Be sure to check out this morning’s Capitol Broadcasting Company editorial on WRAL.com (“Presidential character, honesty matter. Congress needs to account for Trump”), which calls out Donald Trump once again for his serial dishonesty and immorality and the embarrassingly craven behavior of North Carolina’s Republican congressional delegation in enabling Trump, and even egging him on.

The latest chapter in this tragic saga emerged yesterday when Trump told ABC News that he would be open to receiving information provided by a foreign government on a political opponent. As Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times explains this morning:

In a new interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos, parts of which were released on Wednesday evening, Donald Trump announced his willingness to betray and subvert American democracy, again. Asked what he would do if he were offered foreign dirt on an opponent in 2020, he said he’d take it, and pooh-poohed the idea of calling federal law enforcement. “Oh, let me call the F.B.I.,” he said derisively. “Give me a break, life doesn’t work that way.” That Trump has no loyalty to his country, its institutions and the integrity of its elections is not surprising. That he feels no need to fake it is alarming. With the end of Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation, House Democrats’ craven fear of launching an impeachment inquiry, and the abject capitulation of Republicans to Trumpian authoritarianism, the president is reveling in his own impunity.

The CBC editorial offered this on-the-money take:

It is painful to watch and listen to President Donald Trump. There seems to be no end to the deception, disrespect, arrogance, meanness and plain old lying. He even says it is OK to take information about his political opponents from foreign governments and not bother to alert the FBI. This has nothing to do with politics or policies. It is all about character and the corruption of core values.

To see sobering confirmation that Trump’s latest treachery seemed not to bother Senator Thom Tillis, check out the news that emerged late yesterday after Tillis was asked what he would do if he received dirt on his opponent from a foreign government. According to multiple news outlets (click here and here), Tillis seemed to indicate that while he would contact the FBI, he would also be open to using the information.

Again, the CBC editorial:

North Carolina voters didn’t elect senators who would tolerate lying – especially on the scale exhibited by Trump. Yet Thom Tillis and Richard Burr haven’t uttered a peep of concern. They owe their constituents an explanation…. What does Donald Trump have to do – how extreme does it have to get – before Congress does its job. That job is to stand up to lying, demand the president tell the truth and act within the Constitution. Even in Donald Trump’s Washington character must count. Demanding that a president is honest and his comportment match the high station of the office isn’t liberal or conservative. It’s the duty of Congress. Honesty and integrity must matter.