President Donald Trump keeps getting away with it. He’s survived two impeachments, multiple criminal charges (and one conviction) and several unlawful and unconstitutional actions in the first few months of his second term.
Thinking too much about that can lead to despair about the future of the country. How can we hope to repair the damage Trump is doing on a daily basis if we can’t hold him accountable?
But Trump isn’t doing these things alone. From billionaire supporters such as Elon Musk to top advisers such as Stephen Miller to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carrying out his deportations, the president is dependent on other people to carry out his agenda.
That points to a tactic that Democrats need to embrace: Put all of Trump’s happy helpers on notice. The Supreme Court may have decided that the president has broad immunity, but that’s not the case for Musk, Miller and the masked men terrorizing Chicago.
Democrats need to make it clear to every one of those underlings that they will be held accountable.
That’s why Democrats in Congress and in governors’ mansions and state legislatures need to make it clear to every one of those underlings that they will be held accountable — if not today, then one day soon.
Some Democrats realize this. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker created the Illinois Accountability Commission to document interactions between ICE agents and Chicagoans during Operation Midway Blitz and held them accountable. Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell told Federal Communications Chairman Brendan Carr and his staff to “get a lawyer and save your records” for a future hearing on their dealings when Democrats hope to hold the House majority in 2027.
The nation has endured a sustained shock to its democratic system. We are drowning in chaos, so much so that this week alone marks the fifth week of a government shutdown. Forty million people are at risk of losing food benefits and ICE agents are operating like Trump’s modern-day Gestapo. The abuses of power, the legal intimidation campaigns, the politicized prosecutions and the cruelty on display from immigration enforcement have piled up so relentlessly that many Americans have begun to treat the unacceptable as routine.
Authoritarian behavior has crept into everyday governance. It has been normalized. This normalization presents a profound and irreversible danger. Someone must break this trance and say what is obvious. And the only political entity with the legitimacy and structure to deliver that alarm is the Democratic Party.
Democratic senators and representatives have to create their own bullhorn of accountability — raging against not just the illiberal and unconstitutional behavior of a rogue president, but also making it very clear to everyone inside and outside the Trump administration that they will be held accountable for their actions. Period.
Democratic leadership must warn every official, every aide, every lawyer and every strategist that their decisions will not be forgotten.
Democratic leadership must directly and publicly warn every official, every aide, every lawyer and every strategist who participates in attacks on democratic institutions that their decisions will not be forgotten. Their conduct will be scrutinized. If they choose to undermine free elections, weaponize the justice system or dismantle the social contract, they will be held accountable through lawful political means.
The American people are waiting. They are looking to Democrats, expecting them to defend access to health care and a strong social safety net, yes; but also, the foundations of the republic: representative government and the rule of law. Republicans have abandoned these commitments, repeatedly promising to “fix” health care, only to repeatedly oppose expanding Medicaid and affordable coverage options, while offering no comprehensive alternative to rising medical costs or gaps in access. Republicans have also sat silently and often complicitly in the destruction of the symbols of our nation, the upending of constitutional norms, the erasure of our civil liberties and the efforts to steal congressional seats. The question for Democratic leaders is simple: Are you ready to wage the kind of politics the moment demands? Are you prepared to impose accountability on those who would dismantle our democracy for their own gain? Are you prepared to show your fellow citizens that the days of consequence-free corruption in Washington are over? Courts alone cannot protect our democratic institutions. A lone politician with a sharply worded letter cannot reverse institutional decay. Only a collective force, organized and relentless, can confront this assault on democracy and put accountability back on the table. Democrats must put the Trump administration on notice that the era of impunity will end soon — and no Supreme Court can protect them from that. For more thought-provoking insights from Michael Steele, Alicia Menendez and Symone Sanders Townsend, watch “The Weeknight” every Monday-Friday at 7 p.m. ET on MSNBC.
Michael Steele
Michael Steele is a co-host of "The Weeknight," which airs Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET on MSNBC. He is a former lieutenant governor of Maryland and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. 
