It is tempting to indulge in schadenfreude at the escalating chaos surrounding Trump in the wake of last week’s events. Trump’s abrupt firing of FBI Director Comey, followed by a fusillade of lies from his spokespeople about his rationale, and culminating in Trump’s admission to Lester Holt that he fired Comey because of the “Russia thing,” may mark a turning point in his presidency. If polls are to be believed, many of his supporters now support an independent investigation into possible collusion of the Trump campaign with Russian interference in our elections. Republican lawmakers are gingerly beginning to step away from the train wreck in the Oval Office. We should be clear that this does not represent a sudden outbreak of courage, but rather a recognition that Trump’s volatile and irrational behavior threatens the Republican legislative agenda.
Lest we forget, that agenda includes repeal of the Affordable Care Act, tax cuts for the wealthy and the rollback of a raft of regulations that protect consumers and the environment. Congressional Republicans would be thrilled with a President Pence, whose conventional appearance and anodyne manner mask an equally noxious policy agenda. As destabilizing as it is to have Trump in the Oval Office, we should not be eager for a hasty resolution that allows Pence to pose as the innocent victim among a nest of Russo-phile vipers. Nothing would relieve conservatives more than dumping Trump and leaving an unscathed Pence at the helm.
Therefore, although the chaos engendered by Trump’s irrationality has the potential to unite a wide spectrum of Americans around the goal of a scrupulous, independent investigation of the extent of the Trump campaign’s collusion with Russia’s interference in our election, we need to think ahead of what may remain in its wake. No matter how far down the line of succession we go, a conservative Republican, with concomitantly conservative policy goals, will be president until at least 2020. Thus, we must remain laser focused on policy and politics – in beating back the most regressive legislative efforts of the 115th Congress AND in fielding strong, progressive Democratic candidates at both the state and federal level to safeguard critical rights and pursue an agenda that benefits the majority of Americans. It bears repeating that impeachment, even if it comes, is only the beginning.