We Can't Trust the Government
We Can't Trust the Government The Trump Administration has completely eroded any confidence that Americans once held in our institutions. Ally Sammarco Jan 12 Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash Living in a democracy depends on one basic assumption: that government institutions will tell the truth and act in the public interest. When that assumption collapses, citizens are thrust into a climate of uncertainty and distrust. Today, Americans are witnessing this erosion in real time. One of the most recent examples of this erosion is the Trump administration’s attempt to influence the Federal Reserve ’s independence. President Trump has publicly and repeatedly criticized Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates aggressively and has even taken the extraordinary step of having the Department of Justice subpoena the Fed and threaten Powell with criminal indictment over routine testimony about renovation projects—an unprecedented esc...