Russian assets, for example, supposedly to invest this money in Ukraine and receive “50% of the profits from this venture.” [The] United States and Russia would “enter into a long-term economic cooperation agreement for mutual development in the areas of energy, natural resources, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, data centers, rare earth metal extraction projects in the Arctic, and other mutually beneficial corporate opportunities,” according to the plan.
The Atlantic, 22-Nov-25 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/11/trumps-war-peace/685024/?gift=8h-ND1FuiIZ4VZp5QuIbsHkdgZ1qJUylR71Azs7o54E&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
*Unlike the Munich Agreement (https://www.britannica.com/event/Munich-Agreement) advanced in 1938 by France, Britain, and Italy as appeasement, this is nothing but rapacity.
The analogy with Munich is appropriate, but I would note that Chamberlain didn’t officially join Hitler in profiting from the capitulation. Trump is a part to the proposed rape.
Maybe my wording was not as clear as I expected. Neville Chamberlain (Britain), Édouard Daladier (France), and Benito Mussolini (Italy) entered into the accord purportedly for appeasement purposes (at a deeper level, likely as perceived personal, political and national insurance). It was the forced sacrifice of Czechoslovakia without its participation or consent. Here, the US (meaning 1 + friends) are selling out the Ukraine for self-interested reasons, essentially greed and the expansions of personal wealth and power. The situations are alike in that a territory is sacrificed by others for their reasons without regard or concern for the victim.
We must have Tribunals to hold every member of the Trump Regime accountable for their crimes
We cannot move forward & heal our nation unless we address how they violated Due Process & the Rule of Law among many other violations of the US Constitution
Nov. 20 marked the 80th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials
No matter how long it takes, we demand justice & reparations
My folks were Holocaust survivors who were in a Slave Labor Camp for 5 years
Yes, it took far too long but in 1961 & 1962 my dad went to Germany to testify against
SS Officers -they were convicted
My folks also received reparations from Germany the last 25 years of their lives
We must do the same for all the victims of the Trump Administration
Well said, Sue. Thank you.
In order to get to the bottom of this hot mess, we have to start at the top;
1. remove and prosecute the the six conservative members of Roberts court including Roberts for treason. This can be done by forming and empoweringa coalition of federal judges to do this work.
2. Strike down the illegal presidential immunity ‘law‘.
3. Remove, indict and prosecute every member of Trump‘s cabinet; put them in prison where they belong, all for treason.
If treason isn’t a strong enough term, how about calling the whole thing depraved indifference and grand theft?
This is PREMATURE! We will never get the chance to do these things if we encourage Trump supporters to vote next year. They don't come out when Trump is not on the ballot, but this will essentially "put him on the ballot." Emphasize affordability and the other things he is doing that are awful for our citizens overall. Forget about retribution. Accountability can only occur if we are in the position to enact it, and we won't be if that is the argument next year. In fact, if we do not take the House next year, we will likely never be in that position. The people who do not engage on Substack are not motivated to vote because of retribution, they vote because of pocketbook issues and because they love this country and our democracy. A focus on accountability/retribution will ensure we never get it.
❤️
Thx for your reply.
I just posted this about the SC after disgusting Alito put a hold on TX Gerrymander decision:
All I want for Christmas is for the Supreme Court to reverse it's decision to grant Trump immunity
Yes, they can do it
Will they?
Highly doubtful but a girl can dream
All the #EpsteinFiles will come out
We must hold everyone accountable starting with #PedophileTrump
https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/supreme-court-trump-immunity-ruling-ask-jordan-rcna200839
Agree we must not give in. We must hope. We must write, protest, donate, support trustworthy journalists here on Substack.
It’s all interwoven: Trustworthy journalists that provide us insights, using those insights to ensure accountability and thereby save and nurture our Democracy!
💙🇺🇸💙
"Accountability is accepting responsibility for one's actions, decisions, and commitments and being answerable for the results." Years ago, a colleague asked me why I am so brutally honest. I smiled and said, "Did you ever meet my father?" My ancestry is Scot/Scots Irish and Welsh. Trust, honesty and truth are major uncompromisable components of that culture. At least, in my family they are. Integrity is sacred.
Trump fails on all counts. That he is trying to broker a deal to end the Ukraine/Russia war is all but laughable. Trump is under Putin's thumb. Say "Hello" to the Trump/Putin Brokerage Firm. The best "deal" for Ukraine is to step away from anything Trump. Trump is a dishonest broker who has full disregard for the rights and privileges of a sovereign nation.
It seems as though he’s desperate to qualify for the next Nobel prize running around trying to engineer peace in Gaza and Ukraine at any cost to Ukraine while inciting violence and threatening military conflicts elsewhere??
The man is deeply conflicted and extremely dangerous.
Agree
And some way we must legally sand non violently claw him out of our Democracy!
I see your flags. Are you from beautiful Scotland? ☺️
Naye. I am of Scot Scots/Irish ancestry on my dad's side and Welsh English on my mother's.
If us civilians have be accountable for what we do, so should all politicians! As they are to be the leaders..
1) How important is accountability?
It's everything. Without it, rule of law gone. There's no justice, and democracy's forsaken.
2) Yes, I want Democrats to clearly state their commitment to holding Trump and his regime accountable. As far as expecting Democrats to state so clearly - my doubts are earned.
3) Worried that doing so could distract from a central affordability message?
Both accountability and affordability are two essential issues which must be addressed simultaneously. Neither sacrificed or denuded one for the other.
4) Calling for investigations and impeachment could galvanize Republicans and increase their turnout?
To NOT call for investigation and/or impeachment is a betrayal of democracy. Democrats and true patriots should proceed clearly and purposefully. It will increase patriotic turnout.
5) Does political calculus matter? Cowering before "political calculus" is utter bullshit. It is an entrapment we can and must rise above.
Accountability is why Justice Robert Jackson fought so hard for the US to hold the Nuremberg trials in 1946. Accountability is what gave most of NATO countries relative peace for 70 years.
Accountability means valuing the Rule of Law more than a demented piggy's whims.
Accountability DEMANDS we impeach the corrupt justices on SCOTUS who have accepted bribes, gifts, trips, and patronage from billionaires, as well as the three who LIED to Congress during their confirmation hearings.
Accountability means writing to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to demand charges of crimes against humanity be brought against this regime for the starvation of hundreds of thousands of Africans by cutting USAID, and bombing Venezuelan fishing boats without evidence.
Go see Russel Crowe's "Nuremberg." You'll see the parallels to what we are experiencing and it will reinforce the notion of accountability for actions taken.
Thanks for invoking Justice Robert Jackson. I recently listened to the entire 3 hours of his opening remarks at Nuremberg. Truly inspiring. Not an ounce of vengeance. Only justice according to the rule of law.
Jackson's famous Youngstown concurrence sets the standard for a clear statement of the limits of presidential power. And his dissent in Kuromatsu is a repudiation of the ethnically motivated Japanese internment camps during WWII.
Literally everything trump and his corrupt, unethical, immoral administration does should be charged.
Accountability is very important. The lack of accountability is a good bit of what is poisoning Americans' trust in anything; it is the idea that the wealthy and powerful are never held to account. That's the seething rage about the Epstein/Maxwell sex trafficking. If we believe that laws are for little guys, what are we supposed to do with aphorisms like "we are a nation of laws, not men"? We wind up believing that the central beliefs about the U.S. are just nice-sounding lies, and that justice is a lie, and soon there's nothing to hold us together.
Professional accountability is important to me because without it anything goes. The strong do what they will and the weak do what they must. But you hit the major difficulty at the beginning of your letter today. The Supreme Court has given the office of President a blank check to do what he will. And his unfettered power of pardon means that his associates will be similarly free of Federal charges based on their carrying out the President's wishes. So the single most important issue before us is the pressing need for Supreme Court reform. Accountability, desirable though it be, cannot be sought under the present Supreme Court.
Accountability for not only their actions but the results (higher inflation, growing income inequality, loss of health insurance and other services) can then be woven into the “affordability” argument. Are you better off than last year (2 years ago in the midterms) needs to be the question. Folks will answer that question at the polls.
Americans theoretically care about integrity and accountability in government. But they actually feel the affordability issues. We can never lose that focus.
I believe in accountability, and hope that anything criminal will be acknowledged and pursued in the courts. However, I fear that retribution and revenge, Trump’s style, will ultimately hurt this nation from moving forward. If each Party in the majority continues to prosecute the other, this could go on and on. I hope Democrats, when in power, will focus on restoring and upholding the Constitution. Let’s focus on undoing the great harms of the Trump administration. Retaliation has a huge cost—in money, time, energy, focus.
I’m a strong believer in justice. Justice, not revenge.
The democrats need to impeach and claw back the money his family has exported from our treasury.
Getting to Steven 's questions:
I think too many Americans will tune out if impeachment is revisited. The majority attention span is lacking and such efforts, currently, are a waste of time. If the 2026 elections create necessary majorities where an impeachment is viable, then go for it. I'm no legal scholar, but would assume the murders of boaters in the Caribbean would meet the criteria for impeachment, not to mention unleashing the military in our cities. And then there's the arrest of immigrants without due process.....and there's...shit- the list is endless.
The Justice department needs to take care of enforcing the law and the House and Senate need to govern and not form "special committee" investigations.
There is not one amongst us who is free to ignore all of this corruption. We are responsible to talk about it, educate our neighbors and respond to those being attacked. Take action even if it is just a conversation to start an end to these awful activities. Thank you for all of the information you provide us to start the conversation. Our words can become actions and we can save our society. Being afraid or concerned is not enough, Actions speak louder than words. Let’s find our voices.
"Do you want and expect Democrats running for office to clearly state their commitment to holding Trump and his regime accountable? Do you worry that doing so could distract from a central affordability message?"
"Accountability and Affordability": a winning slogan. We have a year to show that they are part of the same project. It's not just Trump that has made a reasonably comfortable life unaffordable for so many. It's a long, forty-year capitulation to unfettered greed and constant exploitation of power. Democrats have to do more than run for office. They have to draw up blueprints for the greatest renovation project since the New Deal.