Editor & Publisher:
Executive Editor:
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1262455
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1262455
Humbling, really, to hear her read a synopsis of her professional resume before the likes of Nunes and Jordan. They should be ashamed of themselves.
7 Likes
Is it possible that Zelensky was involved in her ouster? Any evidence of it either way?
Alternatively, any chance that Zelensky had something to do with the quid pro quo story breaking? It makes sense that his best play after being pressure by Trump to play along or lose the aid was to out Trump via back channels and cutouts. A smart, patriotic, honest leader would have done that.
1 Like
Ah, but they won’t be, utterly lacking that gene. They would have made wonderful Nazis.
2 Likes
Can’t wait to see Nunez and Jordan get put in their places on live TV.
1 Like
Trump’s heinous, corrupt administration is nothing more than a mafia organization. It’s Cosa Nostra with the leader literally being a “Don”. We should never be surprised by the criminality, the deceit, the thuggery that Trump and his minions engage in; any more than we’d be surprised to find out that Al Capone had someone beaten or killed.
1 Like
They should sit there, shut up and listen. Maybe they’d learn something.
1 Like
Ms. Yovanovitch, it is not that American are less prone to corruption (none of the protestant ethic values bullshit is really true), is that so far the country had institution designed to keep the crooks in check. But then Mr. Trump came along and declared all those institutions a “swamp” teeming with corruptions to the applause of “law and order” conservatives and the god-fearing Christians.
5 Likes
Ah, but they won’t, utterly lacking the decency. They would have made wonderful Stalinists.
1 Like
Correction: They are wonderful Nazis, loyal to a fault.
They pretty much all pay homage to those silly and unfounded foundational myths about us being special or better and a beacon unto all the nations, literally chosen and blessed by god. If they didn’t it would be mercilessly used against them. The problem is that most Americans subscribe to these myths and are upset when anyone challenges them. We are still very much a nation of unschooled peasants, people who whatever their financial and professional status basically think and act like ignorant children and care only about survival, creature comforts and the familiar.
1 Like
Well, effectively, sure, but their formal title is still Republican.
1 Like
Despite all the bad things I’ve written and said about Trump’s supporters, I don’t believe they’re all bad people, having met a number of them. Sure, some are definitely bad, or at least not good. But some are just regular, fairly decent people who are also not terribly bright, or not very well-informed or well-read or curious, and come from and live in a fairly homogeneous and insular social and cultural reality that isn’t terribly expansive or in sync with modernity nor very open-minded about other cultures, peoples, traditions and views, and are basically products of those realities, lacking the intellectual ability and personal will to move past them.
They are effectively living in their own little worlds, that are out of touch with the wider, far more complex and diverse world, and these worlds are also fairly conservative and, yes, racist, and they’re just sheep-like products of these worlds. And to them, Trump doesn’t seem so bad, especially compared to those snooty liberal elitists who look down at people like them and embrace socialism and other radical ideas. They lack the intellectual and cultural ability to see beyond their small-minded and bigoted worlds, and are a product of them. But they’re not necessarily bad people (although many are).
Our challenge is to get through to the not so bad ones among them and broaden their worlds and outlooks and maybe get them to see things more objectively, and eventually reject the propaganda, lies, bullshit and hatred they’re being fed by actually bad people who are manipulating them and exploiting their provincialism and ignorance. I think it’s a worthwhile undertaking, and can yield some success. If it ends up sowing division within their insular communities, all the better. Divide and conquer can work both ways and it’s well past time to turn the tables on the other side.
Sorry, but, people who rise to lead mafia families are smart. Trump was put in place by Putin, he did not rise to earn his position of leadership. And, Putin made Trump a leader to destroy Americans. Bankrupt Trump’s bunch of entitled white male, wannabe criminals are nowhere near as smart as real organized mafia criminals.
So here we are, the entire Republican Party has pledged fealty to a venal orange clown, American foreign policy is in chaos, and Russians are being gifted American bases and our allies territory. The Trump era will forever be known as the era of American Shame.
1 Like
Their insularity, indolence and ignorance does not work as an apology for their participation in corrupting this country, the principles of democracy, rule of law, or even common civility and humanity. Deplorability is not a virtue. If they feel looked down upon by some elite class, it is only because their base rhetoric and behavior earns others’ pity if not contempt. They are not subjects, but citizens with responsibilities to which they are obliged for the rights they enjoy. It is not curative nor constructive to delude yourself that they are some kind of “loyal opposition”. They have condoned if not supported criminal and traitorous acts, for reasons no better than to oppress others out of malice, suspicion and contempt on their own part. If they experience no consequences from this behavior, they will be emboldened to continue their efforts, the society will be further corrupted, and it will be our fault for not defending this nation’s mission with sufficient vigor.
Merchants, connivers and demagogues have always flattered, and it’s been long known that it only turns the heads of fools, drawing them toward their own destruction.