If Trump Was Still President, Ukraine Would Be So Screwed

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/04/if-trump-was-still-president-ukraine-would-be-so-screwed.html

No paywall
https://archive.ph/KiB6T


Counterfactuals always involve guessing. But one counterfactual proposition that seems increasingly obvious is that if Donald Trump had secured a second term in office, Ukraine would be losing the war right now.

Ukraine’s successful defense has required several factors, including the bravery and skill of its armed forces and continued Russian bungling. But it has also relied on a unified and energetic response from its western allies, which has included moral solidarity, economic sanctions, intelligence sharing, and a massive infusion of weapons. If Trump still occupied the Oval Office, none of these would be occurring.

A month ago, Trump’s close friend and supporter Sean Hannity tried repeatedly to coax him to call Vladimir Putin a bad person or admit his slaughter of civilians was wrong. Trump kept refusing. After Trump declined the first opportunity, Hannity offered another: “You came under some fire when you said that Vladimir Putin is very smart. I think I know you a little bit better than most people in the media, and I think you also recognize he’s evil, do you not?”

After Trump declined again and boasted of his closeness with Putin, Hannity tried suggesting Russia was an “enemy” Trump was strategically keeping close. Trump declined that opportunity, too, saying, “I got along with these people. I got along with them well.”

*snip*

[walkingman]

1. The whole damn world would be screwed and the danger of it happening is real.

[Bettie]

2. If he were still roosting in the White House,

US troops would be on the ground in Ukraine, side by side with Putin's troops.

[Tommy Carcetti]

3. I think it would be a confluence of mixed messages.

Vague statements of support for Ukraine (most likely pushed by his advisors and not by Trump himself), but also statements of praise for Putin and a desire to negotiate a "peace" that would leave Putin in charge of large swaths of Ukrainian territory.

[keithbvadu2]

4. Dotard would be sharing intelligence... with Vlad.

Dotard would be sharing intelligence... with Vlad.

[secondwind]

5. BINGO

😡😡😡😡

[samsingh]

6. Yes

[tanyev]

7. "Of course he's evil, Sean. That's why I get along with him so well."

....would have been the honest thing to say.