Summary
Donald Trump dodged questions about whether U.S. foreign policy aligns with Russia, deflecting with a rambling response that avoided addressing concerns about his stance on Ukraine.
He again claimed that he could quickly end the war and blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for suggesting peace remains distant.
Meanwhile, his administration is reportedly preparing to lift sanctions on Russian individuals and entities.
Critics argue Trump’s position emboldens Russia while undermining Ukraine, raising fears about U.S. commitment to countering Russian aggression.
Interesting comments.
I think some of the interviews he did in the first term hurt him like the Axios one.
I’m hoping that as he continues to mentally slip, which is clear when you go back and watch campaign video even from 2016, he’s going to say something so nasty and inexcusable that the non-cultists will be upset and take action. Or it will become very clear - like it did with Biden - that he’s so far gone. Trump just hides it better for now under stimulants, anger, and unpredictability.
It’s a long shot but they have to keep trying. Or else what is there? Roll over and let him declare himself president for life without much of a fight?
If you want to oppose Trump, interview the opposition. There are plenty in the Ukranian ex-pat community willing to lend a word, especially people with homes currently under Russian occupation who will have nowhere to return to if Trump signs away the Donbas or forces Zelenskyy into grand new bulk real estate privatization schemes that foreclose on all the public apartments and offices and industries still in western control. Some of the most powerful advocates for Gaza have been American refugees forced out of Palestine (the TV show Mo, for instance, has provided a very stark spotlight on the life of stateless Palestinians).
You could also go to European delegates and discuss how people much closer to the front lines would like to see the Ukraine/Russia war end. You could reach out to American diplomats who predate the Trump inauguration, including ones he’s fired, and describe how he’s shifted the direction of foreign policy since taking office. Hell, you could even reach out to a few Russian diplomats to get them on record with what they’re actually demanding, rather than going to Trump and asking him whether he thinks he’s giving Moscow too much.
Talk to academics with more foreign policy experience. Talk to international trade reps who recognize what these sanctions mean for trade and travel through the region. Talk to people living in the Crimea or South Ossetia or Chechnya to see what a prolonged Russian occupation looks like.
You could talk to people who are working towards a different outcome - civil groups in the US lobbying for Zelenskyy to continue fighting, NGOs invested in a different peace plan, Russian and Ukrainian ex-pats who are surviving off the front lines or are fleeing conscription or who have family fighting or lost in the conflict.
Then maybe even highlight how readers can contribute to efforts to provide relief or buttress support or just reach out and learn more from the organizations doing this various lobbying efforts. Describe American-based organizations that are housing refugees or working towards long term resettlement. Give readers an opportunity to engage with the news rather than just passively observing it.
So many people to talk to who aren’t Trump. All of them would provide more useful information to describe the state of the war and the consequences of the new policies.
I appreciate all of the ideas and I do think they’re solid. How does anyone reach the US citizens who don’t pay attention to the news or who don’t think this is a big deal. It’s probably a pretty significant overlap between Fox Propaganda viewers / Soft Republican and/or Swing voters / and the generally disengaged. I don’t think these people are necessarily listening to Ukrainian or Gaza voices or consuming long-form/thoughtful journalism. I do think it’s happening slowly. The town halls are a good start.
I don’t want to see people go through pain. And I don’t want the propagandists to try to blame international countries for the sadism that the US government is inflicting on their own people. How do you get through to people? It’s so weird to see how fractured it is.
It’s so ridiculous. There are enough resources globally for everyone. There are just too many billionaires gobbling everything up.
The “person who doesn’t pay attention to news” isn’t monolithic or intransigent. People get caught up in waves of enthusiasm and disappointment year to year. The 2020 turnout high water mark was driven in large part by the degree to which material conditions were dire and access to the ballot was made unusually easy (via universal mail-in voting). Participation surged during the mini-recession and quarantine in no small part because so many people had tons of free time to burn on activism.
Conservative media fixation on the border, on transgender athletics, and on mask defiance all galvanized support for their candidates by engaging with people in a way they could actively respond. You could literally pick up a gun and drive down to South Texas and join a militia. You could go to your local middle school soccer game with a bunch of Moms For Liberty and start clocking 13-year-old athletes. You could show up at a grocery store and start screaming at clerks when they asked you to put on a mask, then film it and post to TikTok or Reddit or wherever, to prove how Based you were.
This inflated support for Trump’s MAGA contingent, both in the primaries and the general, relative to his middling 2016 performance. Biden only one by outpacing him with a liberal response. And when that response collapsed in 2024 (in no small part thanks to Biden and Harris kicking the legs out of it by pandering exclusively to neocon swing voters), Trump was able to claim the first Republican majority-vote win in twenty years.
Luigi Mangione Noises
I want to see a re-balancing of the scales and a serious effort at social justice. I don’t want to see Donald Trump walk away from a conviction in federal court with no penalty because judges and prosecutors are too terrified of reprisal. I don’t want to see people who spent the last five years warmongering to walk away unsinged and free to play these sick games again.
Operating as a stenographier for a notorious liar and bullshit artist is not the way forward.
Not even if you can put “Haha! We owned him!” in the headlines.