Some Republicans running in competitive congressional races have shied away from taking any bold positions against Donald Trump – I’m talking to you, Sens. Joe Manchin and Joe Donnelly –  but Beto O’Rourke is not one of them.
During a CNN town hall on Thursday night, the Texas congressman running to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz made a brilliant case for why Democrats should move forward with impeachment proceedings against the president.
“There is enough there to proceed,” O’Rourke said before ticking off examples of how Trump has committed impeachable offenses.
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When asked by CNN’s Dana Bash if he’s changed his mind after saying he’d vote to impeach President Trump this summer, O’Rourke replied: “I haven’t” #TexasTownHall https://t.co/29rQpKYtsa pic.twitter.com/ULowpM65KX
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 18, 2018
When asked if he changed his mind on voting to impeach Trump, O’Rourke said:
I haven’t. Let me put it this way: There may be an open question as to whether the president, then the candidate, sought to collude with the Russian government in 2016, but to quote George Will, very conservative columnist, when we saw him on that stage in Helsinki defending Vladimir Putin, the head of the country that attacked our democracy in 2016 instead of this country and its citizens and this amazing democracy, that was collusion in action. You may have wondered when he fired James Comey, the principal investigator into what happened in that election, whether that was an attempt to obstruct justice. But when by broad daylight, on Twitter, he asked his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to end the Russia investigation, I would say that’s obstruction in action. … The best course to get there so that every member has all the facts and that they are compelling enough to do the right thing is to allow the full Independence and integrity of the Bob Mueller investigation. … I would liken impeachment to an indictment. There is enough there to proceed with the trial for a full vetting of the facts and to make the best-informed decision in the interests of this country and our future.
Beto O’Rourke isn’t afraid to speak the truth – even in deep-red Texas
As the rising Democratic star said on Thursday, we don’t need Robert Mueller’s findings to be published to know that Trump has already crossed multiple red lines.
Time and again, he has tried to obstruct the ongoing investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russia to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Just because Trump so brazenly does it on live television or in social media posts, doesn’t make it any less damning.
But it’s not just about Russia. In August, Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty that he committed a felony at the direction of the president to influence the 2016Â election.
As I wrote in August, “Not only should Democrats spend each day between now and the Nov. 6 elections reminding the country that the president conspired to commit a crime during the 2016 election, but they absolutely need to make impeachment part of their campaigns.”
Too many have been afraid to make this case, but Beto O’Rourke – a Democrat running in a competitive Senate race in deep-red Texas – hasn’t been afraid to speak the truth, as he did once again on Thursday night.
The Democratic Party would be better off if they followed his lead.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
