It’s time for the adults to come back into the room.
News from President Donald Trump’s former legal attack dog, Michael Cohen, was the tipping point last week. The president’s protector-turned-persecutor said he is willing to testify that Trump lied about not knowing his campaign was meeting with Russians to get and spread dirt on Hillary Clinton before the 2016 election.
It’s still unknown what FBI special investigator Robert Mueller will conclude, but it’s now unthinkable that the developing case against Trump for colluding with Russians and trying to obstruct investigations shouldn’t move from the court of public opinion into the U.S. House and Senate.
For most Americans, it’s unbelievable that Trump hasn’t already faced at the very least a Benghazi-style congressional grilling and, more realistically, a proposal for impeachment in the House.
That’s because a Congressional caucus is moving far beyond complicity.
A large and growing gang of Republicans in the House and Senate, many of whom belong to the House Freedom Caucus, have repeatedly refused to entertain legislation that would force Trump to even reveal his taxes so Americans can ensure he hasn’t illegally used Trump Foundation funds for business and campaign purposes.
Worse, key members of Congress have also worked hard to undermine Department of Justice officials and wrongly discredit them in hopes of derailing results of a long-awaited investigation into allegations of collusion and obstruction.
The GOP Freedom Caucus and those who go along with this insanity are more than willing to hand Trump a get-out-of-impeachment-free card right now.
Nothing could be more dangerous for Trump and all of America than undermining the judicial process that will decide the fate of his embattled presidency.
If the Republican House Freedom Caucus were to be successful in ousting key people in the Department of Justice so they can scuttle the FBI investigation intro allegations of collusion and obstruction, Trump’s already beleaguered reign would be hammered under a storm suspicion until he’s finally ushered out of office in about two years.
If Trump and his campaign did not work with Russians and their agents to undermine Clinton’s presidential campaign, and if Trump did not illegally work to scuttle an investigation into those allegations, then a full, fair and open impeachment hearing in the House will settle the matter.
But the Congress we have would never conduct the impeachment hearings that will serve both Trump and Americans.
It doesn’t mean that only a Democratic-controlled House and Senate can provide justice to all Americans. It does mean that many of those Republicans who are complicit with Trump in trying to undermine justice must be ousted or nullified.
And that’s up to voters.
Every one of the 435 voting members of Congress must make clear whether they would vote to hold an impeachment hearing so Trump can either be vindicated or evicted.
Trump has evolved from being a loathsome, racist dullard whom almost every newspaper in this country warned against to being a dangerous dictator-like tyrant. Trump is a treacherous and prolific liar who now actively works to undermine public confidence in American institutions so that he can control information to voters through his own propaganda channels.
His disinformation campaign now affects millions of Americans who, for whatever reason, choose to go along with it.
If we allow Trump and his complicit cronies in Congress to force all of us to live under his Orwellian alternate reality, we are lost as a nation and as a society.
Every candidate and returning member of the House and Senate must make clear now through Election Day whether they will vote to hold a full and fair impeachment hearing, and possibly a Senate trial.
Imbeciles who would recklessly endanger our nation for political expediency or their own nefarious purposes must be sidelined.
It’s time for the adults to take back control of the Congress so this generation can know whether this president is a crook and act on it.
Follow @EditorDavePerry on Twitter and Facebook or reach him at 303-750-7555 or dperry@SentinelColorado.com