Remember how we all spent 2017 calling lawmakers? It’s time to do that again.

As most people know, we are at a crossroads in the impeachment process. The House voted to indict the president on two charges – abuse of power and obstruction of Congress – and now he is supposed to stand trial in the Senate on the same charges. Except Senate leadership doesn’t really want to have a trial. They want to basically have a show of hands about who wants to boot Trump and who wants to keep him. Knowing that more hands are pro-Trump than anti-Trump, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell expects this will be over quickly and he can get back to the important work of confirming pro-business judges and protecting his wife’s family’s business interests.

This is not how trials work in the rest of America.

A fake trial with no witnesses and limited evidence sounds shady because it is and Democrats have been saying so since Moscow Mitch raised the idea. But now we have one Republican Senator saying that she isn’t in love with the idea. Lisa Murkowski from Alaska is being quoted widely as saying she is disturbed by this not-really-a-trial plan. She is the first Republican to break ranks on this issue.

The Professional Left is all over Twitter rolling their jaded eyes and saying that this won’t amount to any actual action on the part of Senate Republicans.

Grassroots activists are saying “OMFG WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU CYNICAL PUNDITS! THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY! PICK UP THE PHONE MAKE SOME CALLS NOW NOW NOW!!!!”

You see, what’s happening here is Murkowski is sending a message that she’s listening. She’s willing to listen to constituents and – more crucially – she might be willing to listen to other Republicans. If she could find one or two of her colleagues who are also disturbed and would stand with her in favor of holding a real trial, Mitchy-boy might have to back down and act like the Constitution has meaning.

Senator Murkowski won’t act alone and she won’t join with Democrats. She is waiting to hear from other Republicans – which means other Republicans need to hear from you. Yep. You. All ya’ll living in states with Republican Senators need to call them. Right now. The switchboard number for the Senate is (202) 224-3121. Call right now and tell yoru Senator that you want a real trial on the articles of impeachment.

If you have phone anxiety, you can email Senators by going to http://www.senate.gov.

I’ll eve give you a script to use. Here. Say this:

“My name is [Name] and I live in [City]. Like Senator Murkowski, I am disturbed by Senator McConnell’s plans to coordinate the White House on the impeachment trial. That doesn’t seem fair or right to me. Trials are supposed to be unbiased. Please talk to Senator Murkwoski about her concerns and talk to Senator McConnell about doing this the right way. Thank you.”

If your Senator is a Democrat, call anyway. They like praise. You can just thank them for standing up for a fair process.

Like I always say, lawmakers don’t know how you feel unless you tell them. I also say they are herd animals who prefer the safety of numbers. They’re braver together. If we can get a few of them to work together on opposing McConnell, there is a much better chance that we will see something that resembles a trial instead of just a pro-Trump rally on the Senate floor.