When the Money Turns
The United States electoral process took a dramatic turn in 2010, when the US Supreme Court ruled in the “Citizens United” case that non-profit corporations are guaranteed “freedom of speech” whose expenditures could not be restricted.
In the decades prior to “Citizens United,” the America seemed to recognize that the influence of money in politics needed to be controlled. Starting with the post–Watergate Federal Campaign Act, the law included building a federal Presidential campaign fund. Later laws, including McCain/Feingold and other legislation, sought to put restrictions on what forces outside the actual political campaigns could do. Campaigns continued to find ways around restrictions, notably the 2008 Obama campaign, so successful with internet oriented fundraising that it passed up the Presidential campaign fund (and the restrictions created by using it) and effectively ended publicly funded Presidential campaigns.
“Citizens United” changed the game. Non-profit corporations (known politically as 527’s) could raise as much money as they could, and could shield the origin of their contributions. While “dark money” had been a part of politics (Swift Boating in the 2004 Presidential election) now it had unlimited resources.
Enter the billionaires. They had the money, and they had the desire to impact American politics and influence it in their favor. And while all sides of the spectrum are represented, no one used their money better than the Koch Brothers, oil billionaires out of Wichita, Kansas. The Kochs made themselves instrumental in conservative and Republican politics. They made it clear: toe their conservative line, or face a well-financed primary challenge. They financed the “tea party” Republicans. They controlled the Republican agenda.
But they weren’t the only ones. The Mercer family were also in the fray, and it is from those supported by the Mercers (Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Mike Flynn) that Trump ran his general election campaign and his White House.
The Koch Brothers sat out the Presidential election of 2016. They invested instead in the Senate and House races (those who live in Ohio will remember the anti-Strickland 89 cents campaign.) They were able to secure the Republican Senate majority, which enabled full Republican control and the ability to put conservatives on the Supreme Court.
So what has all of this have to do with today’s Trump World?
In the last week: Robert Mueller appointed as Special Counsel for the Russia Investigation, Comey fired, Trump interviewed saying that the firing was about stopping the Flynn investigation. This morning’s revelation: the Trump campaign was very aware of Flynn’s Turkey connections well before the inauguration and still made him National Security Advisor. Today the money will make all the difference.
The Republicans in the House and the Senate are searching for a way to respond to the worsening situation at the White House. The media will say that they are afraid of coming out against the President because of their concern of the backlash of the Trump voters. The media will also say that Republicans still hope to get their agenda through the Congress, and that they want to keep the President’s behavior off of the Congressional Agenda for as long as possible.
The media may be right about all of that, but there is an even more important point. The Republican majority is controlled by the money: the fate of the Trump Presidency rests more with the determination of the Koch Brothers, the Mercers and others, than with the conscience of the Republican legislatures.
When will Congress truly act, and ask the big question: should Trump be the President?
We’ll have to wait, wait for when the money turns.
A thoughtful look at the problem with money in American Politics. Disheartening to say the least.