I want to revel in the ongoing whistleblower story (Ukraine, Donald Trump, alleged dirt of Joe Biden, Rudy Guiliani, withholding of foreign aid). I want to jump into it like a swimming pool and go “wheee!” I want to splash around in this story like a toddler in a mud puddle. But it’s a little vague.

Trump was apparently just doing his usual ruthless gangster miasma whatever. No rules, no ethics, shoot from the hip, muscle whomever he feels like muscling. He wanted dirt on Joe Biden, which apparently had something to do with Joe Biden, Jr. Which he could use in the 2020 campaign. But the story hasn’t been phrased in a clear, concise, “talk to me like I’m an idiot” sort of way.

Trump is an animal and a criminal, but we knew that going in. And he wanted something he could use against Biden, fine. But he does this kind of dirty finagling all the time.

Summary from a friend: “Trump has been withholding $250 million in aid to the Ukraine. He told the new PM on a phone call that PM couldn’t have the money until he delivered some dirt on Biden’s son Hunter, who’s had some business there.”

Posted in the N.Y. Times at 5:33 pm today:

“President Trump repeatedly pressed his Ukrainian counterpart in a call to talk with his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, who had been urging the government in Kiev for months to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and his family, according to people briefed on the call.

“Mr. Trump’s desire for a Ukrainian investigation of Mr. Biden, a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is part of the secret whistle-blower complaint that is said to be about Mr. Trump and at least in part about his dealings with Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter.

“The new revelations add to new scrutiny about Mr. Trump’s dealings with the Ukrainian government. He has made no secret of his desire for Kiev to investigate the Bidens, repeatedly raising it publicly.

“But questions have emerged about whether Mr. Trump’s push for an inquiry into the Bidens was behind a weekslong White House hold on military aid for Ukraine. The United States suspended the military aid to Ukraine in early July, according to a former American official.”