[guest post by Dana]

During an interview with Maggie Haberman of the New York Times, Donald Trump made a surprising-but-not-surprising admission about his tenure as the President of the United States:

“The question I get asked more than any other question: ‘If you had it to do again, would you have done it?’” Trump said of running for president. “The answer is, yeah, I think so. Because here’s the way I look at it. I have so many rich friends and nobody knows who they are.”

Haberman goes on to note that, when considering his role as the President, “his first impulse was not to mention public service, or what he felt he’d accomplished, only that it appeared to be a vehicle for fame, and that many experiences were only worth having if someone else envied them.”

His admission is only jarring because he said the quiet part out loud. But really, it simply confirms what we already know: Trump has always been about Trump and his brand. He likely always will be. He is motivated by insatiable greed and thirst for power. One only has to look at his biographical details, including his business dealings and public life to see it spelled out. The presidency, however, brought him unparalleled power and status. Previously closed doors opened, and he gained a certain legitimacy before the world that being a reality star or developer could never give him. If Trump runs and wins the election in 2024, he will still be the same narcissist he has always been. Thus, it stands to reason that if he becomes our next president, the state of the nation and the American people might be priorities for him, just not his most important ones.

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

As Germany refuses to provide Ukraine with much-needed battle tanks, Garry Kasparov warns that this is not the time for half-measures or concessions, rather this is a time for nothing less than decisive action:

It’s time again to talk about goals of the war. To say loud and clear that Ukraine’s territory must be 100% liberated of Russian invaders. That there can be no way back to normalcy for Russia with Putin the war criminal still in charge.

Russians are resisting Putin’s desperate mobilization and Ukraine is winning. It’s time to finish the job, to give Ukraine everything and Putin nothing. But Western allies are still holding back despite Russia’s open transformation into a fascist dictatorship.

The winds of freedom are drifting across the globe. Iran, Dagestan, people are inspired directly and indirectly. If Ukraine can defeat Putin, dictators aren’t invincible. Even Serbia won’t recognize Putin’s illegal annexations, not wanting to back a loser.

Putin’s loyalty for benefits contract with the Russian people has been broken on the rock of Ukraine’s resistance. What’s the point of his domestic violence, his foreign terror now? There’s no payoff for the bureaucracy & siloviki anymore, just escape or isolation.

Putin is escalating as always, hoping to bluff out of a lost situation. Concessions will encourage more aggression. Ukraine must get everything it needs to press the advantage, now. That’s my message here in Germany, that half-measures are over if the war is to end.

Of course, it wasn’t a coincidence that Kasparov made his comments from Germany:

Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany gets right to the point when asked why his country will not send battle tanks to Ukraine: It is “a very dangerous war,” he said.

[…]

“We are supporting Ukraine…We are doing it in a way that is not escalating to where it is becoming a war between Russia and NATO because this would be a catastrophe.”

[…]

Mr. Scholz has refused to provide Ukraine with Leopard battle tanks or Marder infantry fighting vehicles, which Ukrainian officials have repeatedly asked for. As they pivot from a defensive posture to an offensive one in the south, Ukrainian forces need tanks to break through defensive lines and recapture more territory before winter and, as Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, put it, “liberate people and save them from genocide.”

Mr. Scholz’s refusal — which goes against the will of many even inside his own governing coalition — has earned him noisy and near-unanimous criticism among Germany’s Eastern European neighbors, not least in Ukraine. Commanders along the front say the Germans’ reluctance to provide battle tanks points to a policy of seeking a negotiated settlement along existing lines, rather than a Ukrainian success in pushing out the Russians.

As a reminder, back in January, when Russia amassed 100,000 troops along its border with Ukraine and fears of an invasion peaked, Germany offered to send…5,000 helmets.

Anyway, it’s ironic that it is Germany that refuses to send badly needed battle tanks which could actually help prevent the genocide of Ukrainians. This despite the announcement of a dramatic change in Germany’s foreign/security policies in February 2022 (Zeitenwende).

–Dana