Even the most ardent Trump supporter has to admit the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is his intellectual superior. While then-tv host Donald Trump was yelling “You’re fired” at a handful of B-level celebrities on a reality show, Vladimir Putin was shaping Russia into his own reality. Mr. Putin has unequivocally murdered and jailed his opponents made himself a dictator for life and found a willing partner in Donald Trump to advance his dream of reconstituting the Soviet Union. The newly minted American president has teased subverting the Constitution by running for a third term. In the last few days, he has told the Judicial Branch it has no power over him and threatened his former Joint Chief of Staff, General Milley,--because he chose loyalty to the Constitution over him—with death.
Milley had a come to Jesus’ moment—despite Trump supporters having a come to Trump moment—while marching in uniform through the streets of DC with President Trump on his way to a photo op after threatening legal protesters. Milley said later, after the June 2020 debacle, “Because I went out there in that uniform, that was a terrible moment for the U.S. military, and it gave the perception of politicization. It wasn't intentional; it was done by accident on my part. As soon as I realized it was a political event, I walked away from it. But I got to tell you, that photo is out there...and that did a lot of damage to the military, which I will always regret,” Milley said to Mark Alford (R-Mo.). Quietly, while the country is distracted by talk of invading Panama, annexing Canada, and buying Greenland, DOGE flexed its muscle with a potentially illegal act at the office of the US African Development Foundation.
About 30 workers were in the building when Peter Marocco, a state department official, arrived with a Doge team – described as young men wearing backpacks – intent on carrying out firings based on an executive order issued by Trump on February 19, according to a report by The Washington Post. The director of the small agency, which has about 50 employees, has challenged the legality of the firings and closure. There is also a question about the legitimate use of the federal US Marshals who accompanied Marocco.
This is not the first time Mr. Trump has used shadowy methods to achieve a goal. During the 2020 unrest in Portland, Oregon, President Trump deployed federal agents in green camouflage uniforms without agency insignia. Some of the violence perpetrated by these mysterious forces was shooting an unarmed protester in the face with a crowd control weapon and beating and pepper spraying Navy veteran Christopher David for asking the federal agents whether they had forgotten their constitutional oaths. Even the conservative-leaning publication The Hill labeled the actions as Putin-like behavior, reporting,
That’s what happens in Russia when you ask a question like that. Indeed, the federal agents in Portland are reminiscent of the professional-looking soldiers in Russian-style combat uniforms who appeared in the Crimea in the Ukraine in February 2014. They carried Russian weapons but had no identifying insignia. Ukrainians called them the “little green men.”
Putin has his sights set on Ukraine, but maybe the bigger prize is the United States: Vodka for everyone. Dasvidaniya.
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