GOP consultant says it's time for his own party's senators to feel the heat on impeachment

Mike Murphy, a longtime Republican consultant, has written an editorial in the Washington Post arguing that House Democrats should go through with impeaching President Donald Trump, if for no other reason than to shine a spotlight on Republican senators.

In his editorial, Murphy writes that the latest scandal surrounding Trump's phone call aimed at pressuring the Ukrainian government to investigate potential 2020 rival Joe Biden has left Republicans no more room for ambiguity.

"The easy-to-dodge days for Senate Republicans are coming to an end," Murphy argues. "Voters deserve stark clarity in the wake of Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, and there is one certain way to get it. The Democratic House must impeach the president and force the question on the Senate: yea or nay on Donald Trump?"

Murphy also writes that Republicans can no longer comfort themselves by believing any impeachment effort by the Democrats will be seen as overreach and benefit them politically.

"The argument heard earlier this year about impeachment being a political gift to the GOP no longer holds," he writes. "The new sins are too big and too obvious. Our entire national political debate is now centered squarely upon Trump and his fitness for office. It is a time for clarity, no matter what the cost."

He then speculates about how senators who have been critical of Trump in the past -- including Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Ben Sasse (R-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME) -- might behave if faced with the stark choice of confronting the president's lawlessness.

"This test would create an existential question for every Republican senator and representative: Why am I here?" he concludes. "To serve my future or my country?"

Read the whole editorial here.