Feb. 21, 2022, Vladimir Putin recognized two regions of Ukraine as independent. The following day, on the right-wing Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, Donald Trump was asked, “What went wrong, what has the current occupant of the Oval Office done that he could have done differently?” Trump’s answer, “What went wrong was a rigged election. What went wrong is a candidate that shouldn’t be there. . . . I went in and there was a television screen and I said ‘this is genius . . . How smart is that?’ . . . and he’s going to go in and he’s going to be a peacekeeper. This is a guy who’s very savvy. . . . By the way, had I been in office this would never have happened, not even think of it.”
The evening of Feb. 23, Trump called Fox News to advise Laura Ingram that, “(Putin) was going to be satisfied with peace, and now he sees the weakness and the incompetence and the stupidity of this administration, and, as an American, I’m angry about it, and I’m saddened by it . . . And it all happened because of a rigged election. This (Putin’s threat to invade Ukraine) would have never happened.”
The next morning Russian forces invaded Ukraine. After five days, Putin’s “peace keepers” continue slugging and slugging their way into Ukraine, destroying infrastructure, demolishing apartment buildings, slaughtering a sovereign nation’s defenseless citizens!
Recalling, “had I been in office this would never have happened,” by what irresistible force might Donald have persuaded his ‘ol Pal in Moscow not to invade an effectively defenseless neighbor? (1) Friendly persuasion: “Hey Good Buddy, I don’t give a damn about Ukraine, but I’d have to cover for you in American? Don’t make me look bad.” (2) Threaten to send the 1st Cav., the 82nd Airborne. Start World War III‽ Go figure. I can’t.
What Donald Trump calls, “weakness . . . incompetence . . . stupidity” is rational, civilized people’s refusal to fall back on the ignorance and bestiality of war! NATO’s economic and physical isolation of Russian are sane responses to the acts of an insane mind.
As always, sixth-grade bully Donald J. Trump boasts big but, as with his “rigged election,” details and facts to support the big bluff are nonexistent.
Beneath the bravado there’s nothing. But, the hazard is, while Donald personifies Macbeth’s “sound and fury,” his mindless, irresponsible babble and acts could “signify” the end of American democracy.
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