In the past few days, the United States stopped sharing intelligence about Russian attacks with Ukraine. The military throttled StarShield so Ukraine’s drones are directionless. Ukraine has run out of Patriot interceptors to defend itself against Russian attacks. Announced an “agreed” energy ceasefire no one agreed to, but Ukraine complied with, only to have its energy infrastructure come under massive Russian attacks.

Trump announced that it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president because Zelenskyy wasn’t willing to surrender to Putin to please Trump. Lifted oil sanctions and agreed to purchase 300 metric tons of oil, not enough to make a dent in diesel prices but enough to help fund Putin’s war against Ukraine.

This comes after years of Trump pretending Putin didn’t invade Ukraine. Trump, acting alone, invited Putin to come to the G20 Meeting at his Doral golf resort, despite Russia having been ejected from the group due to his invasion of Ukraine. Trump denigrating Zelenskyy, the president of a sovereign democratic nation invaded by the army of a communist dictator, most notably in the disgraceful oval office debacle.

This barely scratches the surface, and comes after Trump has launched his own war against Iran from which he has no way out. His best defense is that Russia would never have invaded Ukraine if he was president, an obviously non-falsifiable facile claim since he wasn’t president, and his typically nonsensical yet hyperbolic campaign promise to end the war on Day 1 long since forgotten.

And still he’s pushing the lie because of the confluence of the MAGA faithful believing and supporting anything he says or does, no matter what, and their total lack of concern for the nation invaded and democracy.

Trump: “I watched an interview of a young woman the other day from Ukraine. And she said, ‘President Zelenskyy has destroyed our country. President Zelenskyy has taken our men away from us. Our men have no legs, no arms. Our men in many cases in mental institutions or they’re… pic.twitter.com/BRyf7sr3sH

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 16, 2026

No one seems able to find any such interview, which comes as no surprise given Trump’s lack of regard for reality that gets in the way of his getting what he wants.

.@POTUS: “Zelensky is not a good guy for us to deal with… If they’re going to end up with a settlement of some kind, they’re not going to do it with him. He doesn’t want to settle. He says he wants to settle, but he doesn’t.” pic.twitter.com/jVbg0jRJg0

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 16, 2026

Needless to say, Trump ascribes neither fault nor responsibility to Putin, whose respect he so desperately craves.

An arch can be knocked down. A ballroom can be demolished. Trees can be regrown, though it will be decades before they will come close to what Trump destroyed. The Rose Garden can be returned to its idyllic state from its current facsimile to an Olive Garden. The goldish doodads in the Oval Office can be pried off the walls, breaking the bond of Krazy Glue Trump used to make it “classy.” The tariffs can be canceled, although it will take many years before the world economy returns to normality. Whether the global market will ever return to its earlier state is unclear.

What cannot be fixed is the lives lost to Trump’s desperate need for Putin’s acceptance. What cannot be repaired is the demonstration of the United States’ failure to support democracy over communism dictatorships.

Did the United States of America make the decision to eschew democracy, to turn our backs on, then offend, then break trust, with our former NATO allies, who now realize that they can never again rely on the United States to stand with them?

Did the United States of America decide to change sides and become part of the Axis of Evil?

It was bad enough not to support Ukraine in defending itself against Russia. Indeed, had we done so without reservation, I submit that the war would have been over as Russia had no chance of prevailing against a well-armed, fully supported Ukraine. That Ukraine held at least as many cards as Russia is undeniable from the fact that it remains undefeated. That Trump couldn’t see it, or just plain didn’t care because of his devotion to Putin and utter lack of concern for Zelenskyy, changed nothing except for the disgrace of an American president’s vulgar conduct.

We may not have voted to become Russia ally against democracy, but here we are because one person decided that’s what he wants and a Congress that decided to hide under a rock lest Trump call them mean names.

I do not choose to have my country ally with Russia. I do not choose to have my country turn its back on our democratic allies. I do not choose to remain silent while Trump actively sabotages Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against evil. I do not choose to side with evil.