Trump Will Continue Advancing Putin’s Goals to Reduce U.S. Credibility and Undermine its Longstanding Alliances
It’s not complicated. Everyone knows Trump admires and envies strongmen and will eagerly suffer any slight or indignity and surrender to any fawning gesture for their acceptance and admission to the fraternity.
Putin allowed a Russian state-run television program to “congratulate” Trump on his 2024 win by displaying sexually charged photos of a nude and scantily clad past and future first lady from her days as a model. Katie Livingstone suggested the message was meant to set the “Kremlin’s power dynamic of the Putin-Trump and Moscow-Washington relationships.” Livingstone thought the “stunt” was also a reminder that the Kremlin may possess material that could embarrass or politically damage Trump, although it’s become near impossible to imagine anything that could accomplish either.
Stroking Trump’s fragile ego and playing to his desperate insecurity, Putin more recently said Trump “is an intelligent and already quite experienced person. . . . By the way,” he added, “in my opinion, he is not safe now,” claiming the attempts on his life were “‘uncivilized methods’ deployed against Trump during the campaign.” Putin then said, “he expects Donald Trump ‘will find a solution’ on the Ukraine war,” anticipating a Trump-led U.S. will pull military aid and seek a ceasefire on terms very favorable to Putin’s territorial objectives in a newly drawn Ukraine, and Poland and Scandinavia. Trump already informed the EU he would disregard the United States’ commitment to Article 5 of the NATO treaty (the collective defense clause — an attack against any member country is an attack against all) and “encourage Russia ‘to do whatever the hell they want’ to member countries he views as not spending enough on its own defense.” See also Donald Trump’s re-election threatens NATO’s Article 5 and thus plays into Russia’s hands; “America First” means diminished American global leadership.
The Kremlin knows exactly how to advance Russia’s interests through Trump — and how simple it was and will continue to be. Trump came to the Kremlin’s attention in the late 70s when he married Czech model Ivana Zelnickova and became the target of a spying operation overseen by Czechoslovakia’s intelligence service working with the KGB. They found “he was extremely vulnerable intellectually, and psychologically, and he was prone to flattery.” The KGB “played the game as if they were immensely impressed by his personality. . . . Trump was the perfect target in a lot of ways: his vanity, narcissism made him a natural target to recruit. He was cultivated over a 40-year period, right up through [the 2016] election.” The Perfect Target.
Easily playing on Trump’s psychological vulnerabilities, the Kremlin made significant inroads during his first administration. “In his two decades as Russia’s autocratic leader, Putin has systematically sought to grow his nation’s influence at America’s expense by breaking up its long-standing alliance structure and discrediting its democratic institutions and values. Over the . . . four [Trump] years, Putin has succeeded to a remarkable degree, aided by the credibility and support on the world stage that Trump has given him, according to national security and foreign policy experts, some of them Trump’s most strident critics.” Tumult at home, ailing alliances abroad: Why Trump’s America has been a ‘gift’ to Putin (emphasis added).
Trump’s protestations notwithstanding — “there has been nobody tougher on Russia than Donald Trump” — the overwhelming evidence is to the contrary. Trump repeatedly praised Putin, hired a pro-Russian operative to run his 2016 campaign, suggested Russia could keep Crimea, softened the Republican 2016 Platform on Ukraine in Russia’s favor, invited Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails and then capitalized on Russia’s success, denied the overwhelming evidence of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, undermined U.S. sanctions against Russia during his transition to the White House, gave Russia classified intelligence, aligned himself with Putin by continually criticizing and alienating NATO allies, avoided signing sanctions against Russia that overwhelmingly passed the House and Senate (419–3 and 98–2), over a bipartisan senate resolution to the contrary lifted sanctions against Oleg Deripaska who was heavily linked to Russian interference in the 2016 election, congratulated Putin on his victory in a sham election, complained about sanctions to punish Russia for its poisoning/assassination attempt of Sergei Skripal in the UK, refused to condemn a 2018 Russian attack on Ukrainian military vessels, implored allies to let Russia back in the G7, spread Russian disinformation about Ukraine, smeared the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and ignored warnings about Russian bounties to Afghan militants to kill American soldiers and later said the reporting was “made up by the fake news,” among many other examples of favorable treatment of Putin. See 37 times Trump was soft on Russia.
It’s no wonder the Kremlin exhausted sophisticated covert resources, primarily targeting swing states, to influence the 2024 election in Trump’s favor, “consistent with Moscow’s broader foreign policy goals of weakening the United States and undermining Washington’s support for Ukraine.”
The Trump administration’s further normalizing and mainstreaming of Russian propaganda — mainlining if the Senate confirms Trump’s nominee to lead the 18 U.S. intelligence agencies and departments — will make the world even more dangerous and the EU more vulnerable to Russian aggression. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s selection for director of national intelligence, earned her place as “a darling of the Kremlin’s vast state media apparatus” by meeting with Syria’s Russia-backed genocidal president Bashar al-Assad who used the deadly nerve agent sarin in the Gouta District of Damascus, killing more than 1,400 people, accusing the U.S. of supporting terrorists there, and blaming the United States and NATO for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by ignoring the former’s security concerns. She falsely claimed the U.S. worked with Ukraine to develop “dangerous biological pathogens” and was complicit in bombing the Nord Stream pipeline between Russia and Germany. Rossiya-1, a Russian state television channel, described Gabbard, who mirrors “disinformation straight out of the Kremlin’s playbook,” in “glowing” terms as “a Russian ‘comrade’ in Trump’s emerging cabinet.”
“‘Nominating Gabbard for director of national intelligence is the way to Putin’s heart, and it tells the world that America under Trump will be the Kremlin’s ally rather than an adversary,’ Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history at New York University and the author of ‘Strongmen,’ a 2020 book about authoritarian leaders, wrote . . . . ‘And so we would have a national security official who would potentially compromise our national security.’”
How Tulsi Gabbard Became a Favorite of Russia’s State Media.
The most serious consequences of Gabbard leading and coordinating the 18 United States intelligence agencies include:
“First, whether by her incompetence or other agencies’ resistance, intelligence will not be well-coordinated. This is no small point. The office of DNI was created in 2004 after a special commission and several lawmakers concluded that the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, happened in part because U.S. intelligence agencies didn’t speak to one another and so didn’t ‘connect the dots’ in a way that might have revealed the plot to destroy the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. . . .
“Second, relations between U.S. and allied intelligence agencies would surely be weakened. This would particularly be true with the other ‘Five Eyes’ nations — Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand — that share extremely sensitive information, including communications intercepts, with one another and only with one another. [A] former senior intelligence officer [said], ‘I am certain that the Five Eyes would exercise greater caution in sharing with the United States.’
“And in return, Gabbard, who disdains alliances as much as Trump does, would also be less willing to share intel with the other Five Eyes nations.
“This means the United States would be kept in the dark about a lot of things going on in the world.”
Trump’s pick for intelligence director could plunge the U.S. into the dark
And then there’s Elon Musk, Trump’s surrogate vice president, who reportedly has “been talking on a consistent basis with Russian President Vladimir Putin.” Considered the world’s wealthiest person, Musk helped finance Trump’s campaign “very strongly.” In addition to Tesla and X (formerly Twitter), Musk owns SpaceX and its subsidiary Starlink which provides satellite internet services. SpaceX, a commercial spaceflight entity, has multiple contracts worth billions with the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA. “Some of that work is so sensitive that the United States has given Musk high-level security clearances due to his knowledge of the programs, raising concerns among some that top secret U.S. information and capabilities could be at risk.” While Musk and Putin have denied frequent conversations, the Wall Street Journal reported that Putin allegedly “asked Musk not to activate Starlink . . . over Taiwan as a favor to China. Concerns about Elon Musk, Russia’s Putin not fading yet; see also Senators ask Pentagon and DOJ to investigate Putin-Musk calls. Musk also confirmed he ordered engineers to turn off the Starlink’s satellite internet access during a Ukraine drone attack on Russian war ships off the coast of Crimea. Musk claims he did not want to help facilitate Ukraine’s response to Russian aggression.
Popular podcaster Joe Rogan recently topped off the Russian disinformation campaign by accusing President Biden of escalating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to World War III. “Rogan made his hot-button comments last week after Biden gave Ukraine permission to use long-range U.S.-supplied missiles that can strike deep into Russia amid the on-going conflict.” Rogan also blamed Ukrainian President Vololdymyr Zelensky for not capitulating to intervention by a country that has massive nuclear capability. “Zelenskly says Putin is terrified. Fuck you, man. . . . Fuck you, people. You people are about to start World War III,” suggesting that Russia would resort to its nuclear arsenal.
In response to Rogan’s spreading Russian propaganda, Ukrainian former world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko whose brother Vitali Klitschko, another former world heavyweight champion, is current mayor of Kyiv, accused Rogan of “using the only weapon that (Valdimir) Putin intends to use.” Klitschko said:
“I listened to your latest podcast. I am sending you this video to let you know that I disagree. You talk about these American weapons being sent to Ukraine, which you believe will lead to the Third World War.
“So, let me tell you that you’re repeating Russian propaganda — Putin’s Russia is in trouble. So they want to scare you and people like you. This war was supposed to last three days, it has lasted three years thanks to the heroism and sacrifice of us Ukrainians.
“Putin’s Russia wants to destroy Ukraine quietly, they want America to stay quiet — not great. A great America is not an America that abandons countries that defend freedom with their lives.”
I read into Klitschko’s statement, among other things, that only cowards would capitulate when Putin responds to countermeasures to Russian aggression with threats of nuclear weapons. History taught us appeased dictators won’t stop, a lesson American voters may learn the hard way.
R.VanWagoner https://medium.com/@richardvanwagoner publishes. https://richardvanwagoner.medium.com/subscribe
My brother the very talented fiction writer and novelist, Robert Hodgson Van Wagoner, deserves considerable credit for offering both substantive and technical suggestions to https://medium.com/@richardvanwagoner. Rob’s second novel is a beautifully written suspense drama that takes place in Utah, Wyoming, and Norway. This novel, The Contortionists, which Rob himself narrates for the audio version, is a psychological page-turner about a missing child in a predominantly Mormon community. I have read the novel and listened to the audio version twice. It is a literary masterpiece. The Contortionists is not, however, for the faint of heart.
**Richard J Van Wagoner is my father. His list of honors, awards, and professional associations is extensive. He was Professor Emeritus (Painting and Drawing), Weber State University, having served three Appointments as Chair of the Department of Visual Arts there. He guest-lectured and instructed at many universities and juried numerous shows and exhibitions. He was invited to submit his work as part of many shows and exhibitions, and his work was exhibited in many traveling shows domestically and internationally. My daughter Angela Van Wagoner, a professional photographer, photographed more than 500 pieces of my father’s work. The photographs of my father’s art reproduced in https://medium.com/@richardvanwagoner are hers.