[Hoot Gibson]

It's amazing how our resident self-proclaimed communist and fake former Republican believe that invoking the names of Trump haters such as Liz Cheney, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell, or Adam Kinzinger prove that Trump is wrong about anything. Cheney and Kinzinger are would-be felons with a questionable pardons in their pockets. Murkowski gives AOC, Mazie Hirono, and Hank Johnson a run for their money for the title of the dumbest member of Congress. McConnell is a crooked politician who hates Trump for exposing the corrupt system that he has helped support for nearly 50 years.

I put Susan Collins in a separate category. As a Republican from a blue state, I think she does what she needs to do to remain electable. The alternative to Collins is probably a left-wing Democrat, so I believe she deserves some slack from Republicans lucky enough to live in red states.

I believe that Trump is playing hardball with Zelensky and made the statement about Ukraine starting the way as a negotiating ploy. Ukraine was a very corrupt country before the war and they remain very corrupt. I do not believe Trump thinks that Ukraine started the war. I place blame for the war in rank order on:

1. Russia - Russia had a choice to invade or not.

2. Joe Biden - Biden's statement that the U.S. would not strongly oppose a "minor incursion" by Russia was either idiotic or was made to entice Russia into invading Ukraine. Ukraine has been very, very generous to the Biden family and there is no reason to believe that Ukraine has not been paying the family kickbacks on all of the foreign aid that Biden has provided with no strings attached.

3. Ukraine - Zelensky did not exercise good judgment when he began pushing for entry into NATO. When Russia began amassing troops along the border, Zelensky should have withdrawn the NATO membership proposal if Ukraine was not prepared to defeat Russia in an all out war.

Trump has proven that he is a skilled negotiator. He is making a great effort to recover some of the many billions of dollars that Biden threw to Ukraine with no strings and no oversight. Europe provided loans to Ukraine for the war effort. Unfortunately, the U.S. did not have a president for four years. If the presidency had not been vacant, then maybe our aid to Ukraine would also have been in the form of secured loans.