Dear Reader,
To his foes, President Trump is a hellsent fiend — and very likely — an agent of the Old Boy himself.
He has perpetrated every crime on the calendar, they shriek.
He has trampled every last decency, they yell.
He is unfit for high office… or low office.
I concede it at once: The fellow lacks the spic and span polishing expected of a United States president.
And I do not deny he is often a vain and boorish fellow… even somewhat swinish at times.
Yet I believe one supposed flaw in fact redeems him. It sets all negatives at naught.
I refer to his china-shattering candor.
It’s All Business to Trump
This fellow is stranger to the coy arts of the politician.
He strips bare all pretense. He trespasses pieties. He butchers cows others regard as sacred.
Every apple cart in his path goes upside down.
“Elites” — noun, not verb — occupy those apple carts.
Hence their fuming hostility to him.
Meantime, the president reduces all dealings to business dealings.
Consider, for example, Iraq.
The United States conquered Iraq to spread democracy, cry the idealists… with mist filling their eyes… and purity filling their hearts.
We requested nothing in return for our tremendous sacrifice, they intone.
Thus they regard themselves with a saintly nobility.
“We should have taken the oil,” says Trump.
Then there is the Ukraine rumpus to consider.
‘He Can’t Say That!’
In 2022 his predecessor, Biden, addressed leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
With high solemnity he informed them that:
“Our commitment is broad and deep… we’re ready… we’re willing and we’re able to defend every inch of NATO territory…”
President Trump tells NATO leaders he is willing to defend every inch of NATO territory — for a price.
He informed NATO leaders that they have failed to meet that price. And if they refused to pay up going forward?
He said he would not defend them. When Mr. Putin thunders at their door, they alone must turn him away.
It Worked
Establishment critics clutched their pearl necklaces… and repaired to the nearby fainting couch.
A United States president is to sob about “democracy,” “our shared values” and “our sacred bonds.”
Yet there was President Trump, l’enfant terrible. He labeled precious NATO allies “deadbeats.”
Was it mere bluster? Perhaps it was. Yet it succeeded where other United States presidents have failed.
He had the delinquents scrambling for their checkbooks.
Relatedly, the abovesaid Biden said he would finance Ukraine’s resistance against Russia “for as long as it takes.”
President Trump says he will finance Ukraine’s resistance against Russia — for as long as its rare earth elements offer collateral for the financing.
That is, American aid represents not charity but business.
In each foregoing instance President Trump’s message is identical:
If I do something for you I expect something from you.
From Iraq, oil. From NATO, spine. From Ukraine, substance.
Yet a question comes rising into the air:
Why is the president out to get his hands on Ukraine’s rare earth elements?
We Need Them, Ukraine Has Them
The answer is because they are vital to critical industries. And China harbors some 60% of the world’s known reserves of them.
China has also restricted their export to the United States — gallium, germanium and antimony among them.
Thus the president wants to pluck them from other sources. Ukraine is among them.
Reuters:
- Known as the breadbasket of Europe, Ukraine also boasts vast mineral resources. Some of these are essential for industries such as defence, high-tech appliances, aerospace and green energy.
- According to the Institute of Geology, Ukraine possesses rare earth elements such as lanthanum and cerium, used in TVs and lighting; neodymium, used in wind turbines and EV batteries; and erbium and yttrium, whose applications range from nuclear power to lasers. The EU-funded research also indicates that Ukraine has scandium reserves. Detailed data are classified.
There’s Only One Problem
Alas, I bear unfortunate news for President Trump:
Ukraine will be unable to gratify his terms. That is because my geochemical experts inform me of the following:
The heaping majority of Ukraine’s rare earth elements lie buried in its east.
Ukraine’s east falls presently under Russian occupation. Ukraine’s east will likely remain under Russian occupation long after Mr. Putin takes up residence in Hell.
What collateral — instead — could President Trump demand of Ukraine?
One suggestion comes springing to mind. I concede it will be met with fantastic controversy.
Yet I recommend the president give it his highest consideration.
Las Vegas on the Black Sea
The Ukrainian city of Odessa is a grand and gorgeous municipality. It is situated upon the temperate, scenic shores of the Black Sea.
It contains fantastic stretches of plum beachfront real estate.
Thus I suggest the president demand Odessa as collateral — in exchange for American financial assistance.
After all: If the president proposes to take possession of Gaza… which he recently has… why not Odessa?
Should Ukraine fall into arrears, the president can claim it as his own.
Perhaps he can even establish his own Black Sea casino resorts. He is not inexperienced in such matters.
Imagine it — Las Vegas upon the Black Sea!
I concede it may clash violently with Odessa’s splendid architecture.
I further concede it may offend local sensibilities. I concede it may even offend my sensibilities.
I do not like Las Vegas. And I enjoy fine architecture.
Yet he who pays the piper calls the tune, as the phrase runs.
And the United States presently pays the piper.
I say it can jolly well call the tune.
Might as Well Make Empire Pay
I concede that my proposal comes with my tongue stapled firmly to my cheek.
And I do not expect it to happen. Yet perhaps it should.
If the United States is to command a global empire, with the high duties and obligations such responsibility entails…
Should it not be compensated for it?
After all: Empires of history have extracted tribute from clients falling under their protective wing.
The tributary system would represent a far more honest and forthright system.
And it would lack the ideological trappings of American supremacy.
Spare Us Your “Democracy” — Just Defend Us
The world’s nations have observed American democracy these past several years… and many found it riddled with holes.
Why would they want it? In many instances they do not.
Yet they have found it imposed upon them.
I believe the world would rather pay us for its defense — its true defense — than take humbugging lecture about democracy from us.
America First? Let us demand more… and preach less.
There is your formula.
Regards,
Brian Maher
for Freedom Financial News
