Anti-Corruption Politics May Be the Key to Beating Trumpism
The Trump administration’s cartoonish graft presents a unique opportunity for a populist anti-corruption platform. But for the Democrats to pull it off, they’d have to repudiate corruption within their own party first.
A laser-like focus on anti-corruption would be particularly well-timed for Democrats, considering that 2028 will be the conclusion of a scandal-plagued president’s second term — precisely the kind of moment when past anti-corruption crusades have found their greatest resonance. (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)
Jon Ossoff, the Democratic senator from Georgia, recently showed up on Pod Save America with an argument that may have irked the program’s die-hard Democratic audience. President Donald J. Trump, Ossoff said, is not the one and only major problem facing American politics. There is something else.
“Vast sums of corporate and billionaire money in our political system — with or without Trump — are why ordinary people are so ill served by elected officials and by Congress,” he said. “If we don’t solve this problem — even once we put Trump back in the box in the midterms and once he’s gone — the country will still be in deep trouble.”
Ossoff’s comment ran counter to Democrats’ self-soothing assumption that they can win elections simply by casting Trump as the singular anomalous problem plaguing the country. It is a familiar pitch that presumes voters will believe that once Democrats regain control of Congress and Trump is out of the White House, we will all live happily ever after.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.