The Commentariat -- October 30, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

John Bolton "has been invited to testify" before the House Intel Committee next Thursday, according to both CNN & MSNBC. So has the NSC lawyer John Eisenberg who is at the center of much of the Ukraine scandal.

Jake Tapper of CNN: "Top White House Ukraine expert Alexander Vindman told congressional investigators he was convinced ... Donald Trump was personally blocking $400 million in military aid to Ukraine to force that country to publicly announce an investigation into Joe Biden and his family, two sources present at the deposition told CNN.... The sources at the deposition said Vindman believed the existence of a quid pro quo was clear during a July 10 meeting between American and Ukrainian officials. In his opening statement, Vindman wrote that date is when US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told Ukrainian government officials that they would need to deliver 'specific investigations in order to secure the meeting' with Trump that they so desired. But the fact that the $400 million in aid, including desperately needed military assistance, was also being used by the President didn't become clear until the next month, Vindman testified.... On August 16, Bolton and other senior Cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, traveled to Trump's resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, to discuss a number of national security issues with the President [including a decision letter Vindman had written that showed government-wide support for releasing the funds to Ukraine]. Vindman learned after their meeting that Trump still refused to allow the security assistance funds to go to Ukraine, which made Vindman think the President was still waiting for the 'deliverable' [Trump had demanded]."

You Can't Make up This Stuff. Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert..., told lawmakers that a close associate of Republican Rep. Devin Nunes 'misrepresented' himself to ... Donald Trump in an effort to involve himself further in Ukraine policy.... [Vindman] told lawmakers that after attending Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's inauguration in May..., [he] had been looking forward to debriefing Trump and giving a positive account of Zelensky's vision for Ukraine's future.... But [his boss Fiona Hill] ... instructed [him] 'at the last second' not to attend the debriefing ... because ... Trump believed ... that Kashyap Patel, a longtime Nunes staffer who joined the White House in February and had no discernible Ukraine experience or expertise, was actually the NSC's top Ukraine expert instead of Vindman.... Vindman also testified that he was told Patel had been circumventing normal NSC process to get negative material about Ukraine in front of the president, feeding Trump's belief that Ukraine was brimming with corruption and had interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrats."

Boo-Hoo-Hoo. Everybody's Picking on Me. Ariane de Vogue & Alex Rogers of CNN: "A federal appeals court nominee broke down in tears during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, reacting to a scathing letter against his confirmation by the American Bar Association after it conducted 60 interviews and concluded that he was 'not qualified" for the judicial branch. Lawrence J.C. VanDyke grew emotional, with his face turning red as he defended himself against the letter's conclusions that he could would not treat LGBTQ litigants fairly. 'I do not believe that,' VanDyke said. 'It is a fundamental belief of mine that all people are created in the image of God,' adding, 'they should all be treated with dignity and respect.'... "Mr. VanDyke's accomplishments are offset by the assessments of interviewees that Mr. VanDyke is arrogant, lazy, an ideologue, and lacking in knowledge of the day-to-day practice including procedural rules,' William C. Hubbard, chair of the ABA's standing committee on the federal judiciary, wrote. 'There was a theme that the nominee lacks humility, has an 'entitlement' temperament, does not have an open mind, and does not always have a commitment to being candid and truthful.'"

Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "Senate Democrats on Wednesday opened a confirmation hearing for Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan as ambassador to Russia with questions about why he recalled the former ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, and didn't stand up more forcefully for the foreign service. Sullivan, responding to sharp questions by Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, agreed that Yovanovitch had 'served capably and admirably.' But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he said, told him 'the president had lost confidence with her,' and he was designated to deliver the news to her. Pompeo, he indicated, declined to specify any further reason in response to Sullivan's appeal.'... Menendez asked whether he knew that Trump's personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, was 'seeking to smear' Yovanovitch. 'I believe he was, yes,' Sullivan said.... He was asked whether it was 'ever appropriate for the president to use his office to solicit investigations into his domestic political opponents.'Sullivan said: 'I don't think that would be in accord with our values.'" ~~~

~~~ Nahal Toosi covers the same ground for Politico, and her take is worth reading, too. Sullivan "also said he was looped in when the State Department was given a packet of material that appeared to be aimed at denigrating Yovanovitch. 'It didn't provide to me a basis for taking action against our ambassador,' said Sullivan of the packet, which Giuliani is suspected of helping put together. Sullivan said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had tried to find out exactly why Trump was unhappy with Yovanovitch, but that after several months, the reason -- which Sullivan said he was never told -- became irrelevant because it was clear the president wanted her out."

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "It's not clear how significant the omissions [in the abridged telcon] noted by [Col. Alexander] Vindman were, but his testimony blows a massive hole in Trump's claim that the transcript is a complete and thorough documentation of the call. Yes, that claim was always obviously false, but having a sense of something specific that was apparently excluded makes obvious just how many gaps there could be in the document.... What was revealed in Vindman's testimony isn't that the transcript wasn't complete; we knew that on the day it was released. What was exposed instead was how hollow Trump's claims about the transcript really were. Trump has learned over the past four years that it doesn't matter what he says."

Kate Brannan of Just Security: "As the summer wore on, and ... Donald Trump would not budge on his decision to withhold almost $400 million in military aid for Ukraine, the Pentagon warned the White House: If its portion of the money wasn't released quickly, the Defense Department would not be able to spend it before the fiscal year ended on September 30. The Pentagon even gave the White House a deadline... [of] August 6.... And the Pentagon was also clear that providing Ukraine the security assistance was in the national security interests of the United States, on that point Trump's Cabinet agreed. 'At every meeting, the unanimous conclusion was that the security assistance should be resumed, the hold lifted,' Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, said in his opening statement to House investigators last week. As for corruption, the pretext being given for why the funding was being withheld, the Pentagon had certified in May that the 'Government of Ukraine has taken substantial actions to make defense institutional reforms for the purposes of decreasing corruption [and] increasing accountability.' When asked over the summer to perform an analysis of the effectiveness of the military aid, the Defense Department took one day to conclude the assistance was effective and should be resumed, Taylor testified. In late July, the Pentagon also alerted the White House that if the funding wasn't released in time, the Pentagon would be at risk of violating the Impoundment Control Act, which punishes the executive branch when it doesn't spend money that Congress has appropriated, the sources said. But, the White House did not heed the Pentagon's warnings. It continued to withhold the money through August and into September." There's more.

Burgess Everett & Anita Kumar of Politico: "Sen. Chuck Grassley is warning the White House that it cannot legally appoint Ken Cuccinelli to lead the Department of Homeland Security. President Trump is seeking an end-around to appoint the immigration hardliner to the position, and Cuccinelli is loathed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Republicans to the point that he probably could not be confirmed. And Grassley, the most senior Republican, said under the Vacancies Act there's no legal way to put the acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services chief in the position as acting chief after acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan leaves his post on Thursday. ~~~

     ~~~ Earlier. Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "The White House has found a way to bypass a federal statute that dictates who can fill secretary positions, potentially allowing President Trump to choose whomever he wants to lead the Department of Homeland Security, according to an administration official. The route may run through an office established to counter weapons of mass destruction.... The White House ... is exploring a loophole in the [federal vacancies] law, according to an administration official. Under this route, the White House would tap someone to be the assistant secretary of the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, which is vacant, and then elevate that person to be the acting secretary of homeland security."

Ernesto Londoño & Somini Sengupta of the New York Times: "President Sebastián Piñera of Chile said on Wednesday that his country, which has been rocked by a wave of recent protests, was not in a position to host a key United Nations climate change meeting and a major Asia-Pacific trade summit later this year. The announcements underscored how destabilizing the recent wave of protests and acts of vandalism have been for the country, which has long been regarded as an exemplar of stability in a tumultuous region.... The trade meeting, of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, had been scheduled for mid-November. That cancellation throws a wrench into trade talks between the United States and China. President Trump had been scheduled to attend the trade meeting, which was seen as an opportunity for the two economic giants to settle a monthslong fight over tariffs that has rippled across the global economy."

Julie Brown of the Miami Herald: "... a private forensic pathologist hired by Mark Epstein [-- Jeffrey Epstein's brother] to oversee his brother's autopsy bolsters what conspiracy theorists have suggested for months: that the evidence does not support the finding that Jeffrey Epstein killed himself. Dr. Michael Baden, one of the world's leading forensic pathologists, viewed Jeffrey Epstein's body and was present at the autopsy, which was held the day after Epstein was found dead at the notorious Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Manhattan.... Baden, in an interview first aired on Fox & Friends Wednesday, announced his own findings: that Epstein, who was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10, had two fractures on the left and right sides of his larynx. He told the Herald that it is rare for any bones to be broken in a hanging, let alone for multiple bones to be fractured. 'Those fractures are extremely unusual in suicidal hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicidal strangulation,' said Baden, who added that there were hemorrhages in Epstein's eyes that are also more common in strangulation than in hangings. Baden's opinion contradicted New York City Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson, who ruled Epstein's cause of death to be a suicide by hanging." The New York Times story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Sorry, Doc. Anybody who goes on "Fox & Friends" to explain science-y things immediately loses all credibility.

Thanks to Forrest M. for passing along this:

Carol Lee, et al., of NBC News: "Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney first learned about the U.S. military raid against ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi after the operation was already underway, according to five current and former senior administration officials.... The extraordinary move by Trump to leave his chief of staff out of the most significant U.S. military operation against the world's most wanted terrorist since the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011 represents a major blow to Mulvaney, suggesting that he is increasingly sidelined inside the White House. The White House chief of staff typically would be central to such a momentous gambit for a president, coordinating logistics, public statements and notifications of congressional leaders and allies.... Andrew Card, former President George W. Bush's longtime chief of staff, said the exclusion of Mulvaney from a moment of such magnitude in the presidency is difficult to grasp because the chief of staff typically would be in national security meetings leading up to it and tasked with coordinating with other top officials on everything from a communications strategy to a plan in case the raid failed." Mrs. McC: Mulvaney isn't even "acting" chief-of-staff now.

Joby Warrick, et al., of the Washington Post: "U.S. commandos zeroed in on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's final hideout with the help of an extraordinarily well-placed informant, an Islamic State operative who facilitated the terrorist leader's movements around Syria and even helped oversee construction work on his Syrian safe house, according to U.S. and Middle East-based officials knowledgeable about the operation. The mole's detailed knowledge of Baghdadi's whereabouts as well as the room-by-room layout of his sanctuary proved to be critical in the Oct. 26 raid that ended with the death of the world's most-wanted terrorist, the officials said. The informant was present during the assault on Baghdadi's compound in the Syrian province of Idlib, and he was exfiltrated from the region two days later with his family. The man, whose nationality had not been revealed, is expected to receive some or all of the $25 million U.S. bounty that had been placed on Baghdadi's head, according to the officials. One official said he was a Sunni Arab who turned against the Islamic State because one of his relatives had been killed by the group." TPM has a brief summary of the WashPo report.

Julia Ioffe has a good piece in GQ on, "... the making of a decorated U.S. military officer, and the immigrant experience of Soviet Jews in America and abroad." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Ioffe centers her story on the history of Alexander Vindman & his family. "While Trump has a history of attacking anyone who questions his power, there is a particularly insidious history to questioning the loyalty of Jewish émigrés." Critics so often see Hitler & Mussolini tendencies in Trump, but Ioffe's piece reminds us that Trump comes with a taste for Stalin, too.

Jonathan Chait: “'Hillary Clinton emerged recently to claim, with no basis in fact, that I am being "groomed" by the Russian government to undermine America,' claims Tulsi Gabbard in a Wall Street Journal op-ed today. In fact, as even the conservative Washington Examiner acknowledges, Clinton did not say that. She said Republicans were grooming Gabbard. And far from refuting that charge, everything about Gabbard's op-ed confirms Clinton was probably right.... In fact, nothing could do more to vindicate Clinton's suspicion that Gabbard is being groomed by the Republican party as a spoiler candidate than a Wall Street Journal op-ed previewing her case for a spoiler campaign.... Gabbard is now working hand in hand with the Republican party. This is apparent in her pattern of working closely with Republican-controlled media, like 'Hill TV' -- John Solomon's propaganda outlet -- and Sean Hannity. Gabbard used both forums to promote Republican talking points discrediting the impeachment process...."

Deirdre Shesgreen of USA Today: "In a remarkable rebuke of a NATO ally, the House on Tuesday approved a biting sanctions bill that could cripple Turkey's economy and would punish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan personally by requiring an assessment of his net worth amid questions about his finances in Turkey. Lawmakers also passed a deeply contentious measure to commemorate the Armenian genocide, a historic move that will almost certainly exacerbate U.S.-Turkey tensions. The genocide measure officially recognizes the systematic killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. 'Members of my own family were among those murdered, and my parents fled with my grandparents to America,' said Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. 'What all of the persecuted had in common was that they were Christians.'... Turkey condemned the House votes, saying the sanctions bill is "incompatible with the spirit of our allied relations under NATO.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: And how did attacking Kurdish allies of the U.S. & other NATO countries conform to "the spirit of our allied relations under NATO"? Note to Erdogan: Just because Trump lets you do it, doesn't mean it's okay.

Florida. Max Dixon of Politico: "The Republican Party of Florida on Monday postponed its biggest annual fundraiser, a move that some officials blamed on lackluster interest from donors....[The event] was scheduled for Nov. 9 in Orlando. The postponement is a significant setback to the state Republican Party and potentially ... Donald Trump, who will need to win Florida to secure his reelection in 2020.... As of Friday, the only table sponsorships that had been sold were bought by local Republican Executive Committees. No donor or corporate tables had been sold and [Gov. Ron] DeSantis had not raised any money for the event, despite pledging millions of dollars." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Matt Dixon of Politico: "... Donald Trump's promise to headline the Republican Party of Florida' annual fundraiser has given it a much-needed financial and emotional boost going into 2020, even as the news has laid bare divisions within the state party's leadership. The party's scramble to land a Trump visit culminated in a political victory for Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday and effectively left state GOP Chairman Joe Gruters with a title but no influence. The power play caps a monthslong effort by DeSantis to elbow the chairman out of power. It also ended the 24-hour drama that saw the party's Statesman's Dinner canceled due to a lack of interest, then rescheduled with a bang."

Iliana Magra of the New York Times: "The family of Harry Dunn, the teenage motorcyclist who was killed in a crash in Britain in August, is suing the Trump administration for 'lawless misconduct,' a spokesman for the family said on Tuesday. Mr. Dunn, 19, died after his motorcycle collided with a car that the police said had been traveling on the wrong side of the road on Aug. 27 in Brackley, a town about 60 miles northwest of London. The case ignited a diplomatic tug-of-war between Britain and the United States after the woman thought to be driving the car, Anne Sacoolas, the wife of an American diplomat, claimed immunity and left the country a little over two weeks after the accident." The Hill's story is here.

Tara Copp, et al. of McClatchy DC: "Veterans saw a spike in urinary, prostate, liver and blood cancers during nearly two decades of war, and some military families now question whether their exposure to toxic environments is to blame, according to a McClatchy investigation. McClatchy found that the rate of cancer treatments for veterans at Department of Veterans Affairs health care centers increased 61 percent for urinary cancers ⁠-- which include bladder, kidney and ureter cancers ⁠-- from fiscal year 2000 to 2018. The rate of blood cancer treatments ⁠-- lymphoma, myeloma and leukemia ⁠-- rose 18 percent in the same period. Liver and pancreatic cancer treatment rates increased 96 percent and prostate cancer treatment rates increased 23 percent.... While sympathetic to veterans' concerns, Dr. Michael Kelley, chief of hematology and oncology for the VA, said much more research is needed to link a cause to the cancers." --s

Noah Lanard of Mother Jones: "In the summer of 2017, the Trump administration made El Paso the test site for a family separation policy whose existence the administration denied. Now the administration is using El Paso to test another secretive policy that will allow it to rapidly deport asylum seekers with negligible due process.... The number of people taken into custody by Border Patrol agents dropped from 132,856 in May to 40,507 in September.... The number of parents and children traveling together stopped by Border Patrol agents plummeted from 84,486 to 15,824 during that period.... Since the fiasco of family separation, [the administration] moved toward policies like the new El Paso pilot program that are complex and hidden from public view..., another sign that the Trump administration concluded from the family separation crisis that deterrence is more sustainable when it is obscured and hard to understand." --s

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Adam Edelman & Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "House Democrats released on Tuesday text of the resolution that will detail their procedures as they move forward with the impeachment inquiry into ... Donald Trump. The full House is expected to vote Thursday on the resolution after the House Rules Committee debates and marks it up on Wednesday.... The eight-page resolution calls for public hearings and lays out their general format, and specifically permits staff counsels to question witnesses for periods of up to 45 minutes per side, Democrats and Republicans. The resolution gives the minority the same rights to question witnesses that the majority has, 'as has been true at every step of the inquiry,' Democrats said in a fact sheet about the measure.... The measure also would allow the president or his counsel to participate in impeachment proceedings held by the House Judiciary Committee, whic has the authority to advance articles of impeachment against the president. The resolution explicitly states that the Judiciary panel will decide whether articles should be reported to the full House. If the president 'refuses to cooperate' unlawfully with congressional requests, Democrats say that the measure says '... the Chair shall have the discretion to impose appropriate remedies, including by denying specific requests by the President or his counsel.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Nicholas Fandos & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "... while the rules would afford the president many of the rights that congressional Republicans have demanded, including allowing Mr. Trump's lawyers or Republican lawmakers to submit written proposals to call additional witnesses, they are unlikely to satisfy his allies.As in past impeachment inquiries, Democrats as the majority party could block subpoenas requested by the minority Republicans if they disagreed that hearing from those people was necessary.... The House will recess late Thursday for a week, but Democratic leaders aim to begin open hearings in the Intelligence Committee as soon as the week of Nov. 11. The public hearings will most likely feature several key witnesses investigators have interviewed behind closed doors."~~~

~~~ Slow Readers. Media Matters: "Fox's Jason Chaffetz says two days isn't enough time for congressional Republicans to read the eight page impeachment resolution."

Jennifer Ansler & Kylie Atwood of CNN: "Two State Department experts on Ukraine are slated to become the latest diplomats thrust into the spotlight as part of the House impeachment inquiry. Catherine Croft and Christopher Anderson are scheduled to testify in separate closed-door hearings before the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees on Wednesday. The foreign service officers, described as 'two stars of the midlevel ranks' by a former State Department colleague, each worked as deputy to then-Special Envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker.... Croft took over the role from Anderson in the summer of 2019.... A source familiar with their testimony told CNN that there are expected to be blind spots in what Croft and Anderson knew. Anderson left the role in July, which is when Giuliani's direct involvement intensified. When Croft took over the role, Giuliani's influence was more pronounced. According to her prepared statement, 'Ambassador Volker's conversations with Giuliani were separate from my work, and I was generally unaware of when they spoke or what they spoke about.'" ~~~

~~~ John Hudson & Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "Two career diplomats will testify before House impeachment investigators Wednesday that President Trump displayed a deeply pessimistic view of Ukraine that was out of step with officials at the White House and State Department who saw support for the European country as critical in its battle with Russian-backed separatists, according to their prepared remarks obtained by The Washington Post.... Anderson ... will detail efforts when U.S. officials tried to demonstrate support for Ukraine only to be batted down by the White House, including after Russian forces attacked and seized Ukrainian military vessels in the Sea of Azov in 2018.... Croft ... will say that 'throughout' her time in the Trump administration she heard the president 'describe Ukraine as a corrupt country,' both 'directly and indirectly.'... They ... offer new insight into how a shadow foreign policy executed by people outside of government undermined the work of U.S. officials."

     ~~~ NPR has Croft's opening statement here. "'During my time at the NSC, I received multiple calls from lobbyist Robert Livingston, who told me that Ambassador Yovanovitch should be fired. He characterized Ambassador Yovanovitch as an 'Obama holdover' and associated with George Soros,' Croft says in her opening statement.... 'It was not clear to me at the time -- or now -- at whose direction or at whose expense Mr. Livingston was seeking the removal of Ambassador Yovanovitch. I documented these calls and told my boss, Fiona Hill, and George Kent, who was in Kyiv at the time. I am not aware of any action that was taken in response.'" ~~~

     (~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If the name Robert Livingston sounds vaguely familiar, that's because he figured in the last impeachment of a President: Bill Clinton. After Newt Gingrich resigned as speaker, partly because it came out he was having an extramarital affair with a young staffer, House Republicans were ready to choose Livingston to replace Gingrich. Wikipedia: "Livingston learned late on the night of December 15, 1998 -- just days before the full House of Representatives was about to begin debating the impeachment of President Clinton -- that [Hustler publisher Larry] Flynt had been in contact with at least one woman with whom he had had an extramarital affair. Two days later..., Flynt released a press release saying he was investigating tips about four alleged affairs Livingston had had. Two days [after that], on December 19, 1998, during the final impeachment debates in the House of Representatives, Livingston challenged President Bill Clinton to resign -- and then said 'I can only challenge you in such fashion if I am willing to heed my own words,' and announced that he would not be a candidate for the speakership and would vacate his House seat...." House Republicans then settled on Denny Hastert, who -- it later emerged -- kept his sexual dalliances to high school wrestlers whom he coached. ~~~)

     ~~~ NPR has Anderson's opening statement here.

The Cover-up, Ctd. It's Not a "Rough Transcript." It's an "Abridged TELCON." ~~~

** About Those Ellipses. Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, told House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that the White House transcript of a July call between President Trump and Ukraine's president omitted crucial words and phrases, and that his attempts to include them failed, according to three people familiar with the testimony. The omissions, Colonel Vindman said, included Mr. Trump's assertion that there were recordings of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. discussing Ukraine corruption, and an explicit mention by Ukraine' president, Volodymyr Zelensky, of Burisma Holdings, the energy company whose board employed Mr. Biden's son Hunter. Colonel Vindman, who appeared on Capitol Hill wearing his dark blue Army dress uniform and military medals, told House impeachment investigators that he tried to change the reconstructed transcript made by the White House staff to reflect the omissions. But while some of his edits appeared to have been successful, he said, those two corrections were not made.... Colonel Vindman's account offered a hint to solving a mystery surrounding the conversation: what Mr. Trump's aides left out of the transcript in places where ellipses indicated dropped words." ~~~

     ~~~ The NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It's worth noting here that Trump suggested Tuesday morning that it was not "possible" that Vindman was on the July 25 call & urged questioners to "Please ask him to read the Transcript of the call" (linked below). Read it? Vindman went over it with a fine-toothed comb & noted errors & omissions. Earlier, "Trump falsely claimed that a White House-released memo on his July 25 phone call with Zelensky was 'an exact word-for-word transcript of the conversation ... taken by very talented stenographers.' The memo includes a 'caution' note saying it 'is not a verbatim transcript'? -- on the first page. If the call was so "perfect," why has Trump repeatedly lied about it, & why did his staff hide evidence of the call on a top-secret server so few could access it?

~~~ "As God Is My Witness." Ben Lefebvre & Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "Testimony from a senior White House official on Tuesday appeared to contradict Energy Secretary Rick Perry's ardent denials that he ever heard former Vice President Joe Biden or his son Hunter discussed in relation to U.S. requests that Ukraine investigate corruption. In his opening statement, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman ... told House impeachment investigators that he objected to EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland's comments in a July 10 White House briefing -- attended by Perry -- requesting that Ukrainian officials investigate the 2016 U.S. election, the Bidens and the Ukrainian energy company Burisma that had employed Hunter Biden. 'I stated to Amb. Sondland that his statements were inappropriate, that the request to investigate Biden and his son had nothing to do with national security, and that such investigations were not something the [National Security Council] was going to get involved in or push,' Vindman's statement said." Perry left the meeting after the exchange between Vindman & Sondland. "'Not once, as God is my witness, not once was a Biden name -- not the former vice president, not his son -- ever mentioned,' Perry told the CBN News on Oct. 7. He repeated those denials in a Fox News radio interview last week. A DOE spokesperson said Perry stands by his earlier statement but did not comment on the July 10 meeting." ~~~

The Squeeze Meetings. Greg Miller of the New York Times: "In a pair of volatile meetings, senior White House officials, including then-national security adviser John Bolton, were confronted with the outlines of a scheme they had previously only suspected: President Trump was seeking to use the power of his office to pressure Ukraine to deliver damaging information on former vice president Joe Biden and his son. One of the officials Trump had entrusted to pursue this agenda, Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, was undeterred by the fierce opposition from Bolton and others. He persisted in pressing Ukraine to commit to Trump's demands, convening a second meeting even after a spectacular blowup in the West Wing. All of this played out before ... confused officials from Ukraine, who came seeking to strengthen their standing with Trump and ended up witnessing events that are now at the heart of the House impeachment inquiry. Details of the July 10 sequence, which Bolton likened to an illicit 'drug deal,' have emerged from witnesses' testimony before House lawmakers over the past several weeks."

~~~ Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "National Security Council Ukraine expert Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman's testimony in the House impeachment probe Tuesday is shedding new light on how Trump administration officials pressured Ukrainian leaders into investigations that could benefit the president, corroborating other witnesses with a firsthand account of the alleged attempt at a quid pro quo. Vindman' prepared remarks directly challenge the testimony of U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, who defended the president's actions and told House investigators that no one had raised concerns about them. Sondland told the top American diplomat in Ukraine, Ambassador William B. Taylor Jr., in September text messages saying Trump had not engaged in a quid pro quo.... Vindman's recollections, while narrower [than Taylor's], illuminate key episodes in Taylor's narrative with an even closer perspective: Vindman was either in the room or briefed personally after meetings by the Trump administration officials involved in exchanges Democrats believe amounted to a quid pro quo. ~~~

"Vindman's prepared testimony touched a nerve with Trump, who took to Twitter on Tuesday to deride the Iraq War veteran, who appeared for his testimony in uniform, as a 'Never Trumper,' questioning his recollection of events. 'Supposedly, according to the Corrupt Media, the Ukraine call 'concerned' today's Never Trumper witness. Was he on the same call that I was? Can't be possible!' Trump wrote on Twitter. 'Please ask him to read the Transcript of the call. Witch Hunt!'" (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Let's hope trashing Vindman does not work all that well for Trump. But Trump & the Trumpies are certainly trying: (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump launched a sustained online offensive Tuesday morning after details emerged of damaging congressional testimony by a senior White House official.... The flurry of activity on the president's social media feed came just hours before Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council staffer overseeing Ukraine policy, was due to tell investigators on Capitol Hill that Trump undermined U.S. national security when he pressured Ukraine's president in a July phone call to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.... Among the roughly four dozen tweets or retweets Trump issued Tuesday morning, the president shared missives by prominent GOP defenders in Congress including Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Doug Collins of Georgia, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Mark Meadows of North Carolina, Devin Nunes of California." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Michael Grynbaum & David Alba of the New York Times: "... the notion that Colonel Vindman has some allegiance to a foreign country rapidly spread in right-wing circles, who apparently sensed a useful talking point to undermine testimony that is expected to be deeply damaging to Mr. Trump.... [Rudy] Giuliani ... [wrote] in a tweet that the colonel 'has reportedly been advising two gov's.' He added: 'No wonder he is confused and feels pressure.'... Jack Posobiec, a well-known figure on the far-right internet, tweeted the falsehood that Mr. Vindman had been advising the Ukrainian government on how to counter Mr. Trump's foreign policy goals. Mr. Posobiec cited The New York Times as his source -- in fact, The Times reported no such thing." ~~~

~~~ Matthews includes the remarkable video Philip Bump highlights in the following story. ~~~

~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "When news of Vindman's expected testimony broke on Monday night, the reaction from Trump's normal defenders was remarkably uniform: Vindman was suspect because he came from what is now Ukraine.... Trump tuned in to [Laura] Ingraham's [Fox 'News"] program and offered some thoughts -- including a claim that he'd 'never even heard of' Vindman, a member of his White House team. [More on Ingraham's show linked yesterday.] 'If you look at this lieutenant colonel's background, he's got a Purple Heart, he got hit by an IED in Iraq,' Brian Kilmeade said on 'Fox & Friends.' 'We also know he was born in the Soviet Union, immigrated with his family, young. He tends to feel simpatico with the Ukraine.' On CNN, former congressman Sean P. Duffy (R-Wis.) suggested that Vindman's birthplace was important. 'It seems very clear that he is incredibly concerned about Ukrainian defense,' Duffy said. 'I don't know that he's concerned about American policy, but his main mission was to make sure that Ukraine got those weapons.'" ** Mrs. McC: If you have access to the WashPo, read Bump's story for the first part, which is kind of amazing. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait: "The Republican position is that there's no loyalty problem involved in having American foreign policy conducted by an off-the-books lawyer with no security clearance who was apparently on the payroll of the Russian Mafia. The security problem is the NSC official advising an American ally about how to deal with the goons demanding that the ally subvert the independence of its judicial system and insert itself into the American election, and also that it give the goons a little taste of the gas-import business. The Republicans' logic is that Giuliani and his sleazy clients represent 'the president's interest,' as Ingraham put it. And the president's interest, however corrupt or improper, is the national interest. If you are working at cross-purposes with Rudy and his thugs, you must be disloyal to America." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ See also Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times on the Vindmans' story. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Burgess Everett & Melanie Zanona of Politico: "... congressional GOP leaders say it's out of bounds to question Vindman's patriotism and allegiance to the United States, as some conservative pundits did on Monday night.... 'That guy's a Purple Heart. I think it would be a mistake to attack his credibility,' said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, in an interview. 'You can obviously take issue with the substance and there are different interpretations about all that stuff. But I wouldn't go after him personally. He's a patriot.' 'I'm not going to question the patriotism of any of the people who come forward,' said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), though he declined to comment 'on the merit of what's going forward' or Vindman's suggestion that he was concerned Trump's actions had undermined national security. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), one of the most hawkish Republicans in the House and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said it would be 'shameful' to question Vindman's loyalty or patriotism to the country. Cheney wasn't even pressed by reporters on the topic; in her opening remarks during a weekly leadership news conference in the Capitol, she went out of her way to decry the attacks on Vindman, including the outlandish theory that he was a potential spy working against the United States." ~~~

~~~ Rachel Bade, et al., of the Washington Post: "Trump and his allies on TV lashed out at Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who said his concerns about what he heard in Trump's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky drove him to notify his superiors. Trump dismissed Vindman as a 'Never Trumper,' while some of his allies questioned the patriotism of the Army combat veteran because his family emigrated from the Soviet Union when he was 3. Trump's attack on the Purple Heart recipient unnerved Republicans in Congress, with several pushing back, albeit without naming the president. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) called the offensive 'misplaced and very unfortunate,' and said he had 'full confidence' in Vindman 'as an individual and his patriotism.' The response from Trump's party created an unusual dynamic in which Republicans were defending a man who was simultaneously accusing the president of undermining national security for his own political purposes. Privately, several Republicans found Vindman's testimony to be damaging and lamented that once again they were forced to defend the president."

MEANWHILE, Inside the Hearing Room ... Betsy [Woodruff] Swan, et al., of the Daily Beast: "Congressional Democrats are struggling to protect the identity of the U.S. government official who filed a whistleblower complaint about ... Donald Trump's Ukraine policy. And those efforts have fueled friction behind closed doors. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) ruled in a closed-door deposition Tuesday morning that any questions that might lead to the revelation of the whistleblower's identity were out of order, according to two sources familiar with the meeting. His move frustrated Republicans. One source relayed that Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) ended up 'yelling at each other' during a closed door deposition of Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council Director for European Affairs who testified that he raised internal concerns about Trump's call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that is now at the center of the impeachment inquiry.... In a meeting [of top House Democrats] on Tuesday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other attendees discussed how to handle potential Republican efforts to reveal the whistleblower's identity, according to two sources familiar with the talks.... [One source said] that a good chunk of the discussion focused on how to handle Republican-led attempts to disrupt future public hearings...." ~~~

~~~ Lisa Mascaro, et al., of the AP: "The session Tuesday grew contentious at times as House Republicans continued trying to unmask the still-anonymous whistleblower and call him or her to testify.... GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio acknowledged Republicans were trying to get Vindman to provide the names of others he spoke to after the July 25 phone call, in an effort to decide whom to call to testify. 'He wouldn't,' Jordan said." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As much as I understand the rabid, irrational nature of GOP politicos, I'm still surprised that members of Congress would openly admit they're trying to break the federal law that protects whistleblowers' identities.

Gary Stein of the Washington Post: "The president, and possibly other officials, may have violated the Hatch Act's civil and criminal prohibitions on the use of executive branch powers for partisan ends.... The text of the law flatly states that an employee of the executive branch may not, among other things, 'use his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.'... In general, violations of the Hatch Act are pursued civilly by the Office of Special Counsel.... The president and vice president are exempt from the Hatch Act's civil restrictions on political activity. But ... the Hatch Act also includes criminal prohibitions that apply to everyone, including the president. At least two of them are relevant to the investigations surrounding the Ukraine matter.... If Trump commanded, or coerced or intimidated, State Department officials or other federal employees to engage in impermissible political activity -- or attempted to do so -- that itself would be a criminal violation of the Hatch Act.... [Also,] if the president, or other officials, tied the receipt of congressionally authorized military aid to Ukraine to Ukrainian help for the president's reelection campaign, that too could constitute a criminal offense." The Senate Watergate Committee concluded that Richard Nixon criminally violated this provision of the Hatch Act.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal appeals court has put a temporary hold on a judge's order requiring the Justice Department to give the Democratic-led House grand jury material from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation that could be fodder for the ongoing impeachment effort against ... Donald Trump. A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order Tuesday evening granting the Justice Department's request for an administrative stay of Chief Judge Beryl Howell's ruling Friday, which concluded that House lawmakers were entitled to the usually secret grand jury information."

Whither mikey? Sunday, Steve Benen reports, mike pence was not facing the nation on CBS News' "Face the Nation": "Pence was given multiple opportunities to say there was no proposed quid-pro-quo deal with Ukraine. He simply wasn't willing to make the assertion. The vice president, who has been implicated in the controversy, tried to emphasize that he personally wasn't involved in a quid-pro-quo scheme." ~~~

~~~ Monica Alba & Carol Lee of NBC News: "It's been almost three weeks since Vice President Mike Pence said he had 'no objection' to releasing a reconstructed transcript of his phone call with the leader of Ukraine. But as House Democrats' impeachment inquiry continues moving swiftly into its second month, the White House still has not made a decision on whether to make those details of Pence's call public. The internal debate has divided White House officials over whether releasing the call would help or hurt their flailing efforts to counter accusations that ... Donald Trump held up military aid to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate his political rivals, according to two people familiar with the discussions.... When pressed repeatedly by NBC News earlier this month about whether he was ever aware of the president's efforts to pressure Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, Pence did not directly answer the question and instead said 'I never discussed the issue of the Bidens with President Zelenskiy.'" Mrs. McC: Just maybe when someone will never give straight answers, it's because he has something to hide.

The Failure of Both-Sides "Journalism." Alex Shephard of the New Republic: "CNN executives certainly knew what they were getting into when they hired [Sean] Duffy. A five-term congressman and Tea Party darling, Duffy has a long, well-documented history of making inflammatory and dishonest comments. Appearing on the network in February of 2017, Duffy defended Trump's Muslim ban by saying Middle Eastern terrorists are a more significant threat than white domestic terrorists because the latter commit 'one-off' attacks. In the same interview he cited the 'good things' that stemmed from Dylann Roof's massacre of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015. He has also suggested that George Soros was rigging elections, that Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin has 'ties to the Muslim Brotherhood,' and that the Democratic Party's pro-choice policies intentionally targeted black communities and amounted to 'infanticide.' Unfortunately for CNN and any other organization that clinging to a both-sides model of journalism, Duffy is probably the best the networ can get. Call it asymmetric punditry: As Republicans become more extreme, it's become near-impossible to find non-loony ones to fill airtime on cable news." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ CNN Tries to Defend Duffy Hire. Michael Calderone of Politico: "In an interview with Politico, CNN vice president Rebecca Kutler said the network 'is out there reporting from all over the country and from all points of view' and that 'having people who support the president's policies is part of that.' Kutler said that [Sean] Duffy, who started on the network on Oct. 20, was elected to Congress five times from Wisconsin and can help 'share with our audience what's important to the voters he's represented and how that will impact the 2020 election.' Duffy hasn't come under fire for his take on where Wisconsin voters are leaning, but for his defense of ... Donald Trump's role in the Ukraine scandal, which has included promoting a debunked conspiracy theory that ran counter to CNN's own reporting.... 'It is hard to find people who will come on and support the president's point of view,' CNN chief Jeff Zucker said at the network's 'Citizen' conference last Thursday. 'We need these voices.'... Later on 'New Day,' CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said that 'with all due respect to our new contributor, former Congressman Duffy,' his remarks [questioning Col Vindman's patriotism] were 'insanity, and frankly, anti-immigrant bigotry.' In the afternoon, anchor Brianna Keilar ripped Duffy for his 'anti-immigrant bigotry.' 'It's an odd questioning of patriotism coming from Sean Duffy, the guy who spent part of his 20s on MTV ... while Alexander Vindman spent his on foreign deployments, including one to Iraq where he earned a Purple Heart after he was injured by a roadside bomb,' Keilar said." ~~~

~~~ AND in today's Comments, Akhilleus puts the Duffy hire in the context it deserves.

Priscilla Alvarez of CNN: "The United States is on track to not admit any refugees in October, after already canceling around 500 flights this month, CNN has learned. A pause on admissions that was expected to lift on Tuesday will now extend into November, leaving those who expected to resettle in the US in limbo. It also means additional travel will need to be canceled and re-booked at the expense of federal taxpayers. The moratorium will run through November 5, according to a State Department spokesperson.... It's the third time this month that the State Department has delayed refugee admissions. Travel for refugees who were told they could come to the US was postponed through October 21, and then later to October 28. There's usually a pause in arrivals the first week of October."

When "Underwater" Will No Longer Refers to a Mortgage. Denise Lu & Christopher Flavelle of the New York Times: "Rising seas could affect three times more people by 2050 than previously thought, according to new research, threatening to all but erase some of the world's great coastal cities. The authors of a paper published Tuesday developed a more accurate way of calculating land elevation based on satellite readings, a standard way of estimating the effects of sea level rise over large areas, and found that the previous numbers were far too optimistic. The new research shows that some 150 million people are now living on land that will be below the high-tide line by midcentury." The Guardian's story is here.

Congressional Race

Caleb Ecarma of Mediaite: "Jennifer Van Laar, the writer behind the RedState.com and Daily Mail stories that included nude photos of former Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA), is a longtime GOP consultant who has worked for Republican politicians who ran against Hill and was at one point the campaign manager for a California Republican who ran for Hill's seat." ~~~

~~~ Nathan Robinson of the Guardian: "Democratic congresswoman Katie Hill has resigned after being accused of violating House Ethics rules by having a sexual relationship with staffers, and possibly using her position to grant improper favors. Members of her own party made it clear she did not have their support, with Nancy Pelosi saying that Hill 'has acknowledged errors in judgement that made her continued service as a member untenable.' Hill's case may seem straightforward: she violated the rules, she abused her office, she has to go. But there's much more to it, and we should be disturbed at the speed with which Hill was forced out of office.... There are very clear elements of slut-shaming and homophobia in the Hill story...." ~~~

~~~ AP: "George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign aide who was a key figure in the FBI's Russia probe, filed paperwork Tuesday to run for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Democrat Katie Hill.... Papadopoulos enters a field of at least three other Republicans and one Democrat.... A special election to fill Hill's seat cannot be set by Gov. Gavin Newsom until she officially leaves Congress, which she has not done. It's possible there is no special election, depending on how long she waits to leave office. That would make the next election for the seat in November 2020."

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Abbey Crain of AL.com: "A federal judge today has blocked Alabama's near-total abortion ban from going into effect Nov. 15. District Judge Myron Thompson issued a ruling blocking the Human Life Protection Act from taking effect while a challenge to the law makes its way through court."

In case you are of the opinion that anti-abortion proponents are nice, normal people who genuinely wish to help irresponsible women who have unprotected sex, then waltz into abortion clinics to eliminate the consequences ~~~

~~~ Missouri. Crystal Thomas of the Kansas City Star: "The Missouri state health director, Dr. Randall Williams, testified at a state hearing Tuesday that he kept a spreadsheet to track the menstrual periods of women who visited Planned Parenthood, an action that one lawmaker has called on the governor to investigate. The spreadsheet, which was made at Williams' request by the state's main inspector, helped to identify patients who had undergone failed abortions. The revelation came on the second day of an administrative commission hearing that will help decide whether Planned Parenthood can keep its license to perform abortions.... The Missouri House minority leader [Crystal Quade (D)] has called on Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, to 'immediately investigate' whether 'patient privacy was compromised or laws broken' or whether Williams was a 'a person who Missourians can be comfortable having in a position of public trust.'... 'This is government overreach at its worst,' Yamelsie Rodriguez ... of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, said in a statement. 'It shadows the Trump administration's history of tracking the periods of refugee girls under the government's care. This is outrageous and disgusting.'"

North Carolina. Gary Robertson of the AP (Oct. 28): "North Carolina judges on Monday blocked the state's congressional map from being used in the 2020 elections, ruling that voters had a strong likelihood of winning a lawsuit that argued Republicans unlawfully manipulated district lines for partisan gain. The panel of three Superior Court judges issued a preliminary injunction preventing elections under the district lines, starting with the March 3 primary. The judges halted the use of these districts less than two months after they struck down state House and Senate districts. There they found extreme political manipulation of the lines similar to what voters suing over the congressional map also say occurred.... The judges gave no date by which a new map must be drawn, but suggested lawmakers could redraw them on their own quickly to ensure congressional primaries be held as scheduled. The State Board of Elections has said lines needed to be finalized by Dec. 15."

Way Beyond

U.K. BBC: "The UK is set to go to the polls on 12 December after MPs backed Boris Johnson's call for an election following months of Brexit deadlock. By a margin of 438 votes to 20, the House of Commons approved legislation paving the way for the first December election since 1923. The bill is still to be approved by the Lords but could become law by the end of the week. If that happens, there will be a five-week campaign up to polling day. The prime minister has said the public must be 'given a choice' over the future of Brexit and the country. Mr Johnson hopes the election will give him a fresh mandate for his Brexit deal and break the current Parliamentary deadlock, which has led to the UK's exit being further delayed to 31 January." The 's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Meltdown. Justine Coleman of the Hill: "Thousands of commemorative Brexit coins designated with an Oct. 31 exit date will be melted down after the prime minister accepted a three-month delay in the proceedings, Bloomberg reported Monday. The Royal Mint had been asked to create a new 50 pence coin with the official Brexit date, but the U.K.'s divorce from the European Union (EU) has been pushed back again after Parliament failed to agree on a deal in time for the Halloween deadline. A Treasury spokesman told BBC that the Royal Mint will still create a coin to commemorate Brexit, which 'will enter circulation after we have left' the EU. The Royal Mint's website says the metals in the existing coins are set to be sorted, shredded, melted, purified and then solidified before being recycled."

News Lede

KABC Los Angeles: "A fast-moving vegetation fire erupted on the hillsides above Simi Valley on Wednesday morning amid extreme red-flag conditions, prompting evacuation orders and school closures as it spread to 407 acres. The so-called Easy Fire began shortly after 6 a.m. near the 200 block of West Los Angeles Avenue. Homes in nearby residential neighborhoods wer immediately threatened by the flames, even after winds initially seemed to be blowing the fire in a direction away from houses. Helicopters were seen performing water drops on the blaze while at least one fixed-wing aircraft dropped a payload of Phos-Chek. Firefighters raced to protect the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library as a thin wall of flames approached from a nearby hillside. The facility was closed Wednesday."

Comments

[Akhilleus]

“Fox’s Jason Chaffetz says two days isn’t enough time for congressional Republicans to read the eight page impeachment resolution."

Well, not if they can’t move their lips when they’re reading. Not only that, but geniuses like Matt Gaetz have to read phonetically. Eight pages could take a week. And Louie Gohmert only has half the alphabet down. Maybe his mom can read it to him.

[Akhilleus]

He’s Baaaaack...

In 2015-16, Jeff Zucker, onetime NBC exec who gave Trump a massive soapbox from which to preach the wonderfulness of all things Trumpy, discovered that pushing that lying schemer could be very good business.

The success of The Apprentice eventually brought Zucker to the head of the class, running NBC. Later, as head of CNN, Zucker gave Fatty an astonishing amount of free, wall to wall coverage during the primaries, often supplanting news programs with rallies at which Trump lied constantly, spewing hatred, violence, and ignorance. Fact checking? How absurd. That might put a dent in the ratings as well as raising the question of why Zucker was handing over the resources of his network to a racist con man.

Zucker wasn’t the only TV exec who saw dollar signs in the rise of a dangerous kook. Disgraced former head of CBS, Les Moonves said famously that Trump might not be good for America, but he was great for CBS’s ratings.

But it’s Zucker who deserves the lion’s share of the blame for foisting the worst president in history, the most unqualified charlatan, on the nation.

And now he hires a vicious moron like Sean Duffy to defend Trump at all costs. Why?

Ratings.

Trump, as is painfully obvious, isn’t good for America, but he’s been great for Jeff Zucker’s career and pocketbook.

Still is.

[P.D. Pepe]

@AK: Remember the Morton Downy Jr. show––the first (live) on T.V. that featured foul language, fist fights, etc. and the audience loved it–-they reacted like the Trumpsters react now. Downy went down after he fabricated an assault on himself––his cheerleaders could take anything but him lying to them.

Then came Jerry Springer whose show–-also live–-featured fist fights between men and women and again the crowd went wild– don't remember how long that show lasted. But then came "The Apprentice" which was a great success for many years and although the brutal physicallity was missing Trump's "you're fired gave many an erotic thrill or something close to it. I imagine watching people get beat up, hearing foul expletives, etc. is what psychologists call "Transference" but for network bigwigs it spells MONEY.

[Forrest Morris]

That eight page impeachment resolution needs to be laced with lots
of expletives and throw in some porn and a couple pages of pictures
for those who can't comprehend what they're reading.
Then it would be read over and over for two days straight.

[Marie Burns]

@P.D. Pepe: Thanks for reminding us of some people's fascination with violence, which -- as you suggest -- is a factor in Trump's popularity. That's something we didn't mention yesterday in our discussion of the state of the American soul. Certainly, it's nothing new: people used to flock to public executions; lots of people like brutal sports; even children will gather around a schoolyard fight, egging on their favorite contender.

My favorite form of useless entertainment is murder mysteries, where brutality is the catalyst. But I prefer the English & European sort to American stories, because the European mysteries center on figuring out whodunit and -- usually -- only occasionally put characters in danger, while American procedurals are more geared to dangerous encounters. It's definitely the "mystery" part I like, not the brutality. In fact, I usually fast-forward through the midnight chases & so on. Scary music is a cue for me to grab the remote. I would not have been one to bring a picnic lunch to a hanging.

I only saw part of a Jerry Springer show once, and that was enough. I was in a crowded doctor's waiting room for what I rightly anticipated was a long wait, and people were yelling at each other on the teevee. I suppose to the chagrin of some of my fellow-patients, I asked the receptionist to change the channel; I said I had come for medical treatment, not to be bombarded by violent confrontations, and all that shouting disconcerted me. She changed the channel.

P.S. I do the same thing when the waiting room teevee is tuned to Fox "News," to mixed results.

[Akhilleus]

PD,

It is with great dismay that I do indeed remember the shrieking, self-promoting, violence prone asshole Morton Downey, Jr. When considering jackanapes like Downey who used the media to push an intemperate, ignorant, even violent agenda (and in his case, an almost nihilistic one), it's possible to draw a line from Father Coughlin to Joe McCarthy, right up to Downey, Limbaugh, and the Orange Menace.

The essential ingredient for all of them: hate and fear, with a large side order or revenge against perceived enemies. As Father Coughlin once said "Somebody must be blamed". For Coughlin, it was Jews and, eventually FDR and a dozen other bogeymen. For McCarthy, commies and anyone who ever attended a meeting or met with a member of some variation of the Communist party or who had socialist leanings. For Downey, it was "pablum-puking liberals", same as it is for Limbaugh. For Fatty, the selected enemies (in addition to immigrants, progressives, minorities, the press, and women) have more to do with those his base hates. And, of course, anyone he believes does not worship him personally or accept his own vision of his genius.

But Downey was an especially egregious case. His caterwauling in the service of trash TV spawned the noxious "comedian" Andrew Dice Clay whose entire act was built on the premise that assholes loved hearing bigotry and ignorance spewed by a white man from the stage. Downey and Clay made it perfectly fine for people to attack others in public in the most savage ways, using the most vituperative and usually mendacious rhetoric. In that way, they are both connected to Trump.

And today, there's a whole network dedicated to attacking those considered unclean by the droolers who suck it all up. And that network goes to the mattresses for their Dear Leader.

Another big-mouth asshole.

What's almost more appalling is that every one of the above used hatred and bigotry and lies to create their persona, expand their audience/base, and/or make themselves rich and famous. And to that list, we can add people like Jeff Zucker and Les Moonves and others like them who, while not necessarily making bigoted, hate-filled, and mendacious assertions themselves, have no problem allowing others to do it as long as they can benefit from it.

And those parasites might be the worst of all.

[Forrest Morris]

Here's a comparison of Obama and trump announcing the deaths
of the terrorists courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel. Too funny to miss.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4OV5oRjUrE/?utm_source=ig_web_
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