'Aimed squarely at Rube Nation': Former Republican stunned by GOP lawmakers spouting Ukraine conspiracy theories

Tom Nichols, a former Republican and a current professor at the Naval War College in Rhode Island, found himself utterly stunned by Rep. Devin Nunes's (R-CA) questioning of impeachment inquiry witnesses Bill Taylor and George Kent during Wednesday's hearings.

During his questioning, Nunes regularly befuddled both Taylor and Kent when he brought up issues related to the Crowdstrike conspiracy theory that claims that the Ukrainian government, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

Reacting to this, Nichols said that Nunes's performance wasn't aimed at persuading the general public, but only Fox News-watching Trump supporters.

"It really is remarkable, listening to GOP counsel now, that the witnesses need not even be there," Nichols writes on Twitter. "This is just aiming squarely at Trump and Rube Nation."

Nichols also couldn't believe that Nunes chided Taylor for not being familiar with the conspiracy theories being peddled by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.

"Amazing," he remarked. "But it's not aimed at people who understand this issue, it's meant to create sound bites for Fox and memes for Facebook."