An Open Letter to Mitch McConnell and the GOP Leadership?

Dear Senator McConnell,

Back in 2016, you and your GOP colleagues got it exactly right when you correctly and honestly labeled Donald Trump as what he was: a racist, xenophobe, misogynist, ignoramus, bully, serial assaulter of women, con man and fraud, and multiple bankrupt and business failure who stiffed thousands of contractors and small businesses across New York and New Jersey.

Since then the list of misdeeds has expanded to include the mistreatment of families and children at our borders, the deliberate failure to take seriously or display leadership in the most deadly pandemic in a century, the incitement of hatred and divisiveness across our country, the deliberate attempt to destroy our postal system, and the shredding of Constitutional norms with respect to judicial standards, oversight and elections.

But despite Trump’s having proven how right you all were in your initial assessment of him, the more egregious Trump’s behavior has become, the more you have shifted from being critics to being defenders and enablers.

This is obviously easy to explain. You – and all your colleagues – relish your jobs as senators, representatives, cabinet officers, and other high profile positions. They pay well, allow you to exercise power, be on TV and other media, and provide you with a life most people can only dream about. So swallowing hard and becoming hypocritical supporters of the worst president in history has been a price you are willing to pay to maintain your exalted status and position.

Most Americans get that. Let’s face it, “selling out” has become as American as apple pie. So we are not surprised that you and your colleagues would do that.

Therefore I am NOT appealing to your patriotism or “higher instincts” or anything like that, since you have already shown us that those values are dispensable to you.

Instead, let me appeal to your self-interest and desire to salvage at least some shred of credibility and self-respect in the eyes of your children and grandchildren when they remember you or read about you in the history books.

Let’s be honest about your future and that of our country, and the choices open to you. You and your party can continue to be Trump’s puppets and go “over the cliff” into what has been described as the “dustbin of history” if he loses, as so many Americans hope and pray that he will. But if – through a combination of voter suppression, cheating, continued Russian interference, and your support – Trump manages to win, do you really want to have history and your descendants hold you responsible for furthering the slide toward fascism that four more years of Trump, Barr & company would result in? Is that a world that you want to live in or leave to your children and grandchildren?

So there is no easy way out for you and those of your GOP colleagues who still care about the good of their country. Do the right thing and dust off the 25th Amendment or otherwise find a way to help save us from a future even worse than the 4 years already experienced.

Maybe you won’t be a senator any more or have as high-powered a political career as you once planned. Maybe you will have to settle for being a multi-millionaire lobbyist or partner in a prestigious law firm. But at least you will be able to look at yourself in the mirror and watch your children and grandchildren grow up in a country where freedom for all and the rule of law are still respected.

 Sincerely,

 Steven Bavaria

Steven Bavaria is a writer and former financial executive. His book Too Greedy for Adam Smith exposes the excesses and corruption in the world of CEO pay. His most recent book, The Income Factory, was just published by McGraw Hill. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and New England School of Law and lives in Boca Raton, Florida.