Trump threatens to end all weapons sales to Ukraine, in an attempt to further aid Vladimir Putin.
But here is the reality: In 22 days, Trump will lose the midterms, and if Democrats take both the House and the Senate as expected, we are done playing Trump's games.
https://www.ft.com/content/68fd8c4f-6f34-4f6e-a52c-76f635164031?syn-25a6b1a6=1
Oct 12, 2026, 9:58 AM@randahl I hope so much this will be true, but so many elections the polls before the election has turned out to be wrong, showing that the good people will win and then the evil forces gain ground instead... maybe some don't vote for they think the election will anyway be won, or they just think both alternatives are bad for them and don't care to support the least bad one...
@randahl he will find a way to overcome democracy.
Oct 12, 2026, 10:10 AM@randahl The threat is in the air since day 1 of his term. Remember the first visit of Selensky in Washington.
Blocking sales costs money. He loves nothing more than money. Europe has a lot more money than Putin has.
Europe is too busy to play the diplomatic game by the old rules. They should adapt to the new reality and take a much harder stance.
The thought of the U.S. as European ally is a thing of the past. Trump has cancelled that alliance completely.
Oct 13, 2026, 7:53 AM@masek Europe’s leverage is *heavily* compromised. And Trump and Putin know it
https://mastodon.social/@urlyman/114234034645834003
Obviously, things have changed quite a bit since I made that linked graphic in March 2025, but the general picture of reliance has not
Oct 12, 2026, 10:14 AM@randahl I'm even more convinced now, after his sanction-busting efforts on behalf of Putin, the Trump is going to commit US military forces to Ukraine - most likely based in Moscow.
If he wins the mid-terms, then the chances of that go up - the only thing stopping him from doing that already is that it would reveal that the US is no longer it's own country, but a de facto part of the Russian Federation.
Oct 12, 2026, 10:32 AM@randahl and nobody is surprised by agent krasnov action.
@randahl The reason for importing any amount of diesel from Russia was so Trump and the Repugs could scapegoat Ukraine for diesel prices. Stopping weapons to Ukraine was always the plan.
@randahl
we should block US instead
@randahl I'm not as optimistic. I doubt he'll lose the miderms, half the US seems to be praying at the altar of malevolence. If he does lose, I doubt there will be any consequences. There were fuck all consequences for Trump and his cronies during Biden's entire term.
@randahl I want that last sentence to be true, it just isn't. It could be, but would also require that:
-The midterms are an overwhelming indictment of Trump by the American people.
-Democrats in congress form and follow through with a meaningful resistance.
-SCOTUS upholds congress's authority to limit the executive branch.
-The executive branch chooses not to ignore said limitations anyway.
There are scant few reasons to believe any one of these, let alone all of them together.
@Hextore @randahl
It becomes increasingly difficult to view American optimism as anything other than hopeful naivete. Did we all forget the man has utterly ignored the legislative branch of the US government since his election?
He rules by decrees know as Executive Orders, has a golden ticket of Immunity and owns the Supreme Court. And even if SCOTUS upholds congress's authority to limit the executive branch, what exactly will happen when he ignores it (as he already has)?
#doomed
@randahl Would you think that Russia has incentive to meddle 😅
@randahl
Need to flush his entire support system down the toilet...where it belongs
@randahl no chance, either he will completely disrupt the elections and or will not accept the result. Who is going to stop him? The 2A crowd? The Judiciary? Spineless dems? the people? There will be more Americans lining up for their foldable iphone preorders than liming up the streets until they get their country back.
A lot of republicans do not want prison and will support another, much more violent coup.
Oct 13, 2026, 12:22 PMBah. When if the Democrats take the House and somehow get 2/3 of the Senate, Trump still has 2 months before they are seated. Expect to see a lot of bullshit legislation get rammed through.
And even after Jan 3, he is still in the Whitehouse and controls the executive branch (doj, etc.) and has SCOTUS in his pocket. He'll just issue executive orders and flight it out in the courts.