At least a few are breaking their silence; but when will they do something?

Some Republicans in Congress are beginning to speak out against the president's many many demonstrations of his unfitness for the office of president.   Want to guess which senator said this from the Senate floor on Wednesday?   As reported by Daniella Diaz for CNN.

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". . . [Sen. --------], a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, took to the Senate floor Wednesday morning to rebuke the President for his repeated remarks on 'fake news.'

"'No longer can we compound attacks on truth with our silent acquiescence. No longer can we turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to these assaults on our institutions,' [--------] said in his speech.  'An American president who cannot take criticism -- who must constantly deflect and distort and distract -- who must find someone else to blame -- is charting a very dangerous path. And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the President adds to the danger.'

"[--------] also compared Trump's attacks on the news media to the rhetoric of late Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

"He criticized the President for calling the news media the 'enemy of the people,' calling it 'an assault as unprecedented as it is unwarranted.'

"'It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own President uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies,' he said. 'It bears noting that the phrase 'enemy of the people' was so fraught with malice that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of 'annihilating such individuals' who disagreed with the supreme leader."

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Sounds like one courageous dude or dame, no?   Well, yes, but I would have a lot more respect and admiration for his leadership ability if Sen. Jeff Flake had not already announced that he will not run for re-election this fall.   But at least he said it, and he said it in the hallowed halls of the United States Senate.  And he is a Republican.

To be realistic, Flake already has formidable opposition in Arizona and might very well lose.   Or, on the other hand, he might rise to the occasion, become one of the necessary, courageous leaders who sets things right in our government to stop the attacks on our democratic institutions.

These are very troubling times -- not just for the next DACA deadline (but for that too);  and not just for the next government shutdown deadline (but for that too);  and not just for the next year, the next election, the next decade.

The future of our country is at stake.   Will we reaffirm, by deed and not just by words, the ideals on which it became a moral and an economic leader of the world?   Or will we drift into a second rate, authoritarian oligarchy of corruption and classism, abandoning the founding principles of the United States?

Ralph