The Donald Trump Score Card

Trump said it was a great idea that Putin declared regions in Ukraine to be independent.


Why is Russia ordering troops into Ukraine and what does Putin want?

excerpt:

"Why is recognition of rebel areas dangerous?

Until now these so-called people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk have been run by Russian proxies.

Under Mr Putin's decree recognising them as independent, Russian troops are for the first time recognised as stationed there and they can build military bases too.

By pouring Russian troops into an area witnessing hundreds of ceasefire violations every day, the risk of open war becomes far higher. The two rebel areas would have had special status within Ukraine under the Minsk peace accords, but Mr Putin's move bars that from happening.

What makes the situation more alarming is that the two rebel statelets do not just claim the limited territory they hold, they covet all of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions. "We recognised them, didn't we, and this means we recognised all of their founding documents," said the Russian leader.

Russia has already prepared the ground for war, with false accusations that Ukraine committed "genocide" in the east. It has handed out more than 700,000 passports in rebel-run areas, so any action could be justified as protecting its own citizens."

 

Why is Russia ordering troops into Ukraine and what does Putin want?

excerpt:

"What does Putin want?

Russia has spoken of a "moment of truth" in recasting its relationship with Nato and has highlighted three demands.

First, it wants a legally binding pledge that Nato will not expand further. "For us it's absolutely mandatory to ensure Ukraine never, ever becomes a member of Nato," said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

Mr Putin has complained Russia has "nowhere further to retreat to - do they think we'll just sit idly by?"

Press handout showing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the front line

In 1994, Russia signed an agreement to respect independent Ukraine's independence and sovereignty.

But last year President Putin wrote a long piece describing Russians and Ukrainians as "one nation", and now he has claimed modern Ukraine was entirely created by communist Russia. He sees the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991 as the "disintegration of historical Russia".

President Putin has also argued that if Ukraine joined Nato, the alliance might try to recapture Crimea.

"Let's imagine Ukraine is a Nato member and starts these military operations. Are we supposed to go to war with the Nato bloc? Has anyone given that any thought? Apparently not."

His other core demands are that Nato does not deploy "strike weapons near Russia's borders", and that it removes forces and military infrastructure from member states that joined the alliance from 1997.

That means Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Baltics. In reality Russia wants Nato to return to its pre-1997 borders."

 

trump’s praise of Putin is the antithesis of Reagan’s policy toward the Soviet Union.

 

Trump tied the military spending by NATO member states to the trade war he started.

Trump creates an amalgam of one conflict after another based on his perception that others are taking advantage of him and the U.S. He publicly expressed this view as far back as 1987 when he took out full-page ads in two NY newspapers accusing Saudi Arabia and Japan of financially taking advantage of the U.S. related to military assistance from the U.S.


NATO: Donald Trump is preoccupied with getting allies to spend 2%

excerpt:

"Diplomats say Trump's singular focus on the 2 percent benchmark might be counterproductive.

"The more he harangues allies, and the more he makes this the defining issue, the more difficult it will be for some allies actually to increase spending," said Ivo Daalder, the U.S. ambassador to NATO from 2009 to 2013. "Given that Trump’s popularity in Europe is at an historic low for a US president, acceding to his demands is becoming more difficult for many European leaders."

European Council President Donald Tusk suggested as much Tuesday.

“Dear America, appreciate your allies. After all, you don’t have that many," he said in Brussels ahead of Trump's visit.

"We do have a lot of allies, but we cannot be taken advantage of," Trump responded. "We're being taken advantage of by the European Union."

Trump has tied the issue of defense spending to his larger trade wars, saying the United States should not be subsidizing nations with which it runs a trade deficit.

"The European Union makes it impossible for our farmers and workers and companies to do business in Europe (U.S. has a $151 Billion trade deficit), and then they want us to happily defend them through NATO, and nicely pay for it," Trump tweeted. "Just doesn’t work!""

 

Trump this week said that countries around the world no longer respect the U.S. like they did when he was in office (when his approval ratings around the world were so low that most democratically run countries saw Putin and Xi Jinping as more trustworthy leaders than Trump).

 

Trump might have been referring to autocrat countries no longer liking the U.S. compared to when he was in office.

 

Delusions of grandeur, a symptom of mental illness.

 

Trump would have supported the Soviet Union during the Cuban missile crisis.

 

Ukraine has a better option than war with Putin. & Here Donald Trump makes a comment about the situation there.
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Analysis: Donald Trump sides with Vladimir Putin as Joe Biden tries to stop a war (msn.com)

Just read this...

The journalist using the term "genuflecting" was both disconcerting and humorous at the same time...

Are we ready? Do we want to be a 'realist'?

I don't know that we are or that we do.

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I think Ukraine can establish diplomacy with Putin. I believe in an independent Ukraine too.

All these lines that have been drawn in the sand... are they set in stone? I would like to say, "not yet". The leadership should go back to the table, and if Ukraine wants NATO, okay. Let that be as unrelated to this as it can possibly be. What are the stakes? Russia wants to, for lack of a better word, acknowledge pro-Russian enclaves in the eastern part of Ukraine.

Why is that outside the realm of negotiation? What are the interests of the separatist regions in question?

Let's talk it out.

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Donald Trump is weighing in, but I'm not sure I'm going to like what he's trying to say.

One Trump presidency was an eye-opening social experiment (in my honest opine), but a second helping? I'm not sure I like the implications, and I'm only able to infer negativity about that.

 

beat me to the punch!

 

Article from May 2021.


Why service members charged in the Capitol riot are staying in uniform — for now
By Alex Horton
May 22, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/05/22/military-capitol-riot/

excerpt:

"Why is the military waiting to take action?

Army Chief of Staff Gen. James C. McConville spoke in April 2021 about U.S. troops and veterans allegedly linked to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. (Washington Post Live)

Warnagiris, a Marine Corps officer, was accused last week of leading rioters in through the east doors of the Capitol Rotunda. He has been charged with five counts, including assaulting and obstructing police during a civil disorder and obstructing an official proceeding of Congress, according to federal prosecutors.

Military officials will coordinate with civilian prosecutors any UCMJ action that Warnagiris might face to “avoid negatively impacting the case due to legal and other logistical considerations,” said Maj. J.A. Hernandez, a Marine Corps spokesperson.

Waiting for a decision before determining whether Warnagiris should be kicked out of the military is practical, VanLandingham said.

Warnagiris could be removed from the service before a verdict in his case is reached in civilian court. But he would be entitled to a hearing, where a board would decide his fate, VanLandingham said. A criminal conviction would take away that right, and the Marine Corps could separate him without going through a lengthy process.

If the Marine Corps wanted to go through a trial, it could not charge him with the same charges he faced in civilian court, VanLandingham said. But some military offenses, like conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman, would not violate double jeopardy rules if the underlying conduct is distinct from that alleged in the original charges.

Prosecutors may have asked the Marine Corps to apply a light touch with Warnagiris for now in case they need to seek his cooperation. It is possible, for instance, that he knows others involved in the Jan. 6 events and could provide helpful information, VanLandingham said."

 

One thing is for sure: Trump destabilized America and Putin used the commotion to make his move.

 

Trump has been saying this week that Putin wouldn't have invaded Ukraine during his term because he was giving Putin everything he wanted, including destabilizing the U.S. and Europe.


Trump calls European Union a 'foe' – ahead of Russia and China

excerpt:

"Donald Trump described the European Union one of his greatest “foes” in another extraordinary diplomatic intervention on Sunday, just hours before sitting down to a high-stakes summit with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

Asked in a TV interview to name his “biggest foe globally right now”, the US president started by naming the European Union, calling the body “very difficult” before ticking off other traditional rivals like Russia and China.

Hours earlier, the British prime minister, Theresa May, revealed that Trump suggested she “sue the EU” rather than go into negotiations over Brexit.

“Well, I think we have a lot of foes,” Trump told CBS News at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. “I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now you wouldn’t think of the European Union but they’re a foe.”"

 

Lock him up

 

"It's not an invasion if we give it to him, right?" ~ Donald J. Trump

 

Gaetz wants Trump to be Speaker of the House for just a few hours so that he can take the gavel away from Pelosi (assuming the GOP wins the House in midterms).


Matt Gaetz said he pitched Trump on the idea of being House Speaker for 'like 3 or 4 hours' so it wouldn't be too much work | Business Insider México | Noticias pensadas para ti

 

The 'law and order' Gaetz is known for his jackass stunts, such as illegally barging into a Congressional hearing about Trump's withholding of U.S. government money from Ukraine to coerce its leader into launching a smear campaign against Biden.

 

Gaetz and the GOP were extremely frustrated that a Pentagon official was scheduled to testify about Trump. Gaetz's barging into the hearing delayed the testimony that resumed later in the day.