The Network of Evil
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin often appear to be in cahoots in the pursuit of their evil goals.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is waging a war of annihilation against Ukraine, a sovereign neighbor. Putin seems willing to destroy two nations: Ukraine through devastating war; Russia through a reckless adventure that is wrecking the nation’s economy and tearing apart its social fabric.
Not since Hitler’s malevolent rule, which ended with his suicide in a Berlin bunker, has the world witnessed such an evil attempt at self-aggrandizement by a leader who cares little or nothing for world opinion or the well-being of his countrymen. Putin appears hellbent on bringing down the post-war fabric of international order in pursuit of… well, who knows what he is pursuing? His rationale for invading Ukraine is a potpourri of ahistorical musings about the past historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians and a stated belief that Ukraine is not a country. More likely, Putin simply wants democracy to fail, especially Ukrainian democracy, which is, of course, right next door.
Putin is not alone in his evil machinations against democracy. As I have written before, he has American allies. Most notably among these is former President Donald Trump. The news of the last couple of days reminds everyone of the connections between Putin and Trump. As is his wont, Trump has a habit of saying the quiet parts out loud, so it was not surprising that his first reaction to Putin’s maneuvers against Ukraine was to praise the Russian strongman as a “genius” who is “pretty savvy.” Blowback from most Republicans forced Trump to backtrack a bit and claim, without any evidence, that “this horrific disaster [Russia’s invasion of Ukraine] would never have happened if our election was not rigged and if I was the president.” We can take his initial reaction as proof of his opinion of Putin.
Trump cannot utter a thought about anything without linking it to the “big lie.” Trump is willing to tear down the entire edifice of American democracy in his evil, single-minded pursuit of his claim that Joe Biden stole the 2020 presidential election. Further indication of the criminal lengths Trump was — and probably still is — willing to go comes in a court filing by the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection that states there is enough evidence to conclude Trump and allies might have conspired to commit fraud and obstruction in attempting to overturn the results of the election.
Trump and Putin are two peas in a pod. Both have a nihilistic contempt for established modes of behavior. Both do not care a whit for democracy — at home or abroad — and both are willing to undermine national security and ignore the law to achieve their dubious goals. For both men, the ends more than justify the means. And those ends revolve solely around a narcissistic need to get power and maintain it.
The connection between Putin and Trump runs deeper than merely similar contempt for normal mores. As the writer Rebecca Solnit exhaustively details in the The Guardian, the two men are “willing collaborators in an attempt to sabotage free and fair elections, the rule of law, and truth itself.” Solnit’s examination of the connection between Putin and Trump does not contain any new revelations. The bits and pieces are well-known. Yet, her detailing of them in one article is eye-popping, indicative of a network of evil.
Putin has launched several military invasions of foreign countries. In addition to the current war in Ukraine, he attacked that country in 2014 and seized the Crimean peninsula. He brutally waged war against Georgia and Chechnya. And, he has used unconventional cyber power to attack the United States. This invasion included disinformation to influence social media and divide Americans, and even an attempt to dissuade Black voters from casting ballots. The Senate Intelligence Committee concluded in 2019 that Russia targeted the election systems in all 50 states in the 2016 election in an effort to sow confusion and undermine confidence in the results. As British investigative reporter Carole Cadwalladr put it: “We failed to acknowledge Russia had staged a military attack on the West. We called it ‘meddling’. [Original punctuation.] We used words like “interference”. It wasn’t. It was warfare.”
What is stunning in all this is the refusal of Trump to condemn Russian actions or take measures to prevent further depredations. Trump’s supineness before Putin in Helsinki in 2018 was revelatory. Who can forget Trump’s reply to the question of whether he believed U.S. intelligence agencies’ assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 election? “I don’t see any reason why it [Russia] would,” Trump said. “President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.” Trump’s assessment is either embarrassingly naive or willfully traitorous. In any event, Trump’s groveling before Putin at Helsinki was not the only instance of his doing Putin’s bidding. Other examples include eliminating support for Ukraine from the Republican Party’s 2016 platform, undermining NATO, and attempting to blackmail Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky.
In addition, key Trump associates — such as Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Michael Flynn — had close connections to the Russian government. Manafort shared data with a Russian intelligence agent, and campaign adviser Jeff Sessions gave information to the Russian ambassador to the United States. In June 2016, Manafort, Trump’s son Donald, Jr., and his son-in-law Jared Kushner met with a Kremlin-linked lawyer who promised damaging information on Trump’s rival, Hillary Clinton. In May 2017, Trump shared highly classified information in an Oval Office meeting with Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister. The information had been provided by a U.S. ally who had not given its permission for the information to be passed to the Russians.
There is a glimmer of hope in this otherwise grim tale. Putin may have bitten off more than he can chew. The stiff Ukrainian resistance obviously has surprised the Russian autocrat, as have indications of public opposition at home to his adventurism. Perhaps, Putin’s overreach will be the beginning of the end for his evil regime. As for Trump, the former president’s popularity rating today remains unchanged from his time in office. Usually, as CNN’s Chris Cillizza points out, former presidents almost immediately become more popular. Absence, I guess, makes the public heart grow fonder. Since Trump has not been absent (note all the public statements about the “big lie” and his periodic rallies), American hearts remain the same. Trump, after all, has his loyal fan base, which is growing no bigger.
The world will be a much safer place when the twin pillars of the network of evil are off the stage.
Posted March 4, 2022
The difference I would note is that both men are narcissistic kleptocrats, Putin has a firm albeit slanted view of Russian history, and places himself as a messianic figure in that story.
Trump, however, hasn't the least understanding or interest in any history other than that of his bank account. Remember his many embarrassing tales of ridiculous things like airports during the American Revolution, or indications he thought Frederick Douglass was still alive...the list goes on.
Yes, both men are scheming megalomaniacs willing to tell endless lies. But Putin is immensely more sophisticated than his orange hued puppet. History will determine which is more dangerous to humanity.