On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Deadline,” Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign manager, said President Donald Trump must be removed from office by impeachment or “we don’t live in the American republic that existed from 1787 until 2017.”

Schmidt said, “I think that the conduct from what we know about the testimony is pretty clear. He asked the president of Ukraine to launch an investigation on a political opponent, thus interfering in the election. And if you can do that to the former vice president of the United States, you can do it to every American. It’s utterly lawless. And so this is what the impeachment provisions in the Constitution were written for.”

He continued, “This country is not built on a cult of personality. When a member of Congress is sworn in, they don’t swear an oath to the head of the Republican Party or to Donald Trump. When a military officer takes their commission, they swear to defend the Constitution of the United States. And that’s what the question is. And so what hangs over this is the larger point. If this doesn’t meet the standard, what possibly could? Or do you believe which is a profound departure from the history of the country the president can do whatever he or she likes to do? And if the answer to that question is in the affirmative, we don’t live in the American republic that existed from 1787 until 2017. It’s a different type of country. And that’s why this is such a grave day because the question that’s coming is one of the most important questions that the country has ever faced.”

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