The Ukrainian word Holodomor literally means hunger plus extermination, and that’s exactly what Josef Stalin inflicted on the country’s population from 1932-1933. Reliable estimates put the death toll from the forced starvation campaign at 3.9 million, about 10 percent of Ukraine’s population.
The world did not know of the atrocity until a Welsh journalist named Gareth Jones, who had traveled on foot through Ukraine and witnessed things on the ground, revealed his experience during a Berlin press conference in March of 1933. The Soviet Union spent decades denying the event ever happened. Shamefully, as Stalin emerged as a principle ally against Nazi hegemony, Western journalists “forgot” about the horrific episode.
It wasn’t until 1985, after the US Commission on the Ukraine Famine was created, that a rigorous study confirmed for the historical record Stalin’s orchestrated genocide in Ukraine. The report’s publication coincided with Mikhail Gorbachev’s glosnost (openness) campaign and resulted in the first official Soviet admission of its complicity in Holodomor.
Over the last decade of investigations into Donald Trump’s odious connections with Russia, Republicans have always fallen back on the argument that regardless of whatever the circumstantial evidence indicates, at the end of the day White House policy reflected Congress’ intentions vis-a-vis Vladimir Putin. Forget the former aides with grudges, or shady East European operators, Steele Dossiers or even Trump’s own words and tweets, Putin gets no special favors. That’s just Trump Derangement Syndrome talking.
Throughout his first impeachment, sworn testimony and a damning paper trail firmly established Trump wanted to pressure Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to pursue dirt on Joe Biden by threatening to withhold essential military supplies. However, his growing stable of Congressional lackeys relentlessly cited specific Trump Administration arms sales and diplomatic support for the Ukrainian cause against Russia’s attacks, which they blamed on Putin’s lack of respect for Barack Obama, as determinant of his real intentions.
But sooner or later events were bound to force the hand of our Kompromat President. After all, Putin, who has always held the high cards in his relationship with Donald Trump, has been reeling from the start of his attempt to co-opt Ukraine. Even Stalin would have blinked a time or two at the 1.5 million Russian casualties suffered during the hostilities.
Regardless how one analyzes the geopolitical math, that is simply too massive a number to ignore. Time is no longer on Putin’s side. That means, despite how dutifully his obedient stooge dismantles America’s leadership role in NATO, as well as grievously injuring our military and diplomatic stature throughout Europe, it’s time to call in all markers, whether that fully outs Trump’s treachery or not.
And so just weeks from the mid-term elections that now promise a tsunami of voter repudiation, Trump has exempted Russia from the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. It didn’t matter to Trump that the legislation was authored by “one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known.” Nor did he seem to care that the law is about as bipartisan as Congress can muster these days, receiving 87 votes in the Senate.
When it comes to betraying Zelensky, a U.S. ally who as recently as late September of 2024, Joe Biden declared it a “top priority” to provide “with the support it needs to prevail,” Trump has always been forthright, even as Fox/AM and his legion of Congressional eunuchs demanded we not believe our own eyes and ears. Whether creating a White House pile-on spectacle with JD Vance, or constantly whining that “he doesn’t want to do a deal,” Trump has treated one of the world’s most admired statesman like an uppity adversary instead of a steadfast partner.
Section 115 of the Graham law requires Trump to submit a written explanation as to why he is exempting Russia from the robust list of restrictions it imposes. The Administration’s rationale was beyond weak, nonsensical really, shrugging that the sanctions could “impede” peace negotiations, while essentially declaring that diesel fuel price stability “for our great truckers and farmers” was worth the ugliest of optics.
Trump isn’t choosy about how critics digest the constant chaos he creates, as long as his red line of avoiding accusations of treason isn’t crossed; he knows that’s impeachment territory, a stigma even he may appreciate. And indeed, throughout virtually the entire media landscape he enjoys near total cooperation on that front, always receiving the benefit of the doubt that, however little sense his decision makes, however unhinged and duplicitous his diatribes to reporters become, he is at least motivated by the national interest.
James Madison et al thought it important enough to explicitly define treason within the Constitution to prevent its weaponization as a domestic political tool. And there exists a consensus among legal experts that a declared state of war may be necessary to pursue such an extreme accusation.
Of course, the notion a sitting POTUS may actually be answering to foreign handlers is uncharted territory. Yet and still, a critical election cycle approaches and our President obsessively condemns it as rigged, while dispatching armed ICE and FBI posses to intimidate critical voter blocs and even Members of Congress under the false guise of election integrity. Meanwhile, an avalanche of evidence confirms the overt corruption Trump has engaged in from within the Oval Office that has netted him billions. It’s certain he has made thousands of stock trades while dictating policy on social media posts capable of determining market performance.
Trump, who was responsible for up to half a million needless Covid deaths during his first term, also has the blood on his hands of near a million people, mostly malnourished and sick children, who perished when the entire USAID network was purposely destroyed by DOGE. Here is how AI sums up the carnage:
“Epidemiological models estimate that cuts to USAID funding have caused roughly 600,000 to over 780,000 deaths in the first year following the 2025 program suspensions, with projections warning of 14 million total deaths by 2030 if cuts remain permanent.”
Now Trump has laid bare his subservience to Putin by sabotaging overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation principally designed to reassure Zelensky and Ukraine of U.S. support, or at the very least evenhandedness. Exempting Russia from the law’s sanctions is exactly like shooting somebody on 5th Avenue. There is nothing left to the imagination.
And so the question becomes, like so many other ridiculous propositions America has confronted and utterly failed to adequately resolve since this pestilence emerged… if what Trump is unapologetically inflicting on us isn’t treasonous, what is? If our legislators, our media, even most of our voters won’t consider the possibility Trump is a traitor, how can the entire concept even be relevant anymore? The circular futility of totalitarian ruin. BC