Another of Nick Cohen's excellent and perceptive summations. We in the US are horrified and it seems almost helpless to stop the lawless old man who is busily chattering away on social media as he destroys our planet as though it belongs to him.
Our American lawyers are winning case after case against Donald Trump, but here is the unthinkable truth:
Trump's ace-in-the-hole is the Supreme Court, headed by John Roberts, backed by the three Trump appointees plus the unprincipled Clarence Thomas. Donald Trump has now got a majority of Supreme Court so called "Justices," all cosily in his pocket.
Trump can now do whatever lawless thing he wants, secure in the knowledge that when he loses a case in Federal Courts for his outlaw trampling of the US Constitution and all this country was founded on and upheld for 250 years, Trump simply whines to the Supreme Court and they roll over and expose their bellies. This John Roberts Court, has given Donald free rein to run amok as he wishes. It beggars belief. (We do however have one single Supreme Court Justice who is fearless and honorable: Ketanji Brown Jackson) -- Kate Delano-Condax Decker
An alternative explanation to the cynical one is that Trump simply does not know what he's doing, which is why he's so often swayed by the last person to speak to him. It's always been about him, nothing more.
It's amusing to note how some of the European leaders are now annoyed that Trump's claiming all the credit for the Patriot deal, when it's Germany and Norway that are paying and also set it in motion. Why they are surprised I do not know. They only needed to look at Trump muscling into the winning team's photos at the Club World Cup for confirmation.
Well, didn't he post an image of himself as Superman on 'Truth' Social? More importantly, Trump trailed his Monday’s statement as 'big.' But it was nothing of the sort. The threat of a one hundred percent tariff on Russian imports in fifty days is an empty flourish. In 2024, the United States imported just $3 billion worth of goods from Russia, a vanishingly small 0.09 percent of total U.S. goods imports. In April the White House called it ‘zero’ when explaining why Moscow hadn't been battered with tariffs, like his nominal allies.
Similarly, Trump’s repeated threat of secondary tariffs is just as empty. These would apply to countries still buying Russian oil and gas, notably China and India. But such tariffs are indirect, difficult to enforce, and will do nothing to stop the shadow fleet or the flow of dark money via cryptocurrencies. At the same time, Trump is selling arms to European allies to supply to an increasingly beleaguered Ukraine, rather than acting as the arsenal of democracy. Little wonder the Russian stock market rallied.
This is not a rupture with Putin: it’s revenue thinly disguised as resolve. Trump sells weapons to allies, eschews real sanctions, and threatens punitive tariffs on trade that barely exists. As usual, we have seen theatrics and illusory gestures, not strategy. And the hollow men of Europe pliantly follow their 'daddy'.
Obama and Biden and of course everyone in the UK did absolutely zero about Iran’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and the constant terrorism exporting and civil war inflaming of the IRGC. What’s the name of the single US president to hit those elements of the Islamic Republic of Iran?
I’ll wait for an answer, Nick. Just be aware how Democratic Party presidents and UK prime ministers have no spines.
Fair point, but Trump’s (eventual) willingness to join Israel in bombing Iran doesn't explain his failure to stand up to Russia, especially as Putin & the Ayatollahs are such close allies. You can't help or hurt one without the other.
I don't know how Israel got Trump to behave properly for once, but I wish Europe/NATO would find out & do likewise.
As someone who supports Ukraine and Israel for similar reasons (democracies attacked in their sovereign territory by genocidal totalitarian forces of the Russia-Iran axis), I am not going to say that Trump hasn’t been weak on Russia with regards to Ukraine. However, when he changes his mind, and he will, he’ll do more for Ukraine than Biden did. Reminder - those Javalin missiles so essential to stopping Russia’s initial invasion were supplied by Trump, not Obama. Obama was a de-facto ally of Iran, giving it billions of dollars to fund its ballistic missile program and international terrorism for nothing more than a freeze. Obama gave endless air power support to Iran’s proxies. Obama did absolutely nothing to deter Putin, was an obsequious fool toward both Iran and Putin and denied the Ukrainians effective self-defense weapons. Biden later stalled on giving Ukraine more effective weapons like long range rocket artillery and tanks and F-16s until far, far too late. Trump, when he wants to act is decisive. Fearful losers like Obama and Biden with their administrations staffed with anti-US, anti-US allies progressive advisors, never do anything other than lukewarm support, combined with a whole lot of strategic damage to US allies and US national security interests. As for the rest of NATO, they’re far worse in their half-assed support and opposition to Putin. Undersupplying Ukraine, delaying their own military expansion for years into this war. It required Trump beating on them to divert enough GDP toward defense .
It not complicated - Trump respects action and power. If EU NATO members quit living off US defense subsidies, become powerful allies instead of wards of the US, he’ll respect the EU. And it’s not like this isn’t in the interest of the EU itself to have capable militaries and defense manufacturing.
There is a 'hive mind' and democracies produce leaders that reflect that. The mind changes and the leaders change. Trump represents a real aspect of American human nature, he leads them, they lead him. It's what happens in mature democracies.
Yes, which is why the Qataris invested $13B in universities, buying chairs and influencing the curriculum. It helped them indoctrinate State Department employees, foreign policy advisors, which are ideologically aligned with Islamists, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and above all Qatar. The hive mind is produced, often by foreign actors. Qatar and Iran have managed to lead Obama and Biden’s foreign policy through Robert Malley, Phil Gordon and various underlings, all stamped out by the Ivy League schools they fund for a very obvious ROI.
Have you seen the data showing the drop in Iran's uranium enrichment after the signing of the JCPOA deal? It drops to near zero, only to start climbing back up to pre-JCPOA levels following Trump's decision to pull out of the agreement.
First thing, nobody has data on Iran's uranium because they don't report it all to the IAEA or anyone else. Reminder - the IAEA found evidence of secret enrichment sites that Iran didn't report, so it's obvious that they're going for a nuclear weapons program and lying to idiots like Obama, who don't really care about whether they achieve such a weapon or not, but wants a way to give them billions under the guise of "preventing proliferation".
Second thing, JCPOA openly wasn't doing a thing about stopping Iran's program, only freezing it for billions of dollars Iran can use on the means of delivering such a weapon, specifically their ballistic missile program - and Iran did massively expand that with the money Obama gave them. JCPOA assisted Iran's nuclear weapons program, rather than stopping it. A freeze and money for delivery helped them, it did nothing to solve the problem.
A note from an American Reader:
Another of Nick Cohen's excellent and perceptive summations. We in the US are horrified and it seems almost helpless to stop the lawless old man who is busily chattering away on social media as he destroys our planet as though it belongs to him.
Our American lawyers are winning case after case against Donald Trump, but here is the unthinkable truth:
Trump's ace-in-the-hole is the Supreme Court, headed by John Roberts, backed by the three Trump appointees plus the unprincipled Clarence Thomas. Donald Trump has now got a majority of Supreme Court so called "Justices," all cosily in his pocket.
Trump can now do whatever lawless thing he wants, secure in the knowledge that when he loses a case in Federal Courts for his outlaw trampling of the US Constitution and all this country was founded on and upheld for 250 years, Trump simply whines to the Supreme Court and they roll over and expose their bellies. This John Roberts Court, has given Donald free rein to run amok as he wishes. It beggars belief. (We do however have one single Supreme Court Justice who is fearless and honorable: Ketanji Brown Jackson) -- Kate Delano-Condax Decker
P.S. -- Look up the Dissenting Opinions of supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. She is fearless, and honorable.
Note to "Skian Dew" -- are you related to Sgian Dubh? ( I was a student at University of St Andrews, Scotland) :-) !!
An alternative explanation to the cynical one is that Trump simply does not know what he's doing, which is why he's so often swayed by the last person to speak to him. It's always been about him, nothing more.
It's amusing to note how some of the European leaders are now annoyed that Trump's claiming all the credit for the Patriot deal, when it's Germany and Norway that are paying and also set it in motion. Why they are surprised I do not know. They only needed to look at Trump muscling into the winning team's photos at the Club World Cup for confirmation.
Thanks Nick. Great stuff as ever!
Well, didn't he post an image of himself as Superman on 'Truth' Social? More importantly, Trump trailed his Monday’s statement as 'big.' But it was nothing of the sort. The threat of a one hundred percent tariff on Russian imports in fifty days is an empty flourish. In 2024, the United States imported just $3 billion worth of goods from Russia, a vanishingly small 0.09 percent of total U.S. goods imports. In April the White House called it ‘zero’ when explaining why Moscow hadn't been battered with tariffs, like his nominal allies.
Similarly, Trump’s repeated threat of secondary tariffs is just as empty. These would apply to countries still buying Russian oil and gas, notably China and India. But such tariffs are indirect, difficult to enforce, and will do nothing to stop the shadow fleet or the flow of dark money via cryptocurrencies. At the same time, Trump is selling arms to European allies to supply to an increasingly beleaguered Ukraine, rather than acting as the arsenal of democracy. Little wonder the Russian stock market rallied.
This is not a rupture with Putin: it’s revenue thinly disguised as resolve. Trump sells weapons to allies, eschews real sanctions, and threatens punitive tariffs on trade that barely exists. As usual, we have seen theatrics and illusory gestures, not strategy. And the hollow men of Europe pliantly follow their 'daddy'.
'Something terrible has happened, start worrying'. 'Details to follow'.
Obama and Biden and of course everyone in the UK did absolutely zero about Iran’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and the constant terrorism exporting and civil war inflaming of the IRGC. What’s the name of the single US president to hit those elements of the Islamic Republic of Iran?
I’ll wait for an answer, Nick. Just be aware how Democratic Party presidents and UK prime ministers have no spines.
Fair point, but Trump’s (eventual) willingness to join Israel in bombing Iran doesn't explain his failure to stand up to Russia, especially as Putin & the Ayatollahs are such close allies. You can't help or hurt one without the other.
I don't know how Israel got Trump to behave properly for once, but I wish Europe/NATO would find out & do likewise.
As someone who supports Ukraine and Israel for similar reasons (democracies attacked in their sovereign territory by genocidal totalitarian forces of the Russia-Iran axis), I am not going to say that Trump hasn’t been weak on Russia with regards to Ukraine. However, when he changes his mind, and he will, he’ll do more for Ukraine than Biden did. Reminder - those Javalin missiles so essential to stopping Russia’s initial invasion were supplied by Trump, not Obama. Obama was a de-facto ally of Iran, giving it billions of dollars to fund its ballistic missile program and international terrorism for nothing more than a freeze. Obama gave endless air power support to Iran’s proxies. Obama did absolutely nothing to deter Putin, was an obsequious fool toward both Iran and Putin and denied the Ukrainians effective self-defense weapons. Biden later stalled on giving Ukraine more effective weapons like long range rocket artillery and tanks and F-16s until far, far too late. Trump, when he wants to act is decisive. Fearful losers like Obama and Biden with their administrations staffed with anti-US, anti-US allies progressive advisors, never do anything other than lukewarm support, combined with a whole lot of strategic damage to US allies and US national security interests. As for the rest of NATO, they’re far worse in their half-assed support and opposition to Putin. Undersupplying Ukraine, delaying their own military expansion for years into this war. It required Trump beating on them to divert enough GDP toward defense .
It not complicated - Trump respects action and power. If EU NATO members quit living off US defense subsidies, become powerful allies instead of wards of the US, he’ll respect the EU. And it’s not like this isn’t in the interest of the EU itself to have capable militaries and defense manufacturing.
There is a 'hive mind' and democracies produce leaders that reflect that. The mind changes and the leaders change. Trump represents a real aspect of American human nature, he leads them, they lead him. It's what happens in mature democracies.
Yes, which is why the Qataris invested $13B in universities, buying chairs and influencing the curriculum. It helped them indoctrinate State Department employees, foreign policy advisors, which are ideologically aligned with Islamists, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and above all Qatar. The hive mind is produced, often by foreign actors. Qatar and Iran have managed to lead Obama and Biden’s foreign policy through Robert Malley, Phil Gordon and various underlings, all stamped out by the Ivy League schools they fund for a very obvious ROI.
Have you seen the data showing the drop in Iran's uranium enrichment after the signing of the JCPOA deal? It drops to near zero, only to start climbing back up to pre-JCPOA levels following Trump's decision to pull out of the agreement.
First thing, nobody has data on Iran's uranium because they don't report it all to the IAEA or anyone else. Reminder - the IAEA found evidence of secret enrichment sites that Iran didn't report, so it's obvious that they're going for a nuclear weapons program and lying to idiots like Obama, who don't really care about whether they achieve such a weapon or not, but wants a way to give them billions under the guise of "preventing proliferation".
Second thing, JCPOA openly wasn't doing a thing about stopping Iran's program, only freezing it for billions of dollars Iran can use on the means of delivering such a weapon, specifically their ballistic missile program - and Iran did massively expand that with the money Obama gave them. JCPOA assisted Iran's nuclear weapons program, rather than stopping it. A freeze and money for delivery helped them, it did nothing to solve the problem.
If you'd said "No, and even there were I wouldn't choose to believe it" you could have saved us both some time.
JCPOA did not end Iran's nuclear weapons program, it froze it for billions of dollars. That's reality.
Here is some background information on how German Chancellor Merz helped Trump decide to sell Patriot Systems to Ukraine.
https://www.theconcis.com/p/lock-the-gains-chancellor-lock-the