And so the elections are upon us. Some twenty million have already voted in early voting and mail in ballot. The deciding vote will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Polls indicate that the vote will be close.
Several facts are indisputable. Candidate Donald J. Trump has made fascist, racist, and authoritarian remarks. Many of his statements have proven to be lies. This has not been surprising as his educational level is a bachelor’s degree in real estate and he admits that he does not read anything of substance. His character is that of a narcissist with no regard for the truth. His mentor Roy Cohn, a notorious lawyer-liar who was disbarred, taught him to deny and attack. That is his modus operandi.
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There is a disorganized Ukrainian American contingent supporting Trump that has two identifying characteristics. They are lifelong Republicans and they do not participate at any serious level within the Ukrainian American diaspora.
Prior to his presidency in 2017, Trump had developed a relationship with Russia and its strongman Vladimir Putin. Trump wanted to build a Trump Tower in Moscow and to become Putin’s close friend. In the course of this quest, Trump often was placed in compromising positions.
This long-sought quest for friendship with Putin was on full display during his embarrassing press conference with Putin in July 2018 in Helsinki. Trump sided with Putin rather than America’s intelligence services.
Trump had no relationship with Ukraine and most likely very little knowledge until his 2016 election. He did, however, praise Putin for being smart in the manner in which he occupied and annexed Crimea. His initial encounter with Ukraine occurred when, through the advice of his sycophantic counsel, Rudy Giuliani, Trump attempted to enlist Ukrainian assistance to disparage his potential opponent in the upcoming presidential race (2020). He tried to blackmail the Ukrainian president by withholding aid to Ukraine which had been approved by Congress.
Trump lost the 2020 election. In the course of the next four years, he allegedly made at least seven telephone calls to Putin even following Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine in February 2022. The extent and subject of those communications and whether they violated American law has yet to be determined.
Throughout the current campaign, Trump has made many disparaging remarks about Ukraine. On the war in Ukraine, he has insisted that the war would never have started on his watch and that he would end the war within 24 hours of being elected. His formula for settlement is Ukraine’s unconditional surrender, meaning accepting current borders and agreeing not to seek NATO membership.
In fact, the war, albeit not full scale, began in 2014, and from 2016 to 2020 President Donald Trump did nothing about the war. His lack of leadership actually weakened NATO severely. He explicitly stated that he would not defend NATO countries that do not meet their defense spending targets and let Putin take over. Trump has stated also that he would lift the sanctions against Russia.
He chose as running mate J.D. Vance who has stated explicitly that he would end US military assistance to Ukraine. Trump himself has ridiculed Ukraine’s President Zelensky for coming to the United States and seeking money and has painted Ukraine as a country in ruins outside its capital, Kyiv, short on soldiers and losing population to war deaths and neighboring countries. He questioned whether the country has any bargaining chips left to negotiate an end to the war.
Trump said that the Democrats will not be satisfied until they send American kids to Ukraine and insisted that America is not going to have its soldiers die across the ocean. After meeting with President Zelensky in New York in September 2024, Trump boasted of his friendship with President Putin, thereby demeaning his role as an honest broker. in the future, should he, heaven forbid, become president.
If you are a Ukrainian American or even if you are simply an American with a deep commitment to democracy, human rights, and global security and concerned with the war crimes perpetrated by the Russians in Ukraine involving women and children, these words are fairly definitive and frightening, even if you allow for the fact that they come from a man who is a notorious liar and blowhard.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
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