Sunday, March 02, 2025
U.S. Public Disagrees With Trump On Russia And Ukraine
The charts above reflect the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between February 23rd and 25th of a nationwide sample of 1,444 registered voters, with a 3.4 point margin of error.
Trump Seems To Think America First Means America Alone
Since World War II, the United States has been the preeminent power in the world - both militarily and economically. And every president (of both parties) has acted to defend other democracies and allies, while opposing authoritarian and rogue nations. It has resulted in U.S. presidents being universally acknowledged at the "leader of the free world".
Trump could have inherited that title, but he doesn't seem to want it. Since entering office the second time, he has attacked our allies. He has imposed tariffs on our good neighbors (Canada and Mexico) to start on March 4th. And he has said he will also impose tariffs on the European Union. He has demanded that NATO nations spend 5% of their GDP on defense (even though the U.S. only spends about 3%). And he has suggested that any nation that doesn't do his bidding will not get any help from the U.S.
At the same time, he has repeated Kremlin talking points - even to the point of Russia's invasion of Ukraine being the fault of Ukraine. He has even voted to support Russia in the United Nations. And he started "negotiations" with Russia to end the Russia/Ukraine war (without allowing Ukraine to participate).
Then, last week, he took the final step to complete the isolation of the United States from the rest of the world.
He invited Zelensky (Ukraine's president) to the White House to sign an agreement giving the U.S. half of Ukraine's valuable minerals (which he forced them to do in hopes of getting a security pledge from the United States). Then in an Oval Office showdown, witnessed by the press and television cameras, Trump started to tell a bunch of lies about the war (like how much the U.S. has given Ukraine and how they don't need security because he trusts Putin to keep his word).
Zelensky, an ethical leader, could not go along with the lies. And he would not agree to a peace plan that did not insure Ukraine's future security. He knew that Putin cannot be trusted (even though Trump trusts him). When Zelensky disagreed, Trump blew his stack.
He began to berated and threaten Zelensky. Then Vance joined in, demanding he thank Donald Trump for U.S. support (even though he's publicly thanked the U.S. dozens of times). Both tried to humiliate the Ukrainian president, and when he would give in, they kicked him out of the White House.
The temper tantrum Trump and Vance threw was a black mark on U.S. foreign policy. It was a turning point in U.S. history. And it effective ended the U.S. president being the leader of the free world.
Most other democratic nations were quick to back Ukraine after the Oval Office fiasco. And it brought them to a realization. They had hoped they could nudge Trump into keeping the treaties, agreements, and economic cooperation that exists. They now realize that is hopeless. Trump is a bully whose not interested in real negotiations with anyone, but only trying to force others to agree with what he wants. They cannot trust him or depend on him for help.
Trump has turned "America First" into "America Alone" - a rogue nation with no friends. That makes the future much more dangerous for the United States - and for the World!
Saturday, March 01, 2025
Half Of Voters Think Trump Wants To Be King
Exposing Trump's Outrageous Lie About Aid To Ukraine
The truth about Ukraine aid from Steven Rattner:
As he often does, the president has been wildly misrepresenting the facts around Ukrainian war aid. He claims that the United States has provided around $350 billion in aid; the actual figure is $120 billion. He has said that Europe has provided about $100 billion; the correct figure is $138 billion. (It is true that some portion of the European aid is in the form of loans.)
As a share of gross domestic product, the U.S. is roughly in the middle of the pack, well below small countries like Estonia and Denmark that are geographically close to Ukraine but roughly in line with larger countries like France and the U.K.
Against that backdrop, it is not clear why Trump believes that the U.S. is entitled to his requested $500 billion of compensation from Ukraine’s critical minerals industry, large resources of titanium, lithium, uranium and others.
It’s also important to note that the European Union and its members have promised an additional $121 billion in assistance while the U.S. has only pledged an additional $5 billion.
Moreover, an estimated 70% of what we provide to Ukraine is spent in the U.S. on things like equipment and ammunition or on U.S. forces.
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