We begin today’s roundup with the Washington Post’s editorial calling on Republicans to be on the right side of history when it comes to holding Donald Trump accountable:
Some representatives are exhibiting courage, including several Democrats in swing districts who have announced they will vote for impeachment even at the risk of losing their seats. “There are some decisions in life that have to be made based on what you know in your bones is right,” wrote Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) in an op-ed published Monday. A few Republicans, such as Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.), have at least acknowledged that Mr. Trump’s actions toward Ukraine were improper, while questioning whether they justify removal from office.
Yet many Republicans appear intent on refusing to engage seriously with the articles of impeachment and the evidence behind them. [...]
Republicans as well as Democrats must invest the impeachment process with the gravity it should have as the ultimate constitutional check on presidential abuses. The alternative is to open the way for Mr. Trump to abuse his office with impunity.
At The New York Times, Republicans George T. Conway III, Steve Schmidt, John Weaver and Rick Wilson urge Republicans to do the right thing:
Mr. Trump and his fellow travelers daily undermine the proposition we as a people have a responsibility and an obligation to continually bend the arc of history toward justice. They mock our belief in America as something more meaningful than lines on a map.
Our peril far outstrips any past differences: It has arrived at our collective doorstep, and we believe there is no other choice. We sincerely hope, but are not optimistic, that some of those Republicans charged with sitting as jurors in a likely Senate impeachment trial will do likewise.
American men and women stand ready around the globe to defend us and our way of life. We must do right by them and ensure that the country for which they daily don their uniform deserves their protection and their sacrifice.
Meanwhile, here’s Jonathan Capehart’s piece on Lindsay Graham’s hypocrisy:
“Lindsey ... A cycle ago? Two cycles ago? He was every Democrat’s favorite Republican in South Carolina. Pragmatic, consensus builder, get things done,” Steve Benjamin told me when I interviewed him last month. Benjamin is the Democratic mayor of Columbia, S.C., who has known and worked with Graham for years. “We just don’t recognize Senator Graham anymore. We just don’t recognize him. He was pretty effective and pragmatic until just a few years ago when things started to change pretty dramatically,” Benjamin said.
Over at USA Today, Matt Cartwright, a Democrat who represents a district in Pennsylvania that Trump won by 10 points in 2016, explains why he supports impeachment:
If true, these allegations describe misconduct even worse than that committed by President Richard Nixon. Evidence has surfaced that President Trump’s actions subverted both national security and American electoral sovereignty, abuses of office that even Nixon never committed. [...] The evidence and lack of any rebuttal point clearly to President Trump’s attempt to use taxpayer funds to bribe a foreign leader to boost his own political prospects. It shows he threatened our national security, jeopardized the integrity of our democracy and since then has obstructed justice by refusing to obey properly issued subpoenas.
Law professor Jonah Gelbach at The Los Angeles Times explains how Democrats can call the Republicans’ bluff:
The time has come for congressional Democrats to call the Republicans’ bluff [on the GOP’s sham “hearsay” argument]: They should go to court to compel testimony from key members of Trump’s inner circle who have firsthand knowledge of the president’s dealings with Ukraine, including former national security advisor John Bolton and White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. These witnesses should tell the House what they know, under oath, even if that means delaying a vote on the articles of impeachment.
On a final note, Michelle Goldberg previews the rallies that will take place across the country today:
For some reason, though, I rarely hear pundits wagging their fingers at Republicans about the price they’ll pay for clinging to a president who is consistently out of step with mainstream American values. I suspect that’s because the media tends to unconsciously accept Republican ideas about who constitutes an “average American,” so that the majority of Americans who oppose Trump are treated like an elitist fringe. [...]
Ultimately, there’s no way to know how small polling fluctuations on impeachment now will affect an election that’s almost a year away. But Trump’s skill at intimidating the political class into believing that he is anything but historically reviled still matters. It keeps his supporters in line and demoralizes his opponents. That’s why, with an impeachment vote in the House expected on Wednesday, it’s important for anti-Trump America to make itself visible.
For months now, many people, myself included, have looked at mass protest movements around the world and wondered why Americans horrified by the depravity of this administration aren’t taking to the streets. Well, on Tuesday evening, in every part of the country, many will be.