America First. Women and Children Last.
Wherein we find the only "Big Balls" belong to that 19-year-old DOGE punk.
"That boy just ain't right."
-James Carville speaking of Donald Trump -
Last week, I wrote about the curious new affinity Republicans have for Russia and Vladimir Putin. The party of Goldwater and Reagan has now become a wholly owned subsidiary of the Politburo.
Roger T. Gray
After the embarrassing, childish and obviously premeditated display in our "Cherished Oval Office" as President Trump described it in a tweet, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine was sent packing for the unforgivable crime of not trusting the Russians to keep their word on a peace deal.
And the reluctance of anyone in the White House, or frankly, the invertebrates in the GOP Congress to assign blame to Putin for the carnage is humiliating. I'm reminded of the scene in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" where John Cleese has just massacred an entire wedding party but Michael Palin tries to smooth it over...
"Let's not argue and bicker over who killed who."
And speaking of gelatinous creatures, Lindsay Graham (R-Tara), who I thought couldn't sink any lower, gave Dante a run for his money by rising from his fainting couch and calling for Zelenskyy to resign for disagreeing with Trump. That was echoed on "Meet the Press" by Speaker and Clark Kent cosplay actor, Mike Johnson (R-Gumboville).
Here is an excerpt, and forgive me for the length, from the meeting courtesy of the Associated Press, who are still banned from the White House for the same crime as Zelenskyy. Contradicting He Who Must Not Be Challenged...
Vance: “For four years, the United States of America, we had a president who stood up at press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin, and then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country. The path to peace and the path to prosperity is, maybe, engaging in diplomacy. What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That’s what President Trump is doing.”
Zelenskyy: “Can I ask you?”
Vance: “Sure. Yeah.”
Zelenskyy: “OK. So he (Putin) occupied it, our parts, big parts of Ukraine, parts of east and Crimea. So he occupied it in 2014. So during a lot of years — I’m not speaking about just Biden, but those times was (Barack) Obama, then President Obama, then President Trump, then President Biden, now President Trump. And God bless, now, President Trump will stop him. But during 2014, nobody stopped him. He just occupied and took. He killed people. You know what the -
Trump: “2015?”
Zelenskyy: “2014.”
Trump: “Oh, 2014? I was not here.”
Vance: “That’s exactly right.”
Zelenskyy: “Yes, but during 2014 ‘til 2022, the situation is the same, that people have been dying on the contact line. Nobody stopped him. You know that we had conversations with him, a lot of conversations, my bilateral conversation. And we signed with him, me, like, you, president, in 2019, I signed with him the deal. I signed with him, (French President Emmanuel) Macron and (former German Chancellor Angela) Merkel. We signed ceasefire. Ceasefire. All of them told me that he will never go … But after that, he broke the ceasefire, he killed our people, and he didn’t exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners. But he didn’t do it. What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about? What do you mean?
Vance: “I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country. Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media. You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”
Zelenskyy: “Have you ever been to Ukraine that you say what problems we have?”
Vance: “I have been to –”
Zelenskyy: “Come once.”
Vance: “I’ve actually watched and seen the stories, and I know that what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you disagree that you’ve had problems, bringing people into your military?”
Zelenskyy: “We have problems –”
Vance: “And do you think that is respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?”
Zelenskyy: “A lot of questions. Let’s start from the beginning.”
Vance: “Sure."
Zelenskyy: “First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you. But you have nice ocean and don’t feel now. But you will feel it in the future. God bless –”
Trump: “You don’t know that. You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”
Zelenskyy: “I’m not telling you. I am answering on these questions.”
Trump: “Because you’re in no position to dictate that.”
Vance: “That’s exactly what you’re doing.”
Trump: “You are in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel. We’re going to feel very good.”
Zelenskyy: “You will feel influenced.”
Trump: “We are going to feel very good and very strong.”
Zelenskyy: “I am telling you. You will feel influenced.”
Trump: “You’re, right now, not in a very good position. You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position –”
Zelenskyy: “From the very beginning of the war —”
Trump: “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.”
Zelenskyy: “I’m not playing cards. I’m very serious, Mr. President. I’m very serious.”
Trump: “You’re playing cards. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III.”
==================================
Vance: "Have you said thank you once?”
Zelenskyy: “A lot of times. Even today.”
Vance: “No, in this entire meeting.
And so it went. I mentioned the AP was barred from the meeting, but curiously, the Russian propaganda news operation, TASS, was there.
As the vice president sat there, hoping for approving looks from Trump for his servile badgering of a man who has seen his country through 3 years of a brutal war, the ostensive Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat on the same couch, absolutely silent.
A man whose parents escaped a communist regime in Cuba, and who has excoriated Putin in the past, had nothing to say in the face of this sh*t show. He then popped up on CNN defending the indefensible and again refusing to condemn Russia, essentially echoing Michael Palin's, "Let's not bicker about who killed who."
I'm beginning to rethink Trump's "Little Marco" insult.
It even got to this point as a "conservative" commentator for something called Real America's Voice, whatever that is, named Brian Glenn, asked this of the man who has led his country through this carnage...
“Why don’t you wear a suit? You’re in the highest level of this country’s office, and you refuse to wear a suit? I just want to see, do you own a suit?”
I'd like to point out that this supposed journalist is dating Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Churchill Downs). Hey, snarky questions and a bag of apples will work wonders for your romantic chances. If only Zelenskyy had dressed appropriately like, oh, perhaps Elon Musk.
The meeting was billed as a prelude to a signing ceremony wherein Ukraine signed over it's rare earth minerals to President Nitty in return for protection guarantees, and Zelenskyy hopes, eventual NATO membership. Yes, American support in times of need is now a protection racket.
But remember, in October 2024, U.S. and EU officials finalized a G7 plan for a $50 billion loan to Ukraine, to be repaid with proceeds earned on immobilized Russian sovereign assets. In December 2024, the United States approved a $20 billion loan as part of this initiative.
Yes, we are part of it. The EU is sitting on $197 billion in frozen Russian money, more than enough to aid Ukraine. So no matter how much Trump inflates the level of US support, and he does constantly, there is a repayment mechanism in place.
But repayment isn't really what he's after. Perhaps his affinity for Putin can be partially explained by the fact that, like Vlad, Trump reneged on virtually every private sector deal he entered into. At least Capone offered real protection if you paid him.
No, this is what I wrote about last week. The glowing Russian press reviews of this fiasco should be evidence that Putin's approval is what he seeks.
Some examples from the Irish Network RTE...
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova suggested that President Trump and Vice President Vance should have "punched" Mr Zelensky after he said that Ukraine had been left alone during the conflict.
Russian MP Alexey Chepa told Lenta.ru, Russia's most widely read news website, that he believed Mr Zelensky would not be invited back to the White House, saying that he was now a "persona non grata" in Washington.
Senator Alexey Pushkov, quoted by Komsomolskaya Pravda, a daily Russian tabloid newspaper, claimed that Washington took note of Europe’s reaction to the row. The show of support by many European leaders, he argued, has now turned them into Mr Trump’s "enemies". The American president now has "more than enough reasons to break with Europe and make it feel the consequences," he added.
Obviously ignoring Trump's plea to not tell us what to feel.
The Kremlin said in remarks aired Sunday that the United States' sudden shift in foreign policy "largely aligns" with its own position.
"The new administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations. This largely aligns with our vision," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a reporter from state television.
So, someone besides Fox enjoyed the show of, as the President called it, "Great TV."
Meanwhile, President Musk agreed that the US should pull out of both NATO and the United Nations. This after the suggestion was made by Trump lickspittle Sen. Mike Lee (R-Mormanavia).
And, with the announcements that he will go through with punitive tariffs on our closest trading partners, Canada and Mexico, and leaving the fate of NATO and the people of Ukraine to Europe alone, we are well and truly isolated now. If you think China, North Korea and Iran aren't watching along with the Kremlin, you're not paying attention. We will soon indeed be alone in the world. No ally can now trust us to be a faithful partner (looking at you, Melania) and our former enemies will be emboldened. Maybe that's what they mean by "America First?"
And of course it takes the spotlight off of Elon and his band of plunderers who are ransacking the US government piece by huge piece. And make no mistake, this is what the architects of Project 2025 want. They don't like government at all. They don't like the Social Security check that I and millions of other Americans receive, not to mention our Medicare and Medicaid.
Air traffic, Hurricane forecasts, National Parks, and aid to the starving around the world are all someone else's concern. Their idea of "waste, fraud and abuse" is pretty much anything the government does except pay for the Army.
And while this destruction happens before our very eyes, Musk is making himself richer by the day. The latest is canceling a contract for the FAA with Verizon and replacing it with one with him. This week alone, he called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme," echoing myopic libertarians and goofy Ayn Rand enthusiasts everywhere.
Yeah, she took her Social Security payments while railing against them.
Does anyone care, anymore? Is no one watching this unfold? Will it only register when something you do care about is affected, and then it is too late? We are asleep at the switch, lulled into a MAGA stupor assuming that our adored leader is doing all this for us and not for the rich guys who can now buy a $5 million Gold US Visa to resettle in the country.
As Musk struts erratically on stage with a chainsaw and the leader of a besieged ally is booted from the Winter Palace in D.C., the faithful create excuses for this unseemly and destructive state of affairs.
I am reminded of the plea from Attorney Joseph Welch to the equally scabrous Senator Joseph McCarthy during the disgraceful Army-McCarthy Hearings in 1954.
“Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?”
Well, do they?
Now, he is part of the Texas Outlaw Writers, and if this doesn't pan out, the outlaw part will still work as he will indeed resort to robbing banks.