Ret. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman blasted former President Donald Trump as a “traitor” this week after the ex-commander-in-chief asked Russian leader Vladimir Putin to release damaging information on the Bidens. Trump was thereby sticking — once again — with a murderous authoritarian, this time for the sake of going after a domestic political rival. This occasion isn’t the first point when Trump has propped up Putin in some fashion; recently, after the Russian leader began the ongoing war in Ukraine, Trump characterized Putin as “smart,” saying: “The problem is not that Putin is smart, which, of course, he’s smart… The problem is that our leaders are dumb… and so far, allowed him to get away with this travesty and assault on humanity.” Under no circumstance does a former president of the United States somehow have to hand it to Putin for invading another country!
It’s worth noting that the “assault on humanity” language doesn’t automatically sound like something Trump wrote. Meanwhile, Trump’s request for Putin to help in going after the Bidens consisted of him saying the following: “As long as Putin now is not exactly a fan of our country, let him explain… why did the mayor of Moscow’s wife give the Bidens — both of ’em — three and a half million dollars?.. So now, I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it.” What Trump claims about a financial transfer to the Bidens from the mayor of Moscow’s wife grossly misrepresents the facts — and previous versions of the claims from Trump didn’t directly implicate Joe, so he’s changing his own story. (Read more here.) Vindman, meanwhile, commented as follows, discussing Trump:
‘Tell me this traitor’s security clearance has been revoked. He openly conspires with the enemy, when the U.S. is attempting to steer clear of a war with Russia.’
Tell me this traitor’s security clearance has been revoked. He openly conspires with the enemy, when the U.S. is attempting to steer clear of a war with Russia. https://t.co/PDiEeqd7nX
— Alexander S. Vindman (@AVindman) March 30, 2022
Recent examples of Trump sucking up to Russia’s interests continue from there. At a recent Georgia rally, Trump claimed that when he served as president he told a fellow world leader involved in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that the United States would not honor its treaty obligations associated with the alliance to protect a member country attacked by Russia if that country wasn’t paying its “bills.” It’s not quite clear what Trump is talking about here, as (almost) always — “The U.S. has not been stiffed for unpaid bills by NATO allies,” NPR noted back in 2018 when Trump was in office and ranting against NATO. “NATO is not like a club with annual membership fees,” former Obama administration National Security Council staffer Aaron O’Connell said at the time. Certain member countries hadn’t reached a previously agreed to level of spending on their defense — but certain countries apparently still aren’t there. And yet, Trump angrily ranted amid a war in Ukraine driven by Russia that the U.S. under his command wouldn’t protect its allies under certain circumstances — something Russia would no doubt love to hear.
As Putin bombs civilians in Ukraine and the world condemns him as a war criminal, Trump is… once again asking him for help besting his political opponents.
What is wrong with him?https://t.co/LcflscsBWr
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 30, 2022
