The clock is now ticking for Trump. The judge in the civil fraud trial in New York signed the official order requiring Trump to pay $454 million including the almost $100 million interest owed. He has 30 days in which to appeal the judgment but in order to file the appeal he either has to post a bond for the amount or deposit the cash. It will be most interesting to see exactly what he does. And let’s not forget the $80 million plus he was ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll. That’s a lot of money for anyone. Trump is going to have to sell a lot of sneakers to satisfy those judgments.
The clock is also ticking down on Ukraine due to the inaction by the U.S. House of Representatives on passing the aid bill that includes funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. It is unconscionable that Trump and the MAGA Republicans are not only allowing this to happen but actively trying to stop any U.S. aid at all from reaching Ukraine. One can only assume they are working either directly or indirectly to support Putin in his unjust war on Ukraine.
For Trump, I continue to believe his opposition to helping Ukraine is simply based upon a personal grudge against President Zelensky who played a key role in Trump’s first impeachment when he refused Trump’s entreaties to announce a bogus investigation into the Biden’s. As we all know, Trump holds grudges forever, so I am sure he is rooting for Ukraine to lose this war, and for his buddy, Putin, to win just to spite Zelensky.
Mike Johnson, the current Speaker of the House, has proven himself to be nothing more than a Trump lackey and a hostage to the extreme MAGA win of the Republican congress. Don’t forget that the MAGA wing of the party is totally enthralled with the way Viktor Orban of Hungary has systematically dismantled democratic institutions in his country to move the country to a more Chirstian nationalist state. Putin has done essentially the same thing in Russia. Is it no small wonder Johnson, who is himself a bible thumping zealot who wants the government of the United States to be based upon biblical principles, is directly or indirectly rooting for Putin?
I believe, the MAGA Republican’s embrace of Christian nationalism and Trump’s personal grudge against Zelensky are they real reasons the House is standing in the way of the aid package. It has nothing to do with the southern border. If that were true, they would have passed the bipartisan package that was negotiated. Instead, they torpedoed that and produced another excuse why they wouldn’t support the Ukraine bill. It’s all BS. They secretly embrace a Putin victory because of their warped religious philosophy and because of Trumps’ personal animosity towards Zelensky. It’s that simple.
Of all the threats facing this country, there is no doubt in my mind that the single greatest threat is the prospect of Trump back in the White House whose domestic and international actions will be solely based upon revenge, retribution and personal grudges backed by a religious cadre of people who believe they have a license from God to justify whatever actions they take. That will create a nightmare that even Stephen King can’t imagine in his scariest novel.
