N.B. One of the last acts of a fallen empire is to loot the treasury.

Trump backed Speaker Mike Johnson on Ukraine aid package, and warned Marjorie Taylor Greene not to oust him

https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/trump-sold-out-his-base-to-shovel-95-billion-to-ukraine-and-israel/

Trump Sold-Out His Base to Shovel $95 Billion to Ukraine and Israel

MIKE WHITNEY

APRIL 21, 2024

America last. America last. That's all this is. America last, every
single day. – Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene

The man who is most responsible for the $95 billion giveaway to Ukraine
and Israel, is the same guy who pretends to oppose America's “wasteful”
foreign wars. Donald Trump. It was Trump who consulted with Speaker Mike
Johnson about the contents of the Ukraine aid package, just as it was
Trump who concocted the idea of issuing loans instead of dispersing the
standard welfare handout. It was also Trump who said:

“I stand with the Speaker, (Mike Johnson)” after which he added that
Johnson is doing “a very good job.”

A “good job”??

So, secretly collaborating with the Democrat leadership to push through
a bill that “reauthorizes FISA to spy on the American people without a
warrant, (bans Tik Tok) fully funds Joe Biden's DOJ that has indicted
President Trump 91 times, and giving Biden's political gestapo a brand
new FBI building bigger than the Pentagon,” while not providing a dime
to protect the southern border from the swarms of people entering the
country illegally, is doing a “good job”?

The question we should all be asking ourselves is why has Trump decided
to participate in this scam? He keeps saying that if he was president,
he'd end the war in Ukraine in a day. If he's sincere about that, then
why did he collaborate on a bill that will drag the war out for another
year or two? This is from a Twitter post by political analyst Michael
Tracey:

Mission Accomplished. It is done: Donald Trump and the House GOP just
completed one of the most epic swindles in political history, with Trump
personally effectuating the largest-ever dispersement of Ukraine funding
through his emissary, “MAGA Mike Johnson” (as Trump lovingly calls him)
The $61 billion passed this afternoon is likely enough to underwrite the
brutal, pointless trench warfare for at least another year or two. This
after the same old endless media screeching that Trump and MAGA
Republicans were being brainwashed by Putin and would never fund
Ukraine. That fundamental hoax continues — only this time Trump was in
on it…. Michael Tracey, Twitter

And the response from Luca Cabrilo:

Michael you're 100% spot on. Trump could have at any point killed this
monstrous bill if he wanted to, but he didn't. He even let MAGA Mike go
on TV and say that he and Trump are “100% agreed” on the Ukraine funding
Trump screwed his base on this one, no other way about it.

Michael Tracey again: He didn't just “not kill it,” he personally
facilitated its passage

Here's more background from Tracey:

The bill, designed after consultations between Mike Johnson and Trump,
mysteriously gives the President the ability to forgive the purported
“loan” to Ukraine — immediately after the November election…

[Do you wonder why Trump is slowly being rehabilitated in the Jєωιѕн media?**]

And if that's not brazen enough for you, here's the catch: The funds
eligible for “loan forgiveness” are the direct budgetary infusions to
Ukraine — meaning the money that pays for the salaries of Ukrainian
government workers and so forth — NOT the military “aid,” which
comprises the vast majority of the package. So, only $8 billion of the
$61 billion allocated to Ukraine is even *eligible* for “loan
forgiveness” under the terms of this gargantuan bill. And even that was
a fake “loan” to begin with — it never had to be paid back at all! So
there's your final Trump/Johnson bamboozle, as the House GOP prepares to
usher through the *largest ever* infusion of US tax dollars to Ukraine,
by far, since the beginning of the war. All with Trump's blessing, as
Johnson has made abundantly clear. To underscore his close collaboration
with Trump, Johnson has spent the past several days making the rounds on
various conservative media, touting the inclusion of Trump's “loan
concept” in the bill. Michael Tracey

It's all a big shell game and Trump is playing along with it to improve
his political prospects. How else would you explain his performance in
this dismal charade?

Trump obviously knows that his return to the White House will require
significant compromise with the national security hawks and Zionists who
run the government. So, we shouldn't be too surprised that he's trying
to curry favor with them now. But for the people who thought Trump was a
straightshooter; this has got to be a real eye-opener. They thought he
could be trusted, but now it's obvious that he's just another Beltway
phony trying to ingratiate himself with the Washington power-elite in
order to shoehorn his sorry a** back into the Oval Office. Here's more
from Tracey:

Sorry to be a “Broken Record,” but the “Elephant in the Room” here is
genuinely Donald J. Trump. ….Trump even warned Rep Marjorie Taylor
Greene directly not to oust Johnson, during their joint press conference
at Mar-a-Lago last Friday, April 12 — just before Johnson unveiled his
war funding strategy, for which he proudly declares having secured
Trump's endorsement. The bill even contains Trump's repeated demand to
structure the Ukraine funding as a so-called “loan”! Johnson proclaims
that he and Trump are “One hundred percent united” on all of this
(direct quote) …

Trump has used his vast political capital as three-time Republican
Presidential Nominee to play his part assuring that the American
political system mobilizes in perfect harmony to unleash $100 billion in
endless-[Jєωιѕн] war funding. Michael Tracey

If Trump is willing to play such a duplicitous role in securing the
funding for the [Jєωιѕн] MIC's perpetual wars, then why in-heavens-name would any
red-blooded conservative vote for him?

One of the few people who has acted honorably in this fiasco, is Rep
Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is clearly one of the few members of
Congress that genuinely gives-a-damn about the American people. Greene
delivered an epic rant on the floor of the House yesterday following the
vote on the Ukrainian aid package. Naturally, her heartfelt presentation
appeared nowhere in the sellout media, so I transcribed most of what she
said below. It's worth the time:

…. The United States taxpayer has already sent $113 billion to Ukraine,
and much of that money is unaccounted for. This is an example of a sick
business model the US government wants to continue….. The Congress votes
for money for foreign wars that the American people do not support…..
The American people do not support a business model based on blood and
murder and war in foreign countries while the government does nothing to
secure our border.

The American people are over $34 trillion*** in debt and the debt is rising
by $40 billion every night while we all sleep. But nothing is done to
secure our border or reduce our debt. Inflation continues to rise every
day and Americans can hardly afford to pay their grocery bills, they can
hardly afford to put gas in their cars, and they can hardly afford the
rent. And, now, average mortgage payments are over $3000 when they were
just $1700 three years ago. Young Americans don't think they will ever
be able to buy a home and yet today, this congress thinks the most
important thing they should do is to send another $61 billion to the war
in Ukraine that the American people –by 70%– do not support!

… But, today, the most important thing this body thinks we should do, is
not reduce spending, or drive down inflation, or secure our own border
that is invaded every single day by people from over 160 different
countries… We have over 1.8 million ‘got-aways' and we don't know who
these people are… and yet we have people in this very congress ‘talking
tough' saying, “We have to defeat Russia. Oh, we have to protect
Ukraine” and yet , all of you are unwilling to protect the American
citizens that pay your salary, pay to keep the lights on, and pay to
keep the federal government running. And for what?

For nothing! Ukraine isn't even a member of NATO But all you hear in
Washington DC is “Oh, we have to keep spending America's hard-earned tax
dollars to continue to murder Ukrainians to wipe out a whole generation
of young men so there are (thousands of ) widows, and fatherless
orphans, and not enough men to work in their industries. Oh, but you
really support Ukraine. (sarcasm) What kind of support is that? It's
repulsive!

Shame on the American government! Shame on the American government! If
we want to support our military, then support our military. We should be
building up our weapons and ammunition, not sending it over to foreign
countries to kill foreign people.

And if this body was what it pretends to be, every single one of us
would be demanding peace in Ukraine; peace for these people, so that no
more of them have to die. But you never hear anybody demanding peace.
No, no, no. Peace is the last thing Washington wants because it doesn't
fit the business model. This is a business model they say builds the
American economy and protects American jobs. What a disgusting business
model. We should have a business model that builds-up our American
companies and American jobs to serve American interests, and our
military and our government should care about protecting the national
security of the United States of America and the Americans who pay their
hard-earned tax dollars to fund all this.

America last. America last. That's all this is. America last, every
single day.
<https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1781713821834305639> Representative
Marjorie Taylor Greene

Bravo, Marjorie Taylor Greene. You speak for a lot of us.


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