In 2024, an ominous thought occurred to me, and not a few others: The American voter has in his hands the fate of Ukraine. I wondered whether Ukraine could survive a Trump return to the presidency. We would be neutral at best, I thought. Could we actually be hostile—hostile to the Ukrainians? Allied with Putin and his war machine?
On Sunday, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, spoke bluntly. To fight without the support of the United States would be difficult, he said. “Very difficult.” But to fight against a Russia backed by the United States? Impossible.
“If these two countries will be together, of course we will not prevail,” said Zelensky. “And we will not be able to stand.”
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Peter Baker of the New York Times provided a sickening summary of what the United States has just done for Putin:
I am reminded of the phrase “wish-list.”
In a 2016 general-election debate, Trump said that Putin had “no respect” for Hillary Clinton. She responded, “That’s because he’d rather have a puppet as president of the United States.” She said to Trump, “… you are willing to spout the Putin line, sign up for his wish-list, break up NATO, do whatever he wants to do …”
Was she wrong?
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For years, Trumpers and anti-anti-Trumpers have accused us anti-Trump conservatives of being “hysterical” on the subject of Trump and Russia. In point of fact, we have been stone-cold sober. Realistic.
All you have to be is willing to see.
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As regular readers know, I am a great admirer of Viktor Yushchenko, the former Ukrainian president who was nearly poisoned to death by Kremlin operatives. He is a man of tremendous courage, and considerable personal grace.
Listen to him here: “No one has expressed it better than Golda Meir: We have hardly any room for compromise—they want to kill us, and we want to live.”
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On September 1, I wrote, “If the GOP Congress passes, and the Trump administration enforces, meaningful sanctions against Putin’s Russia, I’ll eat my hat—and enjoy the meal.” That meal never had a chance of being served.
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For years, the Ukrainians have faced an axis of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran—the worst states on the planet. What they need is the support of Free World countries. So which side is the United States on now?
This is one of the most stomach-turning passes in our history. A repulsive low. The stain, the shame, will last a long time, I’m afraid.
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In an essay, Ines Burrell has a phrase—a parenthetical aside—that jolted me:
After that, in 2022, came the full-scale invasion … Yet the West (back then this still included the United States) …
Devastating.
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Also devastating was this: the word “Together,” written by Kirill Dmitriev. Dmitriev is known as “Putin’s wallet” and is a Putin envoy to the United States.
Did you see this image? Examine it:
“Together.” Russia and us against civilization. Swell.
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Over and over, Donald Trump says that the Biden administration depleted our supply of Tomahawk missiles by giving them to the Ukrainians. Watch him do it again here. Of course, we have never supplied Ukraine with a single Tomahawk.
In the same clip, Trump denigrates Zelensky, as he always does: “They gave to P.T. Barnum, which is Zelensky …” You never hear Trump insult or mock Putin, ever.
Zelensky is a real man and real leader, in my book. Those other two—no.
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From the Wall Street Journal: “Putin Floats a Summit With Trump and Xi to Discuss Ukraine Deal.” The article’s subheading reads, “Ukraine’s Zelensky wouldn’t be included in proposed talks, as Russia’s leader seeks to negotiate end to war favorable to Moscow.”
Smells like another Munich. But Putin would be speaking with two allies, essentially, right?
The historian Anne Applebaum had a bracing observation:
This has been Putin’s dream for years: that his country, with GDP per capita lower than Poland, unable to conquer Donbas since 2014, will be treated as an equal to the U.S. and China.
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“I’ve never met Vance in person,” writes Daniel Hannan, “but this clip tells me pretty much everything I need to know about him.” Yes. The clip in question is here.
Our vice president was asked about Putin—a blood-soaked tyrant and invader. Oh, the “American media” get him all wrong, said Vance! He is soft-spoken. “Very deliberate, very careful.” Looking out for the interests of Russia, as Trump looks out for the interests of America. No wonder they get along so well!
Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, says,
I’ve met Putin many times and listened in on calls with him as well. I also speak Russian. Yes, he is soft-spoken, deliberate, and measured. So what? He’s still a killer. He still launched a barbaric invasion of Ukraine, which has produced a tragic loss of life not seen on this scale in Europe since WWII.
If remarks such as Vance’s are galling to us freedom-loving Americans, imagine how they fall on Ukrainian ears. Writes Illia Ponomarenko,
Must be nice to sit comfortably on your couch, fangirling over Putin like a lovestruck teenager, an entire continent and ocean away from what he and his army of death do every single day.
Ponomarenko is a Ukrainian journalist. I podcasted with him two years ago, here. Interesting, invaluable person, informed to the gills.
There is a school that says, “The Ukrainians must continue to cajole Trump, no matter what. They must try to win him over.” Ponomarenko has penned what amounts to a response to this school—impassioned and true. Here it is.
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“Wherever Russian troops arrive, Ukrainians cease to exist,” said a Russian lieutenant colonel, Alexey Selivanov, at an event in Moscow. Any questions? How could there be any?
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A Ukrainian civil-society leader, Olena Halushka, writes, “Those who preach peace through capitulation won’t tell you what Russian occupation means.” Yes. Ukrainians are desperate for the world to understand this: There is nothing peaceful about Russian occupation. Quite the opposite.
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My general view is: Oppose aid to Ukraine if you want. Hell, support alliance with Putin if you want. But don’t be ignorant of what the Russians are doing to the Ukrainians.
Here is a report from Meduza, the Russian news organization in exile: “Russia’s invasion left thousands of Ukrainian children stranded in Russia. For one 12-year-old girl, the only way out of her occupied village led away from her mother.”
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Speaking of Ukrainian mothers: This one is signaling to rescuers that her daughter is six years old. The girl was killed in this Russian strike:
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If you can bear to read about a baby killed in her stroller—here. (Her name was Angelina.)
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Tom Nicholas wrote,
Trump has now finally made America an ally of the Kremlin and is aiding Putin in his war against an American friend and partner. Shameful betrayal of a U.S. friend, and pathetic submission to a U.S. enemy.
I keep saying: there were people on the other side—the Kremlin’s side—during the Cold War, too. But they tended to be Antioch professors, folk singers—fringe figures. Not president of the United States.
Part of me feels that the Republican Party and “conservative movement” should issue a blanket apology to Angela Davis and the rest. What were we barking on about for all those years? Did we mean it?
Some of us did, I can assure you.
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It was controversial, and I won’t pause to weigh the merits, but, during the Obama years, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke “over the heads” of the administration to the American people, directly. In this dark, dark hour, maybe President Zelensky should do something similar.
Trump & Co. are not all of us. There is some of the old spirit yet. How much, I don’t know.
I do know this: I hugely appreciate you, my readers and subscribers. And I believe you will forgive another Ukraine column, on the heels of Friday’s. This is important stuff. An emergency, and a matter of national honor.
Thank you very much for this piece. A shocking, foul and obscene alliance.
Trump’s two favorite world leaders: Putin and Xi. People that identify as Republicans say and do nothing of consequence.
So it goes.
I agree with you completely, Jay. I have followed and been involved in politics as a conservative since 1960, but nothing I have seen in those years has sickened me as much as Trump's cosying up to Putin. It is truly shameful -- and to what purpose?