Hello Downriver,
Being a student of history, I have to wonder how long it will take for Americans and the world to look back at the here and now and note that this is when Trump tried to hand Europe to Vladimir Putin.
Because that’s the risk we’re running right now.
It was in September 1938 that then-British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from meeting with Adolph Hitler in Munich and said he’d made an agreement with Germany’s “Mein Führer” — announcing to the world that there would now be “peace for our time.”
Almost to the day a year later, Hitler invaded Poland, launching World War II.
Today, of course, we have useful American idiots meeting with Putin’s delegation with the intent of giving away Ukraine in exchange for some kind of vague, 21st-century version of “peace for our time.”
Indeed, Trump’s original 28-point plan called for Ukraine to give up additional territory in the east — which Russia does not even occupy — cap the size of its military and agree it will never join NATO.
When that plan was viewed by Democrats, Republicans and the world, it was seen as if it were written by Putin himself. So Trump caved and the result is now a new 19-point plan that still has elements of the initial concept.
But is it good enough — and the right thing to do?
Because, as we all know well, Trump remains Putin’s best buddy, putting the Russian leader’s needs ahead of all else. To this day, you still have to wonder what “kompromat” the Russians have on Trump.
Second, so corrupt is the administration’s relationship with Putin that Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff — a real estate developer with no prior diplomatic experience — advised a Russian diplomat on how to shmooze Trump to get what Russia wants:
“Just reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement… that you respect that he is a man of peace and you’re just, you’re really glad to have seen it happen,” Witkoff is quoted as saying on a phone call with Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser.
“I told the president that you — that the Russian Federation has always wanted a peace deal. That’s my belief,” Witkoff said, according to a transcript of the call.
“The issue is that we have two nations that are having a hard time coming to a compromise.
“I’m even thinking that maybe we set out like a 20-point peace proposal, just like we did in Gaza.,” Witkoff said, who ended the call by telling Ushakov that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was coming to the White House, and that “if possible,” Trump and Putin should talk before that meeting.
I don’t know if you can see it, but I can: it’s that thumb on the scale of fairness and even allegiance to an ally.
But should we expect anything less from Trump’s “B Team” of negotiators sent to hammer out something with Russia’s KGB-trained president: Witkoff, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll (instead of insane potential war criminal and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth) and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who never does anything unless money is involved.
Oh, and Secretary of State “Little” Marco Rubio only recently joined the talks.
No offense to Driscoll, but who are these guys?
I mean according to the BBC, the starting proposal on the table was so skewed towards Russia’s demands, that new talks began with the Rubio having to deny it had been written by the Kremlin.
Of course, it’s nigh impossible to guess outcomes of moments in history — we need time to digest their long-term impact — but in this case, we simply have too much evidence to suggest anything other than a looming capitulation by Trump to Putin.
We already have seen the president slow walk military support to Ukraine — OUR ALLY — and simultaneously slow walk strict new sanctions against Russia — our historical ENEMY.
These sanctions — backed by overwhelming bipartisan support that would be enough to override a presidential veto — would impose a 500% tariff on Russian goods and on countries that purchase Russian energy, among other things.
So where does this leave us?
Well, just know that President Dwight Eisenhower was ahead of his time: that should Ukraine fall to Russia, the world WILL have to worry about the fall of other dominoes to Putin’s aggression: Germany, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Norway.
Just like in 1939.
And making matters worse (if that’s possible), Trump’s constant moves to alienate our allies to the benefit of our generational foe will eventually lead to some serious repercussions for the United States — such as not having allies standing behind us when the next 9-11 comes.
Or deciding they no longer need NATO — and us — completely shattering 76 years of cooperation, collaboration and mutual defense.
In the end, our relations on the world stage have become a rubber band stretched too far: it either breaks or snaps back.
I don’t think we want to see either.
Which means Trump needs to start acting like an American president — and not a Russian lackey.
The world depends on it.
To read my essays, check out Substack.com and look for me at “Farrandipity.” It’s free. Craig Farrand can be reached at craig.substack@gmail.com.
