President Trump has earned himself the outrage of Democrats and the public with the casual way he disparages the nation that he is ostensibly leading, criticizing our intelligence agencies and painting us as the perpetual victims of the machinations of other nations.
Russia’s former Foreign Minister, Andrei Kozyrev, knows where he’s getting these talking points — and he’s sounding the alarm.
Joining CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on his show GPS, Kozyrev explained that Putin is forcing Trump to redefine the basis for the Russian-American relationship on his terms, and Trump is dutifully playing along with the dictator’s ploy:
“What is really dangerous to my mind, fundamentally, is that it is the first time ever an American President offered to a Russian counterpart in his tweet, in Trump’s tweet, the new basis for relationship — the new basis for discussions. The basis is that America is to be blamed for its stupidity. That America is to be blamed for troubles in its relationships.
Putin cannot but rejoice in that. That is why my former deputy, Sergey Lavrov said it is much better than ‘super.’ That is the wrong foundation and I can’t believe it happens, that it is America to blame. Putin is saying for the kids that it is America that has to change its behavior all over the agenda.
The problem is not having normal or benign relations. But having relations based on the fact that it is all America’s fault, stupidity or whatever, and America has to correct its behavior. That really makes this an emergency situation to my mind. It is an emergency situation.”
There certainly is room for the United States to reevaluate its foreign policy and to make better decisions — but any real leader would refuse to be lectured to or accept this kind of disrespect from a murderous dictator who allows a cabal of shadowy billionaires to run his nation like a bigoted mafia rather than anything resembling a functioning republic.
Trump’s refusal to stand up for the United States and to instead obediently parrot the Russian President’s disparaging propaganda is a disgrace to our nation and the countless people who’ve sacrificed their lives for the freedoms we enjoy — and even more evidence that Trump’s empty patriotism act is nothing but performative distraction from his disturbing agenda.
