No, Trump Fans, Putin Is NOT Your Friend

Memorial Day, when we remember those who gave their lives to defend our country and our Constitution. On a day like today, the truth of how Trump got where he is---by accepting the aid and money and espionage of a foreign power, Russia--is enough to make a true American sick.

A lot of people will tell you that Putin is more like them than---say--Obama ever was. That's because they look at Putin and see white and male and Christian. But I have news for anyone who thinks that Putin or his puppet Trump is going to restore their white, male, Christian privilege---you have been conned. Out of your vote. Out of your health insurance. Out of your Social Security.

Putin does not look at you and see a fellow white,male, Christian suffering under the tyranny of Welfare Queens. He sees a Christian heretic---unless you are Russian or Greek Orthodox, you are not free to practice your religion in his country. He does not look at you and see a fellow white. "White" has no meaning in Russia. "White" can be French, British, Irish, Norwegian. Putin looks at you and sees a non-Russian---and therefore a lesser human being in his world view. And---this is what ought to really make you shiver--- he sees a traitor, someone who--if Russian-- would be arrested, tried and thrown into a prison for a long, long time if he did what Trump did. Putin does not have your back. Putin has you by the balls. And when he is done with you, he will leave you even worse off than before.

Putin/Trump came to power in this country thanks to a massive mistake made by the Supreme Court. In Citizens United they ruled that any corporation--even a foreign corporation had free speech rights and that foreigners could exercise their free speech in this country by throwing massive amounts of money into U.S. elections. And now that Citizens United has exploited the Free Speech Amendment in ways that the Founders never imaged, Putin's puppet Trump wants to restrict your Free Speech. Angry that Trump and his party are about to take away your health insurance when Trump promised that all (white) Americans would get free health care? Keep it to yourself. They are trying very, very hard to make criticism of the government---of the Russian government of the United States--illegal.

Putin/Trump came to power by promising to send the immigrants "home", so there would be lots of great jobs for Real Americans. But Putin's Russia is actively recruiting immigrants to fill out its work force. That's right. While we are told that we must be willing to leave fruit rotting on the vine and roads unpaved and houses without roofs for the sake of "racial purity", Putin's Russia is welcoming workers from former Soviet territories--some of them Muslim, some of them non-white, many of them non Russian speakers. Putin knows that a country can not grow without immigrant workers who are willing to do more for less in the hopes that someday they too will be citizens. When Putin tells us that we must send home hard working immigrants---some of them business owners, some of them mothers, some of them veterans---he is eliminating the competition. He is making it easier for Russia to say to third world workers "Hey, the United States does not want you. But Russia does."

Putin has a few other plans--and none of them will increase the health and well being of the U.S. working class. He wants oil prices to rise again. Russia's economy is still based on oil, and until they can steal our immigrant labor and take over our role as a manufacturing powerhouse, Russia needs gasoline prices high, high, high. Meaning all of you who moved into the suburbs so that your kids could attend "better" schools, you are screwed. You will eat up a big chunk of your salary commuting to and from work each day, just like you did under Bush/Cheney. And this time there will be no "trickle down" prosperity, because the profit will all be going to Russia. And Saudi Arabia and Iran. With a little bit left over for Texas.

Putin also wants to see heroin prices rise. What? You did not know that the Russian Mob that backs Putin is a huge player in the world heroin industry? The Russian mob could sell a lot more heroin in this country at a lot higher price if fewer Americans had insurance that allowed them to see a doctor for legal opiate prescription and (especially) if fewer of them had health insurance that paid for addiction treatment. Trump and the GOP are working on that. Trump and the GOP have been working for Putin for quite a while--since 2016 at the very least, when Republican Congressmen including Paul Ryan laughed among themselves that Russia owned Trump---and then swore each other to secrecy. When prominent Republicans started taking lots of money from Russia. When they started valuing Russian "intelligence" over that of their own CIA, NSA,military. When they decided that opening secret channels of communication between Moscow and the Trump transition team was somehow a good thing. In what universe is it ever "good" for the president to have secret dialogues with a foreign power that the military and intelligence agencies are not allowed to hear? We have a military and we have intelligence agencies in order to keep our country safe and strong. Meaning that anything you do not want them to hear is likely to make our country weak and vulnerable.

Trump is a traitor. Putin is his foreign master. If Trump and his cronies go to jail, Putin will laugh himself silly. Even if he does not get higher oil and heroin prices, even if he does not get more immigrant labor for Russia, he will have set back our country a decade. And as the dictator for life of another nuclear armed country specializing in oil, fuel, weapons and technology, he is not our friend. He is our rival.