The Russia Connection

So, now we have pulled out of our nuclear arms limitation treaty with Russia.  We are accusing the Russians of cheating, i.e., developing weapons that would violate the treaty. So we have announced that we are done.  So, I find myself wondering. Is this the big payoff to Russia that Trump promised, if Putin would help to make him President??  Now, you might say, “well, this isn’t much of a payoff, is it? I mean, we are trashing the Russkies, and are pulling away from a treaty with them because they are cheating. How is that a payoff?” Well, first, Putin doesn’t give a tinker’s damn that we are trashing them publically. What he wants is a go-ahead to produce new nuclear missiles that give him some tactical/strategic advantage, or at least make him par with the US. If he gets that, we can trash him all we want. He doesn’t care.  This may be the quid pro quo from Trump to Putin. And again, it may not matter to Putin even if we go ahead, as a result, and begin to produce a new fleet of formerly banned missiles, as long as Putin can do the same.  So, Trump may in fact be selling the safety of our nation through this action, because he really doesn’t care either.  So long as he gets what he wants (to be a big-time war leader) he does not care about consequences.

As noted in earlier postings, this is really what you get with Trump: a) he is profoundly ignorant; and, b) he is narcissistic to the point that may wreck everything around him to get what he wants. He is like no one before him.  Whatever you thought of Reagan, or Nixon, or Johnson (Vietnam), it seems clear that they were at least trying to advance the interests of our nation, even if you questioned their chosen tactics. With Trump, he is always trying to advance his own interests, regardless of the effects on others, or on the country as a whole.

His supporters imagine that he wants the Wall, because he is trying to protect America. But he is really trying to justify himself to his weary supporters. It is irrelevant whether the Nation needs a Wall. He really won’t even discuss the concept of a Wall. He just wants to see people agree with him and give him some money.  And, if they won’t do that, then he will send down troops to the border, and maybe even have the troops build the Wall.  He has a pretty large Defense budget. I imagine, with a National Emergency, he could easily divert funds from one place (Afghanistan??) to his Wall, and have troops there as an added preventive measure.  That he has no idea what he is doing, or what effects his actions will create is irrelevant. He cares not for consequences.

The Venezuela mess is also scary, because we really don’t know what he will do there, including sending down troops with no serious strategic mission.  He doubtless figures that we send troops all over the globe without any serious strategic mission, so why not here.  I mean, George W. Bush set fire to the entire Middle East without any serious strategic purpose (aside from demonstrating that he could do stuff better than his poppy).  With Trump, though, he has no serious strategic advisers. Bolton is simply a war hawk, who never saw a war he didn’t love. Apparently, Bolton must just love seeing folks being killed. Maybe that’s how he gets his rocks off.

A big question I have about our Russia connection is when will it ever stop?  With this gift to Putin (oh go ahead with your missile program, cuz our missiles are better than your missiles, nyah nyah, nyah nyah), will this be the official end-game quid pro quo? Or does it just continue as long as our idiot-king remains in power?  And what does this say about our Democratic system of government that his party allows him to continue trashing the country and, of course, the party? Arguably, there are ways to stop Trump from doing most of the stuff he does, but his Congress chooses to undertake none of them.  We will, of course, have to see what Pelosi and the Dems choose to, beyond sending out e-mails asking for $5.  So far, they haven’t given him his Wall funding, but what will they do when he just goes around them, and sends troops, or declares an emergency and simply diverts Defense budget to his Wall, with troops (Army Corps of Engineers??) doing the design and building?

So, Nancy better start some serious thinking now about a real strategic plan for dealing with this idiot-king. You may be the last best hope for mankind.

Oh and Howard Schultz . . . we know there are no serious qualifications for anyone becoming President, but please get the hell off the stage and allow some, even modest, intelligence to move into the process.  Kindly go back to your coffee business, and your making money thing. We really don’t need another idiot in the White House.