President Trump: Killing President Reagan's Legacy

Back in 2016, I made the decision to run against Lisa Murkowski and the reason was mainly over her position with ratifying START. 

This would be the last time I would be a registered Republican and it would be the last entry I made on this blog. 

For myself, I saw the GOP was moving away from what Reagan achieved with his foreign policy achievements and the GOP was heading towards a reset with the Kremlin. During the 2016 GOP convention that reset was put into the GOP platform. 

 The Original Draft vs. Final Language

When GOP platform committee member Diana Denman tried to insert language calling for the U.S. to provide "lethal defense weapons" to Ukraine -which was fighting a separatist insurrection backed by the Kremlin - Trump campaign representatives intervened and asked that her proposal be set aside for further review. 

In the end, the language was softened from "providing lethal defensive weapons" to a more vague phrase "appropriate assistance." 

A Controversy 

Another GOP delegate, Rachel Hoff, believed the final platform language signaled that a Trump administration would refuse to send lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine, putting Trump outside mainstream conservative foreign policy and national security opinion. 

The change was associated with Trump's then campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who had direct contacts with intelligence officials with the Kremlin. 

The Mueller Investigation Findings 

The Mueller report ultimately found no evidence that Trump ordered or was even aware of the platform language change. Trump himself said publicly " I wasn't involved in that. Honestly, I was not involved." 

First Term - 2019 (The Impeachment Incident) 

The Trump administration conducted a 55 day halt of hundred of millions of dollars in military assistance and weapons sales to Ukraine which was initially unpublicized. The Defense and State departments, along with an overwhelming majority in Congress, strongly supported assisting Ukraine, but the assistance was opposed by President Trump. This episode became the central issue in Trump's first impeachment. 

Second Term - Early 2025 (Post-Inauguration) 

The U.S. briefly stopped shipping weapons to Ukraine in the first days of Trump's second term as the new administration debated its policies toward Ukraine. Following an explosive meeting with President Zelenskyy, the Trump administration paused aid to Ukraine. 

Since Trump assumed office in January 2025, there has been no legislation or other authorization of significant new aid to Ukraine. While the U.S. has made no new aid commitments in 2025, European countries significantly increased their support and collectively have provided more aid than the Trump administration has since the start of the war. 

So in essence, the 2016 platform change from "lethal defensive weapons" to "appropriate assistance" is the template that Trump has followed. Which raises the question of what Trump knew going into the GOP convention and the change in the platform with regard to Ukraine. And the question has to be asked, how thorough was Mueller's investigation into Trump possibly being involved in the GOP platform change.

Moreover, two big players in the funding Ukraine debate are Elon Musk and Howard Lutnick. Under Trump's second term, Musk and DOGE agreed to audit U.S. funds sent to Ukraine, amplifying unsubstantiated money laundering claims. DOGE also defunded Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab, which was tracking nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. 

Howard Lutnick stated flatly on Fox News that the U.S. would not provide funding to Ukraine until Zelenskyy presented a peace proposal. In short, Lutnick has been one of the more vocal administration voices framing Ukraine aid as something Ukraine must earn through concessions. 

The Numbers Tell a Stark Story 

Of the richest Americans, 80% of their political spending went to Republicans in 2024. The pattern has been set and is explicit - billionaire investment banker Howard Lutnick was made Commerce Secretary after contributing over $21 million to Republican campaigns. 

Elon Musk spent roughly $290 million backing Trump and then was appointed to head DOGE. The irony is both had ties with Jeffery Epstein. 

Let Europe Handle It 

Trump has been using European burden-sharing as justification for pulling back on Ukraine - yet when Trump launched us into a full blown war with Iran, very few European officials were told in advance about the strikes by Trump. This has led European leaders to push back by saying this is not Europe's war. 

The Double Standard in Plain Sight 

Trump's position is essentially: Europe should fund Ukraine's defense and Europe should send warships to support the war in the Middle East. A war started by Trump. 

Given Trump's position of taking a soft stance with the Kremlin when it lifted sanctions while knowing that the Kremlin is feeding intelligence to Iran, you have to question his double standard when dealing with Ukraine and Russia. For myself, in 2016 I saw how the GOP would be transformed into what it is today. 

It has become the voice of Trump and not conservative values. It has become a station for oligarchs to control and wield power while enriching themselves knowing that Trump can pardon them.

For a Reagan Republican like myself, I left because the so called MAGA movement has tried to destroy Reagan's foreign policy legacy. In the end, his legacy will prevail and contrary to Trump's comments made to Zelenskyy, Ukraine does hold the cards and the spirt of Reagan in their hearts.

Flight MH17: The Malaysia Airplane Crash is a Message to NATO

Was the downing of the Malaysian plane crash an accident or was it a message from the Kremlin?

The answer can be found in the plane crash of Polish President Lech Aleksander Kaczyński where Russians were shooting at Polish security and the press at the crash site - the Russians at the scene confiscated cameras from the press and looting took place.

Another fact was, according to Bill Gertz, NATO codes were confiscated by the Russians.

While the Smolensk plane crash was labeled an "accident", the evidence of the video of the radar that was controlling the approach of the president's plane was never given to investigators.

The video would have proven if the plane was on the glide slope when the Russian ATC said it was. If it wasn't on the glide slope when ATC said it was, then culpability would be placed on the Kremlin.

At Smolensk, a Kremlin liaison was in the tower and speaking to Moscow while the president's plane was landing - the phone call was supposedly never intercepted even with a president's plane landing.

The same pattern of Kremlin involvement with the downing of MH17 is similar to Smolensk - first there were the intercepted phone calls between Moscow and the rebels in the field.

Here the exchange between the rebels in the field and Kremlin liaison shows the coordination of communication after the plane was shot down.

There was the mindset of the Kremlin liaison that spies (military) were on board that aircraft. It was a military target.

Of course after the crash, warning shots were fired at people trying to get to the crash site, as was at the Smolensk crash site, then the looting and search for the black boxes took place with the rebels confiscating the black boxes.

The crash scene had been tainted as had been done at Smolensk.

As for the BUK SA-11 in stand alone use, it has a very limited range acquisition and would need prior intelligence that an aircraft was en route.

In stand alone use the BUK system has the ability to pick up the transponder of the MH17 letting the shooter know that it was a civilian airline.

This was no mistake made by the rebels and the Kremlin. Transponder codes would have to be entered to quickly target the aircraft.

Lastly, many of the victims came from the Netherlands, the country where NATO has its headquarters.

Like the Smolensk crash where the NATO codes were confiscated, this downing of the MH17 was Putin's message to NATO.

Update: Bloomberg posted an article that tries to build case of mistaken identity.The plane's transponder was broken or maybe turned off? Far-fetched.

Also there is a piece of the fuselage that has been found - also examining floor of fuselage in second photo there is shrapnel damage.

Update II: in a previous mentioned article published in Bloomberg online, a suggestion was made that MH17 transponder may have not be on or was not working - the Russian military was following the MH17 transponder on its radar.

Screen shot of Russian radar showing MH17 transponder on.  

Update III: Business Insider has a report that Russians had shot down MH17. There was a Snow Drift radar in the area.


Here is a screen shot of a tweet on the topic of the radar sent to Sen Ted Cruz.

The Russians Are Coming to Alaska: Maybe

Remember all of the talk about a tunnel from Russia to Alaska - one Leftist blogger who lacks an intelligent design, thought Oh Boy that's a great idea for Alaska's economy.