Trump, Garcia and Putin

What did Mark Twain say? There are lies, damned lies, and then there is Mike Garcia.

When last we heard from our intrepid congressman, he was providing aid and comfort to armed insurrectionists attempting to stop the peaceful transfer of power in a democratic election. Proving you cannot chasten a right-wing demagogue, Congressman Garcia has double downed on his foolishness with the most laughable and hypocritical statement on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Garcia would have us believe a Donald Trump presidency would have somehow cowed Vladimir Putin. Really Mike? You are trying to tell us Trump kept the NATO alliance strong and was tough on Putin? Let’s take a quick journey of recent events and see how that notion stands up.

Garcia failed to mention that President Trump stated his belief that NATO was obsolete and a relic of the Cold War. Garcia failed to mention that when asked, Trump said he was unlikely to defend NATO member state Montenegro. Nor does Garcia mention that Trump wanted to withdraw the United States from NATO. All of these statements by Trump were music to the ears of Putin.

Garcia failed to mention the Helsinki Summit, where Trump got on stage with Putin and stated he believed the Russian president over his own top security advisers. We may never know for certain what Putin has on Trump, but we know it has to be something. How else can you explain Trump’s sniveling acquiescence to the Russian dictator?

Even as tanks were crossing the Ukrainian border, Trump was talking about how “smart” Putin is.

No, Congressman, the stench of weakness you sniff is the rot of the Republican cult of personality to Trump. Putin is playing the long game. He is going to try to rebuild the Soviet empire. Taking advantage of the extreme damage Trump did to the NATO alliance, he is going to attack and recapture those parts of the Soviet empire (Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia) not covered by the NATO umbrella, then wait till 2024. If Trump is elected he will go after those former Soviet republics that are now members of NATO (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania) knowing that Trump would not interfere, despite the treaty obligations.

And if Trump doesn’t win in 2024? Well, Putin will wait until a Trump roadie comes along, a Ted Cruz, a Josh Hawley. Or maybe another Trump sycophant like Mike Garcia. There are a whole bunch of folks like that in the Republican Party.

Lynn Wright Valencia