The testimonies in the House Impeachment hearings were decisive and specific - Trump and his administration tried to bribe the newly elected president of Ukraine to investigate Trump's political opponent, Joe Biden and his son, and to fabricate evidence that it was Ukraine rather than Russia that interfered with the 2016 presidential election.
But the responses by the Republicans on the committee were interesting. Rather than deal with the testimony itself they simply created an alternate reality that had nothing to do with the testimony. They waged a Sound Bite Defense. Sound bites that can be fed to the Trump base on Fox News and the Right Wing media bubble. Ignore the news, they say, just hear the Republican Sound Bites.
For example, the testimony was that Trump demanded a quid pro quo in order to release Congressionally authorized military aid. the Sound Bite Defense by Nunes and Jordan is that Ukraine got the aid, so that is proof that there was no quid pro quo. What? The aid was only released after Trump was caught, after the whistleblower blew the whistle, after Congress was in the process of forcing the release.
The testimony was that Trump pressured, demanded, the Ukrainian president to announce an investigation before aid would be released. The Sound Bite Defense is that the two people on the call - Trump and Zalensky - both said there was no pressure. What? Of course the accused, Trump, will say there was no pressure. And of course the one who was pressured, Zalensky, has to say he wasn't pressured - he needs Trump's help in his war against Putin's Russia. He has no choice. He is still under pressure.
The fact is that Trump was caught in a flagrant violation of the Constitution's Bribery Clause. The Sound Bite is that this is a coup to overturn the will of the people. What? Bribing a foreign country to announce an investigation into a political opponent isn't a violation of the Constitution?
The fact is that the Democrats are following precedent and law in their impeachment hearings along the lines of the impeachment hearings of Clinton and Nixon. The Sound Bite is that the investigation was all hidden and underground without Republicans having a chance to question witnesses. Even while Republicans were on the committees asking questions of the witnesses.
I expect Trump and the Republicans to fight back. But their strategy is to feed Sound Bites that simply ignore the evidence so that the only place the Trump base gets its news - Fox News and the Right Wing Media Bubble - ignores the evidence and presents the fictional reality of the Sound Bite Defense.
