I get it. In a world that seems to make less and less sense by the day, and in a world where the president's relationship with reality is fleeting at best, it was comforting to imagine that a square-jawed exemplar of justice would come kick the door down and sort everything out. And in some ways, he did-no less than the president's campaign manager was arrested and sentenced to prison, with more alongside him. The president, though he may claim otherwise, was not exonerated. But those holding out hope that this was the match of Jericho that would burn the whole madhouse down may be disappointed.

Don't be. The truth of the matter is that Trump would not have been removed from office no matter what. If the House impeached Trump, there would still be the Senate in the way-and anything short of a two-thirds majority there would not be enough. This was not going to end with Trump being thrown in jail, no matter what happened.

Which leads me into my next point: the problem here goes beyond Trump. The enemy here is not just Trump but the entire Republican Party; their self-serving fealty to corporations, their naked contempt for anyone who isn't a straight cis white man, their craven, underhanded attempts to circumvent democracy and cling to power. If Trump were impeached and removed from office, there would still be Mike Pence, there would still be Mitch McConnell, there would still be Ted Cruz and Brian Kemp and Steve King. Our goal is not and never was to merely get rid of Trump; our goal is to win both chambers of Congress, to win state legislatures across the country, and to keep them. Because of this, our work is never over.

Which leads me into my final point: this does not change our plans in any way. When we made historic gains in the House and won governor's races from Maine to Wisconsin to Kansas, we did not run on "BLAAAAARGH IMPEACH DRUMPF", despite what certain people on the right and the left maintain. We ran on improving our healthcare system, we ran on reproductive rights, we ran on government accountability, we ran on preventing further massacres like those in Parkland, and we ran on stopping the spread of hate and intolerance. While the focus of our sub is downballot, you can see this mindset in our presidential candidates, none of whom have run exclusively on Russia. This changes nothing about our game plan going forward; in fact, aside from a brief boost in Trump's approval that will be erased the next time he does something stupid, it will change nothing at all.

In the meantime, donate to our ActBlue to flip the Senate, volunteer for candidates at home or across the country through canvassing and phonebanking, and keep fighting for what is right. We are fighting for a cause greater than Robert Mueller, and in 2020 the Republican Party will know how powerful we are.