For Ukraine, Impeachment Creates A ‘Minefield’ Amid ‘Nonstop Catastrophes’ | Talking Points Memo

As President Trump faces the third impeachment trial in U.S. history over his attempt to extort Ukraine into becoming a political bludgeon for his 2020 re-election campaign, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is headed to Kyiv. Starting on Jan. 3, he’ll meet with top Ukrainian officials in a trip that the State Department describes as set “to reaffirm” U.S. support for Ukraine.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1281965
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yep they are truly fucked

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Any other POTUS any other Senate.

This should go in Moscow McConnell’s briefcase.

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Putin may make his big move on Ukraine before the elections in case a Dem wins and hits him with more sanctions and backs up Ukraine militarily in 2021. It really is a major clusterf&*k and the other NATO members don’t seem to want to stand up to Putin.

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I told you it’d be worth the wait!

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Definitely, and it looks like he was checking in on his dummy via phone over the weekend. This is just another big liability with becoming an empire: it’s tough to keep up all the threads hanging all over the world even when we don’t get taken over by a dumb as shit dictator.

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I don’t let Zelensky entirely off the hook for his predicament. He cozied up to Trump and Putin way too soon and he looked like a coward in doing so.

Had he spoken more tactically, he could have created more distance for Ukraine’s independent stance. Instead, he and his country are like a dandelion in a gale.

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A jolly good job, Giuliani! Top flight thinking, Trump! Pompeo presently to the rescue! Condolences, Ukraine!

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Trump will be acquitted in the Senate. That’s a given. But only a small part of this Ukraine story is known. We haven’t heard shit from Zelensky or heard his sure to exit recording of the “phone call”. We don’t know what Bolton has to say but probably will. I doubt we get jack out of Mulvaney and it would be BS anyway. A few others may talk. All this after the acquittal. What we can look forward to is the revelation of dispositive evidence of Trump’s guilt after he’s been vindicated. Won’t hurt Trump much but I think the GOP that constructed this scenario will suffer a bit.

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A good test of leadership for Zelensky. Maybe he needs to hire a US lobbying firm. Unfortunately, Manafort is tied up.

But seriously, the eyes of the world are on Ukraine. That seems like a good stance from which Zelensky could leverage a lot of aid, as well as scrutiny of Putin’s proxies there.

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Donnie f_cks up everything. But we knew that…

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…and welcome to our world.

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Just one more example of the Trump’s maladministration handling – really fumbling – of our foreign affairs.

To borrow from Oliver Hardy, “Donald, here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten us into.”

Unfortunately its going to take a bunch of people who are a whole lot smarter than any of the Trump mob to clean these messes up.

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Much less stand up for the stumble-bum we currently have in the White House, er, in Mar-a-Lago.

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He should refuse Rudy anymore travel to Ukraine.

And let Pompeo know that the nonsense will stop. The Europeans and the rest of NATO don’t want Ukraine to fail.

It’s time Zelensky stands up to Trump and bargain on equal footing.

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A ‘Minefield’ Amid ‘Nonstop Catastrophes’

Says it best: Trump World
(and yes, unfortunately our world as well)

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It’s been said before, but bears repeating:

ETTD.

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By QUINT FORGEY

12/30/2019 12:10 PM EST

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv early next month, the State Department announced Monday — setting the stage for a highly anticipated and politically sensitive diplomatic encounter on the eve of President Donald Trump’s likely Senate impeachment trial.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/30/mike-pompeo-ukraine-zelensky-meeting-091099

You know for a fact Trump has instructed Pompeo to squeeze Zelensky for something useful to wield in his impeachment trial in the Senate.

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Yup… they have already dropped their pants and are negotiating with the Ruskies in very unfortunate position… It’s fair to say that they will not be setting any statues, or naming any streets after Donald Trump… at least not in Ukraine, maybe in Russia they name a main thoroughfare Бульвар Доналд Трумп after the man that delivered Crimea.

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Zelensky did not come from the world of politics, I think he dabbled in show business, so he was politically naive while moron trods the political scene like Godzilla destroying everything underfoot.

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