President Trump chose one of his properties as the location of next year’s G-7 summit last week. After facing backlash from basically everyone, except for some Republicans from Florida like Marco Rubio, who thought it was “awesome,” Trump quickly backed out. 

Nevermind that his financially struggling golf resort is filled with bed bugs, anyone with an ounce of common sense could have told him that picking one of his own properties for an event like the G-7 was a bad idea. But the problem is that the president has surrounded himself with imbeciles and yes-men who blindly follow him. 

Even when defending the president’s actions, they are blatantly showing how little Trump cares about the presidency. In an interview with Chris Wallace, Mick Mulvaney stated that the White House was “surprised at the level of pushback,” and that Trump “still considers himself to be in the hospitality business.” Well, he isn’t running a hospitality business; he is the president of the United States. His inability to act like a decent human being is not an excuse to be so openly corrupt and self-serving.

From the start of his presidency, we could all see that Trump’s business would present a conflict of interest, and although he claimed that he was going to separate his business from his presidency, that has been an utter lie. Trump claimed that his sons would run his business and that they would keep their business away from the presidency, but they have violated that statement repeatedly. The president has repeatedly tweeted and publicly praised his own businesses throughout his presidency, and spent taxpayer money at his properties. All the trips to play golf in Mar A Lago were spent with taxpayer money, even though he claimed that he is not making any money off the presidency. Foreign leaders stay at his hotels to get some sort of sway. The Attorney General booked a Trump hotel for a $30,000 party. Donald Trump has enriched himself and his family by using the power of the presidency, and it is completely unacceptable. This level of corruption and incompetence shown in an administration has been unlike anything else the United States has seen.

To top it off, Trump has the audacity to claim that he is a victim of “phony emoluments clause.” Does he think he is above the Constitution of the United States? These rules help prevent corruption. Calling them “phony” only destabilizes what the Constitution stands for.

Hopefully, this serves as a wake-up call for republicans. They can’t ignore something so openly corrupt and self-serving as what the president tried to do. But who are we kidding? If they haven’t done anything against the president by now, they aren’t going to start stepping up now. 

Throughout modern history, the United States has been a beacon of progress and hope. Americans had a reputation of standing up for what was right. Despite its many missteps, the United States has been an example of institutional integrity and the current administration is tarnishing that hard-earned reputation. 

It is time for voters to step up for the challenge. American voters have to hold these incompetent leaders accountable and kick them out of office. It is unacceptable to have these buffoons in the White House make a joke of American values and institutions. We have to step up and show the world that these clowns do not represent what we stand and strive for.