How Trump Just Became America’s Biggest Traitor: Political Guru
The president is making his allegiances quite clear, David Rothkopf tells The Daily Beast Podcast.
President Donald Trump’s latest foreign policy maneuver amounts to a betrayal of the United States, political analyst David Rothkopf charged
Appearing on The Daily Beast Podcast, the political expert denounced the 80-year-old president’s decision to buy millions of barrels of oil from Russia to fix the diesel dilemma he sparked with his own war with Iran.
Trump and Putin for The Daily Beast podcast.
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Reuters
Host Joanna Coles asked Rothkopf what strategy there could possibly be behind Trump’s call for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to step down while simultaneously easing sanctions on Russia. He said there wasn’t one.
“Why are you looking for strategy? This is the product of a diseased mind, OK?” Rothkopf replied. “He doesn’t know what is going on. He may even believe this thing that he goes around telling everybody, which is the reason diesel prices are high is because Ukraine is waging a war against Russia.”
“First of all, Russia’s the one waging the war against Ukraine,” he continued. “And secondly, the primary reason that oil and fuel prices are high in the world is Donald Trump’s illegal, reckless war with Iran.”
Rothkopf said Trump’s decision was “crazy” and expressed outrage that no one in the president’s inner circle, such as his energy or defense secretaries, had advised him to act differently.
Trump has been extremely generous to the Russian dictator.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
“You would think that his Secretary of Energy [Chris Wright] would have said, ‘You know, Mr. President, why don’t we buy the oil from somebody else, from Canada, from India, from somebody else who produces more diesel, and not the Russians where it’s illegal?’” he said. “But nobody said that to him.”
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“Or his Secretary of Defense [Pete Hegseth] would have said to him, ‘You know, Mr. President, probably not a good idea to be aiding and abetting our enemy in the middle of a shooting war when the next time a U.S. ship is hit or a U.S. person is hit, people are going to say, rightly, that was partially funded by your tax dollars,’” Rothkopf continued.
He went on to explain that “aiding and abetting an enemy is a crime.”
It's unlikely the self-styled "Secretary of War" would have warned Trump about the consequences of lifting sanctions on Russian oil.
Jonathan Ernst/Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
“People would call it treason, except we haven’t actually declared war on these two enemies,” he said. “So technically, legally, it’s not treason. But it’s certainly traitorous.”
He added, “Well, what would be more aid and comfort to an enemy like Russia, or particularly Iran, than making cash available to them?”
Despite Trump’s numerous attempts at “giving goodies to Vlad,” Rothkopf said Putin continues to disrespect his American counterpart.
Putin's war is now in its fifth year.
Gavriil Grigorov/via REUTERS
“When Trump announced his ceasefire over the weekend, which lasted 10 seconds, the Russians didn’t even acknowledge it. They just kept fighting,” he explained. “Ukrainians... who are the aggrieved party and actually our allies, they are not being consulted, and they’re being portrayed as the villains.”
Rothkopf continued, “The reality is, this is one of the most demented, disloyal betrayals of the United States of America ever by a U.S. official, much less a president.”
“He’s not just disloyal to the country and has a diseased mind, but he’s also kind of an idiot,” Rothkopf concluded. “He thought that the American people would go, ‘He’s lowering the price of diesel. Isn’t that a great thing? Let’s vote for the Republicans.’ And this was one of his October surprises. Except, you know, surprise, Don. Nobody wants a president who’s a traitor.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
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