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“When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.”

That is what Richard Nixon said in 1977 to British journalist David Frost in an interview on the television news show, “Crossfire,” when he was trying to justify his obstruction of justice in Watergate.

Yesterday Attorney General William Barr said virtually the same thing in defense of Donald Trump’s obstruction of justice when he said such things as it is not a crime if the President asks someone to lie for him and the President has the right to shut down an investigation into himself he deems unfair or based on false charges.

What we witnessed in the Barr hearing was confirmation that the Imperial Presidency American historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. warned us about in 1973 has officially arrived.

Schlesinger traced the evolution of the presidency from being one branch of the government to being the dominant branch via an assumption of power to itself not granted by the Constitution.

We paid scant attention when Schlesinger wrote about it because we made ourselves believe that anyone who was elected president would try to do what was right for and by the country.

Then along came Donald Trump who has never had a moment’s concern for doing what was right for the country, and the Imperial Presidency became a reality far beyond the worst scenario Schlesinger had in mind.

It is astounding, dangerous, and shameful that the Attorney General of the United States would throw the weight and influence of his office behind this development, removing yet another check on the powers Trump is using that are undermining our democracy.

But that is what he did and now American democracy is in great peril.

Yet, 47% of Americans say they don’t care about what has happened, support what has happened, or refuse to believe what has happened is the threat it actually is.

On average about 40% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing, and another 7% have no opinion.

We can be glad that 53% don’t approve of Trump, but the fact that the divide in the nation is so severe suggests this is a turning point in American history.

I would go so far as to say it is a moment that history will record as revealing the kind of people we have become, what our values are, what we believe in, how decent or indecent we are.

I say that because Donald Trump has the full weight and power of the Republican Party as his buffer to those who are sounding the alarm about his misuse and abuse of his executive powers.

The list of damage he has already done is long, from demeaning the office he holds by constant lying, making gross attacks on citizens he is supposed to represent, disrespecting the other two branches of government, committing crimes against humanity in our name, and turning the Administrative branch into a crime family business, just to name a few.

How is it that 47% of Americans don’t care about any of this or have chosen to ignore what it happening?

We may never know the answer to that question, but we do know some things we can do to prevent the damage they are enabling Trump to do from getting worse.

We can support Congressional oversight in spite of what Barr and Trump are trying to do, and we can support Trump’s impeachment that is becoming more and more inevitable, even if Republicans in the Senate won’t convict him.

Democrats don’t need to worry about losing votes if they impeach Trump. Doing what is right always pays dividends. Besides, the only voters they risk losing are Trump people who will never vote Democratic anyway.

The third thing we can do is to stop walking on egg shells around people who support Trump. Instead of playing nice with them, we need to say as forthrightly as we can that it is immoral either to have no concern about moral corruption or to refuse to believe it exists when the proof is undeniable.

To tolerate people who are willing to sell our country down the river is to be complicit in what they are doing. It is time to make it clear to them that we have no tolerance for their moral irresponsibility.

It doesn’t matter if they don’t listen. What matters is that we speak. Our silence rewards them.

In addition, we can support Trump’s impeachment and then work to ensure his defeat in 2020 after the Senate lets him off the hook.

Impeachment is the way the majority of Americans can say to Trump and Barr that we reject their claim that the president is above the rule of law.

That will put Trump on notice that if he chooses to run for re-election he will be defeated in an historic landslide vote. I believe that will cause him not to run because his ego will not be able to handle the likelihood of such a colossal defeat.

Impeachment is no longer an option, but an imperative because it is about much more than ridding the nation of Donald Trump. It is about ending the imperial presidency. It is about who we are as a people and what kind of nation we choose to be.

Impeachment is the leverage the Constitution gives us – we, the people – to say to Trump, “We reject your embodiment of the Nixon doctrine. From where we sit, if the president does it, it is still illegal.”

Impeaching Trump is the price he must pay for his imperial presidency, and our way of reclaiming the integrity of being the United States of America.