Rick Perry and Gordon Sondland, two of the intellectual heavyweights in the TrumPutin regime, have both testified that, while they were part of the team of three amigos working for and with Rudy G to subvert American democracy, neither really knew what the apoplectic attorney was up to.

Rick Perry, he of the good-hair and eyeglasses-for-intellectual-heft, says that there was nothing "untoward" about the their efforts. The only problem with that explanation is: one, Perry has no idea that "untoward" is a word; and two, he is incapable of recognizing an untoward activity. His entire career has been built on untoward activities, from gutting the Texas higher education system, to installing creationists as textbook approvers, to allowing oil companies to do anything they want, anywhere they want to do it in Texas, and, last but not least, to being a cheerleader for Texas A&M.

Sondland says he worked with Rudy but has no idea what Rudy was up to. Not a sparkling defense for an ambassador, but Sondland is a hotel guy who bought his ambassadorship. He hates getting stuck in policy. 

Hearing of his minions' explanations and their spotty recollection, TrumPutin was quick to laud their "beautiful memories" and cooperation. 

Rudy's interference and his own incoherence are proof that minions could not have done anything untoward -- because Rudy and TrumPutin beat them to it. 

Falling back on his most useful defenses, TrumPutin claims stupidity, executive privilege, immunity, evangelicals, and, if all that fails, there is always the 5th Amendment.

Two professions important and highly visible in the TrumPutin regime are porn stars and attorneys, in order of importance and esteem.

While TrumPutin would prefer to govern with the assistance of porn stars and Playmate Bunnies, sadly, he has to have a team of lawyers equal in number to the Republican senators willing to give up their scruples on their leader's behalf. 

The newest addition to the legal braintrust is rumored to be the erstwhile Trey Gowdy, he of the odd, multiple, and ever-changing hair styles. He was the House leader of the Benghazi investigations, clusterf***ks of epic proportions. He will be at home with TrumPutin, and more at home with Rudy G, the only person in D.C. who can make Mikey Pompeo look statesmanlike. 

Gowdy once recommended to TrumPutin that, if he were innocent (subjunctive mood trey important in the phrasing), he should act like it.

Trey seems to have abandoned that earlier sage advice, as good as is likely to come from any former or current House Republican leader. 

Now Trey is throwing in with the likes of Devon Nunez, Kevin McCarthy, and the other mindless, sycophantic House Republicans, who prefer putting forth theories of quasi-innocence, conspiracy theory plots, and wishful-thinking interpretations of the conversations and actions of their esteemed moron-in-chief.

Nobody in Republican circles wants impeachment, not because it is unwarranted but because it will mean they have to find a new place to golf. Plus, Stormy Daniels is never there anymore.

Leadership is so hard these days, guys.

So, we have gone from stable genius to great and unmatched wisdom. In a great and unmatched psychopath, to boot.

If the average game show fan were to see "Great and Unmatched" as a category, what would the responses be? In a sane world:

I'll take Great and Unmatched for $100. The answer is: "What are TrumPutin's business failures?"

I'll take Great and Unmatched for $200. The answer is: "What are TrumPutin's moral failures, except in the eyes of white supremacists, where he is the God who answers their prayers?"

I'll take Great and Unmatched for $300. The answer is: "What are TrumPutin's political failures, including but not limited to his hypocrisy, lauding the military while refusing to serve and re-routing their resources to fictional national emergencies; giving tax breaks to himself and the wealthy while promising to help his base; raping the land, polluting the water, fouling the air, all in the name of non-existent jobs but for the benefit of powerful men who control him; and, of course, shithole countries, infestations, Muslim bans, border walls, etc.?"

I'll take Great and Unmatched for $400. The answer is: "What is TrumPutin's misogyny, which is at least devoid of any prejudice, as he will insult and degrade women of all races, creeds, and colors, including those currently and formerly in his family?"

And for the biggest category, I'll take Great and Unmatched for $1,000. And the answer is: "What is his hatred and fear of President Obama, whose popularity he will never match, whose intelligence he will never approach, whose skills he will never possess, whose crowds he will never get close to, and whose Nobel Prize he will never be awarded?"

TrumPutin's only real great and unmatched quality is his smallness as a human being. Unmatched, indeed.

It's a special era of lawlessness when the criminals get to decide whether they will come to the trial or deign to testify.

TrumPutin huddles behind legal protestations of innocence like "the call was perfect, the call was wonderful, the call didn't happen the way the transcript said, the call never happened, the call was made by Obama, I just got a voicemail."

And the others - ambassadors, personal attorney, secretary of State (or what is left of State), Attorney General (leader of what remains of the Justice department) - all claim executive privilege, inconvenience, the claims of the Founding Fathers, or amnesia.

TrumPutin makes it difficult when he denies that he asked a foreign government to investigate his political rival for him, then claims omnipotence to ask a foreign government to investigate his political rival for him, then makes a public appeal to a foreign government to investigate his political rival for him, then denies he asked a foreign government to investigate a political rival for him. 

The question is whether to impeach the scoundrel, or to institutionalize the lunatic. 

Alas, his Cabinet, personal attorney, ambassadors, advisors, and Vice-TrumPutin can't be impeached or institutionalized with him.