Up The Hill

Fiona Hill (below) was certainly impressive in her testimony on how American national security was diverted to help Trump with domestic politics and how it should never have been allowed to happen, and she was just as impressive in withstanding attacks on her loyalty to the United States just because she was born and raised in England.  She was especially forceful in refuting the bogus charge that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 presidential election to help Hillary Clinton, a charge that Trump has embraced.  She and her fellow witnesses also made it clear that Joe Biden and his son did nothing wrong regarding business with Ukraine. 

"The Russians’ interests are frankly to de-legitimatize our entire presidency," she told House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff.  "The goal of the Russians [in 2016] was really to put whoever became the president - by trying to tip their hands on one side of the scale - under a cloud."

And yet, none of this matters one iota.

Voters who want to hear more about what the government is going to do about them and their own concerns have pretty much stopped caring about the impeachment inquiry, assuming they ever did.  Or, as I said at the start of the month, meh.  Not only has interest in the inquiry waned, so has interest in impeachment.  Independents have turned against it, and voters in swing states have followed suit.  Democrats are suddenly in danger of losing the 2020 presidential election for going after Trump. 

Trump voters simply believe that their guy did nothing wrong.  They do, however, believe that the Bidens did something wrong, which is why they'll be pleased to know that the Republican Senate is launching an investigation of them.  And the Republicans in Congress have paid no heed to Dr. Hill's insistence that the story about Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election is a fake - they're looking into it in hopes of finding something.  Because why should anyone listen to Dr. Hill - "That Limey bitch, what does she know?"

Maybe Adam Schiff should ask what the naming Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, knows.  It seems he went to Vienna to meet a now-discredited Ukrainian prosecutor to dig up dirt on the Bidens, even though he's supposed to be an impartial as ranking member of the House intelligence Committee. Lev Parnas, the recently indicted Soviet-born American who was working with Rudolph Giuliani to push the story of corruption in Ukraine caused in part by Democrats, is ready and willing to tell everyone about it.

But hey, if no one cares, because the economy is doing so damn well . . .

The House Intelligence Committee hearings are over, and so, quite frankly is any hope of getting enough people concerned about Trump's actions to ensure his defeat in the 2020 election.  To sum up: Legally, the impeachment hearings have been a success for the Democrats.  Politically, they have been a flop.

Of Heaven's Gate proportions.

Mr. Moto Risin'

Former National Security Council member Tim Morrison, below - whose name forms the words Mr. Moto Risin' when you re-arrange the letters - was supposed to be the best witness against impeaching Donald J. Trump, in the House Intelligence Committee's hearings, but even though he didn't see anything wrong with Trump's contacts with Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, he had to check with lawyers thrice over it.  He also added that U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland undercut the usual National Security Council leadership structure was subverted by Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, adding that he "decided to keep track of what Ambassador Sondland was doing. I didn’t necessarily always act on things Gordon suggested he believed were important."  And this was a witness Republicans wanted to have testify to get Trump off the hook.

Mr. Moto risin' . . .

Also, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman and Pence aide Jennifer Williams both said at they distinctly heard Trump try to force Zelensky into opening an investigation into the Bidens, and Vindman - an immigrant who made it clear that he was putting country over loyalty to Trump while expressing a heartfelt appreciation for his adopted homeland - said that Trump's actions were "inappropriate" and "likely to have significant implications" for national security. "I couldn’t believe what I was hearing," he said of the July 25 telephone call. "My worst fear of how our Ukraine policy could play out was playing out."

Mr. Moto risin' . . .

Also, Kurt Volker, Mr. Trump’s former special envoy to Ukraine - like Morrison, a witness Republicans asked for - said he was out of the loop with regard to Trump’s dealings with the Ukrainians, saying that he was unaware of "any linkage between the hold on security assistance and Ukraine pursuing investigations." He added that Trump's paranoia about the Biden issue and the conspiracy theory implicating Ukraine for meddling in the 2016 election were "not things that we should be pursuing as part of our national security strategy."

Got to keep on risin' . . .

But, when all is said and done, Trump will not only be acquitted, he will also be re-elected.  Because Mrs. Warren is rising.  Elizabeth Warren is rising in the polls in California and in a dead heat with Joe Biden, perhaps the only Democrat who could beat Trump - at least until Trump smeared him with such fantastic success.  Looks like Warren, while not an L.A. woman, will get the nomination with her own rise in California and lose to Trump badly next November for being way too liberal at a time when the Democrats need a moderate presidential candidate.

America is falling.