1) Some Republicans are starting to talk about what a Pence presidency would look like. They are already presuming that Trump will be gone soon.

Leading conservative commentator Mark Levin says the Trump administration is within a few steps of " being destroyed ." And no wonder, with Republicans and even members of Trump's own White House staff running from him like scalded dogs.

The scandals clouding Trump's presidency – including, most recently, his firing of FBI Director James Comey, his alleged leak of classified information to Russian officials, and reports that he urged Comey to drop an investigation into a top aide – have raised once more the possibility that Trump could be pushed aside and replaced by Vice President Mike Pence. "If what the [New York Times] reported is true, Pence is probably rehearsing," one House Republican who asked not to be named quipped Wednesday. "It's just like Nixon. From the standpoint that it's never the underlying issue, it is always the cover-up." Erick Erickson, a conservative pundit who was a strong Never Trumper but then pledged to give the president a chance, wrote on Wednesday that Republicans should abandon the president because they "have no need for him with Mike Pence in the wings."

2) It has just been revealed that House majority leader Kevin McCarthy alleged, in a recorded conversation, that President Trump is in the pay of Vladimir Putin.

A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress – House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy – made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin. "There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump," McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016, exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy's assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy.

3) Even staffers in the White House are getting ready to jump ship:

[M]id-level aides have started reaching out to consultants, shopping their resumes. And at least one senior staffer has begun privately talking to friends about what a post-White House job would look like, according to two people close the staffer. One Republican operative in frequent contact with White House officials described them as "going through the stages of grief." Another said some aides have "moved to angry," frustrated with a president who demands absolute loyalty but in recent days has publicly tarnished the credibility of his team by sending them out with one message, only to personally undercut it later with a contradicting tweet or public comment.

4) Some Republicans are even starting to talk about impeachment:

Republican congressman Justin Amash told The Hill that if reports were true about Mr Trump's pressure on Mr Comey, it would merit impeachment. In an interview with CNN, Republican representative Carlos Curbelo compared Mr Trump allegedly pressuring Mr Comey to drop the Flynn inquiry, to the obstruction of justice cases that led to impeachment proceedings for former presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. "Obstruction of justice in the case of Nixon, in the case of Clinton in the late 90s, has been considered an impeachable offence," Mr Curbelo said.

Nixon was brought down when Republicans turned away from him. Republicans are already running from Trump.

This is so sad! We all thought Trump would make America great again, and now he might not even be able to make it through the first year of his presidency! Is Mark Levin right? Is Trump just a few steps away from being given the boot?

Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com.