Democracy Wire

President Trump has paid little attention to federal ethics requirements since he took office and starting today – unfortunately - he’ll probably pay even less.

President Trump is continuing and arguably intensifying his Twitter tirade on journalism, threatening the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of the press in the process.

It went mostly unnoticed as Americans took off on Friday for an extended holiday weekend, but Rhode Island is about to become the ninth state to automatically add to its voter rolls qualified citizens who do business with state agencies.

In the past week, as the Trump administration has sought an array of personal information about voters from state government databases, a bipartisan and nationwide assortment of state officials has undertaken a welcome and very constitutional defense of states’ rights to resist federal overreach.

The 2016 election showed clearly that Russia has the will and the ability to manipulate critical U.S. electoral and governmental systems. Russia’s actions have shown the world that the U.S. government is no longer independent from foreign exploitation.

In a post-Citizens United age, when corporations and interest groups can spend whatever they like to influence our elections, it’s more important than ever that we make sure that every American can be heard.