Donald's Handler Makes Him Angry

Morning Dispatch

The epitome of weakness.

Donald said in a call yesterday with NBC News that he was “very angry” and “pissed off” after Vladimir Putin questioned the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s leadership. Donald claimed that Putin’s comments were “not going in the right location,” by which I think he means they are not helpful in the context of the so-called peace negotiations. Donald seems to forget that he himself has called Zelensky a dictator.

Donald said further:

If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia. That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States. There will be a 25% tariff on all oil, a 25- to 50-point tariff on all oil.

Donald then insinuated that the tariffs on Russian goods will be imposed within a month absent a ceasefire, and he suggested he knows Putin is “angry” but he has “a very good relationship with him . . . the anger dissipates quickly ... if he does the right thing.”

Sure.

I think two things are potentially going on at the same time. First, if you’ll remember, Donald said that on day one of the transition—that is, the day after the November 5th election—he was going to end the war in Ukraine. Of course, that would have been illegal and impossible, but that’s what he promised. And that did not happen.

By refusing to agree to his so-called ceasefire (which, again, almost entirely redounds to Russia’s benefit), Putin is making Donald look bad.

Donald has created the circumstances in which such behavior would be almost inevitable. In the intervening months, after all, he has made the situation in Ukraine worse in several ways.

He has:

• made America’s support of Ukraine conditional and transactional

• betraying our responsibilities to our NATO allies

• falsely claimed that Ukraine is the aggressor (an objectively insane pronouncement)

• proved his willingness to give Putin carte blanche in any “negotiations”

• held “peace talks" without including Ukraine or its Europeans and NATO allies

As a result, Donald has given Putin all sorts of power. The Russian dictator, thanks to his minion, is now in the driver’s seat at a time when, after three years of fighting, his country could have been sidelined and subjugated if there had been a sufficient and coordinated effort by NATO led by the United States.

Putin is suddenly in no rush to negotiate the peace—even if, as Donald has made clear, such a “peace” would be predicated on the notion that Russia should be able to keep all of the Ukrainian territory it has already seized.

Putin now knows definitively that he will not be punished for having illegally invaded our ally or for the crimes against humanity he has committed against the Ukrainian people. His imperial ambitions remain intact, and he may be close than he’s ever been to realizing them now that his position has been bolstered by Donald’s betrayal of Ukraine and his upending of U.S support. He has absolutely no incentive to end the conflict and he will not desist until he gets everything he wants. That, ultimately, is to annex the entire country of Ukraine, not just keep the territories he has already seized.

Why is Putin so hell-bent on this acquisition? The explanation is a historical one. To quote Zbigniew Brzeziński, from his 2012 book Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power:

It cannot be stressed enough that without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire, but with Ukraine suborned and then subordinated, Russia automatically becomes an empire.

Without Ukraine, Russia is a backwater. If American presidents from 1991 on had recognized that and worked to contain Russia while refusing to buy into the Russian myth of its strategic superiority and inevitability as a world power; if, the West in general and America in particular, had invested in the future of Ukraine as a strong ally to the West and the liberal democratic order, we would never have been in this situation.

That's what Alex Vindman’s new book, The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine is about. It’s an excellent and timely book.

Ukraine is standing between us and the greatest threat to the Western liberal democratic order that was established in the wake of World War II. The United States of America, under the benighted stewardship of Donald Trump, has abdicated all responsibility to our erstwhile ally, NATO hangs by a thread, and the danger to that order has increased greatly. Ukraine is the first domino, and If Ukraine falls, there is no reason to think Lithuania and Poland won't be next.

The other factor at play here is that Putin, as he occasionally does, is tightening his grip on Donald’s leash. He has Donald’s number, as he has had for decades. But Donald is a different man from who he was even eight years ago. He is much diminished, and much deteriorated, which is saying something. This is the result of a combination of cognitive decline, his untreated and worsening psychiatric disorders, stress, and his unhealthy lifestyle.

The fact that Donald has been tolerating Elon Musk, a man who rivals his narcissism and needs just as desperately to be the smartest, most admired, most valued person in the room, is indicative of Donald’s decline. It’s difficult to imagine his having put up with Musk’s blatant usurpation of his power at any other time in the past. Musk, like Putin, has Donald's number and he understands him very well. But the kind of power Musk yields is categorically different from the power Putin wields. The former does not rival Donald’s perception of his power in that realm. Putin’s power—the total, inarguable power of the authoritarian—is what Donald craves and remains subservient to. It is beyond him.

On an unconscious level, this makes Donald uncomfortable. It is so at odds with his false perception of himself as a killer and a tough guy; of a savvy deal-maker who can always get the upper hand. When he feels thwarted by Putin, when Putin puts him in his place and reminds him who's in charge, Donald acts out.

But he always leaves room for a reconciliation, even if he must pretend he will come out on top. Because that is what he must think. The tell is in his above statement:

“[I have] a very good relationship with Putin . . . the anger dissipates quickly ... if he does the right thing.”

Of course, it is Donald who will do the right thing—the thing that Putin wants him to do, whatever that might be depending on the moment and the circumstances.