There is a lot of ferment in the impeachment trial being created by the story/non-story of what John Bolton may or may not have written in a draft of a book that is currently undergoing departmental clearance by the National Security Council.

Also, read even more closely, note the word "preferred" here. That Trump "preferred" that Ukraine do something is far different than saying, as Dems allege, that Trump *conditioned* it. I don't think Bolton is helping Dems here (what a shocker, I know). pic.twitter.com/Wi4iDJBZK0

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) January 27, 2020

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1221860341296005124

What, exactly, it says is unknown at this juncture. And there is a reason for that.

When Brett Kavanaugh was nominated for a seat on the US Supreme Court, not only did the GOP have a clear majority in the Senate and, thanks to Harry “no, really, it was an exercise band not a gay escort that knocked my eye loose” Reid there was no filibuster to contend with, but Kavanaugh seemed an smart, doctrinaire, and squeaky clean conservative. Everyone expected the left to attack his opinions, but there were no skeletons here.

Then came the accusations by fabulist Christine Blasey Ford about an incident that took place in high school (she couldn’t provide an exact time or location) when she was sexually assaulted by a young Kavanaugh. Close on the heels of that allegation, a woman named Deborah Ramirez claimed Kavanaugh, while a college student, had waggled his penis in her face. Then we were treated to a soon-to-be convicted felon named Michael Avenatti producing a woman named Julie Swetnick who claimed that Kavanaugh ran a gang rape ring. A woman later identified as Judy Munro-Leighton claimed Kavanaugh raped her in a car.

All of these allegations were false. They were all easily batted down. But they served a common purpose. What should have been a pro-forma hearing of two or three days, followed by a confirmation vote turned into a month-long ordeal that involved a “supplemental” FBI investigation. And the volume of similarly themed allegations left some people wondering if there was a pony underneath that pile of horse dung, was Brett Kavanaugh a serial sexual predator in the Bill Clinton mode?

If one looks at the Trump impeachment trial, one sees the outlines of a similar pattern. The allegations against President Trump give flimsy a bad name. To call the House ‘impeachment managers’ inept and cretinous is an insult to all inept cretins trying to live an honest life. He has 54 votes for acquittal locked in with the only real mystery being how many Democrats he can peel off. The real agenda for the Democrats is to drag the hearings out. To make the Senate subpoena witnesses and set up a court fight between a GOP Senate majority and their President. To create the appearance of wrongdoing were none exists and where the public is catching onto the fact that the whole thing is a blatant fraud.

As the House ‘impeachment managers’ were making their closing case, tape surfaced of Donald Trump stating that he wanted then-ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch ‘taken out.’ There were some who claimed that President Trump ordered a hit on her. That was ridiculous but only little moreso than claiming, against all law and precedent, that the President cannot fire an ambassador whom he no longer trusts. Those tapes, by the way, were delivered to the House Intelligence Committee before it voted on impeachment and there was nothing in them that merited inclusion in the House’s impeachment evidence.

A totally bullsh** allegation of the Julie Swetnick kind, but a drip. A small point of doubt designed to get the Senate to ask for more information.

Then yesterday we find out that John Bolton has a book at the NSC for interagency clearance and, lo and behold, he has included in the draft the Ukraine aid episode and is reported to have said that Trump conditioned Ukraine aid on an investigation by Ukraine that would presumably involve Hunter Biden. No one is quite sure how the document leaked from the same organization that has made leaking information to damage President Trump into something of a competitive sport.

Another drip. This one not only calculated to get 51 senators to ask for more information but to get the Senate to demand John Bolton’s testimony and set off an Executive Privilege battle with President Trump.

It will a bit of a miracle if we make it through the next 24-hours without at least one more shoe dropping and if the Senate votes to ask for more witnesses, there is no logical end to how long this scam can be played.