Team Trump’s Unconvincing Ukraine Spin

[Pete F.]

This is from National Review

What offends me most about the whistleblower-Ukraine-Biden story isn’t the obvious corruption of it all. It’s the way members of Team Trump assume we’re all idiots who won’t notice they’ve abruptly shifted their narrative.

At first, it seemed like a familiar scenario of allegations met with denials. The Washington Post reported that a “U.S. intelligence official” who had worked at the White House and had access to communications between Trump and a foreign leader was so alarmed by something Trump “promised” that the official filed a formal whistleblower complaint to the inspector general of the intelligence community. The IG found the complaint credible. On advice from the Department of Justice, Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, blocked the report from being sent to Congress in accordance with (a constitutionally debatable) law.

Trump’s denials came swiftly. In a tweet, he called the allegations “Another Fake News story,” adding, “is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially ‘heavily populated’ call.”

Right, because only fools think Trump ever says anything inappropriate.

But then, just as the familiar Deep State and Fake News talking points were coming off the shelf, the president confessed.

On Sunday, Trump offered reporters this syntactically unsettling admission about a conversation he’d had with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky: “The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, was largely corruption, all of the corruption taking place, was largely the fact that we don’t want our people like Vice President Joe Biden and his son creating to the corruption already in Ukraine.”

After Trump’s statement, his defenders set a land-speed record for switching from “How dare you!?” to “You’re damn right he did it, and I’m glad,” prompting the question: What kind of idiots do they take us for?

The Trump praetorians who initially denied there was any effort to pressure the Ukrainians into action on a Biden probe, possibly including the withholding of congressionally approved military aid, suddenly surfaced a new talking point: “They’re trying to turn what was a Biden scandal into a Trump scandal.”

The allegation that Biden’s son Hunter is guilty of sketchy business practices seems legitimate enough — he accepted a paid seat on the board of a Ukrainian business that was under investigation at a time when his father, as vice president, had direct dealings with the Ukrainian government on corruption issues. But the charge that Joe Biden was freelancing foreign policy to protect his son simply doesn’t hold water if you spend five minutes reading up on it.

Biden was acting on orders from President Obama in coordination with allies and State Department policy to force the former Russia-backed Ukrainian regime to fire a dirty prosecutor who was failing to properly investigate corruption, including at the firm Hunter Biden worked with.

But even if I’m wrong, it doesn’t matter. Let’s assume Joe Biden is guilty of something bad. We should still be appalled that the president of the United States would use his office to pressure foreign powers to do opposition research for him. I mean, my God, the day after Robert Mueller testified to Congress about his report investigating whether the Trump campaign had colluded with one foreign power, Russia, the president got on the horn and encouraged another foreign power, Ukraine, to help with his re-election.

If Trump threatened to withhold funds unless Ukrainian officials investigated Biden, that would make it worse, but the aid issue is something of a red herring. In the language of diplomacy, hectoring a foreign leader — eight times, according to the Wall Street Journal — to investigate a domestic political opponent is as subtle as wearing a sandwich board and clanging a cowbell.

For two years, Trump defenders had an infinite supply of indignation over the mere suggestion that the president would collude with Russia. But now that indignation is reserved for anyone who suggests the president shouldn’t have tried to collude with the Ukrainians? Come on.

We’re supposed to believe a president who has never shown an iota of real concern over corruption in China, Egypt, Russia, the Philippines, North Korea, and elsewhere is upset about the one corruption story that coincidentally touches on the potential Democratic opponent who’s crushing him in the polls? Does anyone believe Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, is calling Hunter Biden a “drug addict” on TV because this is all a matter of statecraft? Show of hands: If Biden weren’t running, would the president have brought up Biden eight times — or at all — with the Ukrainian president?

The questions answer themselves.

It’s reminiscent of Trump’s “Lock her up!” attacks on Hillary Clinton. Once they served their purpose, the newly elected president said, “She’s been through enough.”

It’s almost like he’s been playing us for idiots all along.



JONAH GOLDBERG holds the Asness Chair in Applied Liberty at the American Enterprise Institute. @jonahnro

[Jim in CT]

i can only assume
he’ll be removed from office imminently.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Pete F.]

It will take time, but Colludy Giuliani is helping


Rudy Giuliani
@RudyGiuliani
Democrat party is covering up a pattern of corruption involving high level members of the Obama cabinet. The multi-million and billion dollar pay-for-play is mind boggling. Biden Family sale of office to Ukraine was not the only one or the most egregious. Slimy Joe is not alone.
1:07 AM · Sep 25, 2019

Colludy wants us to believe that the entire Obama cabinet was in on a billion dollar corruption scheme, and he knew about it for years, and he decided to make it public now, when the House started to impeach his boss?

[Jim in CT]

Rudy has slipped a lot, I loved the guy, but watching him now makes me cringe.
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[Pete F.]

On whether Senators would vote for impeachment, @murphymike says, "One Republican senator told me if it was a secret vote, 30 Republican senators would vote to impeach Trump."

[Pete F.]

Acting director of national intelligence threatened to resign if he couldn’t speak freely before Congress. He testifies tomorrow morning.

[Sea Dangles]

My prediction is nothing burger. Remember where you heard it. Anybody willing to wager otherwise please speak up. Double down for 2020.
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[scottw]

"I've got a job waiting my dad Joe arranged it
Fifty thou a year(month) -- buys a lot of beer
Things are going great, and they're only getting better
I'm doing all right, in the Ukraine
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades"

[Raider Ronnie]

Trump played the Dems like a fiddle on this one !!!
Biden is all done
The Swamp has 1 less resident



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[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by Raider Ronnie

Trump played the Dems like a fiddle on this one !!!
Biden is all done
The Swamp has 1 less resident



Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

i can only wonder if you’re right, if the whistleblower was a trump plant, and this was all designed to torpedo Biden’s campaign, as Biden had the best chance against Trump in a general.

once again, the foaming-at-the-mouth liberal lunatics shriek that they’ve got him, and once again he’ll throw pie at their faces, and once again they’ll all step on a rake as they slither away with their tails
between their legs.

again, and again, and again.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

My prediction is nothing burger. Remember where you heard it. Anybody willing to wager otherwise please speak up. Double down for 2020.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[spence]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

My prediction is nothing burger. Remember where you heard it. Anybody willing to wager otherwise please speak up. Double down for 2020.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

https://www.washingtonpost.com/conte...-77f2d4ee16aa/

[Jim in CT]

i think there’s a chance the house votes to impeach. there’s also a chance that the effect of this, is a political win for trump, as some people will see him as being victimized by the democrats obsession with not allowing him to beat them again in a fair election.

it takes some doing, to make Trump sympathetic. the democrats and the media, manage to pull it off.

i can’t imagine there’s ever been a potus who hasn’t asked a foreign government to do something that would help him politically. if the issue is that trump targeted a political rival, well, so did the democrats in the senate who asked ukraine to investigate trump.
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[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

if the issue is that trump targeted a political rival, well, so did the democrats in the senate who asked ukraine to investigate trump.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Far from true, read the letter. It is and has been, a public record.

https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/m...estigation.pdf

[Raider Ronnie]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

i can only wonder if you’re right, if the whistleblower was a trump plant, and this was all designed to torpedo Biden’s campaign, as Biden had the best chance against Trump in a general.

once again, the foaming-at-the-mouth liberal lunatics shriek that they’ve got him, and once again he’ll throw pie at their faces, and once again they’ll all step on a rake as they slither away with their tails
between their legs.

again, and again, and again.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Could be the Democrats want him out of the way.
Now there’s a woman that came forward with accusations she was an Epstein sex traffic victim and Groping Joe was one of the guys banging her.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[scottw]

Originally Posted by Raider Ronnie

Could be the Democrats want him out of the way.
Now there’s a woman that came forward with accusations she was an Epstein sex traffic victim and Groping Joe was one of the guys banging her.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

"we must believe her!!"

[Raider Ronnie]

Originally Posted by scottw

"we must believe her!!"

Well you idiots certainly believed Cavanaugh’s accuser with ZERO #^&#^&#^&#^&ing evidence!
It’s been well known fact that Cheepy Joe like to walk around with his #^&#^&#^&#^& out in front of women secret service while he was vp
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[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by Raider Ronnie

Could be the Democrats want him out of the way.
Now there’s a woman that came forward with accusations she was an Epstein sex traffic victim and Groping Joe was one of the guys banging her.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Then let's have an honest thorough investigation and what evidence shows comes out. Make that wrong.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[scottw]

Originally Posted by Raider Ronnie

Well you idiots certainly believed Cavanaugh’s accuser with ZERO #^&#^&#^&#^&ing evidence!
It’s been well known fact that Cheepy Joe like to walk around with his #^&#^&#^&#^& out in front of women secret service while he was vp
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I didn't...that was sarcastic

[Raider Ronnie]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

Then let's have an honest thorough investigation and what evidence shows comes out. Make that wrong.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

“Honest thorough investigation”

In Washington (or politics in general)
You must be on crack 😜
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Raider Ronnie]

Originally Posted by Raider Ronnie

“Honest thorough investigation”

In Washington (or politics in general)
You must be on crack 😜
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

It’s also a riot how you Democrat’s want an “honest thorough investigation” when the shoe is on the other foot 😜😜😜
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