English version

Donald Trump remains far from being on the right side of history on the war in Ukraine

Since beginning his second term as President of the United States, Donald Trump has not changed his position on the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Despite wanting a peaceful solution to resolve the war that has lasted three years, the options made favor Moscow's desire to maintain control over the east of the neighboring country.

The American leader continues to blame Volodymyr Zelensky for what happened and never intended to point the finger at the real person responsible for the invasion. It was Russia that attacked the territorial integrity of Ukraine. However, there may be a desire on the part of the Ukrainian leader not to achieve peace under the current conditions.

The problem is that the White House will always put pressure on the weaker party, which in this case is Kiev, to reach an understanding. In other words, the strategy will never be to condition or threaten Putin if he does not sit at the negotiating table, and there will be a desire to offer a lot and to strengthen ties of friendship with Moscow.

It can never be said that Donald Trump takes direct orders from Putin, but he has ended Russia's international isolation that has occurred since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, which included rejections from some traditional allies, such as China and Brazil.

1 comentário:

Burt Likko disse...

From where I sit, Mueller's testimony changes nothing. As matters stand now, each side claims victory on the merits. The only "contradiction" from the Mueller report is its holding back from announcing that Trump did obstruct justice and would have been indicted for it were he not a sitting President. This was imposed upon Mueller by Trump's minion, Attorney General Barr.

Trump personally welcomed and invited Russian interference in the election, and was glad of it. Then he lied about it and instructed people to lie about it for him.

Q: Trump and his campaign welcomed & encouraged Russian interference?
A: Yes.
Q: And then Trump and his campaign lied about it to cover it up?
A: Yes.

I don't see much of a contradiction there. It contradicts Trump's insistence that there was "no collusion," but "collusion" isn't the standard. Soliciting or accepting something of value from a non-U.S. source is the standard.

More important is the efforts of Trump and his minions to cover up the truth, both before and after Trump took office. Firing James Comey was only the most glaring of the many incidents of Trump's direction and control of efforts to prevent and obstruct investigation.

Nevertheless, impeachment was always unlikely to happen, as Pelosi has made it clear that she prefers to see Trump defeated at the ballot box in the 2020 elections. Perhaps she is right -- those who like Trump ignore the evidence that Trump has broken the law and enjoy that he defies expectations for mature behavior from the President; meanwhile, those who dislike Trump do not need to hear the evidence again. Both groups are relatively small compared to the voting population as a whole, which does not follow politics with any real care or attention and tend to vote for their own party regardless of who the candidate is.

Will Trump be re-elected in 2020? That remains to be see. The election is still fifteen months away, and much can happen between then and now. The opening of a war with Iran would be immensely unpopular; the U.S. has been at war since 2001 and is weary of it. The economy has been expanding non-stop since 2009 and it is in the nature of economics that expansions cycle inevitably with recessions. Democrats have reason to hope that Trump will simply lose in 2020. They also have reason to fear that Trump will win, simply because being the incumbent gives him many advantages and he seems to have a core of support based strictly on his cult of personality.

Right now it appears the outcome of the election will come down to five states: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. What will make the difference there is a combination of the on-the-ground competency of both parties in the areas of registration and turnout; whether economic trends are improving or declining in late October and early November 2020; and whatever new issues face the U.S. a year from now.

The end result is: it's far too early to tell, and based on what we can know right now, it's too close to call.

Share Button