This week saw a shameful attempt by the Trump Administration to out the whistleblower who exposed the Trump/Ukraine story. Numerous right-wing media organizations and politicians sought to expose the person who brought this story to light, including the President himself.
This really should teach us why whistleblowers are so important to shining a light on corruption in the government. From the famous whistleblowers of the 1970s who exposed atrocities in Vietnam and the corruption of the Nixon Administration to more recent ones like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, whistleblowers have played a key part in providing information to the citizens of America.
We have also seen time and time again that those in power will do anything they can to prevent whistleblowers from exposing their secrets. While others in these situations have stopped at just threatening legal action against whistleblowers, Trump has threatened to expose the whistleblower entirely.
I hope this causes the American people to look deeply and realize that we need to increase protections on whistleblowers, because without them, who knows what we would know about the government. Without whistleblowers, Richard Nixon’s corrupt actions never would have been exposed and without Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, Americans would be in the dark about NSA surveillance.
Finally, to the people in the media who have worked to expose the current whistleblower, shame on you. This whistleblower is giving the American people information about a potential criminal act taking place in the White House and you are too busy focusing on defending the President to realize that.
It is even more shameful to see actual elected politicians trying to expose the whistleblower. These Congresspeople like Senator Rand Paul (R, KY) and Representative Jim Jordan (R, OH-04) should know better than to try to out a whistleblower.
To make this perfectly clear, no matter which side of the political aisle you are on, it is crucial that we protect whistleblowers.
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