Take Her Out

LISTEN: Recording appears to capture Pres. Trump at private dinner saying he wants Ukraine ambassador fired. https://t.co/9jqfYz99pR

— ABC News (@ABC) January 25, 2020

This seems even more disturbing after the news that the Ambassador was possibly surveilled by some party (possibly affiliated with Trump, the brand, the presidency, and the ongoing political campaign thereof) while doing her job in Ukraine, because "take her out" has more than one meaning.

Obviously, as with the firing of, say, FBI Director Jim Comey, Trump has the right to fire some personnel at his pleasure. Except that he seems to be announcing he wants her gone in a way that implies more than just firing. And he seems to not want to do this through ordinary procedures. You combine this with the language from the "perfect phone call" that she is "about to go through some things" and it starts seeming like a horror movie. The issue of Yovanovitch's service in Ukraine then isn't about whether the president has a right to remove someone from their position--he does! But why he seems to be responding to personnel requests from some rando donor at an event that he now claims he didn't even know is a really good question, especially when that person has been indicted for. among other things, working on behalf of one or more Ukrainian officials to get the Ambassador fired. And also slopping lots of money into Republican campaigns.

There are a lot of problematic takeaways here. Is Trump unduly influenced by the donor pool of folks around him during his weekend stayaways golfing and hobnobbing and whatnot, because he really is the worst case scenario of opsec fail and emoluments clause-flouting.

But for the people who just got super-offended that it was implied they were scared of what Trump might do if they voted against him--here's a word: Mobster. Trump talks like a mobster. Maybe he did, unbeknownst to you all, say something to a rando donor-type guy along the lines of "heads on a pike". Because the kind of guy who brags about whether a terrorist he put a hit on was crying even if Trump didn't have virtual eyes on, or who brags about pussy-grabbing, or who makes improbable stories up during his campaign rallies about big men who never cried before etc. and the military being out of ammunition before he came along, and other improbable and self-aggrandizing bullshit, always tries to make himself sound like he toughest of guys. During Celebrity Apprentice--he said "You're fired." During this video, he says "Take her out!" That sounds more suggestive than wanting a firing. Intentionally?

And his stated reasons have to do with thinking she didn't like him enough. Like, that she didn't hang his official portrait in her office soon enough. What kind of crap is that?

This video came out and cast a weird light (albeit not one no one realized was likely) on how this president operates that the senators deliberating Trump's removal should well consider. They should not be under the mistaken notion that this is a one-off. His level of access to people like Parnas and Furman and the likelihood of additional video or audio recordings of problematic dialogs are very high.

All the more reason to deliberate after a long dive into Trump's associations, with witnesses and docs. Because things exactly like this are out there. This is just a sample.

Also, this is the exact reason that Pompeo needs to answer for his lack of support for an Ambassador who went through this situation. He clearly did not show support for this Ambassador.