No, DJT, Ukraine has not lost militarily. Stop lying. You have been outsmarted .

 I just heard Trump claim "Ukraine has been militarily defeated, " just as he claimed Iran has been defeated. https://www.bbc.com/news/war-in-ukraine . No,. Trump's lying. It is a slog with the front going back and forth with victories and retreats measured in kilometers. Drones are not so secret Ukrainian weapons. DJT, both outsmarted you. Iran has just demonstrated that strategy beats everything. Trump failed to secure Hormuz first, and now Iran has the world by its control of a great percentage of its energy supply. When it comes to Ukraine, Trump's constant sabotage of Ukraine's efforts is not very subtle:

.- his failure to even release aid to Ukraine, voted on by Congress, -his undermining of NATO,
-his miscalculating the extent to which Germany and Europe would up their military commitment to see Russia in Ukraine as a threat to them,
-his counting on the recently defeated Hungary's Orban, also a Putin ally, to keep European funding for Ukraine bottled up,
-his echo and wink to his buddy Putin in negotiations..all have failed to stop Ukraine from stopping Russia, and the war advantage now counts in numbers one or two kilometers.

-Trump, above all also failed to anticipate the technological talent of Ukrainians themselves to manufacture drones, thus changing modern warfare, while defending against drones. made in Iran.

-A recent column in the New York Times by David French must have rankled him. The French call Zelensky the leader of the free world as well as changing the battlefield with their new, innovative technology.

Trump's whining about Europe not helping to open Hormuz is political BS

 Trump's attempt to pass off blame for the Gulf of Hormuz is still closed on Europe's failure to come to his aid, and for good reason. Aside from the barrage of insults and dissing NATO hurled at our former allies in Europe, Trump is out to fool the US public as well. Trump claims Europe is so dependent on oil and gas shipped through the Gulf of Hormuz that it is in their interests to come to the US aid in freeing  Hormuz, which the US  action had caused  it be closed. by Iranian retaliation. Trump's BS wants Americans to ignore some facts: Only 4% of Europe's oil comes through Homuz, and less than 10% of liquid natural gas.  Europe's reduced reliance on fossil fuels has lessened over the years as its reliance on wind and solar has increased. 50% of Europe's energy comes from wind and solar.

  https://www.iea.org/about/oil-security-and-emergency-response/strait-of-hormuz  

https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/indicators/share-of-energy-consumption-from

So, how is Europe compensating for even the loss of this amount? It is importing more from the US. It would do more, but Europe right now is turned off from doing business with the US and Donald Trump, not only for his solo Iran blunder, but also for the tariffs and the US refusal to help Ukraine. and the arrogant attacks on Europe and NATO itself. US business interests are finding themselves persona non grata in Europe. There is no more goodwill advantage.   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/04/europeans-trump-enemy-of-europe-russia-war-poll

All of us,  Europe and the US, are paying high prices because the price per barrel is based on international supply and set by the cartels, but so long as the availability of the quantity of fossil fuels is not critical to Europe, Europe is finding ways to deal with the costs. Trump's failure to do likewise is causing a political blowback as seen in the polls, as he's getting the blame for the price of gas at the pump.

Answering questions that never were asked in the past: what'wrong with high costs, chaos, corruption, cruelty

 

What is wrong with the high cost of living, chaos, corruption, and cruelty? This is the kind of question I never had to ask in my lifetime, or for that matter, found so many who do not care enough about the answers, and out of fear or loyalty remain silent.. The challenge for the political opposition is to remind them of why those things are bad and how they hurt even the ones Trump says he says he loves. 

Let me add one more C to the alliterated attack list: Constitutional crisis:   The fruits of his power grab are high living costs, chaos, corruption, and cruelty. Trump has distorted, exceeded,  worked around,and abused the use of the powers granted him in the Constitution whenever he can. The rule of law is mocked to its demise.

 So what is wrong with the high cost of living? It is not fair on those struggling with balancing their peronal budgets now hile he and his cronies are living their gilded life.?

So what is wrong with the chaos?  Planning for survival on one day, whether you are in business or struggling with your budget, or worried about personal or national safety, may be obsolete the next. Trust in the leader's judgment or motivation, or trust in his good word, is gone. 

 So what's wrong with corruption?  Aside from the morality question, the problem with corruption is that what motivates the great leader's decisions may benefit him and the wealth and power of his family, but may harm those he governs who are not among the beneficiaries of his public policies.  

So what is wrong with cruelty, and is the use and threat of it quite OK? The fear of its use keeps the disloyal in line and deters others from doing what is not in their own interests. Using the DOJ to launch investigations on political enemies is a cruel misuse of power and true treatment of migrants in hopes all of one race will self-deport, whether or not they otherwise had any civil rights.

So what about a Constitutional crisis? Trump has been able to strike fear and demand loyalty to him by ignoring the rule of law and the Constitutional constraints because of a cowed Congress, a staff and cabinet of yes men, and his core MAGA base. The only constraints so far are a slow-acting judiciary and some justices who comply with his anti-democracy instincts. He thinks he can ignore the poll because 1) he has gotten away with acting like a dictator and thinking he is one, 2) the ability to use force, ICE, and seizure of voting rolls and election machinery to avoid an election loss at the November midterms and beyond.   For that reason, a a 60% disapproval of his policies is of no concern.  In any case, to him, this democracy is of, by , and for Trump and those who keep him in power. If you commit a crime on his behalf, he'll just pardon you.

 https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/04/messaging-again-democrats-may-be-onto.html

Two recent setbacks to Trump's foreign policy mean America's weaker and not so great agai's an

Two recent setbacks to Trump's foreign policy mean America is weaker and not so great again. It has weakened this country's ability to shape its own destiny. No greater evidence of this is Trump's failure to get more than one country to support his Iran war, and his influence to support Orban was more of a kiss of death than help to Russia. With these two setbacks, Trumpo shows he has lost control and influence to get European support for his Iran war.  Orban's loss in Hungary frees up billions for Europe to boost Ukraine's self-defense from Trump's pal, Putin's aggression.

Both signal the real meaning of Trump's hostility to Europe and NATO? As he complains, Europe does not jump to his tune anymore, he has failed to realize that the real result of his actions, insults, and refusal to honor the essence of NATO...mutual defense, he has lost control and influence over their policies.. Not only is America First now America alone, but it is also "America Too Weak" to influence its own destiny. Trump went after NATO again April 17: https://weartv.com/news/nation-world/trump-slams-nato-they-were-absolutely-useless-with-strait-of-hormuz-support-iran-war-conflict-attacks-united-states-military-troops

The Wall Street Journal reports Europe is planning to use the NATO military structure for its own defense if the US pulls out.  https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/europe-nato-trump-plans-3a423233

With Orban's huge defeat in Hungary, billions of European funds will be unblocked for Ukraine's defense.  The unifying chant by the citizens who engineered his ouster:"  Russia out".     It was like Minneapolis shouting ICE out.  Recently, chats between Orban and Russia's foreign minister revealed how closely Orban and Russia were in cahoots.        Viktor Orbán had been blocking a $105 billion of  EU loan package for Ukraine.  No doubt Putin will try to strangle Hungary's access to Russian energy, but the fear of that did not deter the citizens' revolt that ousted Orban. Europe's task is now to offset that loss of Russian oil and gas despite the pipeline configuration that favored Russia.