Obviously, Sondland is a Democrat plant to take trump down from the inside.
14
Let’s see. Another “self-made” white clown who is smarter than everyone else. Yawn.
46
There should be a formal name for the psychopathology of trump acolytes like Sondland who, on seeing a dumpster fire like the trump administration, cannot resist diving in.
53
“He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith."
Ecclesiasticus 13:1
30
Trump said this yesterday, "they need to "clean-out the area"! While defending his policy to allow Turkey to bomb the Kurds.
Trumps choice of words is so telling what he really believes: clean-out = cleansing = ethnic cleansing = Holocaust.
Sondland should understand this nightmare history lesson better than most, his Jewish parents escaped the Nazi Holocaust. And where are the so called Christian people how can they go along with this murderous man?
49
I'm from Portland, Oregon.
I'm so embarrassed about Gordon Sondland, a resident of this state, being involved in this illegal, unethical, horrifying, treasonous mess.
Please note: He's originally from SEATTLE.
We Oregonians cannot, and will not, take full blame for this...uh...person.
Sigh...
(If you want to read a really nauseating article about him and his wife and their perfect life, and their perfect quips, and perfect fakeness read this: https://www.oregonbusiness.com/article/lifestyle/item/18138-january-power-couple)
24
If you join this White House on the political side, you drink the kool aid.
15
What I will never understand is how any Jewish American can support Trump after Charlottesville.
71
Sondman and Mulvaney: Profiles of amazingly immature, servile, opportunistic adolescent men.
43
Just so ya’all know, out in the Northwest we are not all as simple as Sondland would like you to believe he is.
17
"Janitor! We need a plunger! We've got another opportunist stuck in Trump's golden-plated toilet!"
37
For Trump and Company, Sondland is now a loose end. He is clearly subject to criminal charges for lying to Congress and to the underlying activity that he lied about. And (I'm not a psychologist either, but) he seems like the kind of person that would do anything to avoid jail.
He will talk--unless Trump (or Putin) shuts him up. His best bet would have been to come clean in the first instance (remember Michael Cohen?). But, to use our criminal president's term, he's a 'flipper' if I've ever seen one.
Mulvaney, on the other hand, is more of a useful idiot than a flipper. He will talk too, but by accident rather than desire to avoid criminal liability. That makes him a loose end as well.
Far from being qualified for the most responsible positions in the world, this cabinet is full of wanna-be criminals that can't even pull that off. I suspect their next "posting"--in Leavenworth--will provide the education they currently lack.
26
"[I]t’s probably safe to say that Sondland knew exactly what he was involved with."
Sing it, sister! And there's a relatively simple way to prove it. Ambassadors don't run embassies or deal with policy in a vacuum, as a solo act, without input and briefings. They all have a staff; Sondland's is in Belgium. Call them next as witnesses.
25
Another dope who thinks, because he made some money in business, that means he could easily handle a relatively high government job. As if we need more proof how stupid that is.
41
Sondland and Mulvaney's treasonous quest for power
and glory are done, finished, kaput
Hey boys, Get over it
21
"That’s the thing about deals with the devil. You get what you want, and then it ruins you."
I'm glad I wasn't the only American guessing that Trump may be Satan incarnate. All Sondland needed to do was ask other people what it was like working for Donald Trump before he pursued such a misguided venture.
Once he's ensnared, I half-expect Rudy Giuliani to blubber, "I never expected I'd be involved in something so wrong and over my head...what was I thinking?"
Thanks Michelle. Great article and summation today.
20
Gordon Sondland thought that he was entitled to get his white European American Judeo-Christian male Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump, Dennis Hastert, Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Bill Clinton, Bill O' Reilly, Roger Ailes, Kenneth Lay, Charles Kushner, Fred Trump etc. pass.
13
Trump appointed his bankruptcy lawyer as ambassador to Israel.
20
You forget, Sondland is a Portlander....
Portlanders aren't known for their brilliance.
and, whatever he accomplished in Portland, whatever name he made with and around City Hall here, isn't a sign of great accomplishment. City Hall here is quite daft. They aren't the sharpest pencils in the school-kit, and are every bit beholden to wealth, and the developer class.
I find none of this very surprising. He's steeped in a self-serving culture, and he took it to the extreme of self-servitude.
13
@j s
I live in Portland and, sadly, I must agree. There is a level of
both incompetence and “bought-offness” here that reeks.
3
Most people at the top of the corporate ladder had no principles to begin with. That’s how they got there. There is nothing they would not do for money and power. They would gladly work for Adolf Hitler. The few who are not robots and are actually conscious usually try to justify to themselves that they are joining a corrupt organization to help “guide it” or be the “adult in the room”. These people are willingly deceiving themselves because they cannot admit they are doing it for money, power and prestige. James Comey comes to mind. And so the corruption continues as they provide a false veneer of legitimacy. Anyone who participates in this administration in any way is part of the problem.
14
“Get over it" [you morons].
"There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” [For you who don't speak Trumpish, you who aren't indoctrinated, let me make that clear: America's foreign policy is going to be run for Republican Party political gain.]
It is not just Trump, Pence, Mulvaney, Sondland and others who are corrupt and treasonous, it is the Republican Party that stands rock solid behind them. They have disgraced America, disgraced themselves and disgraced 43 percent of the American electorate. They have not just invited, but actually sold our foreign policy for foreign influence to defame political opponents and rig our elections. If that is not treason then George Washington is spinning in his grave and regretting his life service to America.
Now as to understanding Sondland..."But Sondland’s not really a Trumpist." Really? I beg to differ.
He "mostly just seems like an insecure opportunist."
He "envied some of his rich friends who’d been given ambassadorships in the past."
He "coveted [an ambassadorship] of his own."
He "COULD think that working for Trump might provide these things, and not see that any title achieved in this crime-syndicate administration will always come with an asterisk after it, or worse." How could anyone think that? Sondland could!
Coveting what others have/had blinded him to ethics and moral order. Like other Trumpists, Sondland had a little Trump rub off on him and that was enough to buy his soul and forever brand him.
17
"But Sondland’s not really a Trumpist. Based on news reports, he mostly just seems like an insecure opportunist."
These aren't mutually exclusive categories. Sondland spent a million dollars to buy his way into the Trump administration. Nothing reeks of Trump more than that.
25
"But Sondland’s not really a Trumpist. Based on news reports, he mostly just seems like an insecure opportunist. According to The Post, Sondland had envied some of his rich friends who’d been given ambassadorships in the past, and coveted one of his own."
There is one word for it; Fool.
10
Simply put, Sondland is an ignorant jerk. It is beyond me to understand how any person with the most basic sense of decency can align him/herself with donald trump.
16
For those who wonder how crazy Hitler became powerful and in control of so much destruction, look at the many rich and powerful supporting crazy Trump today. Even powerful and wealthy Jews who suffered the most from Hitler’s atrocities are so willingly betraying their country in support of this inhumane, irrational and unstable man.
26
The "dumb blond defense" never works if you are a bald old man.
19
It's hard to tell when Trump people are lying convincingly or are just hapless, greedy boobs. Just looking at him and hearing him calls forth the line attributed to Groucho Marx:. He may look like an idiot and sound like an idiot but don't let that fool you--he really is an idiot!
14
When you constantly think money can buy everything you get involved in all types of stupidity. Rich people get involved in get rich schemes all the time so that they can acquire more money and never realize that there is a price to pay.
This country is run and being destroyed by rich people who have no desire to be ethical in any manner. Rich white men and rich white women feel that everything revolves around their wealth.
All of these people have been exposed for the vultures that they are. Yesterday was an amazing day of truth by the government and, even Facebook was proudly hiding behind the Constitution to pretend that they care about privacy. Facebook would of been a great supporter of Hitler since everything no matter how outrageous it is can go up on the site as long as you click to make money for them.
A soulless country we have displayed to the rest of the world
that we will allow our allies to be slaughtered and then try to blame them. As of this morning, the Kurds would still be dead and their lives are in danger.
9
Sondland who hails from my neck of the woods has us all hiding our faces in shame. Each of us has already, in the privacy of our own homes, decided to boycott the living heck out of his hotels for the next several generations. We aren't very verbal out here but we are quietly persistent as all get out.
Sondland remembers he wasn't involved in the scheme but can't remember what the scheme was. We get it: He doesn't want to spend time in a federal prison for Donald Trump. The Trumpies who already have their Roy Cohn are now looking for their Oliver North. Clearly Sondland was in it up to his neck. Bolton: "I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up." We are all silently contemplating how we must do our penance, for our part in the actions of this individual.
7
Trump is leaving a trail of devastation that leaves nobody untouched in his administration. However I do not feel sorry for all these men (and some women) who were attracted by the dark appeal of absolute power, greed and corruption beyond their dreams.
If they now find themselves abandoned to fend for themselves, their reputations in tatters, their lives destroyed with the possibility of spending years in jail, they only have themselves to blame.
Good riddance to all this white trash of rich, corrupt, rotten to the core swamp dwellers. May Trump bring them all down with him.
13
The reason that people like Sondland get sucked into Trump's Jupiter-like gravity field is because they realize that Trump has gone through his darkly charmed life with no negative consequences whatsoever to him personally--if it works for him, why not for you as well?
Trump is like that bad kid you hung out with who always managed to evade justice, no matter how terrible the deed. It is just feels so good, and so right, to be a part of the reckless, lawless, nihilistic crowd, whether you are a member of the US Senate or just a swooning MAGA zombie.
Too bad they don't realize how destructive and dangerous their attitude is until it's too late.
Mom was right.
12
Unbelievably lame to say that he did not know about Giuliani’s intentions. He may as well wave a white flag.
5
I have no sympathy for Gordon Sondland. None.
9
The next time a fat cat with $1mil want to buy a yacht, we liberals need to keep our mouth shut. A big gas guzzling boat if far better than a yahoo buying an Ambassador position that requires brains and skills over money.
8
Sondland reminds me of Michael Cohen: needy, gains recognition by being around powerful people, basically a goon. Both did damage for their mob boss. Except Cohen redeemed himself in the end and Sondland did not. A shanda.
10
Thanks Michelle. Very acute as ever. Sondland it is obviously a disposable character here. Got enmeshed in something he never understood, got played by POTUS and 'America's Mayor' and now he will pay. What gets me is all other backdoor deals we do not know about. All 'transactions' with Vlad, MBS, BB, and other despots and tyrants across the globe. He sold the Kurds to Recep...what he got in exchange? a shiny building in Istanbul? the right to develop a golf course in Cappadocia? , a bombastic compliment?...Who closed the deal? Rudy again? or another shill? He is creating trade chaos with European Union..is that the down payment for Moscow Trump Tower?..the list goes on..his mindset is transactional mob style..Let's follow the money, the real drive of this, the most corrupt administration ever to try to understand the ring.
10
Shorter: "I was a patsy."
3
What astounds me most about Sondland is that he is a child of Jewish refugees from Nazism, and yet he throws his support behind a wall-building xenophobic white nationalist who would have made his parents apply for asylum in Switzerland or Belgium or wherever it was they escaped Germany to!
15
NPR interviewed a friend of Sondland's who stated Sondland's family was deprived of everything by Nazis in Europe and who rebuilt their lives in the US. To this friend, Sondland's most fervent wish was to somehow come back to Europe in triumph (my interpretation of the friend's statement) and show how far he had come from his family being ground down. Well Sondland may be wealthy but he looks like a wet noodle for a totalitarian despot. He had plenty of information coming his way from confidential sources but essentially chose to disregard them. He doesn't get a "pass."
13
Sondland made some astonishing claims yesterday. I have compiled all of the most mind-bending ones.
https://www.hawkgates.com/blog/2019/10/18/list-suspicious-sounding-statements-that-ambassador-gordon-sondland-made-before-congress
1
Well said!
1
Damon Winter's photo at the top of the story says it all. Sondland looks as though he's entering Disneyland, while his lawyer looks like he's having one of the worst days of his life.
5
He's an arrogant, pompous, rich typical Trump supporter hopeful to get a political position for which he is totally unqualified because of a hefty "donation" (translate - bribery). Trump's entire trash can of "good men" is the same. Why don't his other supporters see this and why do they accept the bottom of the barrel to steal their money and ruin their country?
This will, as does everything else in Trumpworld, end very badly. Sondland obviously was not even smart enough to have seen that as he merrily swatted aside our laws and all ethics, just like his boss. Not a public servant, just another Trump toady.
6
Maybe we should give people in the mental health profession more of a voice - at least, to provide insight to journalists, if not politicians (or, God help us, to business people?)
(Full Disclosure: I'm a clinical psychologist)
First, to the conservatives here: There is no research evidence that people in the private sector are one whit less narcissistic, self-serving, or willing and eager to bend and break the law than those in the public sector.
Second, to the liberals here: There is no research evidence that people in the public sector are one whit less narcissistic, self-serving, or willing and eager to bend and break the law than those in the private sector.
There is an abundance of research that a sense of community which includes **all** members of the community (I'm going to get pilloried for this, but this includes those who are regularly attacked in the comments section as "deplorable") is the single most powerful means of bringing about psychological well-being:
** More powerful than any medication
** More powerful than any form of individual or group therapy
And you know what - the original libertarian socialist Left of the 19th century knew this.
And somewhere, if there are any sincere conservatives left, they know it also.
Here are some stories about research that supports this: http://www.remember-to-breathe.org/The-Most-Important-Page.html
And from now on, please don't be surprised by the utter lack of morals of anybody serving Trump.
3
As I read Michelle’s op-ed this morning, I couldn’t help but think: Giuliani, the charlatan and thief, and Sondland, another charlatan and thief, are led by the, well, you know, the ...
4
Spot on.
1
Good article on the weaknesses in certain moral parts of the psyche when money overwhelms good sense, morality, ethics or just what smells bad. Michelle, you may not be a lawyer, but you certainly know what smells bad as the entire article and your work reveals. I think now of Joe Kennedy who was the ambassador to Great Britain until he made the very unfortunate comment about Hitler. Sondland may if he testifies against the current administration in the "White" House bring some succor to his unfortunate choice to help Trump into said position.
1
He is a CO-CONSPIRATOR in an impeachment (I omitted "inquiry" on purpose). He said so himself
Charge him and LOCK HIM UP, just like the other co-conspirators. Pence better not escape!!!
2
Sondland and Trump are peas from the same rotten pod. They deserve each other.
2
With Republicans like Sondland, Giuliani and Mulvaney around, who needs Democrats?
Imagine the kitchen, the veranda, luxury on our dime.
We know for sure that Giuliani is Trump’s amateur Mano Nera.
1
You sleep with dogs, you get fleas.
1
I respect your opinions and insights but are you ever going to lose the annoying habit of finishing every other sentence with “right?” when you appear on MSNBC?
1
The clowns just never stop getting out of this clown car. It's exhausting. Truly. To have to read about these fools day after day after day. This rich nincompoop lying to the entire world. Smiling his foolish grin because everyone wants t take his picture. Please God PLEASE put a Democrat in the White House in 2020. I don't care who it is. Any one of them will do. Just get this ongoing joke and his gang that can't shoot straight off the front pages. Have mercy Lord. Have mercy!
10
AMEN!!!
2
Sondland is just another rich guy who thinks his net worth = big IQ. Yet he is just another fool who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. And so now he lies (under oath no less) to preserve his ego and that odoriferous brown stain on his nose.
5
Democracy?? How about a Dumb-ocracy?
Perhaps Sondland knows someone is being set up to take the fall and he is trying to make sure it won’t be him. He is not the only rat deserting the sinking ship. Perhaps the lifeboats are already full. What Trump now needs is an acting fall guy. Round up the usual suspects. Don’t overlook the fat man. Not that one, the other one. And everybody’s crazy old Italian uncle. What about Kushner? Yea, give ‘em the Jew, nobody will care. Throw in Mnuchin and a box of cannoli. Just protect the Ayatollah because he holds the pardon keys to Trump’s cell.
4
Sondland who hails from my neck of the woods has us all hiding our faces in shame. Each of us has already, wordlessly, decided to boycott the living heck out of his hotels, for several generations. Sondland who remembers he wasn't involved in the scheme can't remember what the scheme was. Sondland bought his ambassadorship for $1 million. One justifiably asks whether that cash went directly into a Trump family pocket. No kidding, Sondland doesn't want to spend time in a federal prison for Donald Trump. Sondland was a participant. Bolton: "I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up." Sondland knows that Trump, Mulvaney, Pompeo, Barr, Giuliani and the gang are now looking for their Oliver North, having already found their treasonous Roy Cohn. Their Ronald Reagan will never be as entertaining as the real thing, though theirs does suffer from a similarly debilitating set of mental deficiencies.
2
Isn't Sondland a typical GOPer. They scream about the swamp, but only because they are not the recipient of it's payoffs. They assume that everyone is crooked and so they assume once they are in they too can be corrupt. They figure if the dumb liberals can steal from the people they certainly will be able to get away with it. They can't conceive of public service.
3
Naif is it.
The guy is just of a venal dopus who should not be anywhere near government for the people.
3
I moved to Manhattan in 1998 and my organization had a brief flirtation with Trump about a real estate "deal."
Everyone involved knew he was a dishonest, grandstanding, narcissistic buffoon.
Anyone claiming "But I didn't know!" is a liar and a fool.
12
Mr. Sondland is an unconvincing liar.
3
Given the seriousness of the situation, why is Sondland SMILING in all the photographs? He looks like is is just loving all the attention....hmmmmthats Trumps watchword...it doesnt matter what they are saying about you, just as long as your ugly mug is on the front page its good for business....
4
Thanks Michelle.
Love your articles.
What was Sondland thinking when he aligned himself with a pathological liar, six time bankrupt who claims to be a “success?”
He wasn’t thinking.
He was dazzled, and eager to be part of that historic , exclusive club of old white guys that run everything and everybody.
Well guess what Sondland - you bet on the wrong old white guy.
5
Sondland sounds like a lier. Congress needs to vigorously go after enablers like him and put them behind bars.
4
Love your work, Ms. Goldberg. Keep these trenchant and sublime columns coming.
3
Maybe if we devalued money, added term limits, and abolished lobbyists we might have a chance
2
What's going to happen to all the MAGA hats people?
Those who seem to think they are rooting for their favorite football team to win rather than considering that the presidency is, literally, a matter of life or death? Will they feel a sense of disgrace for having supported a raging narcissist as he swayed this way and that with every breeze, condemning his own country (“We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent?”), attacking the FBI, CIA and military generals who dedicated their entire adult lives to serving their country...on and on.
Being a voter is never having to say you are sorry. When we vote someone in who doesn't belong there, we blame them, not ourselves. As was said many decades ago, "We swear them in and curse them out."
Most of the MAGA hats have their conspiracy beliefs for Trump's coming defeat ready and waiting. He was never given a chance! The deep state didn't want him to be president! This is a group of celebrity worshiping fellow citizens who have slipped the bonds of earth and are flying away, as fast as possible, from all reason and logic, with the Pied Piper of Fox Noise leading the way.
Most MAGA hat will believe Trump was wronged as long as they live. The rest we should welcome back.
4
Thank you, Michelle, I've been saying the same thing to friends. How could he possibly not know?
Trump created a task force to get Zelensky, the president of a country Trump considered corrupt to manufacturer dirt on Biden, precisely because the country's reputation for corruption makes it sound like a place where, if you have enough money and influence, you can create a scandalous narrative out of thin air, and then he put Sondland in charge of this initiative. In a country over which his ambassadorial responsibilities did not apply (that alone should have been a red flag).
Are we supposed to believe that Sondland wasn't read-in on the quid pro quo transactional scheme?
It's fascinating to watch corrupt minions, as corrupt as any in Ukraine, apparently, twist in the wind, try to salvage their reputations, and generally grovel before the world, begging for absolution.
5
And yet I still see warnings everywhere in our news media about a possible 2020 victory for this corrupt, inept, dangerous, unstable, and unfit president*. The gaslighting forces that brought us to this point are still alive and well, continuing their way up the hierarchy of power. Vigilance has never been more crucial. I have to wonder if there's enough of it to avoid the nightmare scenario of another 4 years. I've never had to be talked down from so many proverbial ledges as I have in the past few years!
4
Michelle, excellent piece. Keep up the good work. Thanks
2
Obviously making a bunch of money in business doesn't mean who are wise, or even knowledgeable about anything outside your business.
A narrow man lured into a field sprinkled with mines.
3
Thanks for this timely surmise. I've been wondering about him too. If Sondland claims to know nothing about Guilianni's plotting are true then people in his staff have been sleeping on the job...so I sort of don't believe him, which means he lied under oath. It would be easy to find out. Just ask his staff. I have heard he is a blunt, bad-tempered arrogant boss who is very concerned to be seen as a pillar of the community. Maybe he's a narcissist too. Do they attract each other? There are big fish frying, but I hate to see anyone lie under oath and get away with it. They say even a short visit to the carcel does wonders for humility.
5
Wealthy ambassadors of no distinction hold lots of ambassadorships with foolish high ambitions. Take Colleen Bell, Obama’s ambassador to Hungary. She is filthy rich because of her marriage to Bradley Bell and their work on The Bold and the Beautiful. She secured her appointment by being an Obama bundler. Asked about her qualifications, Obama talked about the weather. Obama basically ignored right wing Hungary, so Bell spent her time there twiddling her thumbs. Asked where she was headed after her term as ambassador, she talked of being influential in Democratic politics and a career in elective office. You can imagine how that’s going.
BTW, her oldest daughter just started college. I couldn’t find out where she is going. But she is described as beautiful and brilliant. Hmm.
1
John Bolton is looking good. Just goes to how sordid Washington has become under Trump.
6
Someone else whose reputation is forever in the garbage can. It has happened to every single one of these people, without exception. Even “Dancing With the Stars” is getting more choosy.
In the words of the title of the book (written by a Republican): “Everything Trump Touches Dies.”
This guy is forever third-rate toast — and sympathy for him is coming from where exactly?
5
A Faustian bargain if ever there was one. Did someone not write a book entitled " Everything Trump touches does" ?
2
I think Sondland thought he was buying 4 years of kowtowing to Mr. Ambassador and endless cocktail parties while schmoozing with the hoi-polloi of Europe. But he was willfully ignorant too. A million dollars isn't that much for an ambassadorship but not nearly enough for his reputation and dignity. He'll be just another of Trump's Chumps for the rest of his life.
8
I believe that walking into Congress, I heard Mr. Sondland being asked if he was there to salvage his reputation. To which Mr. Sondland said (I may be paraphrasing) "I don't have a reputation to salvage."
That about says it all.
10
Of course he lied to Congress. He knew and actively participated in this backdoor diplomacy.
What annoys me most is that there is no fear of lying to, or ignoring subpoenas from, Congress anymore.
You commit perjury, you go to jail.
You ignore a subpoena, you go to jail.
They fear nothing anymore.
4
When you dance with the Devil you agree to pay the piper. The Devil does not change you do.
2
What most of these people like Sondland don’t realize is that they are the frog who has agreed to carry the scorpion,Trump, across the river. That never ends well.
6
It just goes to show you what $1million will buy you these days. Gordon would have been way better off donating the $1million to help feed hungry children than to buy the ambassadorship from Putin's puppet.
6
Sondland will be the beneficiary of the law of diminished returns. His hotels in the Pacific North West will be shunned and he might just loose them or else sell for huge losses.
Such does the thing called flak work!
6
Sondland’s private family foundation made big donations to Duke University. Where do his kids go to school? Duke University. Maybe he’s involved in yet another scandal...
5
Don't forget the screaming throngs at DT's Houston rally last night. Sheer ecstasy in their eyes. Do they know about or care what he and his crew are doing? No!
They are "true believers," just like those religious kooks who are prepared for the final judgement on a particular day and when it doesn't happen, have no problem discovering another day when the world will end.
The only thing thinking people can do is to be certain to vote for the best candidates. If we don't do that, we deserve what we get. Keep the faith!
5
I'm 100% with you, Michelle. I have the same questions, and your observations seem dead on to me.
2
A famous line from "A Man For All Seasons" comes to mind: "It profiteth a man nothing to sell his soul for the whole world. But for Wales, Richard?"
But for a trump appointment to be Ambassador to the EU, Mr. Sondland?
5
Michelle Goldberg has been amazing recently!
1
To survive Trump you must be exactly like him. If you have one iota of integrity, you will not hold up.
3
The super-wealthy donors who financed the corrupted election of 2016 were happy to see Trump in the Oval Office because he would massively slash taxes for these same billionaires who helped to put him there. The incomprehensible part of this story is the willing subjugation of white working poor families across the nation to the incompetent, ignorant destroyer of our government Donald Trump. Billionaires like Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg help Trump with their Big Lie Propaganda Machines, Fox News and Facebook.
5
Sondland is a wealthy, successful businessman, he’s no fool. He paid FOR and got an ambassadorship! Trump has been selling his favor and the U.S., since before he took office.
Gordon Sondland, IF you have an ounce of decency or an ounce of love for our democracy, Constitutional government and Rule of Law, DO the right thing and be HONEST! Speak TRUTH! Because right now, YOU look like an entitled fob!
1
A couple of articles I’ve read glossed over Sondland’s lack of ethics and his initial willingness to aid trump as long as it suited his aspirations.
He bought himself the ambassadorship and was willing to help commit a pretty obvious crime... now that he is caught, he’s trying to paint a picture of himself as someone who was just doing what they were told.
Well fine, sometimes you have to cut a deal with the street dealer to snag the crime lord.
But let’s never let anyone forget he was willing to participate in the destruction of democracy to get what he wanted.
Every last one of this administration’s toadies, lackeys, flunkeys, minions, accomplices, co-conspirators, sycophants, zealots and bootlickers should be held accountable for their participation and ultimately be blacklisted into oblivion.
Not as revenge, but to serve as a warning for those who wish to do the same in the future.
3
Refresh my memory. Is there anyone whose public or personal stature improved after joining the Trump administration, or have they all left looking like some form of a fool?
3
Sondland's wife plaintive cries about this may hurt their hotel chain remind me exactly of Mrs Ken Lay's lament that she was going to have to part with BOTH of her Aspen homes... Sorry ladies, "when you lie with dogs..."
6
Psychologist, psychiatrists and a range of other mental health, pathology-driven professionals make a living, and a
career from diagnosed “narcissism.”
Who makes a living, during these modern,
conflicted, violating times from EVIL?
2
How will it end for the Trump, his sycophants, and enablers? Exactly as it should, with disgrace, removal from office, and possible jail time. Their actions are unconsciousable, and a bold faced betrayal of Americans.
3
There's a smug tone of self-righteousness here that may be well-founded but will not attract any friends among those who are not already among the smug and self-righteous.
2
Why do men sell their souls. Maybe they never had a soul.
If you're the ambassador to the EU and you are asked to handle the Ukraine (not in the EU), use your head. Something's not right. But Sondland just forged ahead. He's dirty like the rest of them.
6
A word comes to mind that aptly fits Sondland’s behavior in donating one million dollars to the Trump campaign in order to become a player in his administration and that word is craven.
3
Dogs and fleas come to mind; these fleas carry political bubonic plague. Anyone claiming not to know that ahead of entering the kennel is either ignorant or complicit. Those evidencing honest chagrin are in the former group (I have yet to identify a member of this group). Sondland is part of the latter group.
Y'all "complicitors" please spare me your denials of foreknowledge of the sign at the door "beware all ye who enter here."
3
Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas. Any questions?
You lie with dogs, you may wake up with fleas. Sondland made his choices and will face the legal consequences.
To be fair, Trump is far worse than even I was afraid he’d be.
2
"some psychologists have been warning us, with increasing urgency, about what it means to have a malignant narcissist in power. "
It is not really Trump`s fault. He was born with his mental malady , NPD. The DSM-5 defines Symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) as comprised of persistent manner of grandiosity, a continuous desire for admiration, along with a lack of empathy. It is signified by the existence of any 5 of the next 9 standards/behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2013):
1/ A grandiose logic of self-importance.
2/ A fixation with fantasies of infinite success, control, brilliance, beauty, or idyllic love.
3/ A credence that he or she is extraordinary and exceptional and can only be understood by, or should connect with, other extraordinary or important people or institutions.
4/A desire for unwarranted admiration.
5/ A sense of entitlement.
6/ Interpersonally oppressive behavior.
7/ No form of empathy.
8/ Resentment of others or a conviction that others are resentful of him or her.
9/ Display of egotistical and conceited behaviors or attitude.
Only 5 of the 9 standards/behaviors are needed for a positive assessment for this disease. Trump hits every mark in spades.
Of course a person with NPD must NEVER have power over others.
12
It is hubris. pure and simple. A lot of people in high positions believe in themselves. They believe that no matter the hurdles or problems they face, they can overcome them. They have believed this from the beginning of their careers and look how far they have come. Does any of this sound familiar? It should. Not only is this personality trait rampant in successful people, it is common among those in high levels of our government, President Trump is the poster child and Mr. Sondland and many others suffer from this trait. Now Americans need to decide that they won't elect these afflicted folks.
It's simple. Vote and vote as if you think our democracy is at stake.
Because it is.
7
He thought that being a diplomat would solidify his ranking as one of the great men in history.
3
Gordon Sondland has long boasted that “only Trump makes foreign policy.” He willfully ignores foreign policy input from anyone other than Trump, and then holds private, unrecorded one-on-one deal-making meetings with foreign officials, thus denying transparency and any record of what transpires. His dealings with Ukraine are the only ones made public so far. Dig deeper.
12
@Jim
(Giant sigh) They forget that government is not (yet) like business; technically, you're not supposed to lie, cheat and steal your way to the top.
4
Thanks again for another excellent column. The first tip off of Sondland's character is, as you eloquently captured, an opportunist transaction move of: if I donate $1 million to your Inaugural then you will grant me the ambassadorship of my dreams. Then being the honorable sleazeball that he is underneath his gilded shell, he sought to hide the transaction (quid pro quo if you will?) by using 4 separate LLCs. Then when he arrived in Brussels he demanded that his taxpayer all expense paid housing was not to his liking so he was granted millions of dollars in upgrades including a private office in one of the bathrooms & too fancy private & hosting kitchens in addition to numerous other upgrades. As you mentioned, when one makes a deal with the Trump devil to sell their soul for worldly power, possessions & unlimited status, then one becomes Faustian. He seems oblivious to the fact that his story has more holes than a shooting range & that the dirt on his manicured hands is evident to all but him & his wealthy GOP co-horts which he is trying to disassociate himself with. Pretty soon the painting in his bedroom will resemble The Picture of Dorian Gray. The corruption is glaring in his favorite portrait even as he himself projects all his shortcomings & evil deeds onto the painting.
15
Sondland didn’t start with enough integrity or naïveté to qualify for being disgraced. What he’s qualified himself for with his illegal and unethical actions is a jail cell. Adios is all that should be said to him when the key is turned on his new steel and cement living quarters.
12
We should question the wisdom (both parties are guilty here) of allowing non career diplomats to take on these roles. Would Sondland hire someone without experience to run one his hotels? I doubt it.
10
When I was growing up, my parents would often say, "Money can't buy happiness." I had no idea what those words meant, or what they were trying to teach me. I just nodded in agreement. Okay. Whatever you say.
Now that I am much, much older, I finally understand the gist of what they were trying to convey. Money has its limitations. Take Donald Trump and Gordon Sondland, for example. Despite their millions, all that cold, hard cash hasn't been able to erase their feelings of deep-seated insecurity.
Poor Mr. Sondland wanted "the respect and admiration of the world outside the MAGA bubble." Whether he had one dollar in his pocket or 10 million, the void of self-respect could not be filled with dollar bills. As for Donald Trump, the boy who grew up in Queens, has spent his whole life trying to prove to himself, New York society, and the world that he is not "trash."
They are both examples of what money can't buy: Happiness (does Trump look happy to you?), a strong moral compass, character, integrity, wisdom, respect, and inner peace.
After reading Michelle's brilliant piece on Mr. Sonderland, I'm not sure whether I pity the man or hold him in contempt. Either way, I'm sure it's not the look he was going for.
26
The benefits of working for the Trump administration are a combo of the following:
1. Immoral deeds
2. Tarnished reputation
3. Thrown under the bus
4. Incarceration
Hardly seems worth it.
23
@Republi-con
But Sonderland gets to live in a chateau in Belgium, which, apparently, was not quite up to his standards and which is now being renovated for something approaching $1M at taxpayers expense.
3
Three persons enjoy full ambassadorial rank in Brussels: Former U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is the U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO; Ronald Gidwitz, formerly Donald Trump's Illinois campaign finance chairman in the 2016 presidential election, is the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium; and Mr. Sondland, U.S. Ambassador to the Europeon Union. Despite his $1M donation to Donald Trump’s inauguration, Mr. Sondland was clearly the also-ran in the ambassadorial sweepstakes, Brussels division. Desirous of greater cachet with Trump, Sondland chose to insert himself into the U.S.-Ukraine relationship, even though Ukraine is outside his ambassadorial purview because it is not a member of the European Union. Indeed, Ukraine is not even considering membership at this point. While Mr. Sondland now seeks to minimize his involvement in the Trump-Ukraine quid pro quo, it is surely the case that Mr. Sondland fully deserves whatever consequences come his way, for first cozying up to Trump when he knew better, and then attempting to further curry favor with Trump after gaining his ambassadorship.
16
No; we did not all think he would be better than his campaign promises. Many of us knew he would be worse. The first hint was when he said he would not abide by the election results. Let me be the first to say it out loud: When the time comes for tRump to leave office, be it by impeachment, losing the election or term limits, he will refuse to go. He will threaten military, if not nuclear, action against those that are pressing him to leave.
20
You are not the first.
If the obscene practice of selling ambassadorships must continue, may we at least sell merely the title and attached benefits without an actual portfolio? Something resembling the British Honors List could be devised, wherein the recipient would get the medal of some order without any additional power. Maybe the Order of Maralago?
13
I’m a psychologist and worked in a variety of institutional settings over the last 25 years. I’ve met a few people like Donald Trump but none in positions with so much power and influence. I’ve met many more people like Gordon Sondland. I’m always surprised (or maybe I ought not to be) when someone says or writes that they do not understand how people could act the way they are acting: “Didn’t they know what was going on?” My experience is that individuals like Sondland don’t (or can’t) reflect on their own behavior and rely instead on others to provide some modicum of self-worth. This inability to reflect on their own behavior leads them to behaviors they later regret, as we seem to be seeing with Mr. Sondland.
My partner is often heard expressing surprise about things that Trump says or does. Sadly, I am never surprised by his behavior. But it is sad that other people who seem to know better at some level seem to sink to his level of depravity and nastiness and believe that they will come out the other side better for it. The ability to stand back and really reflect on one’s own self-worth and how it impacts others is only one of the side-effects of working for Trump. I am sad when I see so many people debase themselves in this way.
19
The Trump Administration is like the experiment in which participants were told they would inflict electric shock on subjects in the next room whenever they gave wrong answers. What it really tested was people's moral boundaries. Are they willing to continual following orders to extreme conclusions? Or will they say, "No, that command is wrong and I won't follow"? And how far do they follow a morally corrupt commander before walking away? We are seeing people being tested in real time.
11
The next-to-last sentence in my previous comment should have said “inability” rather than ability.
1
somebody should rent a loud speaker, park it somewhere in DC preferably near the US capitol and play these words by Michael Cohen in a non stop loop. "I did the same thing as you are doing now. I protected Mr Trump for 10 years, the more people that follow Mr Trump as I did blindly are going to suffer the same consequences that I am suffering"
28
I doubt the not well read, Mr. Sondland, who is far too busy spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars bringing the ambassador’s residence in Brussels up to standards befitting a man of his importance, will have the time to read your dead-on analysis, Michelle, unless a friend points out to him how flatteringly it portrays him. Made my day, again. TY.
24
I am not sure anyone realizes that the Trump administration would be this bad and corrupt. Remember we all thought he would be better than his campaign promises. Now once Sonserland realized how unethical the administration was he should have left. It was at that point he made a deal with the Devil.
13
I realized. just had to pay attention during the campaign.
4
Apparently Sondland said his job was to destroy the EU. And he was AMBASSADOR to the EU.
Like Pelosi said, all roads lead to Putin.
33
Great piece.
9
All who serve with Trump are diminished. You could say Trump has the 'Minus Touch.'
42
I love this article. Well said.
12
Seems like you are giving Sondland way too much credit. What makes you think he had an ounce of integrity to begin with? He bought a sinecure and he has done an impressively lousy job. That makes him par for this rotten course.
28
Even billionaires should be held accountable. Ya think?
17
Two thoughts on Sondland.
First, as a Navy veteran ('65-'69) I note that he never served in the United States military. Thus, his withdrawal of support for 45 when he disparaged the family of Captain Humayun Khan (KIA in Iraq 6-8-2004) only to beg to work for 45 demonstrates:(1) his utter lack of a moral compass and (2) his devotion to party and power and not to country. In this regard, I would add that no veteran with even a minimum amount of self-respect would ever support, let alone vote for, a candidate like 45.
Second, as a retired federal prosecuting attorney (1995-2010), it's probably too early to determine what, if any, criminal liability may attach to him. That said, and assuming that the reporting on his testimony to Congress is correct, I would argue that he is doing what many criminals do, when caught engaging in unlawful conduct, conduct for which they believe they will never be held accountable. For one, I would enjoy seeing him in an orange jump suit along with his fellow co-conspirators.
28
Amen, Ms Goldberg, on your reference to pacts with the devil. Don the Con is highly adept at finding the insecure, ambitious and spineless. I worry for your nation and its dwindling attention span. Endless trump trump trump reality tv. The Republican party, of whom Sondland is one, voted at their convention to change its policy of arming Ukraine. Have Americans forgotten the Republican party long ago abdicated to this New York grifter? Congress invokes sanctions on a Chinese telephone company, the president's daughter receives numerous trademarks in China and suddenly the dj is playing a tune on twitter about saving jobs in China. Why are you people not out on the street? It appears Mr Sondland is not the only one who is afraid in America. I am sad.
16
He used our hard work taxes for his $1 million for his house!
13
One has to worry about about Mr Sondland's poor judgement. Has he not noticed that Trump will disown any associate when it's expedient for him to do so? Trump has no loyalty. He demands it but doesn't return it.
So Sondland is in line to be prosecuted along with Giuliani. The best he can do now is go back to the Committee and come clean with what he knew and when. Or he can wait for the FBI to come knocking at his door at a future date.
12
Sondland, indeed, should have known: "If you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas."
Mulvaney's snark-filled press conference was notable for a lot of things. But one which jumped out at me was explaining all bad actions under one giant Blame the Media umbrella. We know we are going to get criticism so we just go ahead and do what we want. It's the media picking on us that makes us do things this way. And, believe it or not, that plays very well in Trump country; where the only thing better than being a victim with someone to blame is having a leader to play that same victim card with you. Great again, indeed.
12
And these are our vaulted businessmen who create jobs and wealth. They need special tax breaks so they can take care of the rest of us.
Well, they also happen to be not very bright and certainly ethically challenged.
Tax them. The spell has broken. At least I hope so.
And let’s hear a round of applause for our career government workers.
28
@Susan
Exactly. They think they are the demigods of the Republican Party.
2
Those two possibilities, being wildly ignorant or lying to Congress, don't preclude a third: that both are true.
Appointing contributor-ambassadors is nothing new, and most of them don't have the experience of, say, Averill Harriman. But usually they're sent to Tahiti, New Zealand, Norway, etc.--safe places where it's almost impossible for them to hurt the U.S. or an ally (let alone more than the one (1) country where the newbie can be His/Her Excellency).
But the E.U.? After the Brexit vote? It's hard to believe even Donald Trump could have that clueless a concept of what diplomacy and or the European Union involve. But that awful possibility would be better than an ulterior motive.
11
A Man for All Seasons, Robert Bolt:
Sir Thomas More says to Richard Rich:
"It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world ... but for Wales?"
10
Wouldn't it have been in America's best interest to send someone to Ukraine who has connections there, and even speaks the local language? Sending a pay-for-play representative overtly places Trump's interests far ahead of the country's, which means he's not doing his duty to uphold the Constitution and protect the citizens of this country. The Quid-Pro-Quo President must go!
12
Sondland is EU Ambassador. Nothing to do with Ukraine (which is not in EU yet). We did have an Ambassador with language and cultural credentials. Maria Yovanovitch. She was dismissed.
21
So many of Trump’s appointees and henchmen share the same narcissistic traits as their boss. Sondland, like the others, think they are special and having lost their moral compass, think they can get away with anything. For example, despite having lived in Oregon for many years and raised his children here, he has gotten away with paying no state income tax by claiming that his residence is in one of his Seattle hotels. So while the rest of us honest Oregonians pay our share of state tax, this immoral billionaire thinks he’s entitled to pay nothing.
There is so much wrong with the distribution of wealth in this country.
804
“There is so much wrong with the distribution of wealth in this country.”
There is even much more wrong with ordinary folk-
family, neighbors, friends, fellow workers,
students, prayers and leisure takers-
who enable this to happen. Day in. Day out.
By passive complacency.
By active complicity.
Without the ongoing-enabled willful blindness, deafness,
indifference,ignorance and SILENCE, “wrongs” infect.
Necessary, viable, “ RIGHTING” and to
“Fail better” is not possible.
38
Poor Gordon. He gave and gave, then never got a shot at hosting the G7.
16
Too bad Oregon can't deport hoteliers. The accompanying parade would be great fun.
14
@Paul Wertz
I think this is not quite right, Paul Wertz. After a considerable search, I determined that an obscure ruling by Oregon's top court in 1883 was precedent for deporting any hotelier who brought shame upon the state.
So go ahead, ride Sondland out on a rail and have yourself a whale of a wingding.
8
Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas.
7
It seems Sondland lying to Congress is just par for the course. The question is when will the democrats put a stop to this thoroughly corrupted administration? Trump is so corrupt he doesn't see any problem with the G-7 next year hosted at a resort owned by Trump. Hello? Is anyone home? Democracy? Are you there? Constitution? Emoluments clause? Failure to live up to the oath of office? Treasonous behavior?
14
And do not forget Pete Hoekstra. He himself told you that there were no-go zones in my country, The Netherlands. Later, when confronted with this he said that that was fake news - as it was. It seems, as you already know, you need not much wisdom and/or intelligence to get rich.
8
Guiliani didn't pay Trump a dime to be the "Deep State Secretary of State", Sondland got a raw deal.
13
...But the people whose psychology I really want to understand are those like Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union who is now trying to squirm out of responsibility for his role in the Ukraine scandal.
Squirm is the operative word. Another wormy fellow at the core of the rotting apple.
15
Yeah, it's definitely a "What was he thinking?" moment, isn't it?
And Mulvaney's self-contradiction and gaslighting... I would say it's unbelievable but, honestly, at this point, it just feels like more of what we've come to expect from this administration.
I will say, it is convenient that they keep giving the Democrats more fuel for the impeachment fire. Thanks for the help, guys.
13
How did he think this would end? The way things usually end for the ultra-rich...putting large sums of money in his pockets and giving him a greater sense of importance and power while trying to climb the ladder of ego.
11
Isn’t there an adage that says, “Surround yourself with people who push you to be and do better?”
115
@DS There's also one that says, "If you lie down with dogs, you'll wake up with fleas." Sondland, apparently, never heard of either.
54
@DS ...I think Elijah Cummings was right when he told Michael Cohen he would be made better by his difficult experiences and having to go to prison. He was wrong when he suggested this would make a better Donald Trump...at least so far. You can't push someone to be better who doesn't want to be better !!
17
@DS "Be Best!"
10
Every person sent to jail diminishes the chances that this will happen again. Just saying.
16
It's all about the dopamine.
2
It seems to me that if Mr. Sondland fears being made a scapegoat (a very real possibility when dealing with someone as amoral and vindictive as Trump) the thing to do right now for Mr. Sundland is lay it all out in the open. Truth may not set him free, but he can sure try to drag down all the higher-up crooks with him. He may as well do this - Trump won’t hesitate to throw -him- under a bus.
9
Can he claim diplomatic immunity?
3
I think the most disturbing part of all of this mess is the lack of wisdom and judgment exhibited by the players in our positions of power.
If they couldn’t see the obvious flaws and character defects of someone as obviously unfit as Trump, and chose to connect themselves to him, why should they be trusted to correctly assess anything.
The day after the disastrous election of 2016 I knew that Trump would eventually taint the Republican Party and all those who fell in line behind him. Did they not suspect that someone who boasted about physically assaulting women and not paying taxes might be a “bad hombre”?
They say that love of money is the root of all evil. If only these Trump enablers had been wise enough to realize that they and we would not be in mess we’re in today.
279
@Me: Sorry to quibble, but it was not the "day after" the 2016 election that we knew about Trump, it was in the months and years before it.
That's part of the greater concern. A barely-sufficient number of voters in particular places voted for Trump BECAUSE of his destructive, nihilistic, anti-elitist characteristics. It was done specifically to lift a middle finger to those whom Trump voters thought were better, smarter, more knowledgeable than them, and who - they thought - lorded those facts over them in a scornful manner. Trump was their vehicle to strike out vengefully against a society increasingly being led by experts and the elites that was passing them by.
Not a single American paying the least attention was unaware prior to election day that Trump was a liar, con man, fraud, narcissist, boasting bully, ignoramus, and a cheat. His whole career had been in making stuff up, going bankrupt, stiffing people, and creating an imaginary (and false) "brand." That was his stock-in-trade. That's the ugly farce that people bought when they voted for him, and everyone who signed up (or stayed) to work in his administration understood it from Day One.
Let's not let any of them off the hook for this catastrophe which, in part, is of their making, too.
118
@Me I'm sure most of them saw Trump's obvious flaws and character defects yet chose to associate with Trump anyway.
That makes it even worse.
57
@AM Sadly, I agree with you re: trump supporters. He has exposed the underbelly of America. We are not the country we were brought up to believe in.
40
Just another self-centered Fool, awed by his own magnificence. Give him a lesson in consequences by BOYCOTTING his Hotels, the List/ locations are easy to find on “ Google “.
22
Sondland paid $1 million for the ambassador title. He will always have that, even if it does come with an asterisk. He got what he paid for.
10
I learned in First Grade that if I dared to enter the "Devil's Workshop" it would be a "one way trip."
I was five years old in First Grade, and I never forgot those words.
These make-believe "men" know full well that deals with the Devil are made in Hell. Whatever makes them do it? I think they are driven by at least two of the Seven Deadly Sins: Vanity & Greed.
Thanking my lucky stars that Sister Mary Margaret frightened me to no end regarding the tentacles of evil. So far, so good!
21
@Kathleen That one made me smile Kathleen.
8
As the newspaper, The Washington Diplomat says in a recent headline, "In U.S., Selling Ambassadorships To Highest Bidder Has Long History."
Enough already with the selective indignation.
5
Excellent column.
Two minutes of due diligence on Mr Trump would turn up probably 100 red flags. And that was in 2016. I can't imagine how many more it would turn up now.
The only way I can explain it is that all these suckers have a basic lack of integrity. A con man can only con someone who wants to be conned. The essence of a con is that the mark is going to receive something he/she is not entitled to or doesn't deserve.
18
In A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS Thomas More, when confronted by a lackey who testified against him falsely to please Henry VIII, chided this syncophant for dishonoring himself simply to be the legal authority in Wales. "For Wales," More disparagingly asked.
I wonder what Sondland will think, after he has dishonored himself for Trump. As one of the 'three amigos,' his dishonor is assured.
5
This is a sad story of a poor county boy who grew up to be a hotelier and then thought that he was ready to be a big-shot in the world of international intrigue and diplomacy. Sondland has made his money renting beds for people to lay on it, that's the business of the hotelier.
This time he paid big money to another hotelier, also named defendant number #2 in a criminal conspiracy case, to get him a bed in hotel fraud and conspiracy.
There he was ordered to engage in illicit activities, and to lay down in the same bed with another fraudster named Rudy.
The moral of the story is not chew bigger than you can swallow. Bed renters should not be involved in politics and politicians should not be in the business of making beds for others to lay in.
276
Sondland knew that taking a position in trump.inc would be risky and the most he could hope for would be to lay low and emerge untainted with the title Ambassador under his name on signatures. At least if he were smart, he knew. I worked 18 years in the Foreign Service doing IT and just being in the embassy environment for that long makes me more qualified to be an ambassador than Sondland. That, and I'm not dumb enough to ever suck up to a sociopath like trump.
22
No one builds a business empire without being extraordinarily ambitious, and the ambition doesn't fade away once you've achieved a given level of success, a billion dollars notwithstanding. Sondland wanted to fly closer to the sun, and the power, prestige, and perks of an ambassadorship beckoned. Unfortunately for him, he got in over his head.
There's no way he can claim ignorance, and it's doubtful the investigators are buying it. Sondland's text exchanges with Bill Taylor are already pretty damning. Hopefully, in his testimony next week, Mr. Taylor will fill in the details, particularly about what was discussed when they "took it off text".
In the meantime, we - the taxpayers - are currently funding a renovation of the Ambassador's residence in Brussels, to the tune of a million bucks (see attached). Let's hope Sondland never gets to spend a day in the decadently fancy digs he surely craved.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/gordon-sondland-criticized-for-almost-dollar1-million-in-taxpayer-funded-renovations-for-his-brussels-residence
11
Ms. Goldberg characterizes Ambassador Sondland as an "insecure opportunist". I'd posit that as a classic textbook definition of a Republican. Throughout this nightmarish disaster of a presidency, it has become eminently clear to anyone with a brain that the only "principle" Republicans live by is the pursuit of power at any cost, America and democracy be damned.
26
The old story about the moths circling the light bulb and burning up when they get too close is applicable. My guess ithat these folks who thought they would benefit by working in the admin were blinded by their ambition and discounted the tremendous risk.
6
@Blue Guy in Red State
As the sun breaks, above the ground,
An old man stands on the hill,
As the ground warms, to the first rays of light
A birdsong shatters the still.
His eyes are ablaze,
See the madman in his gaze.
Fly, on your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun,
On your way, like an eagle,
Fly and touch the sun.
Now the crowd breaks, and a young boy appears-
Looks the old man in the eye,
As he spreads his wings and shouts at the crowd
"In the name of God my father I fly."
His eyes seem so glazed
As he flies on the wings of a dream,
Now he knows his father betrayed,
Now his wings turn to ashes to ashes his grave.
Fly, on your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun,
On your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun.
-Iron Maiden
Flight of Icarus
“Sure, people sell their souls all the time — but why for something as small as a chance to serve a man whose depravity Sondland himself once recognized?“
This is a very good question. The same question should be asked about Rick Perry and Lindsey Graham (among others). They both clearly and forcefully denounced Trump prior to the election. How could they possibly imagine that their decision to embrace or work for Trump was going to lead to a good outcome? How can moral corruption come about so quickly and effortlessly with such people?
16
We still don't know the truth about Joe Biden and his son. I keep hearing it was investigated. Who did the investigating. The impeachment hearings, if public will bring it all out.
1
@Julia
Do some research. I believe the NY Times, Washington Post, and LA Times all reported the results. Nothing illegal took place, it was a non issue.
21
@Julia
Remember how many times Hillary was investigated?
And how many people went to jail after these investigations?
15
Whatever Biden's son did, it has nothing to do with Trump.
21
Extraordinarily wise and knowledgeable comment. This comment multiplies my appreciation and respect for those who represent America. “An appointee awed by the responsibility rather than himself.” Thank you for the comment and for your work.
25
You always think you’re going to be different.
Hence the surprise of adulterers who are shocked to learn when they themselves are cheated on.
8
His concern seems warranted. Michael Cohen goes to jail while the Barr DOJ decides not even to complete its investigations of the Trump Organization, Trump, or family members who signed the Stormy Daniels checks.
11
Let's see:
The U.S. ambassador to the European Union doesn't think it's off that he is the point person for....
Ukaine.
Ok.
17
Gordon Sondland, you are not one of the wealthy Seattle resident that is making the world a better place.
I hope you find your new "home" in a cage called jail.
15
"Sondland is desperately spinning to distance himself from this whole debacle, ..."
Sorry Mr Sondland, you sucked up to Mr. Trump and you're marked for life. No matter how much you scrub, the stench will be with you for the rest of your days.
21
One would think that not a few of the people in the Trump orbit would objectively ask themselves “What am I doing and why am I doing it?” And come to the honest realization that it’s wrong, immoral, and that they run a good chance of either being caught or becoming a scapegoat. One would think.
12
As you all try desperately to forget it, liberals and conservatives alike, I guess it falls to your neighbours to remind Americans of the gigantic crime of the Iraq War.
A crime for which nobody has been punished; not in court, not at the polls. The GOP that sold the crime to America lost two presidentials, but did well in Congress and state legislatures, adding a legendary thousand seats.
The crime of torture has not been punished, though the whistleblower that revealed it served over two years.
Michelle, your befuddlement could be cured by reading the work of Dr. Robert Altemeyer, who studied the authoritarian mentality for 40 years. Look up his quick, easy read, "The Authoritarians", free on the web.
Signature to authoritarian mentalities is that those with great authority and power are not considered to be guilty of crime the way the rest of us are; but if considered guilty, be forgiven or only punished lightly. (On the flip side, those in a powerless underclass are kind of inherently criminal, and it is reasonable to shoot them if they reach for their cell phone or ID.)
It's utterly beyond the pale to suggest that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld be punished for the crime of starting an illegal war, though the UN Treaty article is clear, and "the law of the land". Nobody at the Post pressed Obama to find the torturers.
That's how Sondland expected it to end: with the crime allowing more power to be obtained, and that power itself be the vindication of the crime.
16
@roy brander
Very good comment. That last paragraph...jesus. Damning. I'm stealing that.
1
Michelle, don’t be so hard on Mr. Sondland. I believe every word of his “but I never dreamed” explanation. He was completely consumed by rehabbing , decorating, modernizing the Brussels ambassadorial residence. Spending 1M isn’t that easy. I wonder if he will be able to take the spoils back to Portland with him when he decides his family needs him to come home. Sort of off-set for the million bucks he paid Trump for the gig.
11
"I never really said everything I said."
Yogi Berra
22
If it looks too good to be true, it generally is. Almost anyone is able to reflect on their poor choices after ignoring this advice usually offered by some wiser person.
"When a person shows you who they are, believe them." Thoughts from Maya Angelou.
"I'm a New Yorker and I know a con when I see one.". Michael Bloomberg 7/27/16 commenting on Trump's disastrous business reputation and known to NOT be a person of his word.
14
I thought Bloomberg was from Boston.
"That’s the thing about deals with the devil. You get what you want, and then it ruins you."
Truer words were never written and are chillingly accurate with regard to Donald Trump and his minions.
We are watching our American Ideals careening toward utter ruin. I truly hope we can stop it, but it may already be too late.
11
I shed no tears for Sondland. He is a political opportunist in the worst sense of the word, eagerly selling out his purported values and any reputation the US still has to be crowned a princeling of Trump. And what is he most worried about- that he committed such immoral acts? No, he's concerned that he'll be used as the scapegoat. May he be convicted of whatever crimes he has committed and serve prison time.
17
Stating “No quid pro quo” as Sondland purports to quote Trump is an absurdity. Like a bank robber saying to a teller “This is not a heist, but I’d like to see some pictures of Ben Franklin”. Both selling out our country as well as an ally Ukraine. Conduct was treacherous, and likely treasonous. Deniability goes only so far. No matter how much the GOP blinks.
10
"It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world ... but for Wales?" - Thomas More, "A Man for All Seasons"
7
Anyone who aligns him or herself with Trump is taking a big risk.
They should know that after being part of Trump’s orbit, you emerge sullied and dirtied.
You might even end up on Dancing With the Stars.
10
Unfortunately selling jobs in exchange for campaign contributions was not invented by Trump. This has been going on for a long time, with the GOP and with the Dems,
and its time for reform. Experience (with government service) really is the best teacher as a general rule. Would you hire a totally inexperienced surgeon without medical training to operate on you
because he made a campaign contribution?
11
.....Dr. Ben Carson's picture just popped up.
1
The initial problem here is that ambassadorships can be bought. The norm that a president seeks a qualified individual to become an ambassador, like so many other norms, has now been broken by Trump. Therefore the norm of selecting a qualified person must be codified.
Perhaps the President selecting an ambassador should be restricted to a pool of upper-tier State Department employees? Perhaps potential Ambassador should be required to at least speak the language of the country?
11
Didn’t Christopher Marlowe write a play about this over four hundred years ago?
Wasn’t it called Doctor Faustus?
Perhaps it needs to be required reading for aspiring people of influence.
13
The Gordon Sondland story: another argument for a wealth tax.
24
Sondland was appointed ambassador to the EU. The Ukraine is not a member of the EU. So what is Sondland’s explanation for getting involved in the internal affairs of the Ukraine, and failing to see and question the legitimacy, and legality, of what he was asked to do? Some connections and explanations seem to be missing.
26
It was not his expertise. Was he ever a Giuliani client?
4
“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.” - F Scott Fitzgerald. It’s all a highly competitive game: how much you have, how big your yacht, where your kids go to school, how exotic your vacation, etc. etc. ad infinitum. An ambassadorship is just another chip in the game for some people. The thing is, there’s very little satisfaction in living this way. Everything is competition; others’ achievements are threats. As the Buddhists say, the harder you grasp the more you suffer.
17
I have kept asking myself a similar question about all these people working for Trump: "Why are they doing this and how do they think this is going to end?". Barr is another good case-in-point. He is obviously a very smart guy that presumably was doing well in private practice. His reputation is completely soiled and will be remembered as a shady character by history. What company is going to hire Spicer or Huckabee to represent their companies? Only if willing to dance in a ridiculous outfit. Similar ignominy awaits all the current and former cabinet members. Trump's Midas touch is not going to turn them into something that does not smell like gold.
15
@okeemokee The Fox newsroom will be getting crowded after they hire all of this idiots.
3
Do you really think Sondland is that much different (superior) to Trump? Yes, Sondland may have deported himself in a more appearances-pleasing manner, and (unlike Trump) he may have been invited to dine at the homes of the Upper East Side sophisticates. But peel open both and you'll find the same greed and sense of entitlement.
21
If Sondland is just a little educated (in the broader sense of the word), he will have been aware of the story of Icarus. He may well be correct that he will be sacrificed to protect "more powerful" people but should have no doubt that ultimately, all will face the same fate.
8
Maybe Sondland should read up on John Dean's epic rejection of the Dark Side, and his subsequent life as a hero with a clear conscience.
10
He's from the Pacific Northwest, so I give him the benefit of the doubt. He just wanted to rub elbows with the rich and famous who might then stay in his boutique hotels. He had no idea what he was supposed to do, or even whether Ukraine was in the EU. I hope he knows enough to turn on the entire lousy corrupt lot in this Administration.
2
For me, for the first time on the pages of The Times someone is painting the right portrait. Giving an unvarnished account of what this White House is like. An intimate portrait of it - not a professional opinion such as George Conway has done, or others
who are Constitutional specialists. In their own capacities they have given assessments which can also be largely consigned to their specialities, But - this is the human, and more relevant to me as a citizen watching in frustration as what is going on now amounts to war crimes at the very very worst, and white collar criminal money theft and laundering and embezzlement at least.
Our government has become literally soul-sickening.
11
Ukrainian USSR is now Ukrainian USA.
But Ukraine was a functioning democracy. They had their Orange Revolution. They could have made further changes peacefully through democratic means. But they were seduced by Victoria Nuland and the $5 billion over 10 years that the US invested in Ukrainian "Democracy" to bring about violent regime change.
"Once there was peace, now there is division and destruction" - the motto of Empire.
No mention of that illegal coup in this op-ed.
Instead more fodder for the endless bickering amongst the elites which of the two corrupt parties is more corrupt.
Biden's corrupt !
No, Sondland is corrupt!
Ad nauseam.
What Russiagate, and now Ukrainegate, are really all about is making sure there's no discussion of what's wrong with our society, much less how to fix it.
There are numerous reasons for working class folks to oppose Trump. But it is the Democratic Party which pretends to oppose and condemn him, even as they agree with him and help him pass record war budgets, conspire with him to privatize social services, help him prosecute illegal wars on the world’s poor brown and black people, assist him in his assault on the basic rights of civilians, and help him transfer the public’s wealth to the ruling class.
It’s the Democratic Party which decides "the parameters of permissible discourse", which critiques to take up and which to ignore or suppress. With the help of the media.
This false opposition (Scheinopposition) is dangerous for all us.
3
It is amazing to me that people whose lives would be so much better, still very wealthy, and untainted would saddle up to Trump. Just look at what has happened to just about every person who has involved themselves with this guy. In jail, under indictment, run out of town because of corruption, or reputations forever tainted are just a few of the prices that are paid. But as soon as the positions open up, another person steps up thinking "I won't be caught up in the nonsense" and then they look up to see the bus rolling over them. Then my next thought is "How could they be so stupid?". Still waiting for any of them to offer a reasonable answer to that one.
8
Whatever else one might think about Bolton, it is looking as though he kept his nose clean.OTOH, If Sondland was unaware, he had to work pretty hard to not know.
10
"What I can’t comprehend is how anyone could think that working for Trump would end up any other way." Maybe Mr Sondland has the same problem of perception that the GOP has? Maybe they look at Trump and think he is someone they can control and manipulate, to help achieve some goal of their own. Trump is stupid, but that flaw is outweighed by his relentlessness and lack of any moral constraint in going after whatever he wants. To Trump, the resulting collateral damage to associates, the GOP, anyone who works for him, the country or the world is not his problem. Rick Wilson is correct: everything Trump touches dies. People imagine they are smarter than Trump, but they end up drowning in his toxicity.
7
Ambassador Sondland never learned the lessons from Gene Kelly the newspaper reporter in "Inherit the Wind", "He who sups with the devil must use a long spoon."
5
No sympathy for him. Lie down with the dogs and you get fleas.
9
One of the saddest lessons of this miserable part of our national history, is how weak and easily manipulated so many people in power actually are. I cringe now when I look at that pathetic man, Lindsay Graham, or that clownish imposter, William Barr. Now, Mr. Sondland, an insecure, sad case of wanting to burnish his reputation, and, in setting aside his own morality, made a deal with the devil. I remember that sad sack and yet another manipulated loser, Michael Cohen, who warned people to stay out of Trump's orbit or they would be poisoned by him as well.
17
This man is a grasping opportunist with a lot of money. That's it; that's the whole story. No real intent to be of service, no urge to lift all boats, no design to make the world a better place.
He had a plane; he had plenty of money, now he wanted an ambassadorship because all the other guys had one.
The man is pathetic and reprehensible, and ohmigod, completely out of his depth with the big time charlatans.
15
That there is purchase of influence and honors at the highest levels doesn't shock me a bit. What i cannot get my head around is that when gregious corruption is exposed millions and millions of Amricans don't care a whit. That Trump is a zany, unpredictable and ignorant lunatic we have known since he was young. How can so many Americans buy into and approve of him despite the exposure of his shameless double dealing and warping of our American traditions and mores?
This is not new with Trump, either. Bush (transparently levered into office by the Supreme Court) lied about WMDs, was exposed and suffered no consequences, paid no price for the thousnds who died as a result of his disingenuous march to war.
If we're capable of that obscenity, we're capable of anything, and Trump is proof. I say "our" because he is the president, but I truly believe that the stupidest, coarsest, most brazenly dishonest and even criminal proportion of our population is now in control of our country. They intend to stay that way. We are taken hostage by the worst people in the nation. They are not simply "of another opinion." They are criminal accomplices.
7
" ... this crime-syndicate administration ... "
Brilliant description of the whole rotten gang ...
10
Disgrace well earned by a typical Republican money and power hungry dirtbag. His hotels in Portland are a no go zone for me. I'm hopeful someone will look into his tax dodging as well.
8
Add “stupid” to this sentence and you have your answer, Michelle: “Based on news reports, he mostly just seems like an insecure opportunist.” Never underestimate the combined power of stupidity, insecurity and hubris.
6
Sondland’s hotel business here in the ultra liberal Pacific Northwest is already dying. Everything Trump touches dies.
7
Stupidity and dishonesty are not mutually exclusive.
7
Vegas or Trumpland was made for Sondlands. Everyone that goes thinks they know how to play the game and beat the odds. You walk in with a pile of cash, they give you a fruity beverage and a nice room and take all that cash.
This outcome never changes, but full flights tell us that learning and self-awareness are not a priority.
4
@Matt I like the visual of this.
All the Trump idiots standing around a craps table congratulating each other on their successes.
2
We can debate whether the rich work harder than the rest of us. But I think this settles the argument about the rich being smarter.
11
Why are wealthy donors given choice ambassadorships around the world simply because they donated money to the presidential campaign? It doesn’t appear ethical. Of course, nothing has been ethical in this current administration.
9
Ms. Goldberg is surely not naive enough to believe that members of the Trump cartel might take pause and consider morality as a counterweight to money and power. The only counterbalancing consideration is being caught.
The easy answer is that when Sondland bought into the Trump organization, it was a lucrative investment where there were no consequences. Everything Trump did or said was consequence free, and despite all the disqualifying actions and behaviors, Trump found himself at the top of the US government org chart.
For Sondland and other of his ilk, it was an easy investment decision. Invest in Trump, and you'll be protected. It was only in hindsight that consequences started to unfurl.
7
Gordon Sondland’s moment of reckoning is the latest example that this administration’s ineptitude is clear evidence of the Peter Principal. All the players involved have risen to their level of respective incompetence. Excellent commentary from Ms. Goldberg.
9
"Sure, people sell their souls all the time"
Yes, they do. I have heard the same refrain from scores of Trump supporters when pressed about his despicable behavior. "I don't approve of the man, but I approve of the policies". I submit Mr. Trump's almost universal support by the Evangelical Christian community as the most obvious example of this "deal with the devil" rationalization. Mr. Sondland is nothing more than the latest overly ambitious schemer that believed President Trump a justified means to a selfish end. Many have underestimated DJT's ability to fully corrupt his underlings through the toxic combination of loyalty and fear. Mr. Sondland now shares a common Trump experience with Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, and George Papadopoulos, just to name a few. His will most likely end similarly in a cage.
10
Money and power corrupt. It's an addiction and too many people get sucked into the desperate need for more, more, more. Ethics, laws, patriotism, be damned. Those drawn to into the Trump web are without exception selling their souls to the devil.
4
I think "Ambassador" Sondland's motives are very clear. Many uber-rich never actually believe they cannot control dictators and would-be dictators like Trump, and figure if they get in they'll be able to steer him.
Now, while his PR motive for testifying is to preserve / clear his reputation, it's obvious that Sondland's REAL motive is staying out of prison, knowing full well that Trump hasn't pardoned Paul Manafort, despite his remaining loyal to Trump, nor Flynn, and of course not Gates or Cohen.
But Sondland is a textbook example on why no President with any degree of competence (ruling out Trump and GW Bush) EVER sends a political-reward ambassadorship to any place they have a chance of screwing things up. Critical, dangerous, and hostile states are where the professionals, the career diplomats like Marie Yovanovitch get sent, and for good reason. Because it's tough, delicate, and requires experience and dedication, not to mention courage.
Sondland was in 'way over his head, just like Trump, Pence, and Pompeo, and didn't recognize it until far, far too late.
Compared to them, Rex Tillerson looked like a competent pro. Of course, having been an effective CEO of Exxon, he has the ability to learn, and a rational brain. I believe his gut told him to decline but his wife said he had to serve his country.
As arch-Conservative Rick Wilson titled his book: "Everything Trump Touches Dies", yet again it's true.
Sondland should have known better. No sympathy here.
11
Must not underestimate insecurity, perhaps deep insecurity, expressed through greed.
Sondland may have had millions, but he seems to have craved recognition in a public role.
Methinks he could have donated to arts, schools, antipoverty programs. But that's not what he craved. He seems to have craved a specific kind of position where recognition is measured by what European government heads you've met and cocktail parties with the right folks.
He sold his soul to Trump for that.
There's plenty of that neediness to go around, too. Paul Krugman has keenly observed how many of the superrich seemingly cannot enjoy their wealth unless daily bathed in servile adulation.
Trump himself epitomizes the archetype of rich white man's neediness, to the point if caricature and beyond.
10
At this point it does not look like our Republic will survive. The Republicans care more for for their money, privileges and perks. They do not believe in the Experiment and I wonder if they ever did. Maybe they were just waiting for a president like Trump to destroy it. Wish granted. Be careful what you wish for!!
4
@So You can stop wondering (OK, I know it is rhetorical and you really don't but for all the other readers), they never did. The best description that captures the personal and policy foibles of all but the real crime family members and "made" consigliere is neo-confederate,i.e. racist, anti-democratic, seditious, shamelessly hypocritical, authoritarian fascists to their core beings.
1
Every country has career diplomats. Ours is the only
country where an individual is allowed to pick any body based on his whim and what the person has donated to his re-election. Why should I be proud of our constitution.?
2
This short and succinct column by Michelle Goldberg is the best I have yet read and says it all. Very well done!
8
Good reminder as we head into the clean up phase. The Sondlands of this story knew very well they've chosen to support a criminal enterprise. They need to pay a price for enabling this expansive crime family and bringing us all so low, and the willfully ignorant even lower. Now we see the results of compromises over decades in basic principles like church/state separation, checks and balances, oligarchy, judiciary integrity . . . long list. Let's make sure all the opportunists face appropriate and memorable consequences, like prison, fines, seizure of assets. We can't just dust off the system, we have to go in with the Clorox, or it will be much harder to recover from the next shock-and-awe takeover by a sham party.
5
@Michele Amen! No reconciliation without Truth! In the short term: PELOSI 2019!
Let's get this Constitutional democracy party started!
2
@Songsfrown Pelosi will NOT pursue the truth. She has that "off the table". thing going.
And, as much as I admire Mrs. Pelosi, we need a progressive to get us out of this mess.
1
"There are two possibilities here. Either Sondland was wildly, almost inconceivably ignorant about what was going on around him, or in trying to salvage his reputation, he just lied to Congress."
I'm going with door number 2. Yes, in some ways he is obviously not that bright (allying himself with Trump, thinking that we would buy his spiel), but he is obviously very comfortable with the concept of quid pro quo, since he himself got the ambassadorship after he ponied up $1 million.
What's the penalty for lying to congress, again? He may no longer have a reputation to salvage, but I would think he still values his freedom.
3
For some time, the question has been whether this administration is clueless or crooked.
Accruing revelations offer proof the answer is both.
5
These political appointees had ample warning. Trump kicked off his campaign on an escalator going down.
9
Excellent article.
The truth is that Trump can be bought, and from what we read, quite easily, by anyone who flatters him or, if necessary, pays him off.
We all saw the Saudis treating him like a mythical prince, the head of North Korea writing him 'love letters', Putin calling him a 'genius' and all the biggies in the Republican Party bowing and scaping to a fair-thee-well, in the hopes to be thrown some crumbs.
Wake up America. Is this truly the country you want? Perhaps more importantly, is this the country that the Republican Senators, headed by McConnell want?
10
Any why not also mention the taxpayer funded million dollar upgraded ambassador residence...
7
I am a lawyer. He committed crimes.
11
Sondland seems like he's cut from the same cloth as Trump. " I own hotels so I know everything" and "I can fix this". So Trump likes him for his cash donation. Sondland had no foreign service. No credentials it seems except that big donation to Trump's campaign. This is the quality of ambassador we get under Trump. Ukraine isn't even in the EU. Why does Sondland think he should be mucking about there with Giuliani?
And as a note: The previous Obama EU appointee has the following credentials: BA in Government from Harvard University, MPhil in International Relations from Oxford University, a JD from Columbia Law School, and a Masters in Finance from London Business School. He speaks 5 languages.
8
Why isn’t anybody stating the obvious. Sure Trump wanted conspiracy talking points against Biden for the election. But what he really wanted was for the “corrupt” Ukrainians who he was pressuring to go ahead and be corrupt by making up false evidence (documents, transcripts, testimony) on the Bidens!
4
"That’s the thing about deals with the devil. You get what you want, and then it ruins you." -- what an accurate description of what happens to anyone who gets involved in this administration. I agree 100%
1
As Michelle point out, the guy is lying through his teeth when he says that he was not aware until the whistle blower complaint. Should be prosecuted.
2
The awarding of ambassadorships to people lacking in character is not new. I am a retired Foreign Service Officer and I can assure you many previous administrations have endured people like Sondland. What’s new is that Trump’s folks think that by saying “all of this is normal” will make many nod and say, everybody does it. But that’s not the case. Due to the Hatch Act, it is drummed into diplomats that in their official functions they must avoid even the appearance of acting in a way that is furthering political objectives. Sondland was in way over his head, and Trump and Giuliani no doubt used his being green to get him to do their dirty work. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be and the swampiness of our Foreign Policy needs a severe scrubbing.
6
We now know what is the going price of an ambassadorship in DT's administration is. I wonder what the price of presidencyor nation is?
2
Mr. Sondland does not seem very bright. He should have known that making a deal with the devil requires you to sell your soul. But if Sondland lied to Congress, he should and must be charged with perjury and prosecuted accordingly.
6
So what you are saying is that if you lie down with dogs (apologies to my favorite animal) yet wake up with fleas ?
1
At this point, if you sign up to work for this man the best you can can hope for is national disgrace, but jail is a very real possibility, especially considering Trump would throw his own family and “friends” (in quotes because I doubt he has any real friends) under the bus before taking any responsibility for his actions.
9
If we learn anything important from this presidency, it is that presidential candidates must release their tax returns and pass a security clearance, and all their political appointees must be properly vetted to a common standard.
21
@BBB Add a psychological evaluation to that.
I had to pass a psych eval to winter-over in Antarctica as a janitor. Apparently a more crucial job than being President of the United States...
4
I am disturbed by the authors comment “ I can understand the longing for honor and status. What confounds me is how anyone could think that working for Trump might provide these things...”
So the author longs for honor and status? I always though honor and status weren’t exactly tangible items that one could purchase or acquire through desire. Honor and status is bestowed, earned, sacrificed for. Does this author think slathering his piece with degrading comments about Trump will bring him a status he longs for?
He is confounded and confused regarding anyone working for Trump, who also may seek recognition in a status, forgets that those who work for Trump work for US, the people of this great Republic. Those willing to take the constant criticism that the press has put on Trump and his supporters from day one, have done so out of their own desire and beliefs to make this country better.
The authors own nasty, sniping, derogatory comments about this president apparently makes him feel a little more important and maybe a little closer to that honor and status he apparently so longs for!
2
@Let me know
Respectfully, please read the article carefully, as it answers your concerns. To wit, and I QUOTE:
"Sondland said that he and his colleagues were “disappointed by the president’s direction that we involve Mr. Giuliani,” but felt compelled to follow it. Still, he said, “I did not understand, until much later, that Mr. Giuliani’s agenda might have also included an effort to prompt the Ukrainians to investigate Vice President Biden or his son or to involve Ukrainians, directly or indirectly, in the president’s 2020 re-election campaign.”
There are two possibilities here. Either Sondland was wildly, almost inconceivably ignorant about what was going on around him, or in trying to salvage his reputation, he just lied to Congress.
6
@Let me know
1) Michelle Goldberg is a female, last time I checked. So, not a "he".
2) "I always though honor and status weren’t exactly tangible items that one could purchase or acquire through desire."
If that were true, would we have giant, obscenely ornate towers all over the world plastered with the name "Trump" in giant gold letters?
3) Also in regards to 2), if Sondland hadn't put up $1 million for Trump's inauguration, I highly doubt he would have landed an ambassadorship.
4) Calling out the inequities of our public servants by journalists and columnists is not unpatriotic, and Ms. Goldberg is not trying fill some empty hole in her soul. The press is what keeps us from falling into just another corrupt dictatorship. You may not agree with her opinions, but she and her fellow journalists are important contributors to the marketplace of ideas.
9
If you note, the “author” of the piece is a well respected woman reporter, maybe a little biased, but isn’t everyone. You, on the other hand...
4
Let's just be clear here.. Both sides have rewarded mega donors with Ambassadorships. The day of the 2016 election, HRC had all her mega donors ready to accept their new diplomatic positions .. only to realize a few hours later, they won't be going anywhere.
Ambassadorships should be only given to career Foreign Service officers - no exceptions!
12
@Aaron, the point is not he donated to become Ambassador, the point is he craved it so much he sold his soul to Trump.
There are some associations that, if you make them, then you can never escape them in your life. Even if you truly repent you still will have to live with your choices.
2
@DM
The point is.. Neither party should be allowed to sell off Ambassadorships in the first place .. Otherwise clowns like Sondland put our entire nation at risk.
3
It is entirely possible as in certain missions, foot soldiers have no idea at all of the bigger plan -- only the man with the plan may have some ideas. Look at Syria, for example -- don't think any of the generals, regardless of the numbers of stars, had or have a clue. In this administration, everyone is a foot soldier, regardless of the title.
from what I've seen Sondland suffers from a syndrome that afflicts a lot of very wealthy people: power becomes the next goal, superseding money.
add to this the hubris that often comes with self-made success - these people believe themselves to be better than pretty much everyone else.
and finally, bias confirmation. in Sondland's quest for power, he filtered the available information so as to only see the exculpatory version of events - he probably sincerely believed he wasn't helping commit a crime.
7
For all of their crimes, Trump and his henchboys deserve at minimum tenners, ten year prison sentences, and forfeiture of all their property, light sentences for aiding and abetting treason.
11
In this piece, Ms. Goldberg said “What I can’t comprehend is how anyone could think that working for Trump would end up any other way“. In Mr. Sondland’s case, and probably many, many others, it’s ego. It’s tunnel vision. It’s an imperious attitude that makes people seek high office to burnish their egos without looking a the thousand pound gorilla, that it’s completely wrong and lacks any degree of honesty or integrity. Trump is simply an ignorant and bad person, and working for him causes a person to take on the slimy results, no matter who sidles up to him for gratification. Even if Mr. Sondland isn’t really a bad person, he’s made a deal with the devil and will have to face the unpleasant music.
10
Why? Because he’s not very smart. Just because you’re rich doesn’t mean you’re smart. There is a saying in Silicon Valley, “It’s better to be lucky than to be smart.” Apparently it’s also true for hotel guys.
7
On a lighter note, does anyone else see Sondland's resemblance (plus 40 years) to Kenneth the NBC Intern from "30 Rock"? On a somber note, yesterday's analysis of Sondland on the Morning Edition broadcast (NPR) revealed his motivations for wanting to buy a step on this ladder so much. His Jewish parents fled Nazi Germany to America. He wanted to get closer to being posted to Germany for ancestral reasons.
3
Sondland, Volker and Governor Rick "Oops!" Perry actually referred to themselves as the Three Amigos. Seriously.
Sondland is now using the "useful idiot" defense, and so will the other two Amigos. They will each claim they knew nothing.
It will become known as the "Three Stooges" defense.
14
In Perry’s case the useful idiot defense is all too believable. His successor better be capable of getting our stockpile of nukes out of Turkey before Erdogan takes over our airbase there. Trump will likely nominate another groveling moron for Energy then blame the loss of the nukes on the poor Ukrainians.
3
@Shend
“Three Stooges Defense” line is funny and may fit the three amigos, although I’m not sure Perry can get away with that as a now former cabinet member.
At least the Three Stooges were funny. The three amigos...not so much.
1
“Malignant narcissist...”—what an elegant description! It also applies to virtually all of trump’s appointed oligarchs. It’s past time for them all to be ridden out of office on an electoral rail.
10
Wow, doesn’t Sondland know it generally doesn’t cost a million bucks for you own private prison cell.
9
My wild guess is that Sondland had dreams of running for the Senate, and decided he needed something to burnish his resume. Glad it worked out for him.
10
The two smartest people in the Trump Admin to leave on their own were Gary Cohn and General Mattis. DT and Giuliani are New Yorkers and to survive in his Admin you either have to be one of his family or grown up in NY to understand the mentality of his Admin.
5
Trump is Mephistopheles, and Sondland got his reward with his million dollar payment to Mephistopheles. The problem is that Sondland, if he ever knew of the tale, or simply ignored it, should not now complain that his Faustian bargain came with strings attached.
8
Two remarkable sentences stuck out in this article: But Sondland's not really a Trumpist. Based on news report, he mostly just seems like an insecure opportunist." There's a difference between these two categories?
6
Instead of buying a way into college for his child, Mr. Sondland bought his way onto a team. Some in the first group are on the way to jail. What about Mr. Sondland?
4
Sondland is now fair game for Trump and his consiglieri, Rudy. I'm afraid witness protection isn't going to be available for Sondland.
3
Sondland was manifestly unfit for any ambassadorial post. He saw it as some kind of trophy. Yes, ambassadorships have been awarded to political donors for a long time, but Sondland's sycophantic slathering over Trump meant that he was a "useful idiot" to the Trump administration, able to be co-opted into doing things that were far outside of his portfolio. Ukraine is not in the European Union, so what the heck was Sondland doing mucking around in Kijv?
I am a little sorry for Sondland, but not too sarry. He was a genuinely self-made businessman, who simply got in over his head, and was rendered loopy by his own ambition to self-aggrandize. I suppose many have gone that route and have crashed and burned. However, forewarned is forearmed. All Sondland had to do was look around Trump world, where nearly everyone crashes and burns. Trump's White House is a graveyard for careers and reputations. Everyone associated with him eventually is destroyed.
14
“He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith; and he that hath fellowship with a proud man shall be like unto him.”
Ecclesiasticus 13:1
3
Will he be a Sean Spicer or a Michael Cohen?
1
So ye sow so shall ye reap
"He that touches pitch shall be defiled therewith." Ecclesiasticus 13:1.
3
Gordon Sondland's arrogant ignorance is personified by his decision to have the American taxpayers foot a $ 432,000 bill for 2 separate kitchens in his Brussels residence.
10
Sondland is no different than McConnell, or Graham, or any of the others Trump has converted and coopted into his GOP power source. It is a frightening example the way greed, fear, desire for power, and self-deception intersect and grow into something evil. I used to wonder how the decent people in Germany allowed Hitler and the Nazis to commit the atrocities of that regime. I feel much closer to understanding that now. It is frightening to watch.
13
The question I keep asking about Trump's circle is, are there really THAT many people who are so stupid and narcissistic to think that they will not end up like all of Trump's other associates: with ruined reputations, in jail, or on Dancing with the Stars.
The answer, clearly, is YES, there really are that many stupid, narcissistic people. And Trump knows it.
9
As Trump and Putin like to say, "he was a useful idiot".
He was way over his head, no diplomatic or foreign experience, just a guy with briefcases full of cash.
6
based on NPR's profile yesterday, Sondland's dream post as an American ambassador was his singular goal.
Like the scorpion stinging the hapless toad, as he swims him across the river,
he asks why???!
What did you think Gordon, that Trump might prefer a different sycophant to take his grenade? You are as good as the next..
3
I guess Sondland doesn't read New York Times or watch CNN. I figure an ambassadorial requirement is being up on current events.
So, either he is not up to the job, or he's got Trump's
Syndrome, a.k.a, lying fever.... Better lawyer up, Gordon.
3
I used to be stunned by Trump's brazen selfishness, but now I'm daily amazed at his enablers. Sondland should know better, and this is a great analysis.
But the fish stinks from the head. If the Trump enablers start blaming each other, then the whole house of cards falls down (sorry for mixing metaphors!). Let Sondland blame Giuliani and then Giuliani will blame Perry who'll blame Sondland. I don't care if those guys end up in jail, as long as Trump is removed.
8
Unfortunately, the fate of our Republic is in the hands of Senate Republicans. Subsequently, which means the fate of the Republic is in the hands of middle and rural America. So long as this portion of the country continues to support President Trump, Senators from these states wouldn't dare vote to remove him for fear of being primary-ied. Only if the would realize their job is to lead and not be lead the mob.
3
Interesting question and analysis by Ms. Goldberg.
Pride and vanity get my vote.
When you're rich and you own all of the houses, cars, yachts and planes that you can afford, why not by the ultimate status symbol -- an ambassadorship?
From the point of view of a 68 year old, there isn't much time left, so why not put in with Trump. He can be managed, right? Surprise, ETTD.
5
It is abhorrent to think that Trump will go free while yet more of those around him, like Sondland, are indicted and will face consequences. So far, Mulvaney and Barr appear to think they have some of Trump's Teflon and chutzpah.
4
Why does this article remind me of that scene from The Wire after Orlando got busted for buying crack from an undercover cop, and he is in jail and the Barksdale lawyer, Maurice Levy, has him sign over all kinds of stuff, Orlando complains, and Levy says, "You wanted to be in the game? Now you're in the game."
So Mr. Sondland? You wanted to be in the game? Now you're in the game.
7
I'd be thrilled to see Sondland go down hard. In his home base of Portland, up the road a bit from us, he has a long history of shameless greed and complete disregard for the welfare of anyone but himself (sound familiar?). An op-ed in today's Oregonian paints a clear picture:
https://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2019/10/so-much-for-gordon-sondland-steve-duin-column.html
4
As a San Franciscan, what really bugs me it that this Sondland guy is from Oregon.
1
It won't assuage the Sondland Faustian trope but I would ask, no, demand, that Sondland pay out of his own pocket the costs, all of them, for the renovation and decoration he made on his Ambassador's Palace home and office in Europe. And add a few million dollars more to contribute to the U.S. Diplomatic Corps retirement fund.
8
Good piece. Goldberg diagnoses the problem correctly IMO by calling Sondlund an insecure opportunist. Add in wealth, and you have a guy who bought himself a position way over his pay grade but was too ignorant to know it. He thought he'd fly under the radar while rubbing shoulders with the big boys and make all his friends jealous. Oops.
9
Kudos to photographer Damon Winter for the photo that accompanies this article. The look on Sondland's attorney's face is priceless. It reads like a subtitle of what's going on behind the ambassador's pasted-on smile.
4
Let me guess. Sondland was a nerd and had no friends in high school. See what all your money can buy --
5
Crime bosses always need willing stooges and patsies to take the bullet. Dreams and fantasies of acquiring political power and prestige couldn’t be a better enticement to join the mob.
6
Sundland and his ‘fellow travellers’ on the Trump bus will soon find themselves under its wheels.
4
One doesn’t necessarily need to be smart to make a lot of money—just skillful at what it is that supports and advances your gravy train along the track to maximum possible wealth and power. That noted public intellectual, Forest Gump’s mother said it best, “Stupid is as stupid does.” We as a culture are far too easily seduced into thinking that any rich person is worthy of the respect he/she so lusts after by accumulating wealth simply by luck and a prepared mind.
One delicious irony that hopefully follows in the wake of the disastrous Time of Trump might be that the wealthy in our country who do not see fit to sign The Gates/Buffet Giving Pledge (to give away at least half of their lucre during their sentient lifetimes) will be flung out of their power orbits by the greater gravity of the more noble, socially engaged and aware of those who did sign or will be signing that pledge coincidently as DJT is ejected from the power of his office so he then can fitted for the orange jump suit he so richly deserves!
7
Oh, what is the big deal? With apologies to both kind and virtuous dogs and fleas, lie down with a dog with fleas and you get up with fleas. Yes, before the 2016 election some said that Trump was a bum. What we could not imagine is how bad a bum he was.
3
One of the disturbing characteristics of Trump and his minions is that they believe everybody would behave the same way in their position, that is, if you are a thief then everybody is a thief. And betrayal at any level is just par for the course... ask the Kurds.
4
Everyone needs to read this:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/18/opinion/old-age-president-2020.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
AND THEN demand AGE LIMITS.
No, not term limits. AGE LIMITS.
Age limits exist on the lower end. You can't be elected (or appointed, as Trump would like) President when you're 18. There's no reason why we should be subject to a geriocracy. Age limits would disqualify Trump, Moscow Mitchsky, Pelosi, and a whole bunch of others who have this job for life and hold our nation hostage to their disproportional entrenched power.
DEMAND THEM NOW!!!
5
Trump loves dragging businesspeople who have earned $$ and created value down to his level and then pushing them out the window.
4
Narcissists love company; did anyone really expect this guy to come clean about selling his soul so he could play the big man in Europe? From other profiles I’ve read, he was the quintessential Ugly American, boorish and arrogant. He’s going to look great in orange. Godspeed.
6
“But Sondland’s not really a Trumpist. Based on news reports, he mostly just seems like an insecure opportunist.”
Isn’t that basically all that Trump is? He’s been quite effective at taking political advantage of the opportunities, but at heart he’s just an insecure opportunist...
3
Trump has an uncanny ability to surround himself with cowards and lickspittles. Mulvaney, Pompeo, Perry, Graham, McConnell, Giuliani...these are only the iceberg's tip, in just this one scandal. Sondland is but another coward, willing to die a thousand times before death itself finally overtakes him.
One valiant man (or woman) is not to be found in the entirety of Trump's coterie.
5
This is a story as old as humanity itself. People with money think their money gives them power. Sondland coveted international glory and prestige. He thought he could buy it. Yeah,Trump is a scoundrel, but lots of people are scoundrels and I've dealt with these people all my life. They all like my money and gladly take it. We see this attitude playing out in rich kids college admissions scandal.
Doing dirty deals is one thing but breaking the law on the international stage with the entire world watching is quite another. Their money cannot insulate them as much as they thought.
Sondland needs to wake up. Trump throws everyone under the bus. He has a fleet of busses constantly running over dozens of people. He just ran over General Mattis. Trump will run over anyone at anytime. Sondland has learned that the hard way.
His defense of, Gosh officer! I didn't know anything about it, will fall apart. He knew but he was blinded by his desire for prestige. He knows a lot more now.
10
The thing many of the rich and powerful have in common is an incredible sense of self-worth, entitlement, and extreme narcissism. This is also their Achilles heel: their extreme narcissism makes them believe that they are extraordinarily special, and their extraordinary specialness will insulate them from Trump’s destructiveness.
The entire country suffers. Trump is a malignant narcissist and a psychopath. Get. Him. Out.
8
@Dr. M Right you are! In the small town where I grew up there was a well known businessman, kind of average, friendly enough, a nice guy ... then he won a large amount of money in the lottery (50 million or something like that), and overnight turned into a sneering, swaggering egomaniac. The speed of the transformation was astonishing. He would make remarks in public about how lazy working class people were, there should be no minimum wage, if people worked harder they wouldn't have to worry about money, and so on. Everybody hated him. He told me once that " a lot of people don't like me; they're jealous of my success."
2
Another example of how anything and anyone that goes along with trump will end up dragged into the garbage heap. Trump is the antithesis of a King Midas - everything he touches turns into ______. (supply your own descriptor)
3
It occurs to me that the person escorting Mr. Sondeland has an appropriate expression of concern on his face as they march towards deposition and Mr. Sondland appears the oblivious fool.
4
So CNN and the NYT reported on guiliani’s agenda. If Fox didn’t, maybe that’s all the defense Sondland needs. Do people really believe anyone in the MAGA world watches or reads anything other than fox and propaganda outlets further to the right?
4
Sleep with dogs, wake up with fleas.
2
Why is this column permitted to spew accusations of lies, and then walk it back with: "I’m not a lawyer and have no idea whether Sondland will face criminal liability."
He thought it would end precisely the same way the Pritzkers thought it would end when they supported Obama thusly.
One possible redeeming quality of Sondland, is that when he went to work for Trump, he didn't completely cleanse himself of the ability to feel shame. This sets him above quite a few who have debased themselves this way.
1
Sondland is, like Trump, only worried about his brand. Not the country. He's in a mess of his own making...and no one is throwing him a rope. What he should have done when he was confronted with the scheme was quit.
4
This is just another proof that the constitution was written by people that couldn't imagine in their worst nightmares that one day, a malignant narcissist would become president of the United States.
4
Another grifter,who has benefited from the hard work of the working and middle class.I fear he protests too much,and too late. Let him face prosecutors.A traitor is a traitor.
3
Another clown who thinks that because he's rich, he can actually *do* anything. As if the acquisition of money necessarily means one is smarter and "better" than everyone else out there. No, he's just some idiot who got lucky and/or who was insanely privileged and thus had the cards stacked in his favor. Worshiping the wealthy as superior, morally and otherwise, has systematically eroded the American values that matter most.
2
Trump is a clinical sociopath and everything he has done was foreseeable. He is no different as president than he was as a common New York criminal. We just didn’t realize what power a president actually had to do horrible things. He needs to go to jail.
4
@rmski77
People like this are hired all the time in business and elsewhere. If they are not white, white folks blame affirmative action. If they are white, that's the way it's supposed to be.
3
A reminder that Gordon Sondland is the founder of Provenance Hotel Group.
IF YOU CARE ABOUT OUR COUNTRY BOYCOTT:
Hotel Max, and Hotel Theodore in Seattle, Washington
Hotel Murano in Tacoma, Washington
Hotel deLuxe, Portland, OR
Hotel Lucia in Portland, OR
Sentinel Hotel in Portland, OR
Hotel Dossier in Portland, OR
Heathman Hotel in Portland, OR
The Hotel Preston in Nashville, Tennessee
Old No. 77 Hotel and Chandlery in New Orleans, Louisiana
The Revolution Hotel Boston, Massachusetts
Villa Royale Palm Springs, CA
Lora Stillwater, MN
Woodlark Portland, OR
We can't vote with our ballot 'til '20, but we can vote with our wallets now.
10
@Online Contributor Good job. Thanks. While we're at it boycott (delete!) Facebook for their overt efforts to curry favor and profit from enabling of disinformation, propaganda and lies that poison our public commons.
Katie Harbath, needs to be fired immediately and whoever was the hiring manager at FaceBook responsible for her hiring needs to go as well. Not only are they clearly not up to the job they are actively working at cross purposes to what the current mission needs to be if there is any real value to be derived from this company.
3
...well, pence can pardon Sondland I suppose, after he pardons trump.
2
At least Gordon Sondland came forward and declined to further enable Trump’s criminal agenda. It’s more than we can say for all those Republican legislators still bowing and scraping to their corrupt mafia boss.
The political taint of being a Trumpian sycophant has caught up with Sondland. It is like a contagious disease - guilt by association with a malignant narcissist. Sondland is another victim of Trumpism - by his own making. He will be held accountable.
3
Why is this guy always smiling?
3
My goodness, hard rule #2, known and promulgated from here deep in the red backwaters is proven out yet again. To wit, any person willing to take an appointed position in this administration is obviously disqualified for that position. Many are disqualified based on lacking the basic professional skills required of the job. All are disqualified based on their psychological traits, i.e. character, in that they would even consider taking a job with these criminal miscreants. This was all known prior to the inauguration.
Rule #1 is that the occupant of the WH is an illegitimate traitor to our democracy.
The really vexing problem is how to deal with the societal rot that is modern day republicanism. Most immediately how to deal with the numbers of Sonderlands esconced in federal agencies throughout the government? Unqualified theist ideologue federal judges and most worrisome, racist terrorists using military training to further their domestic terrorist nightmares on we the people? And most assuredly, the 60 plus million or more that think that aiding and abetting seditious treason is great as long as they are the traitors.
2
Sondland takes low self esteem to a whole new level.
1
Sondland's parents were Jewish refugees from Germany, who narrowly escaped the Holocaust by fleeing to Uruguay, and later Seattle. He, of all people, should understand the dangers of tyranny and moral corruption. It's mind-boggling that this person would align himself with such a cruel, bigoted, anti-democratic despot. And for what? He was already wealthy and connected. Despicable.
6
What world are we living in when John Bolton - the man who never saw a nuclear war he didn’t like, a crazed militarist frothing at the mouth about his personal nightmares, unhinged from reason and decency - actually sounds like the most sane man in the room?
7
If nothing else, Sonland will still have his memorial staircase at the Portland Art Museum. I’m not making that up—I walked on it yesterday. I found it deliciously ironic and a little sad. He had to have his name on something but all he could afford was a scandalous ambassadorship and a staircase (not a wing, or even a room) at the Museum.
4
We have to be careful to focus not on these bit players who have sold their souls to Donald Trump for a “piece of the action”, but instead on Donald Trump himself.
It is amazing to many of us that there are individuals who would trade in their conscience for the feeling of power, but this is a common weakness among men whose sense of self-awareness is still in the developmental stage.
Focus on the basics, ( Ukraine letter and the evidence backing this impeachable action)and get Donald Trump’s tax returns , and we will soon see the end of his presidency.
4
"However, based on the President’s direction, we were faced
with a choice: We could abandon the goal of a White House meeting for President Zelensky, which we all believed was crucial to strengthening U.S.-Ukrainian ties and furthering long-held U.S. foreign policy goals in the region; or we could do as President Trump directed and talk to Mr. Giuliani to address the President’s concerns."
As the saying goes, the end doesn't justify the means. Sondland is admitting that he knew he had to play ball with Trump's fixer (Giuliani) or he would lose that coveted White House meeting. He presents this, and wants us to believe, that the choice he made (working with Giuliani) was the only reasonable path forward, because strengthening ties with Ukraine was of paramount importance.
Possessing good intentions does not absolve one of criminal or unethical behavior. Marie Yovanovitch was cleared out of the way exactly because the "three amigos" and Giuliani knew what choice she would have made, given the same circumstances: "I'm not playing this game."
Sondland does not get a pass by claiming that his intentions were benign and that he got duped. Anyone with half a brain, seasoned diplomat or not, would have seen this charade for what it is. Sondland bypassed his morals for expediency. Criminals do it all the time.
5
My late father, who was a diplomat in the 1950s and 1960s, representing Argentina, used to say "American diplomats are weird: they dont seem to understand the politics of the country they are stationed in, and they wear white socks with dark suits and shoes."
5
Sondland is not that important in regard to trump’s impeachment. My concern is that the smoking gun-the whistleblower complaint and the transcript of trump’s conversation with Zelensky, will be somewhat obscured by minutiae not necessary for the House to convincingly move ahead.
We don’t want another Mueller report-hundreds of pages of solid factual and legal analysis that few have read and in the end had little effect on the public’s perception.
Let’s keep this impeachment inquiry spot on and not get caught up in the Sonlands of this “drug deal” as was characterized by John Bolton.
If Sondland and others violated the law, let those issues be handled by law enforcement and not let those events gum up the impeachment inquiry.
2
@Regards, LC Law enforcement would be AG Barr, so that dog won't hunt.
2
I have lately been thinking about Michael Cohen's statement: "My loyalty to Mr. Trump has cost me everything". Apparently not too many people paid attention to that.
15
Here in WA State, there are more than a few Sondlands who have found their way into state and federal government. They are mostly high-tech and real estate millionaires who think their success translates well into government work. (After all, government must be run like a business.) In college, these guys (they're always guys) had no time for classes in American history, political science, or any of the "soft stuff." They think the world is one big transaction, and they can out-transact everybody else on their imagined rise to the top. Meanwhile, the nuanced, tricky, art of politics swirls around them until they become irrelevant, or in Sondland's case, blow it big time. I seriously doubt that the man even knew that he had entered no-no land when he took on Trump's order to consort with a foreign government to help Trump's reelection prospects. Never mind a quid pro quo. Sondland is of a type we need to send back to school, not into government.
12
A new index for just how insecure and status-conscious a person can be: joining Trump's rickety bandwagon.
8
The book "Everything Trump Touches Dies" should be required reading for all Republicans, and it probably needs a sequel by now.
11
“Mr. Sondland now fears that he will be blamed for the scandal, while more powerful players will be protected, one person close to him said,” The Times reported.
That’s the thing about deals with the devil. You get what you want, and then it ruins you”
Excellent writing. Just, excellent.
13
Thank you Ms Goldberg for this excellent article. Perhaps the entire western world should thank Donald Trump for what must be a masterclass in practical civics on the theme: How to protect democracy from corruption? Many people must be wondering whether this most corrupt of presidents has succeded so far by surrounding himself by corrupt allies and henchmen (henchpersons?) Or has he done so by dint of a genius for corrupting everyone he encounters? For example, were the GOP elected officials who spring to his defence with their blatantly specious arguments always corrupt - or has Trump' s corruption somehow insidiously infected them? We need to understand these processes. Our citizens sorely need to learn from them.
6
"Sure, people sell their souls all the time — but why for something as small as a chance to serve a man whose depravity Sondland himself once recognized?"
Russian-style oligarch-level untouchable power and wealth. Dangled in front of them by Putin, encouraged by the most greedy of grifters, trump, who happened to be available for bribing, and just happened (thanks, Father Putin! wink wink) to become president of the United States.
We're discussing this as if it's a big mystery as to why bad men turn to feed together when they smell vulnerable blood in the water. Thousands of years of documented history, as well as oceans of tears and tons of ink, make it perfectly clear that 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely' when it comes to human nature.
The Bible is very clear as well, and American Christians have to twist and turn even their own Gospel, going back to pre-law(!) times for some Cyrus fantasy. The real King of Kings, Jesus, had some words to say about men like trump, and it's very awkward for professed followers of Jesus to actually have to defend trump. (The book of James doesn't mince words.)
It's as if trump cult members WANT overlords.
9
While many are focusing on what this man did wrong while working for Trump's administration, the fact that he was so incredibly eager, gullible and/or just plain stupid really makes you wonder about the supposed "titans of industry" running the businesses in our country. We've seen pictures of some of them palling around with Jeffrey Epstein, read stories about others enabling drug addicts just to line their own pockets, and still others walking away from decent careers to go to work for a president that increasingly seems to be running a modern day pirate ship. Still others are happy to remain in the field doing Trump's dirty work by going along with deregulation while ignoring science. If these are the geniuses the tax cuts for big businesses and big shots bought for all of us, I'd like my money back.
13
“The look-back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation...”
Anyone who uses the term "look-back" deserves jail time.
5
The finger pointing continues. On the bright side though, Soudland is at least pointing the finger in the right direction: Trump and Giuliani. Feigning ignorance is a lame defense. However, Soudland isn't dishonest enough to claim the President and his lawyer were truly interested in ending Ukrainian corruption. Not under oath.
The list of laughably absurd defenses for Trump in Ukraine is long. Soudland's testimony doesn't even make the highlight reel. Lindsey Graham is out there claiming Trump's conduct was not only legal but ethical. We won't even start on Stephen Miller. Soudland is a disgrace but there plenty disgrace to go around.
May I remind you, Soudland, the bought and paid ambassador with no credentials, was confirmed by the Republican Senate without question or hardly even remark. Soudland is a small fish in a big bad pond.
11
Just because someone has acquired wealth and power does not mean they have intelligence and the good sense to avoid doing really stupid things.
Rich and powerful people are typically only smart (and lucky) about making money. Money brings power. So it's all about making money, then using it to make more money and acquire more power.
But if that's all you've got, then without a whole lot of luck you're eventually going to end up at the bottom of the trash heap. Let's call it Sondland's Rule.
4
What those who've been drawn into joining the Trump administration didn't realize that his election to President changed Trump about as much as putting lipstick on a pig. Not a whit.
That is why so many highly qualified individuals said no thanks to Trump from his very first day in office. I'm sure their opinion was, "he's been a narcissistic amoral cad all his life, and until he shows some concrete sign he has changed, I want nothing to do with him.
Millions of people didn't bother to judge Trump on anything other than what his words made them feel.
The truth is, when you make life choices based on bigotry and prejudice, you are an easy mark for a con man like Trump.
7
A deal with the devil indeed.
After Trump is impeached, and hopefully removed, I want every Trump voter and supporter to receive a complimentary framed diploma from Trump University......and then a week later get a bill for it in the mail.
7
He could have done like John Bolton did. Bolton knew what Giuliani was doing was illegal and distanced himself from that mess. Sondland "try to play the good employee and follow orders" and look at him now. Bolton must be saying "I told you so"
7
Ask 50 million “Evangelicals” the same question.
6
Trump is a magnet for egotists. They have created a grotesque, distorted, vulgar travesty of the American idealogy and raped the dignity, wisdom and honesty belonging to the office of the Presidency. The only redemption left is for the GOP is to state their removal is in the best interest in America's survival domestically and internationally. All events yesterday confirm that need.
5
Trump ruins the reputations and careers of everyone associated with him. Everyone.
Sondland may be a sleazy opportunist and a fool, but even he is smart enough to see that it is past time to jump off this sinking ship. Many others will as well. Maybe, just maybe, the end of of this most catastrophic administration is finally near, and our national recovery soon to begin.
8
"The rich are different from you and me"...
"Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. . . but for Wales!” Ad nauseam.
3
Hotel owner Sondland may get to visit a new hotel....The Graybar.
9
How did the GOP and Fox Nation think this was going to end?? What in the world were so many of us thinking?? Why would anyone Vote for or support the Worst President and most Chaotic Dysfunctional Administration in American History ?? Why is there a Fox Nation among us ?? He hasn't succeeded at any of his policies from Mexico and NK to China and Syria! Trump support is simply UNAMERICAN !! Who among us thought Voting for such a Divisive unPresidential candidate who was endorsed and aided by Russia was a good idea? How did they think this chaos was going to end? Cohen was right ...Trump is a Con ! Mr Cummings was right...at least about the majority of us...We're Better Than This !!
7
All crime bosses know the first rule of running a corrupt enterprise: first, corrupt everyone around you.
8
Haha!
Trump has played so many clueless narcissists who “want to get ahead” these past 3 years.
4
The allure of being in the circles and hallways of power can be the most potent drug for some. It grabs a hold of you and reason is thrown out the window. Also, like any drug addiction, you inevitably crash.
Sondland is now playing useful idiot; 1 Million can only get you so much, though. Unless he has much more to offer, or knows more and turns a plea for immunity, he probably has spent whatever usefulness he has at this stage and should prepare to face some kind of charges.
3
Throughout the entire term of Trump's administration, there is hardly a soul who has separated from it with a happy ending. Only the principled have left largely unsullied. Sondland is a fool for thinking that he could be beyond the stink of rot of what John Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff, called "crazy-town." One side effect of the association with Team Trump: the retainer fee for a criminal defense attorney.
Also, Sondland should stop decorating:
https://www.businessinsider.com/gordon-sondland-spent-1-million-in-taxpayer-funds-home-renovations-2019-10
5
Not to mention his $208'000 dolar taxpayer funded kitchen redo and other renos at his residence.
6
It continually amazes me that the Trump crew feel that they are exonerated by the act of boasting about their wrongdoing. It's as if someone arrested for assault said, "of course, I hit him with a baseball bat--that's what happens when someone beats you to a parking space!"
"Of course, I slammed her up against the wall. What do you expect when she let my dinner get cold?"
"Of course, I stole her wallet! I was running short!"
"Of course, I scheduled the G-7 at the Doral! If I have to sit through all the speeches, I should at least be paid!"
9
Invest in bus manufacturing! There aren't enough of them for the legions of bodies being thrown under by the skittering passengers on the Trump train of administrative depravity.
9
Proof that being rich doesn't mean you are smart.
4
From Mulvaney:
“Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.”
Wow.
With Guiliani, as a “personal lawyer”, deliberately going after Ukraine dirt on Biden, and on nobody else, then, every time Trump refers people to Guiliani, he is directing them to the Biden dirt effort, and nothing else.
But Guiliani has no security clearance. He was not sworn in as a US government official.
It is when Trump tells the Ukraine president to work with Guiliani, it is when the entire WH staff blocked $400 million and linked it to the Guiliani agenda, it is when everyone who was there knows and sees and ultimately testifies that it was Giuliani, a non-authorized individual with no security clearance, who was calling the shots — that Trump’s corruption and treason are plain as day.
It may, or may not, have been “perfectly legal” for Giuliani to dig Biden dirt in Ukraine on his own. But for Trump to then direct the President of Ukraine to work with Giuliani on the dig, for Trump to link holding $400 million of US taxpayers’ dollars to extort him to do so, for Trump to eviscerate the entire US diplomatic system in Ukraine simply to pave the way for Giuliani — this is a Very High Crime.
9
Gordon Sondland. Arrogance meets Hubris, rising to its own level of Incompetence.
8
just another rich, white, aging guy.. seeking importance and acceptance and doesn't care how much of his principles he has to leave behind..
7
Sondland got the best lawyer money can buy and will get out of the sewer with a bit of stench, despite deserving jail time for lying under oath among other things.
Paraphrasing George Orwell, we are all equal, but some of us are more equal than others.
5
I love the fact that Bolton referred to aspects of this as a "Mulvaney-Sondland drug deal." Apt.
My suggestion for a new nickname for the Chief of Staff (or whatever role he has now): "Mule Mulvaney".
6
Why'd he go to work for Trump, realizing he's trash? Because he didn't also realize that Trump's also a loser. Thought he could get a ride up the mountain on a manure wagon -- "after all, I can hold my nose" -- but didn't anticipate there would be a methane explosion.
8
Michelle is absolutely right. I would add that authoritarian and dictatorial regimes rely on the Sondlands of the world: Lackeys, bootlickers, followers and opportunists with no moral compass. Without these types, those regimes collapse. Trump and his ilk depend on the supply of oxygen from the likes of Sondland, Lindsey Graham, Mulvaney and so many more. History is full of these snakes. They eventually meet their destiny. Unfortunately, they leave scorched earth behind.
8
Is it possible for a public comment to be "misconstrued" simply by quoting it verbatim? I guess so in the Gospel according to Saint Mick.
8
You get what you want, then it ruins you.
Or, watch out what you wish for. Seriously.
1
In a Man for All Seasons, Thomas Moore says to someone:
to betray your soul for all the world is wrong
but for Wales?
that is what the trumpkins have done
for small degrees of power, they have sold their souls
and Barr? what is his end game?
he once has a decent reputation
once.......
3
Sonderland should do the honorable thing and resign while he's behind.
4
Lying is a difficult art.
3
It can’t be all that hard. Trump is a master liar and, as the saying goes, if he had two neurons, he’d have a synapse.
2
Buying ambassadorships has, unfortunately, been an established practice in many administrations. The Democrats were no different. NYT is trying to hard to discredit Trump that it is tripping over itself.
2
The transcript of the Trump-Zelensky phone call shows Trump asked Ukrainian President Zelensky to resume the Hunter Biden investigation and to cooperate with the U.S. Justice Department in its investigation of alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election as a favor. Trump said, “I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows lot avoid it.”
Zelensky, who ran for office on anticorruption platform, readily agreed. At a recent press conference, Zelensky said “There was no pressure or blackmail from the U.S.” He added that her was unaware that the United States had considered withhold Ukrainian military aid.
At yesterday’s press conference, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said in response to a reporter’s question that it “had absolutely northing to do with Biden.” He said the administration considered withholding aid unless Ukraine agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into allegations of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election. The Treaty With Ukraine on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters signed by President Clinton in 1998 requires the United States and Ukraine to assist each other in criminal investigations.
Watch out for that bus Mr. Sondland, it's careening your way and you're standing much too close to the curb...
5
"He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas." - Benjamin Franklin.
2
“Sure, people sell their souls all the time — but why for something as small as a chance to serve a man whose depravity Sondland himself once recognized?”
Ask Cruz, Graham, Romney, Rubio, and so many others who criticized the Orange One before becoming his lapdog. Don’t forget the silent complicity of Kelley, Mattis, and others. Lest we forget Perry, Mnichin, Ross and DeVos who have NEVER expressed concern for Trump’s lunacy.
6
So, it's now demonstrable that Sondland lied to Congress under oath. Specifically about his lack of knowledge of Rudy's motives and methods.
So, does this dude go to jail, or what??
6
Sondland needs to stop smiling..nothing funny about this mess..
Reminds me of the Manfort, you can’t get me, smile
6
What’s the common thread: money. I have and now I need prestige to hide the criminality that any one million dollar donation implies.
Sondland went with the Grifter in chief because...he’s one too!
Oh gosh what a surprise...a businessman on the take.
2
It's always the same...just like Louis, in 'Casablanca' being 'shocked' by gambling in Rick's Cafe...nobody believes you.
5
Mr. Sondland does know that lying to Congress is a crime, right?
7
Maybe he thought some of the Trump Teflon would rub off on him?
1
Ms. Goldberg is on target on all counts. Full stop.
5
Amazing how this bunch of rogues can make John Bolton look admirable.
7
Trey Gowdy pay attention please. While we seldom agree on things, I respect you as an honest passionate principled broker for your ideas. Don't go into the LaBrea tar pits.
3
Since the beginning of the republic, the political supporters of the president have been rewarded with ambassador positions in countries where politics tend to be relatively stable and the country is an ally - the U.K., France, Italy, Canada, Mexico and more recently Germany, Japan and Israel. The more problematic posts go to career diplomats. Why on earth a hotel magnate like Sondland ended up involved with the Ukraine can only be explained by the fact that Trump hasn’t got a clue about diplomacy or international relations. He wants to run his presidency just like he ran his businesses. And we know how they have tended to end up.
590
@David DiRoma
The real scandal is that Sondland is the Ambassador to the EUROPEAN UNION - of which Ukraine is NOT a member!
102
@David DiRoma
Sondland's appointment was as ambassador to the European Union...the ambassadorship of the Ukraine was in the hands of a very honest and capable career diplomat Marie Yovanovitch.
99
@David DiRoma
Mr. Sondland is Ambassador to the European Union, of which Ukraine is not a member. This renders his involvement in Ukraine yet more bizarre and inappropriate.
91
What Goldberg says is all true. But the larger problem is, as always, much more profound and fundamental. it is a social problem. Why did this man think he was competent to perform the job that others study years for? He was rich. Simply rich. Our society suffers from the belief that being rich, or even acquiring or earning wealth, is a sign of merit. it isn't. But because he was wealthy, he could afford to buy the job and, being wealthy, he told himself that he could do the job he could afford. He confused wealth with merit. Until we destroy this fallacy we will suffer from its consequences.
11
In the end, Sondland got exactly what he paid for-a seat on a bus headed over a cliff.
21
Such an insult to our career diplomats. They TRAINED to do their jobs. I attended Georgetown University School of Languages and Linguistics. In the same building as our classes were the students of the School of Foreign Service. These diplomats went to a very specific school and training to become foreign service officers. They did not buy their positions with $1 million. Shame on Sondlond. Just disgusting what money and arrogance create. No desire to serve our country. Just greed.
21
Many CEOs are narcissists. Some are smart. Some are not. But all fancy themselves to be smarter than they actually are.
14
The Sondland affair reminds me of wealthy people who think that owning a restaurant (or any other demanding, difficult job for which they have no experience) will be “fun”.
10
@Suzanne
And wealthy people who think they're qualified to be president.
5
I'm always amazed how rich people can be so insecure and unsatisfied with their station in life. Poor Sondland thought, with an ambassadorship, he could finally get sufficient respect to feel really good about himself, not understanding that his outside accomplishments will never fill the gaping hole within. His boss, President Trump, is a shining example of that sorry state of affairs.
19
Trump, Fakebook, and Twit-ter have turned the nation into a middle school. The number of smart people who have thought, "this time, it will be different" is beyond belief. For every lawyer who goes to jail, there is another who wants to work for Trump. This process has redefined my understanding of the stupidity of "smart" people.
You can't understand Trump until you appreciate the extent to which the Tech Industry has degraded America, by seducing it into behaving the way adolescents behave, in a virtual middle school that never ends, even in old age. That is why there is a real risk that Trump wins re-election. Seriously.
6
You lay down with a dog, you’re going to get fleas, or in Mr. Sondland’s case, worse. In his quest to become an important person in the eyes of his friends and peers, he’s now become impotent. Selling one’s soul to a charlatan rarely turns out well. Mr. Sondland is just one more cast-aside casualty of this administration.
8
I am truly ashamed at how fast and how far our country has fallen.
What is it going to take for Republicans to step up and vote for impeachment in the House and removal in the Senate? I am pretty sure that, terms of Trump's level of depravity and corruption, we 'aint seen nothing yet.'
8
As Pelosi said, all things and all roads Trump lead to Russia. Who is masterminding the destruction of the U.S. and Ukraine? Putin. Trump and his appointed sycophants aren't smart enough.
Sondland doesn't stand a chance against Putin who only props up Trump because he's still useful to him - Sondland is not. Sondland's only hope is to give Congress Trump's guilt.
5
Trump surrounds himself with moral midgets! The only way he can seem even marginally credible, is to chose folks for top jobs who are conflicted , confused and easily persuaded.Sundland is a prime example - his vanity was stronger than his judgment and he was easily absorbed into the Trump schemes .Methinks he dost protest too much!
4
All these folks think they're smarter than everyone else and that they certainly won't get caught by their association with 45. Alas, they eventually find out that they're not that smart and indeed -everything Trump touches dies.
1
Goldberg is exactly right, as usual. And she has this gem from Bolton: “I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up.” I did not think I would agree with anything from Bolton. What this shows is that even a war-mongering ideological nut can see right through the criminals in the Trump administration -- which means he sees Trump too. He should testify, truthfully and extensively, before congress: it would be the patriotic thing to do.
8
When this administration ends, disgrace will cover more than just our sad ambassador.
4
Sondland is one person on a long list of people who sold himself to the devil, cheaply too. They all go in believing they will not get dirty, and all of them, the ones who got fired and the ones who resigned, are filthy. The only surprising part is that these are supposedly smart people, so how could they have not seen this coming?
3
Who said rich people are smart? Gordon Sondland just proved that he's not.
2
To understand these people refer to mafia experts. The resemblances are striking.
2
Rick Wilson said it most succinctly,
“Whatever Trump Touches Dies.”
5
What criminal conspiracy? Just name the crime? It's an outrage that every single Democratic nominee called him a criminal and not one of them named the crime. The same happens here at the New York Times. Republicans don't get a fair shake, but this president? Forget about it.
1
@PJABC It is very telling that I posted this 3 hours ago and still no one has deigned to offer a clue as to of what crime our president is being accused. And yet, they continue to call him a criminal. That is defamation.
1
@PJABC 4 hours. No one knows what crime? Turns out the quid pro quo is not about Biden, it was about investigating corruption and the DNC and how Ukraine was involved in the efforts to thwart this President while a candidate. It was 100% lawful. Turns out they started the impeachment "machinery" too soon yet again. First Russia, now Ukraine. I think you all cry wolf a million times just cause you don't like the guy. No one will believe you anymore.
Sondland is just the latest implicated in the massive Ukrainian criminal conspiracy. He literally bought it and now as one of the ‘three amigos” he owns it. His role as the shadow foreign policy team has him enmeshed in the shakedown of Ukraine to get “dirt” on the Biden’s. He may like Trump try and shade the truth, but the text messages are proof of his complicity.
4
Sondland just became a footnote in the next generation’s history textbooks. Maybe he’ll do a book signing after he’s released from federal prison.
4
Looks like Homer Simpson. Certainly acts like him.
1
The normative effect causes people to change. They change their own views of what is normal when influenced by powerful environmental forces. Sondland has been corrupted, he knows it, he doesn’t like what he sees in the mirror, and now he wants his old life back. Oops. Sorry.
Mulvaney, also corrupted, relies on his well-honed arrogance and self-importance to get through the day with his boss. But in real time, Mick isn’t quite as clever and agile to deliver. He messed up by being arrogant (“live with it”). Oops. Sorry.
Down goes Sondland! Down goes Mulvaney! Down goes Giuliani! Down goes Everyone Trump touches!
That is the message coming clear to all the president’s men: we are doomed.
4
I just love your writing. Thank you.
2
These shameless people who foolishly gave so much money to the Trump family will come back home and ask the local mayors and city councils for tax breaks to invest again. The people in these cities dont read the NYT or WAPO or any online papers so they dont have a clue as to the corruption and they are too embroiled in trying to pay their bills. The Democrsts have to put more energy into going to local commmunities with the truth. When I see billionnaires like Tom Steyer and George Soros wasting money I want to tell them: use that money to buy up local news outlets and give isolated people a perspective other than Fox News.
3
Families have been separated, lives have been derailed, and innocent people have died all over the world because of this president and the actions of the GOP. Worse, because we’ve gone back on our word as allies and State Department has been hollowed out—and we’re using what’s left of it for pay-for-play, to make moolah for the the oligarch in the White House—we no longer have a mechanism to make things right when sanity returns. Hang your heads in shame, GOP and all those you’ve enabled.
5
Gordon "Sond In The Clowns" Sondland spent all that money and got nothing for it but trouble. He might as well have spent it on tuition at Trump University.
5
As I stated in June 2015, electing Trump would be like putting Caligula in the White House.
Anyone with two brain cells left to rub together knew his low character at that time.
Yet here he sits, yanking on the levers of power in his attempts to control the super-aircraft carrier that is the American ship of state.
The likes of Sondland, Mattis, McCaster, Sessions, Tillerson, and all the others wear the Trump taint, and the stench is indelible.
Their only hope of redemption lies in loud, explicit, repeated and steady denunciation, with details, of President Caligula along with an honest and complete admission of their own mistakes in the matter. (Mattis's little self-cleansing book was a profile in cowardice. Ditto the Mueller Report. Weak tea all around. They did not rise to the threat)
In any event it will take 2 decades perhaps to clean up the horrid mess this man has left on our nation's living room carpet. I hope to at least see a good start on the project, but it will require a generation's effort.
5
"So while it make be a mistake to overestimate the acuity of Trump appointees …."
Honor & Status "...…... how anyone could think that working for Trump might provide these things, and not see that any title achieved in this crime-syndicate administration will always come with an asterisk after it, or worse."
Outstanding Observations. Thank you Michelle. You made my day.
2
I was mystified by the apparent embrace of Sondland, following his deposition before the committee, by media and Dems I heard speak. Clearly he was selectively truthful, playing clueless where it served him (pretending he wasn’t part of the “drug deal” so apltly described by Bolton) as overall he enjoyed the attention, an arrogant fool American businessman. Conspiracy is conspiracy, as is lying to Congress. Ask Michael Flynn.
3
I have to say that I'm disappointed in Goldberg for referring to Trump as "trash." That is far, far more praise than he deserves.
5
Ms. Goldberg
He isn't the first so don't act like this started with Trump.
As a diplomat he's a great hotelier. He has decided
he is not going to lie for Trump. it's clear that
Trump lied to him sayng no quid pro quo
which Mulvany just admitted to.
Rick Perry mastermind? Hah
Those who enable the malignant narcissist king are equally guilty of destroying our Democracy, and their motivations are very clear: It's all about money and power. They are attracted to Trump because he is the embodiment of greed.
2
Gordon Sondland is a SHANDA on the memory of his parents and his children.
1
Steve Mnuchin, Wilbur Ross, Betsy DeVos, Gary Cohn . . . only four of the many supposedly successful multimillionaires and billionaires who have been a formal part of the Trump administration. There are also the wealthy allies like Stephen Schwarzman.
People do sell their souls all the time, as Michelle Goldberg writes. But American money grubbers have mastered the art conning the devil again and again. Either the devil is a sap, or it's a seller's market in souls. I get the sense that the average Wall Street wealth supremacist would sell his or her soul for off-street parking.
We might hope that the rolling atrocity of the Trump criminal organization would put to rest the idiocy about "running government like a business" and "he'll be good in government because he's a successful businessman."
It won't.
4
"That’s the thing about deals with the devil. You get what you want, and then it ruins you."
Every person who has served and is serving in this cesspool of an administration deserves to be tarred and feathered with a scarlet T and shunned for the rest of their lives. Trump and his Republican enablers have destroyed this country, alliances, norms and decency. They have eagerly slurped at the public trough and treated the majority of citizens like garbage. They deserve much worse than public humiliation but I hope they at least get that.
4
Just another huge disappointment in a long list of flawed characters enabling this administration.
The heroes so far are the so called bureaucrats, the “ deep state”
out to undermine our dear leader.
Why can’t people see the obvious that Trump is evil personified.
2
Seems to me he got what he paid for.
2
Gordon Sondland is the next chapter in Rick Wilson's hilarious and brutally accurate book "Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever."
3
Sondland paid a $1 million tip for the job. Now he's probably paying some high price lawyers. And go home tainted. At least he has his hotels, but they'll likely be boycotted.
4
"I paid a million dollars, which I took pains to hide, to Donald Trump, for the privilege of taking orders from Donald Trump." - Gordon Sondland
5
I hope the President's defenders in the House and the Senate are reading this. If they are not, I hope they are not too stupid to come to the same conclusion. Working for Trump is very very dangerous as he is so dishonest, corrupt, and disloyal. The Mafiosi, whose techniques he uses, are, at least, loyal to their own. Not Trump, he has never been loyal to any group, certainly not to the Republican Party and its representatives. It is not too late for them to cut loose from Trump. They can support impeachment. The most they have to lose is the next primary if the Trumpists are still bewitched one year from now. If they stay as his defenders, god help them.
3
Sondland doesn’t quite fit with the usual Trump Gang. He’s just not crooked enough.
1
How Amb. Sondland got pulled into the Ukraine deal is yet to be revealed.
But the modus operandi of criminal gangs is to recruit people who are ambitious, greedy, and naive. And then make sure they become part of the enterprise so as to insure their loyalty.
I read Amb. Sondlund’s statement as a limited hang out. He is trying to stay out of jail and, at the same time, retain the favor of Trump and the Republicans. Maybe he is a total naïf and didn’t realize the shakedown of which he was a part. Maybe.
4
Why, Gordon, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. . .but for Ukraine!
A man for all reasons.
[cf. "Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole word . . .but for Wales!" Sir Thomas More to Richard Rich in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons]
1
I fear we are becoming quaint in our questioning why these opportunists would throw in with Trump....clearly concepts of honor, disgrace, ethics and corruption are absolutely irrelevant. The issue here is that all of these clowns were salivating to become oligarchs like Furtash....they wanted a piece of a billion dollar busiess like Burisma for themselves. Duh. Last stages capitalism apparently...avarice seeping into the highest halls of our failing democracy. 250 years was a good run I guess. A vote this late to impeach seems so impotent. Too little too late
3
“That’s the thing about deals with the devil. You get what you want, and then it ruins you.” Masterful summation!
3
And... one more time... where is all the money that went to the "Inauguration Committee"?
4
It’s a bitter irony that many of trimp’s most fervent supporters are those who count religious belief as one of their prime identifications. That’s ironic because it should be glaringly (and SHAMEFULLY) obvious to them how they are selling themselves to a demon bedeviled by malignant narcissism with a long career of lies, betrayals, cheating, bullying, and greed.
“The New Cyrus”? A baffling blasphemy...
1
a beautifully written précis of Trumplandia.
Sondland is a big boy and will just have to deal with the consequences of his faustian bargain. And one other gleaning: Who knew John Bolton had such a wry sense of humor? « drug deal » conveys just the right mix of trumpian sleaze, greed and opportunism that we have come to expect from this RICO-ready gang of thugs.
4
People like Sondland and Mulvaney become convinced that they have as much power and immunity to make themselves as invincible from indictment, prosecution and jail as the Office of the President. Sort of like, if I hang out with Superman, I eventually take on his super powers, not realizing that they have none of those powers and worse, are extremely exposed. So, now Gordo, Mick and all the other Presidents Men having jumped off the skyscraper hurtling toward the pavement are now finding they have no ability to fly, and there is no one holding a net on the sidewalk, just a bus ready to run them over once they go splat.
3
You got it!
What's not to understand? Trump is surrounded by people just like Sondland, people of marginal intellect and deficient ethics, people so enthralled by their vision of personal power and aggrandizement that they cannot see the yawning abyss right in front of them. Sondland's testimony follows the Trumpian script perfectly... deny, deny, deny.
2
Turn on fox, when the headlines are most troubling for the President, you see tractors in action or hear extended conversations about proper tipping with a focus group. Many republicans are uninformed or willfully ignorant about the true nature of dirt. Keep up those depositions Nancy.
3
We know now that he's also a pompous royalist, demanding the taxpayers' remodel the already luxurious ambassador's home to the tune of one million dollars.
What does the GOP do? Hang out a sign? Only Fools and Grifters Apply.
3
Sondland got caught with his hands in the cookie jar like everyone else who worms their way into Trump’s ellipsoidal corkscrew orbit. The really corrupt lynchpin to all of the criminality involving the Ukrainian debacle is Giuliani, who will no doubt soon be indicted. Giuliani saw what kind of money and influence peddling was possible from Paul Manafort’s former dealings in Ukraine and with Paul now in the clink saw the perfect opportunity to move into the same arena. Perfect. Paul’s gone now, so I can fill in the vacuum. It would be fitting if he could join Manafort in prison. They can spend their days reminiscing about the oligarchs they successfully scammed out of millions. Both reap what they sowed.
3
You gets what you pays for. Sondland is not the only poor sap who bought himself $1 million worth of disgrace. All those GOP donors pouring their loot into Trump's re-election campaign seem to have forgotten the old adage that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
3
Mr Sondland over paid for his position, showing his business acumen in right in line with Trump’s. I hope he is found to be lying to Congress and gets to spend some time in prison. He, like Trump think Americans are of a lower class... I’ll be enjoying my champagne with a side of schadenfreude when these goons are put away.
3
This sort of dizzying reality twisting is endemic to the entire Party.
The Republicans have committed decades of fraud, constantly charging Liberals critical of our country's policies; those horrified by gross inequalities in health care, education and wealth; those disgusted by bumbling, hugely expensive wars that benefited none but the arms purveyors (how are you doing, evil Vice Dick? Still enjoying those Halliburton millions?} were unpatriotic haters of the Republic, and probably secret Communists, only too willing to pervert the Constitution in furtherance of our fell, progressive schemes.
I am furious that these moral poseurs, these loud apostles of Democracy and Christianity have proved to be the most craven flatterers of Power, men only too willing to sacrifice the Republic and its peoples and, as we see in Syria, any sense of Decency, in return for riches and position.
They have proved to be men willing to support a man bereft of any true patriotism, sympathy, or Love in his heart; a man obsessed with his crippled image of masculine Power and Success. A man who is both completely Ignorant and completely Certain, and completely Sociopathic in his thoughts and impulses. And worst of all, they willingly seek to destroy their own and their followers' abilities to even perceive the difference between Right and Wrong.
The Republican Party will not survive the fall of the Mouth. Never again will we give countenance to these Phony Patriots and Statesman
4
It will not disappoint me if Mr Sondland has a fall or goes to jail along with some or many of this Administration.
2
As a lifelong practicing Republican Sondland has no scruples, no ethics, no morals, no principles and no values save opportunism, expediency and larceny. And of course, no conscience and no shame. That's who Republicans are: a bunch of criminals masquerading as a political party, who should all - all - be indicted under the RICO statutes. He obviously bribed his way into an ambassadorship and eagerly did the President's corrupt bidding. Like all Republican liars and crooks, he figured he's never get caught. Now he's trying to talk his way our of prison, but hopefully he will end up behind bars - where the Republican Party has long, long belonged. ,
4
How smiling rich white men need to go down in flames before they turn on Trump, en masse? How many Russian organized crime figures need to be revealed before his supporters begin to see he is NOT an unfairly harassed president? How many times must Trump’s self-dealing be revealed?
5
Trump will not be removed thanks to the Senate Majority 'Leader' McConnell. But a bunch of stiffs who sold out to cash in on this reckless and heinous president will go down in flames
Giuliani has single handledly destroyed this administration. Thank you Rudy!
4
“For Wales? Why Richard, it profit a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. . . but for Wales!"
2
Don't post, but correct this "So while it make be a mistake to overestimate the acuity of Trump appointees, it’s probably safe to say that Sondland knew.."
1
It should be mentioned that Elizabeth Warren promised months ago to end the practice of selling ambassadorships to campaign donors. Why anyone thought this wasn’t a form of corruption is beyond me.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-warren-idUSKCN1TT2HG
3
Great column, Michelle. In fairness to Sondland, he IS the little fish in this controversy. The big fish are of course, Giuliani, Mulvaney, and Trump himself. They conceived this drug deal; Sondland was the mule.
3
A telling, almost Freudian slip, that Sondland offered on his way into the testimony proceedings in response to a reporter asking if he can salvage his reputation: "I have no reputation to salvage."
2
“...But Sondland’s not really a Trumpist. Based on news reports, he mostly just seems like an insecure opportunist...”
I think you’ve answered your own question. Insecure opportunists don’t think about how things will end. They just lurch at whatever seems right at the time that could possibly increase their status. Pathetic, really.
1
When Gordon Sondland made his Faustian bargain with Mephistopheles, his Gretchen wasn't the promises of Eros and its wondrous delights. No; it was the preening, prancing, primping posturing of an ambassadorship. That it would come under such an odious president meant nothing to "Ambassador" Sondland. Service to his country? Please!
What the wealthy hotelier and Trump doormat did was dishonor his name. But that's a small price to pay for doing the president's bidding. And he's done nothing heroic about testifying before Congress. Whistleblowers are now coming out of the woodwork to confirm what we all know: that the American president, in his insane lust to trash Joe Biden and his son, figuratively grabbed the Ukrainian president by the lapels and threatened to abandon him to the tender mercies of his master and patron, Vladimir Putin, if he didn't cooperate with the search for dirt.
“Withholding foreign aid in order to pressure a foreign government to take such steps would be wrong,” he said. “I did not and would not ever participate in such undertakings.”
This is beyond a lie. He bought his place on the Trump diplomatic team because he knew that he would be forced into "such undertakings." Whenever has this president not twisted the norms of statecraft and diplomacy to dovetail with his own warped ends?
And, as quiet as it might have been kept, Mr. Sondland is not alone here. His putative boss, SecState Mike Pompeo, cannot be said to be unaware of any of this.
2
The logical conclusion of 40 years of Reagan, Gingrich, Bush-Cheney, Palin. Total moral bankruptcy. I hope we can get out of it with are values intact. The recent defections offer a bit of hope.
6
@sapere aud This narrative is never emphasized enough. The Republican Party itself is morally bankrupt as you have described, and are culpable for creating the monstrous situation we face now.
1
The same question applies to so many of the once-upstanding, "independent thinkers" who have been pulled into Trump's orbit since 2016. Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz. These are people who once saw him clearly and spoke the truth about how they viewed him. But they switched over to his side and became slavish supporters. The question has always been "why" did they sell their souls so cheaply, and how did they not see that they were going to be dragged down by association with the corruption he brings in his wake?
3
I can't help but wonder about these wealthy people who in the normal course of business would probably want nothing to do with Trump - much like the Wall Street banks that won't lend him money - but are happy to hitch their wagon to his Presidential train. With such vanity and lack of self-respect, one wonders how they ever got where they did.
6
Once agin, I just don't get it. What is so lacking and needy in these men that they will prostitute themselves for trump? They have wealth, some of it self-made, power, access. So why don't they just do something noble, like give their money away to institutions, or help the poor, or, OMG, even go to areas of the world that are in distress (including the US) and help the poor?
While returning this week from a trip overseas, I was trying to find someone on my plane who wanted the extra apple I had brought with me, rather than throw it out. One passenger said to me, "Oh, just hide it. Everyone does." I looked at her and said, "I'm a prosecutor. I obey the laws." (And how could I in good conscious prosecute others while I blithely disregard laws of my own choosing?) And regardless, why would I do that? The law is in place to protect the agriculture of the US.
But I saw right away the attitude. This was just a person in the economy section of the plane, like me, not someone who can fork over lots of $$$ to sit in business. But she saw no reason to abide by the law of the US. But myself, I just don't get it. I was given a good name at birth and hope that I have kept it intact by the time I die. That is important to me, and honors my parents as well.
Will someone please tell me, what is wrong with these people?
11
I appreciate your comments so much. I am continually astonished by how dishonesty and cheating are considered normal - expected, even - among seemingly otherwise decent & well-meaning people. People get annoyed when I refuse to play that game - "Why don't you just lie?"
Because I'm not a liar.
And I believe truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues.
The human world falls apart without it.
As we are now observing.
2
@Sulip
Thank you. I appreciate your response. and I agree about telling the truth and not lying. A new hire in my office told me, and two other astounded colleagues, that he had lied to management (well, deflated the actual hours it took him to do some work to determine if he could work in our office) so "it would look good." I was so astounded that I blurted out, "so you lied to your employer to get this job?" His response was one akin to "well, we all do it, you know." One of my colleagues immediately said, "no, we don't ALL do it." He avoids me.
3
"Sure, people sell their souls all the time — but why for something as small as a chance to serve a man whose depravity Sondland himself once recognized"?
I agree with your analysis Michelle. It is difficult to imagine why Sondland thought he could gain political success by supporting Trump. But he did. Perhaps other Republicans who still support Trump will realize their mistake before it is too late. Republican senators will have to make that choice when they decide how to vote at the end of his impeachment trial.
2
I don't feel too sorry for the "fall guys" who were willing players--accomplices--in the corrupt ways of Trump. Trump demands loyalty and returns it to no one. I do believe he'd even throw his own family under the bus.
The problem is greed and the quest for power distorts perceptions. Maybe people like Sondland thought they'd emerge as some kind of hero to Trump, but in reality, they were being played all along.
And if players like Sondland are bad enough, the GOP backers of Trump are even worse because they are the real reason Trump has gotten away with so much to this point (and the real reason people like Sondland, Guiliani, Mulvaney and others might have felt emboldened to carry out the president's wishes), and if they have their way, Trump will continue about his corrupt ways until democracy is abolished.
6
several months ago I heard a talking head say that mice Mulvaney was a"really smart guy"...... I doubted that assessment then and a lot more now. I happened to hear the "get over it" snippet.... very clear that our government is in the hands of those that would destroy the constitution for their own gain.
4
Sondland is described as a "wealthy hotelier." Maybe he thought Mr Trump would reward him by holding the G7 meeting at one of his properties. But oh no, that would appear to be influenced by, and fishing for, another $1 million donation. Better that the meeting be held at Trump Doral.
1
When you sleep with dogs don't complain when fleas bite.
Something happens to people when they allow their egos to override their intelligence. I've seen it repeatedly during my couple of generations in the workforce -- and it usually leads a person to his/her downfall.
3
“What I can’t comprehend is how anyone could think that working for Trump would end up any other way.” Think of Vichy government officials in occupied France. History shows it never turns out well.
1
Trump's Administration has a lot of similarities to toxic algae blooms; he created the conditions for toxic political blooms. Pruitt, Zinke, Cohen, McConnell, Giuliani, Barr, Pompeo, Stephen Miller and now Sondland have all been empowered to inject their poison into our lives. The stench is nauseous and any direct contact almost guarantees fatal political contagion.
The solution, paraphrased, "Kill the head, the body will die".
2
I suggest you rewatch “The Sting”. The time honored conman trick is to let the mark think they are going to get a big return, duplicitously, by outsmarting the conman. This is Trump’s game, and he is maddeningly good at it.
2
@George Winters
So were the Three Amigos the marks playing three-card monte?
1
Another great article Ms. Goldberg. I'm glad I'm still shocked by the ethically challenged GOP and the trump faux presidency. It seems like the entire Republican Party has decended into madness.
1
I think Trump's critical error is that he has humiliated and fired so many people. They have no loyalty to him, and are likely to talk.
Also, a lot of people hitched their wagons to him not because they believed in him, but because they saw a benefit for themselves. I think now that the ship is sinking (to mix my transportation metaphors), the rats are going to start fleeing.
1
I think it’s a perverse combination of political Stockholm Syndrome and cognitive dissonance.
When initially well-meaning but corrosively ambitious appointees like Sondland are pulled into criminal plots, most of their reinforcing communications are with fellow Trumpists who echo the view that it’s all a witch hunt till, inch by nefarious inch, when Sondland looks up for perspective he suddenly finds he is miles away from reality, and his natural reaction is to seek further reinforcement within the Trump bubble (most Americans have their own bubbles nowadays).
This works until the entire smoldering edifice collapses. Nome sane?
2
It’s Trumps usual Reality TV/Game Show: “Wheel of Misfortune”.
You play, you WILL pay.
2
Really getting sick of rich people - sick of learning how they buy honor, service, positions, etc. No - it's nothing new - but really really sick of them. Anyone else?
3
Sondland should ask for a refund of his $1 million. He's about to be out of a job and require a good criminal lawyer. If he's as clueless as he purports to be, a brain scan series would also be prudent. If, instead, he shamelessly and repeatedly lied - the safe bet, with odds of 10 to 0 - a scan to locate his missing morality is in order. And don't forget, this is the kind of no-good, toadying character who's been representing our fallen nation to the world, to friend and foe.
1
Excellent piece. I would also refer readers to a story by an NYT competitor exposing the obscene amount taxpayers are footing to renovate Sondland’s government residence. Put a bit more weight on the “knew exactly what he was doing” side of the scale.
3
@Janet
I notice that you got by far the most recommendations (1085 at 8am PDT). Congratulations! I too will never vote for a Republican, and I know many people who feel the same way - and some are registered as Republicans in California. The GOP is in the process of going over a cliff led by Trump. I can’t bring myself to use his title, President of the US.
1
All of this clearly indicates that a lot of people have too much money. One shouldn't be able to buy a place at the table of our democracy. We need to get rid of Citizens United as a starter and then move forward to change the way business is done in Washington. No more lobbyists would also be a good place to start. The Government is meant to work for the people, not the highest bidder. I also don't understand how anyone with a brain could think that working for trump would somehow be a good thing, isn't it obvious he is a complete charlatan?
2
I believe Shakespere and the Greeks had as the principal characters in their plays people whose unbridled ambition caused their downfall.
Trump's insecurity seems like a magnet to attract others whose insecurity about their status causes them to ignore reason and cling to Trump.
It is simplified by the truthful saying, If you sleep with the dogs you wake up with fleas.
1
Sondland just like most politicians and the various other titles that make up a government have no conscious. They can send young women and men of to war and sleep sound as a baby.
Increasingly so they also have no moral values, right and wrong are now merged and lying is completely acceptable with zero consequence.
3
Nailed it Michelle, “insecure opportunist” with a ton of money. Could be the tag line of Trump’s presidency.
1
Indeed, what could Sondland have been thinking? Rick Wilson's book entitled "Everything Trump Touches Dies" seems to capture this phenomenon. Too bad it wasn't published before Mr. Sondland signed on.
1
How did it end for Sondland? Well, he made a $1million dollar contribution to Trump's campaign and got the ambassador's seat. Then, he got a million dollars in upgrades at the resident there. He got free trips and all the perks that come with the "job". In the end, he will probably get a book deal. So, from the looks of it, he gota nice return on his ROI. It's sad but true for us taxpayers.
Perfectly and simply explained! Thank you!
To say he didn't know about the attempt to dig up dirt on the Bidens, is, as you point out, absurd. And to think helping Giuliani do Trump's bidding would not inevitably lead to big trouble, is equally as absurd, as he's finding out. Reality is crashing in on the entire cabal, thank heavens!
1
If he wanted honor and status, a million dollars towards a food bank, homelessness, reading programs for young children, a community college, or a humane society would have been a better choice. Duh.
7
Ms. Goldberg nails it again. I've commented on "opportunist" being one of the categories of moths to Trump's flame. Others include the true believers, or ends-justify-the-means types (and I'm being kind here) such as Mulvaney, Pompeo, Barr; the sincere though misguided "good intentions" for America (perhaps Bolton surprisingly); the avaricious (for future book deals); the seemingly eternal crony enablers in Trump world; and maybe even the truly naive. Back to the "flame" -- www.dangerouscase.org
1
Throughout the entire term of Trump's administration, there is hardly a soul who has separated from it with a happy ending. Only the principled left largely unsullied. Sondland is a fool for thinking that he could be beyond the stink of rot of what John Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff, called "crazy-town." One common side effect of association with Team Trump: the fee for a good criminal defense attorney. History repeats itself:
"The (Watergate) scandal also resulted in the indictment of 69 people, with trials or pleas resulting in 48 being found guilty, many of whom were top Nixon officials."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal
1
Sondland does not have the power or leverage to throw Rudy under the bus on his own, he will need help from the President.
"That’s the thing about deals with the devil. You get what you want, and then it ruins you." Well put Ms Goldberg. Here's hoping it doesn't apply to America as well.
2
Sondland emerges from this fiasco looking, at best, like a sad, ignorant, insecure, little man who thought he could buy status, honor, and importance. Just the kind of person we do NOT need representing our once-great country, but, in this crime syndicate masquerading as an administration, he's probably more the norm than we can possibly know. How much of that $1 million Sondland paid ended up directly in Trump's pocket?
2
Anyone willing to work for Trump is unqualified based alone upon their lack of judgment in wanting to in the first place.
3
“He added, sneering: “Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.”
He went on to add, “you live in an autocracy facilitated by a craven Trumpublican senate that will never convict on impeachment, whether I’m up here brazenly lying or not in the heat of the lights—get over it!”
1
The robot Republicans in Congress similarly think that they, each individually, will avoid the consequences of their perfidy. Shame on them.
As for witch hunts, there are so many witches here, all coming out for Halloween.
1
As is clear to the critical observer, any interaction with Trump is transactional. Trump is not able to see the world in shades of ethics or morals. Trump's entire emotional and intellectual lexicon can't reach beyond "quid pro quo."
This must be like a siren call for an opportunist like Sondland.
Sondland is not necessarily a crazy Trumpist, but he is a culpable Trumpist.
1
Reading the Bible doesn't make you a good person; making a fortune doesn't, either, and associating with important and powerful people doesn't make you above it all. People like Sondland didn't check their morality and dignity at the door. Those qualities were never present. THAT would be the psychological take on the matter, Ms. Goldberg.
1
As Sondland was walking in to testify yesterday, a reporter asked what Sondland’s involvement in the Ukrainian quid pro quo was going to do to his reputation. Stunningly, and certainly truthfully, Sondland replied, “I don’t have one to lose.”
The common denominator of the president and all his quislings? No reputation to lose.
2
His money and his ego got him in. His lawyers probably told him he needed to get out ASAP!
1
The answer to the question asked by Mr. Goldberg centers on the concept of professionalism. What we have throughout our government, whether in the FBI or state department, are career professionals--they enter the profession with the right goals---service to our country and the constitution---and acquire the training necessary to do their job well. Trump has never worked in an organization with public goals or worked with public professionals serving those goals. Trump is most comfortable working in a Tony Soprano lite organization--surrounded by individuals whose only qualification is paying daily homage to his genius, getting him diet cokes, doing some dirty tricks, and yes, going to jail when the dirty tricks are found out. No real professionals last long in a Trump administration---and no real professional applies for a job in the administration---Sondland fits the perfect profile of a Trump employee---knows little about the job he is in and looking for a fast track into other jobs he even knows less about.
4
And America got the worst government money could buy.
3
I like to think that those who have experienced discrimination, especially death-dealing discrimination like Jews and Blacks have, are more aware of injustice and are more prone to work against it. I do still think this is true at least to some extent. Yet here is a glaring exception. How can someone born of holocaust-survivor parents be so willing to sell his soul for a position of corrupt power? Unfortunately Sondland is a glaring example among many others who commit unethical acts despite a family history of being the victims of such acts. So sad; so tragic.
1
Welcome to the White House fishbowl Mr. Ambassador! Today, more than ever before knowledge of what any human is doing is accessible to everyone. Washington D.C. is a huge-glass aquarium. None of the fish have any hiding place in this age. Impeccability cannot be faked any longer.
1
Deal with the devil indeed. The Evangelicals have done this as well and no, it will not work out for them. In their never ending quest to end abortion, as if all of the other policies that kill people don’t matter. Young people are running away from them in record numbers, thank God, pun intended.
2
the doral hotel reportedly had a bedbug infestation.
It started with trump and his family and it has spread to the white house and everybody trump invited inside.
It all needs a treatment to remove the pestilence from our government and a stop in congress would be ok, too.
2
Hubris will be the demise of all of them.
4
Sondland’s sycophantic behavior to Trump is analogous to Faust’s (Goethe) pact with Mephistopheles for obtaining power and pleasure. Just Saying !
1
I love Michelle Goldberg's columns, but this is one of those times when a picture is worth more than a thousand words. The photo that appears above the article tells you everything you need to know. There is Sondland, striding forward, chin first, with a grin that suggests he's a 14-year-old on a field trip to see Congress for the first time. There's his lawyer next to him -- his face and posture showing that he understands what is going on.
Sondland is so desperate for attention and access that he looks thrilled at the prospect of talking to members of Congress. Never mind that what they want to talk about is his role in subverting our democracy.
As someone else (whose name I can't quite recall) would say: "SAD. SO SAD."
4
Your wealth does not equal your intellect. Prime example is our Great Leader Trump. Trump and his cohorts are definitely a boom for law school admissions. I haven’t seen this amount of lawyers on television since the OJ trial. Watergate sent a number of Richard Nixon’s senior staff to prison.
1
I for one, will never stay in one of Sondland's Boutique Hotels.
But seriously I think Sondland wanted to be Ambassador to further his own business interests. Sounds a lot like Trump to me.
2
For all of these characters - Trump, Giuliani, Sondland, Mulvaney, and the list goes on - it boils down to one fact: youcan’t escape destiny. Your character dictates the outcome.
1
Sondland might be the only person in the Trump orbit to still be able to feel any variety of shame. So far, anyway.
VOTE REPUBLICANS OUT. All of them.
And speaking of Giuliani, haven't heard a peep from him for a while. I wonder why.
He should be preparing himself for life under the bus, that, or there's a vacant cell next to Michael Cohen's, I hear.
1
Guarantee, he didn’t sign on for a jail cell. When push comes to sentencing, he’ll gladly join the choir!
1
Being ambassador is a cool gig. Sort of like knighthood, instead of being called Sir, you get called Ambassador. And the title seems to stick around. When you job is done folks still refer to you as ambassador so and so. And in some administrations the post seems to be for sale....All it takes is the right donations to the right candidate....Cool gig. Competence would have been nice but alas you can't have everything. Wonder if the jail guards will refer to him as ambassador. Be fun to find out
1
It's important to recount the vileness those who work for Trump descend to, for the edification of others temped to do so.
3
Well, as my Daddy used to say, "stupidity is its own punishment". However, in this case, I do hope the US legal system is also involved.
2
Too bad there's in no Nobel Prize for chutzpah. Trump wanting to investigate corruption? No equal.
1
Sonland was not the Ambassador to Ukraine. He was there to break the law and what he says about his innocence is all lies.
1