Everything about today is going to be combustible
You knew something big was in play when, despite the perfect weather, Donald Trump decided not to go golfing yesterday. He was hunkered down in the White House, ostensibly plotting with his impeachment team, about something that couldn’t wait another day. By last night it had become fairly clear what it was.
The news broke yesterday evening that Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Rick Perry, and the gang weren’t just trying to extort Ukraine into helping rig the 2020 election; they were trying to extort a Ukraine gas company into giving them money. These things always come down to money in some day, don’t they? By the time Trump was frantically trying to distract from the story late last night by tweeting that Nancy Pelosi should be impeached for treason, it was clear just how combustible everything had become.
If Trump misusing his office to extort a foreign country for election help is easily understandable to the average American, then Trump misusing his office to extort a foreign country for personal financial gain is even more easily understandable. This just became the kind of scandal that comes with receipts. Paperwork. Money trails. Lots of people are going down. No wonder Rick Perry decided to resign and cooperate with the House impeachment probe the minute the whole thing got exposed. His cooperation now might be his only chance later of convincing the next iteration of the DOJ not to throw him in prison once this is all over.
This all adds up to today in particular being particularly combustible. Over the weekend a second intel community member filed for whistleblower status, and we’ll soon find out what “first hand” knowledge this person has of Donald Trump’s Ukraine scandal. This is on top of the bombshell about the Ukraine gas company extortion. Trump is clearly already in a panic, Rudy is surely apoplectic, and Rick Perry, well, Rick Perry. All kinds of things are going to combust today. There’s too much gasoline spilled, and too many matches being lit, for things not to explode.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report