As Democrats eye the prospect of taking back power in Washington, they seem intent not just on investigating President Donald Trump’s administration, but also on launching a cancel culture campaign that scares prospective young staffers away from public service.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., may have said too much last week at the University of Chicago when discussing “accountability” for the administration.
When asked about the prospect of impeaching Trump, Slotkin said she’d rather focus on “effectiveness,” and to “not just focus on the president, but on the people who enabled him.”
“I want young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration? That sounds fun. I might get an opportunity,'” she said. “I want them to be like, ‘Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want, so let me avoid participating in that.'”
“I want that deterrence message sent,” Slotkin emphasized.
SAYING THE QUIET PART OUT LOUD
Elissa Slotkin says @BasedMikeLee was lying about her remarks, but here's more context.
This is not accountability—it is the permanent politicization of public service.https://t.co/lwNOo1P0yD pic.twitter.com/nRcZ9ZuCSJ
— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) October 19, 2026
Critics online condemned her statement. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote, “It is absolutely disgraceful to threaten young Americans for participating in politics and serving their country.”
Slotkin accused Lee of “lying about what I said in this clip.”
“If you have aided in the corrupt use of U.S. taxpayer dollars to benefit the president or his family, or you have violated the law in order to carry out guidance from the president, you should be held accountable,” Slotkin wrote.
However, her response did not address Lee’s underlying concern. Slotkin didn’t just call for charges against people who broke the law—she called for “deterrence” of the kind that would make law-abiding college graduates reconsider serving in the Trump administration before they had ever done anything wrong.
Slotkin’s remarks also echoed a speech she made last month at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In that speech, she outlined “signature cases” and invoked Poland’s “Iron Broom” in calling for the purging of corruption in the Trump administration.
Before mentioning “deterrence,” Slotkin listed three Democratic priorities if they regain power: pocketbook legislation, accountability for what she called the administration’s “unbelievable corruption,” and “Trump-proofing” the government. She argued that many constraints on presidents had turned out to be norms rather than enforceable laws, and that shame no longer worked. The deterrence message she described sits inside those second and third priorities.
The Founders intended Congress to check the Executive Branch, and investigations based on suspicions of real wrongdoing are an important part of that mission.
Slotkin’s expressed desire for “deterrence” isn’t a mere matter of holding bad actors accountable, however. It’s about taking action against those who worked for the administration in order to raise the cost of serving so that prospective staffers treat it as a career risk.
It’s about the political weaponization of reputation—a tactic that has led some banks to deny services to conservatives out of fear of “reputational risk.”
If Democrats succeed in making service under a Republican administration a lasting professional liability, the effect will not be limited to the officials Slotkin has named. It will shrink the pool of capable people willing to staff future Republican administrations, while leaving Democrat staffers free of reciprocal risk. That is not accountability—it is the permanent politicization of public service.
Slotkin said she wants young people to get the message that a Trump administration job buys them “a ton of problems,” but she does not seem to have asked what it costs the country if both parties adopt that logic.
Once public service becomes a form of political contamination, only the least scrupulous characters will be willing to enter government service. This would only coarsen our public discourse further and turn politics into a war of all against all.
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
