OMG, I think for the first time in ages I actually agree with you.
Last week I said to someone else here, “It’s one thing to give Germany and France the mother of all “I told you so’s”; it’s quite another to start royally kicking the very same people who were on President Trump’s side in the teeth for pointing out that nobody so far has taken Putin’s side and listened to his bullshit “concerns” without ending up being humiliated in the long run.”
That was in response to an earlier post where I pointed out, even the most hardball pro-Trumpers in the UK have publicly shat the bed after hearing about the $500bn blackmail offer. Even Nigel Farage freaked out. And he’s spent more of the last six months in the USA sucking up to MAGA than he’s spent doing his job in the UK.
Pay double what’s been spent by the USA (and more than 5x what ever actually left the USA to get to Ukraine) in return for no guarantees whatsoever? Good grief. Did anyone with more than two functioning brain cells think that was a “good” deal from the perspective of Ukraine?
Bluntly, the “deal” was so retarded only three explanations made sense:
1. It was smoke-and-mirrors with Trump and Zelensky both doing it to sucker the Russians into complacency, and put the screaming willies up the Europeans. Job done, and now we’re hearing about the REAL deal. Kabuki theater. I mean, Z’s an actor, it ain’t that implausible.
2. Putin put the red button on the table in front of Trump, and Trump’s entire administration folded like a cheap suit. In short - Putin deployed nuclear blackmail.
3. Those rumors of Trump being a “cicada” are true. Russia took the USA without firing a shot - by grooming a KGB asset from the late 80s, and pointing him at the Presidency.
Now, from where I’m sat the first option - kabuki theater - was the only acceptable one. Yet a fellow Freeper was incensed at the suggestion, and thought I was having a go at Trump merely for pointing out, these are the three theories circulating behind closed doors across the West.
What you’ve just said, “this is just tacky for America,” is what many of Trump’s most powerful supporters in Europe are saying out loud. If they’re breaking ranks to even give that muted a criticism, Lord knows what they’re actually thinking in private.
You and me agreeing. It had to happen once! I’m about 98% in agreement with Trump. But it’s just unseemly in my opinion for sir Galahad to ride up on the white horse and claim he’s there to save the day for the damsel in distress, and then telling her he needs compensation if he helps her.
My opinion on why he’s taking this approach, is that he sees everything in terms of a financial deal. And in his mind he thinks Ukraine gets assistance, and America gets money in return. I think Ukraine is a Nazi dictatorship and I don’t wanna support it. But this is an astonishing disconnect from proper behavior. Especially when we spent three years waxing eloquent about protecting democracy, standing with Ukraine for freedom, etc. This isn’t good for our reputation. But I think it’s because he comes out at like a businessman. I wish he came out at like a businessman and thought time to cut losses .