YupFinally, a European Leader Said Out Loud What All of Them Are Likely Thinking About Trump
In a little-covered but striking speech last week, the president of Portugal—the centrist leader of a NATO ally—referred to President Donald Trump as “a Russian asset.”
Is the charge worth taking seriously? Yes, if it’s also taken literally.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the European leader who made the remark at a conclave of Portugal’s Social Democratic party, was clear and nuanced about what he meant. He emphasized that he was not calling Trump a Russian “agent,” as some conspiracy theorists have speculated. Rather, he said, “the supreme leader of the world’s largest superpower is objectively a Soviet or Russian asset,” in the sense that he “has strategically benefited the Russian Federation” and thus “operates” as a Russian “asset.”
Our PINO is an idiot whether useful or not.Scholars and denizens of espionage make the same distinction. An agent is a paid and witting spy; he formally, sometimes covertly, works for a foreign government. By contrast, an asset might serve a foreign government without even knowing that he’s doing so. This type of asset is sometimes called a dupe or a useful idiot.
De Sousa made his remarks not long after Trump’s summit last month with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, where Putin opposed a ceasefire in Ukraine, and Trump—who had threatened “consequences” unless the meeting produced a ceasefire—did nothing but shrug, smile, and treat the Kremlin dictator with the honor of an eminent world leader.
That's a sad description of the state of the world.Many European officials, including senior politicians, were dismayed by Trump’s obsequiousness. They have long been alarmed by Trump’s unseemly admiration for Putin, his refusal to impose sanctions or other penalties on Russia for its war crimes in Ukraine (even after repeatedly threatening to do so), and his brusque attitude toward alliances, especially those, such as NATO, designed to deter and contain Russian aggression. They had hoped Trump’s behavior at a meeting just before the Alaska summit—his tough words about Putin and friendly demeanor toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—might signal a change in policy. But no, Trump remained Trump.
In his speech, delivered Aug. 27, de Sousa proclaimed what many fellow European leaders seem to think, and perhaps whisper in private, but can’t say out loud. As long as Ukraine depends on U.S. support for arms and intelligence, and as long as all of Europe depends on U.S. leadership in NATO, they have to keep Trump happy enough to stay in the alliance and not to abandon Ukraine altogether—and that requires publicly thanking him and praising him, and so far, the stratagem has sort of worked.
Meanwhile, how are Trump’s hopes of courting Putin working out? If you need proof that sometimes one picture really is worth 1,000 words, check out this week’s photo of Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Indian President Narendra Modi smiling and holding hands at a summit in China, joined later by an equally jolly Kim Jong-un, the dictator of North Korea. (Modi attended with gusto, after Trump imposed a 50 percent tariff on all goods from India, mainly to punish Modi for disputing Trump’s claim of credit for ending an India-Pakistan war.)
You're doing a heckuva job, Donnie.
Fascism is here.The summit was the largest meeting ever of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which China founded to counter U.S. influence in Asia. Another reason for this meeting, which was attended by more than 20 countries (mainly authoritarian in nature), was to hold a massive military parade
It's dumb to discount the US and the West, but China and Russia did suffer horribly, far worse than the US sacrifice.celebrating the victory in World War II, for which Xi and Putin claimed joint credit, attempting to write the United States and the rest of the West out of history.
Sort of. US support was limited by:Trump was not pleased. In a long post on social media, he particularly protested (with good reason) Xi’s failure to mention “the massive amount of support and ‘blood’ that the United States of America gave to China in order to help it secure its FREEDOM” in that war.
Favoring MacArthur's island hopping strategy;
Chiang Kai-shek's corruption and ineffectiveness;
US unwillingness to support Mao, who was far far more effective in fighting the Japanese than Chiang.
Trump then added:
May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration. Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.
