Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Upside down.

Donald Trump has been under constant political persecution since the beginning of his first term.

Donald Trump has been under criminal prosecution since before his first term. He’s a fraud, a charlatan, a sexual predator, and violated the Emoluments Clause in the Constitution he swore to protect. Going after him for these offences is not “persecution”; it is the normal course of justice. Being a celebrity, or rich, or President of the United States, doesn’t (or shouldn’t) put you beyond the reach of the law when you have broken it. Also, people pointing out that you are a raging narcissist, bully, autocrat, and all-’round asshole is not “persecution.”

Over time, he has learned to be patient and calculated.

HAHAHAHA! Oh, that’s a good one. Trump learning! Susan Collins is still waiting. Patience? I’ve seen toddlers with better impulse control than he has.

So what you witnessed tonight was a setup. Trump and JD Vance knew that the only way to achieve peace was to strategically align, at least on the surface, with Russia.

One of the reasons it was both Trump and Vance was that Trump couldn’t have handled this on his own. He needed Vance there to interrupt Zelensky and stall while Trump tried to find the next stupid words to say. And siding with Russia isn’t happening “on the surface”, it goes all the way down.

Zelenskyy’s real intent was clear—he would not agree to peace unless security guarantees were in place.

Well, would you? He knows he can’t trust Putin (he tried to point out all of the agreements, treaties, cease-fires etc. which Putin has broken or violated, but Trump and Vance cut him off). Now he knows he can’t trust the United States, and Trump specifically.

I can’t be bothered to kill more electrons in taking this twaddle apart, but suffice it to say, a man incapable of recognizing the implications of a cognitive test is not playing four dimensional chess with Vladimir Putin. He’s not ten moves ahead of anyone. He hasn’t played both sides against each other, he’s taken Putin’s side. He’s handed Putin a huge victory without Putin having to fire a shot (at least not against the US directly). Just because Russia is no longer communist, that doesn’t mean it’s not a threat. Ask the Baltic Republics, which Putin would like to see returned to Russian control, like Ukraine. Trump is helping him achieve just that. Trump is helping to weaken NATO for him. Who knew that the United States would be happy with the Russian re-occupation of Eastern Europe so long as it wasn’t under the hammer and sicle? Like I said previously, it’s mob bosses dividing up territories between themselves. It’s simple gangsterism that is needlessly dignified by calling it “geopolitics.” Whether Europe can or will step in to fill even part of the void created by American abandonment and abdication remains to be seen.

And as for the sane-washing of Trump’s tirade as “genius”, get real. Trump really is as shallow, thin-skinned, and venal as he appears. He’s not acting. This is who he is. This is all he will ever be. “Chad Smith” sounds like a Trump regime sock puppet, or someone plumping for Hitler Youth Barbie’s Karoline Leavitt’s job.