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| Ukrainian President Zelensky, Biden, Trump |
I said some time ago, So What? Even if we accept that Trump did ask the Ukrainian President, in the July 2019 phone call, to investigate the dealings of Joe and Hunter Biden with the Burisma company in return for the quid pro quo of American military aid, …So What?
All presidents, all politicians dealing with foreign countries ask for something offered in return for something given. That’s the basis for “tied aid”, after all.Ah, Trump accusers will say, but the quid pro quo can’t be for personal gain. In the case of the Ukraine call, the gain was for Trump’s re-election. Hence personal. Hence impeachable.
But! …that assumes in evidence facts that are not there. It assumes motive. For which there are two clear possibilities.
1. Trump asked Ukraine to investigate Biden because he was still obsessed by the 2016 election and the alleged Russian involvement, and believed there might have been Ukrainian involvement instead. That could be. And that’s the Republican position (assumption).
2. Trump asked Ukraine to investigate Biden because he wanted dirt for the 2020 election. That could be. And that’s the Democrats’ position (assumption).
It comes down to motive. That is to say: mind reading. And you can’t really read minds. You can only go in your prejudices. Which is what makes the present impeachment the only one in history to be purely partisan, happening because the opposition does not like the person in the White House.
Trump paranoia, his obsession with 2016 claims that he only won because of Russia, might lean you to the Republican position. But it’s not a fact. It’s not in evidence.
Trump behaviour, his lying and narcissism, might lean you to the Democratic position. But it’s not a fact. It’s not in evidence.
Therefore, So What?
ADDED: I’ve never bought the line that claims of Bidens’ corruption in Ukraine has been “debunked”. Every day, I read four papers (New York Times, South China Morning Post, Times, Wall Street Journal) and watch four news channels (BBC, CNN, CNA Fox), left, right and centre in other words. I also read a number of political blogs. And I’ve yet to see anything that would show me the Bidens’ dealings with Burisma are nothing to be concerned about. Joe’s son, Hunter Biden, a man with zero expertise in the gas industry, got between $US 50,000 and $US 83,000 per month from Ukrainian gas company Burisma.. His father, then Vice President Joe Biden, got Ukraine to drop investigations into Burisma in return for $1 billion in American aid, a fact that is fully in evidence because Joe boasted about it to the media.
And we are supposed to accept that “there’s nothing to see here, please move on”? On the basis of Joe’s say-so? Joe gets angry when people raise it. So we’re supposed to drop it?
Joe and Hunter Biden must be brought to the Senate to testify in the impeachment trial.
