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Just woke up and read the whistleblower's report, whispering "holy sh*t" multiple times. It brought back memories of a morning in September 1998 when I retrieved the newspaper from the front stoop, made a cup of coffee, and sat down to read the Starr Report.
If the Starr Report was 98% soap opera, murmured "holy sh*ts" elicited by salacious details of the Clinton/Lewinsky relationship, the whistleblower report is about a sustained effort by the President and his staff to distort the upcoming election and cover up those efforts up.
And now I'm watching one Republican on the Intelligence Committeee after another pretend like the rank criminality that's been alleged is actually no big deal, just a witch hunt. Either Trump's got dangerous oppo on all of them, or they've entirely lost their ethical compass.
Do these Republicans really think that there's not a mountain of corroborating and damning evidence that will not eventually come out and make them look like fools? Do they really think the President didn't do what he's accused of (and which he's already admitted to)?
I'm reminded of the folks around Nixon toward the end of his Presidency. At least many were smart enough to recognize that all of his criminality and venality was going to come out and that they couldn't defend him without permanently tarnishing their own reputations.
I feel like I should record the pictures of the Republicans who should never play a role in our public life ever again because of their cynical efforts to obfuscate the President's clear violations of the Constitution. 
Remember how on Tuesday the President stood before the UN and talked about how national sovereignty is sacred, the right of a nation's people to govern themselves without foreign interference? Meanwhile, he's like "hey Ukraine, do me a solid or I'll throw you to the Russians."
I recognize that this seems overly dramatic...but I feel like one of two things will survive this process. Either President Trump, or the Constitution. It seems clear that the Republicans are putting their bets on Trump being the winner...a now *even more* unconstrained Trump.
These people know full well who Trump is, that he's willing to do anything (including colluding with a foreign government and fabricating baseless allegations against his opponents that his base will believe) to win.
When I say Trump will be even more unconstrained, what I mean is that if Congress does not hold him accountable for these clearly impeachable actions, then he could just shoot the Constitution on 5th Avenue and he wouldn't lose a single GOP supporter.
This jackalope is now arguing that we can’t trust the whistleblower’s account of what Trump and Giuliani have already admitted, and which is clearly depicted in the call transcript.
For context, this is the guy who was Trump’s original choice for DNI, a hyper-partisan who would have helped Trump cover up his crimes.
From what I heard, and I only caught 75% of the hearing, my impression was that Will Hurd was the only Republican who comported himself as a rational adult who cares more about potential abuses of power than appearing loyal to Trump. He's also retiring after this term.
