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Shakedown At 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-03-01

Because we live in Trump’s bizarre orbit every day and are used to his antics, it’s easy to dismiss yesterday’s example of outrageous, inappropriate behavior as just another day in looney town. This was different however. One indication that it was by observing the faces of the people reporting on it. The last time I saw this kind of viscerally responsive reaction from the people who have the job of trying to present the news to the rest of us was right after the planes flew into the World Trade Center.

It’s easy to think of them as the characters they play in front of us as they read their teleprompters. The truth is the people who make it to the top of their profession in these newsrooms at places like CNN are far more savvy about what’s going on than they can convey. They keep it dumbed down for their audience because that’s what is required. They know what’s really going on and yesterday they looked like their dog just died.

For me the most interesting thing that happened in Oval Office meeting between Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump wasn’t so much what was being said as the body language of the participants. Make no mistake about it, this was a premeditated ambush of Zelensky. There is no way JD Vance would have jumped in like that had he not been coached up by Trump prior to the meeting. The whole event was staged to make Zelensky look rattled and weak in front of the world. In my opinion it backfired big time. If you watched his face, you could see him a bit taken aback by what is happening initially. That “WTF is going on” look is rather quickly replaced by the recognition of what he walked in to. He handled it as well as anyone could under the circumstances. His responsibility is to his country, not to Trump and JD Vance. He’s not going to cave. They misjudged this man if they thought he would. Unlike Trump Zelensky is battle hardened. He doesn’t fake bone spurs. This was a shakedown in a mob boss’s office. Take our deal or it won’t go well for your family. The Ukraine president wasn’t having it and Trump went into an episode of narcissistic rage. He looked weak, it was embarrassing to watch. The world saw what happened.

There are turning points in history that can happen in a moment. We witnessed one of them live on television yesterday. What the outcome is is yet to be determined, It could go either way. It’s up to us to step in, step up. Will we? I don’t know.



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