Succinct summary of the false conspiracy at the heart of the GOP case in defense of Trump. Perhaps a useful primer in preparation for a difficult Thanksgiving conversation with *that* uncle. nytimes.com/2019/11/26/pod…
And if you'll be in a more receptive crowd, you could draw out the bigger implication of this story--which is that the entire GOP is engaged in a sustained disinformation campaign against the American people that was cooked up by Russian intelligence agents. You heard that right.
Fox News, Devin Nunes, and even Lindsey Graham are actively attempting to "prove" a pro-Russian conspiracy theory which has been disproven innumerable times by journalists and by our own intelligence agencies. They're doing this to please Trump.
Trump wants to believe this fairy tale because it proves that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 election to try to help him. This false story, in his eyes, is true because it shows that he won DESPITE having Ukraine working against him.
Fiona Hill's testimony offered the most succinct rebuttal of this absurd Crowdstrike/Ukraine narrative. The source for this narrative appears to be Paul Manafort's pal in the Russian intelligence world, Konstantin Kilimnik. realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/11/…
Some people have proposed that Trump does not really believe the Crowdstrike story. That's possible. My theory is that he does actually believe it, to the extent that he "believes" anything. He believes it because it makes him look good, not because there's evidence for it.
Trump doesn't "do" evidence. Evidence is capable of telling you things you don't like and which don't serve your interests. That said, many others in the GOP *do* understand evidence, esp. the ones who are lawyers. Their complicity with this is unconscionable.
This all has a Dr. Strangelove feel to it...with Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan, and Trump as Jack...and the rest of us are Mandrake.
Live look in to the entire GOP caucus as they ride this conspiracy theory to its logical conclusion.
