I go back and forth trying to decide if Trump was simply a complete idiot with a single skill of conning people into supporting him but who otherwise had almost no idea of how to act like a rational adult leader... is he that? Or is he more of a sociopathic lover of chaos who does have a good idea of what he's doing with his attacks on experts, minorities, the free press and basic decency and just doesn't care. I lean towards the simpleton who's in over his head but who does have a certain genius at being a con man to get people to support him, even though he has no idea of what to do with leadership once he gets it.
From NPR...
Then-President Donald Trump was withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for Ukraine's defense as he was asking its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to investigate Trump's potential 2020 rival, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter Biden.
That 2019 call got Trump impeached. But the Senate acquitted him, and he dismissed the controversy as a politically motivated hit job — and his base went along.
Now, with Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine and Zelenskyy being hailed around the world as a hero for his resolve, that call is put into a very different light.
"There's just a lot of evidence that Trump
was wrong on this issue [Ukraine] and that in many ways, we undermined
the NATO alliance and we undermined Zelenskyy's position in the eyes of
Russia and Putin," said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist and former
senior adviser on Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign.
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/08/1085023029/russias-invasion-puts-a-new-light-on-trumps-ukraine-pressure-campaign
From the Economist (March 5th)...
IF VLADIMIR PUTIN’S
invasion of Ukraine rests on a grand delusion, it is one he might have
learned watching Fox News and other outlets of the American right. Ever
since Donald Trump rose to the top of the Republican primaries in 2016,
conservative talking-heads have praised the Russian leader’s vigour and
acuity and denigrated his Ukrainian, European and NATO
adversaries as corrupt, weak and gutless. As recently as last week,
Tucker Carlson, America’s most popular cable host, suggested that, if
forced to choose between Russia and Ukraine, he would pick Russia. Only a
warmongering liberal obsessive would fuss over Mr Putin’s prosecution
of the faraway conflict, he added: “Is he making fentanyl? Is he trying
to snuff out Christianity? Does he eat dogs?”
The
subsequent reality of Ukraine’s bombed towns, dead children and heroic
resistance has not entirely pierced this delusion. Fox is still airing
pro-Putin commentary. Mr Trump still praises the Russian leader.
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)
on February 26th, he condemned the war but snuck in that Mr Putin was
“smart” and “playing [Joe] Biden like a drum”. Even so, the war has
caused the most dramatic rethink among Republicans since Mr Trump took
over their party.
https://www.economist.com/united-states/2022/03/05/the-end-of-the-putin-delusion
8 comments:
"I wonder if there will come a point where the GOP will recognize the degree to which they helped lead to Putin's invasion of Ukraine with their support of Trump as an actual president?"
If your premise was actually true, you'd likely see all manner of GOP outrage. Since it's crap, you won't.
Marshal, can you affirm that Putin's invasion of Ukraine was unprovoked and categorically wrong?
If not, you're validating the point of this post and suggesting how very far up the ass of the dangerous ousted ex-president the GOP is.
Another insulting question based on your own grace-embracing opinion of me, but not on anything I've ever said or implied. What makes you think I would approve of Putin's actions? Are you really that stupid? Are you really that unChristian and hateful? (These are rhetorical questions...the answers are obvious)
Your post doesn't provide anything more than more hateful opinions from Trump-haters. There's nothing Trump did that led to this invasion. Nothing. No one's head is up Trump's ass, but your head is up your own and spends most of its time there.
Marshal...
"Another insulting question based on your own grace-embracing opinion of me, but not on anything I've ever said or implied. What makes you think I would approve of Putin's actions?"
My question is based on what YOU said, on Stan's blog...
"The best argument for staying out of that conflict is the "who should we believe" argument. I don't abide nations invading other nations except in self-defense, but that doesn't mean we should pick a side between them."
I'm asking you if you can pick a side and denounce Putin unequivocally?
I get that you don't think a nation should invade another nation unprovoked, but given your "I don't think we should pick a side " comment, I'm seeking clarification.
Do you pick a side in this unprovoked invasion and denounce Putin?
What I said on Stan's blog does not merit your question, as it is apart from my opinion on Putin's behavior even though, as your quote of my words clearly indicate, I don't abide nations invading other nations, which for rational and honest people would preclude a question like yours...given it already answers it.
To pick a side for our involvement in the conflict based on reports from either side is the point of that quote, as without personal (by which I mean objective observation from our own reporters, government officials, allies, etc.) confirmation of the truth of those reports, picking one corrupt government over another also with a history of corruption, is foolhardy. Our move should be limited to pressuring each side to resolve their differences at the table, not on the battlefield.
To reiterate, if I've already said I don't approve of any nation invading another, I don't see how you could possibly question my position on Putin specifically based on that statement. You're being provocative and insulting.
Also to reiterate, I'm in no way obliged to love or hate anyone to the degree you do, nor are you justified in any way of demanding anyone do, or to judge anyone if they don't. You are not morally superior without that agreement, nor is anyone morally inferior. Morality is not your thing anyway, and these demands won't change that.
Here's the question you need to answer...
I'm asking you if you can pick a side and denounce Putin unequivocally?
Yes. No. Maybe not. I don't care what your answer is. Just answer.
“WASHINGTON ― Russian dictator Vladimir Putin may be accused of slaughtering children and overseeing other war crimes in Ukraine, but that’s not stopping longtime admirer and former U.S. President Donald Trump from asking him for political help again.
Trump, who tried to overthrow American democracy in an attempt to retain power despite losing the 2020 election, is now asking Putin to find damaging information on his successor’s son.
“I would think Putin would know the answer to that,” Trump said in an interview airing on Real America’s Voice, a pro-Trump website, regarding a payment a decade ago from a Russian oligarch’s wife to a company founded by Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden. “I think he should release it.”
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