The more I review the Taylor statement, the more punched in the gut I feel.

[kpete]

@kurteichenwald

The more I review the Taylor statement, the more punched in the gut I feel.

This is the biggest scandal in US history. The president undermined an ally's very survival so he could blackmail that foreign nation into interfering with our election.

No scandal comes close to this.

Link to tweet

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19310996/Bill_Taylor_testimony.pdf

[dlk]

1. Trump had plenty of enablers in the GOP

Republicans have lost any and all credibility as patriots, now or in the future, traitors all.

[C Moon]

12. "... now or in the future, traitors all"

I didn't think about it until I read that.
They aren't going to change even if Trump is somehow removed from office.
They will keep trying to destroy our nation for their own selfish needs.

[dchill]

15. Patriots? They're not even adults.

They're psychopathic delinquents.

[Botany]

35. You can't be a patriot and support Trump @ the same time

They are mutually exclusive.

[Eyeball_Kid]

18. Trumpy's entire circle are/were co-conspirators.

Multiple felonies for everyone. And we'll see how the Rule of Law works this time around.

[atreides1]

27. That circle is wider then that

It includes his base...those that continue to support him are only American because of where they were born, and they haven't been patriots for a long, long, time!!!

Trump's circle is comprised of millions, not just the cronies in his administration!!!

[genxlib]

2. He has every right to feel it deeply

He was one of the best journalists writing about trump before the election. He had him pegged. If only they had listened. A modern day Cassandra.

[patphil]

3. Yeah, I think that's a correct characterization of it.

a HUGE scandal.
Much bigger than Watergate.
Even bigger than Clinton/Lewinski.
Even bigger than Hillary's e-mails.

And it's just beginning to see the light of day.
And to paraphrase Pelosi, "With Trump, all roads lead to Putin."

Patrick Phillips

[Lock him up.]

14. Hillary's e-mails turned out to be a totally made-up scandal.

She did nothing wrong.

Investigation of Clinton emails ends, finding no 'deliberate mishandling'

The state department has completed its years-long internal investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of private email and found “no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information”.

The investigation, launched more than three years ago, did find violations by 38 people, some of whom may face disciplinary action.

Investigators determined that those 38 people were “culpable” in 91 cases of sending classified information that ended up in Clinton’s personal email, according to a letter sent to Republican senator Chuck Grassley this week and released on Friday. The 38 are current and former state department officials but were not identified.

Guardian staff and agencies
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/18/clinton-emails-investigation-ends-state-department
Sat 19 Oct 2019

[patphil]

30. I know, I was exaggerating just a bit...well maybe a lot...well maybe Hugely.

It was my attempt at satire; to put those so-called scandal's related to the Clinton's into perspective as compared to Trump's shit show.

[Takket]

4. this is nothing compared to what he did with Russia..........

but this IS much easier to prove, and much easier to understand for the public.

mueller will be waiting for him to answer for Russia once he leaves office.......

[wiggs]

10. +1 nt

[Poiuyt]

13. I agree

[ramen]

17. That's it.

Moron contra, as they say..

[Botany]

36. This is 100% connected to Russia and 2016

Trump and company changed the RNC platform on the Ukraine to make it more Putin and Ukrainian Mobster friendly.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. Twitter reply:

Link to tweet

[Hekate]

6. "I don't want him impeached. I want him in prison." Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

[Hermit-The-Prog]

7. page after page of outrage

The scheme is so obviously beneficial to Putin and detrimental to Ukraine, Europe and us. These backstabbing slimeballs worked to undermine everything built since WWII, to satisfy their own greed for power and money.

[Karadeniz]

8. I think the Nixon "treason" (sic LBJ) might be worse since thousands of soldiers died.

[EndGOPPropaganda]

19. Thousands of kids have died because of Medicaid rollbacks

And the Medicaid rollbacks happened because this president stole his election by conspiring with Russia and breaking the law with Cohen.

Nixon's collusion with S. Vietnam was also criminal and every death after 1968 in Vietnam should fall at his feet. Also yes Nixon's actions were traitorous.

But this president and this administration are harming the country just as much.

[Caliman73]

20. I agree.

The problem is that I don't think that The Chennault Affair is as widely known or understood. LBJ sat on it because he knew that it would have torn the country apart.

The problem is as you said, Nixon went behind LBJ's back and had the Vietnamese pull out of peace talks that might have ended the war in 68. Nixon promised a better deal than what Democrats could secure. Instead the war went on another 5 years and the North still prevailed. How many thousand more of our soldiers died and how many thousands of Vietnamese died for Nixon to make that deal.

Also, although Iraq was not as costly in American lives as Vietnam, I would argue that Bush Jr. is still up there in terms of betraying the nation with the lies to get us in to Iraq, the thousands of dead and wounded soldiers and hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis. The formation of ISIS, and trillions we spent on war.

For all of the fake patriotism, it seems that Republicans like to get us involved in foreign bullshit, killing our soldiers and wasting our money.

Include Reagan in the betrayal of Americans with Iran-Contra. He illegally sold weapons to Iran after conspiring with them to keep the hostages to hurt Carter in the 1980 election, then funneled money to right wing death Squads in Nicaragua, and to top it off, he allowed drugs from the region to flow into our cities to close the loop on funding.

Republicans love America....bunch of crap!

[Alwaysna]

9. Compared to this scandal, who cares about some pee-pee tape?

[calimary]

11. As my husband just said: "makes Watergate look tame."

I don’t feel punched in the gut.

I feel oddly filled with hope. I feel a strange sense of optimism all of a sudden - that the traitorous weasel bastard is going DOWN.

Now it’s just a question of how hard.

[relayerbob]

16. Trump was right, there was no quid pro quo

That usually implies a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours". This is more of a typical mafioso protection scheme shakedown. "Be an awful shame if something happened to your fine country." 45's not ethical enough to reach quid pro quo status.

[Pacifist Patriot]

23. Exactly. I'm willing to accept his argument that there was no "quid pro quo."

Because frankly I don't think he sees it that way and wasn't at all what he intended. He's bullying someone into submission to get what he wants. The other party doesn't get a darned thing in the end. At least not anything Trump sees as having any value.

The man has no ability to negotiate. No subtlety. He's an extortionist, not a negotiator. It's why, when faced with situations that do require negotiating skills, he blows it.

[tblue37]

21. I still think kidnapping & caging children & babies, while selling some into

adoption (and who knows what else) is a bigger scandal.

[FiveGoodMen]

31. Agreed!

It's not just political corruption, it's complete lack of humanity.

[Pacifist Patriot]

22. I agree. Mostly because this is the only incidence of this behavior...that we know about.

for certain and in this much detail. I don't for a second believe this is anomalous with Trump. I think it is likely his modus operandi, and not just in the realm of foreign relations. This "scandal" (aka crime) is how this administration functions. Heaven only knows what else has been fucked up seemingly beyond repair.

[malaise]

24. It's even worse than that

He wanted that ally to take the blame for the Russian interference in the 2016 election so he could discredit the intelligence agencies and the Mueller Report

[kentuck]

25. The scandal is bigger than that.

His plan is still to undermine the new democracy in Ukraine for the benefit of Putin and Russia. He is working for Putin.

[Botany]

37. +1

[Farmer-Rick]

26. All roads lead to Putin

He was at the same time trying to get the current Ukraine administration to make it look like the previous Ukraine administration was responsible for the Russian rigging of US elections for Trump.

Creating cover for Putin's crimes.

[ritapria]

28. UkaineGate is the tip of the Iceberg

Remember Kushner's role in Qatar ...That was a classic extortion racket operated in plain sight … The Qataris had to fork over the dough to Kushner - or else ……… It was conducted in plain sight - and everyone just shrugged their shoulders and moved on …..

[jayschool2013]

33. Haven't heard much from JarJar these days

Wonder what he's up to? Burying pillowcases loaded with rubles in the sub-basement of 666 Park Avenue, maybe?

[Guilded Lilly]

29. The surface has just been scratched. Which makes the depth of corruption and lies enough...

to cause acute vomiting for the foreseeable future.

[jayschool2013]

32. Biggest scandal ever?

How quickly we forget:
Tan suit
Dijon mustard
The non-right to bare arms

Need I go on?

[pansypoo53219]

34. HE'S BIGGER THAN NIXON!. he will be proud of that.

[MFGsunny]

38. Effing with our national security by using extortion and bribery so MF45 Grifter-in-Chief ......

..... and his un-american, immoral and traitorous cabal can fill their pockets and power lust.

[zentrum]

39. Repug Oligarchs and their

...puppets don't give a rat's ass about Democracy. It's just a nuisance notion.