Back in March, when the horror of Donald Trump’s presidency was still fresh, “Saturday Night Live” ran a faux movie trailer about a political hero. “It was a country in chaos,” a narrator dramatically intoned over a montage of frightening news footage. “A nation divided, led by a president of unchecked power.” The voice-over continued as a man in a camel coat walked resolutely up a set of stone steps: “Until one Republican decided enough was enough. A patriot who put country over party.” The camera panned toward his face: “A man by the name of …” The letters “TBD,” for to be determined, flashed on the screen.

Underlying the “S.N.L.” sketch was an assumption, which I shared, that the first elected Republican to truly take on the president would be showered in glory. For months, I was incredulous about the timidity of those Republicans in Congress who knew that Trump’s presidency was an abomination but refused to say so publicly. What job is worth such shameful complicity? Don’t they worry about the judgment of history?

This week, Republican senators Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona finally said what some of us have longed to hear from those in their position. On Tuesday, Corker told CNN that Trump will be remembered for the “debasement of our nation.” Later that day, Flake announced he wouldn’t be running for re-election, and excoriated Trump on the Senate floor. “We must never regard as normal the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals,” said Flake.

He denounced the administration’s “personal attacks, the threats against principles, freedoms and institution, the flagrant disregard for truth and decency.” Our children, he said, are watching: “When the next generation asks us: ‘Why didn’t you do something? Why didn’t you speak up?,’ what are we going to say?” It was a speech worthy of S.N.L.’s imaginary hero.