“I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
-Don Vito Corleone
Who is most like Don Corleone? Don Trump? or Vlad Putin? Who's ring is being kissed?
Recent actions by the Trump administration suggest that the “bromance” between Putin and Trump has strengthened. Thomas Friedman is bewildered and writes:
The drama going on between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine raises one of the most disturbing questions I’ve ever had to ask about my own country: Are we being led by a dupe for Vladimir Putin — by someone ready to swallow whole the Russian president’s warped view of who started the war in Ukraine and how it must end? Or are we being led by a Mafia godfather, looking to carve up territory with Russia the way the heads of crime families operate? “I’ll take Greenland, and you can take Crimea. I’ll take Panama, and you can have the oil in the Arctic. And we’ll split the rare earths of Ukraine. It’s only fair.”
Either way, my fellow Americans and our friends abroad, for the next four years at least, the America you knew is over. The bedrock values, allies and truths America could always be counted upon to defend are now all in doubt — or for sale. Trump is not just thinking out of the box. He is thinking without a box, without any fidelity to truth or norms that animated America in the past.
What happens when one doesn't kiss the ring? Ask Zelensky. After a berating, one is told to leave the White House. With Russian cameras rolling, the Kremlin celebrates a renewed dance partner.
Cartoon by Mike Tofanelli
CPW
P.S. From George Washington:
Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.
Comments