Thread by @SlavaMalamud

Lev's accent is getting more pronounced as the interview progresses. It's like seeing the cheap "abibas" logo wash off the knockoff track suit bought at a market in Zhytomyr.

It is absolutely bonkers that this ex-Soviet dealer of stolen Oldsmobiles who knows a guy who can make your gas meter run backwards, hundred bucks, no problem, is MORE CREDIBLE THAN THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Which he totally is!

Parnas is from Odessa, the city with a very particular reputation. Basically, it's Ukraine's North Jersey, where every single resident is Tony Soprano dialed up to 11.

I can speak this way of Odessa because my grandfather is from there. He went through the entire war and came back with a chest full of shrapnel, which I am not entirely sure wasn't just his way to smuggle some valuable lead back home.

I am kidding. My grandpa was a war hero and he eventually died of his wounds. He was a good citizen, as far as I know. But Odessa is totally the most notorious city in Europe.

Lev's eyebrows have been evolved by Odessa's citizens as a natural visor against the city's punishing summer son and as an additional communication device as Odessan slang is so rich and mutli-dimensional, it requires facial expressions most humans aren't capable of.

I am, by the way, a certified authority on the subject.

As to whether Lev is telling the truth, let me tell you something: Odessa men are much more believable and pleasant when they are lying. After 2 minutes with an Odessa swindler, you'll want to tell him your innermost secrets and ask to wash his mother's feet.
Lev looks miserable.

Never stop marveling at the incredible power of American racism. There is no other force on Earth that could make this schlub, whose God-given talents are salt fish speculation and conning Jewish grandmas out of their pension, a confidant of the US president.
Thanks, Michigan!