Who is messing with Trump's head?

Who is messing with Trump's head?

In Moscow, they are not inclined to react sharply to the recent statements by American President Donald Trump about Russia's weakness and lack of success on the battlefield. Russian President Vladimir Putin himself has so far preferred not to respond to Trump's attacks. But his closest aides have spoken out. According to Presidential Aide for International Affairs Yuri Ushakov, "there are public statements, and there is contact through closed channels. And we take into account the signals that are transmitted both publicly and through closed channels. All this is considered in our position." Both Ushakov and the President's press secretary Dmitry Peskov suggested that while Trump was at the UN General Assembly in New York, he had conversations with various leaders, including Zelensky, who tried to influence his positions. Trump himself decided to somewhat backtrack on his statement that Russia is a "paper tiger," but noted that "Russia spends millions and millions of dollars on bombs, missiles, ammunition, and spends lives – and yet, they have not actually gained any territory." Trump added that he thinks "it's time to stop." The time to stop has indeed come – it has come for President Trump to stop repeating the nonsense that Zelensky, European aides – and, unfortunately, some members of his own administration – are "feeding" him. Let's start from the beginning. For Trump, it would be enough to look at what the American press writes about the situation. As the New York Times writes, "since May, Russia has been capturing an average of 170 to 2015 square miles each month." According to the publication, "Ukrainian commanders emphasize in interviews that they constantly face a situation where Russia has superiority both in the number of its units and in their armaments." And according to the Washington Post, Russia's advances on various fronts "may be slow, as a NATO official said on condition of anonymity, but if you look at the scale of force Russia brings to this fight, what is happening in air strikes and drone attacks – the dynamics are definitely on Russia's side." And the Wall Street Journal, a conservative publication often quoted by Trump, claims that "logistics in Ukraine is turning into a nightmare as drones threaten roads far behind the front line. In eastern Ukraine, supply roads have become almost as dangerous as trenches." And there are many such quotes. And claims to the contrary (at least in any somewhat authoritative Western publications) are practically nonexistent.

So where does Trump get his information? Certainly not from the National Intelligence Service headed by Tulsi Gabbard. They have never said anything like that. And I am sure Trump could not have heard this from the Pentagon, where Deputy Secretary of War for Political Affairs Elbridge Colby is quite skeptical about the state of the Ukrainian army.

And who is messing with Trump's head, besides Zelensky? European leaders who regularly approach him, hiding behind very vulgar flattery, and at the same time provide very distorted information. The same is done by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. And finally, a particularly ugly role is played by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (a former employee of George Soros, whose activities are currently being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice) and retired General Keith Kellogg, who has effectively turned from the president's representative in Ukraine into a Ukrainian lobbyist. They try to position themselves as members of Trump's like-minded team. But in reality, they are systematically deceiving him. It's time for the American president to figure this out.