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If Senate Democrats really want a special prosecutor and an independent investigation into just how entangled with the Russians popular vote loser Donald Trump really is, they're going to have to force the issue. Even after FBI Director James Comey was fired by Trump, and Trump admitted he was obstructing justice in the firing, Republicans aren't going to act. They aren't going to stand up to the would-be despot, not yet anyway.
Even Republicans who’ve criticized the timing behind the abrupt firing aren’t yet willing to trigger a confrontation with the Trump administration by demanding an independent counsel.
“I say, let’s see who he nominates to replace Comey,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who tweeted after Comey’s firing that he could not find an “acceptable rationale” for its timing, said of a special prosecutor. “You never rule anything out, but I’m not going there. I don’t want to jeopardize the Senate investigation going on.”
It’s a familiar dance between Donald Trump and the congressional GOP: Trump does something widely seen as a brazen violation of political norms. Even as some Republicans call him out, most defend Trump’s actions or decline to take action directly challenging his administration.
In this case, Republicans are hoping Trump will soon name a new FBI director who's respected by members of both parties, and that congressional investigations into Russian meddling will proceed.
Trump is not going to name a director that Democrats respect. Trump's going to name a lackey who will promise to end the Russian investigations. That's just a given. McConnell will push that nominee through, perhaps giving Flake and one other Republican vulnerable in 2018—Dean Heller (R-NV)?—permission to vote against him, knowing that Vice President Mike Pence can break a tie.
That is how they roll. Holding onto the idea that business can be conducted as usual, as Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) appears to be, is an exercise in naive futility. And allowing McConnell to force through Trump's agenda without resisting at every possible moment is an act of complicity on the part of Democrats. There's just one choice for Democrats—shut the Senate down. That means using every tool at their disposal to delay votes, to prevent committees from acting, to stop the Senate from doing more damage than it already has.