It seems to me that the Trump/Ukraine saga comes down to two competing and plausible theories, one expressed by Democrats, one not-quite-expressed by Republicans.
Theory #1 (Dems): Trump was pursuing a quid pro quo with Ukraine in order to force them to "get" Biden. He saw Biden as a threat and wanted him taken out.
Theory #2 (GOP): Trump was pursuing a quid pro quo to fight corruption, just as Biden supposedly did in 2016.
The problem with theory #2 is that half of the stuff Trump wanted to pursue in Ukraine to "fight corruption" is bizarre and conspiratorial -- e.g. Crowdstrike and Biden/Shokrin (which may or may not be legit). Trump is a guy who thinks about the whole "ball of wax."
So when you say "Ukrainian corruption" he thinks "Bidencrowdstrikehillaryobamayavanovichburisma!" Which means that Trump may think he is fighting corruption when in fact he's just chasing rabbits. And that rabbit-chasing appears just like Biden-targeting to Democrats.
The biggest problem with theory #2 -- the most plausible theory of Trump and Ukraine -- is that Republicans won't say it out loud. Because it rests on the foundation that Trump thinks conspiratorially, is not planning anything, and represents a series of ill-considered impulses.
Instead, Republicans will say that this is all simply legit. And it doesn't appear to be totally legit because Trump's theory is based on conspiracism in some places and bloviating public statements in others.
