So let me get this straight. Congress, that collection of lifers who couldn’t find a bargain table with a map, passes the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, and two days before the whole thing kicks in, Trump waves it off with an executive order. You can hear the fainting couches creaking all the way from the Senate cloakroom.
Here’s what the man actually said, on Truth Social: “I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don’t want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table.” He says great progress is being made, hostage negotiations included, and that he can sign the sanctions bill “later, or any time that I want!”
Now watch how the machine reacts. Marco Rubio calls it a 60-day pause to study the economic impact. The BBC dutifully runs the hand-wringing. And Zelensky runs to NBC to say siding with Putin would be a “historic mistake.” Notice something? Every time somebody tries to end a war, the same crowd that got us INTO it discovers deep moral objections. Funny how the people who never met a defense contract they didn’t like are suddenly the peace party.
And who benefits from this outrage? Lindsey Graham’s bill was going to slam global markets, and even the Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who naturally called the waiver “an important and truly historic moment,” admitted the sanctions would have done “serious damage” to the US economy. You don’t have to trust a Russian to do that math. Diesel prices are already through the roof thanks to the Iran mess, and Trump cut a deal to import Russian diesel to bring them down. The little guy at the pump finally catches a break, and the elites call it treason. Ask yourself when the last time was that Lindsey Graham lowered YOUR gas bill.
Trump also pointed out that Russia is doing “very little, if anything, to help the Islamic Republic of Iran,” and he wants to keep it that way, “unless stupid people get in the way.” There’s the whole strategy in one sentence. Split Moscow from Tehran, end the grinding war, and let the neocons weep into their think-tank coffee.
Of course Trump took a shot at Zelensky too, saying he “doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did,” and that “he could have made a better deal two years ago than he can now.” Harsh? Sure. But Zelensky just stood at an EU summit and sniffed that it was nice to be among “real leaders,” after Washington and Kyiv started feuding over the diesel deal and over Starlink speeds that mysteriously slowed down right when Ukraine needed them. Trump denies slowing it on purpose. Zelensky’s people tested it on EU territory and got full speed. Draw your own conclusions, I certainly have.
Here’s the part the papers won’t spell out. China’s already taking half of Russia’s crude exports and India another 37 percent, sanctions or no sanctions. The sanctions were theater. They were always theater. A show put on for the rubes back home while the war machine ate the budget. Trump just pulled the curtain back, and that’s the real crime as far as the swamp is concerned.
The man is trying to stop a war. The experts are trying to stop him. I know which side I’m on.