Amid distractions, a need to focus on Trump's pro-Russian appointments (at both top and lower levels), and actions to further Russia's interests
T-1 Trump minus one day
BACKGROUND
See,
1) James Rowles, “The Kremlin in the White House: ‘Russia’s man in Washington’, Donald Trump, moves to undermine defense of Ukraine,” Trenchant Observations, December 12, 2024;,
2) Régis Genté, Notre homme à Washington, Trump dans la main des Russes (Paris: Editions Grasset, October 15, 2024).
3) James Rowles, “What if Ukraine loses the war against Russia?” Trenchant Observations, January 8, 2025;
4) James Rowles,”Trump's Pro-Russian coup is in progress. Get off the couch and ACT TODAY TO STOP IT! Tomorrow may be too late,” Trenchant Observations, November 15, 2024;
5) James Rowles, “‘Russia's Man in Washington’ Prepares Pro-Putin and Pro-Russian U.S. Administration; Goetz is a distraction. Tulsi Gabbard is the key to Russian infiltration,” Trenchant Observations, November 14, 2024 (1:35 PM);
January 20, 2025 is likely to be remembered by historians as the day a pro-Russian president assumed office in the United States.
Considered by many leading experts to be a “Russian asset”, Trump, with his many distractions including nominations of totally unqualified loyalists to top cabinet and other positions, has succeeded in drawing public attention away from the single most important fact about his presidency—that he is a likely Russian asset. Régis Genté, cited above, is extremely persuasive on this issue.
The immediate consequences could be grave.
First, U.S. spies in Russia could be at great risk of exposure with executions to follow shortly thereafter, as apparently occurred in January 2017.
See James P. Rowles, “January 31, 2017 Is there a Russian Mole in the U.S. Government?”, inThe Rape of American Democracy: Republican Actions and Democratic Failures, 2016-2021 (2024), pp. 49-54.
Second, one can expect that FBI and other intelligence agency files will be stripped of information detailing or confirming the close cooperation and collusion that reportedly existed between Trump and his entourage and Russian officials and agents, both during the 2016 electoral campaign and afterwards.
Tombecsure, there are legal restrictions on Trump’s agents’ ability to do this. Whether Trump operatives will abide by these restrictions is a separate question. In any event, Democrats in both houses should do what they can to document and denounce any such purging of files by Trump officials.
Third, there is a significant risk of collapse of morale among Ukrainian troops if Trump eliminates or sharply reduces military and economic aid to Ukraine. This may not play out immediately, but if it occurs it could happen very quickly as happened in Afghanistan in 2021.
Alternatively, if recent Russian advances in Ukraine were to continue and accelerate, individual NATO countries could feel compelled to move quickly to station their own troops in the country in order to prevent a Ukrainian collapse and a Russian victory.
While these foreign policy developments are underway, Trump is likely to undertake extreme actions which could divert attention from international matters of overriding importance.
In 2017, Trump and Russia were quite cautious until they determined that it was safe to take pro-Russian actions. That could also happen now. However, the dynamic of the war in Ukraine and the urgent need for new U.S. military and economic assistance could bring these issues to the fore sooner rather than later.
Whatever the timing of pro-Russian actions, extreme vigilance will be required over the next four years to monitor the favors, both large and small, which Donald Trump may wish to grant to Putin and Russia.
FURTHER READING
James P. Rowles, “January 31, 2017 Is there a Russian Mole in the U.S. Government?”, inThe Rape of American Democracy: Republican Actions and Democratic Failures, 2016-2021 (2024), pp. 49-54.
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James Rowles is a former Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and professor of international law at other universities.
He studied the history of Nazi Germany at Stanford, and has studied and worked on human rights, judicial reform, and access to justice projects in many countries in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and in Afghanistan and Russia. At Harvard Law School, he taught a course on “Law, Human Rights, and the Struggle for Democracy in Latin America”.
At the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the OAS, he worked on human rights cases involving forced disappearances, executions, and torture in a number of authoritarian countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Recent Books by the Author
The Rape of American Democracy: Republican Actions and Democratic Failures, 2016-2021 (2024). Available on Amazon and from IngramSpark by clicking on a link here.
Don’t Be Stupid. Pay Attention, Damn It! Advice for Undecided Voters and Voters Leaning Toward Trump (2024). Available on Amazon and from IngramSpark by clicking on a link here.
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