Douglas Christian/ZUMA
As the first day of televised impeachment hearings prepare to go live, let’s pause to take the temperature inside the White House, where President Donald Trump appears to be short-circuiting:
“Millions of Americans will see what a partisan sham this whole thing is.” Rush Limbaugh @foxandfriends Also, why is corrupt politician Schiff allowed to hand over cross examination to a high priced outside lawyer. Did that lawyer ever work for me, which would be a conflict?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2019
The Democrats have stacked the deck against President Trump and the Republicans. They have leaked out everything. @SteveDoocy @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2019
…the most powerful tool the legislative branch has, Impeachment, & they’ve turned it into a political cudgel, which is not at all what the Founders intended. When you hear Schiff use all these words like quid pro quo, it is because they can’t specify that Donald Trump broke..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2019
….any laws or did anything wrong, and they have to move away from quid pro quo because there was no quid, and there was no quo. Ukraine got it’s money (3 weeks early), and there was no investigation.” @CharlesHurt @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2019
After kicking off the morning with those nods to Fox News, Trump then opted to keep things short, sticking closely to his catchphrase defenses against the biggest threat to his presidency.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2019
NEVER TRUMPERS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2019
To translate: the “READ THE TRANSCRIPT” demand, as we previously explained, has served as Trump’s go-to rejoinder to the investigation; “NEVER TRUMPERS” is his attempt to falsely paint the witnesses in the impeachment inquiry as politically biased.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2019
All that followed a late night of retweeting and quoting in advance of what’s all but certain to be a historic day, as House Democrats attempt to convince the country that Trump abused his power to coerce foreign intervention in the 2020 election. The president appears to have left his morning wide open for the opening remarks, so prepare yourself for some more meltdowns.
