Today I wrote a second letter to the collective Congressional Republican leadership:
Dear Speaker Ryan:
I have written to you before on this matter, but new developments compel me to do so again. As before, I am not your direct constituent, but your position is such that I must appeal to you nevertheless.
Sir, your time is up. Your time is long past up. As I write this, the national media is showing loops of retired General Michael Flynn’s visit to federal court, to plead guilty to lying to the FBI, and his statement that he is actively cooperating with the Special Counsel investigation of Robert Mueller into the Trump campaign and administration.
From this day forward, every minute you continue to make excuses, overlook, and obstruct justice (morally if not legally) regarding the crimes of this President costs you and your party on an existential level. Donald Trump is not just unfit for office, an embarrassment to the nation and to your party, but a traitor, and it is now only a matter of time before that is proven in court. Allowing him to remain in office in the face of this reality is a dereliction of your duty of the highest order, and the longer you do so, the more serious the consequences for your party once you are left with no choice but to support his impeachment and trial for removal.
The writing is on the wall. Your only chance now to avoid the destruction of the Republican Party forever is to break your alliance of convenience with Donald Trump and remove him from office. Articles of Impeachment have already been submitted in the House. Apply your influence to bringing them to a vote. Support that vote in the affirmative. Urge your colleagues in the Senate to vote for removal.
Remember the lesson of Richard Nixon. When it became clear his presidency could not be salvaged, Republicans in Congress ensured that while his ouster did indeed harm their electoral chances in the next election, they were able to recover as a party quickly and usher in the Reagan era only a few years later. Trump’s crimes dwarf those of Nixon, and so the damage you have done your party by making common cause with him may be more lasting. But the alternative of continuing to back him as his closest advisors and family begin to fall to indictment after indictment, and it becomes ever-more undeniable that Donald Trump himself was and remains at the center of all their misdeeds – that path will lead to consequences far worse. The time will still come when you will have no choice but to support impeachment, but when that moment arrives, you will not be able to convince Trump to resign, for he is far less rational than Nixon, and you will not be able to convince him it is in his best interests. And he will call YOU a traitor, and the most extreme victims of propaganda will believe him, in spite of all evidence. And whether it is from prison or Trump Tower, he will lead those extremists out of the Republican Party altogether. The result will be that you and your colleagues will no longer have the votes to remain a viable national party ever again – of course, neither will Trump’s followers, but he does not care about that, and never did. He only cares that he can surround himself with sycophants, and bilk the gullible of their money for his own enrichment – and there will always be plenty such people to keep him happy.
For the sake of your own party’s future, you MUST impeach Donald Trump. It has the added benefit of being the right thing to do, and you know it.
CCed: Sen. Mitch McConnell, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Sen. Roy Blunt, Sen. Cory Gardner, Sen. John Barrasso, Sen. John Cornyn, Sen. John Thune, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Steve Scalise, Rep. Luke Messer, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers
Recite The Litany 