The media constantly underestimate Donald Trump. Some say Trump set a trap that Zelensky fell into, but by all appearances, he and V.P. J.D. Vance fully expected Zelensky to sign the mineral deal, hence the televised photo op. That Russia doesn’t want NATO on its doorstep and used it as justification for the invasion isn’t news (unless Dem state media are your only news source).
Barack Obama and Victoria Nuland staged the “color revolution” coup that overthrew Ukraine’s duly elected president and installed Zelensky, so he has been their puppet from the get-go. Hence Biden’s commitment to “however much and however long” it takes to defeat Putin. Old Joe even said out loud, much to his handlers’ chagrin, that regime change in Russia was our ultimate goal in Ukraine.
All of this is why Trump is reluctant to put all the blame on Putin. He knows it’s as much, or more, on us as it is on him.
Our Deep State neocon perpetual war machine under both Obama and Biden — excuse the redundancy — were perfectly happy to fight Putin to the last Ukrainian, much as Arabs are happy to fight Israel to the last Palestinian. Trump isn’t (in either case). Zelensky has been their useful idiot and repaid them, to the extent he could, by campaigning for Dems in 2024. He picked the wrong horse and is now paying the price for it. He has yet to come to terms with the fact that he now has a new handler.
What Zelensky has allowed to happen to his country is disgraceful. You have to wonder what’s in this for him beyond being the darling of the global left and, likely, offshore bank accounts with millions, if not billions, of our dollars in them.
I expect that Trump’s longer game is to move Russia closer to us and farther from China in the event of any future, and likely inevitable, superpower conflagration. That strikes me as a pretty prudent approach to governance, diplomacy, and national security.
Western elites are in the pocket of the CCP. Just follow the money. It is very much in China’s interest for us to be at odds with Russia; it keeps Russia closer to China and farther from us. This is why we see all of the pro-Ukrainian propaganda from Western elites — politicians (of both parties), academia, media, Hollywood, blah, blah, blah...
So when they call you, or Trump, a “Putin apologist” for stating objective truth, just counter by calling them a “CCP apologist.” They are all bought and paid for, treasonous sell-outs, and are either too greedy, too stupid, or both to see it.
Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.