Never Forget That Donald Trump Snookered His Own Voters To Pass Ukraine Funding
Never Forget That Donald Trump Snookered His Own Voters To Pass Ukraine Funding
The day before the New Hampshire Primary this year, Donald Trump Jr. haughtily assured an assembled crowd that with his father back in charge, no longer would they have to worry about sending off endless billions to the corrupt sinkhole that is Ukraine. “Would you love to continue to mortgage your children’s, your family’s, well-being and future,” Junior asked the crowd, just “to give more stuff” to the newly ascendant class of self-dealing Ukrainian oligarchs? For anyone who found such a prospect unappealing, Junior strongly advised, the solution was of course to vote for Don Senior again. This would “send a message to Washington, DC,” which he reported was shamefully getting ready to “send another $60 billion to Ukraine.”
Little did the voters who had gathered that afternoon know, and perhaps little did Junior himself even know, that in very short order Don Senior would in fact play a politically decisive role in doing exactly what Junior had told them he was going to prevent: sending another $60 billion ($61 billion, to be exact) to Ukraine — which amounted to the largest ever provision of US funding for the war.
Somehow, the intervention of Trump the Elder in this episode has already become quickly forgotten, as he seizes the mantle of persecuted martyr after his Manhattan criminal conviction. But it should at least be noted for the record, with Ukraine now having been authorized to use American-provided weaponry to strike targets inside Russia — one of the most drastic escalations of the entire conflict. Those munitions flying across the border come courtesy of President Joe Biden, yes, but also his allegedly mortal nemesis, Trump. If there was any justice, both men could have their names emblazoned in gold lettering on the missiles, in a gesture of heartwarming bipartisan unity.
Trump’s support for the nearly $100 billion “National Security Supplemental” enacted in late April was the “the factor that made the bill not just possible, but passable,” according to Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) who confirmed in an interview that he personally liaised with Trump on the matter — brokering phone calls with Trump, literally between his NYC court proceedings, to strategize how they could collectively get the mammoth war-funding passed. Also spearheading the calls was Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who Cramer told me is endearingly known in the Senate Republican Conference as the “Trump Whisperer.”
By this, Cramer meant that Graham is always skillfully maneuvering with an eye toward pleasing his principal patron, Trump, and ensuring that their interests are maximally aligned. Despite the common perception that Graham represents some ill-defined “neocon” wing of the Republican Party, while Trump represents some equally ill-defined “America First” wing, the increasingly convergent political and policy priorities of the two strongly hints that there is no longer much of a discernible difference between these supposedly rival GOP factions.
“This would not have passed without Donald Trump,” Graham triumphantly and accurately proclaimed on Fox News.
Graham’s “whisper” campaign has also come to include cleverly repurposing the mantra of “America First” to include funding endless wars in Ukraine and Israel, among his other hardcore interventionist priorities. “America First says, let’s help Israel. Let’s help Ukraine,” Graham boldly pronounced on the Senate floor.
Central to the strategy was Speaker Mike Johnson, who Trump lovingly nicknamed “MAGA Mike” when he first received the gavel last October. “You don’t have to be a political scientist to see the potential positioning that could take place if you can get Trump on board, and provide some cover for Speaker Johnson,” Cramer explained to me.
So in the week before the crucial House vote on the “aid” package, Johnson carefully choreographed a PR strategy that focused on highlighting Trump’s critical support for the bill. He made the rounds on conservative talk radio (Ben Shapiro, Mark Levin, Brian Kilmeade) touting how Trump had “championed” the measure, and how the two were “100% united” on Ukraine, thus neutralizing any meaningful GOP opposition, given Trump’s unparalleled sway over Congressional Republicans — the guy can essentially pick GOP primary winners with a single Truth Social post. All the while, Trump diligently bestowed his blessings on Johnson, declaring him to be a “good man” who was doing a “very good job,” and urging Johnson’s internal GOP critics to back down. “I stand with the Speaker," Trump announced beside Johnson at Mar-a-Lago, shortly before the bill was to be officially introduced.
According to Trump’s legislative liaisons, all the relevant players seemed perfectly content to accommodate Trump’s cockamamie suggestion to supposedly structure the funds as a “loan” — an addition which Johnson then cited in his lobbying push to give the bill a MAGA seal of approval. “We never got pushback from Democrats or the White House,” Cramer said.
If you think that so-called “loan” is going to be repaid anytime soon, I have a bridge in Palm Beach to sell you. And either way, only a small portion of the monies disbursed — $8 billion — is even designated as a theoretical “loan.” The rest is a standard gift straight out of the US Treasury.
Johnson further explained in his right-wing media appearances that part of the logic in subsidizing another year or two’s worth of grinding warfare in Ukraine was that it would give Trump “leverage” as part of his purported plan to magically solve the conflict in “24 hours” — though as usual, Trump supplies no meaningful policy specifics on that score.
Trump’s evasions throughout the Republican Primary campaign set the stage for his eventual orchestration of the boondoggle war bill. Having skipped every GOP debate, and seldom facing even a lightly adversarial interview, Trump was content to promise voters that the Ukraine war “never would have happened” under his watch — a useless counter-factual which conveniently enabled him to avoid getting pinned down on any tangible policy commitments.
So when it finally came time for him to weigh in on a tangible policy item, he was suddenly all in favor of funding Ukraine. Frankly, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley are owed an apology; neither could have likely gotten away with hoodwinking Ukraine-skeptical GOP voters as brazenly as Trump did the minute he sealed up the nomination.
Part of what makes the current Trump political strategy so ingenious is that even nominally anti-Ukraine GOP flamethrowers like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, and Lauren Boebert were are all in on the ruse. Days before the final House vote in April, Gaetz and Boebert circulated a Truth Social post from Trump which they claimed showed he had come out against the bill — an outright lie, as evidenced by Trump coordinating behind the scenes to ensure the bill’s passage.
Greene also went on a protracted tirade to denounce Speaker Johnson for “betraying” Trump — even though they had just worked hand-in-glove to pass the bill! Johnson subsequently appeared dutifully on stage with Trump at an RNC fundraiser, as well as making solidarity pilgrimages to the Manhattan courthouse. Another egg-on-face moment for Marge.
Just ahead of the House vote, Trump hosted Polish President Duda at his penthouse in Trump Tower, and came away affirming how “Ukrainian Survival and Strength” is so very “important” to the United States. Meetings with the UK Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, were also said to have craftily influenced Trump’s thinking, with Cameron later telling British media how pleased he was that Trump came around.
Once again, Trump could be all things to all people. Somehow, to a certain wing of the MAGA Faithful, he heroically opposed the very same bill he had strategically connived to orchestrate the passage of. Liberal anti-Trump hysterics have likewise proven incapable of wrapping their heads around the reviled “convicted felon” having schemed to subsidize the latest US-backed escalations against Russia that Democrats were so desperate to fund.
Whether or not Don Junior did know about his dad’s forthcoming plans when he addressed the New Hampshire crowd that day in January, he clearly assisted in pulling a fast one on voters — or at least any voters who may have erroneously assumed they were voting for Trump on “anti-war” grounds. Those who assumed they were just getting a standard continuation of the pro-war status quo are more likely to be pleased.
Reminds me of why I've stayed away from politics. I assume this kind of double-dealing is so common as to be expected, necessary even to rise to the top. Doesn't give me any hope that the political system can solve any real problems which tempts me to disengage and write code instead. What keeps you going Michael? You must have some hope that pieces like this matter. For me it just feels like opening up the sewer to check that it's contents remain the same.
Excellent! Life as a Trump supporter means frequently shaking my head over his latest goofball statement. He's still the best choice, though he is far from perfect. Appreciate you pointing out the truth.
I read one article that speculated that Trump just wants to get in good with Congress Critters just in case he actually wins & has to work with them. I don't know about that, & would appreciate more consistency.