21 hours Ago By Amanda Marcotte
-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email Even by Donald Trump's sub-basement standards, the sadism was shocking . "You should have never started it," he declared to the nation of Ukraine, which has been fighting off an invasion by Russia for three years now. Even many Republicans, so used to making excuses for Trump's various lies and abuses, were taken aback by Trump's total reversal of victim and abuser.
"Putin started this war. Putin committed war crimes. Putin is the dictator who murdered his opponents," Rep.
Don Bacon, R-Neb., posted on X, clearly rattled in the way liberals have been for nearly a decade under the onslaught of Trump's endless gaslighting. "Russia’s the aggressor here, there’s no question about that," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.
D., told reporters, while trying to pretend Trump didn't mean to say the vile thing he said. Sen.
Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also pitifully tried to inject some reality into the discourse without explicitly criticizing Trump, feebly insisting , "I blame [Russian President Vladimir] Putin above all others.
" In Trump's view, the larger and more violent party is fully entitled to take what they want from someone smaller and less powerful. The anxiety among even Republicans to accede to Trump's lie is understandable. Trump and his minions may downplay it, but what Putin has done to Ukraine is unvarnished evil.
The illegal invasion has led to an estimated 100,000 Ukranian deaths and even more Russian deaths, as Putin treats his soldiers like cannon fodder. It spawned a refugee crisis and led to Russia kidnapping thousands of Ukrainian children . Putin has been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court .
Only someone completely awash in Russian misinformation or with no moral compass would say what Trump said. But of course, that is who Trump is and no one should be surprised. As soon as I heard him blame Ukraine, I thought of how Trump blamed journalist E.
Jean Carroll after a New York civil jury found him liable for sexually assaulting her. "What kind of a woman meets somebody and brings them up and within minutes you're playing hanky panky in a dressing room?" complained Trump the next day on CNN . The implication was not subtle: She had "started it" by letting herself be alone with him.
As he argued to host Kaitlan Collins , men have had the right to sexually assault "for a million years," adding the word "fortunately," in case there was any doubt where he stood. Want more Amanda Marcotte on politics? Subscribe to her newsletter Standing Room Only . Trump continues to blame Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Russia's invasion, unsubtly suggesting the problem is not invading a sovereign nation, but the victim resisting.
He insists Zelenskyy needs to accept it's "a War that couldn’t be won" and insists he makes a "deal," the likes of which appears to be to give Putin everything he wants. It calls to mind Trump's similar thoughts on the infamous "Access Hollywood," where he praised victims of sexual assault who "let you do it." The common thread here isn't hard to see.
In Trump's view, the larger and more violent party is fully entitled to take what they want from someone smaller and less powerful. In his view, the target is obliged to give in without a fight. If the victim is foolish enough to resist, they are responsible for whatever level of violence their oppressor uses against them.
If a rape victim fights back, she deserves it if her rapist beats her down. If Ukraine's army holds back Russian invaders, they are the villains for not laying back and taking it. Authoritarianism and sexual assault have this in common: They are modes for weak and cowardly people to feel powerful.
What's striking about Trump's many excuses for sexual violence is not just that he thinks it's okay, but that he whines so much about victims who fight back. He's a feeble man who seeks shortcuts to feeling powerful, without showing an ounce of real courage ever in his life. He only picks on those who can't fight back.
It's not enough to be able to be physically stronger, because there's still a threat that they will, as Carroll did, fend him off long enough to escape. No, he needs his targets to be wholly cowed, which is why he was bragging on "Access Hollywood" that other women had to "let you do it" because he's "a star." Trump, the ultimate example of a loud-mouthed but chicken-hearted fascist, is almost comically unnerved by Zelenskyy, who has proven himself a brave man leading what is undeniably a courageous struggle by Ukrainians for their independence.
Trump is resorting to the favorite response of lily-livered trolls everywhere: sniping insults at the better man from the safety of his computer screen. He sneeringly referred to Zelenskyy's prior career as "a modestly successful comedian" (a far harder job than being a phone-it-in reality TV host !). He accused Zelenskyy of being too busy "sleeping" to make a meeting.
As usual with Trump, it's all projection. It was Trump who, true to sniveling form, canceled a joint press conference with the man he's been insulting safely from an iPhone for the past couple of days. Related "Stop this ridiculous war": Trump teases end of Ukraine conflict after calls with Putin, Zelenskyy Again, it's so reminiscent of how Trump scurries to welcoming crowds of sycophants to talk smack about the women who had the courage to step forward with sexual assault accusations.
He has repeatedly attacked the looks of his accusers , which implies that being assaulted by him is a compliment. He's called Carroll "a whack job" and "not my type." And, always, he suggests that victims want it.
"She actually indicated that she loved it, okay?" he raved to CNN's Anderson Cooper in 2019 . "She said it was very sexy to be raped." In reality, Carroll said the opposite, that rape is often portrayed as sexual, but in her experience, it's more like a "fight.
" His apologists are apeing Trump's whiny behavior about Ukraine. When Zelenskyy publicly pushed back against Trump's lies, Vance lashed out — from the right's ultra-soft safe space of the Daily Mail — by crying about Zelenskyy "badmouthing" Trump. "Everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this administration," he added.
Yep, Vance's "defense" of his boss is to paint him as a thin-skinned bully who needs to be coddled with flattery. Mistaking their own weakness for strength is the MAGA way. Thursday, I linked an essay by the blogger Scarlet at Dialectics of Decline, but by gum, her entertaining description of the MAGA mindset deserves to be aired again.
"They are crybabies of the highest order," she wrote, noting that the main tone of Trump's fanbase is self-pity over the smallest stuff. "They’re scared to take the subway, they’re offended that you called them white or cis, they’re upset that you didn’t think they were cool in high school, they want to call the manager because there’s less boobies in video games." Her only error is treating this as a new thing.
That's always been the central tension of fascism. It's men who have fantasies of being "ubermensch," but who are acting on their justified fears that, underneath the bluster, they're cowards. They can't handle criticism, can't handle change, and can't handle the knowledge that there are other people — especially people they look down on, like women or queer people — who exhibit far more courage every day than the fascist musters in a lifetime.
Fascists are fundamentally people who can't pick on someone their own size. And even when they're punching down, they're crying because the victim's resistance makes their knuckles hurt. Read more about this topic Palling around with Putin: Trump's mind-boggling outreach to the Russian dictator under scrutiny Requiem for an empire: How Trump's second term could reshape the world Trump’s plan to undermine foreign policy By Amanda Marcotte Amanda Marcotte is a senior politics writer at Salon and the author of " Troll Nation: How The Right Became Trump-Worshipping Monsters Set On Rat-F*cking Liberals, America, and Truth Itself .
" Follow her on Bluesky @AmandaMarcotte and sign up for her biweekly politics newsletter, Standing Room Only . MORE FROM Amanda Marcotte Related Topics ------------------------------------------ Commentary Donald Trump E Jean Caroll Gop Republicans Russia Ukraine Related Articles Advertisement:.
