Have We Reached the "Watergate Moment" with Trump?

Like many others, I feel that I am suffering from what might be called "Trump fatigue." Each day there is some new revelation of what would be unthinkable under any other American president save perhaps Richard Nixon.  Add to that the constant worries of what anti-LGBT attacks will be unleashed by Trump and/or White House and state GOP sycophants.  With the latest bombshell of the likelihood that Trump tried to pressure FBI Director James Comey one can only hope that we are at the "Watergate moment" when Trump's efforts to obstruct justice are about to become so well documented that Congressional Republicans may be forced to begin the steps to remove Trump from office.  My only hope is that Mike Pence is implicated as well.  A conservative columnist in the Washington Post looks at  the situation at hand.  Here are excerpts:

The administration’s credibility is nil right now, but if the president really does have “tapes,” we suspect they will bolster Comey’s account. The Times report indicates there may be documentation of other meetings with Trump as well.

One is tempted to marvel at the sheer stupidity of Trump, who somehow thought he could not only fire but humiliate the FBI director who was investigating him and his administration with no consequence. But Trump has always been Trump’s greatest liability — the hubris, the ignorance, the impulsiveness.

Letting the media know of the notes’ existence is one way to get a congressional committee or a grand jury to subpoena them. At that point, the issue is fully joined: Did Trump obstruct justice by pressuring and then firing the FBI director investigating his administration — and then concocting a cover story and sending aides out to lie?

Just about every Watergate cliche has relevance. The coverup really is worse than the crime. Don’t bet against the FBI. When there is concrete evidence of obstruction (the memo, the firing) it is very hard for the president’s party to stick with him.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) was somber on the floor of the Senate. “In a week full of revelation after revelation, on a day when we thought things couldn’t get any worse, they have.”  . . . . “Concerns about our national security, the rule of law, the independence of our nation’s highest law enforcement agencies are mounting. The country is being tested in unprecedented ways. I say to all of my colleagues in the Senate: History is watching.”

At this point, it is very possible that a few forthcoming Republican senators combined with the entire Democratic caucus will demand the Justice Department appoint a special counsel and Congress form a select committee. What would possibly be the GOP’s excuse for doing anything less?

Meanwhile, every Trump Cabinet official has to think long and hard about continuing to serve in the administration. Vice President Pence needs to be fully cognizant of the position the president put him in. He can no longer echo White House talking points, which may well be seen as part of the attempt to obstruct justice. With a now not insignificant chance the president will not fill out his term, Pence needs to remember he works for the people and not for Trump.