Last night I had a Klondike bar and some Haagen-Dazs, to celebrate. Then, having lined my stomach with an adequate amount of cream, I reached into the freezer once more . . . for the vodka bottle. I may be old, but I have’t forgotten how to party.

The celebration, of course, is for the now former hostages: Evan Gershkovich, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Alsu Kurmasheva, Paul Whelan, and all the others who have finally made it back to freedom. Welcome home, each and every one of you. May your family reunions be joyous, and your healing be swift.

Needless to say, those families will be staging their own celebrations today, perhaps some quietly and others less so, depending on their returning loved ones’ wishes. And whether they choose to celebrate initially with or without outside friends, with or without food and drink, with or without singing and dancing, I’d bet on one thing: there’ll be a whole lotta huggin’ goin’ on!

But every happy event has to have one wet blanket, and this one is no exception. His name, of course, is Donald J. Trump. Even at a momentous occasion such as this, he finds it impossible to see one ray of sunshine, or to offer an iota of praise to those who made it possible. Instead, he sulks because someone else — his customary punching bag Joe Biden, at that — accomplished what he could not. Because the spotlight is not focused on him. And if he has to prevaricate to make his twisted point, so be it. As always, his own words are the best indicator of his character; and I will let those words (posted on his ironically-named Truth Social site) speak for him:

“So when are they going to release the details of the prisoner swap with Russia? How many people do we get versus them? Are we also paying them cash? Our ‘negotiators’ are always an embarrassment to us! I got back many hostages, and gave the opposing Country NOTHING — and never any cash.” [Alex Leary, Wall Street Journal, August 1, 2024.]

Gracious to the core, Donnie is. Now let’s try a bit of fact-checking:

1) White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed that no money had been exchanged and no sanctions eased to facilitate the exchange. (Whether there was any other consideration involved, we will probably never know. Some things need to remain classified.)

2) We released eight criminals, including an FSB assassin, and got back sixteen innocent political prisoners. In terms that even Trump will easily understand, that’s like doubling your money.

3) While the Trump administration did participate in prisoner swaps, there were not “many” hostages involved, as he claimed; and those few were exchanged for prisoners from our side. In 2019, one American and one Australian were freed by the Taliban in return for three high-profile Taliban members released by the Afghan government. And in 2020, American Michael White was released by Iran in exchange for dual U.S.-Iranian citizen Matteo Taerri. [WSJ, id.]

So yes, there were swaps on Trump’s watch — just not a lot of them, and not for “nothing,” as Trump claims. As usual, gross exaggeration is proven to be just what it is: a lot of self-serving b.s.

*. *. *

But enough about that. This is a day to rejoice, to welcome the hostages home, and to congratulate all those who made it possible. Tomorrow may be back to business as usual for the world, but today we celebrate.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/2/24