From Mark Sumner, writing in the Daily Kos in the aftermath of the NATO summit in Vilnius:
"The most basic fear that Ukraine has is this: They’re worried that Joe Biden might lose the 2024 election.
Yes, Ukrainians, from Zelenskyy down to the guys in the trenches, often see Biden as the man who is holding up the assistance they really need. Who made it so hard to get Western tanks? Or longer-range artillery? Or Patriot missile systems? Or F-16s? Who is still refusing to hand over long-range missiles in the necessary numbers? For every one of these questions, it’s possible to point at leaders in Germany or France or other nations that have also made temporizing statements or put the brakes on a necessary system. But it’s easy to come back to Biden as the old dude who keeps saying no, then no again, before he finally says yes—but only after a few thousand more Ukrainians have died.
Even so, Ukrainians understand that they are not going to do better than Biden. Sure, they’d be happy were the White House occupied by a pro-Ukrainian firebrand who was loading up half the U.S. military on a truck and dispatching it to Kyiv. But they know that’s not going to happen. [snip]
What Ukrainians fear, with great justification, is that a hypothetical Republican White House in 2024 would not just cut Ukraine off from further military assistance and pressure leaders to reach a settlement that leaves Russia still in occupation of Ukrainian land, but that the U.S. would block Ukraine from membership in NATO. Every year Ukraine is not in NATO is a year for Russia to repair, restock, and try again." (our emphasis)
The neo-fascist MAGAts who effectively control the Republican / Forced Birth / Shooters party under the command of the Malignant Loser would give aid and comfort to many of our adversaries, particularly to the Russian regime, which has long been an object of admiration and fawning by the Malignant Loser. Democracies around the globe have reason to fear an election win by the Malignant Loser, whose authoritarian mindset runs counter to freedom here and abroad.
(image: Getty Images)
