Trust Trump? Not a Bit!

We have always believed that leaders from both the Soviet era and modern Russia have, in one way or another, avoided the outbreak of a Third World War, a conflict in which everyone would lose.

This is the context of the most recent communication between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart, Donald Trump, who even met in Anchorage, Alaska, to agree on terms regarding the special military operation Russia is conducting in Ukraine—a necessary action given the approach of NATO troops to Russian borders.

The use of Ukraine against Russia had a prior history of eight years, involving money supplied by Washington and the creation of neo-Nazi brigades that dedicated themselves during that entire time to killing thousands of Russian speakers, leading to Russia's necessary entry into the confrontation in Ukraine.

With Biden in the presidency, North America worsened the situation, and only the advent of Donald Trump for a second term to lead the United States seemed—it only seemed—that the problem would be resolved, with the American admission that Russia had no choice but to act as it did.
But it was "lip service," because in practice, the voices that denounced the unjust situation in which Russia had been placed were silenced, as denounced by a journalist even favorable to Trump, like Tucker Carlson, and a Cuban host who was fired from a US station, the one they call "La Poderosa," for supporting Putin's reasons for undertaking actions against the Ukrainian regime. "In this country, you cannot tell the truth," she asserted twice.

Nevertheless, Trump, who has recently clothed himself in the false garb of a peacemaker, tried to make Putin believe that he was willing to bring peace to Ukraine, and even again admitted Russia's reasons, blaming the previous administration.

After getting European allies to buy North American weapons for Ukraine, the aforementioned individual now indicates that he can supply weapons capable of bringing the war to Moscow, such as Tomahawk missiles, which can only be operated by American specialists. This has, of course, been rejected by Putin, who emphasized that it would not change the course of the war, but that such use would lead to actions that could result in a total war.

VENGEANCE

Of course, one cannot trust an individual who prioritizes vengeance over reason.

This is what Trump has been doing with those who provided sufficient evidence to find him guilty in 34 cases, for which he has not served a single day in prison.

He was found guilty of 34 felonies in New York, which are supported by a trail of checks, invoices for incorrect concepts, and reimbursements to buy the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels regarding a sordid night in a Lake Tahoe suite.

The jury found proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump knowingly and willingly falsified the reimbursements to his then-loyal collaborator and legal advisor Michael Cohen, valued at $420,000, with the intention of concealing the payment to Daniels before the 2016 election, in exchange for keeping her secrets.

Trump wanted to prevent Daniels' version of an alleged sexual encounter between them at a Lake Tahoe hotel during a golf tournament from becoming public.

The payments and documents were made in 2017 and have now become the reason Trump has become the first former US head of state convicted in a criminal case.

The documents forming the basis of the 34 counts for which Trump has been found guilty of document falsification crimes are 11 checks, 12 payment vouchers, and 11 invoices intended for Cohen, valued at $420,000.

Of that amount, $130,000 were hidden in various ways to reimburse Cohen for the payment of the same amount to Daniels, $180,000 were paid to cover potential tax consequences, $60,000 as a bonus for Cohen, and $50,000 for other expenses to vendors.

Those $130,000 were attempted to be hidden in 12 reimbursements of $35,000 that were incorrectly recorded as "legal expenses"—something illegal that the jury considered proven.

Up to nine reimbursement checks bore Donald Trump's now-iconic signature.
From all these documents stemmed the 34 counts of guilt for "falsification of business documents" for which the jury found Trump guilty after nine and a half hours of deliberations.

ONE CANNOT TRUST A FASCIST

The United States is experiencing a dangerous fascist drift with features that can no longer be hidden. Internal militarization is accelerating: National Guard troops are being sent from Republican states to Democratic cities (Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland) under the pretext of "order," while the budget for ICE is multiplied infinitely and operations with violent tactics and masked agents are normalized.

Trump seeks the submission of the military command, summons them from all corners of the world, and seeks to bring them to their knees. This eagerness to subdue the army and turn it into a personal instrument of power is one of the clearest marks of fascism. The border between security and repression is erased when loyalty to the leader replaces respect for the law.

The daily harassment of the undocumented and the theatrics of raids broadcast on television and social media feed a political culture of pain. Instead of strong institutions, the exaltation of force is imposed; instead of justice, public humiliation.
The play is to glorify violence and turn the "internal enemy" into emotional fuel. Symbols—uniforms, slogans, parades, helicopters—build an epic of domination that dehumanizes and polarizes.

History teaches that fascism does not arrive suddenly: it installs itself with applause and spectacle, until violence ceases to be a means and becomes the essence of power.

It is outrageous that there are people who view these demonstrations of force and cruelty by those in power in the United States favorably.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque / CubaSí Translation Staff