Trump v. Putin

Putin is getting his fat red ass kicked by a neighbor half his size who he attacked for no reason. Putin is committing crimes against humanity with impunity as the entire world watches with sadness and anger. He has turned just about the entire world against him. He miscalculated badly when he invaded Ukraine. He assumed that the United States, led by the doddering fool Joe Biden would be afraid to help, and he knew NATO could't care less about Ukraine. All he had to do was rattle his saber and the world would pull in their heads, arms and legs, turtle like and await the outcome. And at first it looked like everything would be ok. The mighty Russian military machine would quickly mow down the weak Ukrainian forces and NATO would shake its collective finger at Putin, let the smoke clear and move on while Ukraine became another Russian satellite country ala USSR. 

Then the unthinkable happen. President Zelensky, an actor and comedian turned president rallied his country and gave them the courage to fight the Russian machine. When he was offered a way to escape the country he said, "I don't need a ride, I need ammunition!" He was going to stay and fight alongside his people. He passed out rifles to every citizen of Ukraine that wanted one. And his army stood ready to fight. Citizens were making hundreds of Molotov cocktails to throw at the invading army when it arrived. An actor! A nobody! and he was seeking help from the United States and NATO. 

Is there no justice? Putin has nuclear missiles and he threatened to use them. Slowly, reluctantly, the United States pledged to send some anti tank weapons. Then slowly European countries began to pledge support. As the Russian army poured over the border into Ukraine and the Russian air force pummeled airports and other targets, the promised support began to arrive. The Ukrainians were putting up a good fight which is not what the Western world wanted to see. The West wanted Ukraine to fold. They wanted the actor turned president to run for his life. As the images turned uglier, as Russian forces began to target civilian targets, apartment buildings, schools and hospitals and the first week of the invasion ended with the Russian army already bogged down, tanks out of gas, soldiers stunned that they were actually meeting resistance, the West exhaled a gasp, "We can't believe this is happening!"

President Biden was hoping to be in a position of consoling the loser, and scolding the victor (still making Russia wealthier by purchasing oil from them). Instead the leader of the free world was witnessing great courage, courage Uncle Joe is unable to even think about, and he may even have to do something. Putin had correctly judged Biden as a weak leader. A leader who was elected to run a country that had more than enough oil of it's own, but had still entered into an agreement to purchase badly needed oil from Russia, and a leader who had badly botched the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, and he knew he could attack Ukraine without fear of any outside interference. Putin had faced Biden in 2014 when they attacked taken over Crimea and Biden had done nothing to help the Ukrainians then; why would he help them now? 

Putin had wanted to take over Ukraine for twenty years and he prepared for the day that he wold finally be in power. During the Obama years he watched as Barry made speech after speech apologizing to the world for the sins of America. Putin couldn't believe his ears, and his luck. Finally there was a president that Putin could control. And he attacked neighboring Ukraine and annexed Crimea. The Obama/Biden team reacted by expelling a handful of Russian diplomats from the United States. I'm not sure how Putin survived that horrible setback, but somehow he did. 

Then the unthinkable happened and Donald Trump became the President of the United States. Putin and Trump knew each other. Putin knew that Trump was a smart and tough man who was going to be difficult to control. Trump was not a politician or a diplomat. He wasn't a whiner either. Trump immediately set out to reach an understanding with the most dangerous world leaders. He met with the midget in charge of North Korea and the boss of China and he reached agreements with them both. Prior to Trump becoming president the North Korean dictator was firing ballistic missiles toward Japan and he was claiming he could fire ballistic missiles into California. After his meeting with Kim Jung Un the fat little dictator stopped his ballistic missile tests. Putin attacked Ukraine during the Obama administration taking over a large portion of the country and the United States just watched. During the Trump administration America became energy independent, manufacturing resumed in America, the Exon XL pipeline was being built, NATO was being encouraged to do more to protect itself against Russia, he encouraged the nations of Europe not to enter into a natural gas pipeline venture with Russia, Americans were finding better paying jobs, illegal immigration was slowed down, and the North Koreans stopped firing ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, Putin didn't attack any of his neighbors and the United States entered into more favorable trade agreements with the government of China. Trump also had visits with Russia's dictator and they were able to forge some agreements. Russia needs the United States, the United States does not need Russia. To me the hardest thing about dealing with the Russians is to keep them from screwing themselves along with all of their neighbors. 

That is the reality of the relationship between President Trump and the dictator of Russia, Vladimir Putin. Mutual respect, not admiration. President Trump knew how to control Putin. Putin had no way to control President Trump. Today Putin is using his army to murder and terrorize innocent people in Ukraine. Biden has no idea how to control Putin, Putin is very good at controlling Biden. All Putin has to do is rattle his sword and Biden jumps under his desk. The leader of the most powerful nation in the world is scared to death of Putin. Ukraine is suffering unspeakable attacks because Putin has threatened to use nukes. "Get back you nasty American! I'll push the button! I swear I will!" Like a child threatening her mother that she will stop breathing if she doesn't get what she wants. Uncle Joe jumps, "Ok Mr. Putin! Please take your finger off that button! We'll do what you say, we don' wanna start WW3! You go on and kill as many civilians as you have to, they deserve it for endangering all our lives like that!" So look what Uncle Joe does and not so much as what he says, Putin studies human behavior and he has read Uncle Joe very well. Biden is a weak leader at best as is evidenced once again by his botched Afghanistan panic, and then halting oil exploration in his own country and agreeing to purchase oil from an enemy. 

For Uncle Joe the nightmare only got worse. Ukraine did not collapse before the mighty Russian bear. Worse than that they are led by a man of real courage and honor. Everyone admired his stand as he faced the onslaught of Putin's mighty war machine, and they pitied the poor guy who was going to die in a few days defiantly standing up for what he believed in. And his countrymen rallied around him, all of them would be dead in a few days having stood bravely before the cruel invaders. President zelensky opened the doors of the armories and invited every able citizen of Ukraine to take a rifle and use it to kill Russian soldiers when they entered Ukrainian cities and they lined up by the thousands, ready to shoot all the Russian invaders they could. 

Uncle Joe's nightmare was getting worse; what if they put up a good fight? Zelensky had appeared on TV and asked the West for help. Help? A country being invaded by the mighty Vladimir Putin? Was Zelensky crazy? Vlad has nukes! And he threatened to use them against anyone who helped the Ukrainian people. We better sit this one out. Sorry guys, you're on your own! In a week it will all be over and Russia will have another Soviet satellite under it's thumb. But what's a blow to freedom compared to a nuke? 

But horror of horrors the invasion lasted more than a week, and worse the Ukrainian people were defiantly standing tall and strong! Ukrainian TV was giving them instructions on how to make and use Molotov cocktails, and they were making them by the hundreds. And the Ukrainian army was not running away, but pounding against the invaders with great courage and great strength. The mighty Russian machine was bogged down after a few days in the face of the fierce resistance. And Uncle Joe along with our NATO allies were feeling pressure from their knot headed citizens. Do something! They cried. The people of Ukraine are not fleeing the onslaught and their brave president is refusing to leave. He wants to fight! And the citizens of America, along with the citizens of most European countries were ready to put the mad dog in Moscow down. 

What now? European and American leaders were asking themselves, don't those skulls full of mush realize that Putin has nukes? He has Nukes! Uncle Joe and NATO leaders all soaked their collective pants in unison. War with Russia. We can't help. And of course Uncle Joe went on television and claimed that if the Americans and NATO helped Ukraine and Vlad really was stupid enough to launch a nuclear strike it would be Western Europe and the USA that forced him to do it. If WW3 started it would be America's fault. But the pressure from constituents around the world began to build so Uncle Joe did the minimum. Financial sanctions against Russia and America would send billions of dollars to Ukraine to help them buy weapons from NATO, but can we stop purchasing their oil? Of course not. The price of gas at the pump would sky rocket, plus Vlad has nukes! Yes Putin is a good leader. He's a very bad man who no one should ever trust, but Uncle Joe did. And did so did the heads of state of the European Union. After all Vlad may have nukes but he is no where near as dangerous as the possibility of a global warming trend that could displace millions of people in a couple of hundred years. Maybe. It is possible, right? And everybody knows that petroleum products from the United States will hasten the inevitable conflagration much faster than petroleum from other parts of the world. Right? Vlad has Uncle Joe's number and we are all suffering because our president is not a good leader. The truth is that Joe Biden is a very weak leader, if he can be considered a leader at all. Alexandria Cortez appears to be the head of the democrat party, along with her deputies Tlaid, Pressley, and Omar, and the ever present John Kerry. 

Democrats want the country to believe that Trump is controlled by Putin and their loyal subjects believe it because they've been taught to ignore their lyin' eyes and to nod there heads up and down just like loyal subjects should whenever their rulers speak. Yes, Donald Trump recognized the obvious; Vladimir Putin is a great leader. To some people that means a great man, a man to be followed, a good man. I am a Trump fan. He was by any reasonable standard one of the best presidents we've ever had. He is not polished. He is not a great educator, and he has a tendency to say what's on his mind without letting speech writers smooth out the rough edges. Even if there is a better description of Putin's abilities as a leader, there is no indication that President Trump thought that Putin was a man to be emulated or looked up to. Vlad is the dictator of one of the most powerful countries in the history of the world and therefore his abilities as a leader cannot be overlooked. Apparently recognizing that fact makes half of the people in this country hate him. And I mean hate. One thing is clear; Donald and Vlad could talk to each other and there was a mutual respect between them. One thing that Vlad respected about Donald Trump was the fact that Trump is a hard core American. He had an America first policy that was very strong and unyielding. Sadly that is one of the things that Trump haters hated about him the most. They called him a nationalist never bothering to tell us what that meant or why it is bad. Another thing Trump got right was that you should love your country. Every one in the world should love their country and the presidents of other counties should love their country. To democrats apparently that means that you have to hate other people's countries. 

Had Donald Trump won the election it is highly unlikely that Putin would have attacked Ukraine. For one thing, he would have seen Trump as a strong leader. Trump would not have presided over a panicked exit from Afghanistan, leaving tens of millions of dollars worth of buildings and weapons for the Taliban to use. For another Donald Trump would never have stopped oil drilling in the United States and started purchasing oil from Putin. Never. If not exactly an enemy Trump recognized that Putin was an adversary and not to be trusted. And when Vlad started amassing an invasion force on the border of Ukraine Trump would have called him and warned him way in advance exactly what to expect if he tried an invasion. Nukes or no nukes, the West was not going to just let him take over Ukraine. And even at that, when Putin rattled his sword Trump would have said something like come on Vlad, put that rusty thing down. You are not going to ruin your own country just because we won't allow you to murder innocent people in Ukraine. 

They would have had a conversation. Trump would have found something that Putin wanted that would substitute for taking over Ukraine. Donald Trump was good at entertaining people in a variety of business situations and he would have identified something Putin wanted, maybe money for a new statue somewhere. Who knows? Trump is good at interpersonal relationships and Uncle Joe isn't. At the end of the negotiation Putin would have abandoned his plans to invade Ukraine for at least the next four years. Putin would have known that he needed a president that would be afraid of him personally and each of the front runners of the democrat party fit that description. 

I'm not saying that Putin is afraid of Donald Trump, only that he respects him as a strong leader and he has no respect for Uncle Joe. Putin remembers the response from the Obama administration in 2014 and he would prefer that even to the response of GW in 2008 when Vlad decided needed to murder Georgians. Alas, it isn't easy having the heart of a mass murderer, the weapons to be a prolific mass murderer, and still wanting to get away with it. 

This is an election year. Hopefully the American people will vote pro America this time around.