Trump Has Impeachment Meltdown on Fox and Friends: A Closer Look

-The president and his Republican allies have introduced a ridiculous conspiracy theory claiming that it was Ukraine that interfered in the 2016 election. For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look." Among the many qualities that a person would be expected to have to become President of the United States, one of them would be the ability to function in the morning. That is not the case with Donald Trump. I mean,

look

. I mean, that's how a cat reacts when you try to get him out of your bed. It's okay, you know, it's okay. Stay here. In fact, one small detail we learned from last week's

impeachment

hearings was that Trump hates mornings.

You may recall that an embassy employee, David Holmes, testified that he overheard a call between Trump and his hand-picked ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, in which they discussed his plan to orchestrate a quid pro quo with Ukraine. Holmes said he could hear Trump yelling on the other end of the call and then added this... -After the call ended, Ambassador Sondland commented that the president was in a bad mood, as Ambassador Sondland claimed was often the case. beginning of the call. tomorrow. First of all, I'm not surprised that Trump is in a bad mood early in the morning.

Look what he eats. He has the diet of a 16 year old stoner. When you have so much fried food sloshing around in your digestive tract, you're not going to sleep well. That's why Trump always

look

s like he just woke up screaming in the middle of a nightmare in which he's being chased by a giant thigh with Adam Schiff's head. So the

impeachment

hearings established not only that Trump orchestrated a criminal conspiracy to extort a foreign country into interfering in the 2020 election, using hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money, but they also established that Trump hates the mornings.

And we saw Trump's irritability at the rally on Friday, when he woke up early and called for a video conference with his therapist, the host of "Fox and Friends." This interview lasted a total of 53 minutes! And here's a little time lapse, just to give you an idea of ​​how long and how crazy he was. -Mister. Trump, good morning to you. -Good day. -Good day. -It's great to have you on "Fox and Friends" today. As you said in your tweet, another week of slow news. -I see these hearings. Well, we have a great day and then you read the fake New York Times, which is a totally fake newspaper.

I don't read it anymore. You can't read it. I have very good hearing and I've been watching kids, for 40 years, make phone calls and I can't hear when you're... and you can be two feet away. I can not hear. Why aren't all those countries in Europe, why don't they pay? Why is America always the fool? I was chosen for that. You know, because we're like a gravy train to them, okay? We're like a gravy train. -Let's see if it works. -One more thing, before we get off. The Republican Party. Oh yeah. I know. We can go on like this all day, right?

It is easy. Because, if you have a bulldozer... Right. -Or if you have heavy blowtorches and things like that, you know, you can break through. I love your program. -Thank you very much Mr. President for being with us. -Yeah. -President Trump, thank you very much. -Thank you so much. -Both: Thank you. -Both: Okay. -Bye bye. -Well, we just went 57 minutes without taking a sip of water. -Good. I know. -Water?! After that, I would have had the vodka. I mean, those guys barely said a word. How would Trump know that he was actually talking to someone? At some point, they should disconnect his phone and let him think he's on TV.

I love your program. You are great. What is that, Steve? That's a great point, Steve. This interview remains a revealing insight into the madness that has taken over the Republican Party and the right-wing media apparatus that supports it. For example, when the latest impeachment hearing ended Thursday, Democratic Chairman Adam Schiff ended it with a closing argument that summarized the evidence. -This president believes himself above the law, beyond all responsibility. And, in my opinion, there is nothing more dangerous than an unethical president who believes he is above the law. And I would simply say, to people watching here at home and around the world, in the words of my great colleague: "We are better than that." Suspended.

Wow. That's a... moving defense of democracy that neatly sums up the president's various abuses of power. And now, Mr. President, his rebuttal. -Adam Schiff is a sick puppy. Let me tell you, he is a sick puppy. He is so sick. Now, Schiff, remember this: He makes everything up. He is sick. There is something wrong with him. -Is something wrong with you? You just spent an hour screaming on the phone! You are not president. You have the anger and free time of a sports radio broadcaster. I call it the failed New York Times and let me tell you something else: the Mets suck!

I really think the contrast is worth noting and sums it all up perfectly: on the one hand, we have a calm, measured, fact-based defense of democracy and the rule of law by a side that, whatever its flaws as politicians, inhabits our real reality. . On the other hand, you have a red-faced lunatic yelling at three terrified captives, trapped in a television as if they were in a "Saw" movie. I mean, look at them. They look like three tourists sitting on the subway who have just seen a cockroach smoking a cigarette. And by the way, I'm sure the cockroach was smoking the cigarette because he just listened to Trump's interview. "This Trump guy is crazy." Now, we have seen two weeks of conclusive evidence in public impeachment hearings, with witness after witness testifying definitively that there was, in fact, a corrupt quid pro quo.

Congress is likely to move on to the next phase, approving articles of impeachment in the House and initiating a trial in the Senate, which is why, in the "Fox and Friends" interview, Trump gave us a preview of one of his lines. defense, a line Republicans have repeated unsuccessfully for weeks. Trump said he was only concerned about corruption in Ukraine in general, not Bidens in particular. -We are looking for corruption. There is tremendous corruption. We're looking at... Why should we give hundreds of millions of dollars to countries when there's this kind of corruption? -Mister. President -- A couple of days ago, -Anyway, go ahead. - his ambassador to the United States - in the EU, Mr.

Sondland, in his opening speech, said that there was a quid pro quo. There was a quid pro quo, he said, because you wanted an investigation into corruption, in exchange for a visit to the White House, or something like that. -Yeah. Well, that's total nonsense. I do want, always, corruption. -Ahhh. I don't think that's what you meant. Also, what's up with the crazy syntax? "I do always want corruption"? That sounds like something a gangster would say in an off-brand version of "Grand Theft Auto." "I always want corruption. Stealing cars is your next mission." This is obviously a ridiculous lie that is contradicted by literally all the evidence.

Trump has no defense, so all he can do is smear witnesses with lies and conspiracy theories. Take, for example, former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who gave moving testimony about the smear campaign against her. Yovanovitch is a career foreign service officer who has served Republican presidents, and yet Trump made up a ridiculous lie about her. -I don't even know these people. You know, I come to Washington. So we had Bush and the Never Trumps. And I come in and end up with thousands of people who never succeed. -Good. -Clinton people. And believe me, sometimes the Never Trumps are worse than the Clinton and Obama people.

But this ambassador who, you know, everyone says she's so wonderful, she wouldn't hang my picture in the embassy, ​​okay? She is in charge of the embassy. She wouldn't hang it up. It took her about a year and a half or two years to post the image. She said bad things about me, she didn't want to hang my photo in the embassy. The normal thing is to put the photo of the president of the United States in an embassy. -None of that is true. The embassy in kyiv posted official photographs of the president, vice president and secretary of state as soon as they arrived from Washington, D.C.

And a former embassy official in London tweeted that it took the White House almost 15 months to send official photos to embassies to hang and they were ordered not to print other photos. And I understand why the White House would prevent embassies from printing other photographs. because then you can choose the one you want, like this one. Or, you know, like this one. Or my personal favorite, you know, this one. I mean. In some ways, it looks like a real work of art. It should be hanging in the Salvador Dalí Museum, under the title Melting Criminal. -Awww. -So.

It was not, in any way, shape or form, Yovanovitch's fault that the films were delayed. It was the White House's fault. And if you're wondering why it took the White House 15 months to send out photos, maybe it was because the guy in charge was on the phone for an hour! But this is the paranoid alternate reality that Trump and his Fox News allies live in. Anyone who disagrees with his criminal behavior is a spy, a traitor, or a so-called Never-Trumper. Trump has used that phrase repeatedly, including to describe Vice President Mike Pence's Russian adviser who testified last week.

The counselor, Jennifer Williams, was asked about that allegation during her hearing. -EM. Williams, are you a Never-Trumper? -I'm not sure I know an official definition of a Never-Trumper. -Yeah. No one knows what it means because it's a silly, made-up term. It sounds like a fictional animal from "A Wrinkle in Time." "There were furry pigs, gryffindoodles and Never-Trumpers." This is the paranoid alternative universe that Trump and his allies at Fox News inhabit and reinforce for their audience. Anyone who is against them is a spy and a traitor. Even Gordon Sondland, the ambassador who testified last week, is now allegedly a secret member of the deep state.

This guy donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee. $1 million and yet over the weekend, Fox host Jeanine Pirro said Sondland was out to get Trump. -Your testimony about him is not only nullified by the facts, but by his behavior, his arrogance, and his inappropriate smile, making it clear that he, like many deep state bureaucrats, is not a fan of the president. -Is he a deep state bureaucrat?! He is a businessman who gave the president's inaugural committee a million dollars and then Trump appointed him. If he's a deep state bureaucrat, they all are! Jeanine Pirro probably says the same thing about her own reflection in the mirror.

Who are you?! And why are you copying my moves?! You are part of the deep state! Don't aim at me! Donald Trump's Republican Party is a movement consumed by paranoia, lurking around every corner, looking for spies and saboteurs, and indulging in spreading absurd conspiracy theories. For example, Trump has been peddling an unhinged and completely debunked conspiracy theory that it was actually Ukraine, and not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election. Trump repeated that crazy claim again during his Friday interview and even "Fox and Friends,” the show that is more pro-Trump than virtually any other show on television, tried to gently counter. -It's very interesting.

They have the server, right? From the DNC, Democratic National Committee. -Who has the server? -The FBI came in and told them: "Get out of here! You're not going to receive it. We're not going to give it to you." They gave the server to Crowdstrike, or whatever it's called, which is a country, a company owned by a very rich Ukrainian. And I still want to see that server. You know, the FBI never got that server. That's a big part of this whole thing. Why did they give it to a Ukrainian company? -Are you sure they did that?

Are you sure they gave it to Ukraine? -Well, that's the word. -Oh! Oh, is that the word? Do you spend a lot of time on street corners, finding out about the latest news? Seriously, who are you talking to? You spent most of your time walking in circles around the White House lawn, alone. It's probably out there waiting to find the server. Mass coup? Where are you, Crowdstrike? It's like you know it's bad when even "Fox and Friends" questions Trump. That would be like E! Putting up a disclaimer during "Kardashians," which said, "This is all written. None of this is real." Yet Trump's allies at Fox and the Republican Party have been repeating this nonsense, even though his own former national security official, Fiona Hill, debunked it during impeachment testimony.

And, in an interview, Trump's former National Security Advisor Tom Bossert also said he had been discredited, and yet on Sunday, Republican Sen. John Kennedy repeated it anyway. -Senator Kennedy, who do you think was responsible for hacking the computers of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign, their emails? Was it Russia or Ukraine? -I don't know. You neither. None of us either. Miss Hill is entitled... well, I mean... to her opinion. -Let me interrupt to say that the entire intelligence communityHe says it was Russia. -Good. But it could also be Ukraine. -No, it can't! Literally everyone who has studied this says it is not possible.

It was Russia. Could it have been Ukraine? It could have been Russia. It could have been a swamp witch who turned me into a senator, out of a rooster. Could have been. And then there's Rudy Giuliani, who, at this very moment, is under criminal investigation. In fact, today we learned that subpoenas have been issued, seeking information about Giuliani's consulting business as part of a broad federal investigation into possible money laundering, obstruction of justice, and campaign finance violations. Over the weekend, Fox News asked Rudy if he was worried about being accused, and his reaction was much like Rudy's. -Are you afraid, Mr.

Mayor, that they may prosecute you? -Ohhh, wow. How long have you known me? -I have known you for several years. -Do you think I'm afraid? -I-I don't know. -Do you think I'm afraid? -Not being afraid is a good quality if you're Daredevil, but Rudy is like a contestant on that game show "Wipeout," giving a thumbs up to the camera right before a foam hammer knocks him into the water. And I think you're afraid. I mean, have you looked at yourself? You always seem scared. Looks like you figured out what you did. The Republican Party and the right-wing media apparatus it supports are spreading insane conspiracy theories.

Meanwhile, we continue to receive more and more evidence against Trump and, each time, they say... -Ohhh, wow. -This has been "A

closer

look." ♪♪