Dubbing itself an "online Justice League" of sorts, a progressive "Shadow Cabinet" launched Monday, filled with "citizen secretaries" tasked with debunking President Donald Trump's lies and putting forth substantive, democratic, and justice-based alternatives to his administration's right-wing agenda.
"Of course President Trump has legal legitimacy due to the Electoral College," the group wrote in a statement posted Monday morning on Twitter. "But he lacks moral legitimacy when he incessantly distorts, denounces, misdirects, cherry picks, and self-enriches in an almost Orwellian long con. Those engaging in daily disinformation deserve daily responses."
"Starting today," the statement continues, "we'll be a comprehensive, one-portal stop of 'citizen secretaries'--officials and scholars who will comment agency-by-agency not just on small 'lies' but especially on false narratives in the service of political ends."
A press statement identified the following "secretaries":
- Laurence Tribe, "Attorney General"--Constitutional law professor at Harvard Law School;
- Marielena Hincapie, "Immigration and Naturalization Services/Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Immigration"--Executive director, National Immigration Law Center;
- DeRay McKesson, "Justice Issues"--Civil rights activist and Black Lives Matter member;
- Robert Reich, "Labor/Commerce"--Former Labor Secretary and best-selling author;
- Laura Tyson, "Treasury/Trade"--American economist and former chair of the U.S. President's Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton Administration; professor at Berkeley's Hass Business School;
- David Cay Johnston, "IRS"--Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and author; founder of the new DCReport;
- Diane Ravitch, "Education"--New York University professor and author/editor of 24 books on education;
- Joan Claybrook, "Transportation"--Ex-head of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration;
- Robert Weissman, "Consumer Agencies"--President of watchdog group Public Citizen;
- S. David Freeman, "Energy & EPA"--Ex-head of Tennessee Valley Authority under President Jimmy Carter and senior advisor to Friends of the Earth;
- David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, "Health and Human Services"--co-founders Physicians for National Health Program and distinguished professors at CUNY/Hunter's Shchool of Public Health;
- Colin Kahl, "National Security/Terrorism"--Former Vice President Joe Biden's National Security advisor;
- Rosa Brooks, "State Department"--Former Department of Defense counselor and State Department advisor; Foreign Policycolumnist;
- Andrew Bacevich, "Defense Department"--Author and historian; Boston University Pardee School Global Affairs professor.
The group lists former New York City public advocate Mark Green as its "chief of staff," and Axiosreports that it was Green who assembled the cabinet "in six weeks of frantic phoning, emailing, and fundraising."
Several of the secretaries tweeted about the effort upon its launch:
And the group itself is tweeting as @ShadowingTrump. "Please follow us," the group wrote, "unless you think our democracy is working just fine."
