A corrupt and fraudulent family foundation. Hush money to mistresses to help swing an election--felony violations of campaign finance laws. Seeking and embracing the help of an enemy to win an election. Repeatedly obstructing justice to cover up those crimes.
Selling out American interests to patrons overseas. Profiting from the presidency. Helping foreign murderers cover up the murder of an American permanent resident. Attacking our allies. Destroying the international architecture that has been the foundation of our strength.
Lying to the American people on average 10 times a day. Celebrating Nazis as very fine people. Building concentration camps for children on our borders. Racist policies that turn away good people from our shores. Serial misogyny. Upwards of 20 cases of sexual harassment.
At least one accusation of rape from an underage minor. A massive, decades long record of income tax fraud. 17 separate investigations into his activities. Virtually every major organization he has run for two decades under investigation.
An international record of celebrating despots and autocrats and kleptocrats and brutal totalitarians and enemies. Unprecedented isolation from America's friends and a repeated record of insults of them and international rejection of him as a trusted leader.
Attacking America's law enforcement institutions. Attacking America's intelligence institutions. Collaborating with fellow travelers in the Congress to circumvent the laws and to undermine decades and decades of regulation. Irreversible damage done to the environment.
A campaign to take health care away from the neediest Americans. A systematic effort to deport productive contributors to our society who have lived and worked here for decades. Hypocrisy. Vulgarity. Deceit. Criminal behavior. Serial violation of his oath of office.
Serial betrayal of his country.
This is our president. This is the heir to Washington and Lincoln. He stole the office with the aid of our enemies and he has done grievous damage to this country ever since.
Sometimes I walk through Alexandria where I live past the places Washington walked and I have to admit it, it makes me physically ill. It is hard to imagine that there is a line from Washington to Trump, that we could have so squandered the legacies of past generations.
Read this list of wrongs and crimes and missteps and compound it with the ignorance and the incompetence and the absence of principles and the deficiency of character of this man. Think how each and any of them might have disqualified past leaders.
Think how you wouldn't allow such a man into your home or contact with your children and then of the power and prestige he has been given, the precious gifts of heritage that have been placed in his hands.
It is easy to grow numb to this. It is possible to become distracted by rage. But remembering what is at stake we must focus on undoing this great wrong that took place in 2016 and seeking justice for the crimes that contributed to that and have unfolded since.
Imagine what Washington or Lincoln would say were they to see this. Worse still, imagine what our grandchildren and generations to come will say. This is the history we bequeath to them. Let it in the end be an affirmation of our institutions and our ability to repel danger.
Let it in the end be worthy of the best of the legacy that came before. We're an imperfect society, but we should not elevate the worst among us as we have done with this man Trump and the corrupt crowd of enablers surrounding him.
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A rebuttal to the idea that the West contributed to the current crisis by supporting NATO expansion. 1.) It is naive. It accepts Putin's false rationale for his action. He obliterated this argument when he made his real argument: That Ukraine does not exist & is part of Russia.
2.) Putin's argument that the historical boundaries of the Russian empire or Soviet Union should fall under Moscow's control only underscores how important it was that former Soviet states were able to join NATO and gain its protections.
The reason Ukraine was targeted was because it was not a member of NATO not because it was. It was vulnerable and Putin, a predator, sought and seeks to take advantage of that.
The easiest job in the world is foreign policy critic. I know because I not only play one on TV...it's what I do. No one gets everything right. No one controls all variables. There are always complications and options that could've, should've been considered.
But as easy as it is to critique and say, "I'm smarter, if only they'd done it my way," it is almost impossibly hard to actually conduct effective foreign policy, especially for a superpower like the U.S. There are so many moving parts.
There are so many institutional hurdles. There are so many political obstacles. There are so many factors and egos and allied interests and variables to contend with. Especially on big, fast-breaking issues of global concern.
The @POTUS response to what he accurately condemned as Russia's flagrant violation of international law was strong and smart. It was made stronger and smarter by the coordination with the wide-ranging sanctions and responses of our allies in Europe.
This was not just an example of a good performance by the president or presentation of professional crafted well-calibrated set of measures, it was also the result of tireless diplomacy and behind the scenes preparation.
The decision to move forces into the Baltics and to underscore our commitment to helping Ukraine defend itself also added an important and necessary security dimension to the measures. And there are still very substantial and meaningful measures we can introduce if needed.
So, what is wrong with saying, "International law demands Ukraine be allowed to determine its own future. So long as the people of Ukraine seek to preserve their independence, we will work with our allies to provide the support they need to do so. And...
...we will use all tools available to us to penalize Russia for violating Ukraine's independence. That includes not just sanctions, but sweeping sanctions. And not just temporary sanctions, but long-term sanctions that grow longer/deeper the longer Russia's aggression lasts.
We will seek to systematically isolate Russia within the international community and limit their ability to participate in international forums. We will target Putin and those closest to them, reveal their corruption, freeze their assets, make it impossible for them to travel.
While I appreciate the swiftness of the WH response re: sanctions on the territories recognized by Putin, I'm afraid they are inadequate and inappropriate in several respects. They are likely to be of only minimal economic consequence. Further...
...they punish the people of the territories rather than the wrong-doers, Vladimir Putin and his government. They also suggest that our severe sanctions will also come not unless there is an invasion--even if Putin unilaterally claims what would be one of the goals of invasion.
The threat of force should not be seen as an acceptable or "minor" international offense in a case like this. (You don't need to fire a gun for the penalties for armed robbery to kick in.) Proportionality is good. But, this feels light to me.
I don't even the US policymakers having to formulate a response to Putin's remarks. He has said there will be no concessions. He has said he doesn't care about sanctions. He has framed himself as a threat to both Ukraine and all the former Russian Empire.
What is the point of negotiations with someone who clearly is entering them cynically and in bad faith? If the only point is to avoid an invasion--and that's clearly the main point and a worthy one--where do you go if there are to be no concessions on the other side?
If he has asserted rights over the future of Ukraine that he does not have, should the sanctions come now? Failing to levy them enables him to claim one of the prizes invasion might have brought at no cost.