Setting Expectations

 

Ahead of today's meeting with President Zelenskyy, Trump has decided to set expectations low, by showing he agrees with Putin.

That's it. That's what he seems to be saying. 

As of my last post, I knew there was more pathetic stupidity as yet unseen in the miserable optics of Trump rolling out a red carpet for a war criminal. And of course there was. His crack team of operational security masterminds left sensitive docs on a hotel printer, and something (we still don't entirely know what) left some members of Trump's staff literally shaken. Trump still sounds like he has no understanding of the situation, confusing the defense of Ukraine for an act of continuing aggression--while Trump's good friend Putin continues to bomb civilians. 

I am heartened that Zelenskyy will have other European leaders with him as support, hopefully to prevent an outright sandbagging, but when I hear talk of "land swaps" and see posts from Trump like the above, well--

Expectations are not set very high. A Starting position that rewards a dictator for an illegal invasion is a hell of a pathetic start. And honestly, Trump should kiss goodbye his dreams of a Nobel Prize,. He is an ignoble jackass.

JD Vance Follows Orders

 

There's something people don't like about J D Vance, and my personal take on it is that he's very inauthentic in some ways. Even his inauthenticity feels fake. Yesterday, he tried to make invading Greenland seem plausible by saying that Greenland is necessary for the United States for...reasons, and Denmark is a "bad ally." 

I don't think there is a convincing argument in there, because, I mean, what did Denmark or Greenland ever do to us?  (I'll give you a minute. There you go. Exactly.) 

Anyway, the Second Lady is part of an "aggressive" delegation going to Greenland this week because the idea of taking over Greenland being sort of stupid isn't actually going to stop this misadministration. No one is loving the idea--it's sort of an anti-diplomacy.

But unconvincing as it is, JD's job is telling stories. So, this is his story until Trump or Peter Theil or whoever needs another one. 

An Observation

 

There seem to be two main schools of thought with respects to dealing with Trump's narcissism. One is that he needs a constant supply of ass-kissing, so give it to him so that you can deal with "Nice Trump." Behave a certain way, and you can expect positive results. The other is that he's just a shameful cretin and treat him like one until he slinks off fuming.

Trump strikes me as being as socially hierarchical as can be imagined; very kiss up, punch down. Even if we didn't suspect (or know) that he's compromised, he would treat Putin more deferentially because in his eyes, this is a multibillionaire with nukes. This is why it's okay for Elon Musk to go about the White House dressed like a large teenager, but Zelenskyy, who is dressed in solidarity with his people at war, gets a chiding. 

TWGB: Citizen Krasnov?

 

I'm just a simple, mostly reality-based blogger, and I have to admit, the "Krasnov" story about Trump being recruited by KGB in the 1980s both interests and concerns me. On one hand, I'm skeptical, because I remember the "Steele Dossier" dropping shortly before Trump's first term and well-enough after the election and coloring all investigation into the Trump/Russia ties in the public opinion with a hint of scurrility. 

In the public mind, everything regarding the connection between Trump and Russia was supposedly a little bit fake, because despite every nugget of fact that Trump did seem oh so very partial to Russia and enamored with Putin, we were supposed to not connect the dots and fail to acknowledge the evidence of our eyes.  The Republican US Senators who wrote the intelligence report on Russia's connection to Trump concluded they most certainly did help him in 2016. 

So, I get the game by now--let's call this a "limited hangout". Maybe there was an attempt at a KGB recruitment of Trump--after all, he subsequently did publicly downgrade NATO--what is up with that? 

Maybe Trump is just a dipshit who misunderstands NATO as, not a defense against Russian aggression, but a kind of protection racket. He is kind of stupid.  Is that so wrong? (For someone in the office of the presidency--it is so much wrong it is like a mirror universe, an "opposite day", an abortion of reality.) 

And what of Trump's business connections--oh, shit, well, here's the thing. Trump's good friend Rudy Guiliani oversaw the transition from the Italian to the Russian mob SOME PEOPLE SAY. Anyway, there's a good book about Trump business and mafia and mafiya connections from Craig Unger. Is it persuasive? Folks don't want to say--but me, I think probably.

Shit--Here's a Good TrumpWorld Final Pitch:

 

Difficult time. The US elections are in a few hours. Just want to wish you all peace, guys. But if things go bad, save your families. You know where to go. We do care of YOU.

God bless. pic.twitter.com/qZbol82lxU

— Maria Butina (@Maria_Butina) November 5, 2024

But I'm pretty sure Trump is actually headed for Venezuela because he keeps saying so. Also being back in Russia has done wonders for Butina's health you can tell. She's looking greeeaaaaaatt. 

Look, I could point to all the misogyny Trump dumped out just today, suggesting he might like to hit Michelle Obama, imagining Kamala Harris in a ring with Mike Tyson, his running mate calling Harris "trash", or his racism and the racism of his campaign, such that the campaign only just last week--the final week of the campaign, they fired a white supremacist and that the bizarrely hateful MSG rally still reverberates. 

But I'm going to point to the fact that there is something wrong with thinking after the investigation into the 2016 election, after the first impeachment, after 1/6, some people don't recognize what hundreds of national security professionals have: 

Seems Weird to Me

 

There's something that strikes me as a little ghastly about Trump using Gold Star families and the graves of heroic dead as a prop for a photo-op with his trademark "thumbs-up" pose. It's out of place in a "Happy Memorial Day" sort of way. He was there ostensibly for the wreath-laying ceremony, but actually to rip the Biden Administration for the Afghanistan withdrawal as part of his campaign.

His criticisms are not surprising, but they do serve to remind us who he is.

In other unsurprising news, Trump was endorsed by former Democratic Rep. and Tucker Carlson fill-in host Tulsi Gabbard. For what her opinion is worth. 

Her opinion. for example, is about the same and certainly no better than RFK Jr.'s on Trump and, well, NATO, and she cites Pro-Putin propaganda. 

They’re country over party. Just don’t ask which country. pic.twitter.com/8SBnAu1NK8

— Frank Lesser (@sadmonsters) August 26, 2024

Although unlike RFK Jr. she has, to my knowledge, never severed a whale's head with a chainsaw and driven around with it strapped to her car. Which is a real thing, apparently. 

Just potential Trump 2.0 cabinet members, is all. But it just seems weird to me. I used to think I knew the GOP. 

But they are something of a happy family, no? Just a little weird, right?

A Cause for Celebration

 

The deal we made to bring home wrongfully detained Americans would not have been possible without our allies.

They stepped up and stood by us.

So for anyone who questions whether allies matter, today is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world. pic.twitter.com/KSikbcgnUA

— President Biden (@POTUS) August 2, 2024

In an historic multinational effort months in the making, 16 prisoners detained in Russia were exchanged for eight people held in the US, Germany, Poland and Slovenia. It is a testament to the power of diplomatic relationships and teamwork, and a great day for the former prisoners and their loved ones. 

The above message from President Biden acknowledges our allies, but let's give him his due--this is his expertise and dedication in negotiations finalized while he was making the decision to end his candidacy, knowing there was yet more things he wanted to accomplish and irons that might be left in the fire. This is a man who may be old, but doesn't live in the past and has done his part to try to shape the future. 

A swap like this doesn't occur overnight, and Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, and Alsu Kurmasheva would not have been released without Russia getting prisoners of their own in exchange. It speaks volumes about the nature of the negotiations that Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian dissident was part of the exchange, and that Alexei Navalny could have been (was he murdered so as never to be released--one can't help but wonder). It shows the concern for Russia's pro-democracy possibility.

This diplomatic success is a cause for celebration.

A Little Foreign Policy Discussion?

 

Forgive me if I'm disregarding "the discourse" about President Biden's press conference regarding foreign policy--it's very stupid. Biden is exceptionally knowledgeable about world affairs and has simply done a fine job as president in fraught times. He isn't going to make everyone happy. A press conference isn't going to rescue him from a fickle media or self-aggrandizing "smart guys".  They want bumper stickers, he's got volumes of actual experience, just with a few "typos". 

While this pivotal/not pivotal press conference has been taking place, the former president has been sitting down with Viktor Orban, who had just been enjoying the company of Putin and Xi. Orban is pretending he's on a peace mission. Let me show you the Russian definition of peace:

It's not just that they want to keep Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. They don't want Ukraine to be a country. This is not peace. It's the ragged bloody end of genocide. (Actually, why should they be rewarded by keeping anything they stole via murder? ) This is the "peace" Trump says out loud where people can hear that he would resolve "before inauguration". Oh and get back WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich. 

Hmm. What if the answer was leadership all along?

A record number of NATO allies are hitting their defense spending target during war in Ukraine
20 countries are hitting their targets, versus only 6 before Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Biden currently meeting with NATO Secretary General at the White House pic.twitter.com/u1JXcC5T48

— Selina Wang (@selinawangtv) June 17, 2024

This is Trump's constant complaint about NATO: he claims they don't "pay". Of course, he always talks about it like it's a protection racket (one of the few schemes, like money laundering, bankruptcy and lawsuits) he really does understand. Maybe the difference is that Putin has shown the free world what he is (although Trump is a weakling who still has need for him) and Biden has shown proven leadership. 

Trump doesn't get or deserve respect. Who are his buddies? Kin Jong Un--Putin's ammo provider? We know what Trump is, too--and that he will abandon allies for his own sake. We know that because he tells us.

I Pray We Never Forget

 

“What the Allies did together 80 years ago, far surpassed anything we could have done on our own,” President Biden says at a D-Day commemoration ceremony in Normandy.

“Real alliances make us stronger: a lesson that I pray we Americans never forget.” https://t.co/3ePLfL4n8f pic.twitter.com/zOkxOMKI2J

— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 6, 2024

Real alliances make us stronger--do not forget who understands that and will stand against oppression and totalitarianism. Do not forget the people who are trying to make us forget--fight them, as they were fought before. 

TWGB: All the Bad Guys

 

Convicted Felon Trump bragging about colluding with Russia in front of all our faces because his supporters are rubes that will support him no matter how treasonous. pic.twitter.com/TKaQfkcZpG

— Tim Hannan (@TimHannan) June 4, 2024

It is fitting that convicted felon Trump chose to once again advise us that he was colluding with Russia just as we hear President Biden make a very clear statement regarding Trump: "All the bad guys are rooting for Trump, man." Putin is a bad guy who has taken a prisoner--effectively a hostage. He's a terrorist. And Trump says, basically, that his terrorist friend will release the hostage if he wins the election. 

Imagine that kind of friendship. "My hostage is your hostage." It sounds like...Trump is a goddamn terrorist too. A hostage taker. 

This is something people need to understand about Trump--in fact, it's something that our foreign allies already do. David Rothkopf, writing for The New Republic, describes the fear of a Trump presidency folks in the former eastern bloc countries experience, knowing he's willing to bargain away their freedom. McKay Coppins in the Atlantic reports in a similar vein: allies are worried that we do not appreciate the threat of a transactional and authoritarian leader inimical to the concept of democracy. 

Which One, Sweetie?

 

Tulsi Gabbard was everywhere today, and it turns out, she isn't just on the short list for Trump's running mate, she's got a book! With Regnery! What is fun to me is, her Tweet about the book has the above title, and the Amazon picture has a different title:

The difference between "Why I Left the Democratic Party" and "Leave the Democrat Party Behind" is actually pretty unsubtle. The first suggests a personal decision and calls the party the preferred name: Democratic Party. The second version uses "Leave the Democrat Party". This is phrased like a command and a slight--Hey, you! Leave those Democrats. 

I do believe, and have believed, that Gabbard is a mess. But her "For Love of Country" so stimulates me: Which one? Syria? Russia? She says she left the Democratic party behind--and I am assuming it was because someone made a better offer. A better person than her once quipped that he didn't leave the Democratic Party behind, it left him. But has the Democratic Party changed at all--with respects to civil rights, to diversity and equality and LGBT rights--since she tried to run for the presidential nomination in 2020? 

"I would encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want"

 

Trump says he would encourage Russia to attack NATO allies: I said I would not protect our NATO allies. In fact, I would encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want pic.twitter.com/ak1a3Mtwzq

— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) February 10, 2024

This is not a gaffe and it's not evidence of senility--this is a serious statement from the former president and leading GOP candidate for that office.  Trump would let Russia attack a NATO nation, like Poland or Germany or whatever. He does not think European nations have paid into some kind of mafia-like "protection" (extortion) plan. This is a thing he said on purpose and out loud where the people would hear. It's not new. 

This is not some casual misstatement, but what he actually thinks, because he said similar things before. He would love to pull the US out of NATO. He doesn't understand what allies are or why any country holding so many cards would want allies.  He can't understand why Russia's totalitarianism under Putin is bad because he can't imagine being a human rights-respecting person, or queer, or anyone who might have a reason to not stand with the majority government that wants to outlaw you and the skin you live in. For any degree of nonconformity at all. 

Trump undoubtedly says absurd and wrong things. But this was intentional. And what does that say about whoever supports him? 

Razor Wire and the Supremacy Clause

 

The Supreme Court decided 5-4 that the federal government can remove the razor wire barrier erected by Gov. Abbott along the US border with Mexico. Note that I didn't say the "Texas border" because this is our border with another country. It should not be a states' rights issue. And yet four Justices, Alito, Gorsuch, Thomas and Kavanaugh (should I say, the usual suspects?) thought that it's just fine for a governor to put up a trap like something out of the Saw franchise between the US and Mexico. 

For human beings to be injured or killed by. A potential international incident in the making--it shouldn't be Abbott's call. It should be logical that the supremacy clause pertains here, but they seem to be starting from agreeing with the Republican governor against the Biden Administration with a rationale TBD. 

The reason this bothers me is that a standoff between the US government and the state government at the border feeds into the weird secessionist thing Texas has going, lately. Me being, well, me, I can't refrain from noticing that Texas secessionism has been encouraged by Russian propaganda. (They were behind a lot of support for "Calexit" as well.)

Not that I think Greg Abbott or the four Supreme Court justices are working for the Russians mind you. I only question what the whole entire fuck they think the US government is for and why they would want to undermine it for what looks to me like partisan dick-slappery.

"Hungary" for Turkey?

 

Trump: I was very honored, there’s a man, Viktor Orbán. He’s the leader of Turkey pic.twitter.com/h3vrIESVrF

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 23, 2023

Perhaps it's a little petty of me to note that Trump should know better and doesn't it seem just a little like he's...losing it? But--oh heck, This isn't the first time that I've pointed it out, and it won't be the last. He's not a stable genius. He's met both Erdogan and Orban. 

He also said in his recent rambles that he just realized that the "US" is also "us." Aw. He compared himself to Nelson Mandela and said he was never indicted? He's claimed Sidney Powell was never his lawyer.

He thinks the United States could also use an "Iron Dome". (This isn't a new one for him. He's obsessed with "the nuclear" and I think wants something like Reagan's "Star Wars" program. I firmly believe Trump knows more about STI's than SDI. Also, I want to speculate again that it's possible that somehow, some way, secrets about penetrating Israel's Iron Dome got around...hm? Trump is always projecting and telegraphing. He's the Edison of inventing his own reality.)

Oh, that's right, and he also wants to pull out of NATO. I know, it isn't entirely new, but it feels like he's trying to get Daddy Putin's attention again. 

The man ran for office unprepared and ignorant of what was expected of him, served for four years, and LOST GROUND in understanding what the job entails. Isn't it time that the media focuses on that? Sure, he's criminally deceitful. But damn.

Sometimes I think he's also just dumb.

Ol' Pudding Fingers Got Trump Nervous

 

Trump says Russia is not a threat, our greatest threat is our American representatives, we need to reevaluate the purpose of NATO, and most of the people in the State Dept, DOD and Intel Services need to be fired so he can put the right people in. pic.twitter.com/9PC6PrONM9

— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) March 16, 2023

When Ron DeSantis did his little turnabout to say he doesn't think Ukraine's sovereignty is a priority for the US and that the war was a "territorial dispute",  I guess Trump realized he had to twirl on the pole for Daddy Vladdy to try and let him know who really was going to earn his sugardaddy's love. 

I mean, can little Ol' Pudding Fingers deliver the goods, by which we mean surrendering Ukraine territory to Russia like the US had any business doing that?  Trump, who sees treaties as contracts and contracts as optional, totally is open to that. He's basically admitting to being a disaster at foreign policy--but can Ron DeSantis do any better than be a disaster in Trump's shuffling footsteps? 

Because he certainly isn't trying to distance himself from Trump--and even Nikki Haley figured out this was the right route. 

But what's really funny (not funny) about this is Trump is offering up his complete submissiveness to what Putin wants while still whinging away on his failing Truth Social (from a media company laundering Russian money?) that the "Russia Russia Russia" thing is a hoax. And yet here he is, verifying where his loyalties really lie: Hate America First, and support the guy who might assist him by meddling in the 2024 election. 

He's an utter disgrace. And I appreciate the thorough investigation he is undergoing regarding the classified documents and elsewhere. How he was trusted with one term as president alarms me--he should not be permitted to gain another. 

Falling for Fakery on Ukraine

 

Zelensky has no right to presume that our sons and daughters will fight his war. Shame on him. We’ve somehow sent the message that we work for him. Shame on us! https://t.co/l84guBiIsk

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) March 1, 2023

Here are both Senator Mike Lee and a former Trump Administration employee falling for a truncated video that appears to show Volodomyr Zelenskyy suggesting that US troops would defend Ukraine. The expanded version is Zelenskyy's opinion that if Russia is not stopped at Ukraine, then they will encroach NATO space and once NATO Article 5 is in effect, the conflict we've been dreading will come to pass. The lack of context is significant, and that these two individuals went with the outrage instead of exploring the context first, tells me a lot about what I dread from social media-oriented foreign policy.

It's bad enough that US foreign policy has become subject to the election cycle, partisanship, and the willingness of ambitious tools to subordinate the long-term interests of this country to their own short-term desire to be seen as standing up to the Administration of the opposite party. If people--responsible people with actual jobs making decisions about our foreign policy, can so easily fall for an outrage-farming post, I'm just sick inside. 

Dark Brandon Took Down the Bad Balloon

 

Because this was the show you wanted this weekend, the Chinese surveillance balloon made it to the South Carolina coast where it was beyond the debris falling over a populated area, and then it got POPPPPPPPEDDD!  The debris field was seven miles. This is why you don't do this sort of thing over populated areas. That could have been not-great. Also, the US was on it like a bonnet and had been blocking the balloon from surveilling much of anything while trying to study what it was actually here for--so we received some intelligence while it was up there, and China did not receive so much intelligence. 

We might learn more from what we gather from what got downed. 

And anyway it was since Wednesday that Biden said to bring it down and the US military observed when it was safe to do it--and then it got done. You know, while all the critics were suggesting "Do it now!" as if the damn thing was about to cause havoc or whatever.  No havoc got caused, friends. 

This Man was NSA Under Trump

 

Michael Flynn today gave his assessment of Ukraine: “Russia has achieved all of their objectives, and they’re now exposing .. bio labs that have been in there sponsored by the US. The guy that just showed up to speak to our Congress in a sweatsuit should’ve been thrown out.” pic.twitter.com/4RMYZcDgif

— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) January 2, 2023

I'm pretty sure Russia's objective was not to have what they thought was going to be a three-day's war turn into over 300 days, nor lose over 100,000 personnel in the process, nor be down to getting their missiles from Iran and ammunition from North Korea, Nor be facing severe economic uncertainty as their falling currency value leaves them between the inflation and interest rates so steep already pressed (or is it--press-ganged?) people are still unable to make ends meet. 

But Flynn is like a faithful little cobbler's elf clinging to his last, isn't he? I mean: bio-labs! Are we all this stupid? This is a guy who told us they were putting vaccines in salad dressing. So, he's out here giving off a Russian derivative of the busted Iraq biolabs thing the US was putting on to play up a casus belli for the Iraq invasion nearly 20 years ago? 

Is his opinion of all our intelligence that low--or is it just him? 

Putin Overreaches

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed papers to formally, but illegally, annex four regions in Ukraine — an area the size of Ohio — after what the West calls “sham referendums.”@nickschifrin reports. https://t.co/AuNEXtbqGD pic.twitter.com/Two8benxUN

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) September 30, 2022

It's a funny old thing, Putin claiming he has possession of these regions and that they are inviolately Russian. The regions in question don't even really think that. Putin held a "gun to the head" referendum and forced an agreement to maybe consider Russia in charge of certain regions so that the people living there don't die. 

Much of his speech sounded like it was about culture war stuff crafted to appeal to a certain segment of the West--the kind that looks up to someone like Giorgia Meloni, or like Trump. He actually sounded a bit like he was jealous of Orban and his welcome at CPAC. No one should think what he is doing here boils down to concern about pronouns or liberal decadence.

It is a naked power grab and his claim to this area is without any merit at all. 

UPDATE:

Apparently, CPAC Tweeted, then deleted, a post referring to the territory Putin just illegally annexed as "Ukrainian-occupied" and the military aid the US is giving to Ukraine as "gifts".  The idea of the "free world" means nothing to them.