Just a reminder...

I am glad you support Ukraine. I think the problem with some in the 'right' is that they are not sure what to say about it out of fear of accidentally agreeing with the US / Biden policy regarding the issue AND/OR accidentally disagreeing with Trump / Tucker obvious pro-Putin stance. That is what hyper-partisanship does to people. They feel compelled to disagree even if they agree.

 

Just returning the favor.

I distinctly remember you telling me you "despised" me,second most in the entire world, second only to Trump

 

PL, that's it exactly. I know that Trump isn't loyal to us but it still feels really bizarre that he would praise Putin while putting down his own POTUS. And, while nothing he does shocks me, I am having Deja vu constantly because I never anticipated that anyone on the right side of law and order would excuse him not engaging immediate back-up when the rally mob brutally attacked hundreds of Capitol police officers. It's just so difficult to comprehend how *anyone* can defend that one inaction.

And, now this. There is no logical reason for a former POTUS to praise a dictator that has invaded a country for apparently no reason other than he's an evil dictator. Trump should never side with anybody above our own country. Even assuming that @AARguy's explanation that Trump was referring to Putin's strategy, he comes off as choosing outsiders over us and I don't understand why anyone would be okay with that.

 

I did. I also believe that I apologized for putting that in writing, but it has nothing to do with me telling you that I appreciate you openly stating your position on this matter.

I am very angry that Trump didn't help the Capitol police officers being attacked by the angry rioters. That was his duty. If those of you that make apologies for him would say he was wrong for that but you still support him, it's more honorable than pretending like any of that was even close to reasonable. It's indefensible.

Nevertheless, you are free to ignore me. I know a few on your side get together in private messages and volley for one another. Some of them are on permanent ignore for that childishness. That's cool too. The sun will still set tonight. I promise.

 

Patton praised Rommel. That wasn't approval... just recognition of professional excellence. Same with Trump... he's not APPROVING of the invasion at all.

 

I must have missed your apology.

And I can truly say I've never spoke of you in a private message to anyone.

If you did apologize I appreciate it.

I'm just a person who has different opinions, as far as politics goes it's very polarizing and we seem to be a complete opposite ends of that spectrum.

It's easy to let politics cause friction even in real life much less on the internet and I think some of us myself included, can be guilty of taking a little bit too seriously

 

He approved it and took so much heat for it that he tried to walk it back, but its too late. I wouldn't defend his praise for Putin too much, because its starting to look like you actually agree with the praise.

 

Being the good guys, you're obliged to wait until the enemy make their move first. Just how it is...

 

With so much slant in the news it's hard to make heads of tails of it sometimes.

I'm told he spoke in sarcasm and it was taken out of context.

Whatever the truth may be I'll certainly agree with one thing, Trump has a tendency to say stupid things at the wrong times and yes it's not really a good look to say Putin is smart or any of the above.

 

OK. Here it is again. FatBack, I apologize for telling you that I detested you second to Trump. I still don't like Trump (smile) but I don't hate you or wish you any harm. Will you accept my apology?

OK. I'll take your word on that. The only reason I know that is some of those people use similar wording which is not usually present when there has been no coordinated efforts behind the scenes.

I was wrong. I usually can walk away and I will continue to make the effort to address our disagreements without making it personal.

It's difficult for me to be unbiased because I'm a former cop. My late father was a cop. My brother was an MP in Afghanistan and my sister is currently a cop.

The Capitol riot broke my heart. It honestly blindsided me that anyone made excuses about that. It still pains me every single day and I couldn't even watch past the first few minutes.

But my PTSD and anger at Trump for not helping them is not your fault personally. I just saw it and see it that should have given all of us on the right side of the law a huge Ice Bucket Challenge.

The strangest part to me is that I don't recall any time in history in which people were this angry at one another over politics.

My parents, my former in-laws and my ex and I all canceled out each other's votes within our respective households and none of us have ever had heated arguments with our respective spouses about politics.

I did keep a wide berth from political discussions when I walked away from an internship in a local politician's office but I don't even recall this level of animosity there. It's just really weird to hear one's fellow Americans or former POTUS side with outsiders over us.

Truth be told, I wish I could go back in time and not know about any of this stuff. This isn't the America I want my kids to inherit and I don't know if it's fixable at this point when we can't even talk to one another with the intent of actually listening and hopefully finding some real solutions. Ounce for ounce, I think all of us agree that the USA is the best country in the world and that should be enough for us to put aside all the high emotions and work together, even in small ways, to keep it that way.

 

I understand what you're saying.

However...(smile)....you have to admit that some of us may have a few concerns about that because we are aware that some people died or were hospitalized or were very sick from ingesting disinfectants. I personally don't take medical advice from politicians so that whole drama was beyond my understanding. But, with that knowledge, I can easily see how someone could misconstrue Trump's words of praise.

I couldn't find it but I posted a few months back that Trump could have been gracious to Biden and his incoming administration and still fought it in court. He could have committed to a peaceful transfer of power without losing face. He could have told his supporters that he stood by our laws, policies and procedures and until such time the issue could be addressed he wanted all of us to do our best to stand behind our President-elect just like those of us that didn't vote for him last time stood behind him when he occupied the WH. There were 4,874,975 things he could have done differently that didn't give any outsiders the impression that he was about to start WWIII and none of those things would have required publicly conceding. I wanted to know that he was focused on US to ensure the incoming administration had what they needed to keep the country stabilized in spite of his questions about the election results. I don't believe that is too much to ask any POTUS to put US and our country above personal vendettas and other countries (or give the appearance that is what is happening).

 

I thought the same thing, but I damn sure didn't have the desire to go clip all that. Well done, but most of the people that went that way have dropped it I believe.

Because It was some of the absolute lowest displays of abject wrongness I have ever encountered, and even partisanship wasn't strong enough to sit on that egg of dumb until it hatched.

 

Well of course I accept your apology and offer one of my own.... For my part I apologize for my sometimes provocative and insulting post towards you.

I know I can do better expressing my opinions if I disagree with you.

In the future you have my word that is what I will do.

 

“Independent”

 

It's really not that confusing if you understand what's going on. People often view their political rivals as enemies and since the same people don't like Vladimir Putin or he's viewed as the bad guy in the situation therefore anyone I politically don't like is in League with Putin.

 

Not sure Trump said that one you people say he said a lot of things that he didn't really say.

So showing unedited video of him saying that and then I'll agree with you he was wrong to say that.

 

To the point at which he exploited the weakness was a few days ago. What I will gather out of your statement is bidens administration the house and the Senate have made the country weak in the past year. He didn't do this last year at this time he didn't do this the year before this time he chose now.

 

I agree with you on this one. Putin either has to succeed at this or he'll have to resign. The only way out of this is an amicable truce. Right now we're kind of hot and cold with our sanctions but if they step up aggression we'll have to get hotter as will the rest of the world.

So if he knows what's good for him he'll leave it alone. Suffer the consequences for the actions he took thus far.

 

Nah, Trump would have wanted to work out a deal, not go to war. Trump was actually very cool towards the idea of foreign wars. If he had not been able to work out a peace deal with Putin, I think we would find ourselves in essentially the same boat we’re in now.

 

Me too.

Do you think Putin would have pulled this stunt if Trump was re-elected?

I know that he brokered the deal with the Taliban (which I found surprising at the time since our official stance was we don't negotiate with terrorists) and it seems like he had a connection with both Putin and Xi so he might have been able to unruffle some feathers but that's only on the assumption that Putin hasn't gone completely off the deep end and is hell bent on pushing the red button. I fear that may be the case since he clearly miscalculated the Ukrainian president, their military and civilians. That is a huge mistake in matters of war.

I can't recall if I told you or not, but @AARguy made a comment the other day that he wouldn't be surprised if Putin had some kind of terminal illness and this is one last big "Hooray"! At the time, I didn't think it was the craziest thing I'd ever heard but it didn't feel *right* in that moment. But, now, knowing he's taken his family and retreated to his underground bunker with trying to shield his constituents from the true death toll and unflattering depictions, it seems more and more possible.

As a kid, I asked my teacher why can't world leaders just get in a ring and duke out amongst themselves? It seems like that would save a lot of lives, time and money. I also would not be opposed to any future US POTUS candidate having to meet a requirement for having served in one of the armed branches of our military and/or at least one of their kids or grandkids have to be active duty. That stipulation might make them a little more willing to reach a mutually acceptable compromise before shipping our kids and grandkids off to fight their battles.

 

Here's hoping that Russia's economic downturn and world-wide condemnation give China second thoughts about any intention of invading
Taiwan. If China is deterred and Russia pulls back, I will give Biden a B- on his response to this Russian crisis.

 

Did you see that article the other day in which the Chinese <somebody authorized to talk about it> made it very, very clear that the situation between Russia and the Ukraine is NOT comparable to China and Taiwan because Taiwan has never been a sovereign nation?

I'm not an authority on any foreign matters but I took that as meaning they fully intend to strike while the iron is hot and they don't anticipate much pushback because everybody is focusing on the Ukraine.

 

I’m whatever democrats say I am. Supposedly that means I’m also a Putin “supporter”
I love lefties telling me what I think

 

Welcome to the world where Republicans call anyone to the left of them supporters of communism or socialism.