The far-left Nation, the oldest left-wing publication in the U.S., is concerned the Ukraine Hoax “might be a bad gambit for Democrats.”
The piece, written by Aaron Maté, “argues that impeachment is political, not legal—and that the transcript the White House released doesn’t, in itself, implicate the president.”
And that of course gets right to the heart of the matter, of a far-left Democrat Party and its media allies who launched an impeachment proceeding before seeing the transcript of an anodyne phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
To begin with, it was Zelensky, who was worried about corruption in his own government, who brought up the whole issue. What’s more, there actually is a scandal surrounding Joe Biden’s son Hunter landing a $50,000 a month — a month! — gig with a Ukrainian energy company, when Hunter knows nothing about energy or Ukraine. Zelensky is worried about this and Trump asked him to look into it, which is not “digging up dirt,” as Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) phony “whistleblower” pal claimed.
The Nation understands this. Maté wrote:
Democratic leaders and media pundits are convinced that Trump extorted Ukraine by delaying military aid to compel an investigation into Biden. Their theory may prove correct, but the available evidence does not, as of now, make for a strong case. Trump had held up military aid to Ukraine by the time of his call with Zelensky, but if the public transcript is accurate, it did not come up during their conversation. According to The New York Times, Zelensky’s government did not learn that the military aid was frozen until more than one month later.
Maté is also not buying the current media/Democrat fake news about the overall allegation surrounding the word “favor.” Maté wrote:
It is also unclear from the transcript what exactly Trump wants Zelensky to do. The president’s rambling leaves room for ambiguity. On the Biden front, Trump tells Zelensky that “whatever you can do with the Attorney General [William Barr] would be great” and also asks him to “look into it.” But Barr says that he and Trump never spoke about investigating Biden or contacting Ukraine; Zelensky says that he did not feel any pressure to investigate Biden; and “look into it” can be interpreted in ways ranging from damning to benign.
Moreover, Trump’s foremost concern—and the object of the “favor” he asks Zelensky—is not Biden, but securing the Ukrainian president’s assistance with Barr’s review of the origins of the Russia investigation. Although he may be incoherent, Trump is within his rights to ask for Ukraine’s cooperation.
And then there is this key point, about how Democrats cocked the gun of impeachment before seeing the nothingburger transcript, saying:
[P]erhaps there is still a smoking gun to be found. But if not, then as it stands, Democrats would be pushing for the most serious verdict possible, removal of the president from office, on a shaky case.
Democrats also opted to do so before both the transcript and complaint were released. It is worth asking why Trump’s behavior was already deemed impeachment-worthy before such critical pieces of evidence were available.
Maté despises Trump and accuses him of all kinds of terrible things, things that are not — much to Maté’s frustration — impeachable, but he is at least looking at this particular issue with clear eyes.
He also sees the Biden scandal with clear eyes, writing:
Republicans will also get ample opportunities to highlight Democratic double standards. Even if Trump and Giuliani’s worst suspicions about Biden are incorrect, what is already established is damning enough. Hunter Biden obtained his lucrative board seat on a Ukrainian gas company despite having no experience in the country, and just months after his father’s administration backed a coup that overthrew its government. That very fact will weaken any Democratic effort to highlight Trump’s efforts to enrich himself and his family through the Oval Office.
Not forgotten is the Democrat’s breathtaking double standard as it pertains to seeking “election help” from Ukraine. Maté wrote:
Republicans will also point to the irony of Trump’s being accused of seeking 2020 election help from Ukraine after Democratic Party officials already received such help in 2016. And after they take their turns hammering Biden’s dealings and Democrats’ hypocrisy, Senate Republicans will inevitably vote for Trump’s acquittal.
As the polls already show, if this is all the Democrats got, they have gone all-in on a losing hand that can only end in one of two ways: 1) Trump emerges victorious after Democrats back away from impeachment, or 2) Democrats blow themselves up wasting valuable legislative time on yet another hoax driven only by their childish inability to accept the results of the 2016 election.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.