Ukraine Extortion - Trump Fans Silent

There is no finer example of how populist politics is a total crock of crap than the reaction of its leading British practitioners to the brazen attempt by Combover Crybaby Donald Trump and his gang to extort a significant amount of Ukraine’s mineral resources, while giving that country no security guarantee. To this, the Trump fans in the UK have fallen silent.

As Josh Rogin told his followers on Twitter, X, or whatever Muskrat’s calling it this week, “Multiple lawmakers here in Munich told me the U.S. Congressional delegation presented Zelensky with a piece of paper they wanted him to sign which would grant the U.S. rights to 50% of Ukraine’s future mineral reserves. Zelensky politely declined to sign it”.

Do go on. “This plan, which I have now seen, was presented to Zelenskyy by U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink several days ago, in advance of Secretary Bessent’s trip to Kyiv … In today’s meeting with U.S. lawmakers, Zelensky was telling them about this paper, which many of them didn’t already know about, not the other way around. Zelenskyy said he could not sign it because it didn’t contain any security guarantees for Ukraine”. That’s extortion.

Added to the outburst by alleged Vice President and confirmed moron J D Vance, and the talks about Ukraine that have not included invitations to any European countries - or Ukrainians - and we see the intended endgame of the Trump gang - to sell both Ukraine and the rest of Europe down the river.

Quite apart from the immediate loss of US soft power, and indeed influence, this dereliction of duty to its allies had the FT’s editorial writers concluding “Europeans need to start preparing fast for the day when the US security guarantee to Europe is definitively removed … It should also mean a European mutual defence pact, outside NATO, that extends beyond the EU”.

There was more. “Trump will use any leverage he has to force America’s European allies into compliance on issues from trade and security to their domestic politics. That means that Europe must now start the painful process of ‘de-risking’ its relationship with the US, looking for areas of dangerous dependence on America and stripping them out of the system”.

Which is a way of saying it’s serious. So what of the Trump cheerleaders? Former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, who was, let us not forget, kicked out by his own party in disgrace, has tried a little too hard to spin his way out of it: “Trump is not betraying Ukraine”. Fraid he is, Bozo. But that bit doesn’t get a mention. Not in selective Bozo world.

But at least he admits Europe will have to “step up”. Something that does not trouble Liz Truss, the very temporary Prime Minister who was outlasted by a lettuce. She’s too busy recycling rubbish from the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph. So what of Farage, biggest Trump fan of all?

Nige is banging on about putting a windfall tax on renewable energy, in a move which would increase household bills significantly. That’s the level of populist idiocy coming out of Reform UK. Oh, and he’s still whinging about nearly losing his Coutts bank account. No word on Trump’s attempt to extort a significant amount of Ukraine’s GDP in return for nothing at all.

Farage’s delusion extends to portraying Himself as the next Prime Minister. But not a peep on his pal Donald selling the whole of Europe down the river, so not a peep on what he would do when faced with a whole host of those Difficult Decisions about a European army that he’s been frightening the crap out of his target audience over. Not that he’s a Putin apologist, you understand.

Whatever your opinion of Keir Starmer, he is prepared to tackle the problems posed by the Trump gang ripping up the USA’s security guarantees that have helped keep the peace since 1945. Bozo is editing it out, Liz Truss isn’t talking about it at all, and Farage … don’t make me laugh. Mr Thirsty is more concerned about his current account status to bother with that.

Populism meets political reality. And promptly scuttles off elsewhere.

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J D Vance - You’re A Moron

Those who thought that the vice Presidency of J Danforth Quayle, the one who had problems spelling such complex words as POTATO (to which he insisted on adding a spurious E), defined the most stupid holder of that office, have now been asked by the current incumbent, J D Vance, to Hold His Beer. Because Vance is not merely stupid. He is a bona fide moron.

This should come as no surprise: he is, after all, Veep to Combover Crybaby Donald Trump, the individual (one hates to use the dignifying term “man” in this instance) least suited to be President since, well, the proclamation of the Republic back in 1783. Trump is monumentally stupid. So his deputy must, to preserve the dignities, be yet more stupid. Vance is ideally suited to that.

Just how stupid Vance really is was demonstrated yesterday in the full glare of publicity: he addressed the Munich Security Conference, to tell all those Goddamned YURPEENS just how wonderful Himself and his world view were. He lectured them about FREEZE PEACH and MOXY, as if the USA had both, and YURP had neither. This went down like a cup of cold sick.

Which may have had something to do with there being no curbs on freedom of speech anywhere in western Europe, while the Trump gang are excluding those who do not toe their particular line from press briefings, and accompanying The Donald on Air Force One. Trump and his supporters have significant past form for harassing media folk of inconvenient view.

Also, as the Guardian pointed out, “Many in the hall were swift to say that Vance had still refused to accept that Trump lost the US presidential election in 2020, a refusal that ultimately resulted in a mob of the president’s supporters attacking the US Capitol”. Trump’s acceptance of MOXY is the kind where he wins. Vance is too scared, or stupid, to accept reality.

And get this claim: “For years we have been told everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values, everything from our Ukraine policy to digital censorship is billed as a defence of democracy, but when we see European courts cancelling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others we ought to ask ourselves if we are holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard”. Whoops, flat-out lie time!

As with Reform UK’s self-appointed Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage claiming that the EU interfered in member states’ elections, this is total crap. Vance’s stupidity extended to believing that his audience would not have a grasp of reality superior to that of Himself Personally Now.

It also extended to believing he would secure more approval by cracking this year’s Lamest Joke Ever™. The BBC’s Frank Gardner noted “He made a joke at one point saying, ‘if American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk’. And then he paused for the applause, to be met with absolute dead silence”.

False equivalence. Paranoia. More stupidity. Meanwhile, in the USA, supposed land of FREEZE PEACH and MOXY, judges are under attack for upholding the law, when that law goes against one of Trump’s executive orders (an executive order is not law, and the President cannot make law without the agreement of Congress). Instead, Vance kicks YURP.

But YURP enjoys freedom of speech, and of expression, rather more than the USA right now, with media outlets self-censoring to keep on the right side of the Trump gang. Vance is too stupid to see that comparing western European Governments to totalitarian states, while his own country is ruled over by an enfeebled man-baby and an unelected Nazi, is not a good look.

Good of him, though, to remind YURP that it needs to look after itself rather more, and depend on the Trump régime rather less. Vance could do worse than letting us all know what his country’s position on Ukraine really is. Because, right now, we don’t know. Except that Trump gives the impression he is about to sell the Ukrainians down the river.

Then he can learn a bit more about YURP. And stop being a moron.

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