“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims… but accomplices,” George Orwell wrote.

No example of such a politician is more clear to Illinoisians than former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who essentially tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama after he was elected president in 2008. On Feb. 18, President Donald Trump commuted Gov. Blagojevich’s sentence and the disgraced governor has since returned to Illinois after serving only eight of his fourteen-year sentence.

Every Illinoisian should feel outraged by this decision.

Through his actions, President Trump has proven to all Illinoisians that he is ethically incapable of carrying out his Constitutional duties. Instead, his model of politics empowers those who exploit the public trust for personal gain.

Especially in a state like Illinois which has a long history of corrupt politicians, fraud and corruption are among the most serious of crimes because the greed of the perpetrators dishearten and diminish our dwindling faith in government.

For good reason, Illinoisians already are the least confident in their state government out of any state, according to a Gallup poll — four of our last eleven governors have gone to prison for corruption, and a decision like Trump’s will, without a doubt, set public trust and anti-corruption efforts back.

Most Republicans, including Illinois Congressional Republicans and some prominent conservative commentators like Steven Crowder, oppose Trump’s pardon, yet some people still argue Blagojevich served enough of his 14-year sentence.

This is not the case as Gov. Blagojevich refused to apologize in an interview with Fox News. He said, “I broke no laws, I crossed no lines.” He then continued to say “there was no quid pro quo” and that people should direct their anger “in the direction of the prosecutors who did this to me, and many of whom are the same people who are doing it to President Trump.”

His lack of remorse proves that he did not serve enough of his sentence since he took Trump’s commutation as justification to proclaim his innocence.

Blagojevich’s rhetoric is eerily similar to the rhetoric used by Trump against those prosecuting him, demonstrating how the lack of accountability on Trump’s actions has empowered Blagojevich to claim innocence.

As we’ve seen in Illinois, it is not enough to simply elect anti-corruption politicians like Lori Lightfoot and Bruce Rauner, there must be accountability from a national-scale. Trump must be held accountable for his ethical corruption, so other politicians will not be empowered to betray the public trust with the belief that they can get away with it.

Unfortunately, the Justice Department couldn’t hold Trump accountable for his obstruction, and the Senate couldn’t do it for his abuse of power. Thus, the 2020 presidential election is the final stopgap to determine whether the American people will hold power responsible or act as accomplices in Trump’s corruption.