We're all Zelensky now
We’re all Zelensky now
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/were-all-zelensky-now/2020/04/30/bdf814e0-8a60-11ea-ac8a-fe9b8088e101_story.html?
Do us a favor though: Before we provide lifesaving equipment, praise the president.
Do us a favor though: Before we rescue the U.S. Postal Service, raise postage prices on the president’s perceived political enemies.
Do us a favor though: Before we assist states in fiscal crisis, reopen your economies when we say so. Oh, and hand over your immigrants.
A more public-service-oriented president might view a viral pandemic as a time to prioritize saving lives and providing services and funds wherever needed. But to President Trump, the coronavirus outbreak is just another opportunity for a shakedown.
This should have been obvious, given how he exploited another country’s crisis.
Last summer, as Ukraine was desperate for aid that Congress had appropriated but that the Trump administration had frozen, Trump held his “perfect phone call” with President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump told Zelensky, per the rough transcript: “I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.”
He then asked for Zelensky’s help in smearing a domestic political rival.
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In December, during the impeachment hearings, Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan offered an analogy explaining why Trump’s extortion attempt should be troubling.
“Imagine living in a part of Louisiana or Texas that’s prone to devastating hurricanes and flooding,” Karlan testified. “What would you think if, when your governor asked the federal government for the disaster assistance that Congress has provided, the president responded, ‘I would like you to do us a favor. I’ll meet with you and send the disaster relief once you brand my opponent a criminal’?”
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