Inside a plan to save America from MAGA’s 'thieves and vandals'

Although Donald J. Trump's first presidential campaign in 2000 was short-lived, his second in 2016 dramatically reshaped the Republican Party around the slogan "Make America Great Again." But many of President Trump's foes believe that he has created one crisis after another since returning to the White House 16 and one-half months ago. In an early June op-ed for The Hill, William S. Becker — who served in the U.S. Department of Energy under former President George W. Bush and is also a former official for the Wisconsin Department of Justice — calls for a "Take Back America movement" that will save the United States from MAGA's "thieves and vandals."

"Sixty years ago, after several women were attacked while walking alone after dark, Americans launched the 'Take Back the Night' movement, drawing attention to the fact that rapists and thieves had stolen women's right to feel safe in the simple act of walking home," Becker writes in The Hill. "Today, we need a broader 'Take Back America' movement because thieves have stolen our ideals, standards, symbols and words. The far right cloaked itself in the American flag and made it a symbol of hatred, intolerance, racism and insurrection. We need to take it back."

Becker, who now serves as executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP), continues, "Seditionists and militant groups also rewrote the very concept of patriotism, despite trying to overthrow the Constitution and wanting America to become a far different country than the one described in the Declaration of Independence. We need to take back the title of 'patriot.'"

The "Take Back America" movement that Becker envisions in his op-ed would be nonpartisan. The former U.S. Department of Energy and ex-Wisconsin DOJ official argues that because Trump and MAGA "have stolen one of the nation's two great political parties," it is necessary for "honorable and loyal Republicans" to "take it back."

"Trump has stolen the prestige and honor of the presidency," Becker warns. "Past presidents have been far from perfect, but we expected them to obey the law, remain faithful to the Constitution, and have high standards for the moral use of power. Trump serves himself rather than the country. He is conducting the most blatant, outrageous, and corrupt presidency in the nation's history…. We have allowed thieves, vandals, ideologues and power brokers to steal our country. It's time to take it all back."