Republicans are currently led by a brazenly corrupt chief executive who was caught in a bribery scheme to benefit his personal and political career.  The evidence is clear and overwhelming, but congressional Republicans are marching in lockstep defending their corrupt leader.

As this plays out, many cynical observers shrug it all off, maintaining that if a Democrat leader faced a similar charge Democrats would do the same thing Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are doing.  They claim that “both parties protect their own, no matter what.”

They might want to ask Rod Blagojevich about that.

On December 9, 2008, Blagojevich, the Democratic former Governor of Illinois, was caught soliciting appointments in exchange for the right to name the replacement for former Senator Barack Obama.  It was clearly documented bribery for personal benefit.  Sound familiar?

The Democratic Governor’s actions were deplorable and corrupt.  At the same time, Blagojevich’s type of bribery lacked some of the worst elements of the Trump Ukrainian corruption scandal. 

After all, Blagojevich wasn’t endangering a foreign ally’s troops under attack from a sworn American enemy, as Trump did. 

Blagojevich wasn’t directing a foreign government to interfere with our free and fair elections, as Trump did.

Blagojevich wasn’t illegally redirecting hundreds of millions in taxpayer funds approved by a large bipartisan majority of the duly elected legislative body, as Trump did. 

Blagojevich wasn’t demanding the slander of a political opponent, as Trump did.

Blagojevich hadn’t launched a massive cover-up of evidence, as Trump did.

Still, Blagojevich’s form of bribery was despicable in its own right, so Democrats at both the state and national level acted swiftly to protect citizens from this corrupt leader. 

Immediately after the charges against Blagojevich became public, state Democrats immediately condemned their fellow Democrat and called for him to resign, including the Democratic Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, Treasurer, and Secretary of State.

At the national level, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, and Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin called for the Democrat to step down.  The 50 members of the U.S. Senate Democratic caucus ordered Blagojevich to not fill the seat with himself or anyone else. 

When Blagojevich named someone to serve anyway, the Democratic State Attorney General filed a motion with the Illinois Supreme Court seeking to declare the Governor “unable to serve” and strip him of the powers of his office. 

Then the Democratic-controlled House quickly began impeachment proceedings.  In January 2009, just one month after the Blagojevich crimes became known, Blagojevich was impeached by the Democratic-controlled House on a vote of 114–1. Only one Democrat opposed it.

Just twenty days later, the Democratic Governor was convicted by the Senate, with every Democrat voting in favor of his impeachment.  Democratic legislators also disqualified their fellow Democrat from ever again holding public office in the state.

In other words, faced with a powerful chief executive from it’s own party engaged in attempted bribery to benefit himself, Illinois Democrats didn’t make excuses.  They didn’t engage in blame-shifting “whataboutism” arguments. They didn’t shrug it off because no payoff had yet been made before investigators shut down the scheme. They didn’t put party over principle. 

Instead, Democrats supported a swift impeachment and removal of their party’s top leader.

Democrats are far from perfect. But as Senate Majority Mitch McConnell and the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate begin their Trump impeachment trial, the contrast between how Democrats and Republicans have handled these two respective bribery scandals is clear and stark.  The case of Rod Blagojevich reminds us that lazy “both parties are equally complicit in the face of bribery and corruption” assertions just don’t hold up.