Many in the pro-Ukraine community, including some of my friends, have been worried for quite a while that Trump would do some kind of deal with Putin that would sell Ukraine out. I have never been very nervous on this score. As I keep saying, Putin's goals in Ukraine are simply not compatible with any kind of deal or any peace short of total victory. Trump wants to make a deal, and over Ukraine there is just no deal to be made. I have long considered it at least as likely that Trump would try to sell Ukraine out but find, as everyone else has found, that on this issue Putin is intractable, and end up getting mad about it. Like this:
"I'm not happy with what Putin is doing. He's killing a lot of people and I don't know what the hell happened to Putin. I've known him a long time ... we're in the middle of talking and he's shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don't like it at all. I'm surprised."
I feel for Trump here. He is trying to make a deal, because that is one of the things he most prides himself on, and because, he says, he really wants to bring the slaughter to a halt. A Ukraine peace deal would be a real achievement, something that might get smart people across the world to think of him as more than a corrupt blowhard. But in the middle of his deal-making blitz Putin ramps up his missile war against Ukraine, striking Kyiv, killing twelve civilians in one night. He is probably thinking, I really tried to give Putin something, put myself out on a limb here when all the European leaders were saying it was a mistake, and Putin can't even help me out by not launching missiles for a few days.
What comes of this, I don't know; I will not attempt to predict Donald Trump's behavior. But a deal made behind the backs of Ukrainians and other Europeans seem even more unlikely to me.
4 comments:
"He's killing a lot of people and I don't know what the hell happened to Putin."
It's a war in which probably hundreds of thousands on both sides have died. That's what happened. Makes W's "I looked in his eyes and . . ." seem kind of intelligent, doesn't it?
W and Biden, two foreign policy disaster maestros we might not recover from. And the third maestro is in office right now, an amazing, unparalleled run since 911.
Many in the pro-Ukraine community, including some of my friends, have been worried for quite a while that Trump would do some kind of deal with Putin that would sell Ukraine out. I have never been very nervous on this score.
Then you simply aren't paying attention, John.
Trump DID sell out Ukraine. It already happened.
He withheld military aid, causing a crisis where Ukraine was at risk of not being able to continue the fight, and then used that as blackmail to force Ukraine to surrender massive mineral rights to the United States in a coerced unequal treaty.
Trump held our ALLY at figurative gunpoint and LITERALLY robbed them.
AND NO ONE IN THE MEDIA TALKS ABOUT IT.
You'd better educate yourself, sir. Because CNN sure as shit isn't going to do it - they're too busy trying to sell you a book they wrote muckracking Biden's declining health for cheap drama that will line their pockets.
"I'm not happy with what Putin is doing. He's killing a lot of people and I don't know what the hell happened to Putin. I've known him a long time ... we're in the middle of talking and he's shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don't like it at all. I'm surprised."
I feel for Trump here. He is trying to make a deal, because that is one of the things he most prides himself on, and because, he says, he really wants to bring the slaughter to a halt.
You FEEL for him? Why?
Because he's exactly the kind of useful idiot that Putin KNEW he would be? Because he was STUPID and ARROGANT enough to let himself be played? To think he could somehow "solve the problem" in a way anyone who actually knows the first thing about Putin could have told you was doomed to failure?
Putin is a master at stringing people along. And Trump fell for his schtick hook, line, and sinker. And his own words reveal that he is CONTINUING to fall for the scam. He's expressing shock and disbelief, but simultaneously exhibiting all the signs of denial.
"I've known him a long time", says Trump. No, he hasn't! That's how conmen work! They trick you into thinking you understand them, when you really don't! You never did! It was always a lie, from the very beginning!
"...we're in the middle of talking and he's shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don't like it at all. I'm surprised", admits Trump. Yes! That's the entire basis of how a confidence trick works! It RELIES on you not expecting the betrayal! It relies on you NOT WANTING TO BELIEVE that you've been lied to and strung along the entire time!
The very foundation of a con is that the person pretends to be one thing, but secretly was something else THE ENTIRE TIME. They didn't have a change of heart or make a mistake or somehow get "changed" by some mysterious event - they were planning how best to fuck you over FROM THE VERY START. That's what makes it a CON.
And that's why even when a con gets REVEALED, it frequently continues long afterwards, despite the person being ripped off having every reason to no longer trust the other party! They don't WANT to believe it's a con, and the conman gives them all the excuses and explanations they could want - like throwing a life preserver to a drowning man, keeping the con afloat!
Putin KNOWS that Trump is an egotistical moron. He KNOWS that the best way to string Trump along is to flatter his sense of self worth, and then just leave him out to dry, embarrassing him. Putin UNDERSTANDS that that very embarrassment will just make Trump even more desperate to eke out some kind of "victory" to save face and smooth over his ruffled feathers.
Charlie Brown goes to kick the football, and of course Lucy pulls it out from under him. Chuck should realize he's being played for a fool, and should just walk away, but he can't help himself. And Lucy just keeps goading him on and convincing him to keep wasting his time, laughing the whole while.
"This time, I won't pull it away, I promise."
"Okay, I lied THAT time, but this NEXT time, I'll leave the ball there for sure."
"I'm sorry, I really MEANT to leave it there, but I just couldn't help myself. Let me make it up to you. Kick it."
"Okay, so you realize I'm doing this on purpose, but don't stop now! You almost had it!"
"You're frustrated, sure, but don't leave! Think how great it will feel when you finally kick the ball DESPITE me pulling it away!"
"Gosh, you really almost had it that time! Here, let me hold it with only one finger..."
"You know, I really do want you to hit it. Let me help - your technique needs adjusting, try starting on the other foot..."
"Look how much better that was! You just need to practice and you'll surely get it!"
"Don't give up, Charlie Brown! I'm your friend and I believe in you! You can do it!"
Not defending Trump, but most of this disaster is Biden's making. All the weapons Biden said Ukraine couldn't/shouldn't have, he eventually gave to them, not because Ukraine was winning, but because they were losing. He didn't start targeting Mother Russia using American satellites and American Missiles because Ukraine was winning. Maybe if he'd given them to Ukraine at the beginning of the war they would have made a difference, but he didn't. Elect a Cold War warrior, and what you get is wars. So, while you're heaping loads of "STUPID" and "ARROGANT" at Trump, lob a few of those grenades over the Biden wall too. He certainly deserves some.
What a stupid war. If my kids get incinerated over a dispute with Russia over Ukraine, I'm gonna be really pissed. Back in 21/22 we should have told Ukraine no membership in Nato. Why would we want a country as corrupt as Ukraine as a NATO partner, anyway? And now this, just what we needed after all those other stupid wars, another stupid war. We have no idea what we are doing.
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