Trump, Vance traitors used the entire spectrum of abusive tactics: gaslighting, victim blaming, forced gratitude, manipulation. We all felt through our screens, it was a provocation.

— Blaming the victim for their situation: “You allowed yourself to be in a very bad position” — this is a classic phrase of an abuser, Trump says to Zelenskyy. Blaming the victim for suffering & also blaming them for Russia occupying you and killing your people.
— Pressure and forced “gratitude”: Toxic Vance demands that Zelenskyy say “thank you” — this is a terrible technique, forcing the victim to thank for the help that she desperately needs. Then such toxic people accuse her of ungratefulness if she tries to defend her rights.
— Manipulation of the concept of “peace”: Trump declares that Zelenskyy “is not ready for peace.” But by this he means the capitulation of Ukraine. This is a typical manipulation - replacing the concept of “just peace” with the concept of “surrender.”

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#Ukraine #Europe #UK #Baltic #France #DE

"2025 is about what Europeans do, not what Americans say." - Timothy Snyder

#Ukraine #Europe #EuropeanUnion

There is something really repulsive about the fact that Fox News and CNN are now having long debates about the clothes Zelenskyy wore to The White House, and whether it was a problem, he did not wear a tie.

It must be really awkward for all US servicemen and women who know what it takes to fight a war, to see their media making a fashion commentary show out of the fight for freedom.

To us Europeans, Zelenskyy could run naked through our royal palaces, and we would still side with freedom.

I find Trump as repulsive as most people here, but as a German, one thing I want to push back on is focusing only on one man.

Hitler's rise was possible because he was able to exploit the racial hatred and conspiratorial thinking that already existed.

It's MAGA acolytes that see Trump as an extraordinary figure. He was a reality show grifter with a crumbling business; Hitler was an undisciplined drifter with delusions of grandeur.

It's the soil that matters, not just the rotten harvest.