House Republicans can't defend Trump's conduct. The party's only response is to polarize the issue by dissolving it into a cultural struggle between Trump and his enemies. jonathanchait writes
Devin Nunes. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images To the extent Donald Trump has reordered the power structure of the Republican Party, Devin Nunes has emerged as the main beneficiary of the era. Nunes has coordinated an intricate counter-narrative in Trump’s defense, one that presents Trump as a wholly innocent figure preyed upon by a vast conspiracy of deep state bureaucrats operating throughout the government and using the national media to further their agenda.
Here is one small example of the fever-dream quality of Nunes’s remarks: In one passage, Nunes claims the whistle-blower’s lawyer “touted a ‘coup’ against the president and called for his impeachment just weeks after his election.” The “coup” accusation may be the silliest of Nunes’s charges, but it is characteristic of his opening statement, which is devoted to hurling wild charges at various opponents — bureaucrats conspiring against Trump, Democrats eager to undermine him, alleged corruption by the Biden family.
• Officials’ alarm at the president’s actions was typically based on secondhand, thirdhand, and even fourth-hand rumors and innuendo. • Despite all their dissatisfaction with President Trump’s Ukraine policy, the president approved the supply of weapons to Ukraine, unlike the previous administration, which provided blankets as defense against invading Russians.• Trump is just skeptical of foreign aid? Well, too bad, Congress passed it. That doesn’t enable him to use it is a bargaining chip to order up investigations of his rivals.
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