As the late great poet Maya Angelou might have said if she thought it was necessary, “When someone shows you time and time again that they are a traitor, believe them.”
For extra emphasis, perfectly fitting, she could have further explained: “When someone shows you time and again, throughout their life, in business and in government, that they not just traitors but corrupt, ignorant, pathological dishonesty, coup plotters, racists, traitors to women, seriously, I’m not joking about this is not, believe them!
But, of course, as we’ve all witnessed during the last half century of Donald Trump’s life (unless we’re among the few who witnessed him bullying his classmates at school) , cheating to get into college and cheating to get out of school). military), this threat to society has managed to slide from scandal to scandal—and somehow always at the center of the stage.
Indeed, here we are in 2023, two years after his second coup attempt and impeachment, and he still is, according to recent pollsThe leading Republican candidate occupies an office he has defiled more than any other person has ever occupied it in our two-and-a-half-century history.
Given how dangerous this is, how can any nominally patriotic American still support this man? To be clear, he has repeatedly proven that he is an existential threat to the country, in the flesh.
in one social media posts coincident with the official launch of Trump’s 2024 election campaign, the former president once again stated that he values the opinion of Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin more than the opinion of the intelligence community and US law enforcement. He wrote in part, “Remember in Helsinki when a 3rd-rate reporter asked me, basically, who do I trust more, President Putin of Russia or our ‘intelligence’ underdogs.” He then described the leadership of US intelligence and law enforcement as “really bad people”. He also uses the word “slime” to describe them. And then he conclude “Who would you choose, Putin or these outcasts?”
As he admitted in his statement, this is not the first time he has made such a shocking statement in public. And to be sure, recent development involved former senior FBI counterintelligence official Charles McGonigal – who prosecutors allege was paid for by a Russian oligarch he is believed to be investigating – became the bureau’s black eye. . The investigation is still in its early stages, but some respected observers—such as the Yale history professor Timothy Snyder and former FBI agent Asha Rangappa—suggested that when all the details are finally revealed, it might not be good for Trump.
We also recently discovered that when Trump hijacked the Department of Justice and attempted to orchestrate an investigation to prove that he was being unjustly attacked by the intelligence and justice communities. Well, things didn’t go as planned. The investigation led by special counsel John Durham has come up with nothing…except more clues about Trump’s corruption.
Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS
There is also the issue that Trump’s close friend Putin has spent the past year making the convincing case that he is one of the world’s worst monsters, war criminals, author of a brutal illegal war and the utter enemy of the United States, our NATO ally. , and everything they stand for. Going to fight for Putin like Trump did (check notes) this week (!) is far more disgusting than the first time he did it back in 2018 in Helsinki.
Overall, the Republican base remains silent on Trump’s latest betrayal of his country. The GOP-led House of Representatives is continuing with a plan to create a committee to investigate the “weaponization” of the government that will seek to undo, bury, or discredit an investigationsuch as Trump’s ties to Russia.
And in the MAGA social media craze, voices echoing Trump’s views on Russia (and those attacking US government positions in Ukraine) are becoming prominent. This pro-Putin, pro-Trump choir works to validate what Trump preaches, no matter how outrageous—including direct attacks on Western policies. from Russian government arguments, such as this long topic argues why the West is “really” supplying tanks to Ukraine. (Yes, there’s a silly, long-disproved conspiracy theory underlying the whole thing.)
Thus, while Trump may have evaded tax fraud in the past (because he has donated to the right political campaigns) and has never paid any significant price for the abuse his mass sexuality (because there are so many sexist assholes in America), then continuing to support America’s enemies and seemingly getting rid of it takes a village. He has his own social media platform, the benefit of others social media platforms controlled by alt-rightFox News, almost the entire Republican Party and the entire Russian propaganda machine to keep him afloat in situations that could have been undone almost any other traitor in our history.
Of course, there is a serious danger in this. Trump’s criticism of Putin strengthens our enemies and puts our national security in jeopardy. As the US government ponders whether to shut down TikTok because it could one day serve as a Chinese propaganda platform, it’s fair to question whether similar scrutiny is possible. whether Truth Social, Twitter or other platforms have the influence of Kremlin supporters (or worse). was obvious and damaging.
However, given the fact that such moves are unlikely in the current political climate, we must see what Trump’s statement is all about: More than just a reminder of who he is and his relationship the danger he poses, but also the grave risk we face if the de facto leader of either party of the United States continues to elevate and empower our enemies, and their allies and all those who support and abet them either actively or through their silence.
