Push polling works. That separate poll asked leading questions and misrepresent both sides. The survey question says Zelenskyy's position is that there can be no compromise, negotiation or diplomacy. They make no mention of security guarantees, or of Russia's past history of violating agreements. Trump and Vance want peace, and apparently Zelenskyy just wants the war to go on until he's conquered his way to the pacific.
They also give false dichotomies between negotiating for an immediate ceasefire and fighting until victory. And another question asked if Ukraine should refuse to compromise or if both sides would need to make concessions, and they presented the both sides making concessions result as proof that Americans though Ukraine should give up territory.
It's all bullshit. I'm sure the portion of the population that bought Trump and Vance's feigned outrage is disturbingly high, but these assclowns are trying very hard to inflate those numbers.
That's right Donny, everyone who makes you mad is weak. Everyone who provokes you into screaming ranting like a maniac on social media is a loser. They're all pathetic and your compulsive need to lash out at critics is proof that you are tough and smart and better than all of them.
Trump supports Putin and sees him as something resembling an equal. He doesn't have that same respect for Zelenskyy. He sees Ukraine as the little guy, and being a bully, he tries to push them around to get what he wants from them. And anything Zelenskyy does to resist that bullying becomes an attack on Trump's ego, which is a bigger deal to him than any war or geopolitical issue.
I mean, for fuck sake, Trump was yelling at Zelenskyy for supposedly risking millions of lives and world war 3 by not shutting up about security guarantees and just taking whatever deal they give him. But even with those stakes, he's ready to end the entire process and cancel the deal over being "disrespected" and not getting thanked enough. Even if we take Trump's statements at face value and assume he is being honest and operating in good faith, he's still giant piece of shit that cares less about the lives of millions and the fate of the world than his own ego.
There may be a way to steer Trump into pushing back against Putin and supporting Ukraine a little bit. Maybe if someone could get actually get through to him and make him understand how everyone is laughing at him for being Putin’s bitch. Unfortunately, that would have to get past a nearly impenetrable wall of idiocy and self-delusion that keeps him safe from reality.
Compare the way he talks about Putin with the way he talks about Zelenskyy.
With Putin, we have to see what he wants, we have to try to work with him and understand his position, we can't do anything that might make him uncomfortable so he doesn't decide he doesn't want to talk to us, and his broken agreements are in the past while we need to be moving forward.
On the other hand, he repeatedly states that they've "explained this" to Ukraine, that we can't discuss what they want or what their concerns are, we need to focus on getting peace first, and Zelenskyy is at fault because was disrespectful which apparently we can't ignore for the sake of peace the way we can ignore a history of Putin violating peace deals.
If they actually meant what they are saying and this was all about diplomacy and achieving peace, they wouldn't be picking a fight with Ukraine, they wouldn't be publicly undermining them and trying to coerce them, and they wouldn't be refusing to acknowledge any of their concerns. These motherfuckers think that it's a good look for them to be throwing a tantrum about the way Zelenskyy dresses and getting pissy about him not being thankful enough for the way they are so generously pursuing a peace that carves up Ukraine and comes without security of any kind. That's the way they want to spin this. Because apparently they think acting like thrid grade bullies who try to pick on the smaller kids is admirable, that people will see it and think they look smart and tough.
The only thing I even find remotely believable in this interview is Rubio's mantra of "I don't understand." Just in general I think it's pretty clear that there's a hell of a lot he doesn't understand. Things like human decency, geopolitics, basic negotiation tactics, and parables about riding tigers and giving rides to scorpions. But I think he probably does understand that his position is pure bullshit and that his only job here is to try and tow the line while defending the indefensible. That's why he got so panicked when a tweet from a fellow republican came up, because his strategy was to avoid details and try to frame the backlash as partisan politics, so he can't really respond to Republican criticism.
This shouldn't be a surprise, but it's still outrageous and probably a lot more damaging than simply stopping future aid. Russia's economy is crippled and they are struggling to supply their military to keep up the war effort. Dropping the sanctions would not only give them a huge economic boost, it would also potentially allow them to buy things they can't manufacture on their own.
A plurality of voters chose to elect a puppet who has effectively turned the US into a Russian vassal state. But at least eggs are cheap and plentiful and we have peace in the middle east, right?
Honestly, it's for the best that they made such a spectacle of this. They could have been far more subtle and insidious with their betrayal of Ukraine and Europe. They could have drawn things out and let other leaders continue to court US support. They could have feigned being interested in compromise in order to divide allies between those who see through the bullshit and those who don't.
Instead, they alienated everyone at once and seem to be galvanizing our allies to unite without us. They were always going to stab Ukraine in the back and side with Russia, but at least they chose to do it in a stupid and ineffectual way.
Honestly I suspect he wants others to get upset and be "disrespectful" just so he can use it as further proof that those who disagree with him are all horrible people, and that he is therefore better than them.
I particularly love the part where he says Obama sent them sheets and Trump sent them Javelins then pauses to look at the camera and tell the media that that's their headline. He may be losing his marbles, but that attention whore instinct goes straight to the core
*Not sure if that's the military aid he tried to block in order to coerce them into investigating the son of a political rival, or if he's just taking credit for the aid sent under Biden that he actively opposed. Either way, it's fucking rich for him to take credit for military aid when he is personally responsible for delaying and reducing the aid Ukraine got.
The US has been trying to maintain that ambiguity for decades, as it's widely seen as the best strategy to prevent a war.
Unfortunately, the potential threat of US military intervention can only be an effective deterrent if the administration backing that threat up is taken seriously. And with Trump being a weak, unprincipled narcissist who seems to be determined to do whatever he can to undermine US power and influence around the world, it's hard to imagine that anyone would conclude that he'd commit to a difficult war to save an ally.
• All JOANN stores will be accepting gift cards through February 28
So, they can't give a timeline on anything else, and it's all subject to court approval, but they can just cancel all of the gift cards in 4 days? That is bullshit.
Just one of the many reasons why gift cards are terrible and should be avoided whenever possible.
I suspect that it will also just shift purchases to the days before and after.
It's a start, but I think it would be more effective if we went through some or all of March spending only the bare minimum on necessities, and only at small local businesses to the extent possible. The corporate world lives and dies by quarterly reports, so we'll get the most bang for our boycott buck by targeting those numbers specifically.
Every once in a while I get a reminder of just how lucky I am to work with decent human beings. The organization I work for looks for empathy and ethics as part of the hiring criteria and the difference it makes is just night and day from everywhere else I've ever worked.
I can't imagine a sum of money large enough to keep me at a workplace like the one described in the article.
As things get worse, I'm sure we'll see plenty of people suffering the consequences of electing Trump and blaming it on the people around Trump. They may be losing the farm and their home and livelihood, but rather than shifting ideologically, they'll be talking about warning Trump that the government is doing this stuff behind his back.
Push polling works. That separate poll asked leading questions and misrepresent both sides. The survey question says Zelenskyy's position is that there can be no compromise, negotiation or diplomacy. They make no mention of security guarantees, or of Russia's past history of violating agreements. Trump and Vance want peace, and apparently Zelenskyy just wants the war to go on until he's conquered his way to the pacific.
They also give false dichotomies between negotiating for an immediate ceasefire and fighting until victory. And another question asked if Ukraine should refuse to compromise or if both sides would need to make concessions, and they presented the both sides making concessions result as proof that Americans though Ukraine should give up territory.
It's all bullshit. I'm sure the portion of the population that bought Trump and Vance's feigned outrage is disturbingly high, but these assclowns are trying very hard to inflate those numbers.