Esquire
Remember the Applause That Followed Marie Yovanovitch Out of That Hearing Room
It was a spontaneous outburst of appreciation for honest government and a spontaneous declaration that the country is tired of being used to feed the limitless ego and boundless psychoses of the vulgar talking yam.
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(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To The Last Post Of The Week From The Blog’s Favourite Living Canadian)
Did you notice? This was the week they gave up.
The House Republicans defending the president* against the inquiry into his possible impeachment gave up defending him on the merits, and they gave up on it entirely. All of their complaints centered around the process, even though the process is being conducted according to rules Republicans established when they were hunting snipes over Benghazi. Rep. Elise Stefanik managed, by her constant complaining, to hitch her entire political future to the future of Camp Runamuck. By Friday, confronted by the quiet steel of Marie Yovanovitch, the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee said more nice things about her than they did about the president*. Even Jim Jordan was polite within his own narrow limits. The lone exception was Rep. Mike Turner, Republican of Texas, who wagged his finger at Yovanovitch and peremptorily told her, “You’re done.”
But let’s talk about how the day ended. Committee chairman Adam Schiff read the riot act to the administration* and gaveled the meeting to a close. Rep. Mike Conaway, Republican of Texas, began to bellow about how he wanted to speak and then, suddenly, as Yovanovitch got up to leave, the entire room burst into loud applause, drowning out Conaway’s objections. The ovation followed Yovanovitch out of the room. The Democrats on the committee, not having arrived on turnip trucks, joined in the applause.
If, somehow, the president* is turned out of office, which seems just a bit less unlikely now than it seemed at the beginning of the week, remember that applause. It was a signifying moment for all concerned. It was a spontaneous outburst of appreciation for honest government and a spontaneous declaration that the country is tired of being used to feed the limitless ego and boundless psychoses of the vulgar talking yam who lucked into the most powerful job in the world. Remember when people cheered Marie Yovanovitch, thanking her for her simple desire to do the job she was hired to do.