{"id":4495,"date":"2026-08-06T16:09:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T16:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4495"},"modified":"2026-08-06T16:09:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T16:09:29","slug":"the-reckoning-coming-for-trumps-secret-enablers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4495","title":{"rendered":"The reckoning coming for Trump’s secret enablers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The<\/em> New York Times <\/em>says the \u201cJustice Department struggles\u201d with Trump\u2019s demands that it prosecute his enemies. <\/p>\n

Read more Regretful MAGA voters: Trump \u2018destroying jobs\u2019 and looking \u2018out for himself\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

But who<\/em> exactly is struggling? Career lawyers whose professional ethics are being compromised? Trump-loyalist appointees who presumably knew what they were getting into before they joined the regime? Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general who desperately wants to be the real thing? <\/p>\n

The same ambiguity crops up when the media reports that the \u201cWhite House\u201d wants this or that, that the \u201cDepartment of Homeland Security\u201d is taking some action, that the \u201cDepartment of the Interior\u201d is undertaking or undoing something, and so on through the squalid chaos atop this regime. <\/p>\n

These are buildings and departments, not people. We need to know who. <\/em><\/p>\n

In normal times, the White House and federal departments are also institutions containing professionals with expertise hewed over decades of experience, guided by institutional norms for making decisions and the insights and perspectives that come with their unique roles in the federal government. (I should know. I headed one.)<\/p>\n

But we\u2019re no longer in normal times. Trump and his sycophants are actively destroying the professional integrity, expertise, norms, and unique insights and perspectives of all these institutions. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the public needs to know who<\/em> is doing what when important decisions are made inside these buildings and departments. It\u2019s the only way anyone can ever be held accountable. <\/p>\n

For example, news reports continue to characterize the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund at the center of the storm over whether to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general as \u201cthe Justice Department\u2019s\u201d fund. <\/p>\n

This characterization hides a crucial reality: The fund doesn\u2019t belong to the Justice Department. It wasn\u2019t even an official offspring of the Justice Department. Instead, it emerged from meetings between Trump\u2019s personal lawyers and acting attorney general Todd Blanche (who was once also a personal lawyer for Trump) over how to dispose of Trump\u2019s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. <\/p>\n

It was never the \u201cJustice Department\u2019s\u201d fund. It was Trump\u2019s<\/em> fund, right from the start. The same with his deal to immunize himself from IRS audits. <\/p>\n

Similarly, when the media reports that the \u201cJustice Department\u201d is \u201cformally rescinding the order that created the fund,\u201d it obscures the most important fact: The order wasn\u2019t rescinded by the Justice Department. It was rescinded by Blanche himself. <\/em>In fact, Trump now says he \u201cwasn\u2019t involved\u201d in the revised plan. <\/p>\n

So why should we suppose that any future Trump attorney general will be bound by Blanche\u2019s order? <\/p>\n

Similarly, when we hear that \u201cthe White House claims\u201d that vandals caused damage to the bottom of the reflecting pool, we don\u2019t know who<\/em> in the White House made that deceitful claim. Did it originate with the vicious nativist, Stephen Miller; the fanatical Russell Vought; Trump\u2019s zombie chief of staff Susie Wiles; or with Trump himself?<\/p>\n

Read more Liabilities exposed as allies flee \u2018declining and fickle USA\u2019: war historian<\/a><\/p>\n

And when it\u2019s reported that District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro \u201cblamed the Department of Interior\u201d for her failed criminal case against David Hearn, a former Olympian whom she accused of damaging the Reflecting Pool, we don\u2019t learn the most important thing: Who\u2019s responsible for this fiasco? <\/p>\n

Did Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, mislead Pirro about Hearn\u2019s alleged behavior? Or did Trump instruct Burgum to blame the former Olympian for damaging the pool, rather than own up to the botched job? <\/p>\n

Trump had insisted for months that vandals were responsible for the damage, which gained national attention when the pool bottom began to peel and algae blooms turned the pool from blue to green.<\/p>\n

Pirro\u2019s office charged Hearn with \u201ca violent effort to rip up the sealant from the bottom of the pool\u201d and secured an indictment against him for felony destruction of government property \u2014 carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n

But in Friday\u2019s court filing, Pirro conceded that problems plaguing the newly renovated pool were caused by a \u201cbotched installation not vandalism\u201d and that, had the Department of the Interior \u201cbeen forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a serious matter. A U.S. attorney charged an American citizen with a crime that could have resulted in his serving 10 years in prison but then dropped the charges when it turned out that Trump \u2014 or was it Burgum? or someone else? \u2014 was just trying to save face. But we still don\u2019t know who\u2019s responsible. <\/p>\n

In the midst of the authoritarian chaos of the Trump regime, the public needs to know who\u2019s doing what. When is Trump giving orders to his lackeys? When are they making decisions on their own? What\u2019s legally binding, and on whom? Who\u2019s responsible for what? <\/p>\n

My friends, there will<\/em> be a reckoning. And when that reckoning occurs, the individuals who have enabled this dictator, or who have conspired and collaborated with him, will be identified and held to account for what they did or failed to do. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the current record of responsibility is so important. Rather than report that \u201cthe White House\u201d or the \u201cJustice Department\u201d or the \u201cInterior Department\u201d or some other building or agency did something, we need to know exactly who did what. <\/p>\n

Buildings and departments are not destroying the rule of law and undermining American democracy. Individuals are. The media must tell us whom to hold responsible. <\/p>\n

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https:\/\/robertreich.substack.com\/.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Republican Senate enablers can\u2019t stop coddling Trump \u2014 and it will backfire<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They hide behind agency names, but they won’t escape accountability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nThe reckoning coming for Trump's secret enablers - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4495\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The reckoning coming for Trump's secret enablers - Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"They hide behind agency names, but they won't escape accountability.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4495\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-06T16:09:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4495#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4495\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3\"},\"headline\":\"The reckoning coming for Trump’s secret enablers\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-06T16:09:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4495\"},\"wordCount\":983,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4495#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/3fa6d4d85fd2778176558dbd1a097b82.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4495#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4495\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4495\",\"name\":\"The reckoning coming for Trump's secret enablers - 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