OUR VIEW · EDITORIAL COMMENTARY
I SUPPORTED HIM.
I CANNOT SUPPORT THIS.
For anyone deciding whether to say the second sentence
If you voted for Donald Trump because you wanted change, we are asking you to judge what followed by the same standards you expect from any president.
Not to say you were fooled. Not to disown anything. One thing: the same standard, applied to this man, that you already apply to everyone else in your life.
WE TEACH OUR CHILDREN BETTER
We teach our children that if you lose, you shake the other kid's hand.
That the rules apply when they are inconvenient, or they are not rules.
That you do not take what is not yours.
That when the referee calls it against you, you do not keep playing.
That you tell the truth when it costs you something, because that is the only time it means anything.
That you do not use your size on someone smaller.
We teach them all of this. Then we ask less of the most powerful person in the country than we ask of a nine-year-old.
You would not keep a foreman who blamed everyone but himself. You would not keep a coach who told your kid the game was rigged every time they lost. You would not hire a contractor who said the job was done when you could see that it wasn't.
None of them is in charge of the Army.
FOUR ENTRIES. OPEN THEM.
Here are four entries with linked records and visible limits. Open them and examine what each source supports. They are four of seven on the site, chosen to make the sources and their limits easy to inspect.
The pledge. PBS's edited report and transcript show a repeat-after-me voting pledge that included the words "cheat like hell." We have not compared the complete convention recording, and the passage does not establish that an unlawful vote followed.
The clemency proclamation. Proclamation 10887 commutes fourteen named sentences to time served and pardons the category described in section (b), relating to events at or near the Capitol on January 6, 2021. It directs certificates, immediate releases and the pursuit of dismissals. The document calls this reconciliation; that is its word. A pardon does not signify innocence and does not erase the conviction — the Justice Department says so in its own guidance.
The Senate acquittals. Impeached twice, acquitted twice. 48–52 and 47–53 on February 5, 2020; 57–43 on February 13, 2021. Conviction requires two-thirds of the senators present. We put this here at full size because it is true, and because a record that hides what cuts against it is not a record.
Helsinki. Standing beside Vladimir Putin on July 16, 2018, he said he did not see any reason why it would be Russia — while also expressing confidence in both parties and in his own intelligence personnel, in that same answer. The next day he said he had meant the opposite word, said he accepted that Russian meddling took place, and added that other people could also have been involved. Both transcripts are official and archived. No recording comparison has been performed.
Four you can check, rather than a longer list you would have to take on faith. Each carries its own limits in plain view, including what we have not done.
YOU CAN HOLD BOTH
You can support secure borders and demand accountability when agents kill.
You can support a strong military and demand answers when children die.
You can support your country and challenge its president.
You can change your mind.
You can say: I supported him. I cannot support this.
There is dignity in admitting a line was crossed. There is responsibility in refusing to let the next one disappear.
THE SEVEN QUESTIONS
Not a verdict. The questions we would ask of any president, of any party, including one we liked.
Does he accept the limits of the office when they are inconvenient?
When a court rules against the government, does the government comply?
Is what we are told about major decisions true?
Can investigators examine the administration they work inside — including him?
Will power be handed over after a loss?
Who ends up better off?
Is government power used against people who lawfully oppose him?
Now switch the name. Put in the president you would least like to see in office. If a question stops working, it is a bad question and we will take it out. If it still works — if you would want it asked of them — it has to be asked of him.
The same rules have to survive the result, or they were never rules. They were a stick lying there, and someone else picks it up next.
THE LIMITS ON POWER
The Constitution and its amendments set limits on government power and protect fundamental rights. Those protections depend on institutions and people willing to enforce them.
That is the whole fragility of it. A limit holds because enough people, in enough positions, decide to be bound by it when it would be easier not to be. A limit that holds only when the powerful agree with it is not a limit.
And this is the part worth sitting with:
A power that can be used on them can be used on you. A Justice Department aimed at a president's enemies can eventually be aimed at you. An election that can be overturned when he loses can be overturned when he wins. A protection that depends on who holds office is not a protection. It is a permission, and permissions get revoked.
If part of what made you angry was being governed by people who never asked you — don't trade that for a king who says he's on your side.
WHAT TO DO
This November, use your vote to elect a Congress willing to check this president’s power. The House and Senate have powers to make laws, control federal spending and investigate the executive branch. We want members who will use those powers to defend constitutional limits, lawful elections and the rights of the people they serve—including people who oppose the president. If your representatives will not do that, vote to replace them. Demand a commitment to peaceful transfers of power and an end to treating political opposition as grounds for government retaliation. Winning an election gives a president authority within the Constitution. It does not give him permission to dismantle it. Elect a Congress prepared to insist on that distinction.
Ask your representatives, by name. They have offices, phone numbers, public meetings and elections. Ask what they have investigated. Ask what they have challenged. Ask what limit they are prepared to enforce. Make them answer.
FIND AND CONTACT YOUR U.S. HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE →
Official House lookup and member contact links.
FIND AND CONTACT YOUR U.S. SENATORS →
Official Senate contact directory.
Watch the rules, not just the people. When a court order is ignored, that is bigger than who won. When an inspector general is fired, that is bigger than who fired them. When voting rules change late and quietly, ask who benefits — out loud.
Say something when it is your own side. That is where your principles are tested.
Check us. Open the sources. If we are wrong, tell us, and we will correct it in public with our name on the correction.
Vote. Check your registration and deadlines. Help someone else do the same. Insist that eligible voters can cast their ballots and have them counted.
CHECK YOUR REGISTRATION AND MAKE A VOTING PLAN — VOTE.ORG →
Registration, deadlines, polling places and voting options.
Where we stand. We ask you to elect a Congress willing to check this president’s power, and to apply the same standards across parties. Our concern about this presidency is disclosed — we are not neutral about it, and we are not going to pretend to be. Our factual claims will point to records you can inspect, with their limits stated.
If the grievances that moved your vote are still unanswered, that is a real argument and it is not settled by anything on this page.
The question in front of you is narrower, and it is still open:
whether what comes next will be bound by anything at all.
You get a say. Use it.
Supporting civics sources: Constitution, Article I — congressional powers; U.S. Senate — congressional investigations; National Archives — Bill of Rights transcript.
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