We are living in dangerous times and these are the issues occupying our so-called leaders.

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."

Tuberville is doing what he's doing because the people in his state care a lot about fighting abortion. The Democratic Senate is doing what they're doing because the people in their states care a lot about preserving access to abortion. Matt Gaetz is doing what he's doing because his constituents want someone that will "fight" for what their small subset of the electorate thinks the U.S. government should be. Etc.

As for Menendez, it's certainly easier to take a hard moral stand and demand a fellow member of your party resign if you know your party will name the replacement. It's a lot tougher to hand the other party a Senate seat, and the advantages of incumbency in the next election. But now that the Democrats hold the governor's mansion, they're going to be a little more comfortable talking to him about stepping aside.

The timing is different, too. The prior indictments were handed down in April 2015, two and a half years before the 2018 election, and the trial was over well before the primaries. That won't happen this year - the primary is on June 4, and his trial won't even start before then. He'll likely draw a primary challenger, simply because the party has very good reasons for not wanting to have a nominee that might be convicted between the primary and the election....and the Democrats literally cannot afford to lose the NJ Senate seat. Menendez' indictment will make recruiting a Republican opponent the easiest lift in the world - there's no way any quality candidate would pass on throwing their hat in against either Menendez or someone different (save maybe for Chris Smith).