Your humble blogger is normally not keen about making a video interview on new developments the anchor of a post. However, below, you will see Judge Napolitano present a deeply disturbing fresh clip from a Trump press briefing to his guest, Colonel Douglas Macgregor. Many of you may recall that Macgregor was a military adviser to Trump during his first term. This segment confirms what yours truly had warned about, yet quite a few members of the commentariat seem unwilling to accept: that the Ukraine minerals deal, if consummated, will commit the US to involvement in and therefore support of Ukraine.
Put it another way, there’s no value to this arrangement, and high embarrassment to Trump, if peace negotiations fail (perhaps more accurately, fail even to get started). Russia will continue to eat up Ukraine and may eventually occupies Western Ukraine. Even if the expressed intent is simply to assure a Russia friendly regime in whatever territory Russia deems to be rump Ukraine, Trump will look like a fool and/or powerless.
The other reason for hoisting this Judge Napolitano talk is that based on a Twitter search, I was unable to find the troublesome Trump remarks. So the second reason for promoting this segment is to help get it in circulation.
Because yours truly is a very slow and inaccurate typist, forgive me for not transcribing more of the important parts of this show. If you have time to listen, start at 1:00, with Boris Johnson praising the prospect of a US-Ukraine minerals agreement because it “commits the US to a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine.” But even more dispositive are the comments from Trump himself. I’m excerpting a bit more since both Napolitano and Macgregor, heretofore keen Trump supporters, read the last remarks the same way I do.
Starting at 3:30:
Napolitano: Colonel, here is what the President said, just a few minutes ago. Chris, and and, it’s even worse than BoJo because President Trump is talking about US personnel, he doesn’t say military, US personnel on the ground, and nobody will mess with us…..
[at 3:54] Trump: They spent $350 billion dollars and Europe spent $100 billion. Now does anybody really think that’s fair? But then we find out a little while ago, not so long ago, a few months ago I found out that the money they spent, they get back [note Macron disputed this claim in person in a White House press conference early in the week, that only a portion of the EU funds were loans]. But the money we spent, we don’t get back. I said, “Well, we’re gonna get it back.” And we’ll be able to make a deal. And again, President Zelensky’s coming to sign the deal, and it’s a great thing. It’s a great deal for Ukraine too because get us over there, we’re going to be working over there, we’ll be on the land, and that way, it’s sort of automatic security, because nobody is going to be messing around with our people while when we’re there. And so we’ll be there in that way. But Europe will be watching it very closely. I know that UK has said and France has said that they want to put, they volunteered to put so-called peacekeepers on the ground. And I think that’s a good thing.
Napolitano: You know, we both respect him and applaud his willingness to talk with the Russians. But statements like that betray either gross ignorance or very very bad intel. Your thoughts, Colonel..
Macgregor: No, I think that’s a polite way to put it. To be frank, President Trump needs to get out of this notion of putting anybody in Ukraine who’s not Ukrainian. And stay away from it. I heard this and I was genuinely disappointed, because there’s been a gross misinterpretation.
We’ve had somewhere between 1.2 and 1.5 million Ukrainian dead in this war, along with 100,000 Russian troops….[at 6:00] This is a catastrophe. And President Trump should recognize that talking about deals regarding rare earth minerals to somehow pay us back for a war we did everything in our power to cultivate and launch, for a war that we subsidized, for a war that persisted far longer than it should have because of our influence, is a disaster. I think he should be much more mindful of the human losses, recognize this country is now wrecked, recognize that Russia has also paid a price for its victory, and back away from this. Stop talking about deals that are going to compensate us for something good. We didn’t do anything good. We did the opposite…
[At 7:07] At this stage, I think it’s both in bad taste as well as ill advised to talk about this sort of thing in public….
[AT 7:26] Napolitano: Why is he still arming Ukraine while the man next to him, Secretary of State Rubio, he must have been wincing, the camera was off him so we couldn’t see the look in his face, is supposed to be negotiating with his opposite number, Foreign Minister Lavrov? Why are we still arming the Ukrainians>
Macgregor: Well, ostensively because we’re going to receive some sort of payment…[At 7:58] Again, it makes no sense. All of the aid should stop immediately, not humanitarian aid, but certainly any form of military aid, should stop immediately. Why should the Russians take us seriously for a second if we sustain it?
Now it is possible that Trump will be saved from himself and Ukraine will not approve the deal (remember it takes Rada approval and not just Zelensky’s signature) and Trump will go back to Plan A, of instead pursing a deal with Russia and using whatever comes out of that to cover his Ukraine exit. But right now, Trump looks keen on getting a big-sounding deal done, even if it mires him and the US in Ukraine.