As consequential as this week was for this country, too many Americans barely paid attention. Nothing happening in Washington seems to surprise them anymore, including the farce perpetrated by Republican members of Congress who pledged their allegiance to President Trump by invading a closed impeachment inquiry hearing.

Worse than that spectacle was the sight of Russian boss Vladimir Putin smirking as he and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, met to decide how to divvy up northern Syria. Trump set the stage for that humiliating photo op by abandoning the Kurds, who settled in the region and fought alongside U.S. troops against Islamist terrorists.

Every American ally should have been shaken by Trump’s cavalier treatment of the Kurds, whose friendship with this country seemed solid just weeks ago. The world is beginning to understand what too many in this country are still reluctant to accept — that political expedience means more to Trump than any moral or constitutional obligation.

This president has denigrated virtually every institution that plays an important role in ensuring the integrity of American democracy, including Congress, the courts, our law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and the news media, which Trump falsely accuses of disseminating “fake news” to manipulate supporters who prefer his version of the truth.

That includes the Republican cabal that delayed a House Intelligence Committee hearing Wednesday for five hours. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., accused Democratic committee chairman Adam Schiff of “holding secret impeachment depositions.” That’s utter nonsense. Republican members of the various committees investigating Trump have been part of the proceedings all along. Besides, Gaetz, who is not on Schiff’s committee, is a lawyer. He knows depositions are typically taken behind closed doors but may be disclosed during trial.

That trial will come only if the House after completing its inquiry decides there is enough evidence to convince the full House, after an open debate, to send articles of impeachment to the GOP-controlled Senate. There’s nothing illegitimate about that constitutional process. It was good enough for Republicans when they impeached Bill Clinton, who was not removed by the Senate. It should be good enough for Trump.

The protest came after Trump urged Republicans to be more aggressive. The act of desperation is understandable. Testimony by hearing witnesses has supported a whistleblower’s allegation that Trump tried to push Ukraine into opening a criminal investigation of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son Hunter by withholding nearly $400 million in promised military aid.

Biden’s son served on the board of a Ukrainian gas producer, Burisma Holdings Ltd., during Biden’s term as vice president. That company later became the focus of a Ukrainian corruption investigation. No evidence of wrongdoing by the Bidens was found. Nonetheless, Trump allegedly wanted the case reopened to damage the elder Biden’s election campaign.

That would be a textbook example of abuse of power — using a public office to seek a private gain.

It’s time to find out the truth. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn could help that happen by urging fellow Republicans to stop trying to block the impeachment inquiry. Instead, Cruz has been relatively quiet and Cornyn, who faces reelection next year, has embraced the president even tighter.

Cornyn even defended Trump’s retreat from Syria. “If Turkey was planning on coming into northern Syria and trying to ethnically cleanse the Kurds, and U.S. troops were caught in the middle, I am not completely convinced that it was a bad idea to get them out of harm's way,” he told reporters in a call Wednesday.

Many Americans agree it’s time to reduce our foreign entanglements, but not by abruptly abandoning friends who as a result will face certain death. We want leaders who can do better than that. We need members of Congress who, to borrow a line from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, will give “their last full measure of devotion” to their country, not a presidential administration.