The Buck Stops Somewhere Else

Real leaders take responsibility . . . and then there's Donald

This was not a “mistake.”

In the Oval Office on Sunday, Donald had a meltdown—also known in common parlance as a temper tantrum—after President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky appeared on 60 Minutes.

When a reporter informed Donald that Zelensky had offered to buy more missiles, Donald blatantly lied about the origins of the war in Ukraine:

Donald: He's always looking to purchase missiles, you know... Listen, when you start a war you got to know that you can win the war, right? You don't start a war against somebody that's 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles, okay?"

I want to stop for a second and be clear about what actually happened. Russia—formerly our enemy—illegally invaded Ukraine—formerly our ally. The false narrative Donald continues to spin—the lie that Ukraine was in any way the aggressor in this conflict--diminishes Ukraine’s postion and strengthens Russia’s, which is the diametric opposite of what the United States should be doing.

Last night's 60 Minutes broadcast featured news about a massive Russian attack on Ukrainian civilians in Kryvyi Rih on Friday, April 5, and the interview was released before an even deadlier attack in Sumi on Palm Sunday— a high holy day for people, even in America, who profess to be Christians.

I’m not sure what in Zelensky’s interview hit a nerve for Donald, but he immediately took

to his failing social media site and posted a tirade, characterizing this as fake news.

I just finished watching 60 Minutes, the fake news show now tonight with two separate but highly inaccurate stories about “Trump.” They're at it again. The people at CBS Fake News just don't get it.

He then went on a long-winded, completely incoherent rant about Kamala Harris, the 2020 election which he continues to claim was stolen (which it was not), and concluded with an apparent threat to CBS.

[CBS] should lose their license. Hopefully the Federal Communications Commission will impose the maximum fines and punishment, which is substantial, for their unlawful and illegal behavior. CBS is out of control at levels never seen before and they should pay a big price for this.

Those well-worn phrases “at levels never seen before" and “like nobody has ever seen” have become such ubiquitous aspects of Donald’s rhetoric that I worry nobody--including the networks he continues to threaten—notices anymore how absurd and dangerous the hyperbole.

As for Donald’s reaction to Zelensky’s quite measured remarks, it seems clear to me that he recognizes (on a deep level) that he is losing control over everything. Plenty of people continue to kiss his ass, do his bidding, and acquiesce, all of which serve to protect his friable ego, but others are starting to notice just how destructive Donald and the Trump regime’s agenda are to the American people and to America’s standing in the world.

I actually think what sent Donald over the edge Monday morning was the fact that 60 Minutes replayed some video of that disastrous Oval Office meeting between Zelensky and Donald and J.D. Vance. In the clip, Donald came across an impulsive, weak fool in contradistinction to Zelensky, who is both a leader and a statesment. The 60 Minutes’ reporter asked Zelensky to comment on Donald’s behavior as he experienced it that day:

Zelensky: It’s a shift in tone—a shift in reality, really? Yes, a shift in reality. And I don’t want to engage in the altered reality that is being presented to me.

I don’t want to quibble with anything President Zelensky had to say, but this is not a shift in reality. Donald does not live in reality because he cannot face reality. He and his enablers and the rest of the fascists in the Republican Party have created a fantasy world in which rules don’t apply to them anymore.

Zelensky also discussed the war and the attack on his hometown where nine children were killed when a missile struck a playground in which they were playing. He invited Donald to visit Ukraine in order to survey the damage.

Overall, the interview seemed fairly unprovocative. Even so, this was Donald’s response to the Russia’s Palm Sunday’s attack:

Donald: "I think it was terrible, and I was told they made a mistake, but I think it’s a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing."

Reporter: "When you say they made a mistake in the attack—you were told they made a mistake—do you mean it was unintentional?"

Donald: "I believe it was... Look, you're going to have to ask them. This is Biden’s war. This is not my war."

The reporter was clearly trying to provide Donald with some context. But as he is wont to do, Donald doubled down on his insistence that none of what’s happening between Russia and Ukraine is either his responsibility or concern.

He also said of the deliberate bombings, "Putin made a mistake."

If it weren’t already obvious enough, this is just further proof that Donald’s refusal to take action is because he is completely and utterly beholden to Vladimir Putin. What should also be obvious is that Donald Trump has absolutely no will of his own. He cares more about appeasing the man who holds his leash than he cares about the lives of innocent Ukrainians children and adults.

If he doesn’t care about Ukrainian children, why would he care about our children?