It’s been two weeks since Donald Trump said he was giving Russia’s Vladimir Putin two more weeks to work towards a resolution of its war in Ukraine, and as of this writing, the American president still hasn’t signaled any willingness to follow through on his deadline. If these circumstances sound familiar, it’s because we’ve been here before.
That said, it’d be a mistake to suggest the Republican isn’t doing anything. On the contrary, the White House appears to be finding new ways to deliver new rewards to Moscow. The New York Times reported:
The United States will move to end support for a program that helped prepare armies in Eastern Europe to stave off a potential offensive from Russia, the White House said Thursday, as President Trump continues overhauling Washington’s role within NATO and pushing Europe to bolster its defenses and support for Ukraine. … Ending the longstanding program is expected to impact hundreds of millions of dollars that have gone toward countries that border Russia.
The Washington Post reported that the shift “alarmed U.S. allies struggling to comprehend the administration’s policy,” adding that U.S. lawmakers found themselves “confused by the move.”
The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols added in response to the developments, “I am adamant about people not falling prey to conspiracy theories about Trump and the Russians, but this is a classic moment where it’s understandable to ask: If the Russians owned him, how would his actions be any different?”
What’s more, the administration’s latest move comes just two weeks after the American president suggested he planned to welcome Putin to American soil so the two of them can hang out at the World Cup. (At the same White House event, Trump bragged about a photograph Putin had sent him, commented on how “nice” Putin looked and announced plans to sign Putin’s gift and then send it back to him, for reasons unknown.)
Seven days earlier, Trump actually welcomed Putin to American soil, handing the Russian dictator a long-sought diplomatic victory in exchange for exactly nothing. As regular readers might recall, that embarrassment came on the heels of a series of related developments that were likely celebrated in Moscow in recent months: If Trump wants people to stop marveling at his degrading weakness when it comes to his Russian counterpart, he’ll have to stop coddling Putin and kowtowing to the Kremlin. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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