Gordon Sondland just remembered that Trump demanded that Ukraine announce an investigation of the Bidens in return for getting US military aid
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Turns out his testimony a couple of weeks ago was seriously incomplete in that regard. But after a bunch of people contradicted him under oath, his memory magically restored itself.
I’m morbidly curious about how Trump’s lickspittles in the Senate and elsewhere will continue to play this. Rational strategies would include:
(1) OK Trump asked for a quid pro quo and that was really bad, but not bad enough to warrant removal. (Appropriate for Trump supporters who can read).
(2) OK Trump asked for a quid pro quo, but foreign policy is all about about quid pro quos (Appropriate for the median Hannity viewer).
What doesn’t seem sustainable is continuing to back Trump’s position that he had a perfect phone call that didn’t include anything like an improper request. Or to put it another way, this wouldn’t be sustainable in anything outside a pure cult of personality/nascent totalitarian context.
On another note, Trump is going to attend the Alabama-LSU football game on Saturday, as he attempts to find a sporting event at which the boos from the crowd will not humiliate him, after previous ventures out to the World Series and a UFC fight failed miserably in this regard.
Finally, here’s an interesting thread from Kurt Eichenwald about how the formal legal powers available to the POTUS contain almost unlimited opportunities for a demagogue to essentially do an end run around that whole quadrennial election requirement:
Elizabeth Goitein laid out the details for how to undertake a legal coup (again, it’s ALWAYS projection with right wingers) earlier this year.
. . .
Obligatory (thx to Anna in PDX for the reminder):