Trump F*cked Putin

Well, Trump and Vance made America into a laughing stock last Friday, as their meeting with Volodomyr Zelenskyy degenerated into an absolute shouting match, with themselves doing all the shouting and Zelenskyy largely remaining calm. To hear the Right-Wing Media Machine tell it, Trump and Vance did excellently when they embarrassed us all this way. The Russian media machine is also overjoyed.

But look beneath the surface and you can see that Trump may have actually fucked Putin over.

Trump insisted to Zelenskyy that he "didn't have the cards." But that simply isn't true. Russia is on the verge of economic collapse. It is dealing with runaway inflation which is approaching 10%. The Rubel is down against the dollar, making it far more expensive to import basic foodstuffs at a time of year when such imports are key to its survival. Russia's central bank has been forced to spike interest rates, making it much harder for businesses to borrow money, and the tactic isn't even working.

In short, Russia is in deep, deep trouble! All Zelenskyy really needs to do is hold out just a little longer, and Ukraine will win the war. With Europe backing him, this will almost certainly happen, with or without the U.S. Putin needed that deal signed, and needed it signed immediately.

Thanks to Trump, that might not happen. Trump fucked Putin!

Now, the peace deal isn't going to happen right away. But there are rumors that Zelenskyy will sign the ceasefire/minerals deal sooner rather than later. This will realistically only achieve a temporary ceasefire rather than a true end to the war, but Zelenskyy will take it. And, if I were in his shoes, I'd have a backroom deal in place beforehand to fast-track Ukraine's admission into NATO immediately afterward, with or without the support of the U.S. (In fact, preferably without.) Such a ceasefire would also give Ukraine and all of Europe the breathing room it needs to re-arm and re-militarize.

If Russia falls, historians will point to this moment, the moment Trump and Vance all but ambushed Zelenskyy, and say how the failure to get a ceasefire through in time allowed the economic instability in Russia climb to untenable levels.

Trump, in his zeal to appease Putin, actually may have ended up undermining him.

We shall see. But right now, a collapse of the Russian government may be exactly what this world needs right now.

Eric

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