A gathering crisis of democracy

Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey is such an undisguised abuse of power and reckless action that one can only surmise that the investigation of the Trump campaign’s links to Russian authorities is close to revealing what many of us suspect: collusion between Trump’s people and the Putin government for the purpose of influencing the outcome of last year’s election.

In this extraordinary moment when much hangs in balance, one has to hope that the media will lay bare Trump’s power grab and the Congress (and especially the Republicans who up to now have acted, with few exceptions, as spineless enablers of Trump) will challenge him. And, if necessary, the courts will restrain him and repudiate his gross abuse of executive power too.

But no less importantly, millions of Americans – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike – have to leave their distinct imprint on this gathering crisis of our very democracy and constitution. In no uncertain terms, the American people have to not only demand a full and independent investigation of election wrongdoing and a reversal of the firing, but also that Trump step down immediately. And if he refuses, he be impeached. If he has demonstrated anything in his first 100 days, it is that he is a clear and growing danger to the country’s democratic institutions, rights, and way of life. He has to go.

Phone calls, emails, letters to the editors, conversations with friends and neighbors, and, above all, public and voluble demonstrations are in order. We should never forget that the abuse of power, if left unchallenged, begets greater abuses later.