Immigrant Song

(By American Zen's Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari)

"In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests. I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a U.S. adversary, and that Ukraine — not Russia —attacked us in 2016." -Dr. Fiona Hill, November 21, 2019

I'd like to start by pointing out what should be obvious but isn't to much of the internet- It's very telling and somewhat sad that we depend upon foreign-born officials (Yovanovitch-Canada, Fiona Hill-England, Col. Vindman-Ukraine) to remind us of what it's like to be an American and to reacquaint us with the rule of American law. Because those of us of a certain political stripe that I won't name (cough-MAGA-cough) seem to have forgotten that we are a nation of laws, not of men or a certain noxious personality allowed to believe in the delusion that he's actually the president of the United States.

     In chronological order, we've heard in open testimony from Marie Yovanovitch, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and, today, Dr. Fiona Hill. I don't blame anyone for needing a scorecard to keep straight the dizzying array of fact witnesses, their job titles or former titles and portfolios and the various pieces of evidence they've given to the House for high crimes and misdemeanors. But Masha Yovanovitch worked at our embassy in Kiev as our Ambassador, Lt. Colonel Vindman still works at the National Security office in the White House and Dr. Hill worked out of that same office supervising Col. Vindman and under John Bolton.

       We've also heard from Bill Taylor, the closest thing we have to an ambassador in Ukraine, Kurt Volker, former special envoy to Ukraine, Tim Morrison, Dr. Hill's successor for a very brief period of time (He resigned the post on Halloween, the same day the House voted on the impeachment inquiry rules). We've also heard from Gordon Sondland, the Ambassador to the European Union and, along with Dr. Hill, David Holmes, a political consultant in our embassy in Kiev. And no doubt (and hopefully), we'll also hear from Rudy Giuliani, John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney and others who know exactly where the bodies are buried.

        But I'm going to focus on the irony of Marie Yovanovitch, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and Dr. Fiona Hill's testimonies precisely because they were born outside the country yet seem to have a better grasp not only of ethical government behavior but also the very essence of what it should mean to be an American.

     They have amply demonstrated, despite Republican mutterings to the contrary, their job performance and service to their adopted country have not been crippled or compromised by divided loyalties. They had also amply demonstrated that they care enough about the rule of the laws of the nation they'd adopted that they were alarmed enough about abberrent behavior on the part of the "president" and his stooges to put their careers and reputations (if not even more- Dr. Hill had had her home address posted on Twitter along with a very unhealthy dose of threats of physical harm) at risk by testifying before the United States Congress with their concerns.

         What we'd gotten from Ms. Yovanovitch, Dr. Hill and Col. Vindman was a crash course leading by example of what it should mean to be an American, people who'd dedicated and are still dedicating their lives to not only safeguarding America's interests but also keeping their adopted nation safe. In other words, they're better Americans than the right wing stooges against whom they're testifying, starting with one Donald John Trump.

Hill on the Fool on the Hill

Dr. Fiona Hill, as stated, worked in the National Security Council office within the White House until July 19th. This self-professed leftist somehow found enough common ground with uber right winger John Bolton to work harmoniously enough with him. Then, by this summer, they'd found more common ground in a mutual alarm over the actions taken by the White House concerning Ukraine that were beneficial to neither country but to Russia.

      It's amazing that a spittle-flecked right wing nut job like John Bolton would now look like the good guy and a man of conscience yet that's exactly what a Sauron-class evil like Trump and his inner circle managed to do. Bolton, a man screaming straight out of the Cold War era, is nonetheless a highly-intelligent man who was not fooled by the Putin-era pretension to democracy and has been a Russia hawk for his entire career.

      Therefore, when Bolton began getting unmistakable indications that Trump and his operatives were establishing back channels into Ukraine by circumventing official diplomatic policy with the seeming intention of strengthening Russia's hand and weakening ours, Bolton was, understandably, alarmed. There were several reasons for Bolton's abrupt resignation- Trump's willingness to negotiate with Taliban terrorists at Camp David being among them. But his constant kowtowing to Russia was, one can easily imagine, the determinative factor and the biggest wedge between the two men that resulted in Bolton's exit from the White House.

      Dr. Hill turned in her credentials six days before the now-infamous phone call between Trump and Zelensky in which the latter finally laid bare his intentions before the several people who listened in on the phone call and, eventually, the world. But Hill didn't need to listen in on the phone call in order to give relevant and damaging testimony. She'd also read Republicans the Riot Act (to their "umbrage") in stating in her opening remarks that she would not be used as a tool to advance right wing talking points such as Ukraine meddling in our 2016 election. They didn't meddle in our 2016 election but Trump very much wanted them to meddle in the 2020 election.

       Dr. Hill told the nation about an impromptu ward room meeting on July 10th between Sondland and Col. Vindman. When Hill had told Bolton this, he instructed her to walk in and attend this meeting and she said when she had, Vindman had "an alarmed" look on his face. When Hill reported her findings to her boss, Bolton told her to pass along her recollections to the NSC's top legal counsel.

       One Republican on the committee, seemingly snatching at straws, revisited a conspiracy theory as to why she had reservations about Lt. Colonel Vindman despite giving him a stellar job performance review just prior to her resignation. Hill responded that her only reservation regarding the Colonel was his lack of a "political antenna", that that was a quality in which Kurt Volker excelled but not a nonpartisan official such as Vindman. She doubled down on her support for her former subordinate. It would also help explain the look of alarm on Vindman's face while Sondland was talking to him, someone Hill had described as being on a "domestic political errand."

      That "errand", of course, was Sondland's conveyed message straight from the White House to the presidential palace in Kiev that there was quid pro quo expected if Zelensky was to get what he wanted- The military aid and White House visit. Hill had also put the lie to Sondland's claim that they didn't know that Burisma was code for the Bidens prior to September. She'd also described having a conversation with Sondland that same day bluntly asking him what he was doing with Ukraine and he responded that Trump had put him in charge in the post-Yovanovitch Kiev.

Elementary, My Dear Holmes

While a good case could be made that this was all Dr. Hill's show, David Holmes also had a few things of interest to share. He'd said in his opening statement, "I am an apolitical foreign policy professional, and my job is to focus on the politics of the country in which I serve so that we can better understand the local landscape and better advance U.S. national interests there." He went on to say that the smear campaign that was launched by the White House against Marie Yovanoitch was unlike anything he'd ever seen in his career.

     His testimony proved to be so damning, in fact, that while answering one of Jim Jordan's shouted questions, Jordan interrupted him no less than five times while Schiff, I'm sure, was tempted to get up and bang his gavel right on Jordan's balding head. And if you're a Republican nut bag like Jordan, you would be alarmed at Holmes' testimony. Holmes gave us some on-the-ground insight into the Three Amigos, a sobriquet that makes Volker cringe to this day. Perhaps they should be likened instead, to three right wing Teenage Ninja Turtles, with Giuliani being the rat who guided them. He told us again that Sondland tartly said of Giuliani, "Damn it, Rudy. Every time Rudy gets involved he goes and fucks everything up.'"

     But perhaps the most interesting thing Holmes had divulged today were particulars of Sondland's phone call to Trump on July 26th. During lunch at a Ukrainian cafe, they and two other aides were sitting at a pair of tables brought together dining al fresco when Sondland took out his phone and called Trump. Holmes said Trump was speaking so loudly that Holmes and anyone within earshot could hear not only Sondland, who was also speaking loudly, but also hear Trump's end of the conversation over this open phone call conducted with unsecured phones.

    Trump asked Sondland if the Ukrainians were going to do the investigations and Sondland answered in the affirmative, adding, "Zelensky loves your ass" and that "he'd do anything" for Trump. Afterwards, Holmes asked Sondland if Trump really cared about Ukraine and he replied that he "didn't give a (expletive) about it," and that his only interest was in "the big things." Holmes, incredulous, asked if that wouldn't include Ukraine's ongoing war with Russia and Sondland replied, "No, the really big things", indicating they were Trump's political fortunes.

      So there you have it. Despite his empty blandishments in the phone call to Zelensky the day before, Ukraine's only value to Trump was in what they could do for him regarding the 2020 elections. This is very consistent with Trump's reputation for self-absorbed sociopathy. He'd withheld the military aid to Ukraine even while Ukrainian soldiers were dying in their own war for independence. He exploited the vulnerability of a nascent government of an unstable country that had looked to us in earnest to be their unconditional ally and Trump let their soldiers die in Donbas and elsewhere until he was finally embarrassed into giving Kiev what it so desperately needed.

        And if one needs any further proof that Trump doesn't really give a flying fuck about Ukraine, keep in mind four things: The closest that Zelensky has come to meeting Trump at the White House was meeting him at the UN building in New York at the same exact moment these revelations first came out. That he abruptly canceled a September 1st visit to Warsaw and meeting with Zelensky and sent Pence instead (presumably to make a point and to have Pence deliver his demands yet again). That the highest-ranking US official to Zelensky's inauguration was Kurt Volker, a mere special envoy (Pence abruptly canceled supposedly because of a scheduling conflict with a trip to Canada). And, many months after Marie Yovanovitch was suddenly fired from her post as Ambassador to Ukraine. her post still hasn't been filled. We have no ambassador in Ukraine. Those four facts alone should tell you everything you need to know about how little Trump thinks of yet another ally who, like the Kurds, have felt the lash of Trump's betrayal. Trump essentially abandoned Ukraine like a certain woman whom he raped in a department store dressing room. Their use to him has long since ended.

        In his closing statement, Chairman Adam Schiff lauded the people who'd testified in the Intelligence Committee's final round of open impeachment hearings. He'd stressed the importance of the impeachment mechanisms built into the Constitution by the Founding Fathers, lambasted the Republicans for their conspiracy theories about Ukraine while pointedly ignoring the very real fact that the Russians interfered in the 2016 election. He went on to say the GOP wasn't disputing the basic facts brought out by these testimonies and were, instead, reduced to attacking the witnesses and even, without a trace of irony, questioning their loyalty. He could have added the further irony that three of the most compelling witnesses have been three former and current officials who were not born in the US yet seem to have a firmer grasp of what it means to be an American than virtually every Republican on the committee.