Thread by @ChrisAlbertoLaw

BOOM!

Jeff Flake: The president is on trial.

So are my Senate Republican colleagues.

You must protect the American republic.

You must remove Trump. washingtonpost.com/opinions/jeff-…

“Call it the founders’ blind spot: They simply could not have envisioned the Article I branch abetting and enabling such dangerous behavior in the Article II branch. “

“And when we are complicit, we cede our constitutional responsibilities, we forever redefine the relationship between Congress and the White House, and we set the most dangerous of precedents.”

“Mindful of the base human instincts that we all possess, the founders of our constitutional system designed its very architecture to curb excesses of power.”

“Those curbs are especially important when the power is wielded by a president who denies reality itself and calls his behavior not what it is, but ‘perfect.’”

“Personally, I have never met anyone whose behavior can be described as perfect, but so often has the president repeated this obvious untruth that it has become a form of dogma in our party. “

“There are members of our party denying objective reality by repeating the line that “the president did nothing wrong.” The danger of an untruthful president is compounded when an equal branch follows that president off the cliff, into the abyss of unreality and untruth.”

“You could reasonably conclude that the president’s actions warrant removal. You might also determine “they do not require removal. “There is no small amount of moral hazard with each option, but both positions can be defended. “

“But what is indefensible is echoing House Republicans who say that the president has not done anything wrong. He has.
The willingness of House [GOP] to bend to [Trump’s] will by shifting to the promotion of bizarre & debunked conspiracy theories has been an appalling spectacle.”

“It will have long-term ramifications for the country and the party, to say nothing of individual reputations.
Nearly all of you condemned the president’s behavior during the 2016 campaign.”

“Nearly all of you refused to campaign with him. You knew then that doing so would be wrong — would be a stain on your reputation and the standing of the Republican Party, and would do lasting damage to the conservative cause. “

“Ask yourself today: Has the president changed his behavior? Has he grown in office? Has the mantle of the presidency altered his conduct? The answer is obvious. “

“In fact, if the president’s political rally in Michigan on Wednesday is any measure, his language has only become more vulgar, his performance cruder, his behavior more boorish and unstable.”

“Next, ask yourself: If the [Trump’s]conduct hasn’t changed, has mine? Before [he] came on the scene, would I have stood at a rally and cheered while supporters shouted “lock her up” or “send them back”?”

“Would I have laughed along while the president demeaned and ridiculed my colleagues? Would I have ever thought to warm up the crowd for the president by saying of the House speaker: “It must suck to be that dumb”?”

“I don’t envy you...Please don’t accept an alternate reality that would have us believe in things that obviously are not true, in the service of executive behavior that we never would have encouraged and a theory of executive power that we have always found abhorrent.”

“If there ever was a time to put country over party, it is now. And by putting country over party, you might just save the Grand Old Party before it’s too late.”