Fifty-two years ago, on July 27, 1974, Maine Rep. Bill Cohen voted for the first of three articles of impeachment against then President Richard Nixon, of his own Republican Party. It was a brave act for a freshman congressman, bucking his party and going up against its leader, the president of the United States.

Now it’s time for Maine’s current congressional delegation to show Cohen-like courage and act to remove an unfit president.

Bill Cohen’s vote to impeach Nixon was a career-defining moment, but this moment is more than that. It is a life-defining moment. Our country now faces an internal threat much graver than that posed by Richard Nixon. President Trump is growing increasingly erratic and unstable, and must be removed from office before he does irreparable harm to our country, and indeed to the entire world.

It is time for Maine Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden to introduce and support articles of impeachment against President Trump, and it is time for Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins to call for Trump’s removal. This is their Bill Cohen moment, and they must act before President Trump’s dangerous behavior leads to even greater disaster. The time to act is now — and history will judge harshly those who dawdled while Rome burned.

Lawrence Reichard
Belfast