Washington Merry-Go-Round

IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2 April 2026
WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND
Today’s Events in Historical Perspective
America’s Longest-Running Column, Founded 1932
The bully puppet
By Douglas Cohn and Eleanor Clift         
 
WASHINGTON – The 47th president has given new meaning to the bully pulpit. He is a bully. It’s his shtick because he knows he cannot go toe to toe with competent opponents. He is also a puppet. Ask Vladimir Putin.
Now, in a second term, Donald Trump is surrounded by toadies whose primary qualifications are loyalty, unlike some in his first term who spoke truth to power. His current Cabinet is determined to let Trump be Trump, and it is not working.
Ask the just-fired Attorney General, Pam Bondi, whose loyalty to Trump was so strong that she did everything to stay in his good graces except for one thing. She did not break the law.
She was under enormous pressure to release the Epstein papers, millions of documents in which Trump’s name appears thousands of times, more than any other individual. At the same time, she was expected to protect the man who appointed her. Short of obstructing justice and getting rid of any incriminating files, she did what she could, and it wasn’t enough.
She wasn’t going to jail for Trump. She did everything else, testifying like a joyrider before Congress, maligning lawmakers, and making a fool of herself. She followed instructions from Trump on social media to go after his political enemies, and when the cases fell apart for lack of evidence, Trump blamed her.
Confirming a new AG will be hard. He or she will be asked about the Epstein papers and how far they will go to shield Trump. Todd Blanche, who previously served as Trump's personal lawyer and is now acting Attorney General, might remain in the role for a while, especially since his nomination for AG would probably lead to a challenging confirmation process.
When Trump took his bullying act to the world stage, it fared worse. He wields power without respect, and he disrespects at will, the way bullies do. The world leaders fear his power and snicker in private as they forge new alliances. Chief among them is Russian President Vladimir Putin, the de facto leader since 2000. At the height of the 2008 Great Recession, when real estate collapsed, Trump’s real estate empire survived. Donald Trump Jr. announced, “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.” Then or later, the Trump/Putin bromance blossomed, but Trump the bully always appeared subservient to Putin the dictator, a dictator whose life mission appears to be the dismantling of NATO, the defensive alliance that has thwarted Russia since 1949.
Americans, by a wide majority of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, support NATO, the greatest peace-keeping alliance in history, yet here is Trump, the first ever President to denigrate the organization. With Trump’s war with Iran going poorly, he has upped his disdain for NATO members, all of whom have refused to join his war of choice. Now, doing Putin’s bidding, Trump has attempted to bully our allies and openly stated the U.S. might drop out of NATO.
So far, he has not even been able to bully Iran through bombing. The goal of preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power is worthwhile, but bombs are not doing the job, so he demanded help from NATO. It is not coming, and Putin’s dream has never been closer to fruition.
Article 5 of the NATO Treaty says an attack on one is an attack on all, but if Trump does not honor that pledge, it would be the end of NATO. Only Congress can address membership, but Trump commands the armed forces, and this presents Putin with an opening. All he needs to do is send 500 troops a mile into one of the Baltic States, NATO members all, and see what happens. If Trump balks, our NATO partners would quite probably not go it alone for fear of starting World War III. Conversely, if Article 5 is followed, Putin can pull back, claiming he had been asked by Russian speakers in the border areas for assistance, just as he did when he sent troops into Ukraine’s Russian-speaking Donbas provinces years before launching a full-fledged invasion.
The Iran War has forced oil prices up, and while American gas prices are following suit, Russian and Iranian oil revenues are soaring. As Putin’s puppet, Trump removed sanctions against Russian oil and prevented Israel from attacking Iranian oil infrastructure; at the same time, he denounced NATO. As with Trump’s war with Iran, Putin’s war with Ukraine is not going well, and Trump just handed Russia and Iran financial lifelines.
So, the bully puppet is in a quandary. He does make a better puppet than a bully.
 
See Eleanor Clift’s book Selecting a President, and Douglas Cohn’s latest books The President’s First Year: The Only School for Presidents Is the Presidency and World War 4: Nine Scenarios (endorsed by seven flag officers).
Twitter:  @douglas_cohn
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END WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND