You MUST See “From Russia With Lev”

Teri and I just finished watching “From Russia With Lev” on MSNBC, Executive Producer Rachel Maddow’s first foray in documentary filmmaking, and if it was released in theaters, it would win an Oscar.

Of course by now, everybody knows the name of Lev Parnas. And that’s a part of the problem. The job that Parnas did for Trump and Giuliani was supposed to be deep cover. But thanks to the blatant incompetence of The-Gang-That-Couldn’t Sh*t-Straight, Parnas became a household name.

This is an impressive work. Maddow could have gone for the quick down-and-dirty, simply picking up the Lev Parnas story starting with his first contacts with Rudy Giuliani and Trump and retelling the story of the attempted strongarm of Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenskyy. But she didn’t settle for the quick down-and-dirty.

Like most Homo Sapiens, Lev Parnas is a complicated man, and Rachel Maddow wanted to show that, so that people would understand the man. She started with Lev’s childhood, and Lev Parnas was the ultimate cooperating witness. And I came to an immediate revelation.

When the movie covered Parnas’s childhood and upbringing, I was immediately reminded of the life story of The God of War, Russian Max Boot. Both immigrated around the same time, and both grew up in a Russian American community. Both were street hustlers from their youth, working for Russian crime interests. Parnas stayed in the business community, while Boot migrated to arms and destruction.

I won’t bother to recap the movie for you, but I will tell you two things right now. First, if every broadcast and cable network simultaneously broadcast From Russia with Lev. Traitor Tot would lose in a literal landslide, it’s that bad. Second, if Hollywood ever decided to make a fictional retelling of this story, it would be called Ernest Goes to Washington. It’s that f*cking stupid.

But it’s also the compelling story of a simple man, a low to mid-level hustler constantly pushing the edges of legality, with multiple arrests and bankruptcies descent into the Cult of Trump, and his bitter journey to redemption. Parnas has already said that he will spend the rest of his life atoning for what he did.

Parnas is a compelling witness for one reason. Not only did he do sh*t, like Michael Cohen he kept receipts. He took photos constantly, made notes, and made copies of documents. And his lovely wife Svetlana dutifully categorized them and uploaded them to The Cloud. Unfortunately, Parnas never testified, nor did the evidence come to light, since as a convicted criminal, he was considered to be an untrustworthy witness.

But as the movie unreels, the thing that literally jumps off of the screen at you is the incredible f*cking stupidity of the Trump cabal, many, like Giuliani and Tubby the Ewok have law licenses. But they kept running around bouncing around off of each other like a bunch of stoners at a beach party. And running the whole thing was Traitor tot.

Here’s how stupid they were. Both Lev Parnas and Igor Furman were Ukrainian Americans who had emigrated to the United States in their youth. Both were street level hustlers who worked their way up to more successful mid-level scams. And both started contributing to Trump and the GOP. Heavily. And when Trump needed a couple of guys to go underground to get dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden in Ukraine, as long as these two career hustlers were Ukrainian, they were perfect for an undercover assignment.

Svetlana Parnas put it perfectly when she said, When I heard about this, I couldn’t help but say, What are you doing? This sounds like Mission Impossible, or Mission Stupid, maybe both, I don’t know! And she was right. These guys had no government connections in Ukraine, only corrupt businessmen and shady oligarchs. None of which were presentable in front of a US congressional committee.

But like a degenerate gambler, Trump and his minions just kept doubling down. They kept threatening reprisals against Parnas and Furman if they didn’t come through, but kept shoveling money at them. And it wasn’t until the Government of Ukraine booted them out as undesirables that the sad saga finally came to an end.

But by far my favorite part was the graphic description of Trump’s feckless f*ck up as a President. Starting in 2018 El Pendejo ex Presidente had a world class porn star hard on for the United States Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovich. She led the charge for Ukraine to fire the corrupt Prosecutor General, whom Trump was hoping would investigate Biden and his son, and Biden facilitated that ouster.

Starting in 2018, Trump tried to oust Yovanovich herself. He pressured the State Department to fire or recall her, but the State Department refused for lack of cause. The next year he ordered his normally compliant Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to fire Yovanovich, but Pompeo refused. It was only in 2021, when Yovanovich got yet another corrupt prosecutor fired, one who Trump was counting on for the Burisma investigation, that Trump finally personally recalled her. What kind of Dictator takes two years to recall a recalcitrant Ambassador?

The documentary plays like a comedy crime novel starring a bunch of idiots, combined with a very intense personal story of a slide into a cult and the long road out. But mostly, it’s a scathing indictment of the incredible stupidity of a criminal presidency gone off the rails. That alone makes it worth watching.

I thank you for the privilege of your time.

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