Dakota Beacon

Donald Trump has amassed a great gaggle of friends and admirers during his blitzkrieg campaign.  He succeeded in getting the only voice more shrill and demented than that of Hillary Clinton to endorse him this week, in the person of former governor of Alaska, former vice presidential nominee and former endorser of everyone from the GOP Establishment to Conservatives and now to Populist/Progressive Donald Trump, Sarah Palin.  Her speech in support of Trump was a psychobabble of incoherent rhyming nonsense, but probably harmless enough.  She appears to be very needy.

Of all of the various and sundry supporters of the billionaire businessman, perhaps none is quite as problematic as Vladimir Putin.  Here we have a KGB veteran, a ruthless oppressor, now an all-but-convicted murderer.  He has been suspected and accused for several years of the bizarre radioactive poisoning of his unfortunate critic, Alexander Litvinenko.  Now this barbarous act has been confirmed by the British government.

Litvinenko, who had accused Putin of the murder of Russian human rights activist, Anna Politkovskaya, was in England, attached to MI6 and MI5, British security.  Putin has been accused of many things, including terrorism and bombing.  On this occasion, he arranged for Litvinenko’s tea to be poisoned. 

Litvinenko, a fairly robust man, fell ill.  Within three excruciating weeks of misery he died.  He realized that he had been murdered and by Putin.  His deathbed photograph, which he wanted published to show “what they have done to me”, shows an emaciated shadow of the previously healthy man, his hair fallen out, bedridden and moribund.  If it is unfortunate to be the victim of a murder, it is exquisitely so to be the knowing victim and to have that knowledge and the certainty of death for three weeks. 

But, after all, that’s just business, as the Mafia dons would tell us.  Just what any businessman needs to do.  What was he called?  “A leader.”  By Donald Trump.

Trump has long affirmed that Putin is a world leader he would “get along very well with”.  The feeling is mutual.  Putin, for his part, describes Donald Trump as “Bright and talented, the absolute leader of the presidential race”.  Trump responded warmly to thisSo there you have it, the international mutual admiration society of world leaders and important, unstoppable businessmen.

Frankly, it would have been more seemly for Trump, who must know quite a bit about Putin, to have simply said “No comment” to Putin’s praise.  But Trump loves to be loved.  He, like Palin, seems very, very needy in some ways, despite his financial success.  Why should Vladimir Putin be able to warm the cockles of Trump’s heart?  And, more importantly, should Trump (perish the thought) be elected, what kind of relationship would they have?  It looks a little as though Putin is the dominant male there.  In any case, I guess the Trumpsters out there in the hinterlands are also needy.  Needy enough to want someone who admires a cold-blooded killer to be their president.  He gets things done, don’t you know.