Donald Trump has long made clear that he admires Russian strongman Vladimir #Putin,

including calling his invasion of Ukraine “genius” and “savvy.”

Remarks he made Monday to the National Guard Association in Detroit demonstrate just how worried he is that Ukrainian efforts to resist Putin’s aggression might be successful.

Musing on Russia’s war against Ukraine,
Trump expressed dismay that Russia

— which escalated a war it initially started a decade ago by launching an unprovoked full-scale assault in February 2022

— has now itself been invaded by Ukrainian forces.

Trump’s pro-dictator enthusiasms are likely to be damaging far beyond Europe.

For example, Trump
— who has again often praised China’s President #Xi
— has hedged on whether he would defend #Taiwan,
arguing (as with NATO) that Taiwan should pay the US for military support.

Along the same lines,
Trump in his first term abandoned Obama-era anti-corruption and pro-democracy efforts in #Guatemala.

In 2023, after Guatemalans rallied against their corrupt, evangelical right-wing Christian oligarchy
and elected reform president Bernardo Arévalo,

Biden launched a major effort to back Arévalo and prevent a coup.

Continued US support is critical, according to journalist Jody García.

Given Trump’s past record and his anti-democracy bent,
it seems likely that if he wins, Guatemalan democracy will lose.

Trump’s disdain for democracy and for diplomacy would likely also worsen the already nightmarish situation in #Gaza.

Since the horrific Hamas attack on Israel on 10/7, Biden has supplied billions in weapons to Israel, while urging the far right government of Benjamin Netanyahu to take care to avoid civilian casualties. Israel has instead killed tens of thousands of civilians.

This is not a successful humanitarian policy, to put it mildly.

Trump’s recommendation, though, is to call for even harsher measures.

During his debate with Biden in June, Trump called Biden a “bad Palestinian” and said that Biden should
“let Israel finish the job.”

Given the terrifying level of devastation Israel has already inflicted, “finish the job” in this context appears to be an outright call for destruction.

(In related news, Jared Kushner said during a recent interview that “Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable.”)

Trump likes strongman solutions, up to and including #mass #violence and #ethnic #cleansing.

Rather than leading to any sort of peace, this push for more extreme violence will only enflame the region,
potentially precipitating a dreaded Israel/Hezbollah #war which could involve #Iran.

Such a widening of the conflict was only narrowly avoided this week.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ukrainian-incusion-putin-apologia