In slamming Yovanovitch, Trump hurt himself
(CNN)Donald
Trump's toolbox has never held anything but hammers, so it is no
surprise that he used one of them — blunt character assassination --
against Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. The marvel, in this case, is that
he chose to use it as she was testifying to Congress, thereby calling
maximum attention to what looked very much like he was abusing his power
and possibly engaging in a criminal act.
Michael D'Antonio
Of
course, that bold attention-seeking is Trump's way. He has been doing
it since childhood. But consider the stakes in this moment and you might
agree that the decision to bash Yovanovitch with a Tweet was ill-timed
and self-destructive.
"Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad," wrote the President.
"She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to
Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her
in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President's absolute
right to appoint ambassadors."
Setting
aside the content of the tweet, for a moment, it's vital to examine
Trump's decision to comment about her in the first place. As the most
powerful person on Earth, the US president, whoever he or she may be,
enters every situation with outsized strength and weight. The
President's attention can make others tremble and negative attention
like this will evoke fear, especially in light of the rabid following he
claims and their emotional commitment to him.
Trump doubles down on tweets attacking witness 00:46
Put
yourself in the ambassador's place. As a witness testifying before
Congress, on live television, her face became recognizable to all,
including millions who will regard her as the enemy of their President.
Now imagine going out in public—perhaps to an airport, or even a
restaurant. If you were her, would you feel safe?
Unfortunately
Yovanovitch has had prior experience with political demonization of
this sort. Indeed, she was called to appear before the House Committee
on Intelligence because she had been subjected to a smear campaign that
culminated with her sudden removal from her post as ambassador to
Ukraine. Soon after, the President had his infamous July 25 phone call,
where he asked the newly elected president of Ukraine for a "favor"—to
investigate a conspiracy theory that would help him undermine the Russia
probe--and also to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a
leading 2020 rival.
Trump's
lawyer and attack dog Rudy Giuliani may have regarded Yovanovitch as a
mere obstacle to be removed because of her efforts to root out
corruption in Ukraine. He and Donald Trump Jr. and some in right-wing
media certainly have treated her this way, smearing her as an outspoken
critic of the President. A "stooge" was how Giuliani described her. "A
joker," was Trump Jr.'s term. But she instead turned out to be a
formidable public servant who enjoys wide respect thanks to a long
record of integrity and seriousness
Impeachment: Yovanovitch's opening statement in 3 minutes 03:10
This
is where we get to the content of Trump's tweet, which suggested
Yovanovitch was the Typhoid Mary of the diplomatic corps, spreading
destruction everywhere she went. No one with any sense of the
ambassador's record could think such a thing, let alone say it. In fact,
throughout her public hearing Friday both Democrats and Republicans
hailed her service. Indeed as she rose to leave at hearing's end, the
room erupted in sustained applause.
In
her 33-year career, Yovanovitch won numerous commendations and rose
steadily. She worked in hot spots including Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and
Ukraine. Among her other postings have been Ottawa, London and Moscow.
She worked at the embassy in Mogadishu in the 1990s but saying that
conditions there changed because of her presence is like saying that the
sun rose today because you looked out the window.
Of
course, the President's purpose in tweeting about the ambassador had
nothing to do with the factual record. It was arguably, as House
Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff implied, "witness
intimidation" --coming from a person whose penchant for intimidation is
well established. Witness intimidation is a crime, and Trump may have laid the foundation for a new article of impeachment for Congress to consider.
Why
would the President heedlessly insert himself into the Yovanovitch
hearing? The best answer, it seems, is that he knows no other way.
Confronted by something he believes he must fix, he grabbed one of his
hammers and went to work. The result was another self-inflicted crack in
his presidency, another demonstration of his frightening limitations.
No comments