Elaine Weeks

For nearly two years, the American people watched as Congress surrendered its constitutional authority to Donald Trump, abandoning its responsibility to serve as a check on executive power. We watched ICE agents descend on American neighborhoods, terrorizing families, separating loved ones, and conducting operations that raised grave questions about constitutional rights and deadly uses of force. We watched a president and those closest to him blur the lines between public service, personal enrichment, and political power. We watched American farmers struggle under the weight of tariffs, retaliatory trade policies, rising costs, and disappearing markets. We watched our closest allies alienated, decades of diplomatic relationships damaged, and America’s credibility on the world stage eroded. We watched federal agencies gutted, career public servants pushed out, and scientific expertise dismissed. We watched the Department of Justice face political pressure while the independence of our institutions came under attack. We watched billionaires gain extraordinary influence while working families struggled to afford groceries, housing, healthcare, and childcare. We watched immigrants demonized, transgender Americans targeted, protesters vilified, and vulnerable communities turned into political punching bags. We watched attacks on voting rights, threats against political opponents, assaults on the free press, and efforts to undermine the very institutions designed to protect our democracy. We watched the normalization of corruption, cruelty, dishonesty, and contempt for the rule of law. And perhaps most disturbing of all, we watched members of Congress who swore an oath to defend the Constitution remain silent, make excuses, or actively enable the erosion of their own institution’s authority. But the American people were watching. We were listening. We were remembering. And now, we are demanding accountability. Not revenge. Not political retaliation. Not another round of empty speeches and promises. Accountability under the law. Accountability for abuses of power. Accountability for the damage inflicted on our country. Because elections are not simply about changing who occupies the seats of power. They are about changing what those in power are permitted to get away with. The American people did not fight to reclaim their government just to watch a new Congress protect the people who abused it. We did our part at the ballot box. Now Congress must do its part under the Constitution.