Repeating bogus talking points over and over, the journalists note, is “a form of gaslighting that has become the central defense strategy for the president as he faces his greatest political threat yet.” The political threat Olorunnipa and Rucker are referring to is an impeachment inquiry, and they note Trump routinely tries to undermine that inquiry with false statements — for example, claiming that only “Never Trumpers” have complied with inquiry-related subpoenas or insisting that polls that show a growing support for impeachment are “fake.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed that a whistleblower’s account of his July 25 phone conversation with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky “bears no resemblance” to what was actually said that day. But Olorunnipa and Rucker note that the whistleblower’s assertions have been “corroborated by the reconstructed transcript released by the White House” — and that witness testimony in the impeachment inquiry has “backed up most of the whistleblower report’s main conclusions.”
View the complete November 6 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet website here.