Thread by @ThePlumLineGS

1) So here's where this is all going:

I submit that Trump may ultimately demand that Republicans *fully* defend his pressure on Ukraine to investigate *Biden in particular,* without any squeamish double-talk about investigating "corruption."

*MINI-THREAD*

2) There are already very clear signs that Trump and his advisers are testing the waters to see if this will fly with Republicans.

First, here's Trump himself. Note how he says that *if* there was a quid pro quo, there would be "nothing wrong with that":

3) Second, here's @kellyannepolls. On Fox, she said this:

https://twitter.com/saletan/status/1191124416559755264

@KellyannePolls 4) Trump is obsessively tracking how Republicans are responding to the deepening Ukraine scandal. He's on the lookout for any signs of disloyalty.

See this reporting from @dlippman:

politico.com/news/2019/11/0…

@KellyannePolls @dlippman 5) More evidence will come out. This will make it impossible to deny Trump's corrupt use of military aid to extort Ukraine to smear Biden any longer.

In the end, the loyalty test will be that Rs must fully defend what Trump *actually did do.*

Like so:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…

@KellyannePolls @dlippman 6) Real question will be whether it becomes a party-wide GOP position, as opposed to one held by only some Republicans, that there was nothing wrong with a (Republican) president using military aid to pressure a foreign power to help rig a US election (again) on his behalf. FIN