Trump is clearly in the pocket of this fellow fascist thug — so why do we still look away?

Russian President Vladimir Putin is a mass-murderer and an enemy of the United States of America.

United States President Donald J. Trump has repeatedly appeased Putin, and is an enemy of the United States of America too.

That’s today’s column, and thank you for reading ...

Honestly, folks, I hoped to treat myself to a quiet holiday week, but simply must address the latest diabolical Putin-Trump phony attempt at a “peace deal” in Ukraine with some considerable urgency.

I also cannot look away from how this alleged “peace deal” is being reported by what’s left of our stinking garbage can of a legacy media, which is either complicit with Trump and Putin, or incredibly inept at journalism — but most likely both.

Once again, we are all being played for fools by these two dangerous skunks, whose lies echo freely in the vast, empty spaces of these major, bought-off media empires without challenge or context.

I have had more than enough of all of them.

So let’s get right down to it: Aided by a comatose American electorate in which only 59 percent of its voters bothered to show at the polls, Russia worked feverishly to install Trump as president in 2016.

Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort was actually passing internal campaign information to Russian intelligence officers during the election.

Go ahead: Read that again.

Trump himself asked for Russia’s help to hack Hillary Clinton’s email on the campaign trail, saying: “Russia, if you’re listening … I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

Prescient, eh?

For what it’s worth Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office condemned this public treason by saying in part, “Russia is a global menace led by a devious thug. Putin should stay out of this election.”

I add this because there actually was a time when some Republicans frowned on murdering fascists taking power, instead of courting them.

Look, Trump never even sniffs power without Putin’s help.

And hey, if you think I am typing just a little too fast and loose here to get back to my vacation, then I urge you to have a look at the infamous Mueller Report, which concluded among other damning things, that Russian interference in the 2016 election was “sweeping and systemic.” The report “identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign.”

Read that way, it’s a wonder Trump wasn’t removed from office and jailed on the spot, except Trump’s slimy personal lawyer, er, attorney general, Bill Barr, came to his own conclusions, which most of the media at the time were only too happy to lap up, spit out, and call good.

The Mueller Report was a complete mindblower, and after reading it, if anybody still willingly believes that Trump wasn’t aware of Moscow’s illegal interventions on his behalf, shouldn’t be trusted to dress themselves in the morning.

Then there’s the Republican-led Senate intelligence committee report in 2020 which concluded “the Trump campaign's interactions with Russian intelligence services during the 2016 presidential election posed a grave counterintelligence threat.”

Oh, and that committee’s chair? Well, that would be a guy named Marco Rubio, who lately has lowered himself to a level equal to the proximity of Trump’s ample ass.

You can’t make this up, because it’s all true, but has all but been conveniently forgotten by our ridiculous legacy media, whose reporting on Trump consistently includes little to no context for his myriad past offenses.

And let’s travel back in time to 2018, and Trump’s surrender in Helsinki where, in the words of the late Sen. John McCain, “(Trump) abased himself … abjectly before a tyrant.”

“Abased himself … abjectly before a tyrant.”

Finally, if you want all of this put in a tight package topped with a neat bow, I offer this showstopper penned by the Center for American Progress, dated Dec. 18, 2018: Following the Money: Trump and Russia-linked Transactions from the Campaign to the Presidential Inauguration.

It’s a mind-boggling piece of journalism that is painstakingly sourced and should be required reading for anybody (I’m looking at you, legacy media) who reports on Trump’s extensive interactions with Putin.

It concludes this way:

“If financial flows from Russia played a direct role in Trump’s campaign and transition, the potential implications for his presidency and America’s national security are far more immediate, urgent, and dangerous than those potentially resulting from his decadeslong business entanglements. Until we have a full accounting of what transpired — and how — we will not be sufficiently equipped to protect future elections against similar attacks from foreign powers.”

So why has our damn media seemingly quit working to get that accounting?

It is 2025, and we are still somehow trusting a guy who spurred a violent attack against the United States of America to have its best interests in mind while he snuggles up and deals dirty with Putin in private.

It’s absurd.

Look, there is no way — make that NO WAY — Trump will agree to anything with Russia and Putin that does not benefit Russia and Putin.

HE OWES THEM.

To believe otherwise defies common sense, and is an abuse of everybody who has had the gall to pay attention to this terrible tandem’s decades-long dealings.

Notice how Trump never begins any “peace” negotiations with Ukraine and Russia without talking to Putin first.

In 2013, Trump was like the fat kid who got trapped in the candy store, when Putin patted him on the head and allowed for his Miss Universe Pageant to descend on Moscow.

Trump tweeted this:

“I just got back from Russia-learned lots & lots. Moscow is a very interesting and amazing place! U.S. MUST BE VERY SMART AND VERY STRATEGIC.”

He later tweeted this that day:

“Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant. If so, will he become my new best friend?”

Three years later, we all got our answer.

We can also assume that Russia was harvesting tons of kompromat on the big-mouthed Trump as he bragged about sidling up to one billionaire Russian oligarch after another in hopes of extending his real estate ventures there. “The Russian market is attractive to me,” he said at the time.

Lord knows what Putin has on Trump, but we do know this: Trump has never said a bad word about Putin — ever. He has, however, called him “smart” “savvy” “a strong leader” “a genius” and “charming.”

I guarantee you this miserable lowlife has never uttered these words about anybody besides himself in his miserable lifetime.

He has repeatedly bragged about how well the two thugs get along. The instances of this are too many to list here, but just sit with this beauty following Putin’s illegal attack on Ukraine:

“They say, ‘Trump said Putin’s smart.’ I mean, he’s taking over a country for two dollars’ worth of sanctions. I’d say that’s pretty smart. He’s taking over a country — really a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking right in.”

This, of course, is appalling, and I’ll ask again because I simply have to: How-in-the-hell could ANYBODY have voted for this fascist felon in 2024?

Like Putin, Trump does not have his country’s best interests in mind, he has HIS best interests on mind.

Trump and Putin are fascist thugs.

They worship power and money and will do anything to get it and keep it.

There will be no peace deals, only continuing crimes against humanity.

Words and actions back all this up.

It’s long past time it was reported this way.

• (D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here.)