Trump's "Campaign Rally Stump Speech"

 

It wasn’t necessary to watch all of Trump’s speech last night to understand where we are as a country. The state of our union, as I noted Sunday night, is compromised. And that comes as no surprise to any of us. But two moments from last night are worth noting, as markers of where we are.

The Stupid: "I have created the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Perhaps. Which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight," Trump said during his speech.

Only one problem. That’s not what the Justice Department has been telling judges in litigation involving the Musk-led effort to privatize government. They’ve been doing everything they can to claim Musk is not in charge of DOGE, including telling the judge that a woman named Amy Gleason, who was on vacation in Mexico when they made the representation to the court, is the Acting Administrator.

It didn’t take lawyers long to point that out. Trump was barely finished when Kel McClanahan filed a “Notice of New Evidence” in Lentini v. DOGE, one of three cases that have been consolidated to hear claims about DOGE’s legality in the District of Maryland.

McClanahan argued that Trump’s statement about Musk “conclusively demonstrates that expedited discovery is urgently needed to ascertain the nature of the Department of Government Efficiency and its relationship to the United States DOGE Service.”

The best outcome for Trump, following his epic foot in mouth, is that Judge Jia Cobb grants the motion to expedite which would make this the first case where pro-democracy lawyers would gain access to information about the inner workings of DOGE, likely a treasure trove that would further underscore the lawless manner in which Trump is acting.

The worst case is that someone gets held in contempt, either civil or criminal. That would open an entire can of worms about how the courts enforce their orders against a Trump administration that has at least suggested it might not comply with ones it doesn’t like. But that fight is, inevitably, coming, and judges don’t like it when parties lie to them, especially when it’s so explicit and when it’s the government doing it, here, rather uniquely, with the president’s involvement.

The Corrupt: After his speech, Trump shook hands with people in the room, including the four active Supreme Court Justices who were present in their long black robes. Their tradition of dress is meant to ensure that no one mistakes who they are. It separates them from the political fray, even as they attend. That message, however, was lost on Trump.

The moment was captured on CSPAN. Trump thanks the Justices. He doesn’t say what for, but of course, we all know. “Thank you very much, appreciate it,” he says to Elena Kagan, whose face is a mask in the moment. Then, he moves on to the Chief Justice. “Thank you again. Thank you again,” he says to John Roberts. Then he awkwardly slaps him on the shoulder and says, “Won’t forget it.” The moment has an almost classic mob boss feel to it in context. Roberts, followed by Kagan, peels off and leaves without comment and immediately.

This is the find out part, but unfortunately, it’s not the Chief Justice who feels the consequences of what he did. You may recall the reporting that Roberts came to conference with the other Justices with an uncompromising stance in the presidential immunity case, unwilling to deliver anything less than the win he gave to Trump, the win that permitted Trump to give the speech and shake hands last night. The rest of the country is now paying the price for that.

The Justices are supposed to protect the integrity and impartiality of the court from even the appearance of impropriety. Last night, and regardless of the truth of the matter, they permitted Donald Trump to insinuate that they are on his side, his captives.

Ironically, Justices Thomas and Alito have dropped away from attending the event over the years. Thomas has said, “It has become so partisan and it’s very uncomfortable for a judge to sit there.” Alito hasn’t attended since the 2010 SOTU when he was seen mouthing "Not true," on camera in response to President Obama’s criticism of the Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which struck down campaign finance restrictions.

The Justices’ interaction with the current president last night certainly bore the view that the event is too political for the Court. The Chief Justice’s humiliation at Trump’s hands last night was reminiscent of the moment where Trump included General Milley, in full uniform, in the walk from the White House to St. John's Church for what turned out to be a political photo op. Milley subsequently apologized, saying "My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics."

Milley subsequently fell out of favor with Trump. Whether the Chief Justice, who has life tenure, will take similar steps to protect the integrity of the Court remains to be seen, but seems unlikely. Milley was widely hailed as a hero in the wake of his apology.

And there you have it. For the longest State of the Union address in history, it contained the least helpful content. It was more campaign rally stump speech and culture wars checklist than a vision for leadership. Trump did not address the issues the country faces in a substantive way. There was little of substance. Perhaps that’s the ultimate comment on the man and his time as president. There was little of substance here.

We’re in this together,

Joyce Vance

 

"I cannot recall an uglier scene in American diplomatic history"

 

“It was a sickening spectacle: the man who tried to upend democracy bullying the man who is fighting for democracy.”

– Maureen Dowd, “Trump is Rootin’ for Putin,” The New York Times, March 2, 2025.)

“Trump barked at Zelensky: 'You’ve got to be more thankful because…you don’t have the cards.  With us, you have the cards, but without us, you don’t have any cards.'  Pretty rich for a draft dodger to lecture a man whose name has become synonymous with wartime bravery.”

–Dowd, March 2, 2025.

In the summer of 1938, it was increasingly obvious to the international community that the German invasion of Czechoslovakia was being planned in Berlin.  The Czechs had an alliance with the Soviet Union, but that wasn’t expected to save them.  British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain knew that, if France decided to defend Czechoslovakia, he would have to join in.  Britain was in no position to wage a general European war, so Chamberlain boarded a plane for the first time in his life and flew to Munich to placate Adolf Hitler.

Chamberlain’s concessions were insufficient for the Fuehrer, so he made a second trip only to find greater German demands.  Additional meetings were held, as Hitler and his cohorts launched violent tirades against the Czechs.  Hitler then held a public rally at which, according to historian William Shirer, Hitler was “shouting and shrieking in the worst state of excitement I’ve ever seen him in…with a fanatical fire in his eyes.”

I recalled these odious events while watching the video of the March 1 meeting in the Oval Office in which a vile President Donald Trump and an even more vile J.D. Vance abused and tormented Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with their shouts and threats. 

There is no question that Trump is a dangerously disordered president who has already diminished the United States on the world stage and caused significant domestic damage.  There is no point in discussing Vance, the worst kind of toady and sycophant.

The mainstream media will not say it, but Trump is grossly deranged and represents a threat to the American way of life and to Americans themselves.  He is driven by a pathological hatred of anyone who has ever challenged him and veneration for those autocrats who control all around them. 

Meanwhile, the servile Washington Post under the active leadership of Jeff Bezos, was critical of Zelensky because he “took the bait and turned punchy.”  Bezos’s Post also praised Trump because he “sees himself as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine.”

In holding a gun to Zelensky’s head, we are reminded of Trump’s exchanges with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and his multiple references to having a “bigger button,” the nuclear button.  In the summer of 2017, Trump’s first term, he threatened North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen.” 

Similar to the decision to remove Zelensky from the White House, Trump abruptly cancelled talks with Kim Jong-un.  “Based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement,” Trump wrote to Kim, any meeting would be “inappropriate at this time.”

Several weeks ago, Trump threatened the Gazans unless Hamas released American hostages.  Trump favors the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, which supports the Israeli right-wing movement, and he is encouraging Israel to annex the West Bank.  These events would be dramatic as dystopian fiction, but this is America’s reality at the moment.  Indeed, it is a global reality.

Unlike Trump’s first term, when there were some adults or moderates in the room such as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, White House chief of staff John Kelly, and others, there now are only toadies surrounding the most unethical and deranged president in the history of the United States. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who supported military and economic aid to Ukraine as a senator from Florida and once referred to Zelensky as a “modern-day Churchill in a T-shirt,” went on CNN to thank Trump for “standing up for America in a way that no President has ever had the courage to do before.” 

The following day, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz went on national television to demand an apology from Zelensky. The thought that Rubio and Waltz will be leading U.S. negotiations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, an experienced and deft diplomat, is a part of this nauseating series of events.

In ten minutes in the Oval Office, Trump and Vance have managed to produce an embarrassing erosion of American credibility and decency.  They have opened the door wider to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s campaign of terrorism against Ukraine and have given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even greater carte blanche in conducting his terror campaign on the West Bank and his occupation of southern Lebanon and southern Syria. 

China’s Xi Jinping may now believe the door is open to a military campaign against Taiwan that will not have to deal with U.S. involvement.  Trump’s outrageous purge of senior military leaders as well as China’s military drills off the coast of Australia and Vietnam, including live-fire drills in the Gulf of Tonkin, create additional worries about the direction of events in the Indo-Pacific.

Nearly 80 years ago, the United States initiated a magnanimous act, the Marshall Plan, to revive the economies and societies of Europe in the wake of the Second World War.  It is believed incorrectly that Winston Churchill called the Marshall Plan the “most unsordid act in history.”  Actually, Churchill was talking about the Lend-Lease Bill and President Franklin Roosevelt’s courageous decision to provide military aid to a beleaguered Britain.

Just as Lend-Lease and the Marshall Plan were designed to assist Western democracies, U.S. and European support for Ukraine was similarly inspired to enable the weakest European nation to stand up to the tyranny of Vladimir Putin.  

In a matter of minutes in the Oval Office, Trump and Vance have eroded the U.S. leadership of the Western democracies that has existed since the end of the Second World War.  For now, the post-war Atlantic Alliance is dead.

Nearly 240 years ago, Elizabeth Powel asked Benjamin Franklin “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”  Franklin’s response was “A republic, if you can keep it.”  Well, the republic has been compromised in a few weeks, and now we must ask if we are going to be okay as a nation.  Trump’s decisions, his appointments, and yesterday’s conduct indicate that we are not okay at the moment.

In scenes reminiscent of “The Godfather,” Trump performed as a high-ranking mobster, a member of La Cosa Nostra, a consigliere of the family, who will crush anyone who challenges his version of U.S. interests.  I cannot recall an uglier scene in American diplomatic history, and most of the international community shares that view.

For the moment, Volodymyr Zelensky is the leader of the free world.  It will take serious and urgent opposition to stop Donald Trump from additional vile acts at home and abroad.  In setting up a scene to humiliate Zelensky and the Ukrainian nation, Trump has embarrassed himself and the entire nation.  In doing so, Trump has undermined 80 years of an Atlantic Alliance that protected democracy in the West and challenged autocracy and patrimony in the East.

 

Melvin A. Goodman is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and a professor of government at Johns Hopkins University.  A former CIA analyst, Goodman is the author of Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA and National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism. and A Whistleblower at the CIA. His most recent books are “American Carnage: The Wars of Donald Trump” (Opus Publishing, 2019) and “Containing the National Security State” (Opus Publishing, 2021). Goodman is the national security columnist for counterpunch.org.

 

From this ChatGPT analysis, it becomes evident that we have witnessed a true masterclass in gaslighting, manipulation, and coercion on the part of Trump and his entourage

 

The Key Points:

1. Blaming the victim for their own situation

Trump explicitly tells Zelensky: “You have allowed yourself to be in a very bad position.” This is classic abuser rhetoric—blaming the victim for their suffering. The implication is that Ukraine itself is responsible for being occupied by Russia and for the deaths of its people.

2. Pressure and coercion into ‘gratitude’

Vance demands that Zelensky say “thank you.” This is an extremely toxic tactic—forcing the victim to express gratitude for the help they desperately need, only to later accuse them of ingratitude if they attempt to assert their rights.

3. Manipulating the concept of ‘peace’

Trump claims that Zelensky is “not ready for peace.” However, what he actually means is Ukraine’s capitulation. This is a classic manipulation technique—substituting the idea of a just peace with the notion of surrender.

4. Refusing to acknowledge the reality of war

Trump repeatedly insists that Zelensky has “no cards to play” and that “without us, you have nothing.” This is yet another abusive tactic—undermining the victim’s efforts by asserting that they are powerless without the mercy of their ‘savior.’

5. Devaluing the victims of war

“If you get a ceasefire, you must accept it so that bullets stop flying and your people stop dying,” Trump says. Yet, he ignores the fact that a ceasefire without guarantees is merely an opportunity for Russia to regroup and strike again.

6. Dominance tactics

Trump constantly interrupts Zelensky, cutting him off: “No, no, you’ve already said enough,” and “You’re not in a position to dictate to us.” This is deliberate psychological pressure designed to establish a hierarchy in which Zelensky is the subordinate.

7. Forcing capitulation under the guise of ‘diplomacy’

Vance asserts that “the path to peace lies through diplomacy.” This is a classic strategy where the aggressor is given the opportunity to continue their aggression unchallenged.

8. Projection and distortion of reality

Trump declares: “You are playing with the lives of millions of people.” Yet, in reality, it is he who is doing exactly that—shifting responsibility onto Zelensky.

9. Creating the illusion that Ukraine ‘owes’ the US

Yes, the US is assisting Ukraine, but presenting this aid as “you must obey, or you will receive nothing” is not a partnership—it is financial and military coercion.

10. Undermining Ukraine’s resistance

Trump states that “if it weren’t for our weapons, this war would have ended in two weeks.” This is an attempt to erase Ukraine’s achievements and portray its efforts as entirely dependent on US support.

Conclusion

Trump and his team employed the full spectrum of abusive tactics: gaslighting, victim-blaming, coercion into gratitude, and manipulation of the concepts of peace and diplomacy. This was not a negotiation—it was an attempt to force Zelensky into accepting terms beneficial to the US but potentially fatal for Ukraine.

"It was always Russia"

 

On Tuesday, Trump gives his first State of the Union address for his second term in office. He will assume the podium in front of a joint session of Congress with no credibility whatsoever. People who are being honest—that includes Republicans in the House and the Senate—understand how horribly he undermined the world order last week. 

He abandoned longtime allies in the process, not only Ukraine but NATO allies who now face an unpredictable future. Trump will offer his comments Tuesday after confirming the view of those who believed him to be Putin’s toady.

Trump’s speech should be one about making good on promises, like the one to bring down prices on day one of his administration. But he cannot do that. Instead, we will have tariffs this week. Tariffs, just a reminder, are simply taxes—taxes imposed on the American public. 

Trump has promised 25% tariffs on our allies, Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% on China (unless he backs out again at the last minute, as he did when he previously threatened tariffs). Folks who claim to have voted for Trump because they wanted a better economy under Trump failed to read the room and Project 2025. As a result, we will all suffer.

Trump’s first State of the Union address should be about peace in Ukraine. Remember how he promised he would get that done before he even took office while he was on the campaign trail? Trump’s idea of peace, however, turns out to have been forcing Kyiv to take responsibility for Russia’s invasion, give up valuable resource rights, and accept permanent occupation.

That didn’t go well, and you can watch it on video because Trump and Vance thought it was a good idea to bring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into the Oval Office to try and overpower him into submission, which didn’t work out for them as planned. The humiliation was theirs. Zelensky emerged as the hero and the champion for people everywhere who love peace and value freedom.

When Donald Trump takes the stage to deliver his address Tuesday night, the truth will be this: The state of our Union is…compromised. Trump’s sycophancy towards Putin knows no bounds. On Friday, when a reporter asked about why Russia should be trusted to honor a ceasefire after all their incursions and violations, Trump came to Putin’s defense and put himself squarely within the Russian dictator’s embrace. “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” he responded. “He went through a phony witch hunt.” Hillary Clinton was right. It was always Russia. It still is.

What about the unlikely possibility that the Republican Party will wake up at long last? We will get a sense of that Tuesday from the crowd’s response to Trump. There is no reason, yet, to hold out much if any hope.

Republicans, it seems clear, are more worried about their social lives after they leave Congress and staying in the herd than they are about the actual state of our union.

Even Lisa Murkowski was unable to summon more than being “sick to her stomach.” Seriously, she’s a Senator, one of the few people with actual power to act in this crisis. Do better.

We need action from members of Congress. They are there because, presumably, they wanted to serve their country. They took an oath to uphold the Constitution. If this was a functioning Congress, there would be a prompt move in the House to impeach and in the Senate to convict both the president and the vice president for engaging in high crimes and misdemeanors.

Of course, that is extraordinarily unlikely to happen with this crowd, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep up a constant demand that they do the right thing. Democrats in Congress, in turn, need to refuse to cooperate with a leader who has lost his legitimacy and makes a mockery of the notion of governing.

It is against that extraordinary backdrop that this week takes shape. It is sure to bring yet another cacophony from Trump. Again, we will have the task of separating what is important from the noise. Trump loves the Sturm und Drang, and clearly understands its value, again attempting to overcome us with so much that we cannot focus on any of it. We fight back with knowledge, information, and civil discourse with our fellow Americans…

-Joyce Vance

 

"History will remember this day—when an American President and Vice President abandoned all we stand for"

 

…Donald Trump ambushed Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in an attack that seemed designed to give the White House an excuse for siding with Russia in its war on Ukraine. Vice President J.D. Vance joined Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office—his attendance at such an event was unusual—in front of reporters. Those reporters included one from Russian state media, but no one from the Associated Press or Reuters, who were not granted access.

In front of the cameras, Trump and Vance engaged in what Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo called a “mob hit,” spouting Russian propaganda and trying to bully Zelensky into accepting a ceasefire and signing over rights to Ukrainian rare-earth minerals without guarantees of security. Vance, especially, seemed determined to provoke a fight in front of the cameras, accusing Zelensky, who has been lavish in his thanks to the U.S. and lawmakers including Trump, of being ungrateful.

When that didn’t land, Vance said it was “disrespectful” of Zelensky to “try to litigate this in front of the American media,” when it was the White House that set up the event in front of reporters.

Zelensky maintained his composure and did not rise to the bait, but he did not accept their pro-Russian version of the war. He insisted that it was in fact Russia that invaded Ukraine and is still bombing and killing on a daily basis. His refusal to sit silent and submit meekly to their attack seemed to infuriate them.

Trump appeared to become unhinged when Zelensky suggested that the U.S. would in the future feel problems, apparently alluding to the new U.S. relationship with Russia. “You don’t know that. You don’t know that” Trump erupted. “Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”

Zelensky answered that he was just answering the questions Vance was showering on him. “You are in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel,” Trump said. “We’re going to feel very good.” Zelensky answered: “You will feel influenced.” Trump disagreed. “We are going to feel very good and very strong.” “I am telling you,” Zelensky said. “You will feel influenced.”

Trump appeared to lose control at that point, ranting at Zelensky that Ukraine was losing and that he must accept a ceasefire, but also complaining about former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama and echoing Putin’s talking points.

When he could get a word in, Zelensky reiterated that he would not accept a ceasefire without guarantees of security and pointed out that Putin had broken a ceasefire agreement in the past.

Later, when a reporter picked up on that question and asked what would happen if Russia broke a ceasefire agreement, Trump became enraged. Among other things, he said: “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt….” 

Trump referred to what he calls the “Russia, Russia, Russia hoax” that Russia had worked to elect him in 2016. That effort, though, was not a hoax: the Republican-dominated Senate Intelligence Committee in 2020 released an exhaustive report detailing that effort.

One of the things Russian operatives believed Trump’s team had agreed to, the report said, was Russia’s annexation of the parts of eastern Ukraine it is now trying to grab through military occupation.

Then Trump continued to rant at the reporter, rehashing his version of the story of Hunter Biden’s laptop at some length, tying in former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and former representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) in a larger stew that brought up Trump’s history with both Russia and Ukraine and their roles in his quest to hold power.

Clinton ran against Trump in 2016, when Russia worked to elect him, and Zelensky came across Trump’s radar screen when, in July 2019, Trump tried to force Zelensky to say he was opening an investigation into Hunter Biden in order to smear Biden’s father Joe Biden before the 2020 election. Only after such an announcement, Trump said, would he deliver to Ukraine the money Congress had appropriated to help Ukraine fight off Russia’s 2014 invasion.

Zelensky did not make the announcement. A whistleblower reported Trump’s phone call, leading to a congressional investigation that in turn led to Trump’s first impeachment. Schiff led the House’s impeachment team.

After unloading on the reporter, Trump abruptly ended today’s meeting, saying it was “going to be great television.” Shortly afterward, he asked Zelensky and his team to leave the White House.

This afternoon, former representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) posted: “Generations of American patriots, from our revolution onward, have fought for the principles Zelenskyy is risking his life to defend.

 But today, Donald Trump and JD Vance attacked Zelenskyy and pressured him to surrender the freedom of his people to the KGB war criminal who invaded Ukraine. History will remember this day—when an American President and Vice President abandoned all we stand for.”

—Heather Cox Richardson

 

"The Death of America's Word"

 

There are moments in history where you can feel the tectonic plates of power shifting under your feet, the precise seconds when empires declare themselves rotten and ready to collapse. February 28, 2025, was one of those moments—a grotesque display of unchecked narcissism, geopolitical idiocy, and the full-throttle transformation of American foreign policy into a goddamn mafia shakedown.

Donald Trump, the world’s loudest and dumbest charlatan, decided to hold a public execution of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, not with bullets, but with bullying. This was not diplomacy. This was not strategy. This was the kind of goonish humiliation typically reserved for reality television, except now the stakes were measured in millions of lives and the looming specter of World War III.

“YOU’RE GAMBLING WITH WORLD WAR III”

Trump—flanked by his yes-man JD Vance and an eerily silent Marco Rubio—welcomed Zelenskyy to the Oval Office only to berate, belittle, and ultimately dismiss him like a waiter who forgot to refill his Diet Coke. The Ukrainian president had made the grave mistake of advocating for his people, for his country, for his soldiers dying daily on the front lines against Russian invaders. But in Trump’s world, there is no room for dignity or resistance—only total submission to the Don.

"You’re gambling with World War III," Trump barked at Zelenskyy, acting like a discount Tony Soprano shaking down a local shopkeeper. "You either make a deal, or we are out." The message was crystal clear: Surrender to Putin, or America lets you rot.

When Zelenskyy pushed back—trying to explain, like a rational human being, that diplomacy requires more than rolling over and exposing your belly to a psychotic autocrat like Vladimir Putin—Vance chimed in, whining that it was "disrespectful" to discuss such things in front of the American media. Disrespectful! As if the real problem here was the optics, not the grotesque moral betrayal unfolding in real time.

TRUMP’S FIXATION WITH GRATITUDE: A MOB BOSS DEMANDING TRIBUTE

"Have you ever said thank you once?" Vance sneered at Zelenskyy, echoing his master’s worldview that all human interactions are transactional. "You have to be thankful," Trump added, "you don’t have the cards. You’re buried there."

This is what American diplomacy has become: an extortion racket. Forget alliances, forget history, forget standing up to despots—Trump views everything through the lens of a cheap con artist running a rigged casino. Ukraine, in his mind, is a desperate gambler, and Trump is the pit boss deciding whether to extend another round of credit.

If Zelenskyy had gotten on his knees and kissed Trump’s golden slippers, maybe he’d have left with something. But instead, he left with nothing, because he had the audacity to act like the elected leader of a sovereign nation, rather than a groveling servant.

THE CANCELED PRESS CONFERENCE: WHEN THE HUMILIATION IS TOO MUCH TO SPIN

After the carnage, Trump did what he always does: He took to Truth Social to declare victory. "I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace," he wrote, as if the real issue is Ukraine’s unwillingness to surrender, rather than Russia’s ongoing campaign of war crimes and territorial theft.

The joint press conference was canceled—which in diplomatic terms is the equivalent of overturning the table and storming out of the restaurant. Zelenskyy was seen leaving the White House, no deal signed, no support secured. Just the bitter taste of betrayal in his mouth.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian ambassador literally facepalmed in the middle of the meeting. She couldn’t even hide her disgust. This was the international equivalent of watching your boss drunkenly scream at a client in a meeting while you rub your temples and quietly plan your resignation.

TRUMP’S ‘PEACE’ PLAN IS A SURRENDER PLAN

This is all part of a deliberate pivot in American foreign policy. Trump has always sided with Russia, whether it’s calling Putin "a very smart guy," ignoring his war crimes, or pretending Ukraine started the war. Now, his administration is pushing a so-called "peace plan" that amounts to a glorified land grab for Moscow.

The Wall Street Journal has already reported that Trump’s advisers are split on how exactly to force Ukraine to submit. Some want a "frozen conflict"—which translates to "Russia keeps what it stole"—while others are pushing for a formal deal that outright cedes Ukrainian land and resources to Putin. Either way, the outcome is the same: Ukraine loses, Russia wins, and Trump gets to preen about his ‘deal-making.’

THE DEATH OF AMERICA’S WORD

The entire world saw this Oval Office debacle. If you’re an ally of the United States, you just learned a very clear lesson: You cannot trust America under Donald Trump. Your security, your sovereignty, and your survival are all secondary to whether Trump personally feels flattered. If you are not groveling at his feet, you’re expendable.

Meanwhile, Putin is watching. And he’s grinning. Because now he knows that Trump will do his dirty work for him. Zelenskyy was just the first ally to be fed to the wolves. He won’t be the last. Welcome to America, 2025. This is what losing looks like.

-from Fear & Loathing

"We have a president that wants to pal around with Putin"

 

Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett has vehemently criticized President Donald Trump's recent statements about Ukraine and Russia , warning that his "lies" could potentially lead us into "the next World War."

Speaking from the Congress floor today, Rep. Crockett boldly condemned the sudden shift in stance by Trump and Republicans from defending Ukraine to backing Russia. "Guess what? Russia invaded Ukraine . Can we at least agree on that one? Facts matter."

"Y'all, this is literally potentially putting us into an international crisis. We may be heading towards the next World War because we have a president that wants to pal around with Putin and wants to do everything to make him feel good, including lying about who invaded who," she continued.

"Mr. Chair, I, I got a minute left, but I really want to yield to any of my colleagues and ask them if they will say today, very basically, that when it came down to the war in Ukraine, that it was not Ukraine that invaded Russia, it was the other way around. Is there anybody in here that has enough courage to say that Russia invaded Ukraine? You can have my time."

As no one responded, Crockett concluded with a pointed, "And this is the problem!" before forcefully yielding the floor. Crockett's remarks are a direct rebuttal to Trump's false accusation that Ukraine initiated the war, which has claimed tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives, sparking outrage and fear in a nation that has been resisting a significantly larger Russian military for nearly three years, reports the Express US .

Trump labeled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as " a dictator without elections" alleging his popularity among the electorate was plummeting. Zelenskyy countered on Wednesday, attributing the spread of such misinformation to Russia, with some of Trump's statements mirroring Russia's own portrayal of the conflict.

The deadly unrest in Eastern Ukraine sparked off in 2014, resulting in over 14,000 fatalities by early 2022. On February 24, 2022, Russia initiated a comprehensive invasion across various fronts in Ukraine.

In retaliation, Ukraine's president declared martial law and vowed to put up a strong fight, while Western countries condemned Moscow's actions. Ukraine's ambitions to deepen its relationship with the West, including its public intention to join NATO - an alliance partially formed to counter Soviet expansion - have been met with Russian antagonism.

Putin sought to justify the invasion with the baseless assertion that it was essential to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO. Zelenskyy, who assumed office for a five-year term in 2019, was set for re-election in the Spring of 2024.

However, Ukrainian legislation prohibits parliamentary or presidential elections during martial law, enabling Zelenskyy to retain power. As per the Ukrainian government, several factors "would render it literally impossible to ensure a fair electoral process in the circumstances of a total war."

According to the United Nations' refugee agency, a whopping 6.9 million Ukrainian refugees have been registered worldwide since February 2022. A large number of these individuals remain displaced outside their country due to the ongoing conflict, making it virtually impossible for them all to participate in an election and potentially stripping millions of their voting rights.

Additionally, about 800,000 soldiers are currently serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, fighting to stop Russian advances. Holding an election would necessitate pulling these soldiers back from the front lines to vote, thereby weakening Ukraine's military position.

Moreover, those involved in combat would be unable to run for office, a right that is protected by Ukrainian law. Many Ukrainians live in areas under Russian control, effectively preventing them from taking part in any electoral processes.

Given Russia's ongoing attacks on both military and civilian targets across the country, gathering millions of citizens in crowded polling stations could present additional dangers.  

by Yelena Mandenberg, Newsbreak