Is Trump Still Putin's Puppet?
Trump just allowed Ukraine funding to pass. Was he ignoring Russia's orders? Or following them?
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The House passed a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine this weekend which will give the beleaguered country the much-needed weapons to kill a lot of Russians in the coming months. Donald Trump not only allowed this to go through, he gave the bill his tepid blessing, a full reversal of his previous anti-Ukraine stance. Why?
It’s indisputable that Donald Trump controls the Republican Party. If he does not want a bill passed, it will not pass. It doesn’t matter how detrimental not passing said bill will be to our national interests or if it’s something the GOP and its base are deeply in favor of. If Trump thinks it will be good for him for the bill to fail, the bill will fail. You may recall a certain border bill that read like a list of Breitbart talking points but was poised to pass until Trump ordered it shot down?
It’s also indisputable that Vladimir Putin, the dictator of Russia, owns Trump. Trump has been conspicuously pro-Russia since visiting in 1987. It’s unclear when or how he was turned from a useful idiot into a blackmail victim. But knowing Trump’s sexual proclivities involve underage girls, rape, and general sexual deviancy, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Trump was compromised a long time ago. Add to that the fact that the Russian mob/government1 has been funneling money into his failing businesses for decades to keep him solvent, Putin owns Trump in multiple ways.
All of that was before Russia made Trump president and spent 4 years pulling his strings.
So why has Trump done a sudden reversal on funding Ukraine, something Russia absolutely does not want and has ordered its other agents in the GOP to block for well over a year?
I have thoughts about this. I see two distinct possibilities:
1. Trump is bucking Putin’s command (Unlikely)
There is a slim but not zero chance that Putin ordered Trump to kill the bill and Trump refused.
What would make Trump refuse to obey the man holding his leash after so many years of obedience? Fear. Absolute, all-consuming fear. Specifically, fear of going to prison.
Here’s the thing. Unless Trump becomes president again, he is going to prison. He’s going to lose the election interference case in NY. He’s going to lose the election interference case in Georgia. He might get away with stealing classified documents because of a corrupt judge. The Supreme Court, however, is not going to grant him “presidential immunity” because there is no such thing so his other election interference case will not go well for him.
There is simply too much evidence against Trump. Like Nixon, Trump assumed he would never be held accountable so why bother trying to hide anything? The winner gets to write the history books and “election interference” becomes “patriots stopping a globalist coup attempt.”
But first, you have to win and Trump didn’t so, whoops!, there’s all that evidence lying around. And now Trump is fucked.
So what does this have to do with Russia?
Well, despite years of pro-Russian propaganda, Russia is extremely unpopular in the United States. Go figure. An overwhelming majority of the country wants to help Ukraine fight off a genocidal invasion including almost half of Republicans.
Trump’s internal polling is telling him a few things. First, he is not running away with the election. As hard as the press is trying to make Trump inevitable, he fucking well is not. That’s why he’s been tap dancing around abortion instead of loudly announcing he’s all in on a national ban like his base wants. His internal polling is telling him he will lose if doesn’t back off from abortion as an issue.
I think it’s also telling him that continuing to fondle Putin’s balls will cost him. It wouldn’t have to be much but even 2 points in a swing state is game over and off to jail he goes.
Trump will do anything to avoid prison. He literally staged a violent coup after he failed to overturn the results of an election. He would absolutely turn on Putin if it meant staying a free man.
The danger here is that Putin can destroy him before the election. Whatever nasty stuff Trump got up to in Russia could easily find itself in the inboxes of a hundred different journalists. Would Trump risk such an outcome knowing he would not survive it the way he survived the Hollywood Access tape?
Trump is desperate but this still seems an unlikely move on his part. It’s far more likely he was ordered to allow the bill through by Putin himself.
2. Still following orders
Here is what I think is a far more likely scenario. Trump is, of course, sharing his internal polling and campaign data with Russia. They need this information in order to more effectively attack our election the way they did in 2016. I have zero doubt we’ll find out about this eventually. We always do. Maybe this time some people will go to jail for it? That’d be nice.
Russia is seeing what I described above: American voters will punish Trump if he continues to block aid for Ukraine. That’s a problem.
Russia could defeat Ukraine by the winter.2 Maybe. But if they don’t and Biden is president come January 20th, 2025, Putin is in trouble. The House will 100% be in Democratic hands. The Senate looks like it will be as well and even if it’s not, Russia does not have control of enough Senate Republicans to block aid to Ukraine.
By the time Spring comes around, Ukraine will have a lot of weapons and they will keep coming for the next two years as sanctions increase. This gives Europe more time to ramp up its own military production, thus increasing the amount of weapons flowing into Ukraine and other countries Russia intends to invade.
That’s a recipe for long-term failure. Russia’s war efforts will not survive 4 more years of Biden and there’s no guarantee a Republican will be president in 2029.
What to do?
Allow Trump to “graciously” embrace Ukraine and allow funding to go through now. This, hopefully, removes the issue and improves Trump’s chances of winning. With Trump in the White House, all aid will stop immediately.
Taking short-term losses to Russian troops is no big deal to Putin. He’s already sent over 50,000 of his people to die. God knows how many hundreds of thousands more have been injured fighting his delusional war. If he loses another 10 or 20 thousand? Meh. No biggie. There’s always more cannon fodder to be found.
It will be worth taking the hit this year if it means overrunning Ukraine’s depleted defenses next year. Then Putin can (he hopes) quickly consolidate control of the country before launching Russia’s next attack on a smaller country that can be taken more easily. All with the blessing of America’s puppet president, Donald J. Trump.
We can’t really know what’s going on in Trumpland until someone spills the beans. Fortunately, they tend to do that when they’re expelled from Trump’s orbit (a frequent occurrence) and try to rehabilitate their image. It might be some time before we learn the facts behind Trump’s completely out-of-the-blue and inexplicable reversal but until then, we can make some educated guesses and these are mine. I’m curious to hear what your theories are.
In the meantime, the most important thing is to make sure Trump loses in November so we can keep our democracy and keep helping Ukraine kick Russia out of their country.
There are 196 days until the 2024 election. Vote blue like your life (and Ukraine’s) depends on it.
Really, there’s no difference to speak of.
If you are not aware, pretty much all combat ends when winter rolls in and no major offensive can start until the Spring.
I still can't believe people line up to get in his orbit.
There is no one by this dude's side in court. No one!
No one close to him is offering support freely. He could not pay anyone to show. Nothing.
If no one loves him, why follow him?
When people tell you who they are, FUCKING believe them.
Sorry, Maya. Had to update it for harsher times.
Interesting theory, and you could be right.
I think it may be as simple as they threw in "loans" as part of the aid package, which was Trump's idea a little while ago. Johnson probably flattered him with compliments about what an amazing idea it was to suggest loans and said the bill was going to be loans. Voila, Trump suddenly supports it.
The reality is that the loans are a small portion of the total aid, and they are forgivable, so will never be paid back. But I'm sure he left those details out when explaining to Trump.