If you are starting to feel like the waters are so muddy at this point that it’s hard to even grasp what exactly the Democrats are doing on Trump-Ukraine, you aren’t the only one. After Trump released the transcript without a fight, it essentially blew up their script. Like the Kavanaugh hearings, Schiff and company clearly expected to be able to slow roll out multiple “whistle-blowers” in order to build a narrative of there simply being too much smoke to not be a fire.

With the transcript out though, we’ve all read it. We know what is there and what’s not, which is why a story yesterday (which was first covered by Nick Arama here at RedState) left me scratching my head.

The whistleblower said that he made a record of the conversation he had with a White House official concerning the call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.”

The memo describes the official as saying the call was ‘crazy,’ ‘frightening,’ and ‘completely lacking in substance related to national security.’”

Whistleblower at center of Ukraine scandal wrote a memo describing a White House official as "visibly shaken by what had transpired" in Trump's phone call. https://t.co/RshWDdUFX6

— Aman Batheja (@amanbatheja) October 8, 2019

If only we had the transcript so we could decide for ourselves.

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) October 8, 2019

Had the transcript not been released, this would have been gold for Democrats. Much like the Mueller leaks, such a memo on its own completely lacks context and provides no actual evidence about whether the “official” in this case was honestly describing what happened.

The problem? We have the transcript.

Anyone that reads what’s in that call and is “visibly shaken” probably should go curl into the fetal position and just hang out a while. Further, it seems to me that it’s pretty scary that such people are actually in charge of large parts of our national security apparatus. This is an official that’s expected to stand up to China and Russia, but they are physically affected by a phone call that can only be described as mundane at best? At this point, if you are reading this, you’ve likely read the transcript. What exactly is in there that is “frightening?” Trump only mentions Biden in a passive way, never making a demand, making no threats, and not bringing up aid at all. Perhaps you think that’s bad, but objectively, it’s simply not what it was first described to be.

Of course, some are rooting for this official to be something more than he/she probably is.

I would hope Bolton isn't that much of a pansy.

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) October 8, 2019

If this is John Bolton saying this stuff, then Trump 100% did the right thing by getting rid of him. But I don’t believe that. Bolton may have had his differences with the President given his hawkish nature, but he certainly has more mental fortitude than a preteen girl. Or at least I’d hope he does.

But here’s what this all exposes. As I said in the beginning of this piece, the Democrat strategy on the matter was completely blown up when Trump released the transcript. They really expected to push out multiple complaints and memos, all painting a dire picture, without having to actually show their work. Now that we have the call, all these second and third hand accounts are falling flat. It was the Kavanaugh playbook all over again, except they can’t successfully run it now.

No doubt, there will be more “whistle-blowers” that come forward, all represented by this partisan law group that pays them for their complaints, but who cares? We have the call. This is why you are seeing Democrats shift to obstruction arguments and being scared to death to actually vote on impeachment. Trump called their bluff and they are scrambling.

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