The Supreme Foolishness of Appeasement

Among the lessons of World War II, perhaps no other lesson has been accepted as the most important lesson than this:  you can never appease an aggressor.  Indeed, entire foreign policy and military texts have been created around this premise because it is so important and central to handling an aggressor.  For 80 years we have known this.  It was a grave error of World War I that we attempted to appease an aggressor.  As a result came World War II.  Unfortunately, today's MAGA Republicans haven't learned this and they happen to hold office in the Executive branch of the U.S. government, in addition to the Congress.  They have tried to paint the aggressor, Russia, as the victim, even though Russia clearly attacked Ukraine without provocation.  There can be no appeasing Russia; that lesson is clear.  To do so only prolongs the conflict, as any subsequent months or years of apparent peace will later prove to have been anything but peaceful, but rather the opportunity for a nearly-expired Russian military to rearm, reorganize, retrain and recruit more soldiers for a second, more sophisticated attack on Ukraine or another neighboring country.  If the appeasement happens, Russia will decide when they want to attack again and they won't be restrained by prior agreements, not even agreements that have favored them.

We should hold no illusions that Trump or any other Republican in power today will suddenly decide to read a bit of history and learn what foreign policy and military experts have known for 80 years.  However, we should hold them accountable for the delayed consequences that any appeasement will certainly bring.  As the Nixon administration's strategic ambiguity on Taiwan has now come home to roost, an appeasement of Russia will bring consequences much more severe and realized much sooner than Nixon's strategic ambiguity.  China, Russia and the rest of the international community have observed Republicans in the last several decades brag about the deceiptful use of the English language that defined U.S. policy on Taiwan by leaving it confusingly unclear, thanks to a confusingly unclear use of English.  That in itself has become a selling point to China and Russia that they're better off together, united against the USA.  If Trump thinks separating them is more important than maintaining alliances, it only illustrates how wrong strategic ambiguity was that Republicans have grown to idolize the policy and the President who devised it so much as to believe that repeating it, no matter how temporary the outcome, is so important that it's worth abandoning allies to them.  Whether or not Republicans are trying to repeat the Nixon goal of separating China and Russia, they no doubt realize it would be beneficial.  However, appeasement isn't the answer.

Zelenski The Brave will lead Ukraine to victory, if given the support he needs.

If you take nothing else away from the Trump administration's attempts to create "peace" between Ukraine and Russia, it should be this:  through angry and repetitive delivery, Trump has repeatedly tried to paint his own cowardly, simpleton decisions as genious and strong and it has repeatedly caused grave harm to the United States of America and its allies.  Europe and Ukraine will suffer the greatest consequences of appeasing Russian aggression, but it will also negatively impact the USA.  Whether Trump and the Republicans think they are going to separate Russia and China or they just want to stop spending money to keep a safe and free world, it's the most supremely foolish geopolitical folly that has been attempted in the last 100 years.  Those who believe in the lie that Donald Trump is intelligent because he can coerce Ukraine to submit to Russian demands and achieve a few months or a few years without active war should read a bit of history from the second World War.  Appeasement guarantees that this conflict will last much, much longer, albeit with an intermission.  The saddest part of all of this is the fear-peddling Trump engages in to promote appeasement.  While it's difficult to count the number of times he has sought to instill a fear of nuclear war and World War III into Americans, it emphasizes the cowardice that is so core to his being and his decisions that he wants all Americans to share in it.

The Extrajudicial, Extraconstitutional Presidency

The violations of law have grown so consistent and so predictable that this Trump Presidency can’t be viewed as an Article II Presidency.  It is, in fact, an Extrajudicial and ExtraConstitutional Presidency looking for ways to break every law that creates an inconvenience or an obstacle to Trump’s agenda of establishing divine right of kings for himself.  It gives the appearance of being a part of the U.S.A. while valuing nothing that is American culture that can’t be turned into a culture war and valuing nothing of American tradition that can’t be branded as uniquely owned by this Extrajudicial Administration and valuing nothing of the American legal system that can’t be used to claim supreme power.  

Unlawful terminations of government employees have been directed at such agencies as the CDC, NHS, NPS, FBI and others.  In many cases, they have been directed by the unlawful entity that is DOGE, which is led by an individual whose only purpose is to make the government cease all legal proceedings against him and his companies, after having broken numerous laws in the private sector in the months and years prior to the formation of this Extrajudicial Agency that is DOGE.  The defiance of the Judicial branch of government over the weekend is one of many examples of an Extrajudicial, Extraconstitutional essence.

This Trump Presidency began as an Extrajudicial Presidency even before Trump’s inauguration, when he began threatening CEOs who refused to donate to his inauguration party.  It continues in ways we may never know completely, as it has unlawfully attempted to shield all of its activity from any public visibility, in defiance of sunshine laws.  No assumption of legality should have ever been granted to Trump after what he did on January 6th, 2021.  That assumption of legality is destroying the United States of America.  When Trump isn't openly breaking the law, he is destroying the ability of any future Executive branch to enforce the law, both by destroying its visibility into domestic and foreign affairs and by destroying the manpower required for such legal enforcement operations.  The continued existence of the Legislative and Judicial branches of government rests with them realizing that they must use all of their Constitutional Authority to ensure that Donald Trump’s presidency ends this year, without further negative impact to the U.S.A.  Our reputation, our alliances, our economy, our traditions and our Constitution are all being destroyed by this Extrajudicial Presidency.  Bravery from the Legislative and Judicial branches to assume all of their respective powers is required.

Citizens are losing their patience.  That is reflected in the protests around the country over the weekend, which grew markedly in size from previous protests.  The size of the protests is artificially supressed by the threats and actions of Donald Trump to extinguish free speech and freedom in general.  There is a fear in the citizenry today that shouldn't exist, but it stems from the knowledge that this President seeks to harm any U.S. citizen that speaks out against Trump.  Nonetheless, free people don't all give up easily.  We owe every protester a debt of gratitude for showing the country that what's happening is wrong and can't be allowed to continue.

Brainwashing Requires Reinforcing

It's easy to dismiss Trump's cowardice towards Putin as the explanation for Trump's punching down by yelling at the leader of an allied country who has bravely led his nation through a now 3-years-long attack from the violent Russian state, as he did on the 28th of February, 2025, during a visit by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.  After all, Trump was too scared to fight in Vietnam, so he said he had bone spurs.  Further, he does appear scared of hearing truthful information in regards to geography, weather, politics, international relations, business and people.  At every opportunity to criticize Russia, Trump cowers.  Give him a chance to punch down and he takes it every time.  This is what he has turned the Republican party into, as several of them joined Trump in ganging up on Zelensky in the Oval Office, where the business of the People of the United States is conducted.  Donald Trump hates the United States of America for standing for freedom and he's ready to put a stop to it during his presidency this time, after failing during his first attempt.  He's scared of an educated free people because educated free people don't historically choose to voluntarily allow someone as shallow, empty and hateful as Trump to serve as a business partner or a leader.

What was really behind the trumpists' setup and attempt to create a reality only appreciated by elderly dementia patients is the need to continue and reinforce the brainwashing being dished out by hard-right disinformation outlets that masquerade as news (i.e. Fox News, OANN, etc.).  What Trump did won't affect the way Americans view Ukraine and its heroic leader, Zelensky, except amongst those consuming the disinformation-as-news outlets.

Amongst those disinformation-as-news consumers, they are well along the path of embracing the Russian view of the world.  It's a radical departure from where they and their ancestors were 30 years ago and that's why it requires persistent, continuing disinformation and acceptance amongst the political leadership to allow such a transformation.  People like Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Vance and Trump have given them permission to transform into the opposite of what they used to be and what they used to represent.  Feigning outrage over a fabricated idea of disrespect from Zelensky is disgusting to those of us who avoid the disinformation-as-news world, but it's accepted as a valid criticism from disinformation-as-news consumers.  It hurts them to question the ideas being offered to them by people who bring them order and understandable explanations, as the anchors in disinformation-as-news outlets do.

It's painful to witness half our country being pulled into a new reality where our friends are our enemies and our enemies are our friends, but that's where Trump and the disinformation-as-news outlets are taking them.  They've been on this path for years and they can't abandon it because doing so would force them to recognize and attempt to rationalize the inconsistency in their behavior that would cause extreme psychological pain for them.   It's human nature to want to be consistent, but these changes have happened over such a long arc of time, in baby steps and with dismissive acceptance of Republican politicians and the disinformation-as-news anchors that MAGA doesn't recognize what they've become.  They focus on a small subset of issues (like gender and skin color) to rationalize their chaos, not realizing what they're doing.  The political leaders and billionaire American Oligarchs realize, but their financial interests are too strong a pull to allow them to speak for morality.  Trumpism is a dark force that only knows how to love Putin and his dictator friends.  We can be certain there have been numerous payoffs from Russian oligarchs besides the ones the Trump family has been known to receive through business transactions.  But, in only 5 weeks, the Trump regime has eliminated all resources that the U.S. government would need in order to find that out.  The Russian money will flow freely and the disinformation-as-news outlets will grow in strength with Russian backing.  The Brainwashing will continue because it requires maintenance to block out, dismiss or explain away all sources of truth.  MAGA as a slogan solidifies this for them.  They repeat it, wear it on their clothing and say it from their mouths and it prevents them from questioning what they're really doing and correcting course.