The Republikarens and other stories

The fun never ends!

It's turning out to be another blockbuster week in our history.

The biggest story was former Ambassador to the Ukraine Bill Taylor's testimony to the Congressional committees on Tuesday. His opening statement reads like a "Mission: Impossible" script. You must read it. Here ya go.

Reports are that there was rapt silence with in the congressional chambers, with an occasional gasp, during his statement.

A couple of my takeaways:

What we had suspected, was confirmed. There were two separate teams working the Ukraine mission: What Taylor called the "regular channel," which he lead after Maria Yavanovich's ouster; and the "irregular channel," manned by Giuliani and his amigos, Kurt Volker, Ambassador Sondland, and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. Taylor's outline of the second team, directed by the president* to enact some coercion of Ukraine into performing political errands, is damning. This opening statement alone, disregarding his more than nine hours of testimony, is enough evidence to convict 45 and a few of his buddies.

• He confirmed the explicit quid pro quo, saying that "everything" (a Whitewash House meeting and the $400 million in military aid) was dependent on a public announcement from Zelensky about investigations into the Bidens.

• He described the strong-arm tactics of The Don, saying:

Before these text messages, during our call on September 8, Ambassador Sondland tried to explain to me that President Trump is a businessman. When a businessman is about to sign a check to someone who owes him something, he said, the businessman asks that person to pay up before signing the check. Ambassador Volker used the same terms several days later while we were together at the Yalta European Strategy Conference. 

• He painted a picture of the fragility of Ukraine, in Russia's shadow, deeply wanting to be free of corruption and become an upstanding European country as well as a U.S. ally. Through his words, you can feel the vulnerability of Ukraine. How could the country resist demands made by the most powerful leader in the world?

Bill Taylor is the epitome of American Patriot. Educated at West Point and a Vietnam veteran, he has been a public servant for over 50 years. He was on the ground during the 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed, ready to help pick up Ukraine. As you read his statement, you know this is personal for him. He has a deep respect for Ukraine, as well as deep respect for the United States of America. I had never heard his name before now, but I have deep respect for him. And he's an impeccable witness.


On Monday, Fuckface von Clownstick invited the press into his worm hole cabinet meeting and spouted for 71 minutes. Seventy-one minutes: it was a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Skip the press conference and let Stephen Colbert tell ya all about it.




On Wednesday an angry white mob stormed the castle. In a grotesque stunt, a couple dozen GOP congressmen stormed into the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), the ultra-secure area in the basement of Capitol Hill where closed-door testimony is being held. They thought this was a good way to protest the closed-door nature of the testimony and impede the proceedings. But it just made them look like immature idiots. In fact, 12 of the members who RSVP'd to the storming were actually part of the committees and are invited to hear the depositions. They succeeded in holding up the testimony of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper for five hours. They used cell phones and shared audio in this highly secure, classified area, a possible felony. They had Domino's pizza delivered. The Sergeant-at-Arms showed up. Sigh.

You may remember last week when Rep. Matt Goetz, angriest of the angry white men, showed up to the chamber and demanded to be let in. The headlines made it look like he was disallowed simply for being Republican. The truth is, he isn't on one of the investigating committees, plain and simple. This week, it was Matty boy who lit the torches for his brethren and led them to the basement on Wednesday.

OK, I'll say it real slow for those of you Members of Congress in the back who don't quite understand.

• The depositions are behind closed doors to protect the integrity of each witness.
• It's not secret. Initial testimony is behind closed doors (as was done during the Nixon and Clinton impeachment inquiries), but public testimony will be presented in time (as was done during the Nixon and Clinton impeachment inquiries). Transcripts of these depositions will be made public eventually. 
• There are no rules about the process that the House must take. None in the Constitution, none in House rules.
• It isn't a Democrat show. There are a total of 47 Republican representatives taking equal part in the closed-door inquiries. They are able to question and cross-examine each witness. 
• Matt, you are not a part of any of the committees that are participating in the inquiry. For the last time, sit back in your seat and keep your hands to yourself. And turn over your pitchfork right now. 
• Your obstruction is showing. You can't defend the corrupt actions of your supreme leader, so you attack the process. 
• Now everyone, go back and start legislating or you'll all get detention.

A couple other tidbits from the week.

45 threw a fit and cancelled his subscriptions to The New York Times and the Washington Post. And more: Trump Cancels White House Subscription To ‘Highlights’ Over Anti-Goofus Bias (from The Onion).

The Racist-in-Chief called the impeachment inquiry a "lynching" in a Tuesday tweet.

So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights. All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here - a lynching. But we will WIN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2019

There was backlash, understandably. The term was not used in error. Twitterers responded.

You weren't castrated & forced to eat your genitalia like Claude Neal. You weren't dragged behind a car, doused w/gasoline & set on fire like Cleo Wright. You weren't blow torched until your eyes popped out of your head like John Jones. That's lynching. You get due process.

— Carol Anderson (@ProfCAnderson) October 22, 2019

Senator Lindsey Graham, who has in the past has sometimes sounded reasonable, mostly now screeches as SCROTUS's mouthpiece. Today he introduced a resolution to condemn the House's inquiry. Sen. Graham, you are not party to the impeachment process. Go join Rep. Goetz on the Think Bench out in the hall, please.

The Moron-in-Chief said that he's going to build a wall in Colorado. Cuz, you know, New Mexico.

And some positives from the Resistance:

Watch Mitt Romney, the one GOP lawmaker who is not afraid to speak out against TЯUMP. He may be positioning for something.....

This week's testimony from Bill Taylor revealed an angry John Bolton, who was fired as national security advisor just around the time the $400 million in aid was being dangled. Is he poised to be a thorn in 45's side? Do we get to welcome this famously hawkish conservative, who has served in three GOP administrations, to the resistance? The plot thickens.

Our dear Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has been awarded the $1 million Berggruen Prize for Culture and Philosophy, given annually to a “thinker whose ideas are shaping human self-understanding to advance humankind.” She, of course, is donating the prize money to charity. Ahhh, we love our Notorious RBG!

Thanks for reading! Keep up the Resistance!