Another Monday morning, another brutally defensive, petulant, and self-satisfied post from Trump awaiting us on Truth Social. After crowing for three to four days about Biden trading Victor Bout, the “Merchant of Death,” for Brittney Griner, never once saying that he was happy to hear that Griner was at least coming home, Trump senses that the public now understands the dynamic and that Paul Whelan and Marc Fargo were taken while Trump was president and that Trump had two years to get Whelan out.
To make matters worse, yesterday, Fiona Hill, the Eastern European specialist brought into the National Security Council in 2017 precisely to deal with issues like this, said on Face the Nation that Trump wasn’t “interested” in Paul Whelan. From a transcript, in an interview by Margeret Brennan, Fiona said:
Well, look, at the particular time. I also have to say here that President Trump wasn’t especially interested in engaging in that swap for also Paul Whelan. He was not particularly interested in Paul’s case in the way that one would have thought he would be.
Now, why would Trump not be as interested in Whelan as a president might be? Is it, perhaps, it’s the dirty work of being president? Is it that there is very little glory in a prisoner swap because there is no clear win? Or because he would have to stare down Putin? We cannot know. We only know that the guy making so much noise about Paul Whelan did nothing to get him out for two years as president.
Hill’s statement must have hit a nerve, and Trump miserably thumbed in a furious response yesterday evening:
I turned down a deal with Russia for a one-on-one swap of the so-called Merchant of Death for Paul Whelan. I wouldn’t have made the deal for a hundred people in exchange for someone that has killed untold numbers of people with his arms deals. I would have gotten Paul out, however, just as I did with a record number of other hostages. The deal for Griner is crazy and bad. The taking wouldn’t have even happened during my Administration, but if it did, I would have gotten her out , fast!
Okay. Well, please to be fcking off now. Whelan and Fargo were both taken during Trump’s watch, and so it’s almost tragically comic that he says Griner wouldn’t have been taken if he was president. What? He would have stared Putin down? Just like he did with Whelan? And, Trump is acting as though he’s still now president (In a way) by saying he “would have” gotten Whelan out if he just had more time.
Was the Griner deal good? Of course not. But as Leo McGary used to famously tell President Josiah Bartlett, “There is no ‘good,’ it’s what there is, and it’s how you behave when you’re a superpower.” No, the Griner deal was in no way good except in the sense that the Biden administration promises that no American will be left behind and they’ll move heaven and earth to get people home. Report after report has noted that the Russians took Whelan off the table and would only trade Whelan for a Russian spy imprisoned in the U.S., of which our government says we have none. It is what there “is.” And so Biden got Griner home for Christmas.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that a black, lesbian, 6’9, tattooed basketball star who kneeled during the national anthem would seem less “worthy” than the dishonorably discharged Marine and white man Paul Whelan. It would be interesting to see what the response would be if “Brittney” were a drop-dead gorgeous 24-year-old blonde tennis player.
Regardless, as Whelan’s sister pointed out to Newsmax last night, blowing up their invitation to make this political, Putin makes these deals in order to stir up our polarized politics. Newsmax… and Trump are playing right into Putin’s hands.
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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, SUBSTACK: Much Ado About Some Progressive Things
Welcome back, Jason! Glad to see your writing here again.
Yes, thank you. I have been bopping a bit. PoliticusUSA essentially stole $1K from me and so I broke off with them, and will be glad to help Urs with a couple a month. She is a good person. And I always feel a bit at home here, where I got my real start. I’ll still be at Political Flare, and Urs is supportive of that.
It’s been nice to come home a bit with full support of both
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A couple a day, that is. Meanwhile, check out Substack. https://jasonrmiciak.substack.com/
I say this as a Jarhead (albeit my active duty was a long, long time ago – during the Cold War) and it’s painful to say but Whelan was enough of what we in those days called a “shitbird” to have gotten himself the proverbial “Big Chicken Dinner.” (for you civilians that means Bad Conduct Discharge – the only thing worse is a fully Dishonorable Discharge but a BCD is enough to disqualify a person from any military benefits including a flag for their coffin when they die)
At some point Trump and Pootie briefly discussed Whelan. Of that I’m sure. And I’m betting it went like this: (Trump) “What’s the deal with this Whelan guy? (Putin) Oh Donald. You know that I know he’s no spy. But it looks good for me to make some bullshit charges and jail an American now and then and a U.S. Marine is a great hostage to take. Besides, if your folks didn’t tell you he wasn’t even liked by your Marine Corps. He was kicked out! You don’t even care or respect honorable Marines like your own Chief of Staff Kelly or SecDef Jim Mattis. And you blew off the entire U.S. Marine Corps with your skipping that cemetery visit during the WWI anniversary! Let’s be real. The only person you have that I want is Bout, and your of all people don’t want to have to take any shit over swapping him for a guy your own Marine Corps didn’t want!” (Trump) “Good point. Let’s talk about something else. Oh, and I’ll tell MY people to drop it. (Pootie) “That’s the spirit Donald. Let’s never speak of this again!” (Trump) “Whatever you say.”
It is a fair point and I’ve known the back story for a while now. He was up to something over there but certainly not spying for the U.S. government, just like the Marines, they only entrust that stuff to the best of the best.
OTOH: He’s an American citizen facing 25 years in Russia (I believe). If he was doing no good, then we figure that out here. So I’ve largely stayed away from bringing up his background except to call out the MAGAs that say a “US Marine was left over Brittney Griner.” Racism and homophobia have as much to do with this as anything. Picture the beautiful young tennis blonde with a powerful father. Would anyone bring up Whelan? Or would they just scream that Biden should’ve gotten way more?
You’re correct of course. Had it been some white, cisgender, well-known woman (as long as she wasn’t a Democratic activist) conservatives would do some whining about not having gotten more but for the most part they’d be okay with the deal for Griner.
Yeah, right. Whelan was jailed in Russia in Dec. 2018. Trump had two full years in which to make a deal with his Best Friend Forever, Putie, to get Whelan back home. As far as I know, he never even considered it.