Republican courage badly lacking

“WH aims to hone impeachment defense” (Associated Press, Oct. 8) lists White House tactics as “stall, obfuscate, attack, repeat,” which ironically presage articles of impeachment. Stall translates to “obstruction of justice.” The “most transparent president ever” has continuously obstructed scrutiny. How many subpoenas has he blocked? How many witnesses has he prevented from testifying? How many incriminating conversations have been hidden on “codeword secured servers”?

Trump's rants of “treason” against whistleblowers and Democrats have required taxpayers to provide them additional security protections. Because Trump knows how corrupt he is, he projects “corruption” to falsely accuse critics.

Attack equals “abuse of power.” He exhorts the DOJ and FBI to go after everyone he fears. Strangely, Attorney General William Barr is searching worldwide for ways to undermine the Mueller report even though it supposedly “exonerated” Trump! Trump bullied Ukraine by withholding critical defense funds to extort dirt on Joe Biden. Our laws clearly say “soliciting or accepting” help from foreign entities is unconstitutional.

Trump has always openly welcomed foreign governments to intrude on our elections — the sacred foundation of our democracy. In his farewell address, George Washington warned about “the fury of [political] party spirit,” “the mischiefs of foreign intrigue” and “the impostures of pretended patriotism.” Oh, that today's Republicans could find the courage to heed Washington's warnings! Scott McLaughlin, Midwest City