It Looked Like The Apprentice. It was Surrender to Putin.

We will take America without firing a shot. We do not have to invade the U.S. We will destroy you from within. Nikita Khrushchev

Trump was supposed to have a meeting with President Zelenskyy Friday. He turned it into a performance similar to his old tv show, The Apprentice. It was a set up deal from start to finish. But it went sideways. 

I think both Trump and Vance enjoyed the sadism of this little performance they gave. I think it made them feel like big men. Trump wanted to make Zelenskyy crawl. 

But this wasn’t a television show. And unlike Trump, Vance, and all the spineless cowards who were part of this playlet in the Oval Office, Zelenskyy is a man. They couldn’t make him crawl. He wasn’t rude. But he stood his ground against all of them, just like he’s been standing his ground against Putin. 

When Putin invaded Ukraine, everybody thought it would be over in a couple of days. America offered to evacuate Zelenskyy to safety. I don’t need a ride, he said. I need ammunition. That’s a man. And a patriot. And he was the only man and the only patriot in the Oval Office last Friday. 

Trump showed himself and the entire Republican Party as Putin’s lapdogs. And he’s now put the United States of  America into position as Putin’s lapdog as well. 

Trump had evidently arranged for a reporter from TASS, the Russian propaganda press to be there. There was a set-up question by Marjorie Taylor Greene’s boyfriend. He’s the guy who tried to insult President Zelenskyy because he wasn’t wearing a suit. It’s too bad Elon Musk wasn’t there with the ball cap and t-shirt that he wears everywhere, including the Oval Office and when he takes over Cabinet meetings. 

After this meeting, Trump’s talk-show-host Secretary of Defense ordered that America stop all planning for military defense against Russia. He also ordered that America stop defending against cyber attacks from Russia. In other words, he’s handing you, me, our children and our grandchildren over to a full-on deluge of 24/7 Russian propaganda, presumably in the the hope that we will be persuaded to give up our country.

Many Republicans in Congress evidently knew this was coming. Lindsey Graham immediately got in front of cameras, blaming Zelenskyy for supposedly being “rude” to Trump and saying Zelenskyy should “resign.”  It was too quick and too orchestrated to be a “reaction.” Lindsey almost certainly was part of the performance. His job was to cue other Trump puppets about what they were supposed to say. 

President Zelenskyy answered Lindsey a few days later. The president of the Ukraine will not be chosen by Lindsey Graham, he said. Because, you know, Zelenskyy is a real man. Lindsey Graham is Trump’s lap dog. 

Marco Rubio, who sat through the whole performance looking like a dog that’s been whipped too much, had vigorously supported Ukraine for years, calling Putin a “butcher.” But after his decades-long history of opposing Putin’s ambitions for world domination, he went on talk shows and said, basically, that Trump is right to sell America out to Putin. 

Of course all this ignores one simple thing. If Russia simply stopped their invasion of Ukraine and took their troops home, the war would end that day. Russia invaded Ukraine. 

All the yammering about how Zelensky was “rude” to Trump is such addlepated nonsense that it proves the contempt Trump and his people have for Trump’s MAGA base. They believe MAGA will believe anything and that MAGA will back Trump, even while he burns down their own houses.

In case you haven’t already figured this out, here’s the deal. If your senator or congressperson is a Republican, you do not have representation in Congress. Republican office holders, including Republican governors, attorneys general, district attorneys and even many Republican-appointed judges, are puppets for Trump and his billionaire buddies.

Every one of these people was all for Ukraine, America’s national defense, standing up to Russia, democracy and free enterprise. They made speeches and convinced us they meant it. 

These Republicans we thought were our representatives in Congress have the power to stop this cold. But they are backing it instead. They’ll back whatever Trump does, and they’ll attack whomever Trump attacks. They are worthless. 

We need to stand up for our country. We need to do it now and tomorrow and from now on. If we don’t, we are going to lose our freedom, our prosperity, and our future.