Brunswick Beacon, 10.06.22
Ukraine is advancing, Russia is retreating, Putin’s war is backfiring. His partial military call-up drove thousands of Russians to the streets in protest. Russian officials are calling for his resignation. Ironically, the men most responsible for Putin’s humiliation are Ukrainian President Zelensky, President Biden and, inadvertently, Donald Trump.
Putin interfered in 2016 to help elect Trump, who embarrassed himself and America with his weird Putin man-crush, siding with Putin against American intelligence and threatening to dissolve NATO.
Trump “barely knew where Ukraine was,” said his National Security Advisor, John Bolton, when he tried to coerce Zelensky into manufacturing dirt on then-candidate Biden by withholding weapons Ukraine needed to defend against Putin. Trump called Putin’s subsequent invasion “smart”, “wonderful” and “genius!” Zelensky rallied his countrymen and forged Ukraine’s heroic defense. President Bush compared him to Churchill.
Biden garnered wide support for rallying NATO against Putin. Biden repaired Trump’s damage, not only strengthening but expanding NATO. Sweden and Finland abandoned centuries of neutrality to join, turning the Baltic Sea into a NATO lake. Bush’s Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, said NATO is united in ways she didn’t think possible after the Cold War.
Biden supplied Ukraine with state-of-the-art weapons. American intelligence helped Ukraine kill Russian generals and sink the Russian flagship “Moskva”. Biden signed the Ukraine Democracy Lend-Lease Act providing billions in aid. The only ‘refuseniks’ were 57 Trump-Republicans. In fact, Putin’s biggest American propagandists are all Trump-Republicans.
J. D. Vance, who Trump endorsed, said “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine.” Rand Paul blamed Putin’s invasion on American provocation. Marjorie Taylor Greene called Ukrainian fighters “possible Nazi militias.” Madison Cawthorn called Ukrainian President Zelensky “a thug” and his government “incredibly evil.”
Then there’s Tucker Carlson who said “Why shouldn't I root for Russia? Which I am.”
Biden’s defeat of Donald Trump, Putin’s puppet and wanna-be best friend, made America safer. Putin’s humiliation makes America stronger.
Linda McConnell Baker
Leland
Comments