Context is All

Bombshell takes a step back to offer some context to the whirlwind of Ukraine and related investigations: what’s with Ukraine’s political trajectory, why is it a magnet for crises involving external actors these days, and how is it being impacted by today’s scandals?  In Trump’s trade negotiations with China, how have elections become intertwined with those discussions? Turning to the White House, President Trump has had multiple crises emerge from calls with foreign leaders - how does his process shape those results. The NSC staff is wrapped up with today’s whistleblower investigation - who are they, and how can their role be politicized? In reacting to these events, President Trump’s language has taken an authoritarian tinge—what does political science tell us about his actions? And lastly, the president has suggested violence may erupt if he’s pushed out of office - how should we think about the military’s role in such scenarios?   Links Ukraine Philip Bump and Aaron Blake, "The Full Trump-Ukraine Timeline," Washington Post, October 4, 2019 Bryan Bender and Wesley Morgan, "How US Military Aid Became a Lifeline for Ukraine," Politico, September 30, 2019 "Ukraine Profile – Timeline," BBC, September 10, 2019 Alex Ward, "The Last 24 Hours in the Ukraine Drama Were the Worst for Trump Yet. Here's What Happened," Vox, October 4, 2019 Impeachment legal Counsel Advice Radha Iyengar, Tweet, October 2, 2019 Trump Leader Calls Carol D. Leonnig, Shane Harris, and Josh Dawsey, "Trump's Calls with Foreign Leaders Have Long Worried Aides, Leaving Some Genuinely Horrified," Washington Post, October 4, 2019 Authoritarianism Barbara Geddes, Joseph Wright, and Erica Frantz, Autocratic Breakdown and Regime Transitions: A New Data Set, (American Political Science Association, June 2014) Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, "This is How Democracies Die," Guardian, January 21, 2018 Ari Berman, "How Endangered Is American Democracy?" New York Times, April 13, 2018 Jennifer Mercieca, "Mueller Report Illustrates Trump's Authoritarian Rhetorical Tactics," Just Security, May 1, 2019