Now that Comey has finally come clean and admitted that Trump was and still is under FBI investigation for colluding with Russia during the election, it's time for Democrats to start obstructing. There's no reason to debate or even vote. Anything and everything coming from this administration is spurious at best and downright treasonous at worst.
Playing by their rules:
Democrats would only be following Republican rules should they do so. Trump, Cruz, Rubio...they all sang the chorus of how Hillary could not run for president if she was under FBI investigation for her private email server fiasco. She would be illegitimate they said. They would obstruct her in every way possible claiming the moral high ground. Chaffetz even claimed to have two years worth of investigations should she win. That alone is cause enough for Chaffetz to be investigated himself; there either is a crime or there isn't. You don't get to choose to investigate should someone from the other side of the aisle win.
Then there's the whole Supreme Court nominee threat. Republicans actually threatened to never allow a Hillary Clinton Supreme Court nominee even reach the senate floor. Without even mentioning a nominee's name, Republicans declared that SCOTUS could function with eight members. Ted Cruz stated there was no law dictating that there had to be nine members.
I don't like playing their game. I don't believe in tit for tat, and I firmly believe the obstruction of Obama's appointee, Merrick Garland, was unconscionable. That being said, this is not the same.
Trump investigation is not the same as Clinton's:
Hillary Clinton was cleared by Director Comey before the election. Regardless of Chaffetz' and Gowdy's desires to hold endless hearings, she was cleared. Trump and his campaign are being investigated for colluding with Russia. To be polite, Russia is considered an adversary to the U.S. We know for a fact that Russia hacked the DNC and RNC. Apparently, now they've even hacked the CIA, if we are to believe WikiLeaks. We also know for a fact that many members of his campaign had and continue to have Russian ties, and we know that the FBI, CIA and NSA are investigating these crimes.
This means that anything coming from Trump and his administration are illegitimate until cleared. It's not as if he became president and then colluded with them. His campaign did so in order to gain the upper hand and win the presidency. To be clear, the investigation is considering whether or not the Russian government assisted the Trump campaign in winning the presidency. That is treason! Should this be true, we cannot simply get rid of Trump and let Pence take over. The entire election would be invalid.
What to do:
Therefore, until this investigation is concluded, Democrats must not work with Republicans on any bills, referendums, nominees...on anything.
If the Trump campaign is guilty, how do we know that his cabinet appointees are not colluding with Russia? Rex Tillerson and Michael Flynn come immediately to mind when considering this. How do we know that Trump is not signing executive orders that were actually written with the Russian government's wishes in mind? After all, Trump is not even aware of what they say or do. The executive order placing Steve Bannon as head of national security is a great example of this. Trump is currently dismantling our systems of government. Does this not sound like an objective that would benefit the Russians? How do we know that any bills being brought forward by the Republican Party members are not influenced by Russian interests? Paul Ryan did say that Trump helped them write their Trumpcare bill. They keep saying that Trump's Russian collusion is fine by them, and that they are more interested in investigating the media and who leaked the Russian ties than who actually committed the treason.
How do we know if Trump's SCOTUS nominee is not a pro-Russian nominee? We don't!
This is why Democrats must do everything they can to stop this administration. They need to filibuster Gorsuch; no negotiations. I realize the Republicans will likely just change the rules and kill filibustering. This will leave the Democrats fighting future battles that would only require a simple majority vote, but Republicans will do that no matter what Democrats use the filibuster for. If they are saving it for Trumpcare, that is a mistake. The SCOTUS seat will have the most enduring affect on our democracy. Healthcare will not.
No Democrat should vote for any nominee or legislation until this investigation is complete. There can be no middle ground, no wiggle room in this. At each and every vote, Democrats must go on record as a "No because this administration is under investigation for colluding with Russia."
