Republican Treachery Against Ukraine Will Not Succeed
History will never - NEVER - forget how cowardly and despicable the modern Republican Party became under Trump.
The blood of 20 more Ukrainians is now on the hands of Donald Trump and — let me be one of the first to say it — the United States. While we aren’t actually the ones who killed these people, we are now accomplices in the genocide of Ukraine. Russia is the cold-blooded murderer. We, along with China, Turkey, India, Iran, most African nations, North Korea, Israel, and others, are cheerleaders on the sidelines of this continuing crime.
As an American, I am ashamed. As an American, I take responsibility, and that is why I feel we need to act decisively in removing Republicans from public office. No, I am not calling for violence. I am calling for resistance at every level possible: national strikes, sit-ins, noisy protests, silent protests, singing protests, color protests, and so much more. Every American against or affected by the coup underway needs to find their way to “make noise” against our slow, unhindered crawl toward authoritarianism.
The communique for the upcoming G-7 was leaked, and Russian Today reported that the U.S. opposes using the word “sanctions” against Russia anywhere in the document. It also wants to remove language that refers to Russia “getting around sanctions” by selling oil illegally or under third-nation flags and replace it with “earning revenue.”
In the past couple of days, the U.S. stopped sharing satellite imagery that Ukraine used for planning its defensive and offensive operations against Russia. Military aid has been frozen, so when Ukraine runs out of missiles for its Patriot air defense systems, the U.S. won’t replenish them. More sinisterly, Elon Musk is teasing that if he cuts off his Starlink satellites from providing internet to Ukraine, then the Ukrainian front would collapse in days.
Washington and Moscow agreed upon the bad-cop (Trump) and worse-cop (Putin) routine after Trump won the presidency. The collaboration between the two sides is simply too precise for any of this to happen by chance. Trump threatens. Mosocw increases attacks. Trump removes U.S. support in a certain area, and moments later, Moscow attacks along that newly created weak spot.
While I long ago grew skeptical of Ukraine ever being able to remove Russia from the occupied territories of Eastern Ukraine, my abject hatred for Trump and Putin’s Republican Party now motivates me to demand total victory at all costs for Ukraine. Let Ukraine and its new allies bleed Russia both literally and figuratively for as long as is necessary to push the raping murderers back to across the border.
Trump keeps going on about Ukraine “not having the cards.” He is repeating this like a mantra, and I am sure many cultists are now using that same expression in their arguments when they defend the orange coward. This, however, is a very selective reading of what is taking place on the ground. Russia has been making some progress, but the cost has been tremendous. Some estimate that Russia lost 450,000 dead or wounded in 2024, up from 220,000 in 2023. These kinds of losses are not sustainable. Trump’s pessimism is a tactic he uses for everything else — say it’s a nightmare and bad, and only he can improve it. In this case, any stopping of the fighting makes him look great — and who cares how that affects Ukraine in the future.
The pessimistic analysis has not paid nearly enough attention to the weak underpinnings of Russian military power. Russia’s economy, as often noted, is struggling with interest rates that have topped 20 percent amid soaring inflation, and with manpower shortages made critical by the war. Its condition is dire, as one study noted, partly because the military budget amounts to 40 percent of all public spending, and partly because oil revenue is taking a hit from lower prices, Ukrainian attacks, and tightening sanctions.
Wars are rarely won so decisively, because attrition is not only a condition of war, but a strategic choice. Smaller powers can, through the intelligent application of attrition, succeed in advancing their own goals. This is particularly true if, like Ukraine, they can exploit technological change and get the most from outside support and allies.
Ukraine is not on the verge of collapse, and it is Russia, not Ukraine, that is losing the attritional war, which makes the Trump administration’s decisions particularly shortsighted and tragic. Ukraine has plenty of cards, even if Trump and Vance cannot see them. If America’s leaders could only bring themselves to put pressure on Russia comparable to what they put on Ukraine, they could help Ukraine achieve something much more like a win.
Europe is uniting. One of the best things recently was that Germany voted out Olaf Scholz. Scholz, to put it mildly, is simply missing a backbone, and he would never be able to unite an America-less Europe against Putin. The times are changing, and like during World War II, countries worldwide are choosing strong-willed leaders to go up against the strong-willed one of the bunch: A severely weakened Vladimir Putin.
Putin’s cards, however, were strengthened unimaginably the moment the treasonous Republicans led by Trump entirely aligned with the Kremlin. Let it be said, though, that Trump and the Republicans, along with Putin, cannot — and will not — succeed because they are treacherous and evil and that evil empowers the rest of us.
We, the American patriots, along with our European allies, will overcome Trump, the Republicans, and Putin — so help me, God.