Another One Bites the Dust
Termination Dust is an Alaskan phrase that refers to first snow of the season, which many local workers viewed as a sign that their seasonal gigs would be coming to an end. Maybe the antiquated term will be updated later this week when Trump welcomes Putin to Alaska, in a move that threatens the termination of American values and the turning its global leadership to dust. The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump Invites Putin to Set Foot in America. “Vladimir Putin is coming to America, despite the international warrant for the Russian president’s arrest, despite his years of hostile threats against NATO, and despite him showing no remorse for his invasion of a sovereign nation.” Putin, who has usually responded to Trump’s demands and threats by increasing attacks on Ukraine, has made no concessions to gain this summit, but has much to gain by attending it. As Heather Cox Richardson summarizes, “Putin generally cannot travel outside Russia because he has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, including the theft of Ukrainian children. And yet Trump is welcoming him to the United States of America.” Maybe Trump is as sickened by the thought of Putin on US soil as the rest of us. On Monday, Trump repeatedly told reporters that he was traveling to Russia to meet with Putin. Who will have the upper hand in this negotiation between Putin and Trump (and his real estate friend Steve Witkoff, the administration’s newbie negotiating point person across multiple global conflicts)? At this point, it’s not even clear they have different goals. Something tells me we’re not going to like what we see when the dust settles.
+ Meanwhile, “President Trump significantly escalated his efforts to exert federal authority over the nation’s capital on Monday, saying that he was temporarily taking control of the city’s police department and deploying 800 National Guard troops to fight crime there. At a White House news conference, the president painted a dystopian picture of Washington — including ‘bloodthirsty criminals’ and ‘roving mobs of wild youth’ — that stood in sharp contrast to official figures showing violent crime in the city is at a 30-year low.” Trump Orders National Guard to Washington and Takeover of Capital’s Police. Is the low DC crime rate just a figment of fake news imagination? No, but one imagines the Justice Department will be deleting this page posted to its website just a few months ago: Violent Crime in D.C. Hits 30 Year Low. Long story short, Trump is deploying troops against an imaginary enemy in DC before heading to Alaska to surrender to a real one.
