Perhaps the dam is starting to crack - in the GOP.
The New York Times on Sunday reported that two Republican members of Congress last week began formally questioning Ivanka Trump's use of private email for government business.
According to the Times story, the questions from Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina were "seen by people close to the White House as a sign of things to come for the president's family."
Johnson is chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Gowdy is the chairman of the House Oversight Committee who led the two-year investigation into "Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi," along with Hillary Clinton's email. Gowdy also probed anti-Trump political bias within the FBI in the 2016 campaign.
To borrow from another cliche: Perhaps the worm is starting to turn.
Gowdy will retire from Congress in January, and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Maryland, will take his place as Oversight chairman now that Democrats have wrested control of the House of Representatives. Cummings will be oh-so-happy to investigate any number of things about the Trumps.
In the meantime, Republicans must at least make a show with voters that they are - even if belatedly - on the side of "right."
Sure, Trump's fan club will raise a ruckus, arguing that the president is correct to say inquiries into his family and his finances - not necessarily in that order - are off limits and a waste of money. But the fan club is shrinking. (At least it's shrinking everywhere but in the South, where the only way a Democrat appears able to win office is when his opponent is credibly accused of molesting underage girls. See Alabama and Roy Moore.)
The Times story states: "Mr. Trump has told aides that he believes Democrats have the potential to appear overly partisan in investigating his family and that voters may be sympathetic to efforts to rebuff them."
But Ivanka isn't just family. She's Trump's senior presidential adviser. The same is true for her husband, Jared Kushner, who also has used his personal phone for government business and who inexplicably holds a high security clearance even though he repeatedly "forgot" to acknowledge meetings with Russians and other foreign officials and tried more than once to set up "back channel" communications with Russia.
As for the Trump finances, there is probably not enough time in the coming decade to follow all of the dirty money trails of the Trumps and their businesses profiting from their time in office.
But Democrats must try.
Rep. Adam B. Schiff, D-California, the soon-to-be chairman of the Intelligence Committee, has said he wants to zero in on possible money laundering by Russians through the Trump Organization.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-California, and a member of both the Intelligence and Judiciary committees, told The Times that Democrats will seek to avoid probes pertaining to "palace intrigue and voyeuristic interests," like Kushner's pathetic memory, and instead focus on potential irregularities shaping government policy - like foreign financial dealings.
"Yeah, it is pretty objectionable that the president's son-in-law failed a number of times to properly fill out a security clearance form, and it is objectionable he still has one now," Swalwell told The Times. "But is it the most objectionable thing the Trump administration has done? Not by a long shot."
This is important stuff, and Americans deserve to know the truth.
As for naysayers calling it a "waste" of taxpayer money?
Investigating the ways the Trump administration conducts Trump business on our dimes and dollars will probably save us money, not cost us.
It's about time - long past time - some Republicans who fancy themselves as "fiscal hawks" decided to put their support where their mouths have been.