For Republicans in Congress, the anonymous op-ed came just in time. The need to question Bob Woodward’s credibility was immediately drowned out by the chorus of outrage over the coward who bragged of subverting the agenda of a duly elected president.

An unsigned proclamation in the New York Times, describing an underground within the administration that is working to thwart Trump’s worst impulses, has brought him to the darkest hour yet of his presidency. It confirms the findings of the Woodward’s book “Fear,” which confirm revelations from other reporting about the Trump presidency, which confirm what we learned from candidate Trump.

Trump will soon act to move the focus off of this humiliation. Whatever comes next isn’t likely to surprise or even shock, because chances are it has already been threatened. Rarely does this president fail to make himself clear. For all his claims of being unpredictable, stealthy he is not.

So just because GOP lawmakers ignore Trump doesn’t mean he isn’t shouting at them. On Wednesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell briefed him at the White House on the congressional agenda between now and Election Day. When reporters asked Trump if he is still willing to shut down the government over funding for his border wall, as he has threatened numerous times, he said, “If it's about border security, I'm willing to do anything. ... I'm willing to do what has to be done."

Hours later, McConnell was on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” telling Bret Baier: “No chance of a government shutdown. Zero.”

Trump is going to fire, or force the resignation of, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, likely hours after the polls close on Nov. 6, though it could come sooner. Trump’s goal is to replace Sessions with someone who will protect him from the Russia investigation because he believes Sessions betrayed him by following the rules and recusing himself from the probe. Though Trump may not fire Robert Mueller, the special counsel, his goal is to curtail, if not end, the investigation. He has said so.

On Sunday, the president staked a new, unconstitutional claim -- that the Department of Justice is a political arm of the White House. In yet another Sessions attack, he tweeted: “Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff..…”

A tepid response followed, which Trump was surely gauging. Ryan stepped out: “Justice is blind. Justice should be blind,” he said days later. Of course Sen. Ben Sasse was the most emphatic, stating in a tweet that “the United States is not some banana republic with a two-tiered system of justice - one for the majority party and one for the minority party.” And credit to Sens. Susan Collins, Jeff Flake and Lisa Murkowski, along with Rep. Justin Amash, for joining the lonely chorus. Other Republicans did their usual “lost-my-phone, umm, really hadn’t heard that yet” routine.

Sen. John Kennedy’s struggle to explain it on CNN’s “New Day,” when he was hoping to answer questions about Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, said it all. “I don't speak for the president," Kennedy said. "He's entitled to his opinion, and maybe he thinks the policy ought to change. I haven't talked to him about it. I just know that I think it's important to have a consistent policy."

Trump has lobbied Republican senators to turn against Sessions and has succeeded in bringing two influential leaders to his side: current Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and likely incoming Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham. Graham is trying to focus on Trump’s need to have an attorney general he gets along with, even insinuating the family separation crisis at the border is somehow Sessions’ fault and was executed without Trump’s approval. But there’s a presidential tweet for that: “I am sorry to have to reiterate that there are serious and unpleasant consequences to crossing the Border into the United States ILLEGALLY! If there were no serious consequences, our country would be overrun with people trying to get in, and our system could not handle it!”

What firing Sessions is about, which Graham knows, is Robert Mueller, and not children on the border. He has urged Sessions, openly, to end the investigation. Tweets like this aren’t exactly subtle: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further.”

The new line is even bolder. “I view it as an illegal investigation,” the president told Bloomberg last week, citing “great scholars” he saw on television who he said concluded “there never should have been a special counsel.”

Trump has complained, along with his television lawyer Rudy Giuliani, that the investigation has gone too far afield -- most recently with the conviction of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort -- because it was originally about Russian collusion. Yet the scope of the probe, as initiated by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, is broad, including the examination not only of "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated" with Trump's campaign, but also "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation."

Last week Trump said he may soon intervene in the probe, which weeks ago he said he could lead: “I could go in, and I could do whatever -- I could run it if I want.” At a rally in Indiana he warned: “What’s happening is a disgrace and at some point -- I wanted to stay out -- but at some point if it doesn’t straighten out properly … I will get involved.” This wasn’t a new concept, as Trump said in May he had “powers” to intervene. “At some point I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!” he tweeted four months ago.

Giuliani, who reportedly doesn’t want Trump to fire Mueller, has conceded it’s his job to ruin Mueller’s reputation. He also told the New Yorker that the administration could block public disclosure of a final report from the special counsel investigation on the grounds of executive privilege.

Congressional Republicans have repeatedly refused to pass legislation to protect the Russia probe. So they have no problem with Trump firing Sessions, or Mueller or any attempts by Trump to interfere with the investigation. Because if, behind closed doors, they actually do – then they are cowards.