Appeasement and then what?

 APPEASEMENT

            And now there is appeasement. This president and his minions are deficient in their grasp of history and policy so they propose a ludicrous “peace plan” that is a colossal blunder but also a travesty of honor. 

            Even if it changes, this is a fraudulent proposal stacked in favor of Russia, need we remind the President the invading party, the war starter, responsible for more than one thousand war crimes in Ukraine. Trump proffers it to display his loyalty to Putin so as to sweeten the atmosphere for his interest in building one of his gilded palaces of vulgarity in Russia.

            Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement to Nazi Germany was a foolish strategy of making concessions because he erred in thinking it would lead to peace. Trump’s thinking is a deliberate sell out of an ally, doing almost nothing to earn peace, but it assures the world his pouty lips remain attached to Putin’s arse. 

A few Washington veterans are waking up to what to has been obvious for some months. The president is a lame duck as well as being a lame brain.

            The sooner the 20 republican senators whose seats are up in ‘26 began thinking of constituents and the good of the nation instead of placating an inept and openly corrupt felon, the sooner they can reinsert their spines and begin to fix how seriously our national security has been damaged. We are a weakened nation. The Republicans have presided over a deliberate debilitation of the legislative branch. It hurts all of us. 

            This administration’s actions are a chain of dishonor. Hosting the Saudi crown prince, explaining away his certain role in the death and dismemberment of a Washington Post journalist, and then offering up sensitive strategic technology and F-35’s may be the most dangerous betrayal and sell out of strategic security in US history. That Saudi royal should be tried for murder, not a person to fete at a State Dinner. Time will reveal the personal Trump fortune building that Jared, Don Jr and Eric have been up to in that region. Trump sold out our children and grand children’s safety to charm the “corrupt deal” that his would-be empire is working.

This presidency diminishes our good will and prestige while degrading our strength. The president diminishes human virtue. Republicans in the Senate should begin saying aloud in public that Trump’s grip has been weakened. 

Recent survey’s show Democrats have a 14 point margin if the midterms were held now. Among independents some 60% would vote for Democrats. Those margins create a wave that could sweep. The President’s approval rate is at his lowest ever. The off-year elections were a message. The mismanagement of the economy and the foolish tariff wars are hurting small business and already suffering workers. People, even some of his base, are fed up, again. 

Journalists have begun to expose how his family has exploited the president’s changes and new policy on bitcoin, so as to amass extraordinary profits. He is what he has always been, a hustler and fraudster. He is now working his con from the oval office. Republicans may be waking up from their lobotomized zombie sycophancy and are beginning to see how deeply their master has pulled them into criminal sleaze and how quickly he will abuse state secrets and national safety if it makes him another buck. 

If the republican leadership would just say it they could break the spell, he is a lame duck. He’s been behaving like a trapped rat, increasingly irrational and lashing out.

When Chamberlain appeased Hitler, it did nothing but feed the coming onslaught of evil and mad power. We need to recall history as we watch Trump’s weasel like appeasement of Putin. 

After the invasion of Ukraine, I posted here the thoughts of senior intelligence and security people from the US, UK, Australia and Canada. A consistent finding was Putin’s thought he would outlast democratic governments, counting on populations to lose interest in a foreign war. Their profiles labeled Putin as a megalomaniac with visions of reuniting the old USSR and investing himself as the savior, a kind of new Czar. 

What was not forecast was the re-entry of Trump, a not very bright man but who is skilled and willing to do the bidding of corrupt expediency and betrayal. Appeasement for any reason, none of which could be good, will empower a ruthless war criminal, or a ruthless crown prince. Trump may act like a mob boss, but he is soft, strong only at lies and cheating. Putin was KGB and has become a calculating killer. Trump may think he is a deal maker but MSB out maneuvered a tent full of Saudi royals. He is also a killer. The president is a pathetic wimp who cheats at golf. He is unqualified and out of his league. What he has are favors to give, bad peace deals, F-35’s, secret intelligence documents. That’s the art of his deal.

 It is time for the legislative branch to wake up and jerk his chain. Fred Trump’s bully punk kid learned at the knee of Roy Cohn, but even that nasty miscreant is easy picking for a man of Putin’s cunning and lethality. Trump tweets in capital letters and calls reporter’s “piggy.” Putin kills his enemies. Trump sent insurrectionists to disrupt the 2020 election, he failed. Putin has sent as many as 130 thousand Russian troops to their death with another 200 thousand injuries. He does not care. He has North Korean troops and professional soldiers.  He bombs churches and schools and public transit lines. 

Even the Americans who voted for the reality show boss must understand there is a difference between pretense and strength. He is weak, the US is weakened and now he is ready to give away the future by allowing a real tyrant to make war and get away with it. At least Chamberlain thought he was getting peace. Trump thinks he’ll get another hotel and golf course.