@blatham,
Thank you as well.
Beware of what you are sure of.
The fact is I formulated my central ideas about the impeachment, on my own and soon after the Trump/Zelinsky call became an issue and, in the wake of the Mueller Report & testimony fiasco, the Democrats resumed their Impeachment crusade with renewed vigor, but diminished content.
The essence of the "crimes" attendant to this impeachment is the observations that (1) the President is responsible for conducting our Foreign Relations and enforcing our laws, equally both in situations that benefit him politically and in those that don't. (2) Financial corruption has been a long-standing feature of Ukrainian governance, and his recent action to increase our aid and military assistance to Ukraine gave Trump an added responsibility to address it, particularly in his first conversation with the newly elected President of that country - one who had campaigned on just that issue. (3) Former VP Biden's actions, both in Ukraine, where he forcefully intervened to cease that countries then ongoing corruption investigation, and later in China, created at least the serious appearance (an understatement in both cases) of a major conflict of interest with respect to his son's finances. As a direct result it was immediately important to Trump (or anyone as President) to correct that situation in this, his initial conversation with Ukraine's new president.
I was indeed gratified later, after the fatuous Impeachment articles were voted, to notice that Fox and others began formulating a similar argument. However in fact that was neither a surprise nor unusual. Most people think for themselves , and though it may be easy for you to assume that they may fit into the same categories as do the many political commentaries you frequent, they must necessarily have taken their ideas from them, that is not the case. Indeed it is a non sequitur of the first rank.
I believe that many people saw the situation in a similar light, though most don't have occasion to write their views down in threads like this one and on A2K. Indeed I believe this is the obvious and most likely interpretation of these events.
Far more intriguing are the starkly contrasting views and behaviors of Democrat impeachment zealots. They merit analysis and close examination precisely because they require so many unfounded assumptions and prejudgments by people who, because of them, have become immersed in an atmosphere of such disproportionate hysteria - a condition we have come to know as Trump Derangement Syndrome( actually it is merely the reaction of a complacent batch of established politicians, surprised and deranged by their loss of an expected election to a vulgar and highly disruptive opponent with better ideas then their own.).
I also do enjoy these conversations . We disagree but you are always persistent and often challenging.. More importantly, in spite of your many faults, I like you.
