The Roundup

The second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Donald Trump makes Alexei Navalny's death about himself, the CPAC train wreck on the Potomac, and more!

A Horrible Anniversary

Tomorrow marks the two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It has unleashed all kinds of unspeakable horrors on the Ukrainian people, such as mass rapes, bombings of civilian buildings, kidnapping children, beheadings, and more. It has led to so much needless pain, suffering, and loss of life. It has also shown the true colors of certain people who are siding with Vladimir Putin in this war. Some of these Putin supporters are those whom I used to admire, such as former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters.

What's really horrifying is that here in the US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is doing everything possible to prevent the shipment of aid that would enable Ukraine to defend itself. Even though he claims to be a “Christian,” there's nothing Christian about siding with Vladimir Putin, a dictator who has not only recently had Alexei Navalny killed but he has also been instrumental in the mysterious deaths of Russian oligarchs that began around the same time as the invasion of Ukraine. He has also cracked down on dissent so much that even laying flowers at a makeshift memorial to Navalny could get a Russian arrested. Mike Johnson and those in the so-called “Freedom Caucus” in the US House of Representatives have blood on their hands.

Donald Trump Compares Himself to Alexei Navalny

With the news of Alexei Navalny's death coming on the same day as that huge $350 million judgement being made against Donald Trump, Navalny's death gave something for Donald Trump to glom on to as he starts his personal pity party. He made this post on Truth Social that only mentions Navalny's name once before the whole post devolved into a display of disgusting self-pity as he considered himself to be a victim of those “CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction.”

That message was so outrageous that I uploaded it to TikTok while using the Carter Vail song “Shut the Fuck Up.” It's gotten a lot of views and comments on that platform.

Sure having a hefty fine leveraged against Donald Trump is a pain but he was the one who brought it upon himself by undevaluing his properties in order to pay less taxes and overvaluing those same properties in order to get more favorable bank loans. In contrast, those criminal charges against Navalny were trumped up and it was clearly a case of political persecution of an opponent of Vladimir Putin. There was nothing political about Trump's case. There was evidence that Trump broke the law. The judge took a look at the evidence and ruled that Trump had broken the law. He looked over the evidence some more along with a general overview of Trump's current finances and came up with what he thought was an appropriate penalty for Trump breaking the law.

Even though Alexei Navalny did not break any laws, he had been in prison since 2021 on a variety of bogus charges that were drummed up in order to make sure that he could never be free again. In contrast, as of this writing, Donald Trump remains free as a bird.

Trump's post that was nominally about Navalny but was really about Trump led to this scathing commentary by Joe Scarborough. Keep in mind that Scarborough is a former Republican congressman who is railing against Trump and other Republican lawmakers who are pro-Putin.

More About Those Trump Gold Sneakers

I recently wrote about Donald Trump's new shoe venture where he unveiled a pair of gold sneakers at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia just one day after a judge in a New York courtroom announced that Trump must pay $350 million. Apparently Trump had a pair of those butt-ugly gold shoes that he personally autographed and put up for auction at the convention. The lucky winner (and I'm using that term very loosely) was Roman Sharf, who submitted the winning bid of $9,000. He also happens to be born in Ukraine but is now a US citizen and the CEO of a luxury watch dealer.

Sharf said that Trump has just invited him to his Mar-a-Largo home where they could meet together in person. With those recent expensive judgements in both the Trump properties case and the E. Jean Carroll lawsuit, Donald Trump needs all the money he can get. As for those who love those gold sneakers but are too cash-strapped to pay nearly $400 for a pair, there's an alternative. Temu is selling gold sneakers for nearly $18 a pair.

Most rational people would think that those sneakers that are being hawked by a former president in an election year who is running for another chance at the White House is an incredibly tacky maneuver that's undignified for a potential future occupant of the White House. However to a Fox News host named Raymond Arroyo, those sneakers are a brilliant idea for a political campaign. He feels that those sneakers will inspire African Americans to vote for Donald Trump because, in his words, “they love sneakers.” Here is more on what Arroyo had to say about those sneakers and the African American community:

This a big deal, certainly in the inner city. So when you have Trump roll out his sneaker line, they're like, 'wait a minute, this is cool.' He's reaching them on a level that defies and is above politics. The culture always trumps politics. And Trump understands culture like no politician I've ever seen.

Assuming that African Americans will vote for Donald Trump mainly because he has put out a line of overpriced sneakers is a pretty racist assumption. That assumption ignores the long antagonistic relationship that Donald Trump has had with the African American community that goes back decades. Raymond Arroyo is delusional if he thinks that selling pairs of butt-ugly gold sneakers will be enough to inspire African Americans to suddenly vote for Donald Trump in such large numbers that he retakes the White House.

You Can Be a Republican and Still Not Be Pure Enough For Trump's MAGA Movement

Republican Rep. Bob Good who is also the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, decided to visit a new store that had recently opened in the Virginia district that he represents in Congress. This new store sells nothing but Donald Trump merchandise. The store was having its grand opening and he showed up despite not receiving an invitation. He was then asked to leave by store owner Karen Angulo.

What was Good's crime that would cause the House Freedom Caucus chair to not only not get invited to the grand opening of a store dedicated to likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump but was asked to leave by the store's owner? The answer: Good had supported Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for president. When DeSantis dropped out of the Republican primary race, Good changed his support to Donald Trump. But, to that store owner, it was too little, too late and he was thrown out. You can read more details about that story and even watch a video of Good being thrown out right here.

The CPAC Train Wreck on the Potomac

I live in Maryland just a few miles away from National Harbor. It is late February. You know what that means? It's time for that train wreck known as the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) Conference.

That conference went off to a rousing start when Steve Bannon, the far-right activist and podcaster who worked on Trump's 2016 campaign and had briefly served in the Trump Administration until Trump fired him, gave the opening speech. He predicted that if Trump wins in November MAGA will govern America for 50 years. He also predicted the start of World War III.

Meanwhile Liz Truss, who served as Britain's prime minister for only 50 days before she resigned, blamed the Deep State for her brief time in office being such a disaster.

CPAC also includes a custom designed January 6-themed pinball machine (which you can view a picture of right here), sales of $20 water bottles called “Woke Tears,” and a display of dresses made from fabric with a repeating pattern of Donald Trump's face.

In the past the CPAC Conference was THE place where those on the right go to be seen. It looks like those days are now over. Someone tweeted this photo of the first day of CPAC showing how empty the audience seating area is.

My theory is that it's possible that more and more conservatives are becoming so disgusted at the GOP being cozy with Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump that they have become disillusioned with the right. That disillusionment could lead to fewer conservatives even wanting to even go to events like the CPAC Conference because they can't stomach the idea of encountering the pro-Putin/pro-Trump supporters in person.

Plus we can't discount the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. The main reason why Trump lost reelection in 2020 was his mishandling of the crisis. While health care workers were encouraging people to wear masks and practice social distancing, Trump openly disdained those practices. Many of the people who died in that pandemic were Trump supporters. So it's conceivable that more people would be attending the CPAC Conference this week if they hadn't died of COVID-19.

Russian Oligarchs Get Busted in the United States

Just in time for the two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine the US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a new array of charges, arrests, and forfeiture proceedings against the criminal networks that is currently funding the war in Ukraine. Here is Merrick Garland's full speech.

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