Democrats: end the inquiry, initiate the impeachment, force Republicans to make a fateful decision. When this process is initiated and the Senate must act on articles of impeachment sent from the House, these Senate Republicans will find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. No matter whether they vote yes or no it will lead to a disaster for them.

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Democrats: end the inquiry, initiate the impeachment, force Republicans to make a fateful decision. When this process is initiated and the Senate must act on articles of impeachment sent from the House, these Senate Republicans will find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. No matter whether they vote yes or no it will lead to a disaster for them.

With Trump orchestrating their efforts, the Republicans have been using every possible tactic they can come up with to dodge, delay, discredit, and even destroy Democrats' ongoing impeachment inquiry. It's not working, it's a sham, and a stain on this once well-respected Republican Party.

They brought this dilemma upon themselves when they, after 2016 presidential election, surrendered to Trump, becoming submissive and subservient to his dictates. Once they were hooked they became deathly afraid of doing anything to offend him or his loyal base of supporters.

We are in the midst of one of the worst, darkest times in US history. America has someone in the White House who is determined to install an authoritarian government in America with himself as the main and only power. Those who have been paying close attention can see that he has already built a large part of the foundations of such a government. He is desperate to win reelection so he can finish the job.

So where do we go from here? Well, the Democrats should have a very specific plan with a specific date for ending their inquiry. Next, they need to set down the articles of impeachment. One article is not enough, four or five is probably too much. So they should settle on three main charges as follows:

1. The abuse of power: Trump's telephone conversation with President Zelensky of Ukraine in which he asked him to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter in exchange for some $400 million in military aid. This was an attempt to greatly damage Biden, his potential opponent in the 2020 election. Whether it can also be called bribery needs to be determined.

2. Obstruction of justice: Trump is guilty of obstruction based on the many times that he has blocked witnesses from testifying before House committees. House Democrats are trying to carry out their investigative responsibilities and he is doing everything in his power to block their efforts. That is obstruction.

3. Contempt of Congress: the Constitution gives each of the three branches of government the responsibility to act as a check and balance against abuses by the others. That's what these House committees are trying to do. Trump ignores what the Constitution says and believes he has the power to take away their congressional power of oversight. That constitutes contempt of Congress.

If Republicans would somehow awaken and become enlightened by some spiritual force that shows them the difference between right and wrong, and then vote YES on the impeachment of this president, here's what would happen: they would immediately be branded as traitors of the highest order by Trump and his base and referred to as no more than "human scum." They would be ostracized, called pariahs, they would be toast, and enemies of the president and his supporters. But they would be doing the right thing and Americans would consider this in upcoming elections.

Now, if they would choose to vote NO then it would be an entirely different matter. The majority of Americans and the national media would say that they had done a disservice to their country by voting NO when the evidence supporting impeachment was overwhelming. In the 2020 and subsequent elections, they would be targeted for removal from office. They would be an endangered species.

Let's see what happens, it is going to be very interesting, dramatic, and very frightening in many respects. Democrats must go down the road of impeachment, there is no way that they can back off at this point. If they have the evidence that clearly constitutes one or more impeachable offenses, which they most definitely have, then they have a Constitutional responsibility to follow through no matter what.

But wait a minute, I just thought of something that would certainly be considered a long shot, that would take a minor miracle to happen, but is not beyond the realm of reason. Just suppose that these Senate Republicans led by Mitch McConnell, came up with a way to get out of their current dilemma.

Suppose that they already have held, or will shortly hold, a very secret strategy meeting involving McConnell, other top leaders, and Mitt Romney who seems to be kind of just hanging around, waiting in the wings. I'd say that Romney definitely has designs on becoming the Republican candidate if Trump can be moved out of the way. In this secret meeting, he and the Republican leaders could lay down the plan for moving Trump out of the way.

The best way to do this, of course, would be to convince Trump that he must resign, that if he doesn't then they would have to do what is right for their party and vote to impeach him. If he does then resign they can come out smelling like a rose. However, if he doesn't then they would have no choice but to impeach him and embrace Romney.

I say he will realize that going on when all the odds are against him would be futile and he will resign.

In a relatively short period of time, we Americans will be watching as a monumental event in this nation's history takes place. What the result will be for this nation and its people going into the future we have no way of knowing. We can only hope for the best.

Michael Payne