It’s 1797. The United States, a new nation with little military strength, has just signed the Jay Treaty with the British. The French are offended, and retaliate by seizing American merchant vessels.
Eager to avoid a confrontation he knows he can’t win, President Adams sends emissaries to France to negotiate a solution. They are told by three agents of Talleyrand that they cannot even meet with the great man unless the US agrees in advance to pay him under the table. The American diplomats refuse and leave; the country is outraged; and an undeclared war ensues.
Sound familiar? Substitute Trump for Talleyrand, Ukraine for the US, and Giuliani and his merry men for XY and Z, and it all falls into place. And like the French, the GOP views Trump’s behavior as business as usual.