Support for Ukraine has been bi-partisan. Trump is successfully working to undermine this and undermine Ukraine. Trump manufactured the current controversy to set up Ukraine and create a partisan wedge in support for Ukraine. This only benefits Russia and Putin. If you look at the Ukraine controversy, you realize that it is more about ruining U.S. bi-partisan support for Ukraine than about getting Donald Trump re-elected.
The text messages and documents reveal that Trump was withholding support for Ukraine until Ukraine would agree to sully their own reputation by announcing that they would investigate whether they, and not Russia, hacked the DNC in 2016 as part of an Ukraine and DNC conspiracy. This conspiracy is that the DNC had Ukraine hack the DNC to blame it on Russia. The conspiracy theory is further that Ukraine is corrupted by the Democrats and in the pocket of the DNC. A supposed example of this was Hunter Biden being asked to be on a lucrative oil board. Anyone that knows anything about boards, however, knows that prominent people with prominent names are often asked to serve on company boards. This is not in and of itself improper and there is no evidence that anything improper occurred, let alone that the Ukrainian government is in the pocket of the DNC or an arm of the DNC.
What is really going on here is that Trump was trying to put Ukraine in a no-win situation. And let’s be clear, this is an outright set up of Ukraine. Trump was luring Ukraine into muddying their own reputation and trust in exchange for U.S. support, but also luring them to follow into a trap of giving Trump an excuse to withhold U.S. support for Ukraine. This was truly the level of game of thrones going on and the concern seen in the texts of the U.S. diplomats.
Ukraine desperately needs to show Russia, through a meeting with the U.S. President and through receiving military aid from the U.S., that our alliance with Ukraine is strong. This sends a message to Russia and Putin and deters Russia from undermining and making advances on Ukraine. Trump has refused to make this unequivocal stand in support for Ukraine. Instead, Trump has been only dragging his feet, cancelling meetings, and delaying aid.
Even more, Trump has been laying a trap for Ukraine that would give him the perfect excuse to withhold U.S. support for Ukraine. If the Ukraine gave into Trump’s pressure and opened the possibility that it was the Ukraine meddling in the U.S. elections through a DNC conspiracy, this would give Trump an incredible excuse to withhold support for our ally. Trump could say, Ukraine and not Russia is interfering in our elections and they are corrupted by the DNC and Democrats and cannot be trusted.
Wy would Trump do this? People are tribal in their support in this country now. Ukraine has received bi-partisan support in this country. The mainstream Republican party supports Ukraine because it is in our country’s best interests. What better way to erode Republican support for Ukraine than to make it a partisan wedge issue by sullying the Ukraine by saying it is corrupted by the DNC and Democrats and cannot be trusted. He is laying the ground work to say that Ukraine is a corrupt arm of the Democratic party. Trump put Ukraine in a no-win situation. The lure of the money and a visit was a set up to taint our ally with a phony DNC and Democratic party conspiracy in an attempt to move our country away from support for our ally.
The U.S. officials working on this matter warned Giuliani that he could not trust his sources for these conspiracy theories. Why? Because those sources were loyalists to Putin in Ukraine and were being fed this misinformation to undermine Ukraine and our position on Ukraine.
Even since before the DNC hacking scandal, Trump has been trying to erode support for our ally Ukraine even though everyone in both parties believe that supporting Ukraine is in our national interests. If you remember, Trump requested that the Republican platform be watered down in the U.S. support for Ukraine. Why would any Presidential candidate want to eliminate support of Ukraine in the Republican platform when our support of Ukraine is to temper Russian aggression?
Trump’s efforts to taint Ukraine are working. Right wing media is spinning tales of the corruption of Ukraine by the Bidens and the DNC. They are creating the perfect partisan wedge for the public to demand that mainstream Republicans no longer support Ukraine. And make no mistake this only benefits Putin and Russia. Trump is not acting in our national interests again. Instead, he is a tool of Putin and Russia. He, with the support of the right wing media, will successfully turn Ukraine into a partisan wedge if the Republican party allows him.