America Must Begin Planning Now for Comprehensive, Law-Based Accountability for Trump's Second Administration
Source: David Kaye. "I have a plan to hold Trump accountable for his second administration.." October 21, 2026. slate.com
The Gist
The author says Trump's second term has involved so many crimes and abuses that the country needs a serious plan to hold officials responsible. Congress can only do so much while Trump is in power, so the real work starts in 2029, and planning should begin now. The plan includes prosecutions, firing and reforms, and a national truth commission, modeled on what other democracies have done.
Conclusion
Congressional leaders and experts across the political spectrum should begin planning now for a comprehensive, long-term accountability agenda for the Trump administration. It should combine criminal prosecution by an independent DOJ, civil liability, lustration, legal reforms, and a Truth Commission, to be implemented starting in January 2029.
Premises
- The Trump administration since January 2025 has committed unprecedented crimes, corruption, and abuses, including defying court orders, unlawful killings and deportations, vindictive prosecutions, self-dealing, and attacks on democratic institutions.
- Public demand for accountability is growing, as shown by polling on prosecutions and by bestselling books on impunity, even though Americans doubt that leaders will ever be held accountable.
- Congressional oversight, though necessary, will be limited and bumpy because Trump officials will stonewall and block subpoenas, Republicans and allied media will frame it as partisan, and Congress is unpopular.
- Real accountability backed by force of law can therefore begin only once an administration committed to democracy replaces Trump in January 2029.
- Without legal consequences, impunity will guarantee the return of antidemocratic forces and deepen societal cynicism.
- The scale and secrecy of the abuses require measures beyond prosecution: lustration, closing legal loopholes, disbarment proceedings, institutional gatekeeping, and a department-by-department Truth Commission.
- Other democracies (Brazil, South Korea, South Africa, Germany, Poland, and others) have used such mechanisms as a matter of course, so the U.S. can adapt them.
Assumptions
- A future administration after Trump will be committed to democratic accountability and will have the political capacity to implement it.
- The actions described are unlawful and criminally or civilly actionable, despite Supreme Court immunity rulings and weakened anti-corruption law.
- Accountability measures can be framed as rule of law rather than retribution, and the public will accept that framing.
- Lessons from other democracies transfer to the U.S. constitutional and political context.
- Early planning will improve the legitimacy and effectiveness of later accountability efforts.
- Impunity causes the return of authoritarianism, rather than accountability efforts provoking backlash.