A Redress of Grievances

Will Crow, VP of Act Yakima and protest organizer

I drove to Yakima to join a dozen or so people holding an “Accountability Protest” in Yakima today. Act Yakima organized the protest.

We stood on the corner holding our handmade signs seeking a “redress of grievances." It was a diverse group. The man on my left was a Vietnam veteran. He worried for survival of the Republic. The man on my right had his two young nephews with him. Their tee shirts promoted equality. I commented on a woman’s artistic sign showing a blond-haired shark eating Lady Liberty. A woman next to her leaned in and pronounced proudly, “I’m 72 years old!”

The reaction of motorists was mixed, with some thumbs up, some thumbs down, and some displaying other digits. One beat-up Hummer slowed, the window rolled down, and a man yelled, “You lost! Get over it!”

The lack of awareness in this reaction to what I hope are continuing protests is startling and distressing. Those of us protesting Donald Trump are doing so not because “We lost,” but because we were conned. Mr. Trump took an oath to, “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” He is violating that oath. As a result, we all lose.

An Open Letter to the New Treasury Secretary

February 20, 2017

The Honorable Steven T. Mnuchin
Secretary of the Treasury
United States of America

Dear Mr. Secretary:

Reference is made to your letter, 2016 Form 1040, February 15, 2017

I’m seventy-nine years old and have never failed to submit a tax return, from the time I worked as a delivery boy in high school, through my two decades in the U.S. military, two decades working for a government laboratory in national security, right up until today, in my retirement.

I’ve willingly paid my taxes under 11 presidents; six republicans and five democrats. Like serving in the military, for me, paying taxes was a way of giving back to my country for the rights and privileges I enjoyed as a citizen of this great nation.

Now I am looking at the prospect come April 15th of paying taxes under another president, Donald J Trump. I have to tell you, Mr. Secretary, that for the first time ever, I hesitate to do so. Not for ideological reasons — although I strongly disagree with Mr. Trump’s ideology — and not because Mr. Trump avoided paying taxes for so many years. I hesitate because Mr. Trump refuses to make a clean break from his global business interests. Until he does so, he will unavoidably be violating the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Mr. Trump claimed that he eliminated potential trouble with emoluments by turning over operation of the business to his children. That argument is inane, but even if we believed that the President would not discuss Trump business dealings with “the kids,” as long as he continues to profit from his business empire—which he does whether or not he is nominally in charge, the possibility that foreign actors will attempt to affect his policies by frequenting his hotels, golf courses, resorts, and casinos, remains an issue of national concern.

Mr. Trump apparently feels that divestiture is too high a price to pay to be President of the United States, just as he felt it was “smart” not to pay taxes.

We might understand better the intricacies and entanglements of Mr. Trump’s business holdings and partners if we could examine his tax returns, but he has steadfastly refused to release them  — something every president has done since Gerald Ford.

So you see the reason for my hesitation to submit my tax return on April 15 — I can’t be sure that my tax dollars won’t be going to line the pockets of foreign actors whose business dealings with the President have curried his favor. Maybe Mr. Trump is right; maybe it isn’t smart to pay taxes. At least, not until we have a president willing to abide by the Constitution.

Thank you for your understanding.

Very Respectfully,

Richard Badalamente, LTC, USAF (Ret.)