MAGA against Ukraine

From what we are seeing so far, Donald Trump not only wants to elevate Russia to the status of preferential and strategic partner. He also seems willing to humiliate Ukraine, or at least its president Volodimir Zelensky, and treat it as a defeated aggressor.

Whoever knew his public comments towards the Ukrainian ruler could not have expected great sympathy after his arrival at the White House. But neither Vladimir Putin expected the levels of hostility Trump is showing for Zelenski.

Reasons can be found to explain the antipathy. The Ukrainian leader has been during these three years the object of worship of the Democratic administration, and remains so of the European elite that has so despised the Republican.

It can be argued that Zelenski has not been able to cultivate the right-wing camp. But I think he had little room to step outside the partisan ring in Europe and the US. And he could hardly afford to try: the power, the guns and the money were with the globalists.

Zelenski, dictator?

Trump has called him "dictator without elections" for extending his term, which ended in May, without going through the ballot box. This is the most flagrant injustice committed by the president not only against Ukraine.

Ukrainian legislation prohibits going to the polls as long as martial law is in force. It is possible to change the law, but is it possible to vote with guarantees when there are hundreds of thousands of voters defending 24/7 the front, with millions of refugees outside the country and no clear borders?

The vast majority of Ukrainians think not. Almost no one in Ukraine wants wartime elections. Not even the opposition, which openly criticizes Zelensky in every intervention on the networks, and in every speech in the Parliament.

Another of the falsehoods spewed from MAGA against Ukraine is that Kiev has suppressed the opposition. Zelensky has banned all political parties close to the Kremlin. In one of them, the oligarch whom Putin wanted to install as president in the subjugated nation he was projecting was in charge. Does anyone believe that a country at war can allow a direct representative of the enemy to play politics?

Zelenski is committing abuses under martial law. But he has not suppressed democracy or curtailed freedoms beyond what is reasonable in the dramatic situation in which the country finds itself.

The risk of MAGA 2.0

Trump also lies with the figures he offers about US aid to Ukraine. He lies about blaming Kiev for the war and about that 4 percent popularity rating for Zelenski that no one knows where he gets it from.

In this increasingly bold disregard for the truth lies one of the main dangers of the newly unleashed Trump we are seeing. The one before exaggerated, but did not lie. The one now doesn't just inflate numbers or resort to hyperbole. He turns facts on their head to give momentum to his phobias.

Whatever one thinks about Ukraine, the arrogance and hubris being displayed by Trump and the other big MAGA figure, Elon Musk, do not bode well.

Many see their interests and sympathies aligned with MAGA's goals at this time. They can enjoy it now, but let them forget about a fair trial if the two ever diverge.