On October 20, 1973, President Nixon fired Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, an event that later came to be known as the Saturday Night Massacre. The Watergate Investigation continued, and President Nixon was eventually forced to retire in the face of his near-certain impeachment conviction—but the Saturday Night Massacre came to be an emblematic moment in the investigation, the moment when Nixon tacitly admitted his guilt.
Donald Trump, in an act that positively begs for comparison to Nixon’s rash actions on that ignominous night in October of ‘73, fired the FBI Director leading the investigation into his and his campaign’s possible treasonous ties to the Russian government tonight. Unlike in Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre, our current Republican-controlled government has not taken any steps to ensure a proper investigation into our current president’s probably-illegal election campaign has taken place.
That’s why the Democrats in Congress have to step up. Now.
While we do not control either house of Congress, or the Presidency, we still have power. The Democrats—and the dozens of House Republicans who may be vulnerable in 2018—can and should employ every possible delaying mechanism on every bill, appointment, and motion in both houses of Congress until a truly independent special prosecutor is appointed to investigate the president’s election campaign’s collusion with a hostile foreign power. This day will go down in history as the day Donald Trump admitted his campaign colluded with Russia to secure his election. The Democrats must treat this day as the world-historical moment it is, and be prepared to do everything they can to ensure that the American republic is truly protected from every threat—both foreign and domestic.