#putin out-smarted trump

[trmpt]

Jordan Michael Smith/March 21, 2024

ILLUSTRATION BY VICTOR JUHASZ

Excerpt: “But Trump is unique among presidents in expressing outright adoration for despots and authoritarians—not because they can benefit American interests despite their cruelty, but because, whatever impact they may have on American interests, these leaders have the virtue of being cruel. As Henry Hill says of the gangster Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas, Trump is ‘the kind of guy who root[s] for the bad guys in the movies.’

“As president, Trump realized his ambitions to befriend tyrants, praising North Korea’s Kim Jong Un (‘great strength economically’), Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (‘he’s doing a very good job’), China’s Xi Jinping (‘a very, very good man’), and, of course, Russia’s Vladimir Putin (‘very smart’). He saved his insults for NATO and countries like Denmark. During his post-presidency, and now in his campaign to become president again this November, Trump has continued gushing about leaders who expend copious resources repressing the basic freedoms of their peoples. He has brandished their endorsements as qualifications for his reelection. In December, Trump said of Kim Jong Un: ‘He’s not so fond of this [Biden] administration, but he’s fond of me.’ He was implying that voters should value the exceptional level of approval that he receives from someone overseeing maybe the world’s worst totalitarian state.”

[cazort]

Why I'm Enthusiastic About Kamala Harris

I've seen so much negative talk about Trump and we all agree with that, but I want to highlight what I like most about Kamala Harris and why I'm actively enthusiastic and excited about voting for her:

She is pro-abortion rights and pro- comprehensive sex ed

She would appoint good Supreme Court Justices.

She respects people with a diverse range of political views and would include some voices from both progressive and conservative perspectives in her administration.

She is unambiguously pro-LGBTQ rights, including not just on gay rights but also trans rights.

She would represent continuity with the Biden administration, an administration that I think has done a good job on most issues.

On the issue of Palestine/Israel/Gaza (where I am most critical of Biden), I think Harris is a significant improvement over Biden, and also offers the better path of the only two viable candidates, towards ending the genocide. She has spoken out against the civilian deaths and she has snubbed Netanyahu which is a huge plus in my book.

She has shown a willingness to change her views, such as how she moved from being opposed to decriminalizing sex work in 2008, to being supportive of it in 2019, and being initially skeptical of marijuana legalization in 2010, but coming to support it in 2015. I like a candidate who can change their views, but more importantly, she is changing in a direction I like.

She would be good on the economy; she opposes tariffs, and would continue the Biden administration policies which have led to economic prosperity.

She has a solid and fairly diverse track record of experience, working as attorney general for the largest state, then senator for that state, then VP.

She has worked to combat over-incarceration and cruel treatment of people in prison, doing things like reducing mandatory minimum sentences and working to reduce recidivism, opposing solitary confinement, ending private prisons, and ending cash bail. She has also pledged to use the president's clemency powers to release a lot of people who have been imprisoned unjustly or given unfairly harsh sentences.

She has a concrete plan to enact immigration reform that would adequately fund the processing of asylum applications and fix the backlog of immigrants at the border. And the plan has broad bipartisan support.

On top of this she also has already done some things to address the root causes of migration in Latin America, particularly people fleeing Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador

She is pro-net-neutrality.

She supports universal healthcare, but also has concrete recommendations for how to improve the current status quo.

She is pro-science, including on issues like climate change, COVID, vaccinations, and health and nutrition. Her mom was a scientist!

She is pro-Ukraine, wanting to keep Russia out of Ukraine and ensure Ukraine wins their war of defense and maintains their independence.

She is across-the-board better on women's issues, not just reproductive rights but also sexual violence and domestic violence, workplace equality and the pay gap, and women's issues in Latin America (which is related to the immigration pressure I mentioned above.)

She generally takes stances on foreign policy I agree with, being skeptical of leaders (Putin, Orban, Netanyahu) I want us to be skeptical of, and working with and looking up to the ones I want us to work with and look up to (Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron). She already has a working relationship with many of these leaders too, and has a reputation of being both personable and tough, just what I'd want.

She's smart, well-educated, and surrounded with smart, well-educated, and wise people. Her campaign is stable and well-run, and I trust her to put together a team of competent advisors and run this country competently, probably even more so than Biden has done, and Biden has done a pretty decent job, exceeding my expectations even.

Harris also has an impressive list of endorsements. I can't possibly be comprehensive here, but it includes people as diverse as the most progressive Democrat Lawmakers (Bernie Sanders and AOC), some of the most conservative former GOP legislators (Jeff Flake, Liz Cheney), and over 100 former GOP staffers including a disturbing number of insiders from the Trump administration. This is telling! You don't see this sort of whistleblowing and defection from within the Biden administration.

The fact that Harris has racked up endorsements from people spanning the whole political spectrum from solid-right to solid-left and everything in between, impresses me. This is the sign of someone who is going to be good at getting people to work together, someone who will listen to a wide range of viewpoints and develop better policy and take better courses of action as a result. It's what I always want in a president.

In some elections I have been frustrated that I'm voting for a "lesser of two evils" but this time around I actually feel actively enthusiastic about Harris. I am excited to vote tomorrow and excited to finally be done with this election, and I am cautiously optimistic that it is going to turn out really well.

I encourage everyone to vote and make sure to make sure everyone close to you is also voting!

[darknessdrops]

A (long) Rant and Au Revoir

I'm Canadian. And I'm in a country that is under attack by its powerful neighbour. A neighbour that is intent on destroying our economy, taking our jobs, lowering our living standards, and erasing our sovereignty.

For the past sixty years we have, with the cooperation and invitation of the United States, conjoined our economy with theirs. Essentially there's been a North American economic union, first established by the original NAFTA treaty in the late 1980s. Canada relied on those treaties and the entire Canadian economy is now dependent upon access to the U.S. market.

And it turns out to have been a trap.

The U.S. President now imposes ruinous tariffs - on fake (what else would it be when coming from Trump?) and flimsy national security grounds - the obvious intent of which is to de-industrialize Canada (and Mexico) for the benefit of the U.S.

And sure, every country has the right to impose tariffs to protect vital national interests, or to protest unfair trade practices by another state. But across the board 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada are not that; rather they are a form of economic warfare in which one state is using its economic advantage to beggar its neighbours. And it will result in severe economic hardship for my family and friends. (I have friends who work in the auto industry. They expect to be laid off in the next couple of weeks.)

I remember Trump texting - when it appeared that Russia was going to defeat Ukraine in a matter of days - how "smart" Putin was. Trump has no morality or sense of right and wrong. He only celebrates power and success.

It really depresses me that even the "liberal" American media that I follow (CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, etc.) sees this from a purely American viewpoint. What might it do to U.S. rate of inflation? How will it affect American jobs? But where is the outrage about an illegitimate exercise of power? That this is an aggressive and unprovoked attack on weaker countries that have done nothing to deserve such a response? (And god help me if anyone mentions fentanyl!!)

Anyway, I could go on and on. And on. But it makes no difference.

So one very small thing I'm doing is to cut all of my use or purchase of American goods. There's no fucking way I'll buy anything made in America. And that means cancelling Netflix and Prime and Apple+, the Times, and any other product that means I'm paying money to a U.S. entity.

Platforms like Tumblr and Instagram and BlueSky are a bit different. I don't directly pay anything for their use. (And, in the case of Tumblr, it probably loses money.) But they are American owned and, at this moment, that's not something that sits too well with me. And, sorry, that's probably irrational and unfair, but that's how it is.

I hope it's "au revoir" and not goodbye.

[darkmaga-returns]

The use by Russia of a ballistic missile with a MIRVed warhead—optionally IRBM or ICBM at Russia’s discretion—was a very serious shot across the bow, directed to the two nations that have chosen to go to war with Russia. The Russian strike was a demonstration—it was a kinetic strike rather than an explosive one. The question on many minds has to be, What comes next? The Russians specifically stated that they have an interest in destroying a US missile site in Poland. But that’s just one target in Europe on what is probably a very long Russian list. What comes next is up to the “small group of people” who are pursuing the war on Russia.

For an informed and impassioned monologue on what it means and what’s at stake, check out Danny Davis:

BREAKING: Putin - "Our Missiles CANNOT be Intercepted"

Davis warns that even for Trump there will be no easy peace. Putin holds all the high cards. Stop being stupid is Davis’ advice.

Philip Pilkington adds to this with a series of smart tweets:

Philip Pilkington @philippilk These missiles - likely MIRVs - look faster and more accurate than what Iran sent against Israel. The likely outcome of giving Ukraine permission for long-range strikes is similar advanced tech to US rivals in the Mid East. Biden is not motivated by US security concerns.

There was just one missile, but with a MIRVed warhead. I’d be very surprised if Russia shared its MIRV tech with any Middle Eastern nation. However, the possibility that Russia further responds by sharing additional weaponry above and beyond what the Pentagon has openly admitted is “scary” is a real prospect.

PUTIN: OUR "FRONTIER MISSILES" CAN HIT ALL OF EUROPE Russia is preparing to deploy RS-26 "Frontier" missiles, capable of striking anywhere in Europe, in retaliation for Ukraine’s use of US and UK-made missiles, including Storm Shadows, on Russian soil. Kremlin officials warn of strikes on Ukraine's critical infrastructure, with Putin recently easing laws for deploying nuclear weapons. The RS-26 has a 3,600-mile range and 3 times the payload of standard Kremlin bombs, marking a major escalation in the conflict. Source: Daily Mail

Philip Pilkington @philippilk Europe is now going to be targeted by the sort of MIRVs the Russians just launched on Ukraine. These missiles can overcome air defence, but Europe has no air defence anyway. Biden and his goons just demolished European security. These people are a major security risk.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

John Nichols at The Nation:

Donald Trump has made no secret of his determination to govern as a “dictator” if he regains the presidency, and that’s got his critics warning that his reelection would spell the end of democracy. But Trump and his allies are too smart to go full Kim Jong Un. Rather, the former president’s enthusiasm for the authoritarian regimes of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Tayyip Erdoğan, and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán suggests the models he would build on: managing elections to benefit himself and his Republican allies; gutting public broadcasting and constraining press freedom; and undermining civil society. Trump, who famously demanded that the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential voting be “recalculated” to give him a win, wants the trappings of democracy without the reality of electoral consequences. That’s what propaganda experts Edward Herman and Frank Brodhead once described as “demonstration elections,” in which, instead of actual contests, wins are assured for the authoritarians who control the machinery of democracy. The outline for such a scenario emerges from a thorough reading of Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership, which specifically proposes a Trump-friendly recalculation of the systems that sustain American democracy. The strategy for establishing an American version of Orbán’s “illiberal democracy” is not spelled out in any particular chapter of Mandate. Rather, it is woven throughout the whole of the document, with key elements appearing in the chapters on reworking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Federal Election Commission (FEC). In the section on the DHS, for instance, there’s a plan to eliminate the ability of the agency that monitors election security to prevent the spread of disinformation about voting and vote counting.

How serious a threat to democracy would that pose? Think back to November 2020, when Trump was developing his Big Lie about the election he’d just lost. Trump’s false assertion that the election had been characterized by “massive improprieties and fraud” was tripped up by Chris Krebs, who served as director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in the DHS. The Republican appointee and his team had established a 24/7 “war room” to work with officials across the country to monitor threats to the security and integrity of the election. The operation was so meticulous that Krebs could boldly announce after the voting was finished: “America, we have confidence in the security of your vote, you should, too.” At the same time, his coordinating team declared, “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.” This infuriated Trump, who immediately fired the nation’s top election security official.

In Mandate’s chapter on the DHS, Ken Cuccinelli writes, “Of the utmost urgency is immediately ending CISA’s counter-mis/disinformation efforts. The federal government cannot be the arbiter of truth.” Cuccinelli previously complained that CISA “is a DHS component that the Left has weaponized to censor speech and affect elections.” As for the team that worked so successfully with Krebs to secure the 2020 election, the Project 2025 document declares that “the entirety of the CISA Cybersecurity Advisory Committee should be dismissed on Day One.” The potential impact? “It’s a way of emasculating the agency—that is, it prevents it from doing its job,” says Herb Lin, a cyber-policy and security scholar at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.

This is just one way that Project 2025’s cabal of “experts” is scheming to thwart honest discourse about elections and democracy. A chapter on public broadcasting proposes to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as part of a larger plan to upend NPR, PBS, and “other public broadcasters that benefit from CPB funding, including the even-further-to-the Left Pacifica Radio and American Public Media.” More destabilizing than the total funding cut that Project 2025 entertains is a parallel plan to end the status of NPR and Pacifica radio stations as “noncommercial education stations.” That could deny them their current channel numbers at the low end of the radio spectrum (88 to 92 FM)—a move that would open prime territory on the dial for the sort of religious programming that already claims roughly 42 percent of the airwaves that the FCC reserves for noncommercial broadcasting. And don’t imagine that the FCC would be in a position to write new rules that guard against the surrender of those airwaves to the Trump-aligned religious right.

[...]

While project 2025 seeks to rewire the FCC to favor Trump’s allies, it also wants to lock in dysfunction at the Federal Election Commission, the agency that is supposed to govern campaign spending and fundraising. Established 50 years ago, the FEC has six members—three Republicans and three Democrats—who are charged with overseeing the integrity of federal election campaigns. In recent years, however, this even partisan divide has robbed the FEC of its ability to act because, as a group of former FEC employees working with the Campaign Legal Center explained, “three Commissioners of the same party, acting in concert, can leave the agency in a state of deadlock.” As the spending by outside groups on elections “has exponentially increased, foreign nationals and governments have willfully manipulated our elections, and coordination between super PACs and candidates has become commonplace,” the former employees noted. Yet “the FEC [has] deadlocked on enforcement matters more often than not, frequently refusing to even investigate alleged violations despite overwhelming publicly available information supporting them.”

John Nichols wrote in The Nation about how Project 2025’s radical right-wing wishlist of items contains plans to wreck and subvert what is left of America’s democracy.

See Also:

The Nation: June 2024 Issue

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Drew Sheneman, Newark Star-Ledger

* * * *

Harris continues to take her message directly to the people

October 16, 2024

Robert B. Hubbell

Kamala Harris continued to bring her message directly to voters by bypassing major media. She sat for an hour in an interview with Charlamagne Tha God, whose podcast, “Breakfast Club,” reaches millions daily.  The entire interview is here: We The People: An Audio Town Hall With Kamala Harris & Charlamagne Tha God. But if you don’t have sixty minutes to spare, key moments are here:

Harris responds to MAGA attack ads saying that she “won’t do anything for Black people.” Watch Harris’s answer over five minutes as she corrects the record and attacks the disinformation being peddled by Trump. She challenges Charlamagne, “Ask Donald Trump what his plan is for Black voters. I will tell you what it is. It is Project 2025, which it makes it more difficult for Black Americans to live safely in their communities with full protection of the Constitution.”

Harris responds to question of whether it “smart politics” to campaign for support directly from the Black community? Harris provides a direct, genuine answer about her desire to be the “president for everybody” while also recognizing the disparities facing Black voters.

Kamala pushes back against the false claim that she and Biden “did nothing” about immigration for the first three years of their term. If you watch nothing else, check out this answer.

Kamala answers a question from a listener about Trump's claim that he will use the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 to deport immigrants. Harris calls out Trump for choosing to run on fear of immigration.

The interview also focused on the threat posed by Donald Trump. As she did on Monday, Kamala Harris sharpened her attacks on Trump, agreeing that he posed a “fascist” threat to the United States. For a summary of Harris’s criticisms of Trump, see NYTimes, Harris Agrees Trump Is a Fascist: 5 Charlamagne Interview Takeaways (Accessible to all.)

There are other notable moments, but here is the point: Kamala Harris sat for sixty minutes and answered serious questions from listeners to a program that reaches millions in the Black community every day. Van Jones of CNN rated the performance by Harris as “an A+++.” See CNN, Video: Van Jones reacts to Harris’ radio town hall with Charlamagne tha God. (See remarks beginning at 1:55).

It is beyond quibble that in agreeing to be interviewed by Charlamagne Tha God, Kamala Harris reached millions of listeners in the Black community who might not have otherwise heard her message. It was a smart move.

Critics of Kamala Harris (read: Fox News) are attempting to dismiss the interview as “friendly” and therefore not worthy of serious consideration. Of course, Trump is imploding in “friendly” interviews by allies like Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kristy Noem.

When Trump appeared on Tuesday before a “friendly” crowd at the Chicago Economic Club, he melted down when the interviewer challenged him for not answering the questions. See HuffPo, Trump Defends Tariff Plans In Wandering Remarks In Chicago.

Here is HuffPo’s description of the off-the-rails interview:

Appearing before the Economic Club of Chicago in Illinois, the presidential candidate also said he could do a better job on interest rate policy than Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, claimed he had never criticized 81-year-old President Joe Biden over his age, and refused to say whether he had talked with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the end of Trump's 2017-2021 White House term, as journalist Bob Woodward has reported.

And when the interviewer said that experts disagreed with Trump about tariffs, Trump attacked the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and the interviewer:

“You’re wrong. You’ve been wrong, you’ve been wrong all your life on this stuff,” Trump told John Micklethwait, the editor-in-chief of business news giant Bloomberg News, when the pair disagreed about tariffs and their impact on the U.S. dollar. “What does The Wall Street Journal know? They’ve been wrong about everything,” Trump said when Micklethwait mentioned the paper’s editorial page being critical of the bigger budget deficits it says his plans would cause.

Although the Trump campaign praised the interview as the best ever by any presidential candidate, the campaign canceled an interview with the business news program on CNBC: See Forbes, Trump Cancels CNBC Interview—As He Fights With Major Networks Over Interviews With Harris.

Trump will drop all future interviews except those with hosts in his pocket. Meanwhile, an increasingly confident Kamala Harris is reportedly in talks to appear on Joe Rogan’s top-rated podcast, has agreed to a CNN townhall in Philadelphia next week, and will appear on a Fox “News” for an interview this week. See The Philadelphia Inquirer, Kamala Harris is going on Fox News in Philly. Donald Trump isn’t happy.

Does it matter that Kamala Harris is running a disciplined, professional, and confident campaign while Trump's campaign is flailing? Yes. A lot. Just imagine if Kamala Harris was running a poor campaign that stumbled and misfired every day. The media and pundits would be unforgiving, claiming that a weak and disorganized campaign was evidence of unfitness to be president.

And yet, Trump has multiple meltdowns each day and major media looks on with mild bemusement. The NYTimes dismissed Trump's 39-minute interlude of listening to music at a rally on Monday as an “improvisational detour.” Really?! If Harris had done the same thing, the Times would have described the event as “disqualifying.” Perhaps that explains why Kamala Harris would rather be interviewed by Fox News than the NYTimes.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[yourreddancer]

Today in Politics, Bulletin 63. 2/3/25

Ron Filipkowski

Feb 4

∙

Paid

… Elon Musk locked USAID staffers out of their building this morning. AP reported that the entrance had yellow police tape with officers blocking entry to the lobby. Musk went on an X spaces in the wee hours of the morning to announce that he was shutting it down: “It became apparent that it’s not just an apple with a worm it in. What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.”

… Musk claimed that he checked with Trump first and got his approval: “I checked with him a few times. ‘Are you sure?’ Yes, we’re shutting it down. He agreed we should shut it down.”

… USAID’s website was down this morning with no explanation, and staffers told AP they were locked out of the agency’s computer systems.

… A USAID official to NBC: “No one feels safe to go anywhere near the Ronald Reagan building. We just had Elon Musk call us a criminal organization. Our security chief was escorted out. We know we are being surveilled by DOGE.”

… Trump was then asked this morning whether it would take an act of Congress to disband USAID. Trump: “I don't know, I don’t think so. Not when it comes to fraud. These people are lunatics and if it comes to fraud, you wouldn't have to have an act of Congress.”

… Elon Musk’s fans in Russia loved the move. Former President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: “Smart move by Elon Musk trying to plug USAID's Deep Throat. Let's hope notorious Deep State doesn't swallow him whole.”

… Michael McFaul: “In 2012, when I was the US ambassador to Russia, Putin shut down USAID inside Russia. Why? Because their work supported free markets, democracy, human rights —ie causes that threatened Putins dictatorship. Shutting down USAID is exactly what autocrats all over the world want.”

… Independent Ukrainian journalist Jay in Kviv: “Putin never dreamed he could ever dismantle USAID. Musk did it for him in a few days.”

… NBC reports that Musk is seeking to access USAID systems that include personnel files and security systems — including on classified systems beyond the security level of at least some of the DOGE employees. The systems also included security clearance information for agency employees.

… Congressional Democrats immediately called a press conference in front of the USAID building where they angrily denounced that Musk was doing:

… Rep. Jamie Raskin: “This is about termination and obliteration of the major foreign aid programs of the US, all of which together total less than $40 billion. We have a Pentagon budget of $900 billion. The Pentagon budget is where the defense contractor Elon Musk, who became the richest man in the world off of our money, collects his payments from, and now he is trying to shut down USAID. We are not going to allow this to happen. It will not stand.”

… Rep. John Olszewski: “Prison guards overseeing thousands of ISIS combatants in Syria walked off the job after their pay was frozen until a waiver was thrown together after the fact. Let me say that again, prison guards overseeing thousands of ISIS combatants walked off the job.”

… Sen. Chris Murphy: "Let's not pull any punches about why this is happening. Elon Musk makes billions off of his business with China. And China is cheering at this action today. There is no question that the billionaire class trying to take over our govt right now is doing it based on self-interest.”

… Sen. Andy Kim: “As Trump and Musk gut USAID today, I think back to my first day ever working for the US gov at USAID. Shame on them for demonizing Americans who are serving our nation, often in difficult and dangerous places. I worked in USAID/Africa bureau where we helped rehabilitate former child soldiers in Uganda, helped with an emerging famine in Malawi. Trump complains about China’s growing influence in Africa but then shuts down one of our best tools to fight this.”

… More Kim: “USAID helps strengthen our nation’s reputation, showcasing our power and our values. Trump admin is now doing extraordinary damage to our reputation not just in trying to stop USAID’s work but by denigrating the mission of humanitarian and development assistance as a whole. These actions by Trump/Musk show America as a nation trampling the rule of law.

… Kim said it is illegal: “Trump/Musk cannot unilaterally close USAID or transfer under State. USAID is codified by the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, 22 U.S.C. 6501. Any action to shut USAID down would need to go through Congress, and we will fight this. This is all self-inflicted damage. We face real national security threats, and right now our adversaries/competitors are loving what they see — America at war with itself.”

… AOC - “If you want to start with waste, start with Elon’s defense contracts at the Pentagon. In fact, we should start with transparency around defense contracts in general, which take up an enormous sum of public funds. But they won’t do that, will they?”

… Former USAID official Atul Gawande to Fox: “They have turned into a shell overnight from an organization that reaches 100s of millions of people around the world. Our health programs added 6 extra years of life to children by eradicating diseases. That is all being decimated with spurious charges of corruption and mismanagement. It is a playbook coming to an agency near you. This is a gift to our enemies and competitors.”

… Gawande: “We have 21 serious outbreaks worldwide. Three are serious now: an Ebola outbreak in the capital of Uganda. Bird flu has broken out in 49 countries. Our efforts to contain them have all been shut down. We were on the verge of ending HIV, TB, and malaria. We were funding de-mining operations in Vietnam to allow farmers to get back to their fields so people can farm. The insanity and cruelty to break this independent agency. They even took down the USAID Memorial Wall which honored employees killed in the line of duty overseas. Their Memorial torn down.”

… But then Sec of State Marco Rubio gave a press conference later in the morning and announced that the decision had been reversed and USAID was not going to be shut down after all, it was just doing to be put under supervision of the State Department - in other words, him. Rubio said he “delegated the authority” to run it to someone else. He did not say who that person was: “It’s supposed to respond to policy directives of the State Department, and it refuses to do so.”

… Rubio took a different position about it than Musk: “There are things that USAID, that we do through USAID, that we should continue to do, and we will continue to do. But everything they do has to be in alignment with the national interest and the foreign policy of the United States.”

… More chaos caused by Musk, the Trump Admin has to scramble and try to put out the ensuing firestorm, then they walk it all back but come up with a BS excuse to justify their incompetence.

… Another example of that played out today with tariffs, but this one was all Trump.

… Today was Trump Tariff Theater Day as he announced tariffs over the weekend, causing the markets to take a nose dive and Republican Senators to beg and plead for exemptions. With panic setting in, Trump caves but has to save face. So then he miraculously lifts the tariffs for 30 days after Mexico and Canada agreed to basically do the same things they have been doing for years.

… Then Trump declares victory despite looking like a fool to the entire world. All very predicable. The most common MAGA cultist post I saw on social media today: “Art of the Deal!”

… Canada PM Justin Trudeau: “Canada is implementing our $1.3 billion border plan — reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl. Canada is making new commitments to appoint a Fentanyl Czar, we will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, launch a Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering.”

… Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum: “We reached a series of agreements: 1. Mexico will immediately reinforce the northern border with 10,000 members of the National Guard to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the US, particularly fentanyl. 2. The US is committed to working to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico. 3. Our teams will begin working today on two fronts: security and trade.”

… But on April 12, 2021, Mexico also announced that it was sending 10,000 members of the National Guard to the border at the request of the Biden Administration. They didn’t have to go through all the tariff drama to make that happen either.

… One Trump fan on X complained that he folded: “I don't like this at all. It shows no commitment or backbone from our President. It shows he can be manipulated, and they called his bluff. Why not demand results first and then we remove the tariffs? Now the whole world knows he's bluffing. Nothing will change. SAD DAY.”

… Rep. Claudia Tenney was panicking on Fox before Trump backed down: “One of the concerns I have with upstate NY is that one of my cities, the copper city from NY, we produce a lot of the copper. And the commodities and the ability of our country, and particularly our state and a lot of our long time manufacturing companies, many for over 100 years, to be able to react to this. I worry a little bit about some of the carnage with some of the small businesses in upstate NY who are going to have to react because Canada is our greatest trading partner.”

… Sen. Chuck Grassley: “I plead with President Trump to exempt potash from the tariff because family farmers in Iowa get most of our potash from Canada.”

… Sen. Ron Johnson to Newsmax: "Tariffs are a tax. When you tax something, you get less of it, so we'll probably get fewer imports, but then with retaliation, fewer experts. Smoot-Hawley was not particularly successful and helped sparked the Depression, so I share the markets' concern."

… Sen. Mitch McConnell to CBS: “It will drive the cost of everything up. In other words, it will be paid for by American consumers. I mean, why would you want to get in a fight with your allies over this?”

… Rep. Nancy Mace: “Quite frankly, as an American, I don’t care what Justin Trudeau and Canada has to say about this. If this is the tool that Trump says that he believes is going to work, then we have to try it. This is short term pain for long term gain. They made their bed and now they can lie in it. We have to play hardball with these countries who know where the meth labs are.”

… Rep. Carol Miller (R-WV) also wasn’t worried: “We have plenty of lumber here. We have wonderful energy products here. Trump is a negotiator - and he is going to take care of us just as he promised to do.”

… CNN Contributor Bakari Sellers: “Understanding Musk’s fascination with USAID also requires you to recall its role in dissembling apartheid South Africa.”

… Trump added South Africa to our enemies’ list: “South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY. It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention. A massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see. The US won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!”

… Musk deleted a post and suspended the account of a user on X who listed the names of the 6 people working for his DOGE office. Before nuking them, he responded to them: “You have committed a crime.” WIRED reported they are all between ages of 19-24. Musk reposted this comment from one of his fans about the incident: 

… Trump’s US Attorney for DC Ed Martin told Musk that he is ready to take action: “I recognized that some of the staff at DOGE has been targeted publicly. I ask that you utilize me and my staff to assist in protecting DOGE work and DOGE workers. Any threats, confrontations, or other actions in any way that impact their work may break numerous laws. Let me assure you of this: we will pursue any and all legal action against anyone who impedes your work.”

… CNN reports that DOGE official Edward Coristine requested and is being granted “access to all Small Business Administration systems, which includes HR, contract and payment systems.”

… Musk also made it clear that if they even suspect someone in the government is talking to the media, they will be fired: “With regard to leakers: If in doubt, they are out.”

… Right-wing podcast and attorney Tom Renz: “I like what DOGE is doing but am not convinced it’s legal and hate the precedent. What happens when we have the next Democrat presidency and they invite George Soros and Bill Gates in to do what DOGE is doing? Why aren’t conservatives concerned about the precedent? What’s the plan to keep this from being misused in the future?”

 NPR identified dozens of J6 defendants that Trump pardoned who had prior convictions or pending charges for rape, sexual abuse of a minor, domestic violence,manslaughter, production of child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking.

… Marge Greene then announced she is launching on investigation of NPR and PBS with her DOGE Committee: “PBS and NPR receive the tax dollars of hard-working Americans to stay on the air. Their coverage should serve every single American, not just a narrow slice of like-minded individuals and ideological interest groups. Notably, NPR refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story in an attempt to protect then-candidate Joe Biden leading up to the 2020 presidential election.

… Greene: “PBS falsely implied that Elon Musk made a fascist salute at the President’s inaugural rally. This kind of one-sided reporting, which attacks over half the country to protect and promote its own political interests, doesn’t deserve a single cent of American taxpayers’ money. I look forward to bringing the president of each of these so-called ‘media’ outlets before my brand-new DOGE Subcommittee to explain to me—and to the American people—why they deserve to continue receiving public funding.”

… The Trump administration hyped the arrest of 8,000 immigrants since he took office, which is still a slower pace than the Biden Admin deportations. But NBC reports that many of those have already been released back into the US on an ankle or wrist monitor program that has been used for over a decade. This is something Trump criticized Biden for constantly.

… ICE Spokesperson to NBC: “The agency’s federal law enforcement officers do everything they can to keep our communities safe. In some cases, ICE is required to release certain arrested aliens from custody.”

… Politico reported that nearly 100 employees of the Department of Education could be placed on administrative leave for previously attending a diversity training. They attended a voluntary two day training called, “Diversity Change Agents,” and were trained to serve as role models to educate and train the workforce on diversity and inclusion. Trump’s own former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos recommended the program to them.

… NYT reports that the Trump administration sent an email to 1,100 Environmental Protection Agency employees who work on climate change, reducing air pollution, enforcing environmental laws and other programs that they could be fired at any time.

… Michelle Roos, Executive Director of Environmental Protection Network told DNYUZ: “EPA is at the center of the bullseye for Trump’s vindictive purge of public servants. This is the most chaotic and vindictive transition in the history of the Environmental Protection Agency.”

… Trump signed an executive order to start the process of creating an American Sovereign Wealth Fund. A small handful of countries who typically run budget surpluses like Norway and Saudi Arabia invest their excess revenue in long-term investment funds. But the US has a massive deficit. So, I’m not exactly sure what the deal is here - are we going borrow more money and then invest it? Who decides where this money is going to go?

… Trump at his press conference with his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce nominee Howard Lutnick: “The Saudi Arabia fund is on the large side but eventually we'll catch it." Lutnick: "I think Scott and I will create an amazing sovereign wealth fund for you, sir."

… “For you”. Interesting choice of words.

… Norman said the $500 billion proposal in cuts is “laughable,” and said conservatives were “shocked it was that low.” He wants a budget which cuts spending $2-5 trillion: “We’ve got a math problem. We’ve got to get a resolution we need which has a number which can get through committee and get through the floor.”

… Speaker Mike Johnson is complaining that NY Gov. Kathy Hochul has been dragging her feet on setting a special election to fill Elise Stefanik's seat, which is keeping their majority very slim: “This is open political corruption by state officials in NY. This seat should be filled within 90 days of Stefanik moving over to be UN Ambassador. But they're trying to delay this maybe to late Summer, maybe even to Fall. It's just it's corruption on open display. It's unconscionable.”

… The Senate Intelligence Committee will vote tomorrow at 2:00 ET in closed session on Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination. Gabbard must get the vote of every single Republican since they only have a one seat majority on the Committee. Todd Young and Susan Collins were considered the big question marks, but Collins told CNN that she will vote to confirm Gabbard. Musk threatened Young yesterday and said he locked down his vote. She will likely be voted out of committee now, but still has a floor vote to overcome.

… Semafor reports that right-wing white nationalist Darren Beattie is being appointed as a senior Spokesperson for the State Department under Rubio. Beattie is the first one who launched conspiracies that the FBI instigated J6 and claimed that Kamala Harris was somehow involved with the pipe bomber. Here are some of Beattie’s posts on X:

“Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work. Unfortunately, our entire national ideology is predicated on coddling the feelings of women and minorities, and demoralizing competent white men.”

“Remember when the US allied with Ukranian neo-Nazis to destabilize Russian interests in Ukraine?”

“Imagine the whining from the Globalist American Empire if Putin ‘invades’ Ukraine. I love it when our national security bureaucrats fail!”

“Taiwan will inevitably belong to China, it’s not worth expending any capital to prevent.”

… Beattie also made several posts suggesting that Tom Cotton, Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham are gay. “They all have something in common …” And then: “For people like Graham and Cotton, foreign policy is one big leather clad BDSM fantasy.” I’m not arguing with him on this particular point, I’m just noting that Trump appointed him despite the fact that he said all this. Maybe because of it.

… Nancy Mace selling ‘Gulf of America’ gear now.

… Rep. Andy Biggs just introduced a bill to abolish OSHA, which would completely eliminate workplace safety protections for tens of millions of Americans.

… AZ AG Kris Mayes said she is looking to hire DOJ officials fired by Trump: “My message to all FBI agents and federal prosecutors who are being wrongfully fired by Trump: come see me about a job. We are hiring at the AZ Attorney General’s office and we actually support law enforcement.”

… Fox WH Correspondent Jennifer Griffin: “President Trump again said he ‘turned the water on’ in CA and that water could have been used to fight the wildfires. A few facts: The water released by the Army Corps of Engineers from 2 dams in Central CA has no way to reach Southern CA. The sudden rush alarmed local farmers whose land was nearly flooded. The water is usually kept in reserve to help farmers in Central CA during summer drought months. There are no crops that need the water right now. They are dormant.”

… Trump was asked about Rubio’s trip to the Panama Canal: “We’re gonna take it back, or something very powerful is going to happen.”

… Despite all this madness, we can rest easy tonight knowing that Kristi Noem was keeping us all safe today down on the southern border.

[gaykarstaagforever]

The techbros sided with Trump because, yes, they're all toxic misogynists who love money. But that wouldn't be enough, because they know he's an irrational dipshit who can't be trusted.

They sided with him because the whole TikTok mess that HE STARTED proves that he's anti-free market and nativist about tech. He will literally use the power of the US government to eliminate foreign competition for US tech companies, including forcing foreign companies to sell billion-dollar properties to US tech monopolies or be shut out of the market.

He's quit capitalism and is doing crony oligarchism, exactly what places like Russia and China have been doing for decades. The market doesn't matter in those environments; you only make money and survive as a business if the Glorious Leader grants you permission.

They're no doubt smart enough to know that's a horrible thing they let happen, but they're also arrogant enough to be like Musk and just assume they can handjob Trump enough to secure favor. Plus, as his loyal oligarchs, the property he yanks out of the hands of foreign companies will be handed over to them.

Russia's energy sector is a prime example of this. They control everything as gifts from Putin, and he lets them do literally whatever they want with everything so long as they obey him and provide lavish kick-backs.

This is exactly what Trump wants to do with TikTok and AI.

Plus he has to know that if this works, in 4 years when he declares whatever bullshit he will pull to become President-for-Life, the richest men in the world will shrug and support him, because they now need this system to live like god-kings.

And when they do, it won't matter who votes what or what any judge says, because their collective wealth, and the loyal white nationalists who are a big percentage of the military, will insulate them from any balance of power.

This is a formula for how the republic dies. It's not theoretical anymore.

The question is, what do we do about it?

[beardedmrbean]

South Korea’s military said Friday it suspects North Korea is preparing to send additional troops to Russia after its soldiers fighting in the Russian-Ukraine war suffered heavy casualties.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff also assessed in a report distributed to journalists that North Korea is continuing its preparations to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile intended to reach the United States.

President Donald Trump’s return to the White House may brighten Pyongyang’s prospects for high-level diplomacy with Washington, as he met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times during his first term.

Many experts say Kim likely thinks his evolving nuclear program and expanding military cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin could give him a greater leverage than during his 2018-19 summits with Trump.

North Korea has been supplying a vast amount of artillery and other conventional weapons to Russia, and last October it sent about 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia as well, according to US, South Korean and Ukraine intelligences.

Seoul, Washington and others worry Russia could in return transfer to North Korea sophisticated weapons technologies that can enhance its nuclear program.

North Korean soldiers are considered to be highly disciplined and well-trained, but their lack of combat experiences and unfamiliarity with the largely flat plains that make up most battlefields in the Russian-Ukraine war have made them easy targets for drone and artillery strikes.

South Korea’s spy agency said last week that it assessed about 300 North Korean soldiers had died and another 2,700 had been injured.

Earlier in January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4,000, though US estimates were lower at around 1,200.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said that North Korea is believed to be accelerating preparations to send more troops to Russia, without saying how it reached the assessment.

Deepening military ties between North Korea and Russia could embolden Kim over his dealings with the US and South Korea. In a major political conference last month, Kim vowed to implement the “toughest” anti-US policy.

But many experts say Kim may eventually want to sit down for talks with Trump if he thinks the US president could make concessions.

Their previous talks collapsed after Trump rejected Kim’s offer to dismantle his main nuclear complex, a limited denuclearization step, in return for extensive sanctions relief.

Kim has since sharply increased the pace of weapons tests to expand an arsenal of nuclear missiles targeting the US and South Korea.

In South Korea, there are concerns that Trump might give up the goal of a complete denuclearization of North Korea and focus on eliminating its long-range missile program that poses a direct threat to the US, while leaving its nuclear attack capabilities against South Korea intact.

During a Fox News interview broadcast Thursday, Trump called Kim “a smart guy” and “not a religious zealot.” Asked over whether he will reach out to Kim again, Trump replied that “I will, yeah.”

On Monday, Trump called North Korea “a nuclear power” as he boasted of his personal ties with Kim. That created a stir in South Korea, as Washington, Seoul and their partners have long avoided describing North Korea as a nuclear state out of worries that it could be seen as accepting its pursuit of nuclear weapons in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

“I was very friendly with him. He liked me. I liked him,” Trump said during a press availability at the Oval Office after his inauguration. “Now he is a nuclear power. But we got along. I think he’ll be happy to see I’m coming back.”

Jeon Ha Gyu, a spokesperson for the South Korean Defense Ministry, told reporters Tuesday that efforts to achieve North Korea’s denuclearization must be continued as a prerequisite to realize lasting peace not only on the Korean Peninsula but also in the world.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry also said it will closely coordinate with the Trump administration to achieve North Korea’s denuclearization.

North Korea hasn’t responded to Trump’s comments.

A state media report Friday on the closely watched two-day parliament meeting in Pyongyang this week didn’t say whether Kim attended it, and the report made no mention of the US, South Korea, Russia or other foreign policy issues.

[magustiel]

So you're probably freaking out right now, just a little bit, even if you're following the grand international plot. There is only so much my weird contra-Illuminati warfare "trust me bro, we'll be fine if you're all smart." can do for anxiety.

So you're probably wondering what to do about that part.

The next few weeks they will be accelerating, but so will surrounding courts. If you follow Eric Garland on twitter, you'll notice an encroaching ring of convenient things he agrees with Trump on despite standard beliefs, a "huh, imagine that" attitude, as more and more orders are leading to mass arrests, both in government and at borders, ours and international. It's not getting reported, and that's good, actually.

But as a result they are going to escalate while every country in the world watches at every level, including old allies. During this time they're trying to take down Netanyahu, Putin, and a million names in their orbits you wouldn't even imagine, unknown criminal syndicates, that kind of thing.

In that time, a lot of government communications like disease control are going to go dark while pandemics flare. Magic vaccines that are AI generated to fight cancer and such are being floated as printed by Musk and friends, so just, not to sound weird but just hold out on any new vaccines while this blows over and regulations Get Good again. Live smart like Covid.

Prices are going to be spiking. As soon as possible, stock up on things, but also be aware of everything from lithium in salad to bird flu in birds and now even mammals, with no regulation and oversight, so buy intelligently, cook thoroughly, ration as needed and stock while you can.

Take care of each other, stay awake, alert, up to date, and find your trusted hub that has good eyes and sense of direction. Be willing to scream less on reflex and listen more, and realize that in nazi germany hanging out your pride flag in a hostile area isn't a resistance, it's a stupid target. Don't make yourselves stupid targets.

Election interference should go very public on the... 28th, I think.

BUT I KEPT TO MYSELF AND MOVED SUDDENLY, CLEARLY I KNOW I'M IN THE WRONG FROM MY CRAZY STALKER AND WASN'T CALCULATING FOR MULTIPLE FUCKING ISSUES, DIPSHIT

[daughters-of-liberty]

And it's like, I'm not voting for Trump cause he has a penis; I'm voting for Trump because I remember the economy under Trump and I like owning guns.

I, a woman, am not voting for Kamala because she's been useless as the border czar, she doesn't know what she's talking about, she actually literally did sleep her way to the top, and she wants you to forget all of that. She wants you to vote her into an office she's already very close to! She could make changes for the border crisis, gun laws, taxes, and climate change TODAY. Why did Joe Biden not do anything while in office? Why, if it matters so much to her, did she not suggest or outright strongarm Joe into making those changes?? WHAT is actually going to change if she moves her office supplies down the hall?

And don't get me wrong, I have criticisms about Trump. He said he would build a wall, he didn't. He was indirectly responsible for all those men and women being detained after January 6th, he didn't pay their bail or even send them a fruit basket while in custody. A little disappointing. But he kept us out of any new wars. He kept Putin and Kim Jong Un at bay. He fostered American business. We became an oil exporter under Trump. Groceries and gas were affordable. I and my coworkers got bonuses...working at a non-union GROCERY STORE. Housing was affordable. If I was smart and saved my money for not even three years, I could've bought a piece of property...on $11 an hour at the time.

And people wonder why I'm flabbergasted when I see signs that say "we can't go back to Trump". Why? Are you afraid of living in a strong economy or something? Everyone was doing just fine until Covid happened...rather conveniently, I must say.

[exsequar]

Feb 1, 2025 - Trump's American Takeover with Dahlia Lithwick and Kim Lane Scheppele

Episode description:

I found this episode both harrowing and helpful in understanding what's going on right now with Trump and Musk perpetrating a coup on the US government, with chilling parallels to Orbán's Hungary and Putin's Russia, among others. Some key points I came away with:

Authoritarianism can creep in gradually with multiple bites at the apple, each time "capturing" more bulwarks that protect democracy and preventing their functioning the next time around. In Trump's first term he was largely a bull in a china shop, but one thing he did very successfully was capture the courts, most critically the Supreme Court. Now that previously unassailable levee has all but collapsed, ruling that presidents can act with impunity. What else will they overturn?

A Constitution is only protective until very smart, very slimy people figure out ways of squeezing totally different meanings out of its language. An army of conservative lawyers has been working on this project since the 70s/80s. These twisted meanings can be used to undermine previously unshakeable facts of American life - like birthright citizenship.

An example of another way of undermining the Constitution - the guest speaker on the podcast worked in the constitutional court in Hungary before Orbán took over. Within a few years of taking office, he used his captured parliament to vote to nullify all decisions made by the constitutional court for many years prior (I think like 20 years). All of that hard work to protect democracy through setting precedent - vanished.

Countries that get taken over by authoritarians *don't want this*. Hungary had the highest opinion polls supporting an independent judiciary, and then... Orbán captured the judiciary. People want *change* but they don't want chaos or loss of freedom. Authoritarians exploit that desire and then enact their version of "change".

The main takeaway I had was that

Authoritarianism can happen in the United States.

It IS happening as we speak. Don't assume our systems will protect us. The systems are being corrupted and dismantled.

What can we do?

Throw sand in the gears.

Be obstructionist to the authoritarian project at every chance you get. Small resistances add up. Support blue states' efforts to shore up protections locally. Support your local abortion access groups. Learn everything you can from everywhere you can - the big papers aren't reporting this with nearly enough urgency (or accuracy). Find experts on Bluesky, in podcasts, Substacks. Share what you find.

And most importantly, show up for each other. Find allies. We're not alone in this.

[cyberbenb]

Trump needs to 'understand where the threat is,' UK lawmaker says

U.S. President Donald Trump needs to “understand where the threat is” and not “force Ukraine into a bad deal,” U.K. lawmaker Iain Duncan Smith told the Kyiv Independent.

In an interview in Kyiv alongside another U.K. lawmaker Layla Moran on Jan. 22, Smith urged Trump not to rush his approach to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and recognize that a “totalitarian axis” of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea needs to be confronted.

“Just understand where the threat is. It’s not Ukraine that’s a threat,” he said.

“The threat is Russia and China, Iran, North Korea, all these states are together. So don’t force Ukraine into a bad deal,” he added.

Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to “make a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, warning that failure to reach an agreement would lead to increased sanctions, tariffs, and taxes on Russian goods.

But his confrontational approach to the Kremlin has not been reflected in early comments about other members of the “totalitarian axis."

In comments via videolink at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23, Trump said he had “always had a great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping, adding that he is looking forward to “getting along with China.”

Referring to the war in Ukraine, Trump said  China has “a great deal of power over that situation” and that he hoped the U.S. could work with Beijing to end the full-scale invasion.

Despite issuing a slew of wide-ranging directives and executive orders in his first days in office, Trump is yet to impose his long-promised tariffs on Chinese imports. He also issued a reprieve to the Chinese-owned app TikTok, which was facing a ban in the U.S. All of this signals that the White House may be open to cutting deals with Beijing in economic and business matters.

Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith during an interview at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, England, on Oct. 3, 2023. (Justin Tallis / AFP via Getty Images)

But Smith said it was impossible to distinguish between business and geopolitics when dealing with China.

“It doesn’t work,” he said, adding: “For these totalitarian states, business and politics are exactly one and the same thing."

“For these totalitarian states, business and politics are exactly one and the same thing.”

Originally raising the issue of the "totalitarian axis" in an op-ed published on Jan. 19, Smith said events since its publication only bolstered his case, highlighting a televised conference between Putin and Xi on the day Trump took office.

"It's quite interesting because it does just restate the fact that this (totalitarian axis) is there," he said, adding: "The only reason Russia continues in this war is because of China."

Although China has positioned itself as a possible mediator between Russia and Ukraine in future negotiations, Beijing remains Moscow's key economic ally and leading source of dual-use goods that feed the Kremlin's war machine.

As for North Korea, in an interview on Jan. 23, Trump said he intends to reach out to Kim Jong Un, lauding him as a "smart guy" and "not a religious zealot."

Trump and Kim held three meetings during Trump’s first term as president but neither one brought progress on the diplomatic front between the U.S. and North Korea.

"I'll reach out to him again," Trump said in an interview with Fox News.

Kim has become one of Putin’s key allies in the war against Ukraine, providing ballistic missiles and artillery and sending about 12,000 troops to fight in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran in her Westminster office, London, on Dec. 18, 2023. (Henry Nicholls / AFP via Getty Images)

Both Smith and Moran — who came to Ukraine to support the work of the British charity Hopefull which cooks up and delivers pizzas in communities close to the front lines — said it was important to be in the country in the same week that Trump took office. The two believed it would be especially important if, in his inauguration speech, Trump hinted at forcing Ukraine to make concessions in a peace agreement unfavorable to Kyiv.

"It's interesting that Trump didn't say that," Moran said, adding he only alluded to Ukraine during sections criticizing former U.S. President Joe Biden's foreign policy, and his plans for the U.S. military, the success of which would be measured "not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end and, perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into."

"But he didn't talk about (concessions) specifically and that can only be seen as a good thing," Moran said.

"But if Trump had said something that would have absolutely set the hares running, I thought it was personally really important (to be here).

"In that eventuality, to have friends on the ground and to look people in the eye and go, 'no, we are still on your side, you have a right to determine your own future,' would have been really important," she added.

As for the U.K.'s support for Ukraine, Smith said he was "very proud" of the country's consistent support for Kyiv which has been in contrast to some of Kyiv's other European allies.

Slovakia and Czechia are "sliding in the other direction," Germany "simply wasn't prepared for any of this," and France "seems to play fast and loose with the whole issue."

"One day, they're gung-ho, the next day they're flirting with the idea of peace. Macron doesn't quite know where he's going to go one day to the next," he added.

Transfer of Ukrainian Air Force personnel to infantry continues despite scandal

The Ukrainian military command’s plan to throw high-skilled Air Force personnel into the infantry was said to be halted when the practice gained nationwide attention, followed by a condemnation from President Volodymyr Zelensky. Soldiers, who spoke to the Kyiv Independent on conditions of anonymity…

The Kyiv IndependentAsami Terajima

[darkmaga-returns]

JD Vance puts on a masterclass in dealing with dishonest media.

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance was forced to correct NBC News anchor Kristen Welker on Sunday after she made a false claim about Donald Trump.

Instead of asking Vance about the Trump-Vance vision for America, Welker chose to begin her interview with Vance — which aired just days before Election Day — by asking him if he views Russian President Vladimir Putin as an "ally" or "enemy."

'I think that that's a misunderstanding of the history, Kristen.'

Vance, in response, called Putin an "adversary" and "competitor," explaining America needs "to be smart about diplomacy." Vance then tried to shift the conversation to topics Americans care about, but Welker refused to ask about those issues. Instead, she asked Vance why he's "not willing to go so far as to call [Putin] an enemy."

"Well, we're not in a war with him, and I don't want to be in a war with Vladimir Putin’s Russia," Vance shot back.

And that's when the interview took a turn.

Vance told Welker that America needs "smart diplomacy" to restore peace in the world and to turn the page from the foreign policy disasters of the Biden-Harris administration. Oddly, Welker responded by asserting that Russia invaded Ukraine when Trump was president, forcing Vance to give her a history lesson.

"Of course, Donald Trump was president for four years while Russia was essentially invading Crimea," Welker said. "Why didn't he kick him out when he had the chance? He had four years."

"Oh, I think that that's a misunderstanding of the history, Kristen," Vance responded.

"Well, there was fighting going on," Welker insisted

"First of all, we had Russia invade another country, a sovereign nation, during Obama," Vance corrected. "We had Russia invade a sovereign nation during Bush’s term. We had Russia invade a sovereign nation during the leadership of Kamala Harris."

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ruth Ben-Ghiat at Lucid:

Today I published a guest essay in the New York Times on how President Trump’s nomination of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for the position of Director of National Intelligence signals that his administration may be welcoming to autocrats. An open letter signed by nearly 100 former U.S. diplomatic, intelligence and national security officials asserts that Gabbard has a “sympathy for dictators.” The essay, timed for her confirmation hearing, focuses on the potential dangers for our national security of having Ms. Gabbard in that sensitive position. Here I want to build on a central argument of that essay that concerns Trump as well. The president does not hide his admiration for autocrats such as Chinese head of state Xi Jinping. Yet many of his statements on foreign affairs suggest he has internalized an autocratic view of geopolitics that blames democracies for creating international conflict. He and Gabbard are kindred spirits in this regard. When Trump asserts that President Joe Biden and his administration provoked Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine by supporting Ukraine’s bid to join NATO, “almost forcing [President Vladimir Putin] to go in,” he is echoing Kremlin talking points that justify the imperialist war as Russia’s legitimate defense in the face of hostile democratic interference. Trump is sometimes seen as an isolationist, but there is nothing neutral about his apparent antipathy to democracies, starting with his announcement of a potential expansion of the United States at the expense of Canada and Denmark. Nor is there anything neutral about a potential United States withdrawal from NATO, which Trump’s former White House national security advisor John Bolton sees as likely. Such a move would leave European democracies far less defended against autocratic aggressions. Then there is Trump’s campaign to convince Americans to see murderous dictatorships as potential allies rather than as adversaries. “If you have a smart president, they’re not enemies,” President-elect Donald Trump said of Russia, China, and North Korea at a campaign rally in Virginia In June 2024. “You’ll make them do great.” In case his message was not clear enough, he declared in October 2024 that America’s “enemy from within…the people actually running the government,” —United States Democrats—are “more dangerous…than Russia and China and other people.” In what world is Joe Biden more dangerous than Vladimir Putin? In the autocratic world, which views democracies as existential threats. Remember that campaign video that made news because it called for the “creation of a unified Reich” in America? It also laid out a vision for a new international order in which a cabal of “globalist warmongers” –code for democracies—would be replaced by “cooperation between strong, sovereign nations.” For Trump, it seems that democracies, not autocracies, are the problematic actors in the world.

Trump kisses up to autocratic regimes, while spitting on pro-West democracies (except for Israel, and even then, it’s a questionable case).

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

President Biden condemns Trump's comments encouraging Putin to attack NATO countries.

In a second very positive development on Tuesday, President Biden gave brief remarks at the White House condemning Trump's statement “encouraging” Russia to invade NATO allies who do not “pay” their “dues.” (Fact check: NATO allies do not “pay dues.”) The fact that Biden has gone on the offensive is morally and strategically important. (The eight-minute video is here: CNN, Dumb, shameful, dangerous, un-American: Biden blasts Trump's comments on NATO.

Biden’s defense of the NATO alliance honors America’s commitment to global peace and security. Trump's statement has rattled our NATO allies and given aid and comfort to Russia’s expansionist plans. It was the honorable and right thing to do to speak out from the White House. Good for Joe Biden!

At least as importantly, President Biden’s forward-leaning stance on foreign policy is a smart strategic move. Foreign policy is an area where maturity, judgment, stability, and lateral thinking matter—a lot. Biden has those qualities in abundance, while Trump exhibits the antithesis of those attributes.

In his remarks (full text here) President Biden said, in part:

Can you imagine, a former president of the U.S. saying that? The whole world heard it. The worst thing is he means it. No other president in our history has ever bowed down to a Russian dictator. For God's sake, it's dumb, it's shameful, it’s dangerous, it’s un-American.” When America gives it word, it means something. When we make a commitment, we keep it. And NATO is a sacred commitment. Donald Trump looks at this as if it’s a burden. When he looks at NATO, he doesn’t see the alliance that protects America and the world. He sees a protection racket. [¶¶] [O]ur adversaries have long sought to create cracks in the Alliance. The greatest hope of all those who wish America harm is for NATO to fall apart. And you can be sure that they all cheered when they heard Donald Trump — when they heard what he said. I know this: I will not walk away. I can’t imagine any other president walking away. For as long as I’m president, if Putin attacks a NATO Ally, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory. Let me close with this. You’ve heard me say this before. Our nation stands at an inflection point — an inflection point in history — where the decisions we make now are going to determine the course of our future for decades to come. This is one of those moments.

President Biden must continue to call out Trump's outrageous statements with similar force every time he threatens to turn the FBI into a private police force, round up millions of immigrants, or withdraw (again) from the Paris Climate Agreement.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]