THE UKRAINE MUTINY

There are so many differences between the Watergate scandal and the ongoing existential crisis that is the Trump presidency.  But one difference is that Nixon knew right from wrong – or at least legal from illegal – and wanted to be seen as being right, or failing that, at least legal.  Spoiler alert:  history’s verdict is that he was neither right nor legal.   

But Donald Trump doesn’t even understand the distinction between true/false and legal/illegal.  For him, there’s only “good for me or bad for me.”  Today’s “transcript” release underlines that point.  He released an undoubtedly doctored version of his conversation with the Ukraine president-elect, which deletes portions of his own statements at three crucial junctures.  And he still manages to incriminate himself with an obvious quid pro quo request.  Maybe THE CAINE MUTINY trial is a better comparator than Watergate.

I took Latin in high school, so I know that “quid pro quo” means, essentially, “something for something.”  It’s a transaction.  I’ll give you X, if you give me Y.  Ukraine president-elect Zelensky said he’d like to buy some American anti-tank missiles, and Trump responds, “I would like you to do us a favor, though.”  Quid, meet quo.  Not that a quid pro quo is necessary to prove corruption.  Simply asking a foreign government to dig up dirt on a domestic political opponent is corrupt, high crimes and misdemeanor-wise.  But Trump’s request for a favor – investigate my political opponent – is the icing on the cake.

I’ve been frustrated with Nancy Pelosi, while at the same time straining to give her the benefit of the doubt, for the past several months.  As the Democratic Speaker of the House, she has to balance the interests of the moderate/cautious swing-district members of the caucus, with those of the firebrands in safe seats.  I’ve felt that she overdid the “impeachment is the furthest thing from our minds” position, but there’s an argument to be made that she played her cards just right, letting the pro-impeachment members build support for their position behind the scenes.  And when Trump overplayed his hand, she sprung the trap. 

Or maybe she was clueless and just got lucky.

Either way, I’ll take it.  She did the right thing this week.  She even backed down Mitch McConnell, who allowed a Senate vote on a resolution calling for the release of the whistleblower complaint, which passed 100-0.  Every single Senate Republican cast a vote against Donald Trump.  Who would have predicted that six months ago?  It ain’t impeachment, but it ain’t bad. 

Meanwhile, Trump and his risible co-conspirator, Rudy Giuliani, are melting down before our eyes.  Even on Fox News, the friendliest venue imaginable, Rudy babbles and contradicts himself, revealing secrets that undercut the current Republican narrative on a seemingly daily basis.  Trump sweats, slurs his words, shows up at the UN, reading from a teleprompter, a text he’s apparently never seen before, while sounding like he’s just been hit with a tranquilizer dart.  Even his own Secretary of Commerce dozed off, for crying out loud.

And now members of the House leadership have seen not only the doctored transcript of the call between Trump and Zelensky, but also the actual whistleblower complaint.  They say it’s explosive.  Even Republican members of Congress are worried (off the record, of course), as right-wing commentator Erick Erickson noted reluctantly today.  He wrote:  “Speaking on background to a Republican congressional source who has direct knowledge of the whistleblower report, he says it is really bad….  It ‘paints a clear path to impeachment’ with enough information that Democrats will be able to make appropriate document requests and subpoena witnesses for a focused effort.”

We will learn those details soon enough.  Trump may – may – have dodged a bullet with the Mueller investigation, thanks to his lying Attorney General’s misrepresentation of the facts.  But with regard to the Ukraine scandal, events seem to have overtaken him.

Everything that Trump touches, dies.  Rick Wilson, the man who coined that phrase, has a column in The Daily Beast (link below) with good advice for Democrats as they pursue the impeachment inquiry.  I pray they’re paying attention. 

Or, as another savvy political commentator (and the only man who’s won a Grammy, an Oscar, a Pulitzer Prize, a Golden Globe, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and also a Nobel Prize) once put it, “keep your eyes wide, the chance won’t come again.”  He also said, “Don’t speak too soon, for the wheel’s still in spin,” which is worth remembering as well.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/five-simple-rules-for-impeaching-our-president-donald-j-trump