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[Politics] Donald Trump, US President Elect 2025

Who will win the 2024 Presidential Election?

  • President Joe Biden - Democrat

    Votes: 3 0.7%
  • Donald Trump - Republican

    Votes: 174 42.0%
  • Vice President, Kamala Harris - Democrat

    Votes: 217 52.4%
  • Other Democratic candidate tbc

    Votes: 20 4.8%

  • Total voters
    414
  • This poll will close: .


Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
53,621
Goldstone
Yes they were. They invaded in 2014.
Crimea was annexed in 2014, but there wasn't a full war. Russia didn't invade the rest of Ukraine, and Ukraine's survival wasn't dependent on support from the West. Trump being useless didn't impact Ukraine in the way that it would now.
 




Zeberdi

“Vorsprung durch Technik”
NSC Patron
Oct 20, 2022
7,238
Crimea was annexed in 2014, but there wasn't a full war. Russia didn't invade the rest of Ukraine, and Ukraine's survival wasn't dependent on support from the West. Trump being useless didn't impact Ukraine in the way that it would now.
Trump sold Ukraine down the fcuking river when he supported Putin’s invasion of Crimea and later blackmailed Ukraine with arms sells in exchange for dirt on the Bidens. That’s not a small thing he did there.

It was Trump that effectively green lighted Putins invasion and annexation of Crimea in the first place - he wished Putin luck with the rest of Ukraine - Trump is already doing damage to Ukraine now by having his supporters in the House of Reps not agreeing to a funding package unless it’s linked to immigration reforms - that’s stalled it for weeks..

Trump also threatened to pull out of NATO which delighted Putin.

I’m not sure he could have had much more of an impact on Ukraine if he tried tbh. Yes, it’s likely support for Ukraine will dry up completely under a Trump presidency but after 3 years of a stalemate war that is a possibility anyway. America is not the Ally Ukraine needs - Ukraine’s hope lies with France and Germany, UK and the Eastern European countries on the NATO border who would be directly threatened by Russian tanks lined up on their borders.

I don’t think the American people have Ukraine very high on their agendas right now. They have far more pressing concerns - like the threat to American democracy and civil disorder another Trump Presidency would bring.
 


Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
53,621
Goldstone
Trump sold Ukraine down the fcuking river when he supported Putin’s invasion of Crimea and later blackmailed Ukraine with arms sells in exchange for dirt on the Bidens.

Trump wasn't president when Putin invaded Crimea.



It was Trump that effectively green lighted Putins invasion and annexation of Crimea in the first place - he wished Putin luck with the rest of Ukraine - Trump is already doing damage to Ukraine now by having his supporters in the House of Reps not agreeing to a funding package unless it’s linked to immigration reforms - that’s stalled it for weeks..

Trump also threatened to pull out of NATO which delighted Putin.

I’m not sure he could have had much more of an impact on Ukraine if he tried tbh. Yes, it’s likely support for Ukraine will dry up completely under a Trump presidency but after 3 years of a stalemate war that is a possibility anyway. America is not the Ally Ukraine needs - Ukraine’s hope lies with France and Germany, UK and the Eastern European countries on the NATO border who would be directly threatened by Russian tanks lined up on their borders.

I don’t think the American people have Ukraine very high on their agendas right now. They have far more pressing concerns - like the threat to American democracy and civil disorder another Trump Presidency would bring.

So you don't think it'll make much difference to Ukraine whether or not Trump wins the election? Ok. I think it will.
 


A1X

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 1, 2017
20,803
Deepest, darkest Sussex
There’s plenty to actually blame Trump for without blaming an invasion two years before he was even president on him, and I’m hardly minded to defend Trump on anything
 






lasvegan

Well-known member
Jan 30, 2009
2,215
Sin City
There’s plenty to actually blame Trump for without blaming an invasion two years before he was even president on him, and I’m hardly minded to defend Trump on anything
True…He also wasn’t president when they invaded in 2022. Still his fault though, obviously…
 


Zeberdi

“Vorsprung durch Technik”
NSC Patron
Oct 20, 2022
7,238
Trump wasn't president when Putin invaded Crimea.
I didn’t actually say he was but if my post gave that impression, it was due to over-editing on my part. In more detail; Trump has always supported Putin even before he was President and was aligned with Putin on Ukraine long before he became President too - as was his 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort and his Lawyer, Rudi Giuliani so my point stands:

After years of being cultivated by Russia, Trump subsequently sent signals to Putin that if Trump were elected, Putin would have an ally in the White House on Ukraine - Russia’s interference in Trump’s efforts to get to power in 2016 became a subject for investigation in the Meuller inquiry.

Background : Twenty years ago, there was no significant reservoir of opposition to Ukrainian independence and democracy. The burgeoning alliance between Russian nationalists and America Firsters was set in motion when Paul Manafort went to work for the pro-Russian Party of Regions in Ukraine in 2004. Manifort, once one of the most powerful Republican lobbyists in Washington, had begun a globetrotting career selling his services to dictators. His Ukrainian client, Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions, was Putin’s main organ for maintaining control of his neighboring country. When Putin ginned up demonstrations in eastern Ukraine as a pretext to hive off chunks of land in 2014, Trump said, “So smart, when you see the riots in a country because they’re hurting the Russians, Okay, we’ll go and take it over… You have to give him a lot of credit.” After winning the nomination, Trump promised to consider recognising Putin’s land seizure because “the people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.”
  • Trump later brought in Manafort to run his 2016 election campaign - in that same campaign, echoing Russian propaganda, he smeared Ukraine by falsely suggesting that Kyiv rather than Moscow had interfered in the 2016 US presidential election by hacking the Democrat emails .
  • As President - He delayed military aid to Zelenskyy in an attempt to get dirt on the Bidens - which became an article for his first impeachment in 2019
  • Out of Office, Trump called Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, ‘savvy’, ‘genius’ and ‘wonderful’
  • Trump said he took the Russian president at his word at a summit in Helsinki in 2018 and dismissed U.S. intelligence agencies' conclusions that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election.

The point isTrump has not needed to be President to damage Ukraine and send green lights to Putin about Crimea or his Ukraine invasion - in fact he has done as much damage to Ukraine when he has not been president as when he was - by his historic relations with Russia, his cosying up to Putin, and by his supporters now blocking funding because Trump wants his immigration reforms to go through.
So you don't think it'll make much difference to Ukraine whether or not Trump wins the election? Ok. I think it will.
As I said in my earlier post, and have said all through this thread a Trump presidency would be disastrous for Ukraine. You are making assumptions about my POVs and gas lighting my post, clearly unaware of my previous contributions on this thread - I think most regular readers of the thread will how I feel about the possibility of Trump being reelected, including the impact it will have on Ukraine 😡

As I have repeatedly said: Funding for Ukraine would likely dry up and Zelenskyy would no doubt be put under pressure by a Trump administration to concede part of Ukraine (Crimea at least ) to Putin.

There’s plenty to actually blame Trump for without blaming an invasion two years before he was even president on him, and I’m hardly minded to defend Trump on anything

I refer you to the first sentence of my reply - FYI, I have already blamed Trump for an enormous amount on this thread. Pages of blame - So don’t need to be told that thanks 😕. .

However, Trump’s influence on American politics in relation to Russia and Ukraine go back to long before he was President and before Putin actually invaded Ukraine in 2022 - that was the point I meant to elucidate but got lost in my attempts to edit my earlier response into a shorter post - so now everyone has got the long version which most people won’t now bother to read anyway 🙄.

If you think Trump had no connection to Putin/Russia/Ukraine before he became President and is completely un-blameworthy in giving Putin the impression Trump would support his annexation of Crimea (and any subsequent invasion of Ukraine) you may find the Guardian article below is a really good read. it will probably astonish you just how much the 2016 Presidential candidate was already entangled up to his neck in Russian politics through Manafort, Rudi Guliani and his business dealings which go back to the 80s, including evidence of the Trump Organisation being alleged to have money laundering operations with Russian oligarchs through the Deutsche Bank.

It is hardly surprising Putin wanted Trump not Clinton to win the White House and interfered in the 2016 Presidential Election to that end…It also suggests to me that Putin miscalculated and thought Trump would win in 2020 too but by that time plans to invade Ukraine were well under way: “Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized "influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process and exacerbating socio-political divisions in the U.S," says the report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.”

By that time, Trump lost the 2020 election, Putin’s Ukraine invasion had already been years in the planning and throughout the Trump Presidency, he was given the time he needed to develop his invasion plans.

This is a long read but highlights that Russia had been cultivating Trump for years before he was elected and continued to influence American elections to get him into the White House



TDLR?

Was Trump President when Putin invaded Ukraine? - No. However, Trump can certainly be blamed for giving Putin the impression America would be soft on Crimea, that Trump had both Rudi Guliani and Paul Manafort as close cohorts, both with shady and insurrectionist involvement in Ukraine prior to Trump’s Presidency. Trump can certainly be blamed for giving Putin the impression that he would have an ally on Ukraine in the White House if Trump won the 2016 Election and the 2020 Election -( Russian interference in both these elections is evidenced by subsequent inquiries) - Trump can also be blamed for his role on the current influences in the Republican Party that is now blocking aid to Ukraine in Congress.






.
 


Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
53,621
Goldstone
I didn’t actually say he was but if my post gave that impression, it was due to over-editing on my part. In more detail; Trump has always supported Putin even before he was President and was aligned with Putin on Ukraine long before he became President too

I know you didn't. But you were joining a conversation I was having where I said what Trump could for Putin (if elected) was a worry, Exilegul said it was a worry last time (he was president) but not much happened, and I pointed out that last time Russia weren't at war with Ukraine (ie, Trump's actions/inactions as president while the war is on is a much bigger deal than his inactions before).

I'd actually imagine you'd agree with my point that Trump becoming president while there's a war between Russia and Ukraine is worrying, but somehow you seem to be arguing against me :shrug:
 




Kuipers Supporters Club

Well-known member
Feb 10, 2009
5,781
GOSBTS
Crimea was annexed in 2014, but there wasn't a full war. Russia didn't invade the rest of Ukraine, and Ukraine's survival wasn't dependent on support from the West. Trump being useless didn't impact Ukraine in the way that it would now.
This is absolute nonsense, Crimea was 100% part of Ukraine before 2014.

You can’t blame Trump for Russia invading Ukraine in 2014.
 


herecomesaregular

We're in the pipe, 5 by 5
Oct 27, 2008
4,672
Still in Brighton
I didn’t actually say he was but if my post gave that impression, it was due to over-editing on my part. In more detail; Trump has always supported Putin even before he was President and was aligned with Putin on Ukraine long before he became President too - as was his 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort and his Lawyer, Rudi Giuliani so my point stands:

After years of being cultivated by Russia, Trump subsequently sent signals to Putin that if Trump were elected, Putin would have an ally in the White House on Ukraine - Russia’s interference in Trump’s efforts to get to power in 2016 became a subject for investigation in the Meuller inquiry.

Background : Twenty years ago, there was no significant reservoir of opposition to Ukrainian independence and democracy. The burgeoning alliance between Russian nationalists and America Firsters was set in motion when Paul Manafort went to work for the pro-Russian Party of Regions in Ukraine in 2004. Manifort, once one of the most powerful Republican lobbyists in Washington, had begun a globetrotting career selling his services to dictators. His Ukrainian client, Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions, was Putin’s main organ for maintaining control of his neighboring country. When Putin ginned up demonstrations in eastern Ukraine as a pretext to hive off chunks of land in 2014, Trump said, “So smart, when you see the riots in a country because they’re hurting the Russians, Okay, we’ll go and take it over… You have to give him a lot of credit.” After winning the nomination, Trump promised to consider recognising Putin’s land seizure because “the people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.”
  • Trump later brought in Manafort to run his 2016 election campaign - in that same campaign, echoing Russian propaganda, he smeared Ukraine by falsely suggesting that Kyiv rather than Moscow had interfered in the 2016 US presidential election by hacking the Democrat emails .
  • As President - He delayed military aid to Zelenskyy in an attempt to get dirt on the Bidens - which became an article for his first impeachment in 2019
  • Out of Office, Trump called Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, ‘savvy’, ‘genius’ and ‘wonderful’
  • Trump said he took the Russian president at his word at a summit in Helsinki in 2018 and dismissed U.S. intelligence agencies' conclusions that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election.

The point isTrump has not needed to be President to damage Ukraine and send green lights to Putin about Crimea or his Ukraine invasion - in fact he has done as much damage to Ukraine when he has not been president as when he was - by his historic relations with Russia, his cosying up to Putin, and by his supporters now blocking funding because Trump wants his immigration reforms to go through.

As I said in my earlier post, and have said all through this thread a Trump presidency would be disastrous for Ukraine. You are making assumptions about my POVs and gas lighting my post, clearly unaware of my previous contributions on this thread - I think most regular readers of the thread will how I feel about the possibility of Trump being reelected, including the impact it will have on Ukraine 😡

As I have repeatedly said: Funding for Ukraine would likely dry up and Zelenskyy would no doubt be put under pressure by a Trump administration to concede part of Ukraine (Crimea at least ) to Putin.



I refer you to the first sentence of my reply - FYI, I have already blamed Trump for an enormous amount on this thread. Pages of blame - So don’t need to be told that thanks 😕. .

However, Trump’s influence on American politics in relation to Russia and Ukraine go back to long before he was President and before Putin actually invaded Ukraine in 2022 - that was the point I meant to elucidate but got lost in my attempts to edit my earlier response into a shorter post - so now everyone has got the long version which most people won’t now bother to read anyway 🙄.

If you think Trump had no connection to Putin/Russia/Ukraine before he became President and is completely un-blameworthy in giving Putin the impression Trump would support his annexation of Crimea (and any subsequent invasion of Ukraine) you may find the Guardian article below is a really good read. it will probably astonish you just how much the 2016 Presidential candidate was already entangled up to his neck in Russian politics through Manafort, Rudi Guliani and his business dealings which go back to the 80s, including evidence of the Trump Organisation being alleged to have money laundering operations with Russian oligarchs through the Deutsche Bank.

It is hardly surprising Putin wanted Trump not Clinton to win the White House and interfered in the 2016 Presidential Election to that end…It also suggests to me that Putin miscalculated and thought Trump would win in 2020 too but by that time plans to invade Ukraine were well under way: “Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized "influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process and exacerbating socio-political divisions in the U.S," says the report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.”

By that time, Trump lost the 2020 election, Putin’s Ukraine invasion had already been years in the planning and throughout the Trump Presidency, he was given the time he needed to develop his invasion plans.

This is a long read but highlights that Russia had been cultivating Trump for years before he was elected and continued to influence American elections to get him into the White House



TDLR?

Was Trump President when Putin invaded Ukraine? - No. However, Trump can certainly be blamed for giving Putin the impression America would be soft on Crimea, that Trump had both Rudi Guliani and Paul Manafort as close cohorts, both with shady and insurrectionist involvement in Ukraine prior to Trump’s Presidency. Trump can certainly be blamed for giving Putin the impression that he would have an ally on Ukraine in the White House if Trump won the 2016 Election and the 2020 Election -( Russian interference in both these elections is evidenced by subsequent inquiries) - Trump can also be blamed for his role on the current influences in the Republican Party that is now blocking aid to Ukraine in Congress.






.
You have a lot of knowledge and contribute a lot on here but I wonder if you might ease down a bit on justifying every word you say with long counter arguments. I wonder if it's really needed tbf, maybe just let some things pass?
 


Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
53,621
Goldstone




Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
56,728
Faversham
At the end of the day it doesn't really matter what we think. All we can do is hope (that Trump is successfully prosecuted and barred from running, or that he is not elected, and that the Democrats regain control of enough of US government to hold sway . . . . .and even then will arming Ukraine actually help anything?). Hope springs eternal. Even hopeless has 'hope' in it.
 




Kuipers Supporters Club

Well-known member
Feb 10, 2009
5,781
GOSBTS
At the end of the day it doesn't really matter what we think. All we can do is hope (that Trump is successfully prosecuted and barred from running, or that he is not elected, and that the Democrats regain control of enough of US government to hold sway . . . . .and even then will arming Ukraine actually help anything?). Hope springs eternal. Even hopeless has 'hope' in it.
Even if he’s prosecuted, he can still run.

Having just spent 4 weeks this year going around the US. 6 different states, I think he’ll win, people rightly or wrongly, think they had it better under him.
 




marlowe

Well-known member
Dec 13, 2015
4,342
Trump now has the benefit of hindsight of the serious and fatal consequences of the tweet he posted on 5th January 2021 when he posted his all caps message to his followers "SEE YOU TOMORROW".

So it makes you wonder what his intentions were when he posted that exact same all caps ominous message to his followers on his Truth Social last night on the eve of his hush money trial.

All his other efforts to delay that trial have failed so perhaps this is his last throw of the dice no matter what the consequences.

20240415_112536.jpg


20240415_112501.jpg
 






Hiney

Super Moderator
Helpful Moderator
Jul 5, 2003
19,396
Penrose, Cornwall
I didn’t actually say he was but if my post gave that impression, it was due to over-editing on my part. In more detail; Trump has always supported Putin even before he was President and was aligned with Putin on Ukraine long before he became President too - as was his 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort and his Lawyer, Rudi Giuliani so my point stands:

After years of being cultivated by Russia, Trump subsequently sent signals to Putin that if Trump were elected, Putin would have an ally in the White House on Ukraine - Russia’s interference in Trump’s efforts to get to power in 2016 became a subject for investigation in the Meuller inquiry.

Background : Twenty years ago, there was no significant reservoir of opposition to Ukrainian independence and democracy. The burgeoning alliance between Russian nationalists and America Firsters was set in motion when Paul Manafort went to work for the pro-Russian Party of Regions in Ukraine in 2004. Manifort, once one of the most powerful Republican lobbyists in Washington, had begun a globetrotting career selling his services to dictators. His Ukrainian client, Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions, was Putin’s main organ for maintaining control of his neighboring country. When Putin ginned up demonstrations in eastern Ukraine as a pretext to hive off chunks of land in 2014, Trump said, “So smart, when you see the riots in a country because they’re hurting the Russians, Okay, we’ll go and take it over… You have to give him a lot of credit.” After winning the nomination, Trump promised to consider recognising Putin’s land seizure because “the people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.”
  • Trump later brought in Manafort to run his 2016 election campaign - in that same campaign, echoing Russian propaganda, he smeared Ukraine by falsely suggesting that Kyiv rather than Moscow had interfered in the 2016 US presidential election by hacking the Democrat emails .
  • As President - He delayed military aid to Zelenskyy in an attempt to get dirt on the Bidens - which became an article for his first impeachment in 2019
  • Out of Office, Trump called Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, ‘savvy’, ‘genius’ and ‘wonderful’
  • Trump said he took the Russian president at his word at a summit in Helsinki in 2018 and dismissed U.S. intelligence agencies' conclusions that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election.

The point isTrump has not needed to be President to damage Ukraine and send green lights to Putin about Crimea or his Ukraine invasion - in fact he has done as much damage to Ukraine when he has not been president as when he was - by his historic relations with Russia, his cosying up to Putin, and by his supporters now blocking funding because Trump wants his immigration reforms to go through.

As I said in my earlier post, and have said all through this thread a Trump presidency would be disastrous for Ukraine. You are making assumptions about my POVs and gas lighting my post, clearly unaware of my previous contributions on this thread - I think most regular readers of the thread will how I feel about the possibility of Trump being reelected, including the impact it will have on Ukraine 😡

As I have repeatedly said: Funding for Ukraine would likely dry up and Zelenskyy would no doubt be put under pressure by a Trump administration to concede part of Ukraine (Crimea at least ) to Putin.



I refer you to the first sentence of my reply - FYI, I have already blamed Trump for an enormous amount on this thread. Pages of blame - So don’t need to be told that thanks 😕. .

However, Trump’s influence on American politics in relation to Russia and Ukraine go back to long before he was President and before Putin actually invaded Ukraine in 2022 - that was the point I meant to elucidate but got lost in my attempts to edit my earlier response into a shorter post - so now everyone has got the long version which most people won’t now bother to read anyway 🙄.

If you think Trump had no connection to Putin/Russia/Ukraine before he became President and is completely un-blameworthy in giving Putin the impression Trump would support his annexation of Crimea (and any subsequent invasion of Ukraine) you may find the Guardian article below is a really good read. it will probably astonish you just how much the 2016 Presidential candidate was already entangled up to his neck in Russian politics through Manafort, Rudi Guliani and his business dealings which go back to the 80s, including evidence of the Trump Organisation being alleged to have money laundering operations with Russian oligarchs through the Deutsche Bank.

It is hardly surprising Putin wanted Trump not Clinton to win the White House and interfered in the 2016 Presidential Election to that end…It also suggests to me that Putin miscalculated and thought Trump would win in 2020 too but by that time plans to invade Ukraine were well under way: “Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized "influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process and exacerbating socio-political divisions in the U.S," says the report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.”

By that time, Trump lost the 2020 election, Putin’s Ukraine invasion had already been years in the planning and throughout the Trump Presidency, he was given the time he needed to develop his invasion plans.

This is a long read but highlights that Russia had been cultivating Trump for years before he was elected and continued to influence American elections to get him into the White House



TDLR?

Was Trump President when Putin invaded Ukraine? - No. However, Trump can certainly be blamed for giving Putin the impression America would be soft on Crimea, that Trump had both Rudi Guliani and Paul Manafort as close cohorts, both with shady and insurrectionist involvement in Ukraine prior to Trump’s Presidency. Trump can certainly be blamed for giving Putin the impression that he would have an ally on Ukraine in the White House if Trump won the 2016 Election and the 2020 Election -( Russian interference in both these elections is evidenced by subsequent inquiries) - Trump can also be blamed for his role on the current influences in the Republican Party that is now blocking aid to Ukraine in Congress.






.
R U OK HUN?
 




Zeberdi

“Vorsprung durch Technik”
NSC Patron
Oct 20, 2022
7,238
R U OK HUN?
Yes thank you - still a little sedated from my endoscopy earlier but have had a few cuppas so not a HANGRY person now - 12 hours NBM 😂

(Kind of you to ask though 🤪)
 




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