Putin's "Chaos Agent"

 

Donald Trump’s continued praise of Vladimir Putin is deepening concerns among experts who predict a second term for the former US president would damage American democracy and its global interests.

“Trump views Putin as a strongman,” said Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution thinktank who was a national security official in the first two years of Trump’s administration. “In a way they’re working in parallel because they’re both trying to weaken the US, but for very different reasons.”

Hill voiced concerns that Trump would “get rid of vital security expertise” and that Putin backed him as a “chaos agent.” Douglas London, a retired senior CIA agent turned author, said he feared Trump would use the security service “to spy on, silence and perhaps even bring harm to his enemies.”

Meanwhile, Trump recently said there would be a “bloodbath” if he was rejected again by voters in November’s presidential election.

What has Trump said about Putin? He called him a “genius” after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and recently said Russia should “do whatever the hell they” wanted to NATO members that did not contribute enough to the alliance.  

 -Clea Skopeliti, The Guardian

“Something Wrong Here”: Nancy Pelosi Gives Voters Frightening Trump Reality Check 

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned voters of the stark choice ahead now that Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president, setting up a rematch against President Joe Biden.

“We just have to win this election, because he’s even predicting a ‘bloodbath,’” the former House speaker said on CNN on Sunday. “What does that mean? He’s going to exact a bloodbath?”

Trump on Saturday warned of a “bloodbath” if he loses the election in November, an especially ominous prediction given the violence carried out by his supporters after he lost the 2020 election.

“There’s something wrong here,” Pelosi said. “How respectful I am of the American people and their goodness, but how much more do they have to see from him to understand that this isn’t what our country is about? Praising Hitler, praising the Russians.”

It was reported last week that John Kelly, who served as White House chief of staff under Trump, recalled Trump insisting that Adolf Hitler “did some good things,” and Trump has publicly expressed admiration for Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Pelosi urged voters to weigh these and other outrageous comments, promises and actions from Trump as they consider their votes.

“You wouldn’t even allow him in your house, much less in the White House,” she said.

-HuffPost