The Art of the Kneel

Thomas Friedman in the NYT (Gift Article): Trump’s Democracy-for-Diesel Deal Shames Us All. “Donald Trump, meet Neville Chamberlain. When future students search online for ‘sellout,’ ‘appeaser’ or ‘traitor to his country’s core values,’ their two pictures will come up first, side by side. And deservedly so. At least Chamberlain was trying, in what proved to be lethally misguided fashion, to avoid a world war. Trump is trying to avoid losing a few seats in Congress — and is likely to be no more successful in achieving his goal than Chamberlain was in achieving his. I have never believed that Trump was somehow an agent of Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, or in his pay. It is much worse. He simply does not cherish democracy. He cherishes money.” (One of many things that disturbs me about this is how little the American electorate cares about this disastrous betrayal of our values and allies. The deal won’t reduce fuel prices, but if it did, it would probably boost Trump’s approval rating. Sadly, we probably have to amend Friedman’s headline to: Trump’s Democracy-for-Diesel Deal Should Shame Us All.)

+ The diesel deal is terrible. The cutting off of high-speed Starlink access is even worse. David French: “It’s horrible to have to type these words, but the president of the United States is throwing Vladimir Putin a lifeline. He is turning the American government against Ukraine, funding Russia and — perhaps worst of all — playing directly into Putin’s theory of victory.” Russia Was Losing. Enter President Trump.

+ But wait, there’s more. In addition to the diesel deal and the Starlink limitations, Ukraine ‘has run out of Patriot interceptor missiles.’

+ “Ukraine struck a Russian oil refinery on Thursday, after President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was ‘done’ supporting a ceasefire on energy targets announced by US President Donald Trump.” (Russia also ignored the announcement of an imaginary energy target ceasefire, but only Ukraine will incur Trump’s wrath.)