With Russian tanks now rolling through Ukraine, Trump’s desire for vengeance – against Zelensky, against Biden, against a United States that tossed him out of office in 2020 – has an eager audience in the Kremlin.
There is a common political thriller trope in the long-running Fox drama “24”: Most of the time, the president of the United States turns out to be the bad guy. Fortunately for the real United States, a turncoat president has largely remained the stuff of Tom Clancy novels and War on Terror-era political dramas.
Then there’s Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States of America and sometimes-buddy of Russian strongman Vladimir Putin. At a time when the United States is leading the West in an effort to unify against Russia’s illegal aggression in Ukraine and prevent a broader war from consuming Europe, Trump is openly asking Putin to kneecap the United States, writes Max Burns in The Hill.
In an interview with the conservative news outlet Real America’s Voice, Trump urged Putin to release political dirt he believes implicates President Biden’s son, Hunter, in corrupt dealings with Russian political officials. “As long as Putin is not a fan of our country,” Trump added, “I think he should release it. You won’t get the answer from Ukraine. I think Putin now would be willing to probably give that answer.”
Trump was referencing his failed effort to extort Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into wading into the 2020 election, an act of such obvious state corruption that it earned Trump his second impeachment trial. Still frustrated by Zelensky’s unwillingness to play ball and meddle in American politics, Trump is now publicly and unashamedly courting America’s enemies in the hopes they will help him further undermine Americans’ trust in government.
With Russian tanks now rolling through Ukraine, Trump’s desire for vengeance – against Zelensky, against Biden, against a United States that tossed him out of office in 2020 – has an eager audience in the Kremlin. And with the Biden administration working at a stunning pace to solidify its sweeping pro-Ukraine coalition, Putin is eager to destabilize America’s already fractious political landscape. For his part, Trump is happy to help amplify Russia’s authoritarian agenda — as long as it hurts Democrats.
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