New testimony from the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine all but assures the president will be impeached, while House Republicans stage a pizza sit-in to disrupt the ongoing impeachment inquiry. Jon F. and Dan also examine why some Democratic donors are freaking out about the party’s current slate of potential presidential nominees, the importance of digital advertising to the race, and Elizabeth Warren’s next moves on Medicare for All.

Show notes

Bill Taylor’s Testimony 

• WaPo: Trump made Ukraine aid contingent on public pledge to investigate Bidens and 2016 election, U.S. envoy says he was told 
• WaPo: Opening statement of Ambassador William B. Taylor
• WaPo: 5 takeaways from William Taylor’s huge opening statement
• Bloomberg: Ukraine Envoy William Taylor’s Testimony to Congress, Annotated and Explained
• WaPo: Here are the next shoes to drop in the Trump-Ukraine scandal
• Lawfare: What William Taylor’s Testimony Adds to the Ukraine Story
• Lawfare: More on the Role of OMB in Withholding Ukrainian Aid
• NYT: 6 Key Revelations of Taylor’s Opening Statement to Impeachment Investigators  
• Vox: Trump’s defense on Ukraine has completely collapsed 
• The Atlantic: Impeachment Just Became Inevitable
• Politico: Sondland seeks to align himself with Taylor after bombshell testimony 
• Bloomberg: Sondland Could Be Called to Revise Testimony: Impeachment Update
• WaPo: Bill Taylor spent years fighting corruption in Ukraine. His last four months under Trump were the ‘antithesis’ of that.
• WaPo: An overlooked Bill Taylor revelation hints at worse to come from Trump 
• The Intercept: Trump Pressed Ukraine’s President to Act Out a Fake News Script, Live on CNN 
• WaPo: Bill Taylor may be blowing the Trump-Ukraine scandal wide open
• CNN: Dramatic deposition rocks Trump’s impeachment defense 
• NYT: An Envoy’s Damning Account of Trump’s Ukraine Pressure and Its Consequences 
• The Atlantic: William Taylor Delivers the Smoking Gun 
• Politico: Trump lashes out at William Taylor after damaging testimony 
• Politico Magazine: The President Has No Defense 
• WaPo: 6 defenses of Trump and Ukraine that have fallen apart — or are just plain bad 
• NY Mag: ‘Abuse of Power Is Not a Crime’: Trump’s Former Attorney General Defines His Credo
• Vox: Trump’s latest explanation for withholding Ukraine aid is as nonsensical as his previous ones 
• NYT: Ukraine Knew of Aid Freeze by Early August, Undermining Trump Defense 
• WaPo: When did Ukraine know that Trump had frozen aid? 
• AP: Ukrainian leader felt Trump pressure before taking office
• Axios: Trump calls Pompeo-appointed ambassador Bill Taylor a “Never Trumper”
• NYT: Trump’s War on the ‘Deep State’ Turns Against Him 
• NYT: William Taylor, ‘Model’ Diplomat, Is at Center of Impeachment Inquiry
• CNN: The top US diplomat to Ukraine came out of retirement for the job. Now he’s the next impeachment witness.
• Vice: Team Trump Is Withholding Bill Taylor’s Detailed Ukraine Notes From Congress 
• NYT: Republicans Grind Impeachment Inquiry to Halt as Picture Darkens for Trump 
• WaPo: Republican protest delays impeachment testimony from Pentagon’s Ukraine expert
• Politico: Impeachment deposition delayed after Republicans storm proceedings 
• Daily Beast: House Republicans Literally Storm the Impeachment Hearings 
• Mediaite: Chaos as Matt Gaetz and Dozens of GOP Lawmakers Storm Impeachment Testimony, Shut Down Secure Hearing
• WaPo: Why Republicans are holding up the impeachment inquiry 
• Vice: House Republicans Threw a Pizza-Fueled Tantrum to Distract from the Damning Testimony Against Trump 
• WaPo: Pentagon’s Ukraine expert provides impeachment testimony after Republican protest causes 5-hour delay 
• Politico: Pentagon official testifies about withheld military aid to Ukraine 
• WaPo: Here’s why the Matt Gaetz sit-in stunt was particularly weird 
• Politico: Republicans gripe about ‘rigged’ hearings after explosive Ukraine testimony 
• Axios: Adam Schiff is Democrats’ Ken Starr
• The Atlantic: The Closed-Door Impeachment 
• BuzzFeed: Pro-Trump Twitter Accounts Are Obsessively Attacking The Lawmaker Leading The Impeachment Inquiry 
• Vox: House Republicans’ national security-threatening impeachment stunt, explained by an expert 
• BuzzFeed: Donald Trump Jr. And MAGA Twitter Are Pressuring Sen. Lindsey Graham To Defend Trump From Impeachment 
• NY Mag: Trump Again Accused of Making Up Quotes Praising Him
• The Atlantic: Mitt Romney, It’s Time 
• CNN: Only 7(!) Republican senators are ruling out removing Donald Trump
• USA Today: ‘Human scum:’ Donald Trump has harsh comments for ‘Never Trumper’  
• Politico: Republicans quit trying to rein in Trump after ‘lynching’ tweet 
• Politico: Trump allies rush to plug White House hole on impeachment 
• NYT: In Steve Bannon’s Basement, a Rogue ‘War Room’ to Fight Impeachment 
• NYT: If Trump Shoots Someone on 5th Ave., Does He Have Immunity? His Lawyer Says Yes
• NBC News: Trump’s lawyers argue he can’t be charged while in office — even if he shoots someone 
• Esquire: I Feel Like It Should Get More Attention That the President*’s Lawyer Just Said He Could Shoot Someone 
• FiveThirtyEight: Could Executive Privilege Protect Trump In The Impeachment Inquiry? 
• The New Yorker: The Invention—and Reinvention—of Impeachment 
• NYT: Indicted Giuliani Associate Ties Case to Trump 
• WaPo: Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman plead not guilty in campaign finance case
• WaPo: U.S. judge says he will order State Dept. to begin releasing Ukraine records in 30 days 
• CNN: Rudy Giuliani is looking for a defense attorney, sources say
• Politico: Nunes protégé fed Ukraine info to Trump 
• NYT: White House Aides Feared That Trump Had Another Ukraine Back Channel 
• WaPo: Even the undisputed facts of this scandal are damning. Here’s what we know.
• Quinnipiac: October 23, 2019 – Approval Of Impeachment Inquiry Reaches 55 Percent, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Voters Disapprove Of Trump’s Decision On Syria 2-1
• CNN: CNN’s latest poll on impeachment 
• The Atlantic: Mike Pompeo and Jim Jordan’s Astounding Hypocrisy 

2020

• NYT: Anxious Democratic Establishment Asks, ‘Is There Anybody Else?’ 
• WaPo: Anxiety rises among Democrats worried about party’s prospects in 2020
• Bloomberg: Beware of Silly-Season Campaign Reporting 
• HuffPo: Democratic Voters Think They Have Multiple Options For Beating Trump Next Year
• AP: With Warren’s rise, Biden faces Dems’ anxiety about 2020 bid 
• Politico: ‘They’ve got no margin for error’: Biden cash crunch raises alarms
• WaPo: Uncertainty takes over the lead in the Democratic presidential race 
• NYT: Top Biden Donors Gather Amid Storm Clouds Over Campaign 
• Pew Research: Democrats’ Ratings of Party’s 2020 Field: Better Than in 2016, Similar to 2008
• NYT: Anxious Democratic Establishment Asks, ‘Is There Anybody Else?’ 
• Daily Beast: Conservatives Are Convincing Themselves That Clinton Will Run Again
• CNN: Hillary Clinton to Trump: ‘Don’t tempt me’ into entering the 2020 presidential race
• FiveThirtyEight: If Stacey Abrams Wants To Run For President, She Probably Shouldn’t Wait Much Longer
• MSNBC: Anxious Dems ask a familiar question: ‘Is there anybody else?’
• NY Mag: How Centrist Democrats Botched the 2020 Primary
• CBS: Democratic donors are breaking small-dollar records
• WaPo: How small-dollar donors are reshaping the Democratic primary
• NYT: Detailed Maps of the Donors Powering the 2020 Democratic Campaigns
• NYT: Trump Campaign Floods Web With Ads, Raking In Cash as Democrats Struggle
• Axios: Trump’s 2016 online advantages persist and grow ahead of 2020
• Politico: It’s too much’: Democrats shudder at Trump’s money machine
• NYT: Trump Is Winning the Online War
• Mother Jones: Impeachment Has Spurred Record Spending on Pro-Trump Digital Ads
• NYT: Joe Biden’s Digital Ads Are Disappearing. Not a Good Sign, Strategists Say.
• The Hill: 2020 Democrats upend digital campaign playbook
• The Guardian: Trump digital director says Facebook helped win the White House
• Axios: Trump is maintaining his digital lead in the 2020 campaign
• NYT: Facebook Political Ads: What the 2020 Candidates’ Campaign Spending Reveals
• WSJ: For Sale at YouTube: Political Ad Space in 2020
• Wesleyan Media Project: Digital Spending Dominates in Early 2020 Presidential Race
• FiveThirtyEight: Who’s Running The Best Campaign Ads? 
• Politico: Elizabeth Warren shuns conventional wisdom for a new kind of campaign
• Vanity Fair: CAN DEMOCRATS WIN BACK THE INTERNET IN THE AGE OF TRUMP?
• The Guardian: It might work too well’: the dark art of political advertising online
• Politico: How Warren could pay for ‘Medicare for All’
• NYT: Elizabeth Warren Says She Will Release a Plan to Finance ‘Medicare for All’
• NBC News: Warren says she will soon release plan to fund ‘Medicare for All’
• Politico: Warren says she’ll release ‘plan’ to pay for Medicare for All
• WSJ: Some Warren Backers Want More Details on Her Health Plan
• The New Yorker: Elizabeth Warren’s Medicare for All Dilemma
• The Atlantic: The Eye-Popping Cost of Medicare for All
• Politico: When Elizabeth Warren ducked and dodged on Medicare for All
• The Economist: Why Elizabeth Warren is vague about health care