Trump was impeached in part for trying to coerce Ukraine’s new President Zelensky into helping Trump win re-election. President Zelensky refused to lie even though Trump threatened to withhold military aid approved by Congress. Soon after, Trump had the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch fired for exposing his/Putin’s illegal plan.
Early in his term Trump did away with the White House office that coordinated cybersecurity operations. He fired the State Department cybersecurity policy head. In November 2020 he fired his own appointee Chris Krebs, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security. Trump fired or forced to resign other experienced military and intelligence experts from his cabinet, including Derek Harvey, senior director, National Security Council (NSC); and K.T. McFarland, deputy national security adviser. A U.S. cyber-defense commissioner told AP news service in 2020, “It’s been a frustrating time, the last four years. I mean, nothing has happened seriously at all in cybersecurity.”
Trump gave Putin other assurances of his loyalty. After the shocking news broke of Putin’s bounties on American soldiers killed by Afghans, Trump said and did nothing. In mid-August 2020, Russian warships rammed an American fishing fleet off Alaska. Response from Trump? Silence. The next month in Syria, Russian helicopters and tanks attacked and injured four American soldiers in U.S. tanks, the official Army Times reported. Response from Trump? Silence.
Trump has done exactly what Putin wanted. Like Putin, he values only money and power. Like Putin, his only loyalty is to himself.
To the Editor: Vladimir Putin has been conducting a hacking and disinformation war against the U.S. for years (China, Iran, and North Korea have, too, but less effectively). In Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018, then-President Donald Trump stood beside Putin at a live press conference. A report...
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