The anti-Trump resistance scored a decisive victory when the demand for a special prosecutor was recently met.

Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, was assigned the task by Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Prior to the appointment the need for a special prosecutor faced strong but not unanimous opposition in the GOP to say nothing of the White House.

This appointment is the latest in a series of setbacks for Trump and has already slowed down the president’s agenda. Ultimately it could block it by laying the foundation for his impeachment by the House, trial in the Senate and removal from office.

That said, Muller’s appointment is hardly a panacea particularly when the FBI’s long and sordid history of duplicity, repression and dirty tricks is considered. Still it should not be dismissed but viewed in relation to the overall threat posed to democracy by the Trump administration.

In that regard, it’s likely that Mueller’s new job emerged out of the coming together of several factors:  concerns about the “alt-right” white supremacists grouped in and around the White House; the breadth and depth of alarm at Trump’s assault on the country’s legal foundations; fear in ruling circles that the administration’s instability might be bad for business; and the parallel work of Congressional committees that — if maintained — will help guarantee a thorough examination of the issues at hand, not the least of which is Trump’s apparent obstruction of justice.

The most important factor, however, was the demand for action from the broad democratic movement.

Like other victories of the resistance, among them the blocking of the travel bans and the initial defeat of the Obamacare repeal, Rosenstein’s dramatic announcement would not have occurred without the massive protests that greeted Trump at every turn.

At the heart of these protests is a growing recognition that behind each and every one of Trump’s initiatives is an assault on the entire edifice of our nation’s  labor rights, civil rights and equality gains. The Trump administration’s neo-confederate initiatives threaten to unravel the country’s already frayed democratic institutions.

As a result, the crisis of capitalist democracy, already damaged by low voter turnout, disbelief  in infomercial-like news programming, and a racist justice system that favors the rich and criminalizes people of color, is close to becoming full blown. If that crisis is not addressed, can fascist measures be far away?

The preservation of democracy cannot be left to to the Department of Justice and the FBI alone. Our working class and people must keep the pressure on!

Therefore, we must demand that the Congressional committees tasked with investigating these issues maintain and deepen their work.  In addition, the ongoing fights around Obamacare, climate change, and the proposed cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and other programs must be pushed front and center.

The demands for impeachment are likely to increase. They deserve every support. But the key issue now is not legal, but political. Defeat of the GOP in Congress is required or impeachment doesn’t stand a chance.

The fight now and for the foreseeable future is a political one. It will be decided in the streets, on picket lines and at the ballot box.

Our working class and people must act today for our future! We are the heart of the resistance!

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