Game, Set, Match: Ambassador Gordon Sondland Delivers The Goods on Donald Trump

A picture says a thousand words.

When the history books are written about this time period, there will be several iconic images. Nancy Pelosi walking out of the White House, rocking the shades after getting Donald Trump to own the shutdown. There will be pictures of George Kent, William Taylor, Marie Yovanovich, and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman as the heroic patriots that they are. There will be photos of Donald Trump himself, giving his now-infamous helicopter press conferences.

And there will certainly be the above image from today's impeachment hearing.

Why does Ambassador Gordon Sondland look so pleased, you ask? The answer, in tweet form:

This is E.U. Amb. Sondland's line for throwing everyone under the bus: "Again, everyone was in the loop."

People thrown include:

-Pres Drumpf
-VP Pence
-Acting WH Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney
-Sec of State Pompeo
-Rudy Giuliani
-Sec of Energy Rick Perry
-John Bolton
-Kurt Volker

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) November 20, 2019

Not only did Sondland conveniently "remember" parts of his original closed-door testimony but he also recalled in great detail the fact that this was a coordinated effort, starting at the very top. Sondland was supposed to be the great Republican savior, the one who would exonerate Donald Trump and prove once and for all that these impeaching hearings were one giant farce. Instead, he (or more than likely, his wife) found his conscious and realized that throwing under the bus a team of miscreants was much better for his currently luxurious lifestyle than spending the next 20+ years sharing a cell with the likes of Roger Stone. It has gotten so bad for Republicans that Devin Nunes hasn't shared a new thought in the 4 hearing days and Steve Castor has somehow managed to consistently remind the viewing audience that Sondland's notes were being denied to him by the state department, which only further strengthens the case for obstruction of justice. Add that to the fact that Donald Trump in his font size-39 Sharpie note apparently can't remember 3 basic things (and is too prideful to wear glasses) as well as Republican committee members leaving the hearing early, and there can be no doubt that this day is not going as planned for Republicans and their "star witness."

If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. We've seen time and time again, the utter incompetence of this cabal of criminals. Nobody is willing to save Donald Trump because Donald Trump has shown time and time again that he only cares about himself. Even Gordon Sondland, a multimillionaire who purchased his ambassadorship with a $1 million campaign contribution, won't go to jail for this conman from Queens. What Donald Trump is seeing is that these folks aren't all loyal Michael Cohens: they actually don't idolize him at all. Instead, they are using him to get to pursue their own agenda. We've seen Rex Tillerson promote his oil interests as Secretary of State. We've seen Tom Price as Health Secretary promote his own interests through private travel expenses. We've seen Ben Carson as HUD Secretary put in $30,000 worth of upgrades to his private office. And we've seen Rudy Giuliani traip around Ukraine with his two goons, in search of deals in the natural gas sector that would enrich him personally.

These are all utterly moronic individuals. But Donald Trump is the most moronic of all because he managed to somehow believe they all were loyal to him and not themselves. When you grow up with a silver spoon in hand and everyone is your sycophant because they want to get on your good side, you start to believe that you can do no wrong. For 70 years, Donald Trump faced no repercussions for his actions. But now, outside of Trump Tower, he has learned that the office of the President of the United States is not one giant business deal, no matter how much he wants it to be. There are limits to what he can do and there are mechanisms that prevent him from acting on his worse impulses. His presidency is a temporary stain on our nation but thankfully this stain is not permanent. It will take a generation or more to undo all the damage, but it will be undone. And it will be undone because at a time when Trump and Republicans could have done irreparable damage to our democratic system, instead of uniting and creating a fascist, authoritarian state they instead were too busy enriching themselves and their close friends and family. 

And like any good mob movie, we all know what happens when the schemers are finally caught.