When Donald Trump became president in 2017, the Russians popped the champagne in Moscow, secretly and publicly. According to them, Trump’s victory is beneficial for the Kremlin. Today they want champagne again. Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t even have to wait until the 2024 election and Trump’s eventual return to the White House to have a reason to celebrate, Frida Gitis, a former CNN producer and correspondent who is now a CNN columnist, writes for CNN. The Washington Post and World Politics Review.
Trump has already proved fantastically useful to Putin.
The former president and his MAGA supporters are wrapping a priceless gift for the Russian leader just in time for the second anniversary of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
With each passing day, it looks like they will force the United States to break its word and all but abandon Ukraine — along with other war-torn regions and Indo-Pacific defenses.
For a moment, it looked like the US Congress would act responsibly. It was strange that urgently needed aid to Ukraine was included in the border security bill. But the bill, painstakingly negotiated and containing almost everything Republicans asked for to address the border crisis, was suddenly torpedoed by Trump’s Republican allies.
Never mind that MAGA activists had spent years suggesting that nothing mattered more than border control. Never mind that the legislation imposes the toughest restrictions in decades. Never mind that it includes the support Ukraine needs to fight a war that is vital to the United States and its allies, along with funding for Israel’s war against Hamas, humanitarian aid to Gaza, and funding for operations in the Red sea where Iran-backed Houthis fire missiles at ships and Taiwan, the self-governing island threatened by China.
No, the bill was declared dead by Trump’s allies because the former president decided it was bad for him.
Trump has made it clear he wants chaos at the border so he can campaign on the issue, blaming Biden. Resolving it, he said, would be a “gift” to Democrats.
For Trump, the worse things are in the United States, the better his chances are to capitalize on the discontent and portray the Biden administration as a failure. That’s why he said he hopes a recession and economic “crash” will happen before the end of the year.
It’s an astonishingly cynical tactic for a man trying to convince voters to put him in charge. It may or may not work for elections, but it’s already turning policymaking into a deliberately counterproductive mess. Incredibly, he expects his supporters in Congress to vote against bills they believe would benefit their country. This is the opposite of patriotism.
Trump’s supporters in Congress quickly agreed, even before seeing the border bill. And after he threatened anyone who supported him with “the end of his career,” many Republicans who might have wanted to support him quietly backed away.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) said he was “stunned” by the result. The Republicans got everything they asked for, he wrote in X, then “killed him.”
Barring a miracle, the legislation is doomed, and with it, very likely, prospects for significant U.S. aid to Ukraine.
Imagine the joy in Moscow!
CIA Director Bill Burns earlier this year described the abandonment of Ukraine as a mistake of “historic proportions.”
Former Republican Liz Cheney noted the long-term implications. “At Trump’s behest,” she wrote in X, Republicans aren’t just rejecting the border security deal — they’re also abandoning America’s allies in Ukraine. “Trump and (the Republican Party) are losing the war on purpose in an unforgivable betrayal that will strengthen America’s enemies for years to come,” she added.
The machinations of Trump and his allies are making the United States a weaker, less respected power in the world. The state appears dysfunctional and unreliable, unable to solve its problems and keep its word even on the most pressing issues.
If Trump’s main reason for sabotaging the border security deal is to perpetuate an issue that hurts Biden, then hurting Ukraine and helping Russia is exactly what he told us about his views.
It’s not just that he found it so hard to voice any criticism of Putin, or that when Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Trump exploded, calling Putin’s moves “brilliant…pretty clever!” (Though he later condemned the invasion, somehow blaming Biden for it.)
When asked last year if he wanted Ukraine to win, he dodged the question, boasting that he would end the war “in one day; 24 hours” and complained that the US was giving too much ammunition to Kiev.
The statement was almost universally interpreted as a sign of the end of US support, followed by pressure on Ukraine to cede land to Russian invaders if he becomes president.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Trump’s statements “very dangerous.”
With a not-so-veiled sign that Putin’s path to victory will be made easier if Trump wins, there is little incentive for Putin to end the war anytime soon.
Supporters of aid to Ukraine (and Israel) are not giving up. There has been talk of a separate aid project for Ukraine, but Trump supporters echoed his skepticism. A stand-alone aid bill for Israel has already been introduced, but it has not made much progress.
NATO members – especially those previously under Moscow’s boot – believe that if Ukraine loses, Russia will be emboldened to attack them. Just this week, a Danish intelligence assessment concluded that it was highly likely that Russia intended to use “military force” against NATO. According to them, Moscow wants to increase its presence in the Baltic Sea and has increased its willingness to take risks. Trump, a NATO skeptic, has expressed doubt about the US’ willingness to defend its NATO allies.
This is the Russia that some MAGA members gleefully embrace. Tucker Carlson, the disgraced former Fox provocateur, is in Moscow interviewing Putin. The Russian media shower him with celebrity flattery. It’s no surprise. Carlson, whom Trump previously said he would consider as a potential vice presidential candidate, repeated Putin’s fabricated themes to justify the invasion of Ukraine, as did other members of the far-right MAGA media.
As Trump derails aid, Ukraine’s once-strong resistance to Russian invaders is faltering. The Ukrainians are still fighting bravely and achieving some spectacular victories, but they are quickly running out of ammunition. Failing to replenish their arsenal results in more casualties.
Arguably, more Ukrainians are dying as a result of the shameful turn of events on Capitol Hill.
The Ukrainians are ramping up drone and artillery production, and Europe is scrambling to fill the gap. European Union approves $50 billion in additional aid; The Netherlands has promised to send more fighter jets, and European countries are rushing to expand production, but this is taking time.
The US has the largest military arsenal in the world. Without Washington’s help for Ukraine’s democracy, which is facing off against arguably the most aggressive of America’s enemies, Russia may emerge victorious.
For the United States, its democratic allies, and global stability, this would have immeasurably damaging consequences.
For Putin and his regime, no amount of champagne would be enough to do justice to the significance of this victory.
2024-02-07 21:11:05
#Trump #Putin #love
