AN press secretary who speaks the truth. An independent justice department that respects the rule of law. A president who didn’t tweet conspiracy theories in the early hours of the morning. After four bleak years and a near-death experience for American democracy, it would be comforting to conclude that nature is healing. Our political protections have been maintained. The Trump was nothing more than a temporary point.
But such complacency would be a terrible mistake. What we see at the dawn of Biden’s presidency is not the restoration of norms, but the establishment of double standards.
Yes, it is commendable that the next Democratic government promises to behave responsibly, but it is far from guaranteed that future republican governments will do the same. In fact, as things stand today, it is practically guaranteed that this will not happen.
Just look at a brief history of the White House’s ethical promise. In 2000, when George W Bush took office, Republicans bet everything on the “K Street Project”, formally integrating lobbyists into the formulation of conservative policies and vice versa. Industries that donated to Republican candidates and hired Republican officials had access to party leaders. Those who didn’t did not go.
The Bush administration’s paid approach to gambling – and the ensuing Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal – eroded public confidence in the government. In response, President Obama put into practice the strictest ethical promise in history. He forbade lobbyists to serve in his administration, he forbade members of his administration to become lobbyists, and, in general, he tried to block the revolving door between public service and influence peddling.
This was clearly the right thing to do. However, President Obama has rarely received credit for doing the right thing. Instead, the promise’s ambition was soon taken for granted by the Washington press, while its imperfections – the resignations granted to lobbyists deemed too essential to be excluded from the government – made news. Donald Trump managed to run for office with the promise to drain the swamp. After winning, he diluted the requirements he inherited. On his last day in office, he destroyed his own ethical promise, freeing former members of the Trump administration to lobby as and who they wanted.
In the meantime, President Trump – who served half of President Obama’s time – hired more than four times as many lobbyists to serve in his government. However, Trump’s low standards have not remained worthy of news. Like Obama’s high standards, they were soon taken for granted by the press.
Now the situation has changed again. The Biden administration has unveiled the most rigid ethical promise in history, based on President Obama’s lobbying bans, covering not only the registered lobby, but also the so-called “parallel lobby” that has long served as an ethical gap. It is another big step forward. But it is also a reminder that Democrats and Republicans are on two totally different trajectories. If the past is a prologue, Biden will face more criticism if he fails to perfectly implement his high standards than Trump faced because he has virtually no standards. And, instead of feeling any political or moral obligation to follow Biden’s example, the next Republican government will continue exactly where the last president of his party left off.
In other words, Democrats and Republicans follow different rules. And not just when it comes to ethical promises and lobbying bans. We now know that many of the principles we once imagined were the pillars of our democratic society – respect for the truth; the belief in the importance of a free press; the rejection of nepotism; a commitment to honor election results not just in victory, but in defeat – are sustained almost entirely by the good faith of politicians. And, as we’ve learned in the past four years, in American politics, bad faith is hardly at fault.
That is why it is not enough to inaugurate an administration that models good behavior. We must ensure that we create high standards that apply to everyone.
This begins with changing the political incentives that currently punish leaders who try to act responsibly and reward those who do not. Some members of the press will certainly be tempted to return to their own version of normalcy – one in which Obama’s beige suit is a scandal, Joe Biden’s Peloton is a political responsibility, and Republicans are generally assumed to behave as arsonists while Democrats behave like adults. Yes, the press must hold the Biden Administration accountable. But it would be a disservice to the American public to pretend that the past four years have not happened, or to take it for granted that most Republican politicians will behave like arsonists and most Democratic politicians will try to behave like adults.
Nor is it just the press – and other equally non-partisan institutions – that should do more to prevent the emergence of double standards. Democrats currently control both houses of Congress. They must use this control to codify rules into laws. At previous congresses, for example, Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced a bill that contains and expands the provisions of Obama and Biden’s ethical promises. Similar bills may make it more difficult to oppose certification of a fair and free election, use the justice department as a political weapon or depend on corrupt dark money to finance campaigns. More importantly, the legislation can do what the good faith of politicians cannot – restrict the behavior of not only Democrats, but also Republicans.
If we do not take this opportunity to restore the norms that allow our political system to function, we may not have another chance. Perhaps the Republican Party, encouraged by Trumpism and strengthened by gerrymandering and electoral repression, will develop a more strategic and successful model of authoritarianism. Or perhaps a new generation of Democrats, convinced that our institutions will not act to protect their own fundamental principles, will decide that abandoning those principles is the only way to ensure that Trumpism does not reappear.
If that race to the bottom defines American policy, the entire country will lose. But that is why the beginning of the Biden Era is a time of relief. We have not turned the page on a terrible chapter in American history. But finally, together, we can. For the first time in four years, America’s most powerful institutions are run almost entirely by people who care about our democracy and want it to survive. They should make the most of this moment, not only to clean the low bar set by the previous administration, but to raise the bar for future administration before it is too late.