Amateurs, Clowns, And Our National Security

Posted: March 25, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Yesterday in the Atlantic Magazine Jeffrey Goldberg wrote an article about how he was accidentally included in text chains over several days involving Cabinet level and senior administration officials discussing the United States’ military attacks on the Houthi rebels in Yemen on 15 March 2025. Let me say that again. Text chains. U.S. military attacks. Cabinet officials.

Unconscionable.

The Trump administration, through the National Security Council (NSC), verified that the text chains were authentic. Some supporters of the president are trying to claim that it was a “leak” and that the journalist involved was somehow dishonest or incompetent or just a plain old scoundrel. So much for integrity in government. It was neither leaked, nor stolen, nor obtained by some nefarious means. Someone in the government (likely National Security Adviser Mike Waltz) accidently included Mr. Goldberg in the text group. Indeed, Mr. Goldberg thought at first that it was some kind of trick, or someone was phishing him, or some other kind of entrapment to embarrass him. It was real. Hours before the Houthis were attacked, Mr. Goldberg knew exactly what was going to happen and when. Once he realized the full extent of what he was seeing, he notified the NSC and had himself taken off the group chat.

Mr. Goldberg had more integrity than those members of the administration involved could muster in their little finger. He did not reveal or publish the most sensitive details of the texts that included specific names, places, times, weapons, bomb packages and other information that could be used by an adversary to intercept or attack the U.S. military forces involved.

As a former military tactical commander and as an aide to senior members of the Department of Defense in the Pentagon, it is hard for me to get my head around just how wrong, dangerous, unprincipled and indefensible this is. From reading the parts of the transcript that were published, it is clear that senior members of the Trump administration use these means of communication to discuss sensitive issues on a regular basis.

Administration officials and MAGA members of Congress are trying to laugh it away as inconsequential because the mission was successful and are taking a kind of “no harm, no foul” approach to it all. One Senator opined that no “mom or dad” was losing sleep over the disclosure. I disagree. The parents of those that put their lives on the line for our country certainly care. They want to know that their loved one’s lives are not being frivolously wasted. The soldiers, Sailors, Marines and airmen certainly care. I hope that the members of the Joint Chiefs are slamming their fists on the Secretary’s desk and demanding answers. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth tried to use a technicality by saying that no “war plans” (as many in the press are referring to the information in the exchanges) were discussed. I can only assume that he is trying to get by on a technicality. In the Pentagon “war plans” are extensive, theater wide documents outlining actions tantamount to “big” wars such as invading Iran. To the general public, however, it was clear that they discussed what most people would consider to be war plans, as in combat operations — using very specific information. Nice try Pete. You aren’t on Fox News anymore.

Clearly our national security is in the hands of amateurs and clowns. More significantly it reveals how arrogant and smug the Secretary of Defense actually is in his day-to-day transactions. Apparently, senior members of this administration do not think that the rules apply to them. But of course the man at the top sets the tone for their total disregard for protecting our secrets. (There are other revelations in the exchanges including how much Vice President J.D. Vance and other Cabinet officials hate Europeans. And for decisions of such importance, there are unusually juvenile emojis used.)

The texts were on the app “Signal” which is advertised as encrypted. Not military or intelligence level encrypted, more like you don’t want your colleagues at work to know what you are saying about them encrypted. It is an open source service that anyone can download onto their phone. In no way is it authorized for sensitive, much less highly classified, military and intelligence information. A military member doing the same thing would be instantly fired and probably court martialed. Multiple national security laws were broken in the process of using unauthorized cell phones to communicate this information, not to mention that our laws dictate the retention of official communications and documents and this app destroys any exchanges after a given amount of time.

In an administration that actually cares about the safety of our troops, these conversations would have taken place over highly classified secure networks, or in person, in a secure area known as a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility). Cell phones are easily traceable and can be hacked without the owner knowing about it. Cell phones, Apple watches, and other personal devices are not allowed in a SCIF. (Without going into the details, the SCIF is not secure if there are personal portable devices inside.) Additionally, some of those in the chat group did not have a “need to know” the details of the operation. One needs a classified clearance to access sensitive information, but having a clearance, even the highest available, does not automatically mean access. One also has to have a need to know that information, as in it is necessary for the fulfillment of one’s duties or to make an educated decision.

At a minimum, the Secretary of Defense and the National Security Adviser should resign. I am not holding my breath. There is no respect for the rest of the country, our norms or even our laws with this group of cosplayers in charge of our national security. My guess is that no one will be held accountable, except possibly for a junior staffer who will be blamed for not saving the Cabinet members from themselves.

Thank goodness no one was killed as a result of this total disregard for the safety of our mariners and aviators on the front lines. It does seem obvious, however, that foreign intelligence services wishing to do us harm have probably been aware of this careless level of communications for some time. We can only guess what else they have learned.

Are You an Alien Enemy?

Posted: March 24, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Within political circles, in the news and among the talking heads on the television, there are ongoing discussions as to whether the actions of the 47th president will lead to a Constitutional crisis. Are we there yet or not? I believe that we are already there.

In our daily lives it is easy to lose track of all the chaotic actions taken by the president and his DOGE-bros to disrupt and destroy the federal government under the lie that they are eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Possibly, you have yet to personally feel anything different or to have experienced any changes to your daily life. Therefore, you may ask, why do I really care about any of it? You may even believe that you are apolitical or “tired” of all the discussions and drama and divisiveness so you just tune it out. Good luck. While you were not paying attention, you lost many of the rights we thought were guaranteed to us by our Constitution.

Too dramatic? Let’s take a closer look.

On 14 March 2025 Trump signed an Executive Order claiming to have the right under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (as amended in 1918) to declare that a group of undocumented immigrants from Venezuela are conducting “irregular warfare” against the United States and that they therefore fall under the provisions of the Act because they are perpetrating an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” into the U.S. Specifically, he claims that a Venezuelan based gang known as Tren de Aragua (or TdA) is acting in concert with the government of Venezuela to destabilize the U.S. by using drug trafficking as a “weapon” to attack U.S. citizens.

For context, the provisions of that 18th century law (USC 50 Sections 21-24) have been invoked three times. It was used during the War of 1812, World War I and, perhaps best well-known, for the shameful internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. The law is generally considered to be relevant only in the context of a “declared war” which was used literally in the era in which it was written. The Trump Administration is trying to declare that the other language in the Act applies, specifically that illegal immigrants constitute an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” — although those terms are also used literally to mean large scale armed attacks by foreign forces as in a war or a step towards war. Throughout our history, the Act was understood to be a war time power only, not a hedge to get around the use of regular immigration law. Under the Constitution, only Congress can declare war. However, to provide for emergency responses, a president can declare that an invasion or predatory incursion is underway.

In the public relations realm, the Trump Administration has a powerful story to tell. Let’s face it, no one defends TdA as a bunch of nice fellows. They are murderous drug dealers that have no mercy for anyone from outside of their gang. In a word, they are scum. This provides a means to attack those that criticize Trump’s actions as being outside the law and they continue to attack anyone, including federal judges, that would disallow their use of the Alien Enemies Act to arrest and deport them.

But that is not the issue. And they know it. No one in the U.S. thinks that TdA is a positive force in our lives. Anyone you ask would say that they should be arrested, tried, punished and deported. The courts and the critics of the Administration are not arguing about the nature of TdA. They are arguing that there are already effective laws that deal with criminals like this gang that can be used under the Constitution rather than ignoring the protections we all should have as basic rights. (Curiously, Trump declared last week that he never signed the Executive Order, which itself creates a whole new set of questions.)

What happened on the weekend of 15 March is that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers made 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans “disappear” into one of the world’s most cruel and dangerous prisons in El Salvador under the alleged provisions of the Alien Enemies Act. To date, our government refuses to release the names of those captured. However, the Hollywood style videos of the deportations and incarcerations have given friends and families of those abducted a chance to identify their loved ones that disappeared without a trace. Most have no criminal record. Some appeared for their regularly scheduled check-in appointments as they awaited an asylum hearing and were arrested and thrown into the Salvadoran jail. Note that the Venezuelans were not deported to their home country but to a jail in El Salvador. Oh, yeah. I forgot to add that the Trump Administration is paying the president of that country 6 million dollars to keep them.

The Constitution protects all people living in the U.S. regardless of their immigration status. Everyone has the right to due process under the law if accused of a crime. Everyone within the U.S. is eligible for a fair and impartial hearing by the government under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments before their life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is taken away from them. The Sixth Amendment provides for legal counsel for anyone accused of a crime. Given the nature of the arrests, it is worth noting that the Fourth Amendment protects all of us against unlawful entry and searches without a warrant or probable cause.

Here is where it gets interesting for you and me and why I think it is important for all of us to pay attention. The Trump Administration attorneys in the Department of Justice argue that under the Alien Enemies Act, the Fourth Amendment does not apply. In other words, if you are in the next group of people that Trump unilaterally declares are enemies of the state, the federal government can break down your door and come charging in without probable cause or a search warrant.

Additionally, in a sworn declaration during a court hearing on the use of the Act, ICE Acting Field Office Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations Robert Cerna argued that “the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose” and “demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.” He added that “while it is true that many of the TdA members removed under the AEA [Alien Enemies Act] do not have criminal records in the United States, that is because they have only been in the United States for a short period of time. The lack of a criminal record does not indicate they pose a limited threat.”

Many of those arrested and accused of being members of the gang were targeted solely because they had tattoos. One of those individuals, a professional soccer player in Venezuela who had been tortured by the government regime and received permission to enter the U.S. awaiting an asylum hearing had a tattoo. Of his favorite soccer club. Real Madrid.

So, for those keeping score at home, the Trump Administration claims that they can enter your home for any reason without a court order and arrest you, even if you have no criminal record. Because, according to Mr. Cerna, you are even more dangerous because you don’t have a criminal record. And don’t have any strange looking tattoos in Spanish.

We are living in Bizzaro World.

The issue is now in the courts. As expected, Trump and his henchmen and women in the Administration are crying loud and strong that a single federal judge cannot thwart the will of the great and powerful king in the White House. Apparently, they slept through their civics class that discussed the three equal branches of the government under the Constitution. If they do not like what the district court judge did, then appeal it. Instead they are calling for his impeachment. (Which will go nowhere but will provide for a fund raising advertisement for the MAGA crowd.) Eventually, this issue should wend its way to the Supreme Court. In my mind, this is a no brainer in favor of the Constitution as we have understood it for nearly 250 years. However, nothing is “for sure” anymore. After all, the current Supreme Court is the same one that said the president is immune from prosecution for any act taken within his official duties. Maybe they say that the president can use the Alien Enemies Act in whatever way he wants.

Additionally, the Supreme Court is sometimes reluctant to rule on Constitutional issues when it comes to specific duties assigned to other branches of the government. In this case, Congress declares war under the Constitution and the president carries out the duties of Commander-in-Chief.

This will be a real test of our checks and balances of the three equal branches of government which is already under tremendous stress as the Trump administration continues the quest to turn Trump into the autocrat he so craves to be. He has already subdued the Congress that seems now to exist only to rubber stamp whatever Trump wants. MAGA Republicans bend the knee whenever required and the Democrats in Congress seem leaderless and impotent.

The attack on the judiciary is a direct frontal assault. Trump already silenced several major law firms that stood up to him in the past. They caved. Several news organizations caved to Trump’s extortion threats. So far the judicial branch is holding. I am not sure how long they can continue to hold out, especially as they come under increased threats to their well-being as well as threats to their families.

Please pay attention. We are in a Constitutional crisis. Trump and his supporters are about to decide to ignore or defy a judicial order, putting our cherished democratic republic in danger. It can happen here. It is happening here.

We Don’t Need Another Hero

Posted: March 19, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

(With apologies to Tina Turner and the theme from Thunderdome.)

We have many, many worries that concern many of us right now about the direction our country is headed and for some of us, the direction our own lives may be heading. So, in case you missed it in all the smoke and flames surrounding our current presidential administration, let’s pause and take a moment to consider this.

According to the Washington Post and other news sources, the Department of Defense (DOD) has purged all references to prominent Black, Hispanic, female and other minority service members as well as any references to the Civil War from its website for the Arlington National Cemetery and most any other military website because they are considered to be DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) entries. In his zeal to please the president, the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) has decreed that all DOD websites shall be examined and any references to minorities, women, LBGTQ or any other individual who is not white, heterosexual and male shall be deleted.

This includes World War II aviators with the Tuskegee Airmen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of State Colin Powell, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (buried next to her husband who was a veteran) and Medal of Honor winners. The indication is that throughout DOD, thousands of pages of historical records have been removed from public access. The Arlington Cemetery Website was a useful tool for students and others that were trying to research our American history and to study those that played a prominent role in it. But, not anymore.

But wait! There’s more!

The DOD also directed the removal of a link to PFC Ira Hayes, immortalized in the iconic photo and national monument depicting the raising of the American flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima during World War II. He was one of the six Marines involved. His crime? He is a Native American as a member of the Pima nation. It gets better. During World War II the Navajo code talkers were instrumental to the U.S. success in the Pacific Theater of war. The Japanese never broke the code (their native language) and critical information was securely passed from unit to unit leading to tactical and operational success. Where are the stories celebrating their contribution to our history? Gone. Deleted. I might point out that PFC Hayes, the Navajo code talkers, and many of those whose stories are now gone had never heard of the term DEI. They were not inducted into the military to meet some quota. They volunteered as Americans and their unique talents — such as the code talkers — were a bi-product of their involvement in fighting for American values. It was integral to the task at hand — not some contrived theater of the absurd to demonstrate Native American inclusion.

There are an estimated 26,000 pictures and articles (some reports indicate that it may end being as much as 100,000) that have been deleted from DOD websites, including the ludicrous removal of references to the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. We cannot have any reference to “gay” of course. Enola Gay was the name of the pilot’s mother. Reason and sanity do not prevail when one is rooting out evil influences within our military.

And it gets better still.

Should one search for the links to these Americans on DOD websites you will be disappointed but also find that they indicate they have been deleted because they are “DEI” related.

Many members of the public have protested the removal of specific entries. Some have just been restored — but extremely few compared to the tens of thousands that have been deleted.

So, let me get this clear in my head. There is no reason to celebrate Black History month or Women’s History month or any other similar event because we are all Americans and it is only American History. And yet, we eliminate references to many brave Americans. This administration is working as hard as it can, literally night and day, to re-write history as they wish it to be. The truth be damned.

Sadly, I guess Tina Turner is correct in her song. We don’t need heroes. Unless of course they are straight white men.

“So, what do we do with our lives
We leave only a mark
Will our story shine like a light or end in the dark?
Give it all or nothing”

Some lyrics from the song “We Don’t Need Another Hero”

This Is Not Normal

Posted: March 13, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Okay. Time to face up to the facts. We, the citizens of the United States of America are getting screwed. Erstwhile apologists for the 47th president contend that it is “normal” for a new president to bring in his own political appointees to carry out the policies of the new administration. This is true. But let’s not pretend that what is going on in the Trump administration is anywhere close to normal. Besides the fact that many of his cabinet and other Senate approved nominees are unqualified for their jobs, the person making the biggest impact on our government and, indeed, our cherished way of life, is an unelected, unconfirmed South African billionaire that has no idea of how the U.S. government works and has no intention of finding out. Elon Musk and his co-president Trump just do not care about any of it. Under the Trojan horse of eliminating waste, fraud and abuse, they are destroying our federal government resulting in life changing decisions for tens of thousands of Americans and facilitating the possible deaths of tens of thousands more through their drastic cuts to research, science and health programs and the elimination of funding for the basic necessities of life. The secondary and tertiary effects of these decisions include the impact on farmers that had their contracts to supply food programs cut, to the truck drivers and stevedores responsible for getting the supplies to those in need and on and on. The key question is why are they doing this? I’ll get to that below.

With sincere compassion, yesterday Trump opined that he feels “very badly” about those that are losing their jobs, literally overnight, but “many of them don’t work at all. Many of them never showed up to work.” So I guess the lie that the roughly 32,000 federal employees fired (so far) are losers is supposed to make it all okay.

It is hard to define exactly how much alleged waste fraud and abuse has been rescued from government spending so far. Some lies are easy to unravel, others do not make sense but since the data is limited, it is hard to know exactly what is going on. Musk and his DOGE-bros say that they will cut one trillion dollars from the federal budget by the end of the year. The entire federal work force costs about 293 billion dollars or about 4% of the total budget. That includes salaries and benefits. So far DOGE claims to have cut 115 billion dollars. Most experts that are tracking the cuts conclude that is an overestimate by about 80%. For example, they are counting contracts that were already complete or terminated, sometimes as long ago as during the Bush administration, and in one case, they claimed 8 billion dollars in savings until the contractor pointed out that it was really for 8 million. (I’m reminded of Dr, Evil in the Austin Powers movies and the bit about one million vs one billion dollars in ransom. Only this isn’t funny.)

According to the New York Times tracker, so far at least 10,030 people have been fired in agencies scheduled for dismantling, 21,433 probationary employees were let go, along with 428 DEI workers, 33 January 6 coup investigators, 22 government watchdogs (mostly Inspectors General), and 434 other staffers from across the government that came into the crosshairs of Trumpian disdain. Reports claim that the administration wants to eliminate 100,000 employees in the near future. In other words, the chaos we have endured so far is just the beginning.

Maybe the 18 million dollars of taxpayer money Trump spent in his first seven weeks in office to play golf at his own course could have gone to keeping a few park rangers on the job. I do not begrudge presidents having some down time, but really? President Obama often played golf — at the course on Joint Base Andrews just outside of Washington D.C.

All of this is illegal, of course. Not to mention unethical and a direct conflict of interest given Musk’s 38 billion dollars in government contracts (since 2003) and the fact that much of what they are doing is shrouded in secrecy. Under Article I of the Constitution Congress writes the laws that govern our country, including budget authorizations and appropriations. Under Article II, the president executes the duly enacted laws. Mandates from the electorate or not (and in this case not, Trump got less than 50% of the vote not-with-standing his claims), no president can ignore the law and act as his Project 2025 acolytes decree within a “unitary presidency.” To emphasize that point following the attempts by President Richard Nixon to with hold funds for policies with which he disagreed, Congress passed The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 that reiterates Congressional control of government funds. The Act was reinforced in Train v City of New York (1975), a unanimous Supreme Court decision. Indeed, Trump’s first impeachment was based on his impoundment of funds appropriated and authorized to help in the defense of Ukraine.

Today’s Congress, controlled by MAGA Republicans, refuses to exert its authority and instead is letting an unelected billionaire run amok, cutting on a whim whatever he deems “unnecessary,” for fear of the wrath of Trump. They are derelict in their duties and apparently don’t care. In recent meetings between the MAGA Congress and Musk, he told them to call him if they have any questions about what he is doing. He was even so gracious as to give them his phone number. Which, of course, is totally backwards. They should not be asking him to spare their constituents as a favor, they should be delineating what is and what is not acceptable in accordance with already appropriated spending. Congress has conceded their power and responsibilities to one unelected man. The Speaker of the House, second in line to the presidency behind the Vice President wakes up every morning worried that he did not properly respond to something Musk wants. I exaggerate not. This week he is quoted as saying that Musk has the power to “blow the whole thing up” if he doesn’t like or understand a particular action by Congress. As Speaker Johnson explained, “So I spend a lot of time working with all these dials and all these folks, and I just run around all day and make sure everybody’s happy.”

Why are Musk and Trump doing this?

It is hard to know for sure as to what is going on in the scrambled minds of the co-presidents. Their Project 2025 acolytes believe in what they are doing, They are trying to remake the government in their own ideological image of a white Christian nation. I do not think that Trump and Musk care much about that. Their motivation? To me, money.

There are billions and billions of dollars to be had if one has the inside track on government contracts. If the cuts to the Social Security Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies and departments make already difficult situations worse, then so much the better. The more dissatisfied the public becomes with these agencies and the more that they are unable to provide the required services, the more the public will clamor for change. And what change would that be, you may ask? Not to make the departments more efficient or productive by upgrading computer systems or hiring more federal workers or even more, supposedly, efficient workers. The answer is to privatize them. Turn them over to the billionaires to run. Turn them into for profit companies that provide the services previously paid for by taxes and instead charge a fee for the service.

Another example is in the dissolution of the Department of Education. Trump and others in his administration continue to extoll the virtues of vouchers for schools. Vouchers mean private schools. Private schools can be for profit schools. There is also the added benefit of being able to decide who does or does not get to go to a particular private school — limited enrollment, you know, to enhance the student-teacher ratio. They can also set their own curriculum, ideological leaning and rules. Taxpayer dollars getting diverted from public schools to private ones, thus over time destroying the public school system? Maybe, But, let the free market reign!

The General Services Administration wants to sell over four hundred properties around the country owned by the federal government, including such buildings as the Justice Department Headquarters, the Social Security Administration Headquarters, and others. Does anyone really think that we do not need centralized offices for administering the government? Of course not. It is a potential scheme. Flood the market with too much real estate, prices drop, billionaires buy up those properties at reduced prices, and then turn around and rent them back to the government at a profit.

All the talk about taking over Greenland, Canada, Ukraine and other seemingly non-sensical ravings? Rare earth minerals and other resources abound. More money! Not for the ordinary Joes, but rather for those billionaires that deserve to reap the benefits because, after all, they are the “Master’s of the Universe” (see the film Bonfires of the Vanities, although in the end it did not work out so well).

Their blueprint may well be the way that the oligarchs took over Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. When the centralized economy crashed, there were willing businessmen that saw an opportunity and took it. Buying up formerly state-controlled industries at dirt cheap prices, they parlayed their gains in an “anything goes” atmosphere during the turmoil following the collapse of the Soviet state. During Boris Yeltsin’s time as the country’s president, in order to keep the government afloat, he turned to the now billionaires profiting from their monopolies. In the course of events, they accumulated massive political power along with their wealth. When Vladimir Putin came to office as Yeltsin’s hand picked successor, he made examples of three of these budding oligarchs, either throwing them in jail or forcing them to leave the country. As a result, the remaining oligarchs got the message. In exchange for their continued wealth, they agreed to support Putin, stay out of politics, and share their wealth with him. If you helped Putin, you became rich. If you opposed him, you were exiled, killed or both.

While the United States is not Russia, this same outline could be the game plan for Trump and his billionaire friends. He helps them get rich as long as they keep him in power and make sure that he gets rich alongside of them. We already see that the Department of Justice is dropping cases against criminals that support Trump while going after businesses and high profile individuals that oppose him. Two months into his term, Trump has already made it quite clear that those that support him will benefit and those that oppose him will suffer. With billions, maybe trillions of dollars afloat throughout the government, privatizing agencies that control that money is a huge opportunity for those that play along.

Am I predicting this? No. Can I see that it is possible? Yes. I take solace in the fact that we are not Russia. The United States has a long tradition that no other country in the world has. I have faith that eventually people will catch on to what is happening and work to stop it. Already there are a multitude of challenges to the Trump/Musk administration in the courts. So far, the challengers are winning and Trump is losing. Unfortunately, the wheels of justice turn slowly. While I think that they have a righteous cause that will eventually prevail, in the meantime countless numbers of our citizens will suffer and some will die because they are unable to access the help that they deserve and that our government promised to give them.

Continue to let your elected officials know that you did not sign up for this. We need to keep shouting our dissatisfaction. The self-anointed Masters of the Universe will not prevail.

The Kremlin Rules!

Posted: March 1, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Yesterday, 28 February 2025, was a day where you, me, historians, diplomats, and anyone else that cares about the role of the United States in international diplomacy will talk about as “before 28 February and after 28 February.” We now know that the convicted felon in the White House who tried to stage a coup to keep himself in power is totally, 100 percent behind Russia’s Vladimir Putin and against our long standing allies around the world. Trump’s and Vance’s ignorant display in the Oval Office yesterday reflected the essence of this administration — embarrassing, repugnant, vengeful, hypocritical, and extremely dangerous.

Trump invited President Zelenskyy of Ukraine to the White House yesterday. Ostensibly, the reason for the meeting was to discuss the possibility of Ukraine giving the U.S. access to the rare earth minerals believed to be in Ukrainian territory. (No one is exactly sure what or where those valuable minerals actually are as there are almost no mines actively recovering them and the existence of such minerals is based on a decades old map done by surveyors from the Soviet Union.) Instead, President Zelenskyy walked into an apparent ambush by Trump and his MAGA henchman J.D. Vance where they berated and harassed Mr. Zelenskyy while spreading lies and disinformation about the actual situation in Ukraine. (If you have not yet seen it, watch it here. The body language is as important as what is actually said. Or read about it here.) Note that J.D. Vance started the harangue. J.D. is usually not allowed to attend such meetings between Trump and foreign dignitaries (Trump doesn’t want to share the spotlight), which further indicates that he was part of some plan along with Trump to stick it to the Ukrainian. To his credit, Mr. Zelenskyy did not take the bait, stayed calm, and did not yell back at Trump. He did, however, resolutely stick to his position and to try and explain the dire situation that he and his nation are in because of Russian aggression. What really seemed to enrage Trump was when Mr. Zelenskyy tried to explain that no deal with Russia was worth anything without concrete security guarantees. Further, he warned Trump that if he made an unsecured deal with Putin, eventually the U.S. would be in danger. Trump tripped off the line and starting ranting about Hunter Biden, the Russia “hoax” that Putin suffered through, and countless other grievances that had nothing to do with the alleged negotiations at hand. In the end, Trump sounded exactly like a mafia Don threatening retribution on a business that refused to give him a cut. The point was to bully Mr. Zelenskyy in a dual attack in order to get him to concede to a deal to stop the war that would be exclusively favorable to Russia. Mr. Zelenskyy refused. The meeting ended with Trump ordering the press out of the office and saying, “This is going to be great television.”

What does this attack on Mr. Zelenskyy mean? Why would Trump take Russia’s side in the dispute since they are the clear aggressor and the war could end in one day by withdrawing the Russian and North Korean troops? Let’s take a look.

There is a difference between what things are and what things mean. This was a crude and very undiplomatic shouting match aimed at bullying one of our allies in front of the cameras. What it means is that the U.S. is no longer a reliable partner to our NATO allies and our friends around the world. It means that Trump supports the dictator Putin over the leader of a democracy suffering at the hands of an unprovoked aggressor. It means that Trump and Putin will probably work out some kind of “peace” deal without Ukraine having a say. It means that Russia will be encouraged to continue its quest to reestablish the Russian empire. It means that the U.S. is meaningfully less secure.

This is the biggest diplomatic change since the arrival of the United States on the world stage at the start of the Twentieth Century. We are now aligned with Russia who is aligned with China, Iran and North Korea. Countless leaders throughout the free world from Belgium to New Zealand lined up in support of Mr. Zelenskyy and his stance to defend Ukraine.

Where was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, known as an avid anti-Russian hawk? Slumped in a chair next to Vance looking very much like he wished he could disappear. Where was National Security Adviser Mike Waltz who as a Congressman was another anti-Russia, pro-Ukraine supporter? Missing in action. After the dust settled many, many of the MAGA crowd (there are no longer members of the Republican Party in Congress) chose to blame the melt down on Mr. Zelenskyy. They focused on the fact that he did not a wear a suit and tie (he goes everywhere in modified military gear to remind everyone his country is at war) and therefore he was disrespectful and argumentative. (Musk wore a ball cap and t-shirt to a Cabinet meeting in the White House earlier this week, but apparently he can do whatever he wants to do.)

Mr. Rubio and Mr. Waltz should resign. It is clear that they have no influence over Trump or American policy. But of course, they will not. They have been totally coopted. American foreign policy is no longer based on American values and strength. It is now based on the ignorant whims of one man who thinks he is a world player. Instead, he is getting played.

Why is Trump trying to destroy our role in the world by aligning with Putin? I have given this a lot of thought. Trump’s apologists come up with a myriad of reasons as to why he disparages our closest allies and cheers our enemies. He is a businessman. He knows the art of the deal. He is trying to get the EU to step up. It is part of “America First.” Blah, blah blah.

Of course, I am not on the inside so I do not know what takes place behind closed doors but here is what I think. There are only two conceivable scenarios at this point as to why Trump is turning our country over to Putin. The first is that he is actually an agent for Putin. He is trying to destroy our country from within (via Musk and his DOGE bros running amok) and without (throwing our allies under the bus). The Russians cannot believe their great fortune in his returning to the presidency. They are getting a great return on their investment. Can I prove this? Of course not. But there have been rumors since the 1980s that Trump was compromised and groomed to at least be sympathetic to Russia. Given his intellectual and psychological vulnerabilities, and his weakness for flattery, this is not too far fetched. Several uncorroborated reports have had at least four separate former KGB agents at different times reveal that there was a KGB operation, run by the then Czechoslovakian intelligence service, to groom him as a Russian supporter. It is known that many of his real estate deals were with Russian oligarchs buying properties at inflated prices. His first campaign manager Paul Manafort had known ties to Russian oligarchs and intelligence agents. All that said, this to me is the least likely of the options.

It is more likely that he has some simplistic medieval grand view where rich and powerful kings rule the world and their subjects show absolute fealty to him and carry out his every whim. He needs only confer with his fellow “kings” in Russia and China to decide how they will divide the world. Thus we do not need a federal civil service, the king and his lords will run the country. He does not need allies because he consorts with his fellow kings. Rich and powerful men know what is best. What is good for the king is good for the state. “L’etat, c’est moi” — “I am the state” — as King Louis XIV of France is said to have told the French parliament in 1655. In other words, he is an absolute monarch with complete power and not subject to Constitutional limitations. While some of you may think that I am stretching the analogy, and I doubt that Trump knows who Louis XIV was and wouldn’t care anyway, he is approaching his presidency as if he is the absolute ruler. As the absolute ruler he only needs to confer with other absolute rulers.

Whether or not he succeeds with this approach to governing, we will find out. What I am arguing is that this is his mind set and thus he acts in the ways that he does. As I have written in this space countless times, autocrats always tell you what they are going to do. They don’t always succeed, but they are going to try. Trump is telling us exactly what he wants to do and unlike in his first term, he has people around him that are willing to do it.

This is dangerous for many reasons, of course. In this particular case, and what President Zelenskyy was trying to tell Trump, is that he can not trust Putin. Once America repudiates our allies and removes itself from participation with our allies in NATO and elsewhere, Putin and Xi Jinping of China will work together to bring us to our knees. This is one of the things that infuriated Trump during the meeting. Mr. Zelenskyy told Trump that the U.S now “has a nice ocean” to protect us against Russia so we don’t “feel” Russian pressure or threats, but that “you will feel it in the future.” Trump exploded and said “don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.” Completely missing the point, but then he is not that sharp and he is intellectually uncurious. Flattery gets you everything with Trump. He is an easy mark for Putin and Xi who have been in this game for a long time.

The idea of the world being divided into “kingdoms” fits nicely with the Project 2025 playbook being implemented throughout the government as I write. Trump’s world view, Musk’s world view and that of the Project 2025 folks is that rich, powerful men became that way — became “kings” of their domains — because they are smarter and more ruthless and more capable than the rest of us. Therefore it is only logical that they should be in charge. This view is manifesting itself in the foreign policy arena with Ukraine as the example. Ukraine is relatively weak, especially compared to Russia, therefore they should submit and give Russia whatever they want in order to bring “peace” and “save lives.” Of course the Butcher of Bucha will only torture, rape and murder the good citizens of Ukraine should Putin take over.

Remember the day that it all changed. Even if Trump’s plans are thwarted, it will take a generation of hard work before our allies will ever trust us again.