11.15

The Emperor’s New Transcript

“Read the transcript!” is the President’s new rallying cry - but why?

Ok, so, technically, it’s a non-verbatim memorandum, but still, you really should read it. It’s not long, only four and a half pages of text. It’s not super enthralling, but it’s fairly quick, mostly the two men congratulating each other on their respective political victories (Trump’s now three years in the past). But buried there in the middle is the critical exchange:

First, President Zelensky turns the conversation toward military aid:

Trump’s responds:

“I would like you to do us a favor though.”

What is the favor? To look into “Crowdstrike”, a widely debunked conspiracy theory that suggests that the Ukraine hacked DNC servers in order to frame Russia for election interference. (Presumably, Trump is hoping to find out that Russia really didn’t help win him the election.)

And then, a little further down, but still implicitly part of the same “favor”, Trump says:

“So, if you can look into it...”

A reasonably objective take is to say that when the conversation turned to military aid, Trump asked Zelensky for the “favor” of beginning two investigation which, if pursued, would help his (Trump’s) personal political situation. This, combined with the outcoming testimony from the ongoing impeachment inquiry, indicates clearly that the President was engaged in a campaign to pressure Zelensky for this help by holding up military aid.

And yet, Trump and his supporters insist that the transcript is exonerating. How can that be?

I think that there are two possible explanations:

The first is that the President and his team are banking on ignorance and confusion. They clearly feel that the quid pro quo is not explicit enough to be understood by the average reader. Additionally, they are hoping for the benefit of that doubt granted by the position they are taking - after all, if Trump had done anything wrong, why would he be so eager for you to read the transcript? Knowing that most Americans will never bother to read the transcript, the move is calculated to gain credibility without becoming subject to commensurate scrutiny.

This first explanation is likely very close to the truth, but there is a second explanation that is worth keeping in mind:

Perhaps the President and his supporters genuinely cannot see the problem with the call. That they can look and see and read and not comprehend is like some kind of a magic trick. It’s as though the President is referencing some other transcript, or better, like he is imagining different words. Beautiful words. Perfect words. The best words.

These words, like so many of the words and deeds of 45, are only visible to those who choose to see them. Like the Emperor’s new clothes, there’s just no fabric there to cover the naked reality.

Harold

November 15th, 2019