I'm starting to feel as though it is a lovely day in 1938, and I am a peaceable Czech farmer tilling the soil in my field in the Sudetenland.

Again on Monday, the president* copped publicly to an impeachable offense. Yes, he called the head of the Ukraine. Yes, he wanted the president's help in smearing Joe Biden for the purposes of getting re-elected to the office he's done so much to disgrace. This is not news. The president* and his half-mad bobo of a personal lawyer have been 'fessing up for three days now, and daring the custodians of 243 years of democratic republicanism to stop them. By the afternoon, he was accusing Biden of being "corrupt" while meeting with the president of Poland and the gaslight was at full wattage. And...

From The New York Times:

Seeking to apply political pressure to Republicans who have so far been unwilling to criticize Mr. Trump, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, warned that Republicans would be complicit in Mr. Trump’s actions if they failed to demand that the White House release a transcript of a call between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, and subpoena a related whistle-blower complaint. Doing otherwise, Mr. Schumer wrote in a letter to Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, would show Republicans to be “silent and submissive, shying away from this institution’s constitutional obligation to conduct oversight.”

From Politico:

A growing number of freshman Democrats in swing districts are rethinking their stance against impeachment after President Donald Trump’s alleged attempt to pressure Ukrainian officials for his own political gain — a shift that could put real pressure on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to act after months of resistance.

And from NBC News:

In a letter to colleagues, Pelosi said the administration "will be entering a grave new chapter of lawlessness which will take us into a whole new stage of investigation" if acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire fails to provide the complaint when he testifies in front of the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. The complaint reportedly centers around Trump's July conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during which Trump is accused of pressuring Zelensky to investigate Biden's son Hunter's role at a Ukrainian energy company.

There are four things that should be apparent to everyone.

Donald Trump has disgraced the office he holds. SAUL LOEB Getty Images

First, the president* and his administration* are willing to run their bluffs and spread their bluster until he brings the temple down on his own head. They are not going to cooperate. They are not going to provide documents. They are not going to respond to subpoenas.

Second, the Republicans in Congress are completely with the program and utterly hopeless as possible allies, and the Republicans in the administration* are a hapless chorus of cowards.

Third, the Department of Justice is utterly corrupt and utterly in the bag for a renegade presidency*.

Fourth, any action against this president* is going to have to come from the Democrats, and it's going to have to be fierce and unilateral. They are going to have to stop caring about "dividing the country." They are going to have to stop caring whether or not Max Rose gets reelected in 2020. They are going to have to come out, fiercely and unilaterally, against international bribery and extortion from the Oval Office as legitimate strategies in domestic political campaigns. What might happen is no longer relevant. The crisis is what is happening, right now, in plain view.

Once again, we have to draw strength from Ulysses S. Grant in the Wilderness:

"Oh, I am heartily tired of hearing about what Lee is going to do. Some of you always seem to think he is suddenly going to turn a double somersault, and land in our rear and on both of our flanks at the same time. Go back to your command, and try to think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do."

This should not be that difficult. Clock's ticking.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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