I noticed that no Congressional Republicans rushed to appear on the cable news channels this afternoon to address the news that Trump’s former campaign manager, who also worked for Russian Ukrainian puppet Viktor Yanukovych, was convicted of eight federal crimes which could send him to jail for the rest of his life.  They certainly didn’t want to address the situation where in the process of pleading guilty to several federal crimes, Trump’s person lawyer and “fixer” stated in open court that Trump coordinated with him and directed him to break federal campaign funding laws – felonies.

Congressional Republicans are keeping a very low profile today, and who can blame them. They don’t want to explain why their president, who promised to hire “only the best people, hired these two swamp monsters.  They certainly didn’t want to discuss the legal implication that if Trump didn’t occupy the Oval Office, he would have been indicted on federal charges along with Cohen. However, while they might be running for cover today, they won’t be able to hide from reporters’ questions going forward.

Today was a turning point.  Now there is tangible indications that the President of the United States is guilty of federal crimes.  That’s a game changer.  If the end is not near, we can see it from here. On the other hand, Trump’s chronically uninformed and politically perverted base is very unlikely to let a few inconvenient facts get in the way of their unconditional support of their idol.  Congressional Republicans face a nasty dilemma – they can either continue to support Trump as he goes down in flames and takes them with him, or they can put country first and effectively end their careers as Republican politicians.

Either way, I don’t like their chances except the reddest of red districts, and even then . . . .   Politicians seem to think in the short term, so I suspect that at least for the time being they will at a minimum refuse to criticize Trump.  They will want to try to ensure that they are able win their party’s nomination and maintain the enthusiastic support of Trump’s base in their general elections.  However, the events today will do nothing if not build the blue wave already sweeping towards the November elections.  I can see people voting for Democrats if for no other reason than to install a congressional check on this increasingly unstable and malignant presidency.

If Congressional Republicans would take my advice, and of course they won’t, they would start acting in accordance to their congressional responsibilities as a check of an executive branch gone which has gone off of the rails. At least then they could look themselves in the eye when they confront their images in their mirrors.

Cajun     8/21/2018