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Otago Daily Times
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Trump: the least bad outcome
I would rather eat worms than write about the current hullabaloo on the American right over the conspiracy theories about paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his various pals and accomplices. The temptation is just to sit back and enjoy watching the Maga revolution devour its own children, but duty calls. It is not enough just to wish that both sides lose. (Well, all of the many sides, really.) It is becoming clear that this scandal will probably injure Donald Trump personally and weaken him permanently. It doesn't matter whether he was really implicated in Epstein's crimes or not. As usual, it's the attempted cover-up that does the damage. Nobody outside the US has any influence on how the political storm that is growing there comes out, but everybody has a stake in the outcome. Even an increasingly isolationist America that is descending into political chaos is still the world's greatest military power and a major economic player. What happens there matters, but what should we hope for? The first principle is that we should all work to ensure that Trump remains in office for the remaining 42 months of his four-year term. He would only leave voluntarily if his entanglement in the Epstein affair grows so damning that he has to resign in order to be pardoned by his successor, President JD Vance, but that is not out of the question. The great virtue of Trump as candidate for the role of first American dictator is that he's not up to the job. The push towards a "soft fascist" authoritarian system is real and quite rapid — the ever-growing ICE is emerging as his private army — but his instinctive preference for a state of chaos that maximises his options is not a sound foundation for a lasting dictatorship. Another three and a-half-years of Trump freed from all the restraints that the "grown-ups" put on him during his first term will probably do great damage to the US economy. However, it would also make it unlikely that either a chosen successor (or Trump himself in defiance of the constitution) could win the presidency in 2028. Democracy in the US can survive Donald Trump, and not just as a Hungarian-style "elective dictatorship". The number of people who swallow all the lies is shocking and shaming, but they never exceed half the population. A democratic comeback is possible. On the other hand democracy in the US would probably not survive a "President" Vance who took power long enough before the 2028 election — whether by succession to a physically incapacitated or criminally implicated Trump or simply by a putsch — to rig the vote. Just look at him. You know it's true. So put up with Trump. Within limits, of course. The limits would include any US invasion of a near-neighbour (Greenland, Panama, Canada), but the rest of the world has tacitly accepted US air-strikes on at least half-a-dozen distant countries in recent decades. Now is not the right time to get picky about it. Nobody should condone the slow-motion genocide of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip, but almost none of the other traditional democracies on the West openly condemn it either. And don't get upset if Trump flips and flops a few more times on arms aid to Ukraine. That's who he is, and if you prefer him to the alternative then just make sure everybody else in the West buys enough arms from the US to keep the Ukrainians supplied. Trump just wants to be paid for them. And what about the impact on world trade of Trump's ceaseless tampering with tariffs? This is a self-healing wound, in the sense that a rapidly growing number of countries are concluding that the US is not a reliable trading partner. The endless struggle to keep up with the changes is just not worth it. The likely outcome is that supply chains will increasingly go around the United States rather than to or through it. That's not a limitless disaster for the US, just a handicap that can be repaired in time. The arrival of Trump 2.0 has been a shock to both the global trading system and the alliance structures that had prevailed since the 1950s, but they are adjusting fast and fairly well to the new realities. Or at least, it could have been a lot worse. It could still take a turn for the worse, of course, but that's always the case. The task when things are threatening to fall apart is always to decide what is really important to preserve, and make your other choices and goals serve that overriding objective. Right now, that means keeping JD Vance from the throne, even at the cost of putting up with Trump. • Gwynne Dyer is an independent London journalist.
Saudi Gazette
a day ago
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
US House speaker shuts down chamber to block Epstein vote
WASHINGTON — US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson has announced an early adjournment of the chamber, stalling efforts to force the release of documents related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. The move delays a politically fraught vote on the matter until September amid growing bipartisan pressure for transparency. It followed a key committee vote to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's longtime associate, to testify before Congress. Calls to declassify Epstein-related files have intensified recently, including from supporters of President Donald Trump. Earlier on Tuesday, the US justice department requested a meeting with Maxwell to ask: "What do you know?" Maxwell's legal team told the BBC they were in discussions with the government and she would "always testify truthfully". On Capitol Hill on Tuesday, facing mounting pressure from both Democrats and some Republicans to force a vote to release Epstein-related files within 30 days, Johnson declared recess a day earlier than planned. The House is expected to reconvene in September, when the usual summer break ends. Johnson defended the decision, accusing Democrats of "political games". "We're done being lectured on transparency," the Republican congressman from Louisiana said. The decision to bring forward the summer recess gives Johnson times to mend cracks within the Republican party over how to manage disclosures in the Epstein case. Factions of Trump's Make America Great Again (Maga) movement have been incensed by the justice department and FBI's conclusion on 6 July that Epstein did not have a so-called client list that could implicate high-profile associates, and that he did take his own life. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as Trump's personal attorney in his 2024 criminal trial, said that assessment "remains accurate". His statement noted that a recent, thorough review of FBI records related to the Epstein case uncovered "no evidence to predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties". "This Department of Justice does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from the responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead," Blanche said. He confirmed plans to meet Maxwell "soon." "If Ghislaine Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say," he added. Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, President Trump said interviewing Maxwell "sounds appropriate to do" adding: "I don't know anything about it." The justice department's meeting invitation has already been critiqued by some in the Maga world. Laura Loomer, a far-right influencer who has the ear of Trump, questioned why the Maxwell interview was not done "on day 1". "I guess what I want to know is whether the DOJ is basically saying they have never met with Ghislaine Maxwell to ask her or interview her about whether she has information about sex crimes committed against minors," Ms Loomer wrote on social media. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019 while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Last week, Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to petition a court to release all relevant grand jury testimony in the case. Maxwell was found guilty of helping Epstein sexually abuse young girls. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2022. On Tuesday, her lawyer David Oscar Markus said in a statement: "We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case." Earlier this year, Maxwell urged the Supreme Court to review her case. The justice department pushed the court to reject that appeal last week. Throughout the course of Maxwell's 2022 trial, four women testified that they had been abused as minors at Epstein's homes in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands. One of those women, Annie Farmer, said her only sense of justice came from the conviction of Maxwell. She told the BBC in an interview this week that the "rollercoaster" of the Epstein saga was a "real weight" on accusers, adding that too much focus has been paid to the abusers with little new information emerging, leaving her feeling "used". — BBC
NZ Herald
a day ago
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Michael Wolff's Epstein tapes spark renewed interest amid Trump links
Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial for sex trafficking, accused of procuring prostitutes – some underage – for his friends and acquaintances. Trump's Maga base has long clamoured for the release of classified documents about his case, believing they could incriminate establishment figures, in particular Bill Clinton (who has denied all knowledge of Epstein's crimes). Jeffrey Epstein and former president Bill Clinton in 2002. Photo / Netflix Having been friends with Epstein for years before a bitter falling out in 2004, Trump took full advantage of the situation, repeatedly suggesting that there was explosive material possessed by authorities which would come to light if he was re-elected, and hinting Epstein might not have taken his own life. Yet as Trump has backed away from his promises of disclosure on Epstein, Maga commentators have started to turn on him. The disgraced former general Mike Flynn, a sometime ally who has become a political commentator, posted on social media reminding the President – in capital letters – that the 'EPSTEIN AFFAIR IS NOT GOING AWAY'. Having stoked Epstein conspiracy theories for years, including indulging the idea he kept a so-called 'client list' used to blackmail co-conspirators, Trump and his team may now find that their strategy comes back to bite them. Protesters in Houston, Texas, in July demanding for the Epstein files to be released. Photo / AFP '[Threatening disclosure] was a typical Trump blow-hard kind of thing,' Wolff says. According to his reportage, Trump and Epstein were at one time even closer than had been previously thought. Trump and Epstein, wealthy and connected men of similar ages, mixed in similar fields and socialised together frequently. They were on several occasions spotted at the same parties. In 2002, Trump called Epstein a 'terrific guy' in a New York Magazine profile, adding that 'he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side'. In audio files previously released on Wolff's Fire and Fury podcast, Epstein said he had been Trump's 'best friend' for 10 years. Wolff has also said Trump's nickname for Epstein was 'Jeffy'. 'From 1988-89 through to 2004 Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump were the best friends,' Wolff, 71, says over the phone from his home in the Hamptons. 'These were Eighties guys, from a moment when having money forgave anything and everybody idolised anybody who had money. Having money gave you this extraordinary entitlement. This was the last blush of what it is to be a playboy. They had the money, the planes, the total disregard of middle class rules. 'They had the same interests. They did the same things, pursued the same activities, pursued very often the same women. Someone called me the other day and said 'You don't mean Trump was interested in little girls?' I said 'No … but they [Trump and Epstein] were both obsessed with models'. 'They started modelling agencies, invested in modelling agencies. Trump has his beauty pageants, Epstein had the Victoria's Secret stuff [Epstein was an adviser to Les Wexner, the Victoria's Secret boss].' "They had the same interests. They did the same things," says Michael Wolff. Photo / Getty Images Wolff says the friendship centred on Palm Beach, Florida, where Epstein and Trump were neighbours. 'Epstein had this set of a dozen Polaroids of Trump around Epstein's swimming pool,' Wolff recalls. He alleges the images were held in Epstein's safe, which the FBI seized when they raided his homes in New York and Palm Beach in July 2019. 'I remember three of them vividly. Two of the pictures had topless girls sitting in Trump's lap, and one where Trump has a stain on the front of his [trousers] and three or five topless girls are pointing at it and laughing. These guys defined each other. Epstein is the best window through which to understand Trump.' Last week, a report in It'salleged that Trump sent Epstein a card on his 50th birthday in 2003, with a drawing of a naked woman and inscribed 'may every day be another wonderful secret'. Trump immediately denied doing so, claiming: 'It's not my language … it's not my words.' He added he did not 'draw pictures of women'. Donald Trump's letter to Epstein 'Voice Over: There must be more to life than having everything,' the note began. Donald: Yes, there is, but I won't tell you what it is. Jeffrey: Nor will I, since I also know what it is. Donald: We have certain things in common, Jeffrey. Jeffrey: Yes, we do, come to think of it. Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that? Jeffrey: As a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you. Trump: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret. After the story, the White House has banned the WSJ from covering an upcoming trip to Scotland because of the 'fake and defamatory conduct' and Trump has moved to sue the Rupert Murdoch-owned publication for $10 billion. The President has spoken of being subjected to a 'witch hunt'. On Monday, White House communications director Stephen Cheung said Trump once kicked Epstein out of his club for being a 'creep' and called allegations about him 'recycled, old fake news'. After decades of friendship, in 2004, Trump and Epstein had what Wolff describes as an 'acrimonious' falling out over a real estate deal, so were not close during Epstein's alleged crimes at the so-called 'Epstein Island', Little St James in the US Virgin Islands. It was after that that criminal accusations first started to gather around Epstein, culminating in a 13-month prison sentence for prostitution in 2008. In 2014, Epstein approached Wolff, a highly respected New York journalist who had been the media columnist of Vanity Fair, with a view to being written about. Wolff had just begun writing about Trump, work which would form the basis of Fire and Fury, the first of his accounts of the President's time in the White House. Wolff's book, "Fire and Fury", about Trump's first presidency. Photo / Getty Images 'Epstein said: 'You can ask me anything, I have nothing to hide, and you judge for yourself whether I'm honest',' Wolff recalls. After a couple of 'pretty damn interesting' conversations, Wolff began attending the events Epstein held at his mansion on the Upper East Side, thought to be one of the largest private residences in New York. 'It was kind of extraordinary,' Wolff says. 'The people there were amazing. From Bill Gates to Ehud Barak [former Israeli prime minister] to Larry Summers, just one person after another.' Prince Andrew? 'Yeah,' Wolff says. 'Epstein conducted these things at his dining table. People came in from morning until night. There were very few women, it had a men's club feel to it. But it was kind of irresistible, frankly, and I confess to having a good time. The subjects were foreign policy, the economy. No girls, that was never a topic. From left to right: Melania Trump, Prince Andrew, Gwendolyn Beck and Jeffrey Epstein at a party at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, February 12, 2000. Photo / Getty Images 'Then in 2015, when Trump started to run [for the presidency], Epstein started to talk about his relationship with Trump, which was eye-opening. I was starting to write about Trump, so it was very valuable. In 2017, [Epstein] became friends with Steve Bannon and they bonded over their mutual obsession slash hatred of Trump. They talked about Trump all the time.' As the authorities closed in on Epstein prior to his arrest in 2019, he remained in touch with Wolff. In a piece from 2020, The Last Days of Jeffrey Epstein, Wolff details the acrimony between Epstein and Trump. Epstein refers to Trump as a 'moron', and makes derogatory claims about his leadership style. 'He lets someone else be in charge, until other people realise that someone else is in charge. When that happens, you're no longer in charge.' After the fall-out over their property deal, Wolff says Epstein came to believe it was Trump – who had close relations to the Florida law enforcement – who turned Epstein in before he was jailed for soliciting prostitutes in 2008. In the same piece, Wolff quotes Bannon telling Epstein he was the 'only person' he was afraid of during Trump's first presidential campaign, implying he believed the financier knew dangerous secrets about Trump. 'As well you should have been,' Epstein is reported to have replied. It was during Trump's presidency that Epstein was arrested. Wolff's own relationship with Epstein had a macabre denouement. 'The last message he wrote appears to be to me,' Wolff says. 'He died on Saturday morning and I got the message on Friday evening. I had written a note through his lawyers asking how he was doing. The message was 'pretty crazy. But still hanging around – no pun intended'. Then he died with the bedsheet around his neck a few hours later. It was very weird.' The circumstances of Epstein's death have become a lightning rod for conspiracy theorists. He was found in the early hours of August 10, 2019, hanging off the side of his cell's bed. The official ruling was a suicide by hanging, but Epstein's lawyers challenged that account. Two guards who were meant to check on him had fallen asleep, and two CCTV cameras in front of his cell malfunctioned at the critical moment. Surveys have suggested that only 15% of Americans believe Epstein died by suicide. A protester outside Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse during the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell in 2021. Photo / AFP When the US Department of Justice finally released a tape of events that evening two weeks ago, analysts found that nearly three minutes had been cut out. 'It seems implausible that he could have killed himself in the way they say he would have had to have killed himself,' Wolff says, 'but equally implausible that he would have been murdered and all of the people, the FBI agents and assistant US attorneys would either know something or keep quiet about it. I don't know.' In the years since Epstein's death, Wolff has tried to draw attention to what he claims was the true extent of his relationship with Trump. But he has not gained much traction. 'I've been trying to place this stuff for a long time,' Wolff says, describing how he has pitched larger treatments of his 'endless amounts of recordings' countless times, only for the plug to be pulled at the last minute. 'It's so compelling that everyone's always interested, but executives decide it's too complicated and controversial. Because as soon as you start to deal with Epstein as a person with multiple dimensions, instead of just this evil guy, it freaks everybody out.' Virginia Giuffre was one of the most prominent and outspoken alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein until her death this year. Photo / Getty Images He says he thinks partly the press has not been willing to further confront Trump's friendship with Epstein. 'There has been, among the respectable press, a view that this subject is too icky,' Wolff says. 'Good people don't discuss this. He's the President of the United States, how can you link him to the President of the United States without evidence … It has something to do with the fact that there is not the language in the post-MeToo world to discuss sex. You have to talk about sex, you have to make distinctions between girls and women, talk about the complicated idea of consent of victims. It's very hard in the recent climate. 'People don't know how to approach this,' he adds. 'They think it's going to be too hot to handle, the right wing is going to yell at us and the left wing is going to yell at us and the women are going to yell at us and Trump is going to yell at us. We're not going to be a hero to anyone if we tell this story.' To judge by the renewed interest in Wolff's 100 hours of tapes this time, the weight of public pressure may prove decisive.
New Statesman
a day ago
- Politics
- New Statesman
The Epstein conspiracy has unmasked Trump as a faux-populist
Photo bySo it was a conspiracy theory about a dead paedophilic financier who Tucker Carlson thinks was a Mossad agent and with whom Donald Trump used to ogle young women at Mar-a-Lago parties that finally cracked the marriage between the president and the Maga movement. Who'd have thought it? Conspiracy theories are not a bite-sized hors d'oeuvre in Maga world; they are the main course. That it was the Jeffrey Epstein scandal – not cuts to healthcare, lower taxes on the rich, or a bombing raid on Iran – that unmasked Trump to some of his followers as a faux populist and member of the elite shows that these theories are the pistons powering the movement. The reason is that conspiracy theories substitute the material for the symbolic. They can serve as allegories for real injustices. The hardcore Maga base elected Trump to reveal the corrupt cabal that was tricking America into decadent decline. He was the captain of their resistance. 'Trump's return to the White House augurs the apokálypsis [unveiling] of the ancien régime's secrets,' Peter Thiel wrote hopefully before the inauguration. But then Trump told them to shut up. Trump overruled Attorney General Pam Bondi's promise to release the files on Epstein. He told his followers not to 'waste time and energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about'. He wanted them to look the other way. Their crusader for truth was telling them all to go back home. Parts of his online fanbase now whisper that perhaps Trump himself is in the Epstein files. For that to be the case, Trump would have had to have made a reckless bet: that he could talk up the conspiracy for years in order to sully his rivals – such as fellow Epstein associate Bill Clinton – without his own role ever coming out. It would be kamikaze politics if it weren't so self-serving. Trump might lose his bet. For the first time, the president and his online gang are looking at each other across the dinner table with faces shadowed by betrayal. Trump barters myths in exchange for votes. He got the Resolute Desk; his base got a Manichean world-view that split society into good and bad, the Elite and the People. But, like Mikhail Gorbachev in the final months of the Soviet Union, he let loose forces that might, if not presage his downfall, then at least become impossible to control. Call it Perestroika for paedophiles. Why is it the Epstein files, and not countless other conspiracies, that have caused Trump such grief? Because there are many real questions about Epstein that anyone interested in justice for the victims of one of the most infamous sexual predators of the century should want answers to. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Where did his fortune come from, for instance? Why was the metadata of the surveillance video outside the cell where he supposedly killed himself tampered with? Why was he left alone when his jailers knew he was a suicide risk? Why did the prosecutor, who went on to become Trump's labour secretary, give Epstein such a lenient sentence when he was first arrested in 2006? These questions could give the Epstein story the legs to unbalance Trump for the remainder of his term. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal published extracts that it claimed were from a birthday letter that Trump wrote to Epstein in 2003, complete with a lewd drawing and the message 'Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.' Now Trump is suing the paper and its proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, for $10bn. The two billionaires have gracelessly pirouetted around each other for decades. In 1992 Trump might have flicked to page six of the New York Post to read stories about his divorce from Ivana. Back in 2016 when News Corp executives would parse his tweets like a daily horoscope, Murdoch weighed in after reports that Trump was irritated by an unflattering WSJ poll. 'Time to calm down,' Murdoch posted, when he still used Twitter. 'If I [am] running anti-Trump conspiracy then [I'm] doing [a] lousy job!' Days before the WSJ story hit, Murdoch was spotted in Trump's box at the Fifa Club World Cup. It was a reminder of Trump's years spent inside the media elite, as a cartoon figure who Murdoch's papers eagerly saw as a willing collaborator. Their meeting marked Trump out as a man from a previous age, a tribune of the people with friends in high places: something his successors will note to avoid. Murdoch was once considered the great Satan of high-class liberalism. Trump knocked him off that perch. But the president now has enemies to his right. There is a hinterland beyond Trump far more extreme than the president himself. At one event at a conservative conference in February, diehard Trump fans who had come from around the country were asked to raise their hands if they still watched Fox News. In a crowd of hundreds, I saw one or two hands go up. They were met with a few derisive laughs. These Trump followers preferred more conspiratorial channels such as NewsNation and Real America's Voice. The Epstein saga roils Washington as its wiser residents flee the seasonal heat. In the sunlight, the city's rats lie inert on the pavements from the sauna-like temperatures. Trump was sent to drain the swamp, but some in his movement are now asking whether he always quite liked the grime. [See more: Why do right-wing 'transvestigators' believe Michelle Obama is a man?] Related
Telegraph
a day ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Melania was ‘quiet force' behind Trump's Putin stance, says daughter of Ukraine envoy
Melania Trump is the 'quiet force' behind her husband's apparent U-turn on Ukraine, the daughter of the president's special envoy to Kyiv has said. Meaghan Mobbs, whose father Gen Keith Kellogg was appointed to lead efforts for peace, said the first lady had put pressure on Donald Trump to protect 'innocent Ukrainians' from Vladimir Putin's bombs. Ms Mobbs, who lives under near-daily bombardment in Kyiv, spoke to The Telegraph about the first lady's influence in an interview in which she also claimed the president was no longer listening to the pro-Russian wing of his Maga movement. Of the first lady, Ms Mobbs said: '[Mr Trump] deeply values her counsel. They have a very, open, conversational relationship and she is one of his closest advisers. People seem to forget that for some reason; maybe because she's so beautiful, or she's not frequently in Washington.' Mr Trump recently hinted at his wife's influence on Ukraine after he announced a deal to deliver billions of dollars of weapons and sanction Russia. 'I go home, I tell the first lady: 'You know, I spoke to Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.' And she said: 'Oh really? Another city was just hit,'' the president told journalists at the Oval Office. Ms Mobbs said Melania, who grew up near the Iron Curtain in former Yugoslavia, could now play a pivotal role if the president can secure a lasting peace. 'I think as we think about the future of Ukraine, or post war Ukraine, I think her influence could be very important, and I think that she could be and she should and could play a huge role.' Asked if Mrs Trump could make an unannounced visit to Western Ukraine like Jill Biden, her predecessor, Ms Mobbs said: 'I think it would be fabulous. 'I've always told people the best way to approach Melania around all of this is through fashion, through art, which is the other piece of it. 'It's both around the victimisation of children and women, which you feel so deeply about, and around this like the very, very beautiful and interesting, creative side of Ukraine that will be fascinating to her.' Ms Mobbs, a mother of two, runs the RT Weatherman Foundation humanitarian mission. She is an ardent supporter of Mr Trump and close to her father, Gen Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general. During the opening months of Mr Trump's presidency, Gen Kellogg appeared to have been frozen out of discussions about the future of Ukraine and Russia in favour of more pro-Putin forces inside the Maga wing of the Republican party. But he has recently seen his star rising, alongside other more hawkish officials including Marco Rubio, the secretary of state. Ms Mobbs said she now believes Mr Trump has turned his back on the Putin cheerleaders to embrace Ukraine, claiming that 'bad actors' in conservative America no longer have the president's ear. 'I shouldn't call them conservatives, I don't think they're conservatives. But in a social media influencer network that was spreading misinformation and disinformation about Ukraine, I think, unfortunately, for a period of time, they had the president's ear. 'I do think that is changing.' Marjorie Taylor Greene, the firebrand Republican and Steve Bannon, a former chief strategist, are amongst those to have raised concerns about Mr Trump's $10bn deal with Nato allies to send US-made military equipment to Ukraine. Others, like Tucker Carlson, former Fox News anchor, have remained silent, but are known for their pro-Kremlin views and abilities to influence Mr Trump's decision making. Ms Mobbs argues that there is nothing more Maga or 'pro-American' than sending weapons to Ukriane, especially if someone else picks up the bill. Under the deal brokered between Mr Trump and Nato, allies have promised to largely pay for missiles, Patriot air-defence systems and ammunition delivered to Kyiv by Washington. 'This is a major Maga win, right? And nothing is more Maga than getting someone else to pay for our stuff.' She added: 'I think supporting Ukraine is the most pro-American thing you can do. And I think dad deeply believes that as well.' Gen Kellogg has been shuttling back and forth to Kyiv, where Ms Mobbs resides, for months relaying Ukraine's demands. Hours after Mr Trump and Putin discussed an end to the war over the telephone, Moscow launched a torrent of missiles and drones in the direction of the Ukrainian capital. 'It's not something to be flippant about, but I was a little bit like, 'Dad, you know how bad things are, let's be honest no peace here,'' the 38-year-old explained. Gen Kellogg's main strategy for convincing his boss to change tack was to explain that Mr Trump could one day end up on the wrong side of history, alongside the likes of Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister best known for not standing up to Adolf Hitler. Repeating her father's warnings to Mr Trump, Ms Mobbs said: 'Mr President, if you do not change course here, this is how history will remember you, and I know you do not want that.' Just four days after Mr Trump and Mark Rutte, Nato's secretary-general, announced the support deal in the Oval Office, Ukraine received its first Patriot air-defence battery and the interceptor missiles to be used alongside it. It would normally take months between promised deliveries and their emergence in the war-torn country. Mr Trump's administration has 'cut through all the bureaucratic bulls---', Ms Mobbs said. 'The rapidity of action in war is critical. 'I think the president, by the way, sees this as part of a broader effort of signalling to Putin that he's overstepped, and unlike Biden, we're going to move more aggressively and effectively.'
