I tend to believe pundits are unfair to Neville Chamberlain, the great scapegoat of the 20th Century.

Chamberlain, for those who aren’t history buffs, was the poor British prime minister who sought to avoid war with Nazi Germany by basically letting Adolf Hitler have his way.

In hindsight we recognize this wasn’t the best tactic, but there were many who supported this approach back in the 1930s, including President Kennedy’s old man Joseph, our ambassador to Great Britain at the time.

But unfairly or not, Chamberlain is today considered the standard for weakness when world leaders are dealing with thuggish or aggressive regimes. And having said that, he resembles Genghis Khan when compared to the Cowardly Liar currently occupying the Oval Office.

The burning question never suitably addressed during the 2016 election wasn’t whether Russia preferred to see the Cowardly Liar elected President of the United States, but why. To me the answer was pretty simple – Hillary Clinton would have been too tough an adversary.

Putin blamed Clinton for “setting the tone” for Russians opposed to his return as president back in 2011. “She gave the signal,” he said that December. “They heard this signal and, with the support of the U.S. State Department, started actively doing their work.”

The “signal” Clinton provided as Secretary of State was a declaration that the Russian people “deserve free, fair, transparent elections and leaders who are accountable to them.”

The GOP’s nominee, on the other hand, has long been downright sycophantic in his descriptions of the former KGB colonel. In the Cowardly Liar, Putin saw not only a bumbling buffoon but also a well-documented Russian sympathizer. Put yourself in Putin’s seat and then ask – “Which candidate would be easier to manipulate and intimidate as America’s commander-in-chief?”

Even this early into the new presidency, the answer speaks for itself – the politics of appeasement are not working. Consider the following:

• In February 2017, just a month after Cowardly Liar’s inauguration, a Russian spy ship – the Viktor Leonov – was observed about 30 miles from a Navy submarine base in Connecticut. It later proceeded past a Navy base in Virginia and the following month appeared 20 miles south of our submarine base at King’s Bay, Georgia.
•  Also in February, four Russian attack planes buzzed dangerously close to the American guided-missile destroyer USS Porter in the Black Sea, a maneuver U.S. officials described as “unsafe and unprofessional.” One of the aircraft passed just 200 yards over the Navy ship.  
• And again, the very month following the swearing-in ceremony of a new American president, Russia deployed mid-range nuclear missiles during an exercise in violation of an existing treaty. The missiles are constructed to strike European targets from ground-based launchers.
• Just this past February, Putin brazenly hosted an animated video demonstration of newly-developed Russian missiles striking the United States – specifically the state of Florida, home to Cowardly Liar’s Mar-A-Lago estate. Putin also boasted, “Russia still has the greatest nuclear potential in the world, but nobody listened to us. Listen now.”
• About a week later, a former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned in England with a military-grade nerve agent. Even the Cowardly Liar had to acknowledge – albeit reluctantly – Russia was behind the attack.
• Most recently, Russia’s defense minister announced his government had actually instructed our military on where we were permitted target our missiles during last weekend’s airstrikes in Syria. This was after Cowardly Liar provided advanced notice of the attacks, which according to media reports “did not hit a single airplane, airfield or delivery system.” (Perhaps we should call him the Cowardly Leaker?)
• This is, of course, all in addition to Russia’s cyber attacks during the 2016 election and its continuing nose-thumbing support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

These are not the actions of a guy who respects a Cowardly Liar, let alone fears him. “Weak” is too puny a term to describe our commander-in-chief’s tepid responses to these provocations.

Don’t forget, it was the Cowardly Liar who, for months, claimed Russia had nothing to do with interfering in our election. This turned out to be false. Then he claimed he and his campaign “had nothing to do with Russia,” which also turned out to be false.

Now he insists there was no collusion with Russia during the election – even though we’ve seen the video footage of him exhorting his pals to hack into Hillary’s e-mails during the campaign.

Likewise, when the British government first took retaliatory measures against Russia for the spy-poisoning incident, the Liar initially hedged in condemning our old Cold War foe. “As soon as we get the facts straight, if we agree with them, we will condemn Russia or whoever it may be,” he announced – even after the UK had already made its determination.

Just days later, the Liar called Putin to offer congratulations for the Russian leader’s re-election and invite him to the White House for a visit. Ailing Sen. John McCain took time from his battle with brain cancer to offer this reminder: “An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections.”  

Then this past week, United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley announced sanctions would be forthcoming against Russia for its supporting role in the recent chemical attack in Syria – only to have the Cowardly Liar retreat from those actions the very next day.

Which is why the Liar opened himself up to absolute ridicule when he later claimed “no one has been tougher on Russia.”

The Liar’s ties to Russia go back decades. Even in his 1987 book The Art of the Deal, which brought him into the American consciousness, he described how “now I’m talking about building a large luxury hotel, across the street from the Kremlin, in partnership with the Soviet government.”

As recently as October 2015, well into his presidential campaign, he actually signed a letter of intent to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Let me repeat that – while campaigning for the office of President of the United States, the Liar was pursuing a deal to build a hotel complex in Moscow.

His notoriously shady attorney Michael Cohen served as intermediary in the deal, and the Liar would have received $4 million right up front if the deal hadn’t eventually fallen thru.

As it’s pretty clear the Liar didn’t expect to actually win his White House bid, it would seem the Moscow project reinforces the notion his entire campaign was an effort to boost his profile for future business endeavors. But whether it’s due to simple weakness on his part or because he’s now compromised in some way, the Liar’s fear of confronting Putin is clearly emboldening the Russian leader.

The Liar often tries to adopt Winston Churchill’s bulldog frown when posing for photos, but to date he’s been more Chamberlain than Churchill.

(April 22, 2018)

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