Freak on a Leash

     Since yesterday, I've been thinking of the 1998 Korn song, "Freak on a Leash". Trump's staged gang-banging of Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenkskyy left absolutely no doubt to anyone except for the MAGA Koolaid swillers, one from Utah in particular, where his true loyalties lie. You could almost hear the champagne corks popping all the way from Moscow.

     If it isn't already, it ought to be a point of fascination as to what Putin has on Trump. What possible kompromat does he have over the so-called leader of the Free World? It can't be the pee tape or anything in the Steele dossier. In today's corrupted political climate, Trump's followers would find some way to spin that into something positive. Besides, Trump is completely incapable of feeling shame. He is, however, hypervigilant about being vulnerable.

     And, since at least 2016, Trump has been acting like a victim in a hostage video. Since that shameful summer of 2016, when he openly asked Russia to hack into Hillary's emails and, the month before, when his son Don Jr, had Russian spies over at Trump Tower, Trump has given the Russians everything they could have possibly wanted, if not more. Russian state media is constantly crowing about "our boy, Donald" and even posting nude photos of Melania. They're plainly getting their talking points and facts straight from the Kremlin. They're even boasting about how they'll nuke the United States.

    Trump is the Soviet-era delineation of "a useful idiot" and they're treating him as such on their broadcasts.

Something takes a part of me
You and I weren't meant to be
A cheap fuck for me to lay
Something takes a part of me

      

     All Trump needed to do yesterday was to counter Zelenskyy's accusations about Putin with, "You're taking about the man I love!" JD Vance wasn't far behind. And his Mr. Sluggo face all throughout that disastrous Oval Office meeting yesterday showed his loathing for Zelenskyy and anything having to do with Ukraine or its interests.

     But what Trump obviously doesn't understand, or care to, is Ukraine's interests are Europe's interests and, by extension, ours. He obviously has a one dimensional understanding of geopolitics in which everything can be boiled down to a crooked real estate deal backed up by Mafia-like threats. Personally, I don't think he even gives a damn whether Ukraine keeps its sovereignty or even gets into NATO. All that matters to him is whether Putin gets whatever he wants.

     Or else.

     But there's an aspect to that clusterfuck at the White House that not enough people are paying attention to: The psychological manipulation. There's a woman on Facebook named Yuliia Vyshnevska who put up something very interesting on her Facebook wall. I won't reproduce it in full because of its length but she breaks down what she called, "a true masterclass in gaslighting, manipulation and coercion".

     But she identified the tactics used against Zelenskyy and they are:

     1. Blaming the victim for their own situation.

     2. Pressure and coercion into ‘gratitude’.

     3. Manipulating the concept of ‘peace’.

     4. Refusing to acknowledge the reality of war.

     5. Devaluing the victims of war.

     6. Dominance tactics.

     7. Forcing capitulation under the guise of ‘diplomacy’.

     8. Projection and distortion of reality.

     9. Creating the illusion that Ukraine ‘owes’ the US. And

    10. Undermining Ukraine’s resistance.

    Even when stripped of its geopolitical parameters, these are common gaslighting techniques used by spousal abusers in the interests of control. All that was missing was Trump vowing to turn over a new leaf, which he sort of did when he vaguely "offered" military aid to Ukraine in the inevitability of Russian aggression and further encroachment.

     Blaming the victim for their own situation. Telling the victim they do not have the means to go it alone. Telling the victim you are their only savior and that you'd better be grateful for it. Classic domestic violence manipulation. And any DV counselor or honest social worker would back me, or Vyshnevska, up on this.

      Zelenskyy should've known what to expect yesterday before walking into the lion's den. He was entering the lair of a person who called him a "dictator" (the same one who had no problem being a dictator on Day One, which is now stretching into its 40th day). He even accused Ukraine of starting the war.

     And, in a much larger and more dangerous version of the bully who kicks apart in five seconds a sandcastle that took hours to create, in just a few minutes, Trump flushed down the shitter an alliance and diplomatic ties in the making for eight decades. In fact, just hours after yesterday's spectacle, many NATO leaders broke their necks getting to Great Britain to plot strategies to oppose Russia and help Ukraine.

      So tell me again about who's "gambling with World War 3".