What problem does Donald Trump solve by making a deal with Russia’s Vladimir Putin? Not bringing down the price of diesel, since 2.25 million barrels of oil only represents about 16 hours of daily U.S. consumption. Not quelling the fury of American farmers, truckers and all those who depend on diesel for their livelihood since they can grasp that such a deal will not end their struggles. No, the problem he’s trying to solve is the dwindling prospect of Republicans winning at the midterms, which is to say he’s only trying—once again—to save his own skin and avoid accountability.
To accomplish that goal—the only thing that really matters to him as he and his corrupt family continue to exploit our nation’s highest office to line their pockets—requires Trump to betray America’s democratic ally Ukraine, which is fighting for its sovereignty and survival. So Trump is loudly targeting President Volodymyr Zelensky as the scapegoat for the problems he’s created by waging an illegal war of choice against Iran.
In Trump’s false and twisted telling, Zelensky is responsible for the high price of diesel and has not done enough to bring the war to an end. Trump would never admit that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the war he started has driven up fuel prices. Instead, he blames Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries for his problems, ignoring Putin’s culpability and rejecting Zelensky’s courageous effort to dry up the oil revenue funding the war.
“He’d better damn well stop,” Trump told reporters Saturday “It’s time for Ukraine to get a new president.” He also said, “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals and for some reason he never does.”
It’s no wonder that Zelensky, one of the world’s heroes, is furious. He’s dealing with a so-called U.S. president who’s now stripped away any veneer of an alliance with Ukraine by expanding his allegiance to Putin and assisting his murderous war campaign. He well understands that the deal strengthens Russia and mocks—indeed, illegally violates—the sanctions passed by Congress in order to cut off oil revenues for Putin’s war against Ukraine. In a long post on X, Zelensky explained:
Any easing of sanctions against Russia without a clear and lasting de-escalation agreement with Russia is an obvious weakness. It plays into Russia’s hands—allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer, have even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world…
Gifts to Putin will not bring peace or any benefit to the civilized world. Russia will ‘repay’ the diesel with further terror and perfidy. Allowing Russia to sell petroleum products is an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged.
That was Friday. And on Saturday, Zelensky’s fears were confirmed.
“Today, Russia expressed its thanks for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia,” he wrote, adding that, “in Russia, they take any easing of pressure to mean they can keep fighting, to mean they can keep dropping bombs on cities.”
And on Sunday, when ABC’s Jonathan Karl asked Zelensky why he’s being blamed for the war, he said, “Because it’s more difficult to stop Putin than to pressure others. Because it’s more simple to speak about the prices and connect it with Ukraine when everybody in the world understands because of the war in the Middle East the prices are rising…people have to hear reality.”
Not only does this deal betray Ukraine, it also betrays NATO and other countries which support Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s dangerous expansionism. Purchasing Russian oil also violates a 2022 law, specifically titled “Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act,” that bans all Russian petroleum products and can only be overcome by Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine. This betrayal has even convinced some Republican lawmakers to openly criticize their Dear Leader.
In a sign of Trump’s weakness and rising desperation: As of this writing Sunday, Trump has claimed both Russia and Ukraine have agreed to an energy ceasefire “effective immediately,” yet neither country was aware of such an agreement.
It’s hardly the first time Trump has abandoned reality in service to Russia. In Helsinki in 2018, he betrayed 17 U.S. intelligence agencies that confirmed that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. He’s also continued to strengthen Putin and betray our democratic system by his relentless lie that Russian interference is a hoax.
Don’t forget his welcoming top Russian officials into the Oval Office in 2017, only recorded because a photographer from Russia’s state media was in the room (U.S. press was denied access). And who can forget his disgracefully abusive meeting with Zelensky in our Oval Office on Feb. 28, 2025?
Other betrayals can be traced straight from his “promises” during the 2024 presidential campaign. He would end the Russia-Ukraine war in “one day.” He would quickly lower prices on all goods, including getting gas below $2 a gallon and deliver 2 percent mortgage rates. (Gas is now averaging over $4 a gallon, up over a dollar in the last year, and mortgage rates now exceed 7 percent.) He’s also the guy who promised to be a dictator only on day one.
How many of the 77 million-plus Americans who voted to return him to power now feel betrayed by his indifference to their needs and their struggle to get by? How many American voters care—even among the 89 million-plus eligible voters who chose to stay home in 2024—that he has abandoned a democratic ally fighting for its life in service to the murderous dictator Putin?
How many understand that he’s doing so not out of principle or a genuine expectation that it will bring down prices, but in hopes that it strengthens his hand to do business deals with Putin? Will they recognize the con this time—that he’s aiming to fool enough of them into voting for Republicans in order to save himself from investigations that a Democrat-led Congress will pursue into his corrupt and illegal dealings?
The November midterms are three weeks away. Voters can make it clear how they feel about the mounting acts of betrayal by an increasingly desperate and deranged White House occupant who will do anything to save his own skin.
As we head to the midterms, it’s more important than ever to support the survival of democracy and confront the Trump regime’s corruption. I remain committed to raising my voice as vividly and fiercely as I can. I hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $50 a year or $5 a month to show your support and enhance your engagement—to share your thoughts in the comments sections and access all content.
“If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon, but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.” - Ulysses S. Grant
As usual, Steven, you hit the nail on the head. I have been and am bewildered by the Republicans’ apparent inability to connect the dots between Trump and Putin. Trump is aiding and abetting someone who has been attempting to destroy everything that really makes America great by reaching into the minds of ordinary Americans and extracting common sense, replacing it with conspiracies and hatred toward their fellow citizens. This is Putin’s job. Trump has mimicked it, sometimes word for word, in service of Putin, so…I dunno…where do we go from here? The midterms are coming, and, if we are successful in voting to restore democracy and decency (not necessarily in that order), will that vote count? If not, then where do we go from there? And if the vote doesn’t count because Trump and his administration say it doesn’t…and we end up in the grip of a terrible authoritarian and constitutional crisis, then where do we go from there? Per usual, I have more questions than answers. I recently read an interesting comment from a substack that said, “float, don’t flail”. I think I’ll remember that in the days to come. Maybe I should remember it now.