There is nothing to celebrate about Donald Trump other than his loss in the election. We know he is a congenital liar and bully, with no redeeming value. Despite all this he has hoodwinked enough people into thinking differently about him that we could be faced with having to soundly defeat him again. I pray that scenario doesn’t come to pass.
Recently Trump proved again he is a traitor when praising Putin as he began his invasion of Ukraine. Trump called him a genius. Between that praise on the international scene and the Jan. 6 committee outlining proof he perpetrated fraud against the American people, it is clear he deserves severe punishment. Yet one must question whether he will ever suffer for all the suffering he has caused so many.
Domestically the LGBTQ community has many reasons to despise Trump and to fear his acolytes around the nation. HRC compiled a listof all he did to harm the community. But then the African-American community, women, Latino community and all immigrant communities could just as easily compile such lists. Aside from being a homophobe he is a misogynist and a racist.
On the international stage we know he was a Putin sycophant, a traitor, during his years as president. It is clear today Trump’s toadying gave Putin the idea he could do as he wished in Ukraine believing Trump had successfully divided the rest of the world for him. Trump’s ‘America First’ policies, his attacks on NATO and his walking away from our allies and his meetings with the North Korean strongman easily gave Putin the idea he could march into Ukraine, install his puppet government in two days, and face no unified opposition. Putin quickly found what a misguided view of the world that was. Unfortunately, he is seeing that a little too late for the incredibly brave people of Ukraine who are suffering and dying today because Putin believed Trump.
In the United States we must continue to deal with Trump and what many are labeling Trumpism. It will be important in 2022 for Americans in all the communities Trump hurt to stand together and defeat any candidate endorsed by him or who follows Trumpism. It is clear if we don’t stand up to those politicians who still believe and repeat Trump’s lies, we are in danger of losing our democracy here at home. We will not be attacked like Ukraine by a foreign power, rather, we will lose our democracy in an election and will have only ourselves to blame.
In Ukraine, Putin is now committing heinous war crimes by targeting civilians, bombing apartment buildings and schools. Trump ended up standing with Putin, North Korea, Eritrea, Syria, and Belarus and then started to change his tune. It is clear he did so not to walk away from Putin but because even his acolytes here were starting to walk away from him on this.
As the evidence piles up against Trump and his cronies there is a glimmer of hope he will actually be held accountable and criminally charged. As reported “In a filing in court in a civil case in California, the committee’s lawyers for the first time laid out their theory of a possible criminal case against the former president. They said they had amassed evidence showing that Mr. Trump, Conservative lawyer John Eastman and other allies could potentially be charged with criminal offenses including obstructing an official congressional process and conspiracy to defraud. the American people.” Criminal charges will have to eventually be brought by the Department of Justice as the Jan. 6 committee doesn’t have law enforcement authority.
So while we know Trump is a traitor and Putin toady, responsible for what is happening in Ukraine today, whether he will face charges is yet to be determined.
Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.
