https://www.facebook.com/theDanRather/posts/10159724584700716

Have you ever seen a caged animal pacing and baring its fangs? It is an unsettling sight as any movement or meeting of the eyes can induce a blood-curdling roar and you are left to wonder if those bars are strong enough to protect you from the wrath of nature.

This image has been in my mind of late as I watch what seems to be the encircling forces ensnaring President Trump. There is the Mueller investigation, of which we can only mostly infer on what is known but seems to be honing in on people and actions very close to the President, if not already at his footstep. And then there is the sexual harassment tidal wave that Trump was able to ride out during the campaign but has returned with magnified force.

As is his nature, Mr. Trump is lashing out - most recently at Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand who called on him to resign. The President's tweet said the Senator "would do anything for" campaign donations. This is disgusting and sexist rhetoric. It is so far below the standards of human decency that no civil person should condone it, let alone normalize it.

But unlike a caged animal there are very few bars between President Trump and the fate of our republic. What there is are our institutions, some of which like the courts and the press have largely held. Others of which, like a Congress full of Republican apologists, have not - up to this point.

But I think that what we are seeing here is fear, a deep fear of a world closing in. After all fear is what an animal in a cage really is feeling. The opposition to President Trump is emboldened. It is clear that Democrats who are positioning themselves for a run at the Oval Office in 2020 - like Senator Gillibrand - feel that their path lies through calling out Mr. Trump, especially on his sexual harassment allegations. Meanwhile Mueller keeps digging, and digging.

I believe in the decency of the vast majority of the American people. I believe that most know this is not normal, not normal at all. I believe that most know we have been and should be better than this.

There is a showdown in Alabama tonight. It is impossible to tell what will happen. But whatever the outcome, the Republican Party has become the Party of Trump. And they will have to wear that mantle in front of the American electorate likely for years to come.

While speaking to the Fox radio program Kilmeade and Friends, Cassidy declined to say if President Donald Trump had been wrong to support Moore.

“I just decided I don’t want to be there,” Cassidy explained. “That still stands.”

“Do you feel is the same way about Al Franken do you think he should not be [in the Senate]?” host Brian Kilmeade wondered.

“Again it’s up to the people of Minnesota but if Al Franken has been involved in this kind of activity as a senator that’s problematic on the other hand there is a difference between a 14 year old girl and an adult female, I will say that,” Cassidy pointed out.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/12/gop-senator-rebukes-party-for-equating-franken-to-moore-theres-a-difference-between-14-years-old-and-adult/

WASHINGTON ― Fifty-eight House Democrats voted to advance the impeachment of President Donald Trump on Wednesday, in direct defiance of the pleas of House Democratic leaders earlier in the day.

A vote to table the impeachment resolution was agreed to 368-58, with four Democrats voting present and 126 other Democrats voting with Republicans to kill the resolution.

It may seem like this was an overwhelming confirmation of Trump ― and it was, in the sense that no Republican voted to advance impeachment and more than two-thirds of Democrats joined their GOP colleagues ― but 58 Democratic votes is still a significant statement on impeachment.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) issued a joint statement just before the vote urging their Democratic colleagues to reject the impeachment resolution. They presented the vote as a distraction from efforts to kill the Republican tax bill, which is swiftly making its way through Congress, and they cited the special counsel’s investigation of Trump, as well as inquiries from congressional committees, to plead with Democrats to hold off.

“Now is not the time,” Pelosi and Hoyer wrote.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/house-impeachment-donald-trump_us_5a28616be4b03ece02ffedd1?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

Sen. Al Franken ?Verified account
@SenFranken

Senator Franken will be making an announcement tomorrow. More details to come.
10:39 AM - 6 Dec 2017

https://twitter.com/SenFranken/status/938462834597548032

Kamala Harris ?Verified account
@SenKamalaHarris

Sexual harassment and misconduct should not be allowed by anyone and should not occur anywhere. I believe the best thing for Senator Franken to do is step down.

9:44 AM - 6 Dec 2017

https://twitter.com/SenKamalaHarris/status/938449124638195713