{"id":1787,"date":"2024-07-04T12:07:54","date_gmt":"2024-07-04T19:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/?p=1787"},"modified":"2024-07-04T12:07:54","modified_gmt":"2024-07-04T19:07:54","slug":"the-import-of-a-trump-putin-alignment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/the-import-of-a-trump-putin-alignment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Import of a Trump\/Putin Alignment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Both the former American President Donald Trump and the current Russian President Vladimir Putin seem to agree on the role of America in world affairs.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u202fPresident Putin, for example, has argued that the world has reached a turning point, where \u201cthe West is no longer able to dictate its will to humankind but still tries to do it. And the majority of nations no longer want to tolerate it.\u201d He claims that the Western policies will foment more chaos, adding that \u201che who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind . . . (T)heir <\/span>goal is to make Russia more vulnerable and turn it into an instrument for fulfilling their geopolitical tasks, (but) they have failed to achieve it and they will never succeed.\u201d <\/span>Ukraine, he states, is an \u201cartificial state\u201d that received historic Russian lands from Communist rulers during the Soviet times. As such, he opines that the world must admit the war in Ukraine is a civil war\u2014even though he calls it a <\/span>\u201cspecial military operation.\u201d The goal of NATO and the US, he argues, \u201cis to make Russia more vulnerable and turn it into an instrument for fulfilling their geopolitical tasks. They have failed to achieve it. And they will never succeed.\u201d<\/span>1<\/span> His many attempts to undermine that success include substantial diplomatic and political actions, to include the subversion of American election campaigns.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Former President Trump seems to concur with Putin. For he has often argued that America should step back from world affairs and, most especially, withdraw from its role in NATO. His argument for making \u201cAmerica great again\u201d has always centered on isolationism, high tariffs, and abstaining from defense agreements with allied nations. Rather than align with nations that support democracy, he would welcome relations with dictators whom he addresses as \u201cstrong leaders,\u201d and finds easier \u201cto deal with.\u201d He even found \u201clove\u201d with Kim Jung Un and declared Vladimir Putin \u201cvery strong\u201d and a world leader with whom he often conferred in private phone calls. (In fact, he has been reported to prefer the advice he received from Putin over the import of his intelligence briefings.) While Russia was violently seizing Ukrainian border states, he used Ukraine\u2019s need to defend against invading Russian tanks to bribe its President. He wanted President Zelensky to confirm false claims of nefarious profiteering by Trump\u2019s future election opponent in exchange for defensive weapons against the Russian tank assault. This attempt to misuse the power of his office for personal political gain was the occasion for the first of his two impeachments. Recently, he continued his support of Putin\u2019s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by encouraging his advocates in the House of Representatives to defund aid for Ukraine\u2019s defense. In his own words, Putin should be allowed to \u201cdo whatever the hell he wants with Ukraine.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But is Ukraine Putin\u2019s only target? Or rather, in one analyst\u2019s words, \u201cWe must accept the reality\u2014that this war is a Russian attack on the collective West deliberately orchestrated by the Kremlin. Russia has long sought to restore its sphere of influence . . . (as) established at Yalta and Potsdam in 1945. But Russia, under Putin, is not the Soviet Union.\u201d<\/span>2<\/span> In like manner, the United States would not be the United States if Trump should regain the Presidency. For example, what influence would Putin have in a second Trump Presidency? For any of us who read the Mueller Report, the answer to this question is unmistakable.<\/span>3<\/span> Presidential candidate Trump had previously sought both Putin\u2019s favor and his support. Not only did he offer to build a hotel in Moscow\u2014with a presidential suite specifically designed for Putin; but he also accepted Putin\u2019s Ukrainian mole, Paul Manafort,<\/span>4<\/span> as his \u201cvolunteer\u201d campaign manager. Mr. Manafort received no pay for his work on Trump\u2019s campaign but was subsequently convicted of multiple felonies including tax and bank fraud. The funds involved in his fraud were kept in Ukrainian banks but traced to Russian sources. (He was also charged with witness tampering, but those charges met with a hung jury.) He was not, however, the only Russian agent involved in the 2016 Presidential election. Concurrently, Prigozhin, one of Putin\u2019s chief acolytes, enacted a plan to overwhelm the internet with false accusations against Trump\u2019s electoral rival. Trump may well feel beholden to Putin for his slim electoral victory despite falling three million votes short of a majority of the votes cast.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even before he became President, Trump had already and willfully aligned himself with Putin. Both of Trump\u2019s impeachments remind us that he can and will forgo personal ethics in exchange for power, wealth, or status. Moreover, given his predilection for conducting business on a transactional basis, his diplomacy marries well with Putin\u2019s as they attempt to carve out mutual fields of influence. Certainly, the possible emergence of a new bilateral\u2014or even trilateral world of superpowers should China choose to join\u2014would be more attractive to Putin than the new \u201cAxis of Evil\u201d he is concocting against the West in the form of Russia\/Iran\/North Korea. For, if America under Trump should capitulate to Putin, he would gain immediate ascendancy over Europe\u2014gradually by means of political subversion or violently by force. Why else do NATO leaders tremble at the possibility of Trump regaining the American Presidency?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both Trump and Putin are aligned around a common heresy that favors fascism over any government aligned with the will and needs of its people. Instead, they promise an autocratic regime that exalts nation and often race under their sole governance. If one might wonder what such a regime would look like, I would recommend Thomas Jefferson\u2019s description of \u201can absolute tyranny\u201d in the second part of his Declaration of Independence wherein he defines \u201ca tyrant, (as). . . unfit to be the ruler of a free people.\u201d I especially appreciate his denunciation of \u201cjudges dependent on his (the tyrant\u2019s) will alone for the tenure of their offices,\u201d \u201cgiving his (the tyrant\u2019s) assent to their acts of pretended legislation,\u201d (for) \u201cexcit (ing) ed domestic insurrections amongst us,\u201d “for cutting off our trade with all parts of the world,\u201d and \u201caltering fundamentally the forms of our governments.\u201d When Trump proposed candidates for life-long seats on the Supreme Court, he first secured their intent to overturn Roe v. Wade. He then organized and encouraged an insurrection against the peaceful transfer of executive power and the outcome of a fair election. He consistently imposed tariffs on trade when he was President. And he wants to eliminate what he terms \u201cthe deep state\u201d that is, what his nominated Supreme Court judges identify as the institutions our legislators created to provide clean water, unpolluted air, abundant energy, safe drugs, availability of universal public education, scientifically established standards of medical care, and myriad standards for safe travel by air, boat, or vehicle travel. In exchange for this empowerment of our Supreme Court, Donald Trump only requires the Court\u2019s establishment of his dictatorial power by way of \u201cabsolute Presidential immunity.\u201d He would then realize what former President Nixon believed when he said, \u201cif the President does it, it is not a crime.\u201d But Nixon\u2019s belief was not his reality for he needed his successor\u2019s pardon. Otherwise, he would have faced trial and likely convictions for several crimes during his presidency. Trump\u2019s plan to convert the Presidency into a dictatorship had to include a Supreme Court willing to grant him absolute immunity. Only then would he be truly equal to Putin and all the other dictators he so admires. This blog will no longer be able to call him \u201cPutin\u2019s mini-me.\u201d For he would have more power than Putin. In fact, only he could grant Putin the very power he has so consistently sought, that is, the elimination of NATO and the restoration of the Soviet empire. Why else would Putin offer so much unprecedented support for the Trump Presidency?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Putin and Trump are aligned in their quest for power and their threats against all who oppose them. While Putin has persistently quashed all opposition in Russia, he threatens all neighboring states with his nuclear armament. Trump, however, is not yet a dictator. His only obstacle to dictatorship is the laws and norms of a democratic state and its institutions. Until recently, his fight has been against the bogeyman of a so-called \u201cdeep state.\u201d If he should regain executive power, he would certainly seek revenge against all who have opposed him. And, as is his wont, he will use surrogates or the power of office to avenge those who continue to oppose him. But recently, it appears \u201chis\u201d Supreme Court is willing to grant him executive immunity for all \u201cofficial\u201d acts\u2014which apparently<\/span>5<\/span> include whatever he enacts as President. If so, the Supreme Court has just given Donald Trump a \u201cget out of jail free card.\u201d Any American President would now be \u201cofficially\u201d above the law. As quoted above, the author of our Declaration of Independence most certainly would not have agreed with this Supreme Court. Its decision nullifies not just the rationale for our war of independence against the absolute rule and so-called \u201cdivine right\u201d of kings. But it equates the United States President with any fascist dictator. And it rewards Donald Trump with the same executive authority possessed by the dictators he so admires. Just as Putin\u2019s foes inexplicably throw themselves out of six story windows, suddenly fall to an unexpected heart attack, or are sentenced to hard labor in harsh prison camps, Trump\u2019s future antagonists may find themselves shot by Seal Team Six at Trump\u2019s command, fired without cause from government jobs, or indicted by Trump\u2019s Department of Justice and imprisoned on <\/span>trumped <\/span><\/i>up charges.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a final note: this Supreme Court\u2019s singular decisions on Dobbs, Chevron, and Executive immunity not only eliminates a woman\u2019s freedom to assure proper medical treatment for her pregnancy and her body, but also negates the freedom of lawfully empowered institutions to determine how to best serve the needs of the general population and, perversely, transforms the American President into a fascist dictator. None of these \u201cachievements\u201d reflect the goals of a free democratic state designed to serve the general welfare of all its citizens. Instead, they are the realization\u2014perhaps inadvertently\u2014of Putin\u2019s success in turning an \u201cidiot source\u201d into the President of the United States. His commitment to secretive conversations with former President Trump, to massive internet subversion of the American Presidential election, to spending billions of dollars in campaign \u201cdark\u201d money, and to his permissive support of Russian oligarchs\u2019 purchase of Trump real estate have all returned the success he sought.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This apparent Trump\/Putin convergence spells the death knell for the new world order created after World War II. And it could be the end of America\u2019s democratic republic. This Cassandra-like forecast is at odds with America\u2019s 248<\/span>th<\/span> celebration of its independence from tyranny for it may well spell the end of our free democratic republic.\u00a0 <\/span>But only if we let America\u2019s demise happen!<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

_______________________________________________________<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1<\/span> The above excerpts were taken from President Putin\u2019s speech on 10\/27\/2022.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2<\/span>\u00a0 Sededin Dedovic, \u201cPutin\u2019s \u2018Peace Plan\u2019: Surrender or Die,\u2019\u201d in current edition of Financial World.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3<\/span> Since the Mueller Report determined \u201cnot to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment . . . (it) does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,\u201d as quoted in \u201cConclusion,\u201d The Mueller Report, p. 347.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

4<\/span> Trump\u2019s initial campaign manager was Paul Manafort who had previously served Putin in the same capacity for Ukraine\u2019s President, that is, as Putin\u2019s puppet master. Manafort was convicted and sentenced to multiple years in prison but was later pardoned by President Trump.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

5<\/span> At this writing, I have not had the opportunity to read the full text of the Supreme Court\u2019s decision. But the distinction between \u201cofficial\u201d and \u201cnon-official\u201d acts must be explicitly defined and, further, the issue of \u201cintent\u201d must be clearly addressed. Any official act could have an illicit intent. If so, the Court\u2019s decision may well result in the end of our democratic republic.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Both the former American President Donald Trump and the current Russian President Vladimir Putin seem to agree on the role of America in world affairs.\u00a0\u00a0 \u202fPresident Putin, for example, has argued that the world has reached a turning point, where \u201cthe West is no longer able to dictate its will to humankind but still tries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-domesticissues","category-foreignpolicy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3UqUK-sP","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1788,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787\/revisions\/1788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}