What do you say about a candidate who flat out tells an entire segment of the U.S. population — the Christian right — to get out there and vote him into office, and that he doesn’t give a crap whether they ever vote again? And I quote:

“You won’t have to (vote) anymore. Four more years. You know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you, Christians. You gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again — we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote.” [Danya Gainor, CNN, July 27, 2024, on Trump’s July 26 speech in West Palm Beach.]

Is this a man who loves his country, who truly wants to keep it from being steam-rolled by Russia, by China, by North Korea?

Or is this a guy who just wants to get his fat ass back in that comfy chair in the Oval Office?

Now look at this picture. Not at Trump being his usual bombastic self. Look at the expression on Putin’s face. Doesn’t that tell you all you need to know? Because Vladimir Putin may be evil . . . but he’s not stupid. He’s got Trump’s number, and it’s a big #1. He knows Trump is all about getting himself back into the White House for four more years, after which . . . well, he just doesn’t give a shit.

And my go-to source of current Kremlinology, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, said it perfectly just this week, when asked about the Kremlin’s assessment of how another Trump presidency might affect Russia:

“We have never worn and do not wear rose-coloured spectacles. (Trump) is a representative of the U.S. political elite, which is now all absolutely suffering from total anti-Russian sentiment.

When he was president, under Trump, the Americans started this sanctions race, under Trump a huge number of sanctions were imposed against our country, and in this respect he is not much different for us from everyone else.

Maybe he shows a little more political wisdom in terms of maintaining channels of dialogue. But de facto it does not have a special impact on anything, and we should be aware of that.” [Reuters, July 26, 2024.]

But that’s not really Moscow dismissing Trump’s importance to them, as you might think on a quick reading. What it actually is, is typical Kremlin double-speak, telling us what they want us to believe. While Vlad, also a narcissistic all-out-for-number-one kind of guy, will back Trump’s candidacy to the max, because it’s to his own advantage to have his “good buddy” — the candidate he can manipulate as he does his own true believers — back in the seat of power.

Confusing, isn’t it?

But, hey . . . that’s just politics. And the rest of us — the smart ones who stay out of the political dung heap — just have to live with it.

But we do get to vote.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/27/24