We are looking at a veritable and profound global realignment since Trump has gotten back in office. As Zbigniew Brzeziński wrote in his 2012 book Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power: “It cannot be stressed enough that without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire, but with Ukraine suborned and then subordinated, Russia automatically becomes an empire.” Putin is drunk with the vision of an imperial Russia, the one that existed long ago under Peter the Great but has been gone for well over 100 years.
Mary Trump goes on to opine,”Without Ukraine, Russia is a backwater. If American presidents from 1991 on had recognized that and worked to contain Russia while refusing to buy into the Russian myth of its strategic superiority and inevitability as a world power; if, the West in general and America in particular, had invested in the future of Ukraine as a strong ally to the West and the liberal democratic order, we would never have been in this situation.”
That’s the back story. Fast forward to the present and Mary’s crazy uncle Donald is back in power at a time when Ukraine is standing between global democracy and the greatest threat to it since WWII, which is Vladimir Putin. If Ukraine falls, Poland is next, then Lithuania, then it’s up for grabs. And where does the U.S. stand now?
The other factor at play here is that Putin, as he occasionally does, is tightening his grip on Donald’s leash. He has Donald’s number, as he has had for decades. But Donald is a different man from who he was even eight years ago. He is much diminished, and much deteriorated, which is saying something. This is the result of a combination of cognitive decline, his untreated and worsening psychiatric disorders, stress, and his unhealthy lifestyle.
The fact that Donald has been tolerating Elon Musk, a man who rivals his narcissism and needs just as desperately to be the smartest, most admired, most valued person in the room, is indicative of Donald’s decline. It’s difficult to imagine his having put up with Musk’s blatant usurpation of his power at any other time in the past. Musk, like Putin, has Donald’s number and he understands him very well. But the kind of power Musk wields is categorically different from the power Putin wields. The former does not rival Donald’s perception of his power in that realm. Putin’s power—the total, inarguable power of the authoritarian—is what Donald craves and remains subservient to. It is beyond him.
On an unconscious level, this makes Donald uncomfortable. It is so at odds with his false perception of himself as a killer and a tough guy; of a savvy deal-maker who can always get the upper hand. When he feels thwarted by Putin, when Putin puts him in his place and reminds him who’s in charge, Donald acts out.
But he always leaves room for a reconciliation, even if he must pretend he will come out on top. Because that is what he must think. The tell is in his above statement:
“[I have] a very good relationship with Putin . . . the anger dissipates quickly … if he does the right thing.”
Of course, it is Donald who will do the right thing—the thing that Putin wants him to do, whatever that might be depending on the moment and the circumstances.
Add to that cheery thought the fact that that Japan and South Korea have decided to join with China in response to Trump’s tariffs and you see the profound damage that this mis-administration is capable of inflicting. And this is after only two months.
47 is setting the stage, feigning anger at Putin to increase pressure on Zelensky. Witkoff’s proposal for Ukraine’s double surrender — land to Russia, wealth to Trump’s oligarchs — is on the table. Putin will make some little concession feigning submission to DT’s “genius and skillful deal making” and DT will move on Zelensky. Russia sells very, very little oil products to the US.
Both Putin and Trump believe they can simply broker a backroom deal and make Ukraine disappear. They’re wrong, They can make any stupid deal they want but the only way Ukraine will disappear is if the much-depleted Russian army manages to conquer it. And even then, the hard part (occupation) begins. Europe is now wide awake and aware of what Putin’s victory in Ukraine would mean for the EU, so those countries are now re-arming with an impending war very mind in mind. Don’t anyone kid themselves: the EU and NATO would crush Putin’s Russia and Vlad knows it. He’s counting on Trump to weaken NATO and fatally weaken Ukraine, and it might have had a chance of working had Trump not made himself the enemy of the Western alliance and democracies everywhere. The USA voted with Russia in the UN against Ukraine and that signaled the end of Trump’s influence in Europe.
Unintended consequences seem to appear more frequently when a complete MORON is forced to deal with complexity. Trump would be the poorest student if he were presently in elementary school. I hang with my 9 y/o adopted daughter and she’s wayyyyyyyyyyy smarter than Trump ever was or will be.