Today, Trump announced he is pushing the G7 to re-admit Russia to the group of allies. Russia was expelled after Putin lead the military intervention in Ukraine and annexed Crimea in 2014. Trump has already estranged the US from the G6 by imposing tariffs and poking the other countries in the eye. Now, in a blatantly pro-Putin move, he has urged the group readmit Russia. Just another outrage – it must by Friday.
The New Yorker has published a depressing piece by Evan Osnos, about how Trump has stupidly ceded global leadership and how China has rushed in to fill the vacuum. Trump can very likely become our version of Gorbachev, who, you will recall, oversaw the unraveling of the Soviet Union into a loose amalgamation of oligarchies and totalitarian states dominated by Russia. From the very first moment of his term, Trump has set about unraveling our country’s generations-old leadership position in the world, and China has gladly Hoovered up every opportunity to exercise its new found world position.
One notable of example of this phenomenon was the World Trade Organization conference in Marakesh last October, convened to update international trade rules. We’ll let Osnos tell this sorry tale:
“The Trump Administration, which has been critical of the W.T.O., sent an official who delivered a speech and departed early. ‘For two days of meetings, there were no Americans,’ a former U.S. official told me. ‘And the Chinese were going into every session and chortling about how they were now guarantors of the trading system.’”
Trump continually boasts about “Making America Great Again”, and “Putting America First.” The problem is that he simply doesn’t understand what that means and has made idiotic decisions that has diminished our country, and creating opportunities for other countries, especially China and Russia to jump into the breach. Exiting the TPP was stupid. Now American beef comes second to other beef producing countries like Australia. Withdrawing from the Paris climate accords has damaged our reputation and stature throughout the world. China is also negotiating to create the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which will form a 16 country free trade zone. The US is NOT one of the 16 countries.
The damage that Trump has inflicted and continues to inflict will be multi-generational. Some of the damage may never be repaired. The US’s unilateral surrender of its prominent position as world leader has emboldened other countries to take over that prominence. Protectionism and isolation never works, especially in the new, interconnected global market.
Trump has ranted and raved about North Korea and “Little Rocketman” this year, has severely criticized China for not being tougher, and for continuing to truck and ship fuel oil into the country. Visibility to that practice and further sanctions have served to choke off fuel to the Hermit Kingdom. For a while, North Korean ships were loading in Russia and delivering into the country. When that was discovered, surely that would choke off Kim Jong Un’s oil and drive him to the negotiating table, right? Not so fast. It’s now come to light that Russia has been loading fuel oils in Russia and then…wait for it…transferring those fuels to North Korean ships on the high seas. That’s a direct violation of the UN sanctions agreed to by all, including Russia, and now they’ve been caught red handed smuggling into North Korea. Trump’s response? Dead silence. Not one tweet or threat has been made since the news hit the wires today.
Now what is his orangeness to do? Does he criticize Putin for violating international sanctions risking disclosure of the Pee-Pee Tapes, or does he stay silent, confirming his fealty to Russia? We’ve never, in the history of the US, had such a compromised and ignorant buffoon infesting the White House.
God help us.
Well, this is kinda fun. The only damn thing that Congress can agree on is that Donald Trump cannot be trusted.
Congressional leaders have reached an agreement on sweeping sanctions legislation to punish Russia for its election meddling and aggression toward its neighbors, they said Saturday, defying the White House’s argument that President Trump needs flexibility to adjust the sanctions to fit his diplomatic initiatives with Moscow.
So here sits Donald Trump. If he vetoes this sucker, that means that he’s in Putin’s pocket. If he accepts it, Putin’s pocket is gonna get kinda tight around Trump’s patootie.
It’s not written in cement yet.
There are still hurdles to clear. Neither Speaker Paul D. Ryan nor Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, immediately issued statements on Saturday to give the agreements their blessing.
It will be fun watching those two bless one side or the other.
Ted Cruz refuses to say that Russia is our enemy or that Trump did anything wrong.
So you gotta wonder: what does Trump have on Ted Cruz? Do you think maybe Cruz’s dad really did kill Kennedy?
If all this were in a mystery novel, no one would believe it; they would think it was too far-fetched. The latest shoe to drop is that, during the campaign last year, US intelligence intercepted communications from Russians who were bragging that they already had Michael Flynn in their pocket and could use him to influence US policy should Trump be elected. ALL of that came true.
The next shoe to drop will be the identity of the current senior advisor to Trump that has been labeled a person of interest. My current guess is that it’s Jared Kushner, but who knows? It could be Ivanka since she was pushing he clothing line in Russia during the campaign.
This slow-motion train wreck threatens to come completely off the rails