Revolving Door Project | It Will Take Years To Recover From Trump's Historic Corruption

The 45th President of the United States was the most corrupt and dangerous in our history. Prior to setting his sights on the White House, Donald Trump was a failed wannabe real-estate tycoon who parlayed his braggadocious public persona into a television and branding deal that barely kept his business afloat, all the while cheating on his taxes, short-shrifting workers and contractors, and demonstrating open, ugly defiance of any law or social compact in existence. Having profited so handsomely from a governing status quo indifferent to elite lawbreaking, it is hardly a surprise that his presidency has been dedicated to further entrenching this unjust reality.

In an election between two historically unpopular nominees, Trump barely scraped into an electoral college victory. He proceeded to spend four years looting the federal government and systematically destroying any of its protections against social injustice or corporate power. His lawlessness, cravenness, and wanton destruction of our economy and planet have been ably documented by dedicated journalists — yet surely, there is still more corruption and social devastation that was simply never reported or found while Trump was in office.

Starting from before he even took office, the Revolving Door Project was documenting what corruption we could, while urging House Democrats after the 2018 midterms to use their subpoena and oversight powers to more fully expose Trump’s misdeeds. We believed then and believe now that showing how figures like Trump fail to provide the people with a government that responds to their needs, while simultaneously bending over backwards to please corporate interests and the wealthy, is the most effective way to defang faux-populists’ sway and make genuine advocates for the people shine all the brighter.

We firmly believe that the incoming Biden administration must make a yearslong project out of exposing, explaining, and correcting Trump’s degradation of the federal government. Each agency and department must conduct ongoing investigations into just what happened over the last four years, so that ongoing misconduct is stopped, misdeeds are documented, the public is informed, and safeguards are put in place to prevent such corruption from occurring again. After four years of Trump’s faux-populism, moreover, what the people need is not a return to the same old alienated governance of lobbyists and smoke-filled rooms. Rather, it is time to answer Trump’s corruption with an ethical, dedicated, and bold administration committed to using every power available to improve the lives of the people in tangible ways.

Here is a selection of Revolving Door Project’s work from the Trump era:

Biden Administration Must Remove Trump Holdovers On Day One (11/23/20)

GSA Head’s Transition Refusal A Predictable Consequence Of Too Many Political Appointees | The Hill (11/17/20)

A Lame Duck Trump Admin Will Do All It Can To Pilfer Before Jan. Dems Must Be Ruthless In Thwarting It. | Talking Points Memo (11/2/20)

Donald Trump Politicized The Federal Bureaucracy: The Next President Needs To Reverse That | Public Seminar (10/21/20)

Revolving Door Project Seeks To Uncover Politicization Of Career Hiring Under Trump (9/1/20)

Why Hasn’t The Trump Administration Released Their Organizational Chart For The Office of Management and Budget? (8/10/20)

House Democrats Must Do More To Hold Trump’s Cabinet Accountable (7/24/20)

Trump’s Tax Returns Remain Hidden. Blame Richard Neal. | American Prospect (7/13/20)

How The Trump Administration’s Small Business Protection Program Has Failed Communities Of Color | In These Times (7/8/20)

The Quiet Seizure Of Independent Agencies | American Prospect (6/24/20)

A Brief Introduction To Your New Comptroller of Currency (6/4/20)