Zelensky: "MORE TRUTH"

Trump is trying to change history, yet again

Today, Trump called Ukranian president Zelensky a dictator. It is front page news on both the Guardian and The New York Times.

Here is the headline from the Guardian:

Trump calls Zelenskyy a ‘dictator’ who should ‘move fast’ or lose country as row with Ukraine leader worsens.

Here is the headline from the NY Times:

Zelensky and Trump Trade Blows as Feud Escalates Over Peace Talks

Outrageous. The Times has a subtitle about the dictator accusation, but that doesn’t matter. The Times needs to step up and call this what it is.

This comment by Trump is following another comment yesterday wherein he blames Zelensky for starting the war.

This is reality, truth, being altered before our very eyes. Being squashed, removed, shifted, you name it. It is a campaign by Maga and the GOP (they are complicit, we have to keep saying that) to shift public opinion in the US through not-so-subtle innuendo. Most people don’t pay much attention to the news; so sound bites like, “Zelensky is a dictator without elections” (with good reason, a war was going on) and, “he started it'“ will penetrate the fog of news and catch on. Thus affecting the US public’s support for Ukraine. We cannot let this happen. Click on this to listen to the short response from Zelensky to these comments.

If Ukraine falls because of Trump’s support of Putin, what more will Putin attempt to take in Europe? “Peace talks” were held yesterday without Ukraine. Marco Rubio (he makes me nauseous), Russian and Saudi Arabians met in Saudi Arabia to discuss how to make peace with Ukraine. What I see in the photo is the selling—or the taking— of a country, and reminds me of Trump’s thoughts on “taking” Gaza.

European leaders are meeting in Paris to try to “recalibrate” since Trump has sided with Putin.

Here is what some GOP Senators are saying in repsonse:

• Senate Majority Leader John Thune pushed back on Trump’s comments blaming Ukraine for the war with Russia, saying there is “no question” that Russia is the “aggressor here.” Thune ignored questions about Trump’s latest Truth Social post calling Zelensky a “dictator.”

• Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said he disagrees with Trump that Ukraine started the war, but that the administration is working toward an agreement that “lifts up” Ukraine. “To the extent that the White House said that Ukraine started the war, I disagree. I think Vladimir Putin started the war,” he said. “We’ve always known we’re going to have a settlement in Ukraine. Our job, and I think this is where the President is headed, is to get a settlement that lifts up Ukraine, lifts up Europe, lifts up America and the West, and diminishes Vladimir Putin,” he said.

• Maine Sen. Susan Collins said that she disagrees with Trump blaming Zelensky for the ongoing war with Russia. “I do not agree that President Zelensky is to blame in any way,” the senator from Maine said. “This was a rogue invasion by Russia.”

• South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham also pushed back against Trump’s comments blaming Zelensky for the war with Russia. “When it comes to blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I blame Putin above all others,” he said. Graham also placed some blame on Democratic former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama. However, Graham added that Trump “is Ukraine’s best hope to end this war honorably and justly. I believe he will be successful, and he will achieve this goal in the Trump way.”

• Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she “would certainly never refer to President Zelensky as a dictator.” She pushed back against Trump’s comments about blaming the Ukrainian president for the war, saying, “it is quite clear who started the war. It was absolutely Russia, at Putin’s directive. I don’t think that there should be any confusion with that.”

• Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt brushed off Trump’s criticism of Zelensky. “I think President Trump, on behalf of the American people, is trying to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine,” he told reporters Wednesday. He said Trump was fulfilling his campaign promise of ending forever wars, adding, “I trust President Trump. He’s a master negotiator, and I think he’s going to get to a lasting peace.” Pressed on if it’s helpful to brokering a deal for Trump to criticize Zelensky, Schmitt said “I’m not going to get into the tactics. President Trump is going to be able to deliver it.”

Many smart people are comparing this moment in history to the years before WWII, before the US got involved….only now we are involved, and we are hanging with the bad guys.

Not to say that this Ukraine crisis isn’t a crisis, but while they are doing that, DOGE is still running rampant in our government agencies and taking data and firing people. I’ve lost track of which judge order has halted what. Over this past weekend, DOGE people were attempting to access data at the IRS, presumably getting private information on American citizens.

“Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), the top Democrat on the Committee on Finance, and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the top Democrat on the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, wrote to Douglas O’Donnell, acting commissioner of the IRS, demanding information about DOGE’s access to taxpayer information and noting that the request for access raises ‘serious concerns that Elon Musk and his associates are seeking to weaponize government databases containing private bank records and other confidential information to target American citizens and businesses as part of a political agenda.’”

They also over the weekend sought access to the Social Security Databases. These activities—and more— are outlined today by Heather Cox Richardson, and all her sources therein. She writes:

“ [all this activity] opens the way for Musk and his cronies to weaponize private information against business competitors as well as political enemies. In addition, it can also feed a larger technological project for controlling politics.”

Even if you don’t always read Richardson’s letter each day, the number of sources she sites every time is reassuring. Journalists are working hard to report this stuff and investigate every day.

I hope this is true:

Thanks for being here. I am off to a Substack in-person gathering this eveing! I will report back tomorrow.

Stay sane, stay together, keep the faith. And take time to laugh.