December 3, 2025
A response to Kelly Scoles’ letter:
During all the years Kelly and I have been debating (mostly serious) issues, I have rarely agreed with her, she being liberal and I being conservative.
But this week her letter inaugurates a “hoc septimana” within an “annus mirabilis”, almost too fantastic to believe; the Latin for “week”, the latter “great year.” I’m just pretending to be a linguist, because I needed some fancy words to signify the importance of this incredible event.
What’s this all about? For the first time in many years now I must agree with Kelly’s opinions on President Donald Trump’s policies relating to the following political figures. With very few and slight exceptions those people are:
Vladimir Putin, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), Jared Kushner, Dar Global, Steve Witkoff, Krill Dmitriev, and their legion of evil, naive, or invincibly ignorant policy facilitators.
Of course, the center of this discussion is our President Donald Trump, and for me specifically, his ungodly misunderstanding and treacherous mistreatment of Ukraine. Though I have been a defender of Trump from the beginning, I have also been consistently critical of his friendship with Putin and his many ludicrously false characterizations of Zelenskyy, Ukraine, and historical events. I still wonder if, by now, he understands that Putin ordered his Russian army to invade Ukraine! Holding such a preposterous belief poisons the well of Judeo-Christian democracy. I also wonder if this is the same strain of naivete suffered by President George W. Bush when he told us that, “When I first met with Putin I looked into his eyes and I saw a soul, I trusted him.” This is stark evidence of that deadly American disease, Yankee Naiveté, which in this treacherous world can get us all killed, possibly very soon.
While I still support Trump’s domestic policies, I can no longer trust his thinking in foreign affairs. Increasingly, I see him as a sort of idiot-savant; great on national but gravely mistaken on many foreign policies and the choosing of the men and women he appoints to run them. I have really begun to despise his personal involvement in financial affairs with family members. Are we to experience the same situation with Trump that we did with Biden and his relatives? Every president swims in an extraordinary sea of tempting conflicts-of-interest. Only his character can save him from sinking. Only true friends will alert him to dangerous ideas and perfidious associations, often at the risk of being banned.
President Trump should abandon his many personal financial plans facilitated by the power and influence of his presidency. It cheapens the moral status of his high office and diminishes the trust he can normally expect.
The word treachery now often arises in his dealings with Ukraine. If he can’t distinguish America’s friends from its enemies, the nation’s defense is greatly jeopardized. I wish I had more time to discuss that infamous 28-point plan being forced on Ukraine by Trump, through Putin.
Kelly, I congratulate you for finally agreeing with me on these issues (said just to get your reaction).