Michael J. Stern

Opinion columnist

When my 14-year-old dishwasher broke last month, you’d think I’d have had the common sense not to give in to my craving for ribs. For what seemed like hours, I tried to scrub away the greasy filth that corrupted my once honorable baking pan. Despite its war-torn façade, there was never a doubt that righteous dedication would lift the oily stain. Physics told me so.

But since the day he proclaimed he could shoot a man on 5th Avenue and not lose a single vote, political physics has never applied to the moral dumpster that is President Donald Trump. Until now.

Trump is having a bad month. Not bad in a toilet paper dangling from his shoe while boarding Air Force One kind of way. Bad in a way that could imperil his presidency. Yes, we’ve heard this before, but this time feels different. This time, every presidential misstep takes place in the context of an active congressional impeachment proceeding.

A bad week and another one coming

The next development could be Tuesday with a deposition from Bill Taylor, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who has been asked to appear. Taylor encapsulated Trump’s Ukraine crime in a September text to Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union: “It's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.”

Even Taylor might not be able to top the events of the past week. Where to begin?

On Thursday, White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney lit the press room on fire with a quid pro quo admission that Trump used American financial aid to coerce Ukraine to investigate Trump's political opponents in the 2016 U.S. election. This rocket booster confession will propel the Democrats’ already amply fueled impeachment inquiry.

It’s unclear whether Mulvaney accidentally stepped on his private parts or whether he was deployed to unfurl the Trump defense playbook: denial, grudging acknowledgement, and finally a ticker tape parade touting that crimes committed in public are not crimes at all but are, instead, a triumph for all Americans.

Either way, the Ukraine scandal is prompting GOP defections not previously seen. John Kasich, former Ohio governor and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, publicly announced support for Trump’s impeachment on Friday. The next day, Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Florida, said he was “shocked” by Mulvaney’s on camera admission and may support impeachment. This announcement carries a special sting given that Rooney is on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and has been privy to some of the closed-door impeachment testimony.

The instances of GOP support for impeachment trailed Monday’s congressional testimony from the president’s former top Russian adviser, Fiona Hill. She nailed the heart of the scandal with silver-stake testimony that the president’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, ran a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine designed for Trump’s personal benefit. Sondland, the ambassador to the EU, went a step further and placed the blame at Trump’s feet when he testified that Giuliani’s scheme came at the direction, and with the support, of the president.

When you've lost Mitch McConnell ...

Then, news broke that Giuliani is under investigation by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office he previously led. Given how closely Trump has tied himself to Giuliani, another link to an active corruption investigation is not a good look for the president.

From bad to worse, two of Giuliani’s associates who were involved in pressuring Ukraine for dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden were recently arrested for allegedly funneling money to a pro-Trump political action committee. As things stand, one of Trump’s personal attorneys, Michael Cohen, is already in prison and another appears to be wallowing in the swamp Trump promised to drain. Especially damning is the fact that legal liability for both Cohen and Giuliani is directly linked to their work for Trump, aka “Individual 1.”

Impeachment obstruction:Trump stonewall is unprecedented. Congress has power to compel testimony.

More bad news followed Trump’s unilateral decision to green-light Turkey’s invasion of Syria by withdrawing American troops. The news media have done a good job of breaking this down to its basics: The United States promised the Kurds we’d support them if they fought the Islamic State terrorist group on our behalf. They kept their end of the bargain, and in return, Trump capitulated to Turkey’s ruthless dictator and allowed the Kurds to be slaughtered.

In yet another break with the president, Republican members of Congress and GOP pundits condemned Trump’s reckless decision to abandon America’s Kurdish allies. Even Trump's water boy, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, publicly referred to the president’s move as “a grave mistake.”

ISIS is ticking time bomb for Trump

The biggest fallout from this foreign policy disaster will come if, and when, one of the many ISIS operatives freed as a result of Trump’s troop withdrawal participates in a terror attack that targets the United States. The line connecting Trump to TV images of dead Americans could be one of the few planks his base refuses to walk. As the 2020 election approaches, the possibility of an ISIS attack is a ticking time bomb for Trump.

Finally, people should not discount the damage from Trump’s attempt to hold the 2020 summit of the Group of Seven major industrial nations at his Doral golf resort in Miami. The Mueller report was 448 pages of complicated legal theory. Filling vacant hotel rooms with foreign entourages, in the middle of Florida’s sticky off-season, is the grotesque self-dealing that would tick off even the Trump loyalists who plan to use MAGA hats as stocking stuffers this holiday season. Saturday’s hasty retreat tweet says Trump quickly assessed an uprising in the making.

Plot thickens:Is Trump's Justice Department part of the Ukraine scandal cover-up?

A recent poll by Trump-pandering Fox News found that 51% of Americans favor Trump’s impeachment and removal from office. In a world where common sense and decency carry the day, we’d expect recent events to be followed by a resignation tweet blaming Rosie O’Donnell. But Trump defies gravity.

When I began writing, I was convinced this time would be different. But then I remembered the "Access Hollywood" recording, the firing of FBI Director James Comey for refusing to bury the Russia investigation, the Helsinki betrayal of siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin over American intelligence agencies, and the infamous reference to neo-Nazis as “very fine people.” They all felt different.

Yes, this time feels different. But maybe it’s not.

Michael J. Stern, a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors, was a federal prosecutor for 25 years in Detroit and Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter: @MichaelJStern1