Letter to the Editor: Putin's lapdog

This past week, Donald Trump, President of the country known as the leader of the “free world” for the past 80 years, created a dangerous realignment in international relations when he decided to show the world how much he admired Russia’s despotic dictator, Vladimir Putin.

Last Friday, Trump (With help from J.D. Vance) publicly tried to humiliate Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky, whose country was invaded by Russia three years ago. He then ranted on about how badly he and Putin had been treated. “Let me tell you: Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” Trump said. “He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia ... And he had to go through that.” Amazingly, he once again told his lie about the cause of the war, saying to Zelensky “You should never have started it.” It was, of course, Russia who invaded Ukraine, but Trump can’t help repeating the lie.

Sure, Trump may be working hard for a deal. Trump would love to negotiate a cease-fire, freezing the battlelines in place, ceding to Russia the land they have been able to occupy. This would allow Trump to claim a “victory.” But he has offered no security guarantees against future Russian incursions. Even before Ukraine negotiations got underway, Trump’s team floated concessions by the U.S., including that Ukraine would never be allowed to join NATO and that Russia would keep all the Ukrainian territory it seized. So far, no concessions have been offered from the Russian side.

And there is more. In recent days a top Russian lawmaker called for the U.S. to stop providing Ukraine with intelligence, a critical tool for the Ukrainians. And surprise: just yesterday the Trump administrations’ CIA did just that, pausing the flow of this important intelligence.

The European nations, who have already spent roughly the same amount as the U.S. in support of Ukraine, are now discussing how to proceed if America bales out. They do not want that to happen, but to put it bluntly, the American President, Donald Trump, is no longer “The Leader of the Free World.” Instead, as Russia celebrates this turn of events on the world stage, Trump is earning his new title as Putin’s Lapdog.

Frank Kearns
Downey