Despite a truly eye-rolling amount of peripheral noise and distraction from Democrats, the fundamental facts of the presidential impeachment are clear and simple.  There are only two:

1. Ukraine received the aid funds appropriated by Congress.

2. The Bidens were not investigated by a foreign government.

In this human condition, all of us, at one time or another, have thought about doing something, or wanted to do something, or were sorely tempted to do something, or maybe even talked to others about doing something, but then, for whatever reason, stopped, reconsidered, and didn't do it.  Perhaps we talked ourselves out of doing it.  Perhaps a parent, spouse, friend, or co-worker changed our mind.  Perhaps we consulted an attorney who opened our eyes to possible consequences.  Maybe an adversary even threatened us, which caused us to rethink things.  But one way or the other, we backed away, changed our mind, and didn't actually do what we initially wanted to do.

In this country, we don't prosecute people for "thought crimes," because simply thinking about or wanting to do something isn't a crime.

So no matter how many people testify regarding what they think or assume Trump wanted to do, or even what they heard Trump at some point talking about wanting to do, the clear and simple facts remain.  And no additional testimony from John Bolton — or from a hundred John Boltons — will alter those two final facts.

Yes, the funds were delayed for, what, about three weeks?  Basically, that's all the Democrats have!  The funds were paused for three whole weeks!  Are we now at a point in time where a president can be removed from office for delaying foreign aid funds for three weeks?  That's now an impeachable crime?  Seriously?

Oh, and as for the obstruction of Congress article, the president has every constitutional right to claim executive privilege.  If there is a dispute between the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch regarding this issue, the proper constitutional course of action is an appeal to the Judicial Branch — the Supreme Court.  But the Democrat House leadership refused to do this.  So this article fails immediately at first glance, because the Dems refused to avail themselves of the proper constitutional remedy to resolve the dispute.

This sham of an impeachment really is just this simple to determine.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr.