There's a real chance that Donald Trump will be impeached after James Comey's testimony

This is a big day for the UK. After weeks of never-ending gaffes, weak and wobbly U-turns and bitter disappointments, voters are finally being given the chance to make their voices heard – and what they’ve got to say could drastically alter the political and economic fate of an entire continent.

But over on the other side of the Atlantic, there’s a congressional hearing about to kick off that could decide the fate of the entire planet. Donald Trump’s gaudy and scandal-ridden political career is now hanging on by a single orange thread – and today could be the day we finally see that thread slashed down the middle.

Enter James Comey, long-time federal prosecutor and freshly sacked FBI director with one heck of a chip on his shoulder.

Comey was tossed out in the cold last month as a direct result of his public investigation into whether Donald Trump’s campaign team colluded with Russian hackers to sabotage Hillary Clinton and steal the presidency. If even a shred of the allegations against Trump’s team are true, this steaming heap will effortlessly dwarf Richard Nixon’s infamous Watergate scandal to become the most disturbing ethical crisis America’s Executive Branch has ever faced.

Not even the “Teflon Don” will be able to survive all this, and to be honest, it’s not looking good. Every move the President has made since this Russia thing started brewing has made him look guiltier and guiltier.

First, we heard that Trump tried to stiff arm the FBI into dropping an inquiry against the disgraced national security advisor Michael Flynn – who resigned from the Trump team after just one month for lying to everybody about secret meetings with a former KGB spy recruiter.

Next, we heard Trump demanded an oath of loyalty from the director of the FBI and told him to stop trying to connect the dots linking his pals with the Russians. And not long after, Trump had the balls to tell us on primetime TV that he’d given Comey a pink slip for refusing to back down.

All of that sounds like a genuine obstruction of justice, and most legal experts would tell you it is grounds for impeachment. But up until now, nobody has actually gone on-record or given us significant evidence to back all this stuff up.

That’s going to change in a few hours.

This afternoon, James Comey is going to plop down in front of the Senate intelligence committee and spill the beans on all of these allegations – and guess what? Unfortunately for the President, Comey takes pretty good notes.

In an opening statement that was released last night, Comey confirmed all of it. According to the long-time public servant, Trump did demand an oath of loyalty at an “uneasy” candlelit dinner. Trump did pressure Comey to drop the investigation into Flynn, and wanted the FBI director to publicly state that Trump himself was not suspected of any wrongdoing.

According to Comey, Trump even nagged him about making that whole Russian hooker dossier disappear – but those allegations did always seem a bit tenuous, even for a billionaire megalomaniac like the President.

And that’s just the start. After Comey delivers his statement, Senators will get to quiz the former FBI director on all the nitty-gritty. You could cut the tension with a knife – and ecstatic Democrats are already celebrating Comey’s big day by launching impeachment proceedings against the President.

That celebration might be a little bit pre-emptive, though.

Apparently Trump has been wining and dining a couple of the guys on the questioning panel this week, so you can bet your bottom dollar somebody’s going to try to discredit Comey in some way or another. And at this stage in the investigation, this entire mucky scandal is essentially just one man’s word against another's (even if one of those men happens to be a compulsive liar). Either way, this is only a small step down a long and winding road.

But make no mistake: today's drama will undeniably set the wheels in motion. And when the history books are written, James Comey's testimony very well may be recognised as the beginning of the end for Donald J Trump.