Trump Screws Ukraine. Europe and NATO Too. (Taiwan After That?)

Trump might as well come out and bluntly say: “Putin wants Ukraine and I want him to have what he wants. When he goes after the rest of Europe NATO can forget about the United States meeting it’s Article V obligations.” If asked about Taiwan he’ll come up with a word salad of it being part of China and if they want to put troops there to make sure Taiwan knows who’s their boss they’re on their own too.  Not enough, not nearly enough Republicans, in particular those in Congress willing to stand up and tell Trump ‘NO. We’re not letting you do that!’

If Trump hasn’t been as blunt as I just said, multiple actions in the last ten days or so make it abundantly clear that he’s not abandoning, BETRAYING Ukraine. Europe and NATO too. Let’s take a look at Trump’s recent actions:

• Russia is desperate for cash and Trump figures with his MAGAs being mad about fuel prices he agreed to buy a batch of Russian diesel. (He figures it’s a twofer-a shiny object he can dangle to MAGA that he’s bringing down gas/diesel prices and giving Putin a much needed cash infusion.  At a glance it sounds like a lot of diesel but it’s a drop in the bucket and won’t change prices here in the U.S. For a comprehensive look check out the PBS article on the subject.
• He signed legislation named for the late Lindsey Graham that imposed stiff new sanctions on Russia. He had until yesterday to implement those sanctions. However last week Trump announced the sanctions would be put ‘on pause.’ In other words he’s waiving them, much to Putin’s delight. And relief. I’ve written my own article about this here on PZ but for those who’d like a major news outlet’s analysis here’s a short piece from NBC News about how after taking criticism Trump has doubled down!
• Ukraine counts on intelligence, in particular Starlink data to respond to missile attacks from Russia. It was slowed down/cut off. Elon Musk denies having anything to do with it. In addition, credible reporting says the order to cripple Ukraine’s ‘eyes’, their ability to get precious minutes to respond to missiles/drones headed their way came from the White House. That means TRUMP ordered access to that intelligence cut off. You can learn details in this article from Forbes.
• Russia has made a point of attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure far more than military targets in Ukraine. War crimes. Ukraine has made great effort to only attack military targets in Russia such as troops/airbases, weapons manufacturing and ability to transport then west. Also energy production/transport infrastructure. When Trump announced the diesel purchase deal with Russia Ukraine attacked a target to hamper it – And Trump went out and (Big Time) criticized Ukraine!  CNN covers this pretty well.
• Trump is now echoing Putin, calling for a summit in China of Trump, Putin and Xi – to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Zelensky is quite pointedly NOT invited. To a meeting who’s goal will be ending the war in a a way that make Putin/Russia happy which means Russia will get to control it again, just like in the bad old days of the Soviet Union. Military.com has a good writeup about this.

Yes, I tagged this as an opinion piece but if you’ve read down to this point I stand by what I say has happened.  In fact, I think there’s an aspect I didn’t get in to. Trump is alleged (I maintain as do smarter people than me – people with much stronger National Security experience than this ole jarhead who’s active duty was decades ago) to be beholden to Putin for some reason. He literally announced at the Helsinki Summit with Putin standing right next to him (and smiling) that he trusted Putin’s word than all of our own intelligence agencies/people.  Trump has over and over either done or tried to do whatever Putin wanted him to do.

Yes, there’s been the rare criticism or action from Trump but only when he was under overwhelming pressure from the bulk of Republicans and not just Democrats to do so.  He’s like a Presidential version of Maine Senator Susan Collins – recently accused of only voting against Trump’s wishes when her vote wasn’t actually needed. Trump has at best put up token resistance to Putin and again only because he had to put on a bit of a show to tamp down criticism.  However, when he first assumed Office everyone knew two things. First is that Putin HATES everything about the NATO alliance which he blames for the downfall of the old USSR. Putin said then, and has ever since claimed that was the greatest tragedy in the world’s history. Second, it was also clear Putin wanted Trump to wreck the NATO alliance.

No one should doubt for a second that Putin has at times threatened Trump that he’d better get done what he was supposed to the first time around. As in break up NATO. So he (Putin) could in turn go on to reassemble a new, leaner and meaner USSR that would be able to conquer all of Europe. In Trump’s first term, there were enough Republicans on the Hill with just enough backbone to keep Trump from taking the U.S. out of NATO.  Even in the Executive Branch, Trump’s actual administration there were some ‘adults in the room’ and in the jobs relevant to this discussion. That would change as they left or got fired but even at the end a couple were left.

This time it’s different. Part of why Jan. 6 failed was that it’s reported (and I believe it) there was a team there which was waiting for that final order, which I should add had weapons nearby that could be brought to them in the chaos. Trump lost his nerve and didn’t give that final “Go” order, because just enough people he’d pay attention to (some even in the WH itself) telling him not to listen to the crazies crowding around him urging him on.  Had McConnell given the green light enough GOP Senators would have voted to convict in his second impeachment trial and that would have been it for Trump. Tragically for our country and the free world it didn’t happen that way.

The point is that as the legal proceedings in Florida unfolded Trump started thinking he’d gotten away with everything including Jan. 6. He correctly believe he could manage to delay things in DC just enough that he could squeeze out a win in 2024. We know as Trump surely did there was lots of damning evidence that never got publicly aired, first in the courtroom. Once he was declared President-Elect he knew he’d truly gotten away with all he’d done and so did Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Trump made sure to appoint different people to his administration this time. People who would completely obey him and not only not try to rein him in, but actually encourage his worst tendencies. Between that and the SCOTUS present of damned near complete immunity GOP Congress Critters have been terrified of getting on Trump’s enemies list.  Most of those who decided to speak out against Trump on one or more important (to him) things OR not openly support him with enough enthusiasm either chose to get out of politics, or got primaried out.  As the GOP primaries unfolded it was clear it’s still Trump’s Party.

Once we got into the traditional (after Labor Day) election season plenty of GOP candidates, way too many if fact are still on the Trump Train but a startling number of them avoid. However a startling number are clearly trying to create some distance.  They won’t do Town Halls, and avoid (sometimes literally run away) journalists to avoid having to defend Trump.  Some won’t even go to one of his rallies/events!  They have ‘scheduling conflicts.’ Some excuses are so lame they remind me of high school a half century ago when a gal you asked out on a date said she had to wash her hair that night.  They are afraid. Both of being associated with Trump, and also with not making it onto that famous enemies list of his.  They are trying to straddle the fence but they’re increasingly sitting on a giant razor blade, with their tippy toes barely able to touch ground solidly enough to keep their weight from bearing down on the thing.

To be fair, in a handful of matters GOPer’s have tapped the brakes but not hard enough or often enough and here we are. We are in a useless war with Iran that’s costing money and lives, and worse degrading our military capability.  It gets worse because enabling Putin doesn’t just make things worse for Ukraine and Europe, Russia has also been helping Iran in the war!  Money Trump wants to go (both directly and indirectly) to Putin/Russia will cost us more lives in that war. It will also force us to spend more and wear down more ships which will impact maintenance and therefore capability for at least five years or more.  Meanwhile China is patiently watching that, and trying to work things to the point that we’re so ground down militarily we can’t intervene in Taiwan even if we wanted to!

Now do you see the magnitude of what’s going on?  Most white Americans have European ancestry so even with full Democratic control of our government come 2028 if a choice has to be made between helping Europe or Taiwan (or anywhere in the Pacific Rim including Australia) an empowered Putin who controls Ukraine and the rest of Europe will be either at war or about to be.  And Trump clearly is throwing the entire weight of the Presidency to give Ukraine to Putin!  The ONLY reason he hasn’t been as blunt as I said at the beginning of this is the upcoming midterms.

Once that’s done, regardless of the results he can weaken Ukraine to the point it will fall. Or fall if a NATO with no U.S. help decides it’s willing to directly engage both in Ukraine and the western part of Russia to beat Putin back. NATO became as strong as it did because of Article V. If the largest and to date most powerful member (us) tells them they’re on their own the world order we built with the United States as the unquestioned leader is done.

Putin might not get Ukraine, but because Trump intends to leave it as exposed as it’s been since the fall of the USSR for the taking he will have broken up the NATO alliance which has been his dream since the USSR fell.  Because… Trump.

We can only hope for not merely a Blue Wave but a Blue Tsunami on Nov. 3.  IF, and only if it’s a true wipeout for the GOP might a majority of them in both the House and the Senate become more scared of voters (even in red states/districts) than of Trump.  It would take a veto proof vote in both to choke off money for the war in Iran and force on Trump a nuclear agreement similar to the one Trump tore up.  In addition to THAT, legislation of some sort to force and end to the tariffs so that the process of rebuilding alliances with the right countries (as in NOT Russia, China and some of their allies) can begin.

Europe and the rest of the world aren’t as stupid (or greedy/self-serving) as half of America has been.  Congress, with not just a few but the bulk of Republicans backing up voters rejection of Trump and his policies is critical at this moment in history.  Trump has to be slapped down and hard. That starts with both the outgoing and incoming Congress saying in veto proof numbers (shouting it in fact) that NO, this country won’t abandon Ukraine (and by extension Europe and NATO.

Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula

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