On hold

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

Is Trump just plain married to Putin?

Trump has put on hold a sweeping new sanctions package targeting the Russian economy, telling Congress the pause on the legislation passed by both chambers was in the national interest.

In an executive order on Friday, the US president said he was waiving many ⁠sanctions, restrictions and duties ⁠on Russia, in a move that comes as he has been publicly criticising ⁠Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, including suggesting that Ukraine needs a ​new leader.

The move was greeted by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who wrote on social media: “The Trump administration’s suspension of the Graham Act is an important and truly historic moment.”

Trump signed the legislation last month, after Congress passed the measure in an act of rare bipartisan agreement. It sought to clamp down more quickly on the flow of financial resources fuelling Russia’s war against Ukraine.

But Trump wants to fuel Russia’s war against Ukraine. Trump loves Putin and hates Zelenskyy. Trump is a simple man, and his loves and hates are right out there in the open for everyone to see.

Friday’s announcement comes a week after Trump said the US had agreed to purchase diesel from Russia to try to bring down global energy prices, upending years of US and western pressure on the Kremlin to end its war against Ukraine.

Trump said last week that Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1m tons “immediately thereafter”. Russia would deliver an additional 3m tons “within a short period of time” after that, he wrote.

The president has face widespread criticism after making the announcement, with a dozen US senators – including six Republicans – calling on Trump ⁠to rescind his diesel deal.

And annoy his darling Vlad? Never.

Comments

4 responses to “On hold”

  1. Mike Haubrich Avatar
    Mike Haubrich

    Scaramucci told Trump to his face, in front of 3 other people, that if he vetoed the Graham act that Schiff would work with the Republicans to override the veto. Trump said “They can’t override me, I’m the President.” Scaramucci explained it to him, like he was the 8th grader in Civics class that he apparently slept through, “Yes, they can.” And that’s why Scaramucci was fired. He burst the bubble that Trump is always the smartest person, everywhere. Smarter than the generals, smarter than the ambassadors, smarter than everyone? No, doesn’t even know the constitution he swore to defend.

    And now this is how he gets around it. Reagan wanted a line-item veto. Trump doesn’t even need that, he just “does what he wants.”

  2. Mike Haubrich Avatar
    Mike Haubrich

    I need to correct one thing, this bill was not the Graham Act, but a different one referred to as “CAATSA – Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions” meant to target Russia, Iran, and North Korea. The senate had voted for it 98-2, so overriding a veto was a certainty, and the House had passed it 419-3. Trump had been president for 7 months and still didn’t know that Congress could override his veto.

    BTW, not many people know that Dumb is spelled with a “b” at the end.

  3. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    Trump seems to love Putin, but I think he also loves war – any kind of macho violence – as long as he can watch it on TV. He views Putin as manly, and Zelensky doesn’t come up to that standard, at least not for him.

    Putin is pulling the strings on Trump as surely as if he is Gepetto and Trump is Pinocchio.

  4. Your Name's not Bruce? Avatar
    Your Name’s not Bruce?

    So is Trump toadying to Putin because Putin has something on him*, or because he simply wants Vlad to like him, and treat him as an equal?

    *At this point, what could Putin possibly have over Trump that would him look any worse than his own behaviour already does? How do you blackmail a man with no shame, who already has a long track record of financial corruption, and self-serving, unconstitutional illegality? It would have to be something that Trump himself would find personally humiliating, rather than publicly humiliating. (Someone who paints themselves orange can’t have a very accurate guage of public embarassment. ) It would have to be the equivalent of the bowl of mashed potatoes dumped on his head when he was seven years old.

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