By Michael Randall
Please consider the following: could anyone in the world be happier than Vladimir Putin now that Donald Trump has ascended to the greatest seat of power in the USA? American media like to call the US President “the most powerful man in the world.” Clearly, he is not. Putin loves every single one of Trump’s executive orders, and could never have dreamed of having such a devoted disciple in the White House.
Putin is so happy that Trump has appointed a cabinet composed of largely unqualified people. Little Vladimir chuckles when he recognizes Trump’s contempt for institutions of the US government. As evidence, just think: Trump nominated, and we almost got, Matt Gaetz as Attorney General of the United States. And as Secretary of Defense we got Pete Hegseth, who has ordered that all references to DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) be stripped from Defense Department files, including references to at least one “non-white” Medal of Honor awardee, and to the first woman ever to successfully complete US Army Ranger School. Trump has ordered this erasure of history from all federal agencies. Why, just to satisfy white folks who are fearful of people who look a little different than them? And there’s the “Signal-gate” saga …
Trump wants all K-12 educational functions to be returned to the states, a recipe for the localized blossoming of all kinds of racial prejudice and ancient mistreatment. Also, he wants all citizens to have to prove their US citizenship with documents (eg, birth certificates) before they are allowed to register to vote, but that’s hard for many legitimate voters to come up with.
And ABC News reports that over 200,000 federal employees have been fired so far with Donnie’s attempts to break the backs of federal agencies. He has slashed staffing in the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Departments of Homeland Security, Emergency Management, Energy, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other agencies. Damage to American citizens from these moves will emerge more clearly in coming months. Putin loves this hollowing out of key federal agencies in the USA; he knows he could not have done it half as well himself.
Also, could Putin have done more to damage the US government’s life-saving support to the world’s most suffering people than Donald Trump is doing? Could little Vladimir have done more to destroy the USA’s reputation as a beacon of hope and help to the world than Donnie did when he crudely gutted USAID instead of first evaluating carefully, then cutting waste?
For example, no more aid to malnourished children in the Congo’s war zone. No more food assistance to 1,000,000 people in Ethiopia’s war zones. No more food to half a million people in South Sudan’s war-wracked capital, Khartoum. No more food, water, or basic health care for 270,000 people in Mali. No more basic aid services to 2,500,000 people in war ravaged northeastern Syria. In Thailand, hospitals can no longer provide health care to 100,000 Rohingya refugees who were driven from neighboring Myanmar in a pogrom. This is only a partial list of our fellow humans to whom Trump has terminated lifesaving aid just to please his MAGAites. I am sure they are very proud of his work on their behalf.
Trump called Putin “a genius,” and on several occasions publicly expressed admiration for little Vladimir. Left-wing folks have long believed that Trump colluded with Putin and Russia in one fashion or another, but it has never been clear. Actually, they did not need to collude. Trump is Putin’s advocate and publicly supports Russia’s perspective on Ukraine, and will allow Russia to devour Ukraine. It has not happened yet, but it will now that Trump has become Putin’s toy.
Trump has abandoned our longtime NATO allies (and all of Europe), even with the threat of Russian aggression down the road. Like Trump, Putin is against Europe and NATO. Also, little Vladimir stands against the current world order, those post-World War II rules created by free nations for international trade and non-aggression. Those rules have created much prosperity in the world, and contributed to peace. But Trump’s little ankle-biting terrier, JD Vance, has called the European nations “freeloaders,” and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said they are “pathetic.” But it is Vance and Hegseth and their boss who are pathetic.
Donald Trump is the only person I have seen or heard or read about who thinks tariffs are a good thing. Universally, people and governments here and abroad see them as inevitably damaging to the world’s economies, increasing industrial and consumer prices almost everywhere. But Putin is not worried. He and other nation’s dictators already have created their own trading networks and mutual support systems. Those countries’ will suffer little from Trump’s tariffs and the international trade war that is now unfolding before our eyes. Putin is stifling a grin and shaking his head, and late at night over a dirty martini is thinking, “I could not have done it better myself.”
Deportations are big on Trump’s agenda, even though most undocumented migrants have begun productive new lives here. They are willing workers in our labor-tight economy; they are starting businesses, starting families, participating as volunteers in our communities. They took tremendous risks to get here, trying to create better lives, and they deserve respect and an outreached hand. Trump demonizes them, plays on his followers’ worst qualities of racial fear and resentment, and shows the world that the USA is no longer a great nation that helps others throughout the world. For all this, Trump deserves only our contempt.
Join the Indivisible Tillamook County HANDS OFF Rally – Saturday April 5th from Noon to 2 pm – Downtown Tillamook at intersection of Hwy. 101 and Hwy. 6.
Here are my signs for the Rally:
