Thigh-High Politics is an op-ed column by Teen Vogue writer Lauren Duca that breaks down the news, provides resources for the resistance, and just generally refuses to accept toxic nonsense.

On Tuesday morning, Donald Trump Jr. shared screenshots of an email thread in which he seemed to admit to being involved in the Russian government’s efforts to influence the 2016 election. The stunning act of self-sabotage was somehow both impossibly stupid and a genuine threat to the preservation of our increasingly fragile government.

It all began the day before with a bombshell revelation from The New York Times: During his father’s campaign, Trump Jr. met with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer with the expectation of receiving damaging information about Hillary Clinton. The story quickly ramped up with an ever-shifting set of statements from the president’s son. Over the course of less than 24 hours, Trump Jr. provided at least two different versions of what happened around the June meeting, and we’ll more than likely hear several more over the coming months, as our national crisis continues to shape into a treason-themed round of choose-your-own-adventure.

After several botched attempts at pretending to operate under the imperative of honesty, Trump Jr. abandoned his initial insistence that the meeting was only about the block on Russian adoptions (read: sanctions), and reportedly scooped the Times by posting images of the email chain arranging the meeting to social media the next day. Indeed, as of Tuesday afternoon, what clearly appears to be collusion with Russia, once written off as a liberal fever dream, is now evidenced by screenshots on the president’s son’s Twitter feed.

“[The information] would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father,” wrote Rob Goldstone, the former British tabloid writer and publicist who was involved with setting up the meeting. “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

Trump Jr.’s reaction to a foreign government working to interfere with the United States’ election should have been a phone call to the FBI. Instead, within minutes, he shot back, “I love it.”

This is a definitive tipping point in the continued investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia. Although national security should be the primary concern of the White House, the president and his surrogates insist on degrading the news organizations working to report the story, while disseminating yet another grab-bag of conflicting messages. Given Trump’s past behavior, it’s nothing less than foolish to assume that the health of the nation is his top priority. And yet, despite the distraction, deception, and outright buffoonery of a president who appears to be acting in opposition to the interests of his own people, the following three facts have been rendered unassailable with the help of Trump Jr.’s emails: 1) Russia interfered in our election, with the aim of aiding Trump. 2) The Trump administration has repeatedly lied about, or otherwise concealed, contact with the Russian government. And 3), we now know with complete certainty that the Trump campaign attempted to collude with the Russian government.