It’s official. We lost the Cold War.

Perhaps the timing of George H.W. Bush’s death last month was merciful. This way he didn’t have to see America lose the Cold War.

Bush presided over the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. But the triumph he and others earned with American blood and treasure over 71 years, defeating the Soviet Union and keeping its successor in check, has been squandered by President Trump in just two.

Trump’s unraveling of the post-war order accelerated this week when he announced a willy-nilly pullout from Syria, leaving in the lurch scores of allies who participated in the campaign against the Islamic State, throwing our Kurdish partners to the wolves, isolating Israel, and giving Russia and Iran free rein in the Middle East. Then word emerged that Trump is ordering another hasty withdrawal, from Afghanistan. Trump’s defense secretary, retired Gen. Jim Mattis, resigned in protest of the president’s estrangement of allies and emboldening of Russia and China.

The TV series “The Man in the High Castle” imagines a world in which Nazis won World War II. But we don’t need an alternative-history show to imagine a Soviet victory in the Cold War. We have Trump.
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Republicans now profess to be alarmed. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has enabled Trump at every step, says he’s “particularly distressed.” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) sees “chaos.” But that is too little, too late. Turkey says it will postpone an invasion of Syria as U.S. forces leave — the better to “bury” our Kurdish allies. And Russian President Vladimir Putin exults: “American troops should not be in Syria and have been there illegally.”

Indeed, a Soviet leader hardly could have outlined a better scenario than Trump has created for Putin:

Milbank goes on to list the many things that Trump has done that he thinks has benefited Russia. Why he asks would Trump do those things?

Why has Trump squandered so much for so little? Maybe it’s because, during the 2016 campaign, Russia was privately negotiating a business deal in Moscow with him and releasing stolen documents that hurt his Democratic opponent. (Meanwhile, Trump was praising Putin and his campaign was softening the GOP platform on Russia.)

Whether special counsel Robert S. Mueller III concludes there was a quid pro quo, Putin clearly has benefited from Trump’s presidency.

Is there any evidence that Putin was directly involved in the Trump Tower deal or that it even went further than Cohen talking about his idea of building one there? I've read that Cohen had left email messages with people in Russia who could authorize the building, but no one returned his emails. Cohen admitted that he didn't speak directly to Vlad about this. But people such as Milbank thinks that it happened just like he reports it here. As do many, many others who don't have any doubts whatsoever. Members have lamented how their friends and family have totally become Pod People who believe that their president is controlled by the former KGB goon and current president Vladimir Putin and if you disagree with them then they call you a Russian bot, a Russian apologist or other things like that. Who benefits from the country so divided by this propaganda farce?

Does anyone believe that if Trump was really being controlled by Putin that congress would just sit quietly by while Mueller took his time investigating it? BTW. After close to two years investigating this you'd think that Mueller would have found the smoking gun that directly links the Don to the Vlad and yet .. we have some indictments of a Russian troll farm and one person guilty of money laundering and two for lying to the FBI. Hey! When will Podesta be charged for not registering as a foreign lobbyist and possibly the same things that Manafort did?

Let's never forget that Hillary and Podesta cooked up Russia Gate to detract people from what Wikileaks exposed during the primary. Has anyone in the MSM ever discussed what the emails showed? Not to my knowledge. Hillary and the DNC hired Fusion GPS and ex MI5 spy Christopher Steele to find evidence of Trump being helped by Russians and the FBI then took that "unverified" information to a judge to get a FISA warrant to spy on Trump's campaign. Steele didn't talk to anyone in Russia to get information. He got calls from Hillary's BFF Sydney Bluementhal who told him who to contact. Some spy powers huh?

Comment from MoA:

What we are witnessing is the complete incompetence of those running the Empire. While malicious, indeed deadly, they simply cannot keep up with the critics of imperialism. Their power rests entirely on their ability to use force, both physical and financial. Their attempts to use social medias to their advantage are lame and ineffective. It seems clear to me that they will soon be reduced to using their power not just to hobble but to cripple critics- net neutrality is already finished.

Indeed.