President Biden has been in office for more than a year. Planning for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine began last year – after Biden took office. Yet, the left-leaning press finds ways to bring former President Trump into the conversation with irrational connections and dishonest spins. No matter what one thinks of Trump on many issues, there still is a truth about who is in charge now.
The major false narrative being pursued by today’s media is that Trump was soft on Putin – and that is why he is emboldened to attack now. If that has set off your logic alarm, you are not wrong. They are saying that Trump’s alleged weak stance against Putin led him to hold off the invasion until the tougher(?) Biden took office.
Personally, I think Putin convinced himself that he could take Ukraine after he saw Biden’s performance in Afghanistan. In fact, one of the speculated outcomes of the Biden surrender in Afghanistan is that it would embolden America’s enemies – such as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea – and the various terrorist networks. And it appears we now have the manifestation of that fear in every case.
The policies of Biden – and how Putin calculated them – are the only factors that matter. Neither of them was looking to the past – to an out-of-office President – in determining their courses of action. Trump, himself, may not like the fact that he was irrelevant to Putin’s invasion and Biden’s response, but that is the case.
The current efforts to bring Trump into the Ukraine issue is based on the narrative that Trump was too soft on Putin – that he was even an “asset” of Putin.
It must be said that Trump has a tendency of saying flattering things about folks who do not seem to be deserving of flattery – things that can be easily misread or interpreted negatively. He recently referred to Putin as a smart guy. It would have been less controversial if he had said “evil smart guy” but Trump tends to enjoy being controversial. In fact, Putin is a smart guy – although he is also evil and possibly nuts.
But … if you look at the actual Trump record vis-à-vis Russia, he comes off as one of the tougher presidents. The media counts on the American public forgetting that Trump twice sanctioned Russia … kicked out Russian diplomats running a spy operation … rejected Russia’s demand that only they control airspace over Syria … bombed a Syrian airbase used by Russian military … made no apologies when U.S. troops killed a number of Russian soldiers in Syria … sent military arms to Ukraine (reversing the Obama policy) … added another nation to NATO (which is said to have infuriated Putin) … and arguably the most spectacular push back to Putin was in the Middle East, where the Jared Kushner negotiations are creating alliances between Israel and several Arab nations to the detriment of Russian influence in the region.
In any fair comparison between the Obama and Trump administrations, Trump comes out as much tougher on Russia than his predecessor. Under Obama, Putin took the Crimea, launched the civil war in eastern Ukraine and meddled in the 2016 American election – which Obama initially knew but kept secret. When later asked what he did about Putin’s meddling, Obama replied, “I told him not to do it again.”
Trump may flatter Putin for reason known only to him, but the Kremlin’s crazy crackpot made no discernible gains during the Trump administration. So, think of Trump as you will. Criticize him for his style or policies. Even accuse him of things he may have done. But trying to blame him in any way for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine media disinformation … political propaganda.
The Russian invasion was not only on Biden’s watch, but clearly a result of Biden’s policies and efforts to stop it.
So, there ‘tis.
