In the Post, Oakley, who wrote the episode along with Josh Weinstein, points out several recent real-world examples in which Trump apologists have tried to defend the president's "quid pro quo" with Ukraine using more or less the same argument. That includes House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy ("Name me one thing that Ukraine did to release the money. Nothing"), the Wall Street Journal editorial page ("[I]t may turn out that while Mr. Trump wanted a quid-pro-quo policy ultimatum toward Ukraine, he was too inept to execute it") and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who told the Post, "[I]t's hard for me to understand where the whole impeachment situation is coming from, because what everybody's up in arms about didn't happen."