Trump, the authoritarian in the White House, must be removed.

As I wrote in my editorial of Thursday, July 16th, we must never forget that Trump must be removed from the Presidency. This is not because he is a racist or dangerous (though these beliefs and characteristics inspire many impeachable offenses) - "high crimes and misdemeanors" - but because his convictions, goals and actions aim to destroy the Constitution, its requisite Checks and Balances, the Rule of Law, and Democracy itself.

This is not a complaint about policy - though we must make those too, but a complaint about character and purpose.

Trump is an aspiring authoritarian, dismembering our Democracy piece by piece, day by day.

He is a would-be dictator who must be denounced and removed from office, or, if that is not possible, made ineffectual.

He must be removed.

We want him out. We demand him out. We will get him out.

Ask everyone - your neighbors, family and friends, Elected Officials - to join us in this end.

Heather Cox, Letters from an American, July 16, 2026.

An exchange yesterday between Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Jay Clayton, Trump’s nominee to oversee the U.S. intelligence community as director of national intelligence, illustrated the dilemma of those trying to force Trump’s lies onto the American people when they are confronted with reality.

Ossoff asked Clayton: “Who won the 2020 election?”

Clayton responded: “Uh, you know, I’m not, I’m not gonna do this with you.

Ossoff: “This is a job interview. We’ve established that you have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee.”

Clayton agreed.

Ossoff: “Who won the 2020 election?”

Clayton: “Like I said, I’m not I’m not gonna get into that with you.”

Ossoff continued to ask, and Clayton continued to refuse to answer the question, saying: “We can keep doing this,” and saying he was not going to “engage in the theater.”

Ossoff said: “You’re here asking for the support of senators to lead America’s intelligence community. We’ve established that you have an obligation to be honest and forthright with this committee and with the American public, but you refuse to answer a simple matter of fact about the 2020 election. Is that right?”

Clayton: “No, that’s not right.”

Ossoff: “Then answer the question. Who won the 2020 election?”

Clayton: “I have answered the question.”

Ossoff: “Answer it. What is your answer?”

Clayton: “I’ve given you my answer.”

Ossoff: “What is your answer?”

Clayton sat in silence.

Ossoff: “You refuse to answer a basic question about who won a presidential election? But you ask to lead America’s intelligence community? Isn’t it humiliating to be unable to answer this question? To have to indulge the president’s delusions? We know, you know, everybody in this room knows the truthful answer to that question, why can you not give it?”

Clayton could not answer because, although all of the claims of Trump and his loyalists that he won the 2020 presidential election have collapsed in court, Trump requires his cronies to claim that the election was stolen in order to have justification for rigging future elections. They know the truth—that Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden by more than 7 million votes and by 51.3% to 46.8% in the Electoral College. But they refuse to say so because if they do, they will lose Trump’s favor.

Those loyalists are the people Trump is putting in control of the American government. In his own confirmation hearing today for elevation to the position of attorney general—the person at the head of the country’s legal system, representing the American people—Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche slipped. When asked if he and Trump were friends, Blanche answered, “I’m his lawyer,” before correcting himself to say: “was his lawyer.”

Blanche was Trump’s criminal defense attorney and has openly used the power of the Department of Justice to pursue Trump’s political opponents.

The editorial board of the New York Times called out another problem with Blanche. On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Florida Kathleen Williams questioned whether Blanche is fit to practice law at all. She found that the slush fund/immunity deal Blanche signed off on with Trump, the Trump family, the Trump Organization, and their associates had been manufactured to give cover to a deal they did not want reviewed by a judge.

Yesterday we saw in real time how, with Blanche’s support, Trump is stacking the courts with loyalists. In Seattle, Washington, a panel of federal judges appointed by five presidents unanimously appointed Roger Rogoff, a former judge and longtime state and federal prosecutor as U.S. attorney. The judges appointed Rogoff to replace the Trump appointee whose 120-day interim position ended in February. By law, an interim U.S. attorney can stay in office for no more than 120 days, but Trump has tried to get around that law by changing the title under which his appointees operate, turning the interim U.S. attorney into an assistant U.S. attorney while leaving the top position empty.

The judges, to whom replacing an interim U.S. attorney falls if there is no presidential appointment, unanimously agreed to Rogoff. He took the oath of office at 8:00 in the morning and, within the hour, received an email telling him he was fired.

“District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and [the president] can fire them,” Blanche posted on social media Wednesday.

Trump’s styling of himself as an authoritarian ruler showed yesterday in the announcement from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the Treasury will issue a new commemorative $1 coin with Trump’s likeness on it this fall as “a lasting symbol of patriotism.” It is unclear if the coin will circulate as currency.

While living monarchs who are heads of state appear on coins, living political leaders who appear on currency tend to be those trying to make themselves indistinguishable from the government. Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Idi Amin in Uganda, and Saddam Hussein in Iraq all put themselves on currency. The U.S. passed a law in 1866 barring living people from appearing on U.S. financial instruments.

According to Alice Gibbs of Newsweek, the Trump administration is getting around that law by relying on a law permitting the coining of collectible currency to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary, as the country did with its bicentennial quarters in 1976. (Substack)

One more thing.

My only reservation about Ossoff's fierce and admirable questioning is that Clayton (and Blanche for that matter) is not going through a "job interview." Clayton is participating in a Legal Hearing, subject to the Constitution:

The [President] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States.

By calling Clayton's Hearing a "job interview, Senator Ossoff inadvertently trivialized the process and missed an opportunity to inform Americans about the sacred process they are witnessing. The Senator’s exchanges with Clayton and others are not casual conversations, but part of a bedrock legal process by which our Democracy functions.

Democracy in action.

If the nominee is found worthy of the position appointed to, he or she must take an oath:

The oath reads:

“I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

Notably, the oath is to the Constitution, not to the President, a political party, or any individual.

Serious stuff, dear friends. Serious.

Especially, during these perilous times, as we engage in a fight for our Democracy, senators should remind the public as often as possible, without being overly didactic, that during Confirmation Hearings, we are not taking part in politics as usual, but are carrying out activities prescribed by the Constitution.

As to Clayton, by the oath he took on April 16, 2025, he pledged to serve the Constitution, not lie for an authoritarian.

His refusal to answer who won the Election indicates he is unfit to continue to serve. He is already falling short of the constitutional obligations he pledged to uphold when he took the oath of office for his current position.

Any one of Trump's people who refuses to answer who won the Election should similarly be called out as weak and unfit to serve.

By their own admission, they are subservient sycophants to the current occupant of the White House who seeks to destroy Democracy.

See you on Tuesday.