For those of you like myself who are relative newcomers to politics (I tolerated political discussion, but never sought it out, and considered it a bit of a necessary evil rather than something in which I would actively participate), I occasionally drop in a brief definition of terms to help newcomers who are like myself and need to understand what is being discussed.
In this case, the term is “quid pro quo.” I looked it up in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, and the definition is quite simple. It means something given or received for something else. Also: a deal arranging a quid pro quo.
So, all this talk about what went on during the discussion between President Trump and Ukraine’s president had nothing in it in which any deals were struck whereby either country would receive concessions in exchange for something reciprocated. There was no quid pro quo. Nothing was given or received for something else.
Of course, now that the transcript of the discussion is public, Democrats are still howling at the tops of their lungs that there was wrongdoing and that they MUST impeach this president — in public — but reports are coming in that in private, they’re not quite so cocky, and are more likely doing their best to hide their fears that they’ve just been “had” by a president who is smarter than the average Democrat.
This from Breitbart News:
Democrats and Republicans demonstrated starkly different reactions following the release of the unredacted transcript of President Trump’s conversation with the president of Ukraine.Many congressional Democrats publicly declared it the “smoking gun,” while Republicans dismissed their cries by noting the absence of quid pro quo or generally lawless behavior.However, Democrats are striking a drastically different tone privately, as several reports indicate.The far-left flank of the Democrat caucus forced House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to concede and announce a formal impeachment inquiry against the president on Tuesday. She made the announcement prior to the release of the transcript, which detailed the phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.As Republican lawmakers explicitly noted, the conversation contained “zero” grounds for a legitimate impeachment inquiry. The president’s request for a “favor,” Republicans added, was immediately followed by a reference to Crowdstrike and questions revolving around election meddling and hacking efforts. Joe Biden’s (D) son, Hunter Biden, was not mentioned until later in the conversation.“President Trump asked about Ukraine investigating ‘Crowdstrike’ (an investigation unrelated to Biden). It was Ukraine President Zelensky, not President Trump, who first brought up investigations beyond ‘Crowdstrike,’” Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) said in a statement, noting that Biden’s “possible illegal interference in a Ukraine prosecutor’s investigation of Biden’s son” was not mentioned until after the fact.“Just read transcript of POTUS’ call w/Ukraine Pres. Absolutely ZERO grounds for impeachment and I agree w/ the President that US-Ukraine should investigate,” Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) wrote. “This is absurd how Congressional Dems & many in media are trying to spin this all!”“Wow. Impeachment over this?” Rep Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed. “What a nothing (non-quid pro quo) burger.”However, the public calls are overshadowed by reports of internal freakouts among Democrats, who believe this is a losing battle. As Breitbart News reported, several aides to top Democrats on Capitol Hill expressed hesitation and concern over the party’s decision to pull the trigger on impeachment. One senior Democrat congressional aide called the impeachment effort “a joke” and “all bullshit.”Privately, several aides to top Democrats on Capitol Hill expressed concerns about the lack of a focus on the impeachment move; without a clear outcome in mind, Democrats fear that whatever happens will further energize Trump ahead of the 2020 election while failing to remove him.“If you’re going to take a shot at the king, you best not miss,” one House Democrat leadership aide told Breitbart News. “And we do not have a pathway to win without 20 GOP votes in the Senate. We are nowhere near that, not even close.”Another senior Democrat congressional aide added regarding the move to attempt to impeach Trump: “It’s a joke. It’s all bullshit.”Over on the Senate side, most Republicans are in line with Trump. While Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said that he considers the transcript’s contents “troubling,” he declined to discuss “impeachment” at this time.
This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The report details MUCH more of the private hysteria going on behind closed doors in the Democrat ranks. They may find that by jumping on the impeachment bandwagon, they have sealed their party’s fate for the foreseeable future as nothing more than a political afterthought.