One war is more violent than the other – for now
The whole world has been in a state of shock, and rightfully so, over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s murderous invasion of Ukraine. President Biden has called Putin a war criminal.
Ponder this: Putin’s war on democracy in Ukraine is a lot like the war on democracy in the United States. The one being waged by Donald Trump and his fascist White Supremacy cult.
There are a lot of similarities between what’s happening in Ukraine and what’s happening in state capitols in America.
Trump’s Praise for Putin
When Russia invaded Ukraine, most of the civilized world condemned the blatant aggression as a war crime. Not Donald Trump. The worshiper of dictator Vladimir Putin thought invading Ukraine was a great idea and said so in a radio interview:
“I said, ‘this is genius.’”
“Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine, Ukraine, Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful.”
“So Putin is now saying it’s independent, a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’”
Meanwhile, in Ukraine a pregnant woman and her baby, seen a photo that received worldwide coverage, died from their wounds. Russian troops had bombarded a Ukrainian maternity hospital. Bombing hospitals in war is a Putin specialty to erode the morale of the people he’s attacking.
Most of the world thinks Putin is a criminal who is insanely stupid.
But that’s what many people think of Donald Trump, too.
A pair of liars
Habitual lying is something both men have in common. Putin and Trump have lied their way through life.
For Putin, Ukraine is a surrogate for Western democracy, which he despises.
Fear of democracy is something Putin and Trump have in common and each has been working relentlessly to destroy it.
In case you forgot, Trump’s first impeachment revolved around a phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump threatened to withhold nearly four-hundred million dollars of U.S. aid to Ukraine, unless Zelensky helped find dirt on Joe Biden’s son.
A Wall Street Journal unofficial transcript of the call features highlights of what Trump told Zelensky. Trump said:
“The United States has been very, very good to Ukraine.”
“I would like you to do us a favor, though…”
“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son…”
Trump’s mafia-style arm-twisting got him impeached. One of the witnesses testifying against Trump was Marie Yovanovitch. She was ambassador to Ukraine until Trump fired her. She wouldn’t go along with Trump’s get-dirt-on-Biden Ukraine extortion. She believes Trump’s involvement with Ukraine had an impact on Vladimir Putin:
(Yovanovitch in a recent CNN interview)
“Well, I think it emboldened Putin, because he could see in the mind of the former President, Ukraine was just a pawn and he was willing to use it promote his own personal and political interests, rather than the national good, our national security interests. I think this emboldened not just Putin but bad actors around the world.”
Many Senate Republicans knew Trump was guilty of impeachable offenses. But they put political power over principle and successfully fought the impeachment, claiming it was partisan.
Trump worships Putin so much many people regard him as the dictator’s lap dog. Many have wondered if Trump is a Russian agent.
Intelligence experts doubt it, but Trump is known in the Russian intelligence community as a useful idiot: a well-placed fool who can be manipulated by Russia.
Putin and Trump are a dictator and a dictator-wannabe, respectively. Both want to be emperor. Which one would be supreme emperor of Planet Earth is unclear.
Putin and Trump: Promoters of Hitler-like Big Lies
Putin justified the invasion of Ukraine—a free and democratic country—based on a Big Lie. Putin falsely claimed ethnic Russians living in Ukraine are being murdered in a program of genocide.
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is more like genocide. His naked aggression has murdered thousands. We don’t know how many Russians believe him. Democracy in Ukraine is a beacon for the Eastern Europe states that used to be part of the Soviet bloc. It’s a threat to Putin’s dream of a new Russian empire. He hates NATO, too because it’s a military threat to his craving to conquer. Ironically, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has pumped new life into the NATO alliance and European democracy overall.
For his part, Trump hates the rule of law and believes rules don’t apply to him. Trump has been steadily eroding democracy in America with his Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him through massive voter fraud.
Trump started his big lie even before he was elected over Hillary Clinton in 2016: In one of the 2016 debates Trump declared:
“I say, it’s rigged.”
Trump’s Putin-like Big Lie against free and fair democratic elections continued before and after he lost the 2020 election. Trump repeated his Big Lie in the 2020 debates, just as he had in 2016:
“This is going to be a fraud like you’ve never seen.”
Since he lost the election, Trump has lied relentlessly about it:
“They rigged the election and now, based on the rigged election they’re destroying our country.”
Major investigations in multiple states found no evidence to support Trump’s lie. But like his pal Putin, democracy is a threat to Trump, so he is trying to get rid of it.
Looking Backward
Vladimir Putin has spent his life brooding about Russia’s days as an empire. Putin is consumed by a desire to return to the gilded glory of the bygone era when Russia was a mighty ruling nation.
Donald Trump and his cult are consumed by a desire to return the United States to the White Male Supremacy of the 1950s, to the days when women knew their place, when minorities, most of them anyway, knew where to sit on the bus, when white men were the lords and masters of:
- politics,
- the economy,
- religion,
- the culture
- and especially their own homes.
Trump is aided and abetted in his mission to destroy democracy in America by what Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney calls the Putin Wing of the GOP.
An example is Mike Pompeo, who was the CIA Director and Secretary of State under Trump. Pompeo is a Putin fan.
Pompeo on Putin: “Very shrewd. Very capable. I have enormous respect for him.”
Nick Fuentes is a White Supremacist organizer of the America First political action committee. Here’s what he said recently to a conference of fellow American White Supremacists:
Fuentes: “Can we get a round of applause for Russia?” (Applause amid crowd chants of ‘Putin. Putin. Putin’) Grinning, Fuentes responded: “Absolutely. Absolutely.”
Mindless politicians who are loyal members of the Trump cult parrot what they think the so-called “base” wants them to say.
Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina recently supported Putin by bashing Ukrainian president Vlodoymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine’s democracy: “Remember that Zelensky is a thug. Remember the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and it is incredibly evil.”
As the Lincoln Project notes, Russian State TV has played that Cawthorn soundbite over and over and over.
In the media, a dual-duty stooge for Trump and Putin is Tucker Carlson of Fox, whose nightly scripts sound like they were written by a staff of propaganda hacks in the Kremlin. Here’s a sample of Carlson’s recent cheerleading for Putin amid the crisis in Ukraine:
“Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia is bad.”
“Hating Putin has become the central purpose of American foreign policy. It’s the main thing we talk about.”
Why do I hate Putin so much? Has Putin ever called me a racist?
“Pledge allegiance to Ukraine or else you’re a dangerous tool of Vladimir Putin.”
Many of Carlson’s critics believe he IS a dangerous tool of Vladimir Putin—and Donald Trump. In Russia, Putin has ordered state-run television to replay Carlson’s show frequently.
Trumpers Working Hard to Demolish Democracy
Trump’s Make American White Again parrots are working hard in every state to get elected as governors, state legislators, secretaries of state, county clerks, county commissioners, city councils, school boards—anywhere they can eliminate democracy and promote White rule of, well, of everything in America.
Democrats have slept while Trump’s Republicans work at destroying democracy.
(Figuratively speaking) In political fights in recent years, Democrats have preferred to bring lace handkerchiefs while Republicans come armed with knives and combat guns.
A liberal group calling itself Really American, has finally fought back against the Republican war on America’s democracy with a video called “Party of Treason.” It was viewed over a million times the first couple of days it was on Twitter:
(Really American video excerpts:)
“On July 4th, 2018, after the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, eight Republicans were at the Kremlin doing a photo-op with high-ranking members of Vladimir Putin’s regime…
…and after Putin illegally invaded Ukraine and started shelling cities full of civilians, Ron Johnson went on Fox News to blame President Biden. ‘I don’t think Vladimir Putin would have moved on Ukraine were it not for the weakness displayed certainly by the Biden Administration…”
“…America, vote out Russia’s allies in 2022.”
What Liz Cheney calls the Putin wing of the GOP makes up about six percent of the American public, according to pollsters.
Six percent is a small percentage, you say? It is, until you convert it to raw numbers. There are about 329 million Americans. Six percent comes out to nearly 20 million democracy-hating American traitors.
That’s why it’s vital that you vote in November and vote AGAINST any anti-democracy Trumper on your ballot. Right down to your local school board. Especially your local school board.
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