My goodness the far right in this country is delusional. What a tortured, revisionist, ideologically riven piece.

The author claims: “Putin has been beating his chest for quite a while, and the ascent of Joe Biden made it likely that he would see how far he could push the USA.”

To claim Trump was stopping Putin from doing anything is just bonkers. Trump was Putin's best asset.

Trump threatened to break up NATO, he was avowedly anti-interventionist, he tried to drop sanctions against Russia for their proven interference in the US elections and their invasion of Crimea, only to be stopped by Congress including by members of his own party. He took no action when the Russians put a bounty of US servicemen. He withdrew the US from Syria effectively handing many US assets to the Russians. He withheld meagre military aid to Ukrainian in order to secure an investigation of his opponent's son. Why on earth would Putin not cherish having the orange buffoon on the end of his string?

Biden has imposed dramatic sanctions on the Russians, dramatically stiffed the NATO alliances, and dramatically increased military aid to Ukrainian. Russia is facing a West with far more resolve than could ever have been mustered under the corrupt idiocy and incompetence of the Trump era and by all account is being diminished as a power base on almost a daily basis.

Biden has certainly risen to the occasion and it has been admirable to watch.

Wow!! SR really is cooking the tripe now.

I wonder if he actually believes any of this stuff?

SR,

Just saying Trump was Putin's asset isn't evidence, except evidence of your inability to deal with facts.

There have been four US presidents this century. Putin launched foreign invasions during the terms of three of them. I'll leave you to try to work out which president Putin was too scared to take on.

"Trump threatened to break up NATO".
He used it as a tool to get the Europeans to see the truth. They have now done so. Trump was just a few years ahead of them.

You raised the sanctions assertions before only to be set straight. Its a shame you've forgotten that. Trump never reduced sanctions and instead significantly increased them.

"He took no action when the Russians put a bounty of US servicemen."
That story has long since been debunked. There were no bounties, it was a made up anti-Trump hoax. Why am I not surprised you fell for it.

"He withheld meagre military aid to Ukrainian in order to secure an investigation of his opponent's son."
Nup never happened. More lies you fell for. Indeed after the Obama refused to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine, it was Trump that started giving them the means to defend themselves. Many a Russian tank are no more due to the weapons Trump gave Ukraine.

SR, we all know from watching your writings since 2016, that you hopelessly fell for the Russia-Trump collusion story. But as that fell apart, you're utterly incapable of adjusting your views since it would require an admission, if just to yourself, that you were wrong. The Mueller report which so comprehensively debunked the collusion fiction didn't change your mind. Now we see that you've fallen for the bounty fairy-tale. You might want to look in the recent revelations about Hunter Biden's laptop to see how you were duped there also

SteeleRedex
do you suffer from nihilistic depression?

mhaze,
we apparently have identical views of Trump. He is a great US President. Burnham forecast the situation. we are in today, when he wrote in 1945 and 1945.

Keith

Dear mhaze,

As a Trump cultist and apologist you will not accept a single thing I am about write so I am doing it for the record not you.

“Mr. Trump told his top national security officials that he did not see the point of the military alliance, which he presented as a drain on the United States. At the time, Mr. Trump’s national security team, including Jim Mattis, then the defense secretary, and John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, scrambled to keep American strategy on track without mention of a withdrawal that would drastically reduce Washington’s influence in Europe and could embolden Russia for decades.

Now, the president’s repeatedly stated desire to withdraw from NATO is raising new worries among national security officials amid growing concern about Mr. Trump’s efforts to keep his meetings with Mr. Putin secret from even his own aides, and an F.B.I. investigation into the administration’s Russia ties.”
New York Times 2018

Concerns about Trump pushing hard to abandon NATO even caused a republican led “House of Representatives in January 2019, to pass the NATO Support Act (H.R. 676), confirming Congress' support for NATO and prohibiting Trump from potentially withdrawing from NATO. On December 11, 2019, the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee passed a bill to be put in front of Congress which would require Congressional approval for American withdrawal from NATO. 9 of the the 19 co-sponsors were Republican.
Wikipedia

“Former National Security Advisor John Bolton: “In a second Trump term, I think he may well have withdrawn from NATO … And I think [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was waiting for that.”

As to Russian interference in the elections 98 out of 100 Senators and 419 out of 422 House of Representative members voted to enforce sanctions on Russia over Trump's objections and specifically “The bill, which includes a provision that allows Congress to stop any effort by Trump to ease existing sanctions on Russia, will now be sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-sanctions-idUSKBN1AC1U8

Why can't you accept there was interference when they all can?

SR,

If Trump wanted out of NATO, he could have easily done it. He exited the Paris Accord. He exited the disastrous Iran deal. If he wanted out of NATO, it was entirely his call.

Now he might have discussed this with advisors. Discussions aren't decisions. (But I'd point out that you're basing this on a NYT claiming that the famous multiple sources told them. Unnamed sources. This is the same trick that led many to be duped into buying the collusion fantasy. Multiple unnamed sources caused you to fall H/L&S for that fantasy as well as this.)

Trump wanted NATO members to pull their weight so that the US wouldn't have to do all the heavy lifting. Nations like Germany are now acknowledging he was right. One of the ways to get them to see sense was to hold the threat of withdrawal over their head.

If he really wanted to do it, he'd have done it.

But its rather quaint that you claim Trump was owned by Putin by referring to the things Trump DIDN'T do, while ignoring all the things that he DID do which prove your claim wrong.

"The bill, which includes a provision that allows Congress to stop any effort by Trump to ease existing sanctions on Russia, will now be sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto.”

Did he veto it? No. Why not? Because he agreed with it.

"Why can't you accept there was interference when they all can?"

The famous SR deflect. I didn't say there was no interference. I said their was no collusion with Trump. Indeed there was minor interference, some designed to help Trump, some designed to help Clinton, all designed to create chaos in the US. Chaos was created by those who pushed the false collusion myth. They were doing Putin's biding.

Dropped the bounty fable? Good idea. But, as usual, no acknowledgement of error.