Hey man, you ever had such a bad day that you needed to announce you're deploying troops to Saudi Arabia to help distribute U.S. military weaponry? Because today, someone has. Currently the top article on bbc.com and many other outlets.

BONUS QUESTION: does any of this matter, or will status quo be upheld no matter what this guy does?

I don't wanna get your hopes up, but this feels different. This is all coming out FAST. It'll take time to filter into society. Not me, because I'm a loser, and trying to figure this out is most of my Friday night. It's been months since I first heard about Giuliani's (ultimately canceled) plans to visit Ukraine, but in two days, we've gone from "the president said something to a foreign leader that triggered a whistleblowing complaint" to one step away from RECORDED EVIDENCE of quid pro quo. One end of the deal being the aid of a foreign government to influence the next U.S. presidential election (deja vu, anyone?), which is more or less confirmed, and the other end possibly being attempted extortion of Ukraine by withholding already-promised U.S. military aid that would help keep Russia out of Ukraine (LOL, of course). Seems like a great deal for Ukraine, right (surely they've read Art of the Deal)? Sorry, 'fuffle, I'm condensing it all into a paragraph at least partly for my own benefit.

Speaking of Giuliani, did you see him yesterday? That's dementia trying to calculate on-the-fly how to most effectively inoculate the public from what's about to go down. Classic.

And here is John Solomon, one of my favorite pro-Trump "investigative journalists", claiming that it's totally normal for Trump's State Department to send Trump's personal lawyer to Ukraine, where Rudy will meet with the Ukrainian president's personal lawyer to discuss opening an investigation into the son of (arguably) Trump's foremost political opponent facing him for re-election. That's how the #1 public servant of the United States of America should communicate on behalf of U.S. citizens, right guys? Through Rudy Giuliani?? Yeah, someone at the state department would've been donezo, if John Solomon hadn't changed my mind.

The fact that a minority of America is still anti-impeachment absolutely blows my mind. I've read so. many. articles warning about outrage fatigue, and how Trump would either consciously or subconsciously grind the pillars of democracy away slowly. That we needed to be reticent and vigilant (I do not claim to have always exercised reticence well). But if this reporting is true, we're wayyyyy beyond the threshold of "what the fucking fuck shitball tits". If the audio recording exists, it's going to leak, and people might spend some time in jail for the leaking before the jailers replace them. My god, would I celebrate the leakers. "Lordy, I hope there are tapes".

Edit: BONUS BONUS BONUS QUESTION: What're the odds that Trump et al.'s Ukrainian schemes have been pushed along by Russian intelligence? Like over 9000:1 odds? Putin just wants to watch the U.S. burn, and I think orchestrating a constitutional crisis and violent impeachment fits that to a "T". This could have been in the works for years.