Risk of Impeachment

A careful reading of the Mueller Report establishes that President Trump and members of his campaign engaged in serious misconduct, Attorney-General Barr's woeful spin notwithstanding. Whether criminal charges could or should have followed may be open to debate but there can be little doubt that the behavior documented in the Report is wholly unacceptable, unpresidential and threatening to the rule of law. 

In a normal political world that misconduct would warrant and result in impeachment. Today's Republican senators, fearful of retaliation from Trump and his base, will not vote for conviction, however compelling the evidence, and a failed effort will only increase the prospect of Trump's reelection. Democrats must convene and conduct extensive and probing hearings which surely will reinforce and fill out the detail of Mueller's findings. Such hearings will also more fully inform the American public of the immensity of the President's wrongdoing and distain for truth.

Perhaps then, Republicans will be moved to put country before self-interest and vote to impeach for obstruction of justice, lying and abuse of power. Short of that, perhaps they will muster the courage to protect the national interest by, at least, voting to censure. Anything less will be taken as acceptance and approval of the notion that the president is above the law