This is, of course, a lie. Very on brand. But is there insight in Trump's recent increasingly unhinged boasts, which are out there, even for him.
The unilateral Diesel Deal just smashes the idea of sanctions, but - more than that - it can't possibly make a lick of difference to U.S. retail diesel prices. There just isn't enough of it, and that ignores the very real possibility that Russia doesn't even actually deliver all of it. Point being - it won't move American diesel prices at all, which defeats the purpose of trying to get some midterm-saving gas price relief. That was always a stupid plan anyways, since delivering 12 days worth of U.S. diesel consumption does nothing to the gasoline price anyways, which affects way way WAY more persuadable voters than diesel does.
Then why do it? Keeping in mind he's fully capable of simply lying in childish, absurd ways just from pure idiotic spite. His reliable, obedient smooth brain, mouth-breathing supporters will at least remember "hUrR deRr TrUmP g0t uS deEzul", even if there is zero change to what it costs them to fill up their vehcile today.
Well...if it won't budge diesel prices in a way that's politcally useful, maybe it's purpose is as a pretext for him to do more obvious shitty things to Ukraine. But that's not news and shouldn't be a surprise to any serious minded watcher. For the record - the first Russian tanker as part of this scheme left port on Sept 22nd. This WAS clearly the plan for some time now. But it's an incredibly stupid plan on it's face.
Take several steps back. Trump's conduct in two years has swung from "If I'm president I will have that war settled in 1 day, 24 hours". Then through the usual ham-fisted bullshit of berating Zelensky and the Ukrainians, telling them they 'have no cards', pulling U.S. military and economic aid, now threatening to undo the PURL initiative where Europe buys U.S. weapons (at full cost) for Ukraine without America paying for anything.
All of it is incredibly desperate. Nothing has made a lick of difference to the fundamental state of the war. And it seems like the orders he's being given now matches perfectly with his clinging desperation and fear about what's going to happen in the midterms in a couple of weeks. He always shouts the loudest when he's weakest.
He's a morbidly obsese toddler whose likely lifespan is probably in months, not years. And unless he's able to simply overthrow american democracy in 3 weeks, he's about to have his balls cut off politically for his (probable) lame duck period. He isn't going to be able to operate as freely, and the Russians probably fully realize that too.
Hence why the crazy seems turned up to 12 recently. His pathetic thrashing reveals that he's pissed away any leverage he DID have in influencing the conclusion of the war. The russians, for their part, are using him as a megaphone for their ludicrous maximalist goals. There's a silver lining there that at least they seem to understand that things aren't going to get better for them.
The feared post-Russian election mobilization doesn't seem to have been enacted in any meaingful way. In short - they aren't doing anything that looks like a war-altering strategy, and the loudest piece on the board is Trump flinging handfuls of dookie asking for Ukraine to give up something that, remember, is substantially less than what Russia wanted in Feb 2022.
They aren't in a good position, and neither is he. Ukraine would probably do well to continue to weather this storm for a little bit longer, if they want a truly just and lasting peace.
Thoughts?
The sycophancy that the vast majority of American Republicans had towards orangeboi in his first stint, through the Jan 6 insurrection, and up to about a year into the second orange regime has forced me to conclude that the average Republican is a greedy narcissistic idiot, and not a category of people I am even slightly positively predisposed to. To the extent that I will often wear shirts with leftist graphics when I’m interviewing people for our team. Just last week, I busted out my Zohran for NYC tee (with an unbuttoned flannel over it for minor subtlety) when we interviewed a candidate for senior SE.
At any rate: I agree that orangeboi is a singularly detestable example of the worst aspects of American society distilled into one of the most hateful meatbags that currently exists in the modern world. Yes, he (and his being elected fucking twice) is a symptom, but he’s simultaneously very much a root cause himself as well.
Oh good, I thought you were making a left handed jab about the supposed smartness of this post and i was too dumb to get the joke. Yeah, it's hard to see any reconciliation with these morons. I see two types of Trump supporter personally: 1) Rich & Evil 2) Poor & Dumb. And they're all some degree of racist. I'm not even american yet, related to both kinds. Holiday dinner discussions are fun.
You can't fix any of those things. I think all you can hope for is that they become electorally fractured by vote splitting in a post-Trump world and the pale imitators that follow him can't capture the magic again. And also that the Democrats stop punching themselves in the dick insisting that being morally superior people is how you win elections.
Republicans will keep doing this pandering to hate until it doesn't work anymore. But it works - really REALLY well. They aren't even trying to convince people they're better, and they have no ideas or policies really. Their only game is Democrats are Gross. Make them an unelectable, demonic object, and you've won their vote. Why should the average persuadable voter go Democrat? Give them a reason and maybe they will.