Trump is losing control of the narrative
Kellyanne Conway did what Asha Rangappa called a word salad on CNN. Kellyanne talked rapidly, throwing out a mishmash of untruths. For example, she cited the White House counsel’s letter even though a federal court rejected the argument contained in that letter.
What is going on?
It seems to me that ever since the impeachment proceedings began, Trump hasn’t been able to get control of the media narrative.
In contrast, he controlled the media narrative of the Mueller probe. Mueller was silent, the pace was slower, Trump had inside information—and Barr— so he knew how to frame the narrative in a way that benefitted him.
Now Trump never knows what’s coming. Each time the GOP tries out a defense, something pops up that obliterates that defense.
For example,Trump defenders have been shouting about how all the evidence is hearsay. (At the same time, they’re forbidding anyone with direct information from testifying).
Then, Bill Taylor, in his testimony yesterday, drops this bombshell:
Janet said:
“Boring” is such an interesting word, as if the expectation is that news is entertainment.
When news becomes entertainment, facts stop mattering. Governing by crisis and spectacle is all about controlling media narrative and making it interesting.
Fiction and myth are so much more entertaining than a dry recitation of facts.
From Timothy Snyder: Fascism always begins by clearing away factuality so that myth can take hold.
CalypsoRising said:
This is precisely why the “closed door” depositions so irritated the GOP. From a fact-gathering perspective, 15 witnesses testifying privately for up to 9 hours each makes it impossible to coordinate stories.
The consistency confirmed the truth.
Having lengthy closed door depositions harmed the GOP myth makers in two ways: It gave the depositions integrity and it prevented them from spinning the narrative because they didn’t know how.
The Don Overreached
Brad said:
Trump certainly tried to isolate himself.
We know how it’s done from the Godfather. The Don gives the orders to the consigliori without witnesses, who gives the orders to someone else, without witnesses. Two problems: First, a scheme to shake down a foreign country requires a lot of people, and a lot of discussions between a lot of people, including, for example, the OMB.
The Godfather knew how to avoid getting caught. There was a chain. One link simply had to disappear.
Trump couldn’t isolate himself. He can’t make links in the chain disappear. He couldn’t isolate himself because too many people–in fact, entire parts of the government—had to be mobilized for him to pull of his scheme.
It seemed Trump’s intent in that phone call was a light touch, a hint — just asking a favor. That way nobody could pin anything on him.
What he didn’t count on were hoards of people coming forward, and other people overhearing conversations.
Basically, the Don overreached and got caught.
From my experiences in criminal defense, I can tell you that people tend to get caught when they push their luck a little too far.
Timeline
I updated my timeline with Taylor’s new information about the Sondland-Trump cell phone conversation. The new testimony (the staff member has already been scheduled to testify) directly implicates the president.
You can see my timeline here.
I also added a few dates that Schiff gave us in his closing statement:
Sept. 9: Inspector General informed the Intelligence Committee that the Whistleblower’s Complaint had made its way to the White House.
Sept. 10: Bolton said he resigned. Trump said he fired Bolton. At any rate, this happened the day after the Whistleblower Complaint hit the White House
Sept. 11: The White House informed Senators that it is releasing the Ukraine military assistance it had been withholding.
What we know about these three days obliterates the GOP defense that Trump released the funds, so there is no evidence of wrongdoing.
The other thing we learned from the first day of the impeachment inquiry is that the GOP strategy is to play to its base, meaning consumers of Infowars and Q-Anon.
As stupid as this may seem (the GOP base and Fox viewing audience is shrinking) it’s really their best chance of surviving. Here’s how I figure it. They know Trump will be impeached. There are 3 possible outcomes to a Senate Trial . .
The first is that enough GOP Senators vote against Trump and remove him from office. If this happens, the GOP will be fractured. Trump’s supporters, enraged, will turn on the defectors. Fracturing a party that is already a minority party makes electoral majority impossible.
The second option is that a handful of Senators vote against Trump, but not enough to remove him from office. This too will enrage Trump’s supporters and divide the GOP.
Moreover, defecting members of the GOP will further highlight Trump’s wrongdoing. Even people leaning toward supporting Trump will think twice. Those not paying attention will see the wrongdoing more clearly.
The final option is that GOP sticks together and GOP Senators line up behind Trump. They’ll hold together their 40% and try to expand the numbers.
Because basically Trump was caught red-handed, the only possible defense left to the GOP is to wage war on truth itself.
This is why the Senate trial won’t look like a normal trial.
In a normal trial, the facts are in dispute. The fact finder (jury) determines what happened. Then the judge applies the law to the facts.
In Trump’s impeachment, what’s on trial is truth itself.
