Office Hours: How do we restore accountability in America?

Trump, Musk, GOP candidates sworn to the Big Lie -- is democracy doomed?

My friends, we seem to be living through an age of non-accountability.

1. A president of the United States refuses to concede an election for the first time in American history and proceeds to promote a big lie that the election was stolen from him. Then he tries to persuade politicians across the nation to side with him and reverse the election outcome, incites an attack on the United States Capitol, and makes his Big Lie the litmus test for Republican candidates.

What happens to him? Nothing.

2. This weekend, Big Lie proponents Kristina Karamo and Matt DePerno secured their nominations to respectively be the GOP candidates for secretary of state and attorney general in Michigan. If they win in November, they'll hold considerable power over what votes get counted and what don't in the key swing state.

Meanwhile, the crucial secretary of state race in Georgia is nail-bitingly close: Incumbent Brad Raffensperger (whom Trump phoned on January 2, 2021, urging that Raffensperger “find 11,780 votes” in Georgia—one more than Trump needed to win the state) is ahead of Big Lie proponent Rep. Jody Hice 28% to 26% (within the margin of error). Hice, karamo, and DePerno are part of a nationwide wave of Trump loyalists seeking election to positions where they'll control the counting of ballots.

What’s the public reaction to this potential takeover of America’s election machinery? Silence.  

3. On Monday, Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, bought Twitter – which (like it or not) has become one of the world’s largest and most influential media platforms. Musk calls Twitter “the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.” But now he alone makes the rules. Under Musk’s “absolutist” view of free speech, he hints he’ll allow Trump back on to spew his Big Lie and endless other lies. (Will he allow Marjorie Taylor Greene? Vladimir Putin?)

To whom is Musk accountable to in making these decisions? No one.

So here’s today’s Office Hours question (and it’s a big one): How do we restore accountability in America?