None of us have been part of a state-to-state presidential phone call, quite obviously. But it is likely that every reader knows that a lot of preparation goes into these calls: meetings with experts, lists of goals, note-takers, translators, outlines prepared, and presidential briefings. These are major operations. Calls between heads of state can change relationships between countries, move foreign policy, and there is always the chance that one side may misunderstand the other.

At least, that’s the way it’s supposed to work. But it did not work that way in the Trump White House.

In Alexander Vindman’s article in the Atlantic Vindman explains how Russia evolved from what everyone had assumed was an adversary, and Ukraine a friend, to almost the oppose:

Recently, deep concerns had been growing throughout the U.S. foreign-policy community regarding two of the countries I was responsible for. We’d long been confused by the president’s policy of accommodation and appeasement toward Russia. But now there were new, rapidly emerging worries. This time the issue was the president’s inexplicable hostility toward a U.S. partner crucial to our Russia strategy: Ukraine.”

We all have suspicions that explain this remarkable change in policy, but, given there is no proof, it cannot go to print, yet. Vindman did not speculate.

He also explained what it was like to work in an environment where people exert themselves through 14-hour days, barely seeing their families, but even after all that teamwork and effort, Trump’s sudden interest in Ukraine could result in a random tweet that destroyed all the preparation.

He describes the famous phone call:

“The White House operator said, ‘The parties are now connected,'” he wrote. “Trump began speaking, and I knew right away that everything was going wrong.”

“I will say that we do a lot for Ukraine,” Vindman said he heard Trump tell Zelensky. “We spend a lot of effort and a lot of time, much more than the European countries are doing, and they should be helping you more than they are. Germany does almost nothing for you…

The fact is that because Trump never provided any policy guidance, nobody in responsible circles—people far senior to me—ever took his remarks seriously,” Vindman wrote.

“They’d wait to see if anything more substantive confirmed what he’d said, continuing, in the meantime, to pursue agreed-upon directions. Because Tim Morrison, my new boss at NSC, had also directed that we continue on course and not treat anything the president might say as a change in policy, there was really nothing else to do.“

Here we are learning – and we all appreciate this fact, which is incredible – that real professionals inside the National Security Council truly didn’t care what Trump said at any given time. They would simply pretend it wasn’t said. Except, then it happened.

“I would like you to do us a favor, though,” Vindman said he stopped taking notes.

Vindman says that’s when everything went insane, Trump started listing off the conspiracy theories that he either read on the net, were cooked up by Rudy, or some combination thereof:

That’s when the conspiracy talk began. Trump went off on Ukraine being behind the 2016 election hack, not Russia. It was a Russian propaganda point. He said Zelensky was cheerful, trying to promise Trump that they are open to any kind of cooperation with the United States.

Vindman said he was “growing more unsettled,” but started taking notes again. “the other thing,” Trump then said, rattling off the conspiracy about Biden’s son. He was shocked.

Vindman then said that as he stopped taking notes, eyes darted around the room, as if they couldn’t believe what they just heard, and that what they just heard was clearly a crime. It was at that point that Vindman said they realized that it was what Giuliani, Sondland and Mulvaney had cooked up.

And thus began impeachment part I.

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