Praising a Dictator
Let’s all keep in mind that Putin killed a new democracy in its crib back in 2000 when he took over Russia after Boris Yeltsin. Using the KGB skills he honed in Communist East Germany in the early 80s, Putin then created a Russia that is now more dangerous and rich than the previously known Soviet Union. Putin was ashamed that the Soviet Union collapsed after the Berlin wall fell, and he wants it rebuilt, but not as the Soviet Union, but as an imperialist Russian Empire. He doesn’t want to be president, he wants to be Czar.
He can do that now that Russia is one of the largest oil and gas producers and controls energy supplies into Europe. He has rebuilt the Russian military, now has a warm water port after taking Crimea from Ukraine, quashed all opposition, changed the constitution so he can stay in power for life and has made elections there a joke. Billionaire oligarchs support and protect him, and his drive to build a new Russian Empire is relentless.
And who’s happy about it? TFG himself and his supporters. Last night Putin brazenly invaded Ukraine, even shelling facilities near Kyiv, and millions of Ukrainians, in disbelief that he actually attacked, are fleeing to the west. On Tuesday, TFG call Putin a genius and said how smart he was to go in as a “peacekeeper”. Last night, right before Putin launched attacks in to Kyiv and other cities, TFG did it again, praising Putin at a fund raiser at Mar a Lago, saying how smart Putin is, walking in “for two dollars worth of sanctions”, then ironically claiming that if he were in office,
“This would never have happened, ever in a million years, it would have never happened. And I know him very well. I know him probably almost as well as I know anybody in this room other than Doc Ronny [Jackson].”
So, let’s be clear – TFG is characteristically praising, as he has for years, then tried to push blame onto Biden for Putin doing what he himself supports. Of course, his sycophants fell in line, praising Putin and TFG, bashing Biden.
If anyone doubts what the US would look like during a second TFG term, just look at Russia today and listen to TFG’s actual words. He dreams of being a dictator and almost accomplished that in 2020. With the Republican Party in tatters and now virtually 100% aligned with TFG and Russia, the only thing standing in his way is the rest of us making sure he never gets close to the Oval Office ever again.
TFG and his supporters are using Putin to undermine Biden and the US government to his own advantage, and Putin is so long term focused and patient that I don’t have any doubt that another TFG victory in 2024 figures into his calculus in going after Ukraine today. Even if he doesn’t succeed this time, he’ll just come back in 2025 as Trump holds the door open for him by lifting all sanctions (like he did in 2017) and undermining NATO while fantasizing doing the same thing to Mexico.
If one ever needed another justification for abolishing the Electoral College, TFG is it.
I know at least one pundit said that Trump’s statement about “peacekeeping like Putin” on Southern Border meant he wanted to do both the grab land for US and send tanks to the border.
For the most part, I disagree. I think he was wanting tanks on border [still seeking his military parade show of force], but not the land grab. To claim lands in a space occupied by people of color would not be Trump’s interest–unless he could also kick out all those people currently living there. And such a move would not end a southern border against Mexico–just move the geography a bit.
On the flipside…I can see him frothing at mouth at a grand scheme of being Emperor of North America and wanting to annex Canada and Mexico.
1Putin had an awful lot of help from the Chicago Boys from the U of C School of Economics, who did a lot to create the oligarchy. Had we stuck to our promise to Gorbachev that we would not expand NATO eastward, I don’t think Putin would have developed the same feeling Kennedy did when he discovered there were nuclear missiles in Cuba.
If Putin takes all of Ukraine, he’s going to have to deal with it the way Stalin did– and in the medium to long run, it’s not going to work. He won’t be able to establish an Iron Curtain, and the Russian troops stationed there will eventually become as disillusioned about their presence as our GI’s were in Vietnam in the final years.
2I commented on this subject a couple of days ago, wondering what country is this when members of one party side with a maniac dictator invading a sovereign country friendly to the US and our allies? I have no doubt that part of this invasion and timing is to help TFFG and the retrumpican party in 2022 and 2024. Obviously he sees the benefit to his vision of becoming the world’s biggest authoritarian power by having a president and congress sympathetic to him. How many more ways can TFFG and his supporters tear democracy apart. This is a sick time in our history.
3I just have to say it. For me, the “F” in TFG does NOT stand for “former!”
4Prior to 2016, comments like Trump’s would be considered treason.
Republicans were up in arms over Hunter Biden working in Ukraine, but Putin invading Ukraine? No problem.
5If I were a Chechen separatist I’d be thinking, “This might not be a bad time to attack another Russian school.”
I hope I’m wrong.
6Read this on Twitter:
In an unexpected but brilliant bipartisan move, Biden sends Texas governor Greg Abbott to take out Russia’s power generation infrastructure.
7El Jefe writes — “…making sure he never gets close to the Oval Office ever again.” By ANY means necessary, dude… ykwim
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Meanwhile, in the neighborhood, the RWNJs are working themselves into a frenzy of adulation for the Rufous Ratbastard Shitstain [‘rufous’ is actually the name of a color not too different from a shitstain, an orangey-yellow-brown; which is why I use it descriptively for Komrade Donnei.].
They’re yowling about gas, diesel, electricity, and everything else prices skyrocketing up too.
And sliming President Biden and dreaming of overthrowing our legitimately elected government.
The disaster profiteers are also lining up to make some big bucks.
This is a local, advertising his wares on the Nextdoor groups near me:
“Anybody needing Second Amendment supplies, feel free to message me for pricing and availability. I am an FFL.”
S’OK MAGAot, I’m already stocked up, and ready for you assholes. I’m tempted to order some .50 BMG for my Barrett from him though, and hint at being a crazy-ass librul just itchin’ to ‘greet’ them…
8https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrett_M82
If Ukraine were a predominantly Islamic country, Jihadis would be lining up to fight just like they did in Afghanistan against the Russians and the US. Why aren’t the proud boys and the promise keepers rushing off to fight for democracy and Christianity?
9Wally @9
the US Christian nationalists aren’t going to help Ukraine because their theology/ideology is much closer to Putin, Russia & the Orthodox backing him.
They WANT a state to back their religious judgments and practices. They want to be assured the right people will be leaders, without the distractions of democratic persuasion.
10To add on to that sentiment, I would point out that I’ve seen a number of folks complaining about high gas prices and somehow blaming Biden. Even if one could pin that successfully on any president, we would have to weigh the relative value of an additional 50-75 cents a gallon with all of the human issues of the past five years.
I can’t necessarily say that what Biden is currently doing regarding Ukraine is correct. Time will tell with these things and history will ultimately judge him as effective or ineffective. What I do know is that TFG would have cocked this up something fierce. The man had one major crisis in his presidency that he didn’t create. He didn’t just fumble it. He threw the equivalent of a pick six. He threw the pick six and then blocked three of his own guys and prevented them from making a tackle.
That’s his lasting legacy. He creates crisis out of nowhere and then takes credit when we narrowly escape disaster. I don’t know how one kills off a million citizens through his own negligence and hubris and gets anywhere near a microphone ever again. I don’t know how we let him.
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