The actions of Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher were found to be unconscionable. Men in Gallagher's squad said he was "Okay with killing anything that moved." In Gallagher's case, the Navy demoted and imprisoned him for slaughtering a teenage captive with a knife and posed with the corpse for a photograph, like a bear hunter might do after slaying a beast in Alaska's outback.
Vindman's transgression? Under oath, he told a congressional impeachment hearing what he overheard when the sun-lamped lunatic of a president* tried to extort the president of Ukraine to open an investigation against a son of Joe Biden, a Democratic political rival. (It's standard procedure to have one or more intelligence officers keep a record of such calls.)
Two cases of misconduct, depending on your values. This president* instinctively knew what to do with each man. He pardoned Gallagher, the war criminal, saying “I stood up for a great warrior against the deep state.” Later, he invited the murderer and his wife into the White House as guests.
Vindman? Trump ousted him from the National Security Council for his deed and frog-walked him out of the White House. Vindman's twin brother Eugene, a senior lawyer and ethics official for the NSC who had not been involved in the impeachment hearings, also was fired “suddenly and without explanation"and escorted out of the White House.” Colonel Vindman "loved" the Army but resigned his commission after 21 years of exemplary service and the esteem of general officers.
Just like that, another chapter closed in the history of the Carnival Barker in the Oval Office. The rest of us? We're still captives in the carnival.
Until January 20, 2021.
The same day the New York grand jury indicts the Carnival Barker.
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