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Promoted from the diaries by streiff. Promotion does not imply endorsement.
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Well, the great Lt. Colonel (and don’t you dare forget about that title!) Alexander Vindman testified before Adam Schiff’s kangaroo court.  Vindman reminded us all of his military service and his immigrant background.  Yes, he is the most patriotic, nonpartisan creature to climb out of the DC swamp in decades.

Apparently this all translates into making Vindman the penultimate expert on all things Ukraine.  Put all these things together and you get a sort of administrative Superman.  In the minds of Democrats, all his qualities allow him to make judgments about a phone call between two world leaders (one of whom is technically Vindman’s boss whether he likes it or not) and about inquiries about possible Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election.  And don’t forget- a vice-president’s son who lands a lucrative job with an energy company in Ukraine even though he does not speak the language and knows squat about energy.

Not just Vindman, but all the other “star” witnesses of hearsay and third-hand accounts, there is now apparently a new person in Washington that dictates foreign policy.  On the official State Department page, we were led to believe that “the President of the United States determines US foreign policy.”  The last anyone checked, that person is none other than Donald Trump no matter how many people hate that fact of life and no matter how many people have vowed to resist that fact.

Instead, it would appear that the new person responsible for US foreign policy is not President Trump, but some amorphous creature named “interagency consensus.”  Or maybe it is the staff of the National Security Council.  According to Vindman’s words in his deposition, the call between Trump and Zelensky was “inconsistent with the consensus views of the interagency.”  He also bemoaned the fact that Trump, well-known to go off-script, did not follow the talking points drawn up by the NSC staff.  However, he ran into a problem when someone without a “D” after their name, Elise Stefanik (R-NY) got Vindman to admit hat the President is the one who actually sets US foreign policy.

Read: Interagency Consensus: Another Term For: Deep State

Ignorant of Trump’s campaign promise to “drain the swamp,” which we are learning the “interagency” is perhaps the main creature from the black lagoon, this parade of “patriotic,” “nonpartisan” bow-tied bureaucrats now feign surprise and angst over the fact Trump shoots from the hip.  They tie themselves in unnecessary moral knots because Trump allegedly violates the norms and practices of Washington.  A President, they tell us, just does not do these things.  They stick to the precious talking points on telephone calls with foreign leaders.  Any other President would heed the interagency consensus.  Just who the hell does Donald Trump think he is?  The President?

It is amazing to watch these people tangle themselves in knots trying to convince the public that they have such powers that they can read the mind of Trump based on hearsay and second- or third-hand knowledge.  Yet these same dimwits never heard Trump’s campaign promise to “drain the swamp.”

Ukraine is not a treaty ally of the United States, nor is it a sacred cow.  It is not off limits because St. Mueller declared it so.  It received every penny of aid appropriated by Congress before the statutory deadline.  Every Ukrainian official from Zelensky on down have stated they felt no pressure from Trump or any of his aides to do anything.

Instead, Democrats in 2018 wrote a letter to Ukrainian officials demanding they cooperate with the Mueller investigation.  There is an account of a letter from Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) telling Zelensky that he should not “respond to requests from American political actors.”  So much for the anti-corruption line and so much for respecting the sovereignty of Ukraine.

Nowhere is the hypocrisy of Democrats more apparent than in their latest Holy Grail of impeachment- a series of text messages between Taylor and Sondland where Taylor states: “As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.”  Sondland’s reply is much more to the point: “I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions. The President has been crystal clear: no quid pro quo’s of any kind.”

Just in the wink of an eye, it is no longer about the complaints of a so-called “whistleblower” who colluded with Adam Schiff in this charade.  Who needs the testimony of the whistleblower when you have a text message that proves their case?  The only problem is that not too long ago Democrats dismissed text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.  When Strrzok said “we’ll stop” Trump from becoming president, the media and Democrats twisted themselves into pretzels explaining that it was an innocuous message and nothing sinister at all.  “Move along, folk…nothing to see here,” they told us.

What the interagency which has an obvious animus against Trump does not understand is they are making a strong case for the reelection of Trump.  They can cite their family pedigrees, boast about their years of public service, dress themselves in military medals, and tout their “patriotism” all they want.  But every word out of their mouths is an indictment against the interagency consensus and those bow-tied, bespectacled and beclowned bureaucrats behind it.  It is a serious indictment against the coastal elites who believe they have all the answers and can now even read the minds of Presidents.

This will be over and this whole sham will provide more fuel for the funeral pyre that started with the Russian collusion hoax, the Emoluments Clause nonsense, the 25th Amendment “Fit to serve” line of thinking, and everything else #TheResistance and their willing allies among the NeverTrump faction have cooked up.

There is one other thing that needs to go on that fire- interagency consensus.