Today, Steve Witkoff, the airheaded unqualified glorified real estate agent serving as Donald Trump’s special envoy for the purpose of eating Vladimir Putin’s ass when Trump is not able to personally do so, did the job Trump hired him to do, telling Vladimir Putin personally and to his face that he is a “humanitarian.”
“You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that, I commend you, and I thank you again,” Witkoff said Wednesday in a Russian state media video clip posted on social media.
So that’s humiliating for the entire United States.
This is more of that famous Trump administration Art-of-the-Dealing that the Trump regime is convinced is going to get Putin to take a break from raping and murdering Ukrainian babies and end the war. You can tell it’s working by how the Russian government is posting it for the glorification of Dear Leader, as if to say to the Russian people, “LOL, look who’s our bitch!”
In related news, the Wall Street Journal has a big scoop on who actually gave the final go-ahead to slow down Starlink in Ukraine, so that it would be easier for Vladimir Putin to bomb, rape and murder Ukrainian babies and children and adults.
Surprise, it was Elon himself, going rogue in service of Putin. Or was it? Yeah, it’s still kinda fucking unclear.
WSJ reports:
Elon Musk ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink relied on by Ukraine, a decision that sparked panic in Kyiv and confusion inside the Trump administration, U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter said. […]
Last week, Musk capped the speeds at which Ukrainian hardware could stay connected to the satellite-based network, the people said, rendering some offensive drones and interceptor drones virtually useless.
Interesting that their sources include “US officials,” which means this is the Trump regime directly throwing Elon Musk under the bus, now that more and more Republicans are coming out, publicly and we are sure privately, to tell them how fucked up it is that Trump is turning on Ukraine and trying to force Volodymyr Zelenskyy to surrender.
One source suggests that Trump was at least in on it, though:
One of the people also claimed Musk and Trump discussed the matter prior to the decision to throttle Starlink.
Right.
So, you know how Donald Trump is nothing more than an unbathed mob boss at heart, sort of a “sketchy real estate guy who owns strip malls in Queens and uses them to launder money for Russian mobsters” archetype? And you know how those types are big on being technically aware of something being done in their service, without them officially having to give the order?
Remember how Michael Cohen testified to Congress about that back when he briefly had a soul? Remember Trump’s perfect call with Zelenskyy during his first term, which was about — SAME STORY AS EVER! — Donald Trump getting financial aid to Ukraine and Javelin missiles for its protection, but “I would like you to do us a favor though,” which was his quid pro quo for Zelenskyy to help him steal the 2020 election, by announcing fake investigations into Joe Biden?
We are just saying, it is starting to sound like that around this story, the way blame is being tossed around. Musk had originally tweeted, “Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” Trump has been playing dumb about it. Some of the WSJ’s sources say “Musk acted unilaterally and […] Trump didn’t specifically order any retribution against Ukraine.” Sure.
But we must zero in on that word choice of “specifically.” Which is followed immediately by this sentence in the WSJ report:
But a person familiar with the situation said Musk talked to multiple senior administration officials, including with Trump, before imposing the new speed cap, which Ukrainian officials said had allowed Russian missiles to evade their defenses.
Right.
Secretary Shitfaced P. Hegseth is toeing the line: “We haven’t pulled anything back” on Starlink, but “Starlink has the option to make decisions concerning its terms of service,” he said to reporters.
Future Cuban military dictator Marco Rubio is in the article saying “there was no foreknowledge” of what Elon was going to do with Starlink.
But today Rubio was more defiant, stomping around angrily in his ill-fitting big boy Florsheim loafers that “we’re no longer going to be defensive about this topic, okay? Because what the United States — if it were not for the assistance of the United States, including under the Trump Administration, there would be no Ukraine right now. Ukraine as a sovereign state would not exist!”
OK, Liddle Marco.
The community note on the tweet with that video notes that Trump has provided no new aid to Ukraine, whereas Joe Biden’s administration gave 30 billion per year.
We like Tim Miller’s response, though:
We would say it’s a shame how much Marco Rubio has changed, but we think he’s always been this vile little fascist piece of shit. It was hiding inside him the whole time.
So here we are with all this.
They’re rushing to blame somebody else for it all because people know about it, and people are mad about it and horrified by it, including many Republicans in Congres. Could part of that be because Republicans are about to lose Congress, and it seems like the Trump regime has chosen this moment to intentionally tee up his third impeachment for Democrats?
Trump has been furious with Zelenskyy for attacking Russia’s precious energy infrastructure, and so has Elon, because Elon is a fucking fascist troll who feels threatened by real men whose people support them without having to be coerced into it. Meanwhile, Trump is mad because Zelenskyy bombing Russian energy infrastructure is making it hard for his beloved Putin to win his murder war. Also, Trump is desperate to use Russian fuel resources to try to fix the problem he created with his stupid goddamned war in Iran.
On top of the Starlink shutdown, there’s been the thing with the US ceasing intelligence sharing with Ukraine, in essence cutting Zelenskyy off from warnings when Putin is about to murder some Ukrainian babies. It appears to be back online, after it mysteriously stopped at the exact same time as everything else. (Less clear is when/if Starlink comes back.) And oh look at this Washington Post headline from this very week: “Trump administration holds up Patriot missiles for Ukraine.”
Zelenskyy has not been timid about saying out loud, as he did on Piers Morgan last week, that shutting off Starlink “is a big mistake,” and that “This decision will bring a lot of human losses.” Reacting to Trump’s drug deal with Putin for diesel fuel, Zelenskyy said in the same interview, “It is a pity that we are losing a strong partner,” and “This is not the right side of history.”
Anybody who doesn’t understand that there is a full-court press to help Vladimir Putin finish murdering every man, woman, child and baby in stroller in Ukraine, and that Donald Trump’s regime is directing it, is a fucking fool.
Put them all in the Hague, right next to Putin.
[Politico Europe / WSJ]
Want to read more Evan than just what’s at Wonkette? Visit The Moral High Ground and subscribe to it!
Follow me on Instagram!
Subscribe to me on YouTube!
And on BlueSky!
And on Facebook!
Musk has also too proven to the EU and to Canada that he and his services cannot be trusted. I think that was a mistake he may regret.
I'm happy to see that Enlo is *really* looking like lukewarm shit...