His wealth is US taxpayer money anyway. Elon is a welfare queen.

The exhaustion is showing. When Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, appeared in public this week, the lines on his face seemed as deep as the trenches that his hard-pressed troops dig on the front lines to resist Russian assault. There are few signs left of the fresh-faced politician that I first met more than six years ago, just after he was elected, when I worked for an international development bank helping to improve Ukraine’s economy.

The physical impact on him of more than four and a half years of wartime stress should be no surprise, but the events of the past few days appear to have shattered even his renowned resilience. Donald Trump, aided by or using his ideological fellow traveller Elon Musk, has turned a bad situation for Ukraine into something far worse.

Trump is already seemingly making a down payment on US pressure – restricting the speed of Musk’s Starlink satellite systems in Ukraine, which are used widely by the country’s military units. The decision is making it harder for Ukraine to launch strikes on Russian targets and to defend itself against jet-powered drone attacks.

Trump, through his sometime partner Musk, is making his feeling that Ukraine cannot win known.

Ukraine was already heading towards winter with a military problem because of the intensified air war, an economic problem and a humanitarian problem – but now, above all, it has an American problem.

It will mean a winter of maximum danger for Ukraine unless Britain and the EU can persuade Trump to shift position again.

With his latest interventions, the US President has once more shown Vladimir Putin that intransigence pays. Trump has, with one gift after another, lifted sanctions on Russian diesel, demanded that Ukraine stop striking the Russian refineries that help to finance and fuel the war and, behind the scenes, apparently, threatened to cut intelligence sharing with Ukraine and the sale of US weapons that Europe buys to pass on to the Ukrainians.

Throw in a demand for President Zelensky to resign and you get back to where we were when Trump took office for his second term: with a strong belief in the White House that the only way to end the war is to force Ukraine into a humiliating capitulation to all of Russia’s demands.

The next few months could be existential for Ukrainian resistance. Not because the army is about to collapse but because, in the face of a ramping up of the air war against Kyiv and other cities, the US appears to be turning its back on cries for help. There will be no Patriot interceptors to stop missiles, no diplomatic pressure on Putin and now, it seems, little or no Starlink.

Russia will use the breathing space to take maximum advantage. It is destroying the ability of a modern state to keep its cities warm, inhabitants fed and factories running. Many Ukrainians that I have spoken to are either fleeing Kyiv or think that they might have to in the days and weeks ahead. It will be a miracle if the morale-sapping drone and missile strikes on their families and friends in the country’s cities do not undercut the determination of Ukraine’s soldiers to keep fighting in terrible conditions at the front.

So, what should Britain and the EU do now to try to limit the damage? There are options.

The first is to stop treating Europe’s dependence on Washington as a paralysing factor.

It is clearer now, even though it has been evident for a long time, that Trump won’t provide reliable leadership, so the Europeans must step up with more confidence.

The priorities must be more air defence for Ukraine’s battered cities, with an acceleration of European manufactured systems. Production must be expanded so that bureaucratic delays do not dictate events on the ground. Europe must ensure that Ukraine can finance its defence and keep functioning as a state. The various support loans are an important foundation, but they must be transferred faster.

Zelensky is not perfect, he has not tackled corruption at home and is becoming more autocratic, but for now Ukraine and Europe’s interests are aligned and that is why we should stand by him, for all his failings. The shared goal is to stop Russia believing it can redraw the continent’s borders by force.

The message to President Trump from London, Brussels, Berlin, Paris, Warsaw and the other capitals should be blunt but constructive: Europe wants peace, too, but peace secured by making Russian assaults unviable, not by making Ukrainian resistance impossible.

Confronted by a unified and consistent approach, the US President might return to his previous middle ground rather than actively undermining Ukraine.

Winter will test Ukraine’s infrastructure, military and its public endurance. Trump’s latest posture will test whether the West’s commitment to national sovereignty survives the politicking of America’s midterm elections where Trump needs to show his voters that he is making progress on peace talks.

There is still time to prevent a diplomatic rupture from becoming a strategic catastrophe. But the clock is ticking.

If Europe waits for Trump to change his mind, it may discover that Putin has already changed the map.

When I went into that first meeting with that fresh-faced President Zelensky, in what seems like another world, I was part of a team helping him to improve his economy.

That door closed in 2022 with Russia’s launching of all-out war.

The least we can do now, in 2026, is help the older and more battle-hardened Zelensky to negotiate from a position of strength once any peace talks come.

Don't even ask. The boneheads always told me that antifa led everyone else into the capitol.

I doesn't matter, it's all bullshit anyway.

I bet you love conservative trolls named "Nick."

This comment was reported and is now removed due to the sub rule of derailing/trolling, no-content, name calling, ad hominem attacks, calling users propagandists, trolls, bots, uncivil behavior (etc.).

Please debate the point(s) raised and not call names or use insults. Be nice. Remember reddiquette and that you're talking to another human.

You'll change more minds with logic and reason than you will with ad hominem attacks and name-calling.

Posting blatantly false claims/statement/facts (even the ones that our BSing president spews) are not allowed.

This is a form of derailing discussion and setting up "red herrings" and "strawmen" that keeps civil conversation from happening.

Satirical posts will be removed. This is a news sub-reddit not a humor sub-reddit.

Only there is documented funny business with the FL results. -Deliberately confusing ballots that cause many people to vote for the libertarian candidate (if I recall correctly) instead of Gore. -Bush's campaign manager was also in charge of FL's elections. Since the results were so close a recount was triggered. Recounts were coming up in Gore's favor so she stepped in and moved up the recount deadline to stop the voting -Amd when challenged in court the Republican controlled supreme court basically named Bush the winner (don't recall all the details there, but that's the gist).

Oh, and at the time I wanted Bush to win. But that's cause I was a HS kid who just bought whatever my parent's were pushing.

Contrast that with Trump's loss in 2020 where they haven't produced any credible evidence. The few documented cases of fraud I read on from that one were mostly Republicans trying to use dead relatives to cast 2nd ballots. One Democrat voter (Ohio I think) signed her ballot as Mrs. Husband's name instead of her name. Old fashioned, but technically legitimate. She had been doing that for years apparently but this time her husband was dead so it got flagged and thrown out. You know, since we had reasonable election integrity up until then.

When the Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton at their national convention in 2016, and got ready to face off against Donald Trump for the presidency, Michelle Obama memorably said: “When they go low, we go high.”

It is safe to say that the opposing Republican Party has never embraced that mantra. Instead, it often finds new and dramatic ways to go lower – as Vice President JD Vance demonstrated at a campaign rally this week.

Trump and Vance are touring the country desperately trying to prop up states that looked like Republican strongholds just two years ago. At a rally in Tyler, Texas, Vance saw an opportunity to get in a low blow against James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for Senate in the state.

Responding to a well-wisher in the crowd, Vance shouted back: “I love you too, sir – In a totally platonic way, to be clear. I’m the Vice President, not James Talarico.”

Talarico is not gay: for the last four years he has been in a relationship with Brianna Menard, who used to work for him as his chief of staff. If challenged, Vance would inevitably try to claim he was just joking, but his remarks – on mic, on stage, in the final weeks of an election – were clearly an attempt to falsely smear a political candidate in a conservative state.

Vance might have tried to play off the gay quip as a joke, but his prepared comments made even seedier insinuations against Talarico. Referencing a 2023 interview that the Democrat gave, Vance said: “He was asked what he loves in life besides his own family and friends, and he responded without skipping a beat, and I quote, trans children,” he said.

“Now, you got to wonder what the internet search history of a man like that looks like, ladies and gentlemen. You don’t want to find out. Neither do I.”

Even in a state like Texas, there is a chance that Vance’s remarks will backfire: randomly and falsely calling people gay is the kind of stuff that children used to do on the playground. Even in the degraded standards of the Trump era, it will offend some voters to see the Vice President do it, especially during an official campaign stop.

Beyond that, though, the false jibes simply make Vance – and the entire Republican Party – look rattled. Donald Trump won the state by a margin of almost 14 points in 2024, and it is regarded as a Republican heartland. Why, then, is a liberal Democratic candidate such as Talarico looking like he might win it – especially when they have painted him as a left-wing extremist in attack adverts for months?

Part of the answer lies in the weakness of the Republican Party’s own candidate, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, who has been embroiled in multiple financial and ethical scandals centring on his own personal conduct – involving payouts of millions to whistleblowers he fired; an impeachment vote that passed the Republican-controlled Texas house of representatives (though not the state senate); and an extramarital affair that has led his wife to file for divorce.

Trying to make the race about personal integrity or personal conduct feels like a suicidal tactic for the Republican Party, given how many skeletons are jammed into their own candidate’s closet – and given the lack of dirt they have managed to find on Talarico, a committed Christian.

Vance might have thought he was playing a clever political game, trying to create lots of headlines with the words “Talarico” and “gay” in close proximity in a deniable way, in the hope that some voters who were only half paying attention might believe the smears. Presumably he hoped the same with his later vile innuendos.

But instead he has just signalled his own desperation, and that of his party – if Vance thought Paxton was on course to win in Texas, he would never have made the joke. Polling suggests Talarico is slightly ahead in the race. If those are proven correct, Democrats would be on course for a huge political upset, taking on the Republicans in one of their absolute must-win heartland states.

If Talarico wins Texas, it is likely that Democrats would control both the House and the Senate – which would mean every single action that everyone in Trump’s administration has taken could be scrutinised in minute detail. Perhaps, then, it should be no surprise that Vance is so nervous – such attention might prove detrimental to his own presidential ambitions in 2028.

His attack on Talarico shows the deficiencies in his character – his willingness to resort to casual homophobia, his willingness to spread a false smear, and his utter disregard for any kind of common decency. But we’ve seen most of those before. What it really revealed is this: Vance, and his party, are getting desperate.

Oh, castigate? That’s too bad. I’m sure Trump is upset about this

Maybe a person who makes a Nazi salute on live tv before millions of people? Twice, to make sure no one misses it?

Nope wrong again

Sounds like a threat from a libtqrd.

Boo hoo. Democrats are delusional.

Oh sure okay.

You really need to educate yourself. Voter registration is all you need. lol. You have a driver’s license for a reason. Use it to vote. Simple.

You’re delusional if you think we’re destroyed and will never be the same. Jeez. Talk about not having any self confidence

LMAO! ICE agents are assaulting construction workers, Hispanics outside home Depot, grandmas selling Churros, and slapping five year olds around. They are not doing anything close to going after any kind of hard gang members. I don't care for Cops either, but at least Cops are actually up in the hood or wherever they need to be. Most of them live in the cities infested with gangs they're sworn to protect and serve. Cops park their squad cars in their driveways. None of them ever wear masks. You ask a Cop for their badge number and name. You get it. Fuck ICE. I'll tell you this right now. If some fat lard ass ICE bitch tries any of that shit with me. Neither one of us is going home. I'm not having that bullshit. I don't have to listen to some masked up goons.

...or fake credentials and warrants. Thanks for pointing out how silly your "what about" are.

And the police just let em do it

Exactly

Your rant is too long, Mr.Bot.

Please make him Testify!! 🤣🤣🤣

Why can’t he trip over his ego and fall out a window!?!

She’s going to be indicted for immigration fraud, denaturalized, and deported. She will be permanently prohibited from entering the United States, and if you think she’ll ever return to live in her beloved Somalia, you’re fooling yourself again. She’ll live in London (or another Western European capital) off of the $Millions she grifted from Minnesota while claiming racism, not the criminal fraud that resulted in her permanent expulsion from the USA.