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The Kiss of Death [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-03-11
Trump just said again, “Nobody has been tougher on Russia than Donald Trump.” Don’t you just love it when he refers to himself in the third person? Is he afraid that those listening might forget who is speaking before he gets to the end of the sentence? Apparently, it is a rhetorical device that some mob bosses like John Gotti used. Gotti once said, “John Gotti does what John Gotti wants.”
No one paying attention to Trump believes that he is tough on Russia. Following the Oval Office ambush of Zelenskyy on February 28, 2025, Trump abandoned Ukraine, leaving the country largely blind and defenseless. “Tough-on-Russia-Trump” cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine and stopped U.S. military aid. Unless Europe steps quickly into this breach, Putin has already won.
Now, Trump-world is suggesting that in addition to Trump’s extortionist minerals deal, Zelenskyy may have to step down as President so Russia can install a puppet like Viktor Yanukovych, who was President of Ukraine from 2010 until he was ousted in 2014. If this is the Art of the Deal by the great negotiator, then Trump really is as pathetic as we imagined, as is Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The front cover of the March 7, 2025 edition of the German political magazine, “Focus,” shows Putin and Trump kissing under the title, “Der Bruderkuss,” i.e., “Fraternal Kiss.” (View Cover) The subtitle is, “Donald Trump macht Wladimir Putin zum mächtigsten Diktator des 21. Jahrhunderts. Was tun?” which translates to “Donald Trump makes Vladimir Putin the most powerful dictator of the 21st century. What to do?”
Images of Putin and Trump kissing emerged in Trump’s first term, and here we are again. Americans who assume that this suggests that both men are gay miss the sinister imagery and history of the illustration. The Bruderkuss (aka brotherly kiss) was a symbolic greeting among socialist and communist leaders. The kiss was often on the cheeks but could also be on the lips. It symbolizes ideological and political unity among allies. This illustration recalls the photograph of a 1979 kiss between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German leader Erich Honecker during the 30th anniversary of East Germany. That kiss, on the lips, was later painted as a mural on the Berlin Wall by Dmitri Vrubel with this caption: “My God, Help Me Survive This Deadly Love.”
Trump is not a communist, so he and Putin are not aligned ideologically, except, oh, that’s right, Putin is no longer a communist. Putin is a czarist seeking to emulate 18th century Czar Peter the Great (and others) by returning Russia to a glorified history of empire—including Crimea, all of Ukraine, all of Georgia, and Moldova.
Some have tried to explain Trump’s actions through the Unitary Executive Theory. That is the idea that the U.S. President should have total control of the Executive branch—TOTAL—which means Trump can break laws, ignore Congress, and perhaps the Courts with abandon as Putin clearly has done. But he wants more. Trump covets Putin’s dictatorial power. He would like to rule America the way that Putin rules Russia, which includes imperialism—Canada, Greenland, the Panama Canal, and the Gulf of America.
The Berlin Wall, built in 1961 to stop people fleeing to freedom in West Berlin and opened on November 9, 1989, was dismantled over a period of two years beginning in June 1990.
We don’t yet feel the destruction of our freedoms, but it is happening under Trump. He is building a new Berlin Wall to keep immigrants out, Americans trapped within, and America’s allies, due to his “America First” obsession, abandoned without. Biden’s commitment to Ukraine was about protecting democracy. That doesn’t figure into Trump’s calculations. He wouldn’t walk across the street to preserve democracy in Ukraine or America. This means that Trump will continue to help Putin and harm Ukraine. Europe needs to step in, defend Ukraine, and negotiate on Zelenskyy’s behalf. But who will step in and defend Americans who have nowhere to flee?
Time left to January 20, 2029: 1,410 days
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