Donald Trump's Vice President Is Eager to Surrender 40 Million Ukrainians, and Their Young Democracy, to Russian Aggression
J.D. Vance echoes Trump's fondness for Russian authoritarianism
On Monday, convicted felon Donald Trump, the disgraced former president of the United States—who in addition to facing probation or prison time for financial crimes also has been found liable for rape—tapped 39-year-old J.D. Vance, a celebrity author and Republican U.S. senator from Ohio, to be vice president in the event Trump wins the presidential election in November.
Vance, a former Silicon Valley investor with strong ties to right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, once speculated that Trump might become “America’s Hitler.” A few years later, Vance has shrugged off his former opposition to Trump’s authoritarianism. He now slavishly echoes Trump’s rhetoric.
That includes Trump’s support for Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, which has killed tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and resulted in Russian authorities kidnapping and trafficking thousands of Ukrainian children.
Trump infamously said he’d let Russians do “whatever the Hell they want in Ukraine.” Vance repeated the sentiment. “I gotta be honest, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other,” he told right-wing media.
With polls showing a close race and billionaires such as Thiel and Elon Musk backing Trump with their fortunes, the United States and its allies are in a dangerous position. If Trump wins, eight decades of strong ties between America and European democracies could fray, with dire consequences for 40 million Ukrainians whose only crime was to be Ukrainian.
American democracy is in no less danger. Trump has vowed to act like a dictator on day one of a possible second term. Recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, which Trump stacked with right-wing judges, have given U.S. presidents—and Trump specifically—broad immunity from prosecution for criminal acts.
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