Back in more innocent times, in January 2016, a year before he was inaugurated for his first term as President of the United States, Trump boasted that “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
Only now do I realize the real meaning behind that statement. What he actually meant was, “I could stand in the middle of the Oval Office and commit high treason and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
For instance, today we learned that Trump will revoke the legal status of Ukrainian refugees. Each and every time I thought I saw the full depth of the depravity of Trump and his entourage (including Elon Musk), they surprise me some more. A few examples (just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, really, there is plenty more):
- Trump’s treatment of America’s neighbors and closest allies, Canada and Mexico;
- Trumps contempt towards America’s European allies and NATO in particular;
- Threats to use force if necessary to annex Greenland, reoccupy the Panama Canal zone and turn Canada into the “51st state”;
- The assault on press freedom, including Trump’s treatment of The Associated Press;
- Installing loyalists of highly questionable credentials as key members of his cabinet;
- Loyalty tests for other officials concerning the “stolen election” of 2020;
- The firing of top military brass;
- The “non-employment” of Elon Musk at DOGE, without a security clearance, an official mandate, or Congressional oversight;
- The deplorable treatment of Ukraine’s wartime president, Zelenskyy, in the White House;
- Cutting off military aid and critical intelligence to Ukraine;
- Halting Cyber Command’s operations concerning Russia;
- Voting in the United Nations on the side of Russia, North Korea, Eritrea and similar regimes;
- Plans to turn Gitmo into a concentration camp for up to 30,000 asylum seekers;
- Destroying USAID, America’s premier instrument of “soft power” abroad;
- Indiscriminate firing of critical federal workers, including those maintaining America’s nuclear arsenal.
I know that our existing world order, Pax Americana, is kaput. The only thing I don’t know yet is whether Canada still has any viable options left to maintain our independence, our economic well-being, our territorial integrity, or if we are doomed already.
Krasnov, incidentally, is the presumed nickname given to Trump when he was recruited by the KGB in 1987, according to an uncorroborated accusation by Alnur Mussayev, a former Soviet security official. Whether or not he was indeed recruited, I do not know. But his present-day actions speak louder than any dubious accusations concerning his past.