#676 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Friday June 2)
Good morning,
BETTER TO DO THAN TO COMPLAIN
I always have loved this juxtaposition of a doer versus a complainer—one who seeks challenges and takes risk versus someone just continuing along in mediocrity:
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” –Theodore Roosevelt
COMMON CLAUSE WITH (AND AMONG) CRIMINALS
Is there anyone who still believes Mr. Trump’s odd relationship with Mr. Putin is normal? While the recent report on the FBI investigation inconclusive on the question of collusion, and while there were no revelations, we may conclude that Russian support of Mr. Trump, while real and encouraged by Mr. Trump, may not have been the product of a coordinated effort. It may simply be the result of two megalomaniacs, one a manipulative former KGB agent, and the other a narcissistic poseur, working toward the same objectives of control, financial advancement, and acceptance by a world judging them harshly (and correctly, I would maintain).
The problem is damning in large measure because of the insecurities of Mr. Trump and his desire to write a narrative, at any cost, that furthers his stature with an increasingly radical base. Meanwhile, Mr. Putin feeds upon this ego by sending signals of his support/love/admiration through official policy of the Kremlin. Mr. Putin’s most recent gift to Mr. Trump is in the over 500 people he put under travel restrictions in Russia. Many of those on that list are there solely because they are enemies of Mr. Trump. And Mr. Trump, the once and possibly future president, must be listening.
Peter Baker, in The New York Times writes about this most recent act of friendship:
“Russia has expanded its list of sanctioned Americans in a tit-for-tat retaliation for the latest curbs imposed by the United States. But what is particularly striking is how much President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is adopting perceived enemies of former President Donald J. Trump as his own.
Among the 500 people singled out for travel and financial restrictions on Friday were Americans seen as adversaries by Mr. Trump, including Letitia James, the state attorney general of New York who has sued him for alleged fraud, and Jack Smith, the Justice Department special counsel investigating his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents after leaving office.
Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state of Georgia who rebuffed Mr. Trump’s pressure to ‘find’ enough votes to reverse the outcome of the election, also made the list. So did Lt. Michael Byrd, the Capitol Police officer who shot the pro-Trump rioter Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6, 2021.
None of them has anything to do with Russia policy, and the only evident reason they would have come to Moscow’s attention is because Mr. Trump has publicly assailed them. The Russian Foreign Ministry offered no specific explanation for why they would be included on the list but did say that among its targets were ‘those in government and law enforcement agencies who are directly involved in the persecution of dissidents in the wake of the so-called storming of the Capitol.’
As recently as this month, Mr. Trump has tried to rewrite the history of that day and has dangled pardons for convicted rioters if he is elected to a second term. He also refused to commit to supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia if he is elected president again, saying instead he would seek to mediate between Kyiv and Moscow.”
MR. TRUMP’S PROMISES
Mr. Trump’s recent pronouncements on both January 6th and the Russian invasion of Ukraine are instructive. In his CNN-sponsored town hall, Mr. Trump, who said the war never would have transpired if he were still president, promised the war would be over in 24 hours when he becomes president again. He went on to share with us some of his first actions as president, should he be reelected—namely, the pardoning of many, if not all, of the January 6th insurrectionists and ending our support for the Ukrainian freedom fighters, leaving them to the tender mercies of Mr. Putin.
What a guy. What a world,
Glenn