Trump waived sanctions against Russia just two days before they were set to go into effect under federal law. Braying that the US had done “a lot” for Ukraine while Ukraine had done nothing for the US — holding NATO’s nemesis at bay with no real help since 2024 is apparently “doing nothing” — Trump’s waiver came right after he announced another gift to Russia: that the US will now buy Russian diesel, effectuating a 180-degree reversal of years of US policy.
After Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” he’d simply fabricated, Russia kept striking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, earning no words of remonstrance from Trump.
Energy prices spiked globally following Trump’s war in Iran, but he persists in blaming Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries instead of himself or Putin. It is glaringly obvious to the world that Russia started the war against Ukraine and could end it by simply withdrawing; Trump blaming bloodied victims who are fighting for their lives is craven and sinister. Trump’s envoy calling Putin, the “Butcher of Grozny,” a “humanitarian” tells the world democracy is in trouble.
Although Trump possesses legal authority to waive sanctions against Russia by certifying to Congress that doing so is “in the national interests of the United States,” he submitted a blanket certification without explaining how doing Putin’s bidding is in our “national interests” — or in anyone’s interests except Russia’s. The 300,000 tons of diesel he’s buying from Russia is only about 2.2 million barrels — about half the amount of diesel the U.S. uses in a single day. Since that small a quantity can’t change energy prices, Trump must have meant it as a signal of support to Putin.
It’s treason and Republicans just might get around to saying so
Russia has made no concessions in exchange for Trump’s help, and Republicans now have to answer for it. GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas posted on X that, “Helping Putin in Ukraine is reckless…our NATO allies would be next. Putin is fanatically committed to restoring Russia’s glory days, calling the collapse of the Soviet Union ‘the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.'”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) called Trump’s move “beyond irresponsible,” saying it is “unconscionable that this administration is capitulating to a Russian dictator who illegally invaded Ukraine and butchers innocent civilians every single day.”
In an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN, Republican Rep. Don Bacon said Trump “is prolonging the war, not ending it.” Bacon said, “It’s absolutely disgraceful our president is morally blind on this war. He’s pitched his lot in with the dictator and the war criminal.” Sen. Kevin Cramer, (R-ND), observed that “capitulating to bullies” only makes them worse: “That’s the problem (with) negotiating with a thug, which is what Vladimir Putin is.”
Even the uber-conservative National Review is calling out Trump’s “aid and comfort to Putin,” with the Federalist Society’s own Andrew McCarthy imploring Congress to investigate the new Trump-Putin alliance. McCarthy leads with crucial history, expounding on why Putin remains our true enemy. Resurrecting Ronald Reagan’s admonition that a “peaceful coexistence with an enemy committed to our destruction” would never be possible, McCarthy writes, “Vladimir Putin, the former KGB agent, is a born and bred devotee of the Soviet system. He solidified his despotic status by orchestrating a series of bombings inside Russia as a pretext to crushing Chechnya. We’re now well into his third decade as Russia’s murderous dictator. He openly regards the 1991 fall of the USSR — America’s foe in modernity’s greatest triumph for liberty — as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [twentieth] century.”
Trump remains oblivious to this history, and cannot see that Putin’s conquest against Ukraine “is part of his quest to reconstitute America’s Soviet enemy.” In a properly functioning republic, McCarthy urges, “there would be immediate hearings about this week’s shocking escalation of the Trump–Putin alliance.”
Trump’s oligarchs are all in on Russian kleptocracy
More Americans need to understand Russian history to see how it aligns with Trump’s oligarchic agenda. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Boris Yeltsin’s new government quickly dismantled the state planned/ communist economy by privatizing state assets. Yeltsin handed enormous wealth to a small, well-connected group of former apparatchiks including Communist Party officials, state enterprise managers, bankers, and Komsomol figures who already controlled factories and trade networks and knew how to work the system.
In result, in a preview of what Trump and his corporate donors are attempting in the US today, a tiny class of oligarchs took over key sectors of the economy, wielding major political influence, while ordinary Russian citizens endured growing national hardship. After Putin took power in 2000, he struck an unwritten bargain with the oligarchs: they could keep their fortunes if they stayed out of politics.
Russia never really built a functioning free market economy. Instead of rule of law governance, Russian industry owners set their own rules and the nation’s top 10% keep getting richer while the bottom 90% suffer. Sound familiar? This week, in one insane public statement after another (here and here), Trump again blamed Ukraine for its own invasion, insulted Zelensky, and expressed continued admiration for the murderous Putin. Throughout Trump’s posturing, Russia has continued battering Ukrainian cities, infrastructure, and energy facilities. Analysts believe Putin aims to starve and freeze Ukrainians over the fast-approaching winter to force Zelensky into surrender. To America’s great shame, it looks like Trump supports Putin in that goal.
At least this week Trump finally proved that Russia, Russia, Russia wasn’t a hoax, as he consistently aids and gives comfort to Putin while Putin bombs Ukraine and aids Iran.
America and her allies are at the mercy of an insanely corrupt president hell-bent on aiding Putin. But the mystery remains as to why.
Sabrina Haake is a political analyst and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. She writes the free Substack, The Haake Take.