Letter to the editor: Donald Duck walks, Brunswick Beacon

Brunswick Beacon, 03.20.25

When the Senate Foreign Relations Committee questioned Trump’s nominees for UN Ambassador and Deputy Secretary of State, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley asked, “Is President Trump a Russian asset?”

Merkley’s question came after Trump voted with Putin against a UN resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and after former KGB officer Alnur Mussayev wrote: "In 1987, I worked in the KGB in Moscow [acquiring] spies and sources of information from among businessmen of capitalist countries. Our department recruited the 40-year-old businessman from the USA, Donald Trump, nicknamed "Krasnov." Mussayev said Trump “is being privately managed by one of Putin's close associates.”

Mussayev’s account was corroborated by Yuri Shvets, a former KGB major now living in Washington, D.C., and by Sergei Zhyrnov, a former Russian spy now living in France.

In 2022, Trump called Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “genius.” Now, Trump repeats Putin’s lie that Ukraine started the war; calls Zelensky a dictator; surrenders to Putin’s demand that the U.S. block Ukraine from joining NATO; helps Putin undermine America’s partnership with Europe; cuts off arms and intelligence to Ukraine, then ridicules Zelensky by saying, “You don’t have the cards.”  

Trump brags about his “good relationship with Putin” and says it’s “easier” working with Russia than with Ukraine. Russia says Trump’s agenda “largely aligns with our vision.”

H.R. McMaster, Trump’s second national security adviser, said, "Vladimir Putin couldn't be happier.” John Bolton, Trump’s third national security adviser, accused Trump of “literally mouthing Russian propaganda" in the Oval Office and being "on Russia's side." Bolton called it "a disaster for the United States.”

Are former KGB officers Mussayev, Shvets and Zhyrnov right? Is Trump a Russian asset? Merkley concluded, “I can’t imagine that if he was a Russian asset, he could be doing anything more” to help Putin. 

After all, what difference does it make? If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and prefers the company of ducks, it’s a duck.

Vince Amoroso

Sunset Beach